Grace's Guide to Studying Abroad

Citrus City baby!

Mar 10

For this past weekend Hope and I decided to piggyback off our friend’s plans and join them for a quick trip to Valencia! It was a very warm weekend spent mostly on the beach, Valencia is the closest ocean access from Madrid!

Mar 6

We met at the bus station for an 8am departure, and 4 short hours later, we rolled into Valencia! We were able to drop our bags at our Airbnb and head to our first (of three) paellas of the weekend. Valencia is the official birthplace of paella, so NATURALLY we had to try a different one each day. For science purposes of course. We then took a quick (windy) walk along the beach before going to the store for groceries. Because we had a well stocked kitchen, we decided we would cook dinner in both nights as to enjoy our cooking privileges.

Feb 7

Saturday morning we deciphered the Valencian metro system and ventured into the city center. We went to Mercado Central, one of the oldest markets in Europe still in use today. Unknown to us, we were in Valencia the week before their biggest festival, Las Fallas. Teams from across the city build large paper mâché sculptures and a group of judges votes on their sculptures and their performances, and the winner gets placed in a museum while the others are burned (which apparently is the fun part of the whole thing?). But, this weekend we were here, there were groups of performers walking through the city performing to gain popularity for their teams. We saw a team perform in front of Mercado Central as we were shopping around.

After our second meal of paella, we went to El Plaza de Ayuntamiento for the daily firework show that is put on from the beginning of March until the 18th, the last day of Las Fallas. As it was at 2pm, there wasn’t much to see but a LOT to hear. Which is the point! I think! I’m glad we knew it was happening beforehand as it would’ve been awfully scary hearing the loud bangs midday without warning.

After the firework display, we wandered through the old city center and saw many old towers and buildings, including the Valencia Cathedral, which claims to house the real Holy Grail!

Pasta dinner this night with a night walk along the beach and through the various parties being thrown on the streets for Las Fallas.

Feb 8

With almost a full day on Sunday before getting on our 6pm train, we decided to walk through the City of Arts and Sciences, an architectural complex in the city designed by Santiago Calatrava. We went into the aquarium, which was absolutely gorgeous.

After our third and final paella lunch (this one with squid ink) we headed back to the airbnb to pack and head out. It was such a fun weekend with Hope, Hunter, and Lo!

I was caught in the moment- too excited for more paella! this was the best one for sure

Unfortunately, the state of our study abroad program is currently up in the air because of the spread of coronavirus. Starting tomorrow, March 11, the Madrid province will suspend all classes for schools and universities for 15 days as a measure to hopefully stop the spread of the virus. For now, SLU Madrid has informed us that after this 15 day period they fully intend to continue classes on campus, but as the situation only gets worse and the number of cases only continues to grow, we remain unsure of what will really happen. Other schools with students at SLU Madrid have begun to pull their students and send them home, and the SLU students in Italy have also headed home as all study abroad programs in Italy have been cancelled. For now, I can only hope for the best as any decisions are out of my control, and continue exploring this amazing city I have been so lucky to call home for the past two months.

Much love, Grace

A weekend in Madrid…

Mar 2

Welcome back! After this past weekend’s extravaganza in Italy and Croatia, I stayed this weekend in Madrid. But not without having a TON of fun of course!! To kick off the weekend, Kate and I went to Templo de Debod to watch the sunset. So beautiful!

Feb 28

As a post midterms treat, I went Friday morning to get a pedicure. The pedicurist lady thought I was a Spaniard who had just moved to Madrid, and was shocked when I said I was from the United States learning Spanish here! This pedicure will pay off in a few days, you will see… Then I went to meet up with Hunter and Briana for a picnic in Retiro Park. We ransacked a very nice Carrefour in the Goya neighborhood for their best chips, salsa, cheese, gluten-free crackers, and strawberries. We put my newly purchased picnic blanket to good use!

After a quick change at home from this day-long picnic, we went out to dinner and then my friend Alyssa and I went to a (sandy) alex g concert in Sol! I had not previously heard his music, but I’ll do just about anything for €15.

Feb 29

With a very quick turnaround, I woke up at 8am on Saturday to head to the bus station. Keegan, Kayla, Hunter, Briana, and I headed to San Martin de Valdeiglesias for a vineyard tour and wine tasting at Bernabeleva. We were tasting unfinished wines out of barrels, and let me tell you, we were TOTALLY in over our heads. This man, the owner of the winery, was discussing the youth and roundness and the influence of the tannins on the strength and aggressiveness of the liquid, and let me say I could only tell you if it was red or white. I bought a bottle of their most popular red at the end of the tasting so that my parents could try it when they come in. I then decided to do some research into their US markets and where it is sold in the states. Well, its sold at Binny’s. 20 minutes from our house. I bought a bottle of wine from a vineyard in the rural outskirts of Madrid for my parents to try when they travel all the way across the Atlantic that they could have picked up in 20 minutes. But alas! A story nonetheless.

Let me mention that by this point, the ball of my right foot had begun to hurt and I was unable to put my full weight on that foot while walking. Discussed with Briana and she said not to worry, sometimes after long weeks of traveling and walking this would happen to her but in two days she would be fine. Ok carry on.

Mar 1

March?? Are you kidding?? Crazy it is March all ready. We celebrated with brunch!! Hope joined the 5 of us from the wine tasting for brunch Sunday morning in Malasaña. I ordered La Grace, eggs benedict with salmon and avocado (it was MADE for me!!!), but unfortunately I never took a picture so here is a picture of Keegan’s french toast.

Now by this point, let me say that my right foot had become swollen and tender to the touch, and I was unable to put a lot of weight on it. Concerned but not overly concerned, I decided it would be for the best to go to urgent care in the morning for an X-Ray just to make sure nothing was super wrong. As to not start a panic as last time I reached out to my mom while I was gone and injured myself, I sent a text saying, “what’s the worst that could happen? A stress fracture?”- OK cut to Monday.

Mar 2

And here we are at today, and what a day it has been. I woke up with my foot still swollen and decided to take myself to urgent care. After working through interactions with three medical professionals in Spanish before someone offered to let me explain my symptoms in English so they could piece it together, I received an X-ray and a diagnosis with a severe stress fracture on my 3rd metatarsal in my foot. Great! I book my foot! Abroad! Gotta be kidding me right? Me, Hunter, Hope, and Briana (known to most as the Core Four) went to the orthopedic outfitter nearby and I got my sexy new walking boot. They threw me a pity party that consisted of eating chips and salsa and signing my boot with a silver sharpie. And off to the pharmacy to fill the pain meds script! And here we are, Monday night, after a long crazy day, laying down with my right foot elevated above heart-level, writing to all of you. I miss you all so much!!!!

With love, and a stress fracture – Grace ❤

G & G’s GOT Jams!!!

Feb 24

Hello everyone! Let me apologize for my radio silence last weekend, I was busy preparing for my three midterms I had. I did have time for a little fun though, and got my nose pierced! This was my first cartilage piercing so it did hurt more than expected, but it has been healing quite nicely! Yaya suggested maybe she should get one too… Anyone want to chaperone that while I’m over here??

Feb 19

As soon as midterms ended, I began packing for our adventure, dubbed “G & G’s GOT Jams” 1. For alliteration purposes, 2. Because it was me and Gabby, 3. Because somehow we planned an entire 5 day trip around going to see a filming location of Game of Thrones. With the main theme song downloaded on our phones and our bags packed, we first headed to Rome, Italy. We flew in Wednesday evening, settled into our Airbnb, ate our first pasta dinner and jaunted over to the Colosseum. Gabby and I definitely made a habit of going to see monuments in the dark, our pictures have way less people!!

Feb 20

Gabby, being game to do anything, allowed me to convince her Wednesday morning before we left that we should sign up for a Vespa sidecar tour around the city on Thursday. So, we met our guide at 9am and hopped in our red Vespa to explore!! I’m very glad we caught ourselves before accidentally booking the much cheaper “Vespa rental self-driven tour” as we may not have made it out alive.

Now, you may ask, how did I get my legs into the sidecar? God only knows. But we did it, switching back and forth between the sidecar and the seat behind the driver for our 4 hour tour of the big sights of Rome. Unbeknownst to us, Vespa sidecars do not really exist and the owner of this tour company had them specially designed and made in the factory outside of Rome. Because of this, there were LOTS of paparazzi taking pictures as we drove around. So many, in fact, that I’m probably going to be featured in more than just this blog post from the weekend.

Throwing a coin into the Trevi fountain- make a wish!

After a delightful lunch of calamari, pizza, and cannoli at Il Mercato Centrale, we met up with a group of friends for a pasta making class. We headed out to the burbs, and walked through a Carnaval festival on the way to the restaurant.

Let the pasta making commence! After our wine tasting of a white and a red from the Frascati region, we mixed, kneaded, cut, and sauced our own noodles into a DELICIOUS meal!

Feb 21

Friday we ventured out to some Roman sites we had not yet seen on our Vespa tour, such as the Roman forum, the Spanish steps, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. And man, did we get our steps in, 10 miles! We decided to tackle the Roman metro system as to avoid a 2.5 mile walk home from Vatican City, which we did with much success!

Feb 22

Saturday morning, Gabby wrote a lab report and I planned our self-guided tour of Old Town Dubrovnik in the airport. With the gate only announced an hour before takeoff, we got stuck in a huge passport control line and had to run to catch our flight to Dubrovnik. It was a CLOSE ONE! We have no kind words for the Fiumicino airport…. but we made it! We bussed to Old Town and RAN to Fort Lovrijenac for sunset. PERFECT TIMING! Fort Lovrijenac is a fortress that Game of Thrones filmed many scenes of the Red Keep in. Star power! We made it just in time for some amazing pictures of the city.

Feb 23

Making the most of our 24 hours in Dubrovnik, we got up at 7:30 to eat breakfast at a park overlooking Fort Lovrijenac and Old Town. A quite nutritious breakfast of Pringles, premade croissants, oranges, and “shake it shake it”-brand cappuccinos. We got into Fort Lovrijenac to explore right when it opened at 9am, and we were the only people inside! It pays to travel during off-season for sure. After the Fort, we walked the 1.2 miles of city walls around Old Town, stopping every 30 feet for another picture of the SPECTACULAR views of the city and the ocean. It was absolutely breathtaking!

The whole part of Old Town Dubrovnik is a protected UNESCO site which is why it was spotlessly clean and amazingly upkept. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of Daenerys’ dragons while we were around, heard they were taking a vacation.

And as if we hadn’t seen enough, the way our flights worked out we had a 6 hour layover in Barcelona before an overnight bus back to Madrid. Seeing that we couldn’t just spend this time in the airport, we hit the ground running. We saw two of Gaudí’s apartments, La Sagrada Familia, la Arc de Triompf, AND went to the beach before crashing at the bus station.

While I can’t say we necessarily enjoyed our 7 hour bus ride home at 12am… I CAN say that I absolutely loved spending this crazy long weekend with Gabby exploring the Mediterranean. We had an awesome time geeking out about Game of Thrones, seeing as many monuments as we could in the dark, and eating as many carbs as we possible could!

Now, back to studying for one more midterm and finalizing a Spanish project for me… I will be staying in Madrid this weekend and visiting winery for a vineyard tour and tasting on Saturday, so stay tuned!

Love you all so so much,

Grace xx

Morocc’an around Marrakech!

Feb 10

Helloooooo!!!! Be warned, this is gonna be a long one- I have SO many things to share! This weekend I went with 8 friends to Marrakech, Morocco, allowing me not only to check off a new country but a whole new continent! I cannot say this trip went off without a hitch, but after our first crazy day of travel, we had an amazing time in the city exploring new gardens, new markets, and new foods.

Feb 7

Bright and early 7:40am flight out of Madrid airport to Marrakech! Ryanair has amazing leg room in the exit row, which I was very grateful for as we spent an extra two hours on the plane. There was some serious fog when we descended into Marrakech and after we had circled around and tried to land three times, the pilot made the call to land at the closest airport in Agadir. Sure, Agadir is a 30 min flight from Marrakech, but a 3 hour bus ride, as we soon discovered. Landing in Agadir, Ryanair arranged 3 coach buses to drive us through the Moroccan countryside to get into Marrakech a mere 7 hours after we were supposed to land. Definitely saw more of Morocco than we bargained for! We absolutely ransacked the gas station the buses stopped at halfway through for various snacks and multiple cans of Pringles.

After a “Lord of the Rings”-length trip over the mountains and valleys of Northern Africa, we reached our riad, our home for the weekend. A riad is a traditional Moroccan style home built with a central courtyard designed to hold trees and a garden. This design insures all rooms have natural light, whether to the outside or to the courtyard.

A few pictures of Riad Assafou, the most fun part being the pink toilet. Of course.

After our AMAZING host Ali gave us a quick tour of the neighborhood and the surrounding streets, and a restaurant recommendation, we were on our own. Using landmarks such as “belt stand street”, “crazy boys sign” and “left at parking lot red car”, we made it to dinner! Google maps does work in Morocco but some of the streets we used are not included on the maps as they are too small and twisty for cars to come down. Our first dinner place was a little too touristy for our liking, but nevertheless a safe call after such a long day.

You don’t have to say it, but yes I know I do look like I haven’t slept in ~20 hours — correct!

Feb 8- THE BIG DAY

Saturday was the pièce de résistance, and we all knew it. I have been waiting to do this excursion since I first found the company freshman year. A sunrise hot air balloon ride, traditional Moroccan breakfast, AND camel ride! In 5 hours! YES I KNOW RIGHT?!??! Marrakech by Air was an amazing company and got a gleaming Yelp review from yours truly after an absolutely perfect morning and checking “hot air balloon ride” off my bucket list. We were picked up in the parking lot down the street from our Riad at 6:30 am, and drove an hour outside the city to the desert. While drinking coffee and orange juice and eating croissants, we watch as the staff inflated the hot air balloon. 17 people hopped into a 20-person basket, held on to the takeoff ropes, and we were off! The hot air balloon was surprisingly stable with no swaying or jostling as we rose to 3000 feet. Almost as if this wasn’t their first rodeo, we floated into the perfect viewing position for a sunrise over the fog on the sands of Marrakech. We took in the breathtaking view as the pilot queued up “Circle of Life” from the Lion King on the speakers. Many pictures were taken in the air and on the ground, because does it mean anything if I don’t pictures to share on my blog?? Just kidding, of course it does. I will never forget how quiet we all were taking in this amazing experience that we are all so lucky to be having in our abroad.

Kayla and I enjoying our first of two breakfasts waiting for the balloon to inflate

As if we hadn’t already gotten our moneys worth, after landing the hot air balloon we sat in a Berber tent for a traditional Moroccan breakfast with LOTS of refills on the mint tea. So many refills that we were practically shooting back mint tea so we could get as much as possible. Yaya, Boppa, I looked into buying mint tea for your house to add to your international collection, but the traditional way of making their national drink is by adding a fresh bunch of mint to a hot kettle of loose green tea, steeping them together. Then you add a TON of sugar, and voila!

At the table were two types of Moroccan bread in the middle (never got the names), pita, oil, honey, cumin and salt, hard boiled eggs, olives, and mint tea.

AND as if it couldn’t get any better, we then went on a camel ride! Honestly, we’re pretty sure the camels were just chilling in a parking lot, but there were palm trees so it was a picturesque parking lot. Lots of camel pictures here, mine was so photogenic!! I felt something akin to these weirdly proportioned ostrich horses, which is why me and Ralph (the name I gave my camel on our walk) got along so well.

Me and Ralph- I mean, look at this guy! No bad angles!

After getting back and resting from our exhilarating morning, a smaller group of us took to the streets! Anddddd quickly returned as a Saturday at 3pm is the BUSIEST time we could’ve walked into the big square. Jamaa el-Fnaa is the main square of Marrakech, full of men carrying around monkeys to try and place on your shoulder for money, vendors yelling from behind their street food stalls, others trying to sell “real Gucci here! Almost free! Good price!”. I’m sure with more investigating you could find some good things in the stalls, but for us, it was a tad bit too overwhelming for the afternoon after our crazy morning adventure. So, we ventured back down “parking lot street” (as we called it), and stumbled upon an AMAZING bakery. So amazing, we may or may not have gone 3 times in 2 days. Who am I kidding, we definitely did! Some of the pastries looked like traditional baklava I have had before, but some were completely new to me!

Saturday night was when we asked for dinner at the riad, again organized by our amazing host Ali. He made us briouates (similar to an Indian samosa), chicken and preserved lemon tagine, tagine of lamb with prunes, apricots, and eggs, vegetable tagine, and a HUGE tagine of Berberé 7-vegetable style couscous. The 9 of us didn’t even make a dent in this couscous, the serving dish was as large as a pizza pan and as tall as a layer cake. Ali and his two staff really outdid our expectations, serving us on the roof of the riad with individual chocolate layer cakes for dessert.

Feb 9

If you didn’t think Ali could be an any better host, he whipped up breakfast for the remaining members of the group on Sunday morning. Some people left early Sunday morning to study before classes on Monday. Monday class, what? Studying, what? What’s that? Anyways… full on our delicious breakfast we ventured to the neighboring Bahia Palace. Walking off the busy street of cars, motorbikes, bicycles, tourists, and locals, into a calm serene palace with gardens and exquisitely tiled courtyards was amazing.

To continue our garden trend, we then ventured onto some new city streets in search of the Jardin Secret. To this point, Ali had walked us down or at least shown us the way to everything we had done so far. But to the Jardin Secret, we relied on my inherited sense of direction from my dad, the downloaded Google map on my phone, and my inflated sense of self-confidence of a weekend of everyone calling me “Cruise Director”. So off we went! And we made it! Anthropologie would KILL for this aesthetic.

“A cactus! Should I touch it?”-Gabby “Yeah let me grab my camera”- me

After shamelessly stopping for more pastries at our bakery, which we learned the name was Corne de Gazelle (after the most popular Moroccan pastry design – which we didn’t realize we hadn’t tried yet, so we just haddddd to go back), we had some time to rest before dinner. On Yelp, the photos showed the restaurant having an awesome rooftop terrace, so of course we asked to be seated there at 7:30pm. Being winter in Morocco, no one had been sitting on the rooftop terrace and none of the lamps worked. It was, hmm, romantic? Luckily we took a few pictures before the sun went down completely.

Feb 10

As if this blog post couldn’t be longer, Abby, Kayla and I had the morning to spend in the city before heading to the airport. We went down the street to the Moroccan Culinary Arts Museum, and learned almost all there is to know about couscous. Each room was dedicated to a certain dish, whether it be tagines, salads, pastries, couscous, tea. This museum is also a riad that had been neglected but restored by someone interested in protecting traditional design and architecture. My favorite exhibit was the spice room, which my camera could not capture for the LIFE of me, but alas, it had a display of all of the most important spices in Moroccan cuisine.

This is where our weekend ends, with a (luckily) uneventful flight home, a rush to make it home for dessert, and a quick unpacking of the backpack with all of my clothes and a repacking of my backpack with all of my school work tomorrow.

I learned a LOT on this trip, that Moroccan motorbikes are not afraid to cut around sharp street corners, that the strategy to try and intrigue a group of girls to come look at your street vendor goods is by yelling “spice girls!!!” as if they don’t know the most iconic girl group, TLC? I mean, come on, the Spice Girls are British!! Moroccan people are NEVER afraid to crack a joke, whether it was the hot air balloon pilot roaring the fuel while explaining the “very important rules of flying in the balloon” or our taxi driver asking us which terminal we were flying out of which threw us into a panic before he enlightened us with the information that there is only one terminal. As a group of young, American women (and Camron) venturing to this country for the first time not being able to speak either of the official languages and being constantly warned by family and friends about being safe and cautious, I cannot say I wasn’t apprehensive going into this trip. With the help of our amazing host Ali and our own drive and willingness to explore, we really made Marrakech our b**** this weekend, and I am very proud that we all came together to enjoy an amazing culture we have never experienced before. Thank you mom for trusting me that I would be responsible and safe and smart and, although I know you were nervous, look at these pics! And I have a present I got all the way back to Madrid in one piece for you!! (it’s a surprise!).

Love you all SO SO MUCH!!!!! – Grace

P.S. Yes, I know it may seem like I never actually go to school here, and while that is basically true, this coming weekend I will be spending in Madrid studying for my midterms. That is not to say we will probably be sick of studying an hour in and go do something fun instead, but, I do do homework every once and a while!!

A weekend in Brrrrrr-lin!

Feb 5

Hello everyone! This past weekend I went to Berlin with two of my very good friends in the SLU occupational therapy program, Hunter and Briana. Although it was rainy everyday and much colder than Madrid, we had an amazing time exploring this German city for 3 days! Berlin is DEFINITELY a “cool city” with a very New York-style grunge vibe minus the hustle/clean edged side of the Big Apple. It was very intimidating at first as we have been spending so much time in such a warm, loving country, but we learned to appreciate the German angst.

Jan 31

Getting in to Berlin after a long three hour flight, we decided our first stop should be the world-famous doner kebab shack, Mustafa’s Germüse Kebap. This little stand is right off an U-bahn stop (my new 3rd favorite public transportation system) we took from the airport, and it really was worth the hype. We all got the doner kebab, and it was DELICIOUS. We knew that standing there less than 2 hours into our trip that we could be peaking eating that kebab. This kebab had EVERYTHING! Sweet spicy chile sauce, creamy yogurt sauce, grilled vegetables, spiced meat, fresh slaw, mint, tomatoes, and it was heavenly.

After eating our glorious kebab we headed to the East Side Gallery, a preserved part of the Berlin Wall now adorned with murals from various artists. At this point it started raining, and unbeknownst to us, it wouldn’t stop raining until Monday morning.

Feb 1

As the rain continued, we decided the best way to spend our morning was to venture out on a sightseeing boat tour, to see the big sites of Berlin from a dry, heated location. While we missed the memo that we had to buy the English audioguide for €5 before we got on the boat, we still enjoyed the panoramic views of buildings that are probably important to Berlin’s skyline.

We spent the afternoon wandering in and out of various clothing stores in Berlin, a continuous cycle of getting intimidated by all of the cool edgy-looking workers and then walking into the next store to be intimidated again. Fun! Briana and I decided we are too “J Crew” for Berlin, but Hunter definitely held her own.

The biergarten we visited for the classic German experience (soft pretzels and German bier, of course) was so disappointing and mediocre we didn’t even care to take pictures.

Feb 2

Sunday morning we went to a place called Silo for brunch, recommended by Hunter’s aunt who lives in Prague. It was delicious! Then we decided to tackle Museum Island, a literal island in the city center of Berlin with five of its most prestigious museums. We saw the Pergamon Museum, the Neues Museum, and the Altes Museum. The Pergamon Museum had seemingly removed and rebuilt part of a Babylonian building inside its walls, which I have never seen in a museum before. Insert here some ridiculous photos I took pretending to be a tour guide, as I subconsciously turn into one on our trips. Shoutout to the cute Cath Kidston purse I spontaneously purchased in the Heathrow airport!

On our way off of museum island, we stopped to get a good look at the Berlin Cathedral, before it continued raining. Umbrellas can be good photo props though!

Feb 3

Of course on the morning we leave Berlin decides to clear up the clouds for a sunny day, but we crushed Berlin anyways!! After a long flight home (almost with a diversion to Valencia as the Madrid airport shut for 2 hours for “suspicious drone activity”, which is NOT a fun thing to hear while in the air) we made it back to sunny warm Madrid with time to unpack and rest before school started back up again on Tuesday. I’m getting used to this “3 day school week” thing! My advisor already emailed me asking for my class schedule for next semester, how rude of SLU to give me classes on Fridays!!! Guess I’ll have to readjust to normal life soon, but not just yet!!!!

It’s been a month since I said goodbye to my family at O’Hare, how time has flown!! Miss you all- but having an AMAZING time!!! – Grace xx

A message from the Queen…

Jan 28

Now that I have your attention, I would love to share the details of the most amazing weekend I shared with the McBurney family on their tropical island in the Atlantic Ocean. On Friday, January 24th I flew to London, and after my enjoyable journey on the London Underground, reunited with Allison, Gerard, and Charlotte. We shared stories of the past years over Southern Indian food and fresh mint tea. The next morning we woke early so I could catch my train to Cambridge.

Jan 25

From Liverpool St with one McBurney sister…

Arrived in Cambridge just in time for brunch!!! After walking through the town of Cambridge and into university grounds, we settled into Helena’s dorm at Newnham College. Seriously, it’s like Harry Potter. You’ll see. Cambridge is organized into colleges where students live, study, eat, and work, and Newnham is one of the few all-women colleges at the university. Which is awesome!! At 2pm Helena and I headed to a Shakespeare workshop offered through the English department. I was originally told that we were only going to watch, but you can guess who got called up to perform a scene from a Midsummer Night’s Dream…

Saturday night Helena and I attended “Burns Night” a celebration organized by friends honoring the Scottish poet, Robert Burns. We ate traditional Scottish haggis (don’t look it up if you don’t already know what haggis is, sometimes you are better off not knowing- but it was enjoyable) as Helena recited one of Burns’ poems, “Address to a Haggis”. We spent the night with Helena’s very good friends from uni whom I was very excited to meet and trade gossip and embarrassing stories about Helena. Being in a long distance friendship for so long meant lots to catch up on!!

Jan 26

Sunday morning we enjoyed a walk around Newnham’s grounds, famous for its gardens. Also, the library at Newnham looks straight out of Beauty and the Beast?! Cannot believe Helena goes to a school as fancy as this, it really puts SLU’s Pius library to shame.

After our morning meander, we went into Cambridge town to celebrate Helena’s friend Héloïse’s birthday for a very fancy sushi lunch!

Namera giving some serious side eye in the back of this picture…

Quickly after our midday celebration, we got ready for Helena’s choir rehearsal, service and formal! Cambridge colleges host formal dinners various times throughout the semester with certain themes/attributes. The one we attended was through Peterhouse college’s choir, which Helena sings in throughout the week. We dressed in our best and donned our official Newnham undergrad gowns (like a Hogwarts house robe, yes). At the formal there was a headmasters table (Dumbledore where are you?) and a gong was rand before we sat to enjoy our three course meal. Cue horrible non-flash photos inside the candlelit dining room of pea soup, roast lamb, and pineapple upside-down cake.

Jan 27

Somehow, after all of this, Helena even got me to EXERCISE on this trip! Yes! Helena is super sporty at Cambridge! I joined the Newnham W3 boat for their 7am rowing practice Monday morning, volunteering to bike alongside the river with them as they rowed. And boy, were those bridges hard on a bike set for someone 5’4″. Alas, I’m proud to say I biked 7 miles along the Cambridge river watching Helena be ever so athletic. And the rowing boys! Enough said about that, although I did tell my SLU roommate Dina that I would come back and join our rowing club to increase the possibility for Cambridge to scout me for my last year.

After rowing practice, we headed to Pret for a quick breakfast before my day of travel to get back to Madrid. Train from Cambridge to Liverpool Street, Underground to Heathrow, plane to Madrid, and metro all the way home.

My “post trip” apartment elevator selfie – spot the Cath Kidston bag??

All in all, I had an absolutely AMAZING weekend with all of the McBurneys, and everyone we connected with was very impressed how close Helena and I have stayed throughout these years across the pond. Friends since 1st grade is a very long time! I love our friendship and I am so happy that now we are only a 2 hour flight away, and no jet lag!!!! This won’t be the last time you will see the McBurneys on my blog, I guarantee it! Allison, Gerard, Charlotte, and Helena, thank you for everything, I love you all so much.

Love- Grace xx

Museum, Museum, Museum. Oh my!

Jan 22

Since I’ve last posted, I’ve visited three of the many museums Madrid has to offer. And, with a student ID, they have all been free! Most of these museums did not allow many pictures of the works inside (or I forgot to take any…), but I summarized below.

Museo del Prado

As we overheard someone saying in the security line in, the Prado is one of the most highly-regarded art museums in the world, second to only the Louvre in Paris! The Prado is ENORMOUS, in our 3 hours inside we only covered 75% of the first floor. I should have started counting the number of paintings including Jesus from the beginning, because I am certain the number would have been over 200. Catholic country for sure! Goya’s black paintings are featured here, which are super haunting and creepy (no pictures allowed in that room).

Museo Arqueológico Nacional

On Sunday the 19th we ventured to the National Archaeology museum to meet one of our professors for the semester. Profe. Matute, and her 16-month old daughter!!, met our class at the museum for a guided tour with a focus on language, as she teaches our History of the Spanish Language class. I must say I was a little distracted by her adorable daughter Blanca running around, but it was fascinating to connect what we’ve learned in class about the formation of language through conquests, social classes, and time. Ironically, I didn’t take any pictures of anything with a historical language on it… my blog skills are slipping…

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

Going 2 for 2, Hope and I decided to explore another museum on Monday the 20th. Museo Reina Sofia is a museum close to Retiro Park with a large collection of more modern art that the classical pieces in the Prado, with some big names like Picasso and Dalí. This museum holds the Guernica, a very important piece about the Spanish civil war, by Pablo Picasso. Of course the featured exhibition was one focused on typography and language, and being non-fluent, Hope and I struggled a tad through that one. Alas, we wandered for the sake of art! Again, ironic that these pictures don’t actually have any pieces of art from the museum..

Typing this now on Wednesday 22nd, I must say I am INCREDIBLY EXCITED to be heading to London on Friday to see all of my longtime best-est friends, the McBurneys!!!! It sounds like Helena already has my weekend booked at Cambridge, I can feel myself getting more “posh” already!!

Xoxo, Grace

A week in!

Jan 14

Hello again everyone! Another day, another update. This Friday, 1/10, we spent our afternoon in Retiro Park, a very large green space 5 minutes from my host apartment. I was lucky enough to finally get someone to take pictures of myself, inserted below. With an iPhone 11 no less, so portrait mode did its thing (so much in fact, that you can barely see the monument to Alfonso XII in the back!!).

Another day, another part of Retiro! On Saturday we discovered a book fair along the southern border of the park. I almost bought my mom a vintage cookbook consisting only of jellied mashed potato recipes, but I hesitated. Missed opportunity!

Sunday we ventured into the center of the city for El Rastro. El Rastro is Madrid’s largest open air flea market, with more than 100,000 attendants every week! I sure do believe that, as it was nothing more than slightly organized chaos. In the best way! We went from walking on a quiet street from the metro exit to being swept up into a swell of people making their way through the stalls of the main drag and the surrounding side streets. And we saw EVERYTHING!! Gas masks, scarves, vintage fur coats, Real Madrid jerseys, live birds, antique toasters, tablecloth crumb sweepers (which my host señora has and actually puts to good use!), old telenovela VCR tapes, you name it! Hope and I decided to begin a “book club”-esque reading circle of various €2 romance novels we found at a stand devoted to this genre. Which shall I start first?

And as if we had already had a full weekend of exploring our new home for the next four months, I don’t have classes on Monday! Whoop whoop for a four day weekend!!! We decided to spend our fourth day of the weekend at two “must hit” tourist attractions in the city, La Plaza de España and El Palacio Real de Madrid. Well, someone didn’t to their research (me!), as we quickly learned La Plaza is undergoing MAJOR construction. Cool graffiti on the blockades though! Onto the next grand event…

El Palacio Real de Madrid

The Royal Palace of Madrid, as we discovered, is free on Mondays-Thursdays from 4-6pm. I have a habit of inviting EVERYONE I know to join me on my plans, so me and a group of ~10 of my favorite people ventured to the palace!! Somehow, everyone else in Madrid got the same message. No problem for us! Just a little wait in line. And it was AWESOME! Many photo ops on the outside grounds, hence I have many photos to share. Not many photos were allowed inside on the walk through of the palace, but it was very fancy!

the actual front of the palace, makes sense.

the ONE picture I have of inside the palace…

signing off with Gabby, Hunter, Briana, and Hope!

Hola de Madrid!

Jan 9

With ~54 hours in this city under my belt, it seems like the perfect time for an update! After arriving at my host señoras apartment on the east side of Retiro Park (the largest green space in the city), I settled in and met my 3 roommates. We went to orientation on Wednesday morning, and I saw EVERYONE!!!!!! All of my SLU friends have also settled in nicely with their host families. After orientation, Gabby, Hope and I ventured off for 3 things: Euros, SIM cards, and our transportation cards. 3/3 errands completed successfully! We found time for lunch at El Golfo de Cai, a restaurant near Cuatros Caminos with an AMAZING menú del día for €13. I had a spinach and ham crepe, pork, a banana mousse-situation, and of course, vino tinto ;).

After lunch we headed to, drumroll please…. La Plaza Mayor!!!!!! A place I’ve learned about in every Spanish class I’ve ever been in, I can finally say I’ve been! I’m certain there is lots of history in the plaza, but to us, it seemed like it has now become a tourist hot-spot with many over-priced cafés…. still cool!!

Obligatory “jumping in La Plaza Mayor” photos of Gabby and Hope

First day of classes!

After our exhausting, 20,000 step day around the city center, I of course was only able to sleep ~4 hours before waking up to go to class! Every Tuesday and Thursday I will have four classes, three 4000-level spanish classes in the morning, back-to-back from 9:30 to 1:45. After a nice three hour break, I round off the afternoon with Intro to Theology at 5pm. Perfecto! The SLU-Madrid buildings are abundant with patios, including a rooftop patio with a GREAT spot for a panoramic photo – thanks to traveling with Jason Coates I always think of our summer vacations when taking “panos” as he calls them.

To round off this long, busy, exciting day, a beautiful sunset as I came up to open air after riding the Metro on my 30-minute commute (a very very efficient public transportation system by the way, St. Louis- take notes). It had the same colors as Harry Styles’ new album, Fine Line, which I was listening to on my ride home. Coincidence? I think not!!

As for what’s on the books for this fin de semana, no sé! Probably off exploring Madrid’s finest tapas and parks!! Be back soon – Grace ! Love and miss you all ❤

Welcome!

Hello everyone! You are all friends and family of mine so I don’t feel the need for a large introduction, but I’ll set the scene. Tomorrow at 4:10pm (16:10) I will be taking off from O’Hare to experience a semester-long European adventure with a home base in Madrid. I will be in four classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving me a 4 day weekend to travel and explore both my own country and those surrounding Spain. I am venturing out with some of my very best friends, some alongside me at SLU-Madrid, others in locations such as Vienna, Austria. We have a few trips planned, to Marrakesh Morocco in February, Dublin, Ireland in March, and many more in the works. I hope you enjoy following along through posts and uploaded pictures, and don’t mind the typos/subpar grammar!