how to find cool stuff to do

Living in Madrid alone has been pretty lonely at times.  Though I am an independent introvert, I've actually craved some friendships while being here.  Most of the time, I was busy enough not to worry about it and had enough people, but there were a lot of things I wanted to do with other people, knowing they'd be a lot more fun with friends!  Obviously, I still did them anyway. I've long outgrown the fear of eating alone, traveling alone, and even taking selfies/setting the self-time in super public places to get a good shot.  But in an attempt to stay busy and do really cool stuff while in Madrid, I became familiar with a lot of social media accounts and websites for special events or top destinations in the city.  Here are some of my favourites that you might even enjoy from afar:

1. ¡Madrid!

¡Madrid! is the official tourism site for the capital city of Spain.  Many other sites that I referenced linked to this page, so after awhile I used it as a starting point for finding fun things happening in the city.  They have the best up-to-date hours and prices for popular locations and museums.  The site is also translated (and well-translated) to English and is run by the Ayuntamiento de Madrid (City Council).  Whatever town you're traveling to or staying in in Spain will have an ayuntamiento, and that's a great resource for any visitor information and happenings in the area! I follow the Ayuntamiento de Madrid on all social media, too.

2. Veranos de la Villa

One of the coolest things I found indirectly through the ¡Madrid! site was Veranos de la Villa, a summer-long cultural event happening throughout Madrid.  The official start date was June 30, and the festival/event runs through August.  They're also on Facebook and Instagram (@veranosdelavilla_madrid).  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make it to any of the events yet (or they start at 10 PM and are an hour from my apartment!), but I think Pilar and I might go see the Madrid Symphony in an outdoor auditorium next Friday.  The concert is free as part of Veranos de la Villa!

3. Madrid Cool Blog

I started following this account on Instagram (@madridcoolblog) not long after I got home from Madrid last year.  I love seeing their pictures that feature different restaurants and lesser-known "cool" places in the city.  They also post in Spanish and English.  Instead of mindlessly walking around looking for a place to eat (really, you can't go wrong with this either) or picking a place that I recognise, I love having accounts like this to find a place nearby to check out.  It makes going out to eat even more of an experience and adventure when I'm looking for a particular location.

4. Atlas Obscura

I really just found this site in the past day or so.  I have a few free afternoons before I head home to the US, so I wanted to find a couple of unique ast-minute stops in the city.  I had never even heard of the Chamberí Ghost Station, so that's definitely on my list, and I'd also like to check out some of the street art in Lavapies.  This particular page also lead me to City Life Madrid.  Although City Life had some more common features in their list, I still learned about a new park I was unaware of.

5.  Madrid is Fashion

Erika is another blogger/instagram account (@madridfashion) that I started following last year.  She posts lots of Instagram stories, and I love to watch them to a) hear her tell stories in Spanish and b) see all of her cool recommendations and travels.  As mentioned in my How I Learned Spanish post, this is one of the top ways that I stay on top of my language learning and maintenance.  Following, liking, and taking time to actually read posts by Spanish organisations or bloggers does a lot of good for a quick check-in for Spanish skills!

6. Madrid Secreto

Madrid Secreto is a good Facebook page to "like." I find that I prefer social media to scrounging around websites looking for entertainment, since a picture or event shared on Facebook is automatically popping up in my feed that I'm already checking.  This page also gives fun facts about more common destinations in Madrid, so even if it's a place I've been, I learn something new.

7. LAE Madrid 

Unfortunately, I didn't think about an intercambio until almost halfway through this trip.  With a little bit of Googling, I found Language Exchanges in Madrid that shares a comprehensive report of language exchange groups, the times they meet, their mission (level, languages represented), and their meeting places.  Through this, I found my intercambio group that I've been going to: Se habla español.  Se habla español is on Facebook too and creates new events each week of their location and meeting time.  I've loved having this group as a way to meet new people from literally around the world (I've met others from Belgium, China, South Korea, Spain, England, Sweeden, and Columbia, just to name a few) and to practice Spanish!

If you're looking for fun pictures of the city- really any city- I recommend typing the name into Instagram and seeing the top accounts that pop up.  I follow several for various cities throughout Spain, and this is how I've learned about must-see monuments, hidden streets, and other random but very photogenic locations! @topmadridphoto, @planmadrid, @madridfoodguide, and @spain are some that I've been following on Insta for awhile.

Do any other city dwellers (in the US or abroad) have fun tips for finding all of the happenings in the area? Cities are so full of events and culture, I don't know how you could possibly keep up with it all!