Adiós España, Madrid, Alicante!

After the weekend I started my last days in Alicante, it was a time of saying goodbye to lots of people, a time of goodbye 'fiestas'! Until Tuesday I had Loes over, with her we had a party at the apartment (with the famous game thruth or do). The last days we all chilled at the beach, the weather was so nice! Incredible! Also Sarah and Ali visited us so that was fun too! Thursday was Ian's birthday, so we decided... as it was my last night, to throw a small last party! We had Nachos con guacamole to start with, later we had Fachitas(?) de Pollo. All of this accompanied by Caiperosjka's and Fresh Morrocan Menth Tea!

Thursday after breakfast I took the train back to Madrid, where I had a last dinner with Sandrine at Korguí. Great food, great last coctail and great last free chupito. To end this Madrid-period Sandrine really wanted to go to the irish pub next to her apartment, so we had some drinks for the road!

Friday at 6am I took a cab to the airport, I said goodbye to Madrid and some hours later I arrived in Belgium. It felt like I never left... but no problem! 2 hours later I was driving my car in the direction of Paris... 3 days of reliving the experience of last year!

If I look back at those 5 months, I can say it was a great experience... one that passed by incredibly fast!

THE END!

La sensación de verano!

I'm starting my last weekend now, the weather here is still more than perfect... sunshine all the time, sitting on the beach ... having a cocktail while getting tanned, wóóów! I love it!

So last week I said goodbye to some people, saying goodbye always includes a 'goodbye party'! Tuesday evening we had a pasta at the apartment with Marissa, Birgitta, Katie, Ian, Elias and me! This was the last night for Katie and Birgitta... after dinner we had a great dessert, a wodkamelon and later we talked and talked and etc. with the necessary beers in our hands.

Wednesday I stayed at home and did some schoolwork, which is a necessity too... boring night so I won't say to much about that!

Thursday Marissa, Ian and I visited the Castel of Alicante, it's situated at the top of a rock just next to the citycentre. It was very warm and a serious walk but definitly worth it... great view!

Thursday in the evening we had to say goodbye to Elias, he had to take his flight friday early in the morning! First we had dinner (again at the apartment), with Marissa, Ian, Elias, Ingmar and me! After dinner Elias wanted to do a 'Kneipetour' which is barhopping in the centre of Alicante. At 5.30 we arrived at the apartment again, Elias his taxi was waiting already! Another goodbye...
The next goodbye will be mine, just 7 more days and I'll be back in Belgium! Tomorrow we go on an excursion with school to see waterfalls and caves... looks interesting, let's hope it will be interesting aswell! Loes also arrives tomorrow evening... so, all this things together will give me lots of new material to write about next week!

La Playa y más visitas!

Last week after going to school we went to the beach every day until 8.30pm! Afterwards I went home and chilled at the apartment with the flatmates.

Thursday Francesca arrived, she's an English girl I met in Madrid that's doing a trip through Europe. We all (Francesca, Marissa, Ian, Birgitta, Katie, Illias and me) went to the beach and enjoyed the summerfeeling! Friday was kind of similar but in the night we decided to visit Alicante by night. First we went to the port to have a drink on a terrace, later that night we went into the small 'pub' streets of the city. After closingtime we all went to my apartment for a last drink.

Saturday we visited 'El Campello', a small village at 30 km of Alicante. At noon we had lunch in a small restaurant, afterwards we visited an archeological site. Because of the good weather we found it crucial to visit El Campello's beach too! At 8pm we took the bus back to Alicante...

Tomorrow, sunday, we'll definitly go to the beach again... more updates will follow somewhere next week!

Natasha visita Alicante!

Last friday I said Madrid and my friends overthere goodbye to start a new adventure. Saturday at noon I left for Alicante. I arrived here in the late afternoon, a bit later Natasha arrived (my first visitor in my new city)! In the night we met Marissa and Ian, 2 students from Madrid that changed to Alicante too. We had some Sangria on a terrace at the port and later we went into the crowded streets where we found ourselves a bar. At the bar there was a guy with snakes around his neck, Natasha and I wanted to experience that aswell, so a minute later the snakes were on our shoulders!

Sunday in the morning we went to Playa San Juan, a beach neir to Alicante where Marissa and Ian live. We were there all day and the sun was definitly more powerful than I expected, I looked and felt like a tomato. In the evening we sat on my terrace and talked about funny experiences,etc.

Monday I had my first schoolday, so Natasha went to the beach alone (not for long, a french guy found his way next to here).

The school is a lot smaller than the one in Madrid, but that makes it more relax. The teachers and students are nice so I'm sure my last weeks will be a good mix of studying and fun! In the evening I had a lot of homework to do, so I did that first. Afterwards we sat on the terrace (again) with my new flatmates; Illias from Germany, Jung and Jungi from South Korea...

Today at noon Natasha went back to Madrid, I went to school and after school Marissa, Ian and I went to the beach where Birgitta and Katie were waiting for us!

A good, quite calm, first weekend at the coast...

Fiesta Fiesta!

This last week I went out quite a lot with people from school. It's my last week now so I want to enjoy it till the maximum!

On thursday we had the schoolparty followed by the usual Hora Bruja, friday we started on a terrace.. later we went to Sweet, a club ( that actually wasn't that sweet). Saturday we enjoyed the good weather and in the night we went out in Tribunal, to the Pacha and later to Joy!

Stephanie @ Madrid

Thuesday in the evening I went out with Stephanie, Davina and Natasha. First we went to the Hard Rock Café we we admired NY upside down, then we visited Plaza Colon and it's flag of 25kg! Later we went to a bar and a nice special club.

An, Free y mi Familia a Madrid!

Last saturday my family arrived at Madrid, They all took a cab to their hotel at Gran Vía and afterwards we went to Corgui, a trendy restaurant in La Latina. The weather wasn't that bad so we were able to walk along the Palacio Real and Opera.

Sunday morning I went to the hotel to have breakfast with teh family. Some time later we started a long walk through the city, at noon we had lunch at Plaza Sta Ana, and afterwards ( as promised) I showed Pieter the Belgian Pub. In the evening we had dinner in a restaurant called 'Matilda', located in the Salamanca district of Madrid.

Monday after breakfast my father, Manu, Free and I went to visit Santiago Bernabeu. Later we joined the rest to do some shopping. At noon we had a great lunch in 'Root' - Chic, Cheap & Cool -

At 15.30 I had to go to school, in the mean time the family went shopping. In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant (a bit strange maybe in Spain), Pizzaiolo! A cosy place with a good ambiance. To end this weekend we went to a bar for a drink. The cracky boxes played U2 and the bartender was an exact copy of Bono in a drunk condition.

Monday after breakfast they all left... time for a little siesta I thaught because in the evening I was going out with Stephanie and her friends!

Thanks for the supernice weekend!

Los Geerts a Madrid

Last Friday Mick and his parents arrived at Madrid. They took me to "Con Dos Fogones", a nice restaurant near to Plaza de España. The food was really great and the ambiance even better! Later on I went to Yambala with people from school, we had some sweet cocktails and later we moved to an afterclub... the katmandu! Fun fun fun, we were in bed when we saw the sun!

Saturday Papa and mama Mick, Mick, Sandy and I went for a walk through the city... the weather was great so it was super! We looked for tickets for the game Real Madrid-Valencia but it was a bit to expensive... Later on we went to a restaurant, "El Viajero".. first we had a drink on the roof! 'Heaven', Later we had dinner in the restaurant! I started to get the feeling of being on vacation with all this restaurants...

Sunday we went for a walk through the park, a tortilla at Calle Alcala, a Sangria at Plaza Mayor and a belgian beer at 't cafeeke!

It was an interesting weekend, visiting some new parts of Madrid, eating in different restaurants, etc. Thanks Mama and Papa Mick for inviting me the whole weekend, it was really nice!

Segovía

This morning Sandrine and I decided to go visit another city than Madrid, Segovía. This city is located on 90 km of Madrid near to the mountains. When we arrived there, we first looked for a restaurant because we were starving! Our need to eat made us chose the worst restaurant of the city, the food looked and tasted like it had been served to 20 other tourists already.

After this poor experience we started our visit to the old centre. The history of Segovía goes back to 80. before Christ when it was ruled by the Romans. After the Romans, the Moors took over the city until 1085, the moment that the Christians (on their turn) took over this beautiful city.

Te most important monuments of Segovía are: The Roman Aquaduct ( 1st and 2nd century), the 16th century Cathedral and the 14th century Alcázar (a citadel from which you have a great view over the valley).

Caroline, Steve y Nicolas... Tranquilo!

In the weekend we went to Reina Sofía, again... but now we did the temporal exhibitions which were very interesting! Also the bar in the museum was more than OK! After this visit we went to a nice winebar to take a second apero... Very nice! In the evening we had dinner in a trendy restaurant 'ENE'. It's kind of of a loungebar actually... first time in weeks I had to eat with knife and fork! It was supernice, also Steve gave me some funny background about Sandrine what made it a LOL night!

Thanks Steve and Caroline for inviting this pennyless student!

El 5. de Abril con Stefanie y Nathalie

Last thursday Sandrine, Nathalie, Stefanie and I went for a walk through the city, later on we had tapas and wine in a small restaurant near Plaza Santa Ana. We stayed there a long time while we were talking about Hermes, the studentclub we're all in. Around 1AM we went to our favorite bar 'La Hora Bruja' to show them the real erasmus feeling. There wasn't a lot of people because most students went home or on vacation (Semana Santa), still we had a great night! We were obliged to stay out very late because the sisters had to take their plane back to Belgium at 6 in the morning!

Michel @ Madrid

Saturday Michel arrived. After dropping off his luggage we went to a tapasbar where we had a small lunch on the terrace. After that we found it necessary to do a museum, we planned the Prado, but the line was so long we got got tired just looking at it. No problem we thaught, we just went to another museum, actually my favorite one in Madrid, The Reina Sofía!

After this visit we did a long walk through the city, we passed Plaza del Sol, Opera, Palacío Real, Plaza Mayor, etc. Next to Plaza Mayor there's a belgian bar and finally, after almost 3 months, I could convince someone to join me for a pint overthere (without doubt that person was Michel). A little later also Marret decided to join us in 't cafeeke! I must admit, I don't know too much about beer, but for what I saw, they had every belgian beer I know!

Pieter, I noticed that when you're abroad, you really like to go to belgian pubs (Bxl in NY). So, at the end of April I'll make it my most important point to show you 't cafeeke, after breakfast...

Later on we went to Quentin's place for a final party... he left for France on sunday. It was a calm party, at least calmer than last time! However, it was a great party... later that evening we went to Huertas and found ourself a nice bar to end Quentin's Madridlife in the real Madridstyle!

Sunday we woke up quite late, and still I was tired ( the earcaps didn't work, my Ipod tried... no way you can ignore 110 decibels...). After that we did a walk through another part of the city, we passes Plaza de Ventas and booked ourselfs seats for a bullfight.

At 6PM we met Loes, Marissa and Katie at the Plaza de Toros. We bought some drinks and chips and went to our places to witness the 'Corrida de Toros'. At first the bull is really wild and agressive and the toreros just try to make him tired. After that the toreros throw a pair of special arrows into the bulls neck. One torero finishes the job with some sort of a sword... not a nice view (I think it was the torero's first time, he didn't prick the bull once but more like 10 times).

It was interesting for one time, but I wasn't convinced! Let's just say my 6 months visit to Spain makes it obligatory to taste also this cultural heritage...

After the bullfight we went to a nice restaurant, Il Pizzaiolo... Italian, Me gusta mucho! We went to bed early because I had school and Michel had to leave Madrid at 9 o'clock the next morning.