Sunday, January 13, 2013

Shopping!

    Today Claire and I set off to Sol to go shopping. I knew Sol was a big shopping area, but geez, it is big! It is almost like Chicago or another big city, but has big stores, most still with apartments on top, a lot that are well known. It still looks very old and historic, even though there are shops and restaurants.
     We first stopped in H&M and looked for a little bit. We saw stuff that we kinda liked, but it was just ok. We then decided we both needed to find one of those chiffony, flowy, kinda see-through shirts. If you have been shopping lately, you probably know what I mean. Well, we didn't find one, so we headed off to the next store, which happened to be Zara. Zara is a really popular Spanish store, we were kind of disappointed with their selection. A lot of it was dark colored and some of it was even kind of grungy, I guess you could say, and a lot more expensive than H&M. The next store we stopped at was called Lefties, which had a lot of shirts and blouses. I liked some of the stuff there and it was reasonable priced. We then really wanted some American food, so we stopped at Burger King. It was a lot more expensive than in the U.S., so been there done that. They did have Chicken Fries, which they no longer have in the U.S. 
    After lunch, we went to El Cortes Ingles, which is like a Macy's, but we never found any clothes. It was multiple floors (like 8 or 9), but the floors weren't as big as what you would think of in Macy's. It also has a grocery store in the basement. We went up the escalator and looked at most of the floors. The hair straightener Claire brought from St. Louis stopped working, so she bought another one. They had a nice little section of Madrid things, and I bought a little coin purse to put my change in because the one I am currently using is too big and takes up all the space in my purse! It has different places in Madrid written on it, so its cute. 
     We then stopped by H&M number 2 and Claire and I tried on some jeans. We are both very confused with European sizes...some of the stores we stopped in had both U.S. and European sizes, so that was good. After trying to find some jeans to try on, I found some but they didn't fit. The ones that would probably have fit me had stripes or stars or something...they weren't normal jeans! The pair Claire tried on fit, so she bought them. I also tried on two shirts, but neither of them looked quite right. 
     Really being on a jeans hunt now, we tried 2 other stores, each one of them had cute stuff, but I didn't have any luck! It is hard finding jeans and other pants when you are short and are curvy. One store had jeans that were mostly U.S. sizes 2 and 4, and 0! 
      So, I am now on the hunt for: 1. flowly, chiffony, button-up collared, maybe with some ruffles shirt, 2. dark wash mid-rise slim jeans that actually fit, 3. a Real Madrid jersey or shirt and 4. of course boots. I have not been able to find any tall "riding" type boots...the only ones that call my name are Frye's, which are like $400. So, hopefully I can find some cheaper boots here in Spain, since they are known for their leather goods that tend to be inexpensive.
     After our shopping, we went to SLU Madrid for 6pm mass, which is usually held in a classroom on the highest floor of Rubio Hall. If the weather is nice then they have it out on the balcony or somewhere outside. When we first walked in I was surprised it was just a classroom, and also who was sitting in the classroom....Fr. Biondi, President of Saint Louis Univeristy. No one could actually believe he was there. SLU students don't really see him that much, so it is a surprise when we see him. But, he actually does go to Madrid and visit campus here, so that's good. When we were all introducing ourselves, he said he was the janitor and he cleaned up all the mess at SLU....those Jesuits! After mass he shook everyone's hands, and he told Claire and I that he would be back for the opening of the new building. Mass was nice, but I am really going to miss going to 9pm mass at SLU with all of my friends and Micahs!
     For dinner we had some sort of puree, bread, and roasted chicken. 

Things I have learned in Spain:
  • When you don't know where you are going, just walk around some more and you might find it
  • Burger King is expensive in Madrid
  • It is hard to find jeans that fit
  • Fr. Biondi visits SLU Madrid 
  • I need to find a cute, sturdy pair of leather boots
  • Some people in Madrid don't shower every day (or every other day) and don't wash clothes a lot
  • Spanish people must like H&M
  • Sol is crazy and it would probably be best to go shopping during the week
  • Make an appointment online with a metro office so you can get a metro card really quick
  • I miss eating popcorn and will probably need to go find some
  • Spanish clothing stores like playing American music...ex: Taylor Swift "Never ever ever getting back together" and another song, Eric Church "Drink in My Hand", Madonna, and much more
 
¡Adios!

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