Madrid

Although it was terribly sad to say good-bye to Hannah in Sevilla, I was tremendously excited to be going to Madrid, namely because Kristin, my 一番友達 ("number one friend" as my host mom would say) from Japan, lives and goes to school in Madrid.

After dodging around the giant baby heads in the train station (I'm not kidding you):


Michelle and I met up with Kristin outside. It was pretty fantastic to see her again and incredibly surreal to have a Beloit friend meet a Japan friend in Spain. It's so odd how people's paths tend to cross. After eating lunch at a tasty kebab restaurant, Kristin gave us an epic tour around Madrid.

The center of Spain where I stood and twirled for good luck:


The crystal palace (with Kristin!):



Our combined languages on one sign (English, Spanish, Japanese):


Giant beast ducks:


A palace turned hostel where we stayed for two nights:



The next day (April 15th), Michelle and I mostly wandered around Madrid aimlessly. We walked around an art museum that was very easy to get lost in. I really, really liked some of the paintings wherein because they weren't all Jesus on the cross or baby Jesus with Mary. (I'll be completely honest, I've seen enough of those to last me a lifetime.) I also almost left my dissertation behind in the gift shop, but luckily rescued it before I completely forgot it. (Don't ask why I was carrying it around with me.)

After the museum, we took a long nap, I worked on my dissertation some, and then we went to a Chinese restaurant to eat. (I told you we ended up doing that a lot in Spain.)

Our last day in Madrid we packed our things up at the hostel and moved them over to Kristin's flat where we were staying for our last night. We hung around her flat for a while, until Kristin had school things to do. Michelle and I left and went to enjoy the park where the ducks were again. Hannah had said she was going to be in Madrid that day and we had been hoping to meet up with her, but had not been able to get in contact with her so we'd given up on the idea of seeing her again.
Michelle and I loitered around in a cafe for awhile, mostly waiting for Kristin to get back to her flat so we could return ourselves. A little later in the evening, we left the cafe and stood around outside it for awhile, trying to get our bearings, when suddenly Hannah pounced on us.



Apparently she and the student group she was with were staying in the hotel right next to the cafe. One of her friends had pointed us out to her from inside the lobby and she ran out to greet us. The world can feel so unfathomably huge sometimes and at other moments ridiculously tiny.
So we were quite glad to have found each other. We went out for tapas with some of Hannah's friends, then said our good-byes and headed back to Kristin's flat. I wish I could have gotten to see Kristin a little more. It was nice having someone to reminisce about Japan with. Some days it feels like I was never there.

The next morning, Kristin made us french toast and we all left together for the train station. It was incredibly sad to say good-bye to Kristin, since I had no idea when I would ever see her again. Maybe if we both return to Japan one day we'll see each other there!