Elche en inglés

It is one of those Thursday afternoons. I am sitting yet again in the computer lab of my university, yet again suffering from a lack of Internet connection at my new place. Waking up with the urge to post a little something in English, since it has been quite a while, I took a shower, got dressed and walked 20 minutes in cloudy but finally warm weather to school. On my way here I encountered a lot of oranges laying on sidewalks and streets, either mushed or still wholesome, I even witnessed a tourist-couple slipping on one those squished oranges and falling down...That makes me wonder: What happened last night in Elche? Did I miss some big Orange Show-Down?
I guess that will always be a mystery to me.
Back to my actual urge of giving an English update of my Spanish life en Elx/Elche. It is March and over 6 months have passed since I arrived here all sweaty and nervous. The sweat is gone due to cooler temperatures but its shaping up to be more springy, warmer, more Spain. I recently moved into a new place right in the center and to my delight very close to the best Italian ice-cream place Elche has to offer. Not only is it located very nicely but it also only costs me 100 Euro a month. Thinking of the German price-range my wallet is making jumps and is now more willing on spending more money on travel-adventures and the occasional of course very needed addition to my ever-growing wardrobe. So far it had bought me a weekend trip to Madrid, Spain's lively capitol right in the center of the country. You really cannot miss it. And while there I caught a show of Vampire Weekend, my secret obsession over the past so to speak YEAR.
Madrid greeted me with sunshine and to also show off its versatility with one rainy day. It took a while to grow on me. Its not as charming as Barcelona and Valencia are. The plazas are full of touristic-plastic stores, its a real quest to hunt down a nice creative postcard and little interesting art stores. But if you let it sink in and give it some time it will show you its point of view, its view of life and its very own way of being Spanish. La Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Prado, Reina Sofia...latter is a true find when looking for Modern Art, Installations and stuff.
Also the RASTRO on Sunday morning, a crowded flea-market where you can buy everything from the vintage leather couch to haipins and underwear and olives. Just watch out for your belongings! Being warned a million times I kept all my goodies save in my pockets and paranoid "ly"checked them every 5 seconds, the downside of being in a bigger city like this.
For everyone who knows Vampire Weekend...they personally topped off my stay in Madrid like the cherry a sundae. Giddy like a 13-year-old I was awaiting their arrival in the circus-like Arena. They played a well executed set of both their records and ended with "Walcot don't you know that its insane, don't you wanna get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight" way too soon after it felt like they only played an hour. But they left the crowd and me all sweaty and happily humming and smiling. What a show!
Madrid, Worth a Visit, I'd say!

Tomorrow: Valencia, Las Fallas...Later hopefully beach when the sun is showing its face again. More in later episodes! promise!
So long!

Love
marie