{travel} day 5 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

Today is a big deal. I am finally caught up on my road trip blog posts! Only a month and a half later.... oops! After this one I will finally get back to Spain postin'. Our final day of the trip was extremely busy. We started off the day by exploring St. Augustine, and then took to the road again to go see my favorite singer in concert in Orlando. We didn't feel like paying for any more hotels, so after the concert we drove back to Tampa. 207 miles plus lots of activities in one day? We were exhausted.

I have mixed feelings about St. Augustine. I used to love going as a kid because the old fort was exciting to explore, and it is on the water. It is certainly a beautiful and charming little town, and it used to feel like a step back in time in Spain. However, after living in Madrid for an entire year, "historical St. Augustine" just feels like a fraud! Although I will say that I have never been outside of the tourist quarter because I never have enough time to explore further. Is St. Augustine outside of the tourist quarter cool? Anyone?

Fun fact for the day: St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European established city in America. It was originally discovered in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, and founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. The city actually still has ties with the Spanish government. We found out that the king and queen of Spain are set to come visit and give a speech from a balcony of the oldest hotel in the city in 2015.

{life} that time I saw Mumford & Sons live

Back in October 2012, I randomly decided to look up Mumford and Sons' concert schedule for 2013. I was just kind of half thinking about the possibility of them playing in Europe, but didn't think they would go to Madrid.  Well. I started to freak out when I saw that they were going to play in Madrid in March. I immediately called my friend I was going to move to Madrid with and was screaming on the phone that we HAVE TO GET TICKETS OMG. 

I clicked through to Spain's Ticketmaster and still thought that I was going to be lucky enough to see them live in my new city. However, the website was completely in Spanish and it took me a while to figure out that the tickets were completellllly sold out. It was heartbreaking. BUT! Last month Mumford moved venues in Madrid to accommodate more people and released more tickets. Best day ever was finding this out and buying our tickets.

Denim, whiskey, & Mumford - what else do you really need?

We convinced some girls we have met through our work program to come with us. They are from the United Kingdom!

It was an INCREDIBLE show - Marcus Mumford sounds exactly the same live as he does on his CDs.

He is perfect.

Here are some videos someone uploaded of our concert in Madrid last night - enjoy!

Babel  - Live in Madrid

Awake My Soul - Live in Madrid

Little Lion Man - Live in Madrid

Have you ever seen Mumford & Sons live?

xx, Jen

{holiday} Happy Memorial Day!

Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue - Toby Keith

American Girls and American Guys
We'll always stand up and salute
We'll always recognize
When we see Ole Glory Flying
There's a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band

I thank God for my life

For the stars and stripes

May freedom forever fly,

Let it ring.

Salute the ones who died,

The ones who gave their lives so we don't

have to sacrifice 

all the things we love.

God Bless the USA - Lee Greenwood

I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. 
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. 

Never forget the reason for this holiday.

Have a great day everyone!

xo, Jen