Madrid

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Madrid and had an amazing time. I left on 6:00 am on Saturday and came back at 12:30 am on Monday and it cost me less than 160 Euros. Thank you Ryanair for flying me across Europe for dirt-cheap and at inconvenient time!

I had no set plans on what I was going to do when I arrived, which made things a lot easier because I did not have to rush. I’m not a fan of having a tight schedule on a trip because nothing sinks and it’s not gratifying at all to me.

When I arrived at my hostel, La Musas, in Tirso de Molina, I simply walked around for about 4-5 hours taking pictures of the wonderful architecture. I didn’t make it to any museums because I was more concerned about money for food ….maybe next time though. I love how Madrid is a very lively place where people walk around at night, eating tapas and socializing for hours, and enjoying life. I met some amazing people at my hostel and had the chance to explore the city with them as well.

On Sunday I traveled to Manzanares el Real, a small town in the northern area of Madrid. This is what I really enjoyed while I was in Madrid. In Manzanares, I hiked up to a beautiful mountain range called, La Pedriza. In Pedriza, there are tons of boulders that are still being discovered and I was lucky enough to climb on some of them. I had really vague directions with me, so I had to ask around. If it weren’t for the really friendly climbers, Juan and Lleban, I would have never found the area.

This was the first real trip I have taken alone and it was one of the best decisions I have made. It really taught/ forced me to be more social and to really go out of my comfort zone to have a great time. I love meeting people from different parts of the world because I can learn so much from them and how I can make my own life more enjoyable. Though it’s still a working progress, I plan on being a more social person who is not afraid to simply say, “Hi”, to a stranger who may have that intimidating look and hopefully this mindset will stick with me when I get back to Georgia Tech.

*Note to self: “Perder” means “to lose” and “Tarjeta de embarque” means “boarding pass”. So when you accidently lose your boarding pass after you pass through airport security, you can say, “¡¡¡¡¡ Yo perdí mí tarjeta de embarque!!!!!!!”

Just saying…..

Here is a quick video I threw together before class. It's definitely not great, but it has some nice scenery. No climbing footage here and I am a little bummed because of that.

Madrid from ben tsui on Vimeo.