The Rain in Spain

I was very tired when I got to Madrid the next day, after Porto. So tired that I forgot to text my friend Miriam that I was staying with to let her know that I had landed and that she should leave to meet up with me at our rendez-vous point. So instead I got on the metro and realized that I no longer had access to the internet. I didn't panic thinking they would probably have it at the station we were meeting at- they did not. I had to walk over to this nearby mall and heist the Starbucks wifi (they ended up handing me the password) and I eventually got ahold of Miriam. Honestly though? I was freaking out a little bit standing there at Starbucks with my mega suitcase and backpack and exhausted sweaty self.

So a little background real quick- Miriam is a good friend and fellow intern from my OPCW days. She's pretty cool and since she always said I should come to Spain I was like...imma take you up on that! It was perfect because I visited while her roommate was out of town so I had a whole room to myself. That's nicer than my current living situation.

Well, I was exhausted when we finally made it to Miriam's apartment so the first thing we did was get food. I was on a mission to be introduced to real Spanish food after I told Miriam last year that when I thought of 'Spanish' food I thought of Mexican food and she got offended by that. So we went to lots of places that she suggested and I got all my good eating done in Madrid and just did fast food in Barcelona. Yay-ah.

Ok, well anyway, here are some pictures of the first day and a half in Madrid. Oh and P.S. Something wonky and probably very fixable is going on with my computer memory but since I am incompetent and without friends here in New York I have not yet been able to rectify the situation. Therefore, being in the Harlem area, I did the ghetto thing and just took screenshots of my pictures for this blog. Sorry not sorry. Better done than perfect.

First Spanish meal. Wish I could remember what these were called but they were good!

I kind of wanted to just go home and sleep but Miriam was rip roaring to go and I didn't want to be one to waste limited time in a foreign city- so we set out to go to the Prada! Turns out that at night they have free entry for a couple hours. So we joined the line and it was around the corner and all down the block.Luckily, it went pretty quickly!

Waiting outside the Prada and learning the Spain Spanish way to pronounce 'Velasquez' 

Hands down my FAVORITE thing I saw at the Prada. I am in love with this statue and want to write a story based off of it. It is called 'The Blossoming of Love' and I just love the tenderness and rawness of the poses and the way that it is sexual in a beautiful rather than explicit way. I also love the reversal of gender roles in it with the man's head lower and staring up at the woman. It just really speaks to me.

This may be one of the most frumpy picture of me that exists. But come on- famous art! 

Outside the Prada was a pretty church.

It's hard to see but there is a sign on that building that says, "Refugees Welcome"
What a time to be alive. 

Madrid was beautiful and a very 'european city'

The founding 'bear eating from tree' fable statue thing-y

Honestly, I've just started taking pictures of Pokemon related things when I travel ever since Pokemon Go got so big.
 It's crazy how this is such a world phenomenon 

Because I think everyone wants to see my face this close

We walked a LOT that night. My feet were so tired!
But this is the beautiful Madrid Cathedral

Royal Palace- we went back the next day and went in

So, there is this Egyptian temple in the heart of Madrid.
Don't worry about it. 

Grainy gleeful selfie

We now come to MONDAY:

In the morning Miriam obliged me by taking me to this outdoor market I discovered online. This is the only picture I took around there. I was too busy buying an oversized sunhat and 1970's alarm clock

I also made Miriam take me to the Retiro-sporting my new hat and fan that I got from the market.
It was VERY hot there

Yay, me and Miriam! 

Then we went to this hole in the wall place to get tortillas.
And by 'hole in the wall' I mean that to get to this back room we literally had to duck underneath the counter where they had made a 4 x 4 hole in the wall.

And by 'tortillas' I mean Spanish tortillas- i.e. these beauties.
Apparently this is one of the best places for them in Madrid-Perks of being shown around by a local!

Then we took a tour of the inside of the palace. It was pretty cool! I feel like I know so little about Spanish history compared to the rest of Europe. This is a picture taken in the palace courtyard with the cathedral behind me

That's the other direction with the palace behind me. Apparently its the largest in Western Europe. Which I find surprising cause it kind of flies under the radar

Another view of the palace and gardens

Sunhat!

Aren't we cute?

That night I was tired of spending money so Miriam took me to this cool super cheap place where everything is between like 1-3 euros. I got a sampling of different little sandwiches which was yummy

They even had a chocolate bread and oreo sandwich so I couldn't resist getting that for desert.
It was good but very rich! 

So yeah! That was Sunday and Monday in Madrid! The next day we headed out for Segovia!

The Way Other Girls Carry Handkerchiefs

Ugh whenever I write these posts I know that there is so much more I could do with them and that my writing could be so much better. But time and human nature being what it is, I feel that something is better than nothing. And to add a tiny pinch of 'literary-ness' to the undertaking, I'll explain my title. It's a quote from a book called The Wanderess by Roman Payne which I have not read but which gives very intriguing, poetic passages about traveling. The line is: "When she was a child, my love carried a road map in her hands the way that other girls carried handkerchiefs." 

I love that and kind of want it to be me as I fancy myself an independent, adventurous woman. Although in modern day speak it might be more "All alone, Jenny carried a tourist map in her hand the way that other girls carried selfie sticks." 

Tehehehe. 

Anyway, the start to my Europe2016 adventure was in beautiful and mysterious Porto, Portugal. Looking for cheap flights to Spain, I found one that had an overnight layover in Portugal and excitedly took it. Any chance to experience a new country I take!

So, first of all, my experience getting to the airport from my apartment in Washington Heights was quite involved. With my backpack and suitcase I took the subway to the train station and then a bus to the Newark airport. The bus was delayed, it was SO hot and the traffic was cray. Luckily I had left super early. As I exited the bus at my terminal I suddenly had this sinking feeling of dread as I realized that I hadn't checked to make sure I had my passport. Since the trip to get there had taken about 3 hours there was no way I could go home and get back in time for my flight. 

Tender Mercy: I had my passport. Present Jenny was very grateful to past Jenny. And God. 

Since I got to the airport so early, I got dinner, called a friend and just chilled. The flight left near midnight and the old portugese woman sitting next to me was so adorable. As I approached she was like, "you falla?" and I was like, "no, I don't falla." 

She kept speaking to me in Portuguese anyway. 

When we arrived in Portugal I was exhausted because I had stayed up most of the flight watching Captain America: Civil War.  It was a free movie and I really struggle to sleep on planes so #NoRegrets, but it meant that I got to Europe pretty exhausted. Exiting the airport (which was eerily easy- the customs was practically non-existent) I waited for the metro into the city. 

It was SO adorably small. I have pictures but (sad day) I accidentally deleted most of them. Below are the ones I was lucky enough to salvage. It's fine. Sometimes I think people spend way too much time on vacations taking pictures and not enough time just basking in ambiance and enjoying a place. 

I got to my stop on the metro and exited to find myself staring at this gorgeous church. 

Just casually sitting there

The thing about Porto compared to many other places I've visited, most people didn't speak English. And I was an idiot and had forgotten to write down the exact address of my hostel. But after wandering around crowded cobblestone streets for awhile and asking random people for directions I finally found it. It was too early to check in, so I dropped off my suitcase and headed out again. I wish I hadn't been so exhausted but even so the city was unreal. Like I said above. Just kind of casually beautiful. Even the slums were so quaint and approachable. I say 'slums' because there were abandoned old graffitied buildings and people who clearly were living in or close to poverty but the vibe of it was so different than anywhere I had been before. 

Its sort of like the tropical version of Dutch Canal houses

I was experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance from traveling so much in that past week (Wedding in STL, to moving to NYC to Portugal knowing I would be in Spain the next day was a lot) so it was kind of hard to take everything in. 

My plan was to meet up with this free tour at around 3. When I looked up Porto before going one of the big things that popped up is that it has one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. Naturally I was like DONE. I have to go to there. So I did, but to be honest it was a little bit of a let down. The place was pretty but it's gotten so famous for being famous that it is just swarming with tourists and it was so hot and crowded. Still, I'm glad I went. Here are some pictures: 

I don't look tired at all right? ;) 

J.K. Rowling used to live in Portugal and apparently this staircase served as
inspiration for the rambling, nonsensical staircases found around Hogwarts! 

Sweaty but happy on the second floor of the bookstore 

According to the internet, this is what the bookstore looks like when it isn't bulimic with visitors: 

My gratitude to the websites that provided these images

So you can see why I wanted to go. And I'm glad I did. Just wish it had been less crazy. After that I went to meet up with the tour and it took a little while to find the meet up point and when I did it felt kind of weird because I was just waiting on this small residential street. The guy never showed and I wasn't too upset about that because I was getting sketched out. So instead I just wandered around and when I got smart I started following tour buses around. Obviously they were faster than me, but when I saw them turn I would turn on that street when I got to it too. I figured they would lead me to the best spots. It was a remarkably unplanned trip but that added to the adventure.

I'd never been to Southern Europe before and the
sun and palm trees give it a totally different vibe! 

 I asked the tourist office for directions and got the most confusing response. Amidst a hand drawn map that made no sense, the only understandable component of my instructions was to turn left at the McDonalds. 

BUT THERE WAS NO MCDONALDS! 

It's fine. I got there eventually. And I took the long way which was more scenic ;) 

For instance look at this amazing panorama of the city!

As my friend Liz once said, "sorry for all the selfies, but I was by myselfie" 

This is real life. 

Remember what I said about Porto having the most beautiful slums?
Here's a part of one of them- a majestic hill covered in ivy with small little houses underneath

I walked across the main bridge which gave some amazing views. It was truly breathtaking I just stood there staring for awhile. Unfortunatly the pictures either got deleted or are on my other camera and I'm too lazy to get them. But here are some pictures from the internet that give you an idea. My view was somewhere between the two both as far as perspective and coloring goes. But it was breathtaking and traveling on my own made me really wish that I had listened to my Papa and actually learned how to take real pictures! 

Unbelievable right?

This was more the coloring that I saw it in

After the bridge I went back to the hostel and went to bed really early in preparation for my 4 am departure the next day. I left the city exhausted but so happy to have gotten my brief chance to explore it

...And Then I Moved to New York City

So, life has been absolutely INSANE lately! In the past 3 months I graduated from college, roadtripped across the country, sang at my brother's wedding, moved to New York and travelled around Europe for two weeks. 

So like I said: Crazy. 

When that much happens its hard to know where to start with blogging (and even my personal journal has suffered). But I feel like this is as good a place to start as any- my move to the Big Apple. 

So Alex's wedding was on Saturday August 6th, then Miriam's baby blessing was the next day and then I left for NYC on Tuesday. Southwest lets you fly with two free bags so I packed two huge black suitcases and then took a big duffle bag and my backpack as carry ons which, luckily, I got away with. The trip there was pretty uneventful (except for the fact that I made friends with this eccentric lady at the airport) and I took a taxi from Laguardia airport to my apartment. 

I was so nervous to get to my apartment! I mean I had never met my roommates before and for all I knew it was all a big sham. I had venmoed them like $2,000 and they left the key under a pot on the porch so I mean there was a lot of social trust going on! I got dropped off with my plethora of bags and it was SO hot out. Luckily, I found the key and --with a little finagling-- was able to open the door to the building. I then had two long flights of stairs to climb up 3 times with all my stuff and, after a tentative knock, I found the apartment empty which was a bit of a relief. 

So, I looked around, dropped my stuff off and decided to go outside to get the lay of the neighborhood and have some dinner. Walking around the neighborhood I was like....oh boy. Gotta start learning Spanish stat! I live in a predominantly Dominican neighborhood and I got to a certain point where I was actually counting white people. It felt like I was in a foreign country and, to be honest, with everything so new and not necessarily in my language I was a but nervous about the safety factor. This growing paranoia was great considering that I proceeded to get locked out of my apartment. 

See, after dinner I went back to my building (an old, three apartment Dutch house looking structure) and the key just didn't work. I couldn't get the door open! I started panicking a little and, not wanting to look pathetic on my porch, walked around a little bit more hoping that my roommates would come home soon. They didn't. So I ended up just sitting out on my stoop in the dark hoping and dreading meeting my roommates in such awkward circumstances for the first time. 

Luckily they DID come home and they are AWESOME. Well technicially only one of the girls that showed up on the porch was my roommate but the other was the sublet sharing my actual room. We went upstairs and I got to know them a bit and they were both really chill and welcoming. There was another subletter staying in the apartment as well that week that I first got there and she was super nice as well. 

So, long story short, I ended up hanging out with the two subletters a lot that first week before I left for Europe. It was pretty random but I just went with the flow and had fun! My room roommate subletter was LDS so we went to the temple together and then to the Statue of Liberty. She was going already and I figured why not join seeing as I would probably run out of people who wanted to do touristy things with me! Turns out it was her birthday as well that day so later in the week we decided to go out to dinner and a comedy show with the other sub-letter. It's amazing how fast you can befriend nice people. It was a fun evening and the next day after a trip to Brooklyn to get my fingerprints taken for work I headed over to the Newark airport to set off for Spain! 

That's a story for another day though :) 

My stoop!
(From a picture that my roommate sent me when I was deciding to move in)

Add caption

Entrance to my apartment building!

The fire hydrants on my street had exploded and kids were out playing in
them which was so cuteand very understandable
because it was CRAZY hot that week

Subway be like: don't smoke, don't litter, don't ...impale yourself?

I bought a bike off of Craigslist!
The girl needed it for a few more days so the plan was for her to
drop it off with my roommate while I was gone

Impromptu Trip to Liberty Island with Joy, the subletter

There was an audio tour included in the price of the boat ticket and to be honest, hearing
what the statue of liberty meant to immigrants coming to
America for the first time made me kind of emotional.
'MERICA
(as it was meant to be)

The city was looking pretty epic behind me

Shake Shack with the subletters. We talked about boys of course and it was really fun.
But I was like, dang nadabbit  WHY
 am I making friends with none of the permenant people?!

Skipping ahead when I came home from Holland this was the site that greeted me.
I just have to give a shoutout to my sweet roommate Rachel who ended up having to go pick this bike up and walk 30 blocks with it through the city and up to my room. Looks pretty rad though, right? 

So yeah! That's the beginning of Miss Jenny starting her new life in NYC. I would say I'm off to a pretty great start!