Nothing very exciting happened this week of classes although the homework load is definitely starting to pick up. Especially in Econ although what I am learning is very interesting and will definitely be very useful in the future. It has made me realize how little I know about Europe in modern times... post WWII. I don't really like the teacher that much. He's a bit dry and has a weird sense of humor and laugh, but it's alright. I think I'll do well in the class although I'm pass failing it. I think it's just my perfectionism shining through a little which I guess isn't bad. I just need to try... to not try as hard because I don't really have to.
On Monday Sean, Michi, Dan, Jack and I went to see Inglorious Bastards.. it was absolutely amazing. I loved the move although I've heard varied thoughts on it by different people. I don't know exactly what it was about it that I like about it so much but I felt completely drawn into the movie as if I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The characters were very well developed and the plot was solid. I'd definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. It was in English with Spanish subs which was helpful because 1/3 of the movie is in French or German..
The week really went fast. I felt like it was School, gym, nap, work, sleep. Then Thursday rolled around and it was already time to pack for Barcelona. Unlike with Seville, I left myself a bit more time to pack for this trip so I could leisurely pack and walk over to Atocha to meet up with the group of about 60 Erasmus students to embark on our 8 and a half hour bus ride. I've had about enough now with long bus rides. I think I need a week off from them. It was a bit weird when I got there because I have 3 distinct friend groups that are on the trip: The California Group, the Wash. Univ. Group, and the Int'l group. I decided to stick mostly with the Int'l group although I spent most of one day with the Wash Univ. group. It was a good decision I think although I felt bad almost ditching the California group. But you can't hang out with everyone because if you try then you will end up not really getting to know anyone. I sat next to Diana from Romania on the bus although I didn't know her at all. She was friends with Kasia and Greg so I figured she'd be nice. Between Kasia, Greg, Diana and I we talked for the first 2 hours of the trip and by the last half hour it felt like half the bus had joined the conversation. Diana is extremely nice.. maybe too nice and too selfless. We spoke mostly in Spanish but used some English because she wanted some practice because it had been awhile since she'd spoken it much. She had worked in the US for a summer and her English is extremely good. Same Greg's and Treron (can't spell it correctly) but it's almost intimidating how high of English levels they are at. They understand practically everything. We talked about Kasia's wedding, how Diana loved the US and the people there and how the stereotype about American's is far off in her opinion, and many other things. Then it was time for sleep because in just hours we'd be starting our long weekend in Barcelona..
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Seville Day 2 - Flemenco
Got up just before 10 to take advantage of the free breakfast in the Hostel.. just toast, jelly, yogurt, and some tea, but who can complain.. it was free! and my wallet is starting to get very light and I no longer have a nice bundle of cash stached away in the card deck in my room in Madrid.. I really need to get that debit card soon/ now.. but I know I´ll make in by in Seville without any money problems.. After breakfast we waited around for a bit before the free walking tour (tips expected) around Seville. When the tour guide got there.. you knew..she was very outgoing and an in your face kind of person. But she was pleasant and talked alot so we got a bunch of good and interesting information about all of the city and all of the buildings we passed which included all of the major ones in the city. For 5 euros.. it was definitely worth it and I though better than the horse ride.. but that´s money already under the river.. She told us all about the rich history of Seville starting with the more morose story about the persecution, execution, and expulsion of the Jews and ending more or less with the more lighthearted story about how legend has it that anytime a virgin walks under the big statue of a Angel with a horn at the entrance to the old cigarette factory, the horn would blow... She said the horn didn't play very often; that girls from Seville know how to have a good time.
Got some great pictures too because the weather was tremendous on Sunday! Sunny, low 80s and very clear. It was supposed to rain constantly both days.. but the weather people are clearly always wrong. Should have listened to Jess´optimism.. We ended the tour at the bull fighting arena and she told us about the history of bullfighting and explained in her opinion and that of the majority of Spanish people, why bullfighting is an art form and why it doesn't deserve all the negative criticism that it is currently receiving; that all these bulls that die in the arena have lived long and very fulfilling lives. They have been given plenty of food and exercise and were able to have sex with (her words not mine..) with all the cows they could ever want. We will see because in a couple weeks I will be going to a bull fight with our program here and I guess I can get my own opinion on the subject after watching it.
After the tour Luz, Margarita, Melinda, Alice, and this one student from Cornell decided to walk around for a bit and go over to the Gypsy side of the city (Triuno) over the bridge. We found some small restaurant to eat at before a lot of the group had to get back to catch their bus. It was very different on the Gyspsy side of the river though. I got a very different vibe from it. Perhaps it is the fact that the two sides of the liver lived almost completely in separation because there was no bridge built between them until the 19th century. Before that they had just roped boats together to bridge the water and so that the young women working in the cigarette factory couldn't smuggle much tobacco to their side. There is such a rich history in old cities like this and something that I wish we had more of in the United States. I think when I get back I'll need to start doing a few more of the touristy thing in Boston and also explore more of my own country and perhaps take a road trip to California.
But after everyone left it was just Luz and I and we walked all around the city very leisurely. Then we went over to Real Alzazar, a massive palace built in the 14th century to which I had not yet gone. It was extremely beautiful and elaborate, but I think that I like the Cathedral better. But it was very relaxing there especially when we sat down for awhile just to talk in the gardens. It was late afternoon and at that point when the light has lost just a bit of its strength and the temperature has dropped just a couple degrees with a light breeze. It was the perfect temperature and atmosphere. There were birds flying around and the distant echoes of the small, slightly ghetto waterfall there. Around 6 we left for La Casa de La Memorias, a professional Flemenco club, where we got tickets for a show that night. Then we walked back to the Cathedral and managed to slip into a mass there for a little before leaving for a quick bite to eat before the Flemenco show. The section of the Cathedral where the mass was held was absolutely beautiful and I think the most pretty part of the building largely because it was more clean than the other parts. I've been thinking about religion and the Catholic Church a decent amount since I've been here since 95% of the history is linked in some way to the Catholicism. I feel like behind all of these beautiful works of art there is so much pain and hypocrisy at times. The majority of the funds and raw materials for these amazing sculptures buildings, and paintings came from taking advantage of a variety of different peoples. In most cases it was the Native Americans or the Jews. Although they are amazing and inspirational pieces of art... where do you draw the line as to what defines art. In class we were shortly discussing whether or not Bullfighting is art and many students mirrored the thought that it is not because it is directly bringing about the harm and death of a life form. Although I do not yet have a strongly established view on the topic, I feel that if all of this Catholic art can be called art, then bullfighting should as well. Whatever the source of the money is, I'm not going to deny that these are the most amazing works of mankind that I've ever seen.
Got dinner at some little tapas bar and then eventually made our way over to the Flemenco Club after getting a little lost in the narrow winding streets. We were the only two young people there other than one or two others that were there with their parents. I think it is because it takes a bit more planning to get in because the tickets sell out very fast. It cost 12 or 13 euros for the show and I can honestly say that it was the best buy I've made since I've been here. It was an electric and magical environment and the dancing was absolutely pheonomenal. The movements were so crisp yet fluid and perfectly in sync with the music and singing which accompanied it. Flemenco is a little like tap dancing with an Arabic vibe to it with respect to the arm movements. The passion in their faces and in each of their movements made it an unforgettable night. I just wish Jess could have been there to see it all. We're definitely going to need to travel together more because there is so much to see out in the world and now is the best time to travel and see it all. Provided that I still have money, but I think I'll be fine. Studying abroad really makes you get the world traveler bug. After the show we went right to the bus. Got a bit of sleep on the buss.. much more than on the way down and got back at 5:15 am. Took a couple of days to get back into the normal rhythm of things again.
Got some great pictures too because the weather was tremendous on Sunday! Sunny, low 80s and very clear. It was supposed to rain constantly both days.. but the weather people are clearly always wrong. Should have listened to Jess´optimism.. We ended the tour at the bull fighting arena and she told us about the history of bullfighting and explained in her opinion and that of the majority of Spanish people, why bullfighting is an art form and why it doesn't deserve all the negative criticism that it is currently receiving; that all these bulls that die in the arena have lived long and very fulfilling lives. They have been given plenty of food and exercise and were able to have sex with (her words not mine..) with all the cows they could ever want. We will see because in a couple weeks I will be going to a bull fight with our program here and I guess I can get my own opinion on the subject after watching it.
After the tour Luz, Margarita, Melinda, Alice, and this one student from Cornell decided to walk around for a bit and go over to the Gypsy side of the city (Triuno) over the bridge. We found some small restaurant to eat at before a lot of the group had to get back to catch their bus. It was very different on the Gyspsy side of the river though. I got a very different vibe from it. Perhaps it is the fact that the two sides of the liver lived almost completely in separation because there was no bridge built between them until the 19th century. Before that they had just roped boats together to bridge the water and so that the young women working in the cigarette factory couldn't smuggle much tobacco to their side. There is such a rich history in old cities like this and something that I wish we had more of in the United States. I think when I get back I'll need to start doing a few more of the touristy thing in Boston and also explore more of my own country and perhaps take a road trip to California.
But after everyone left it was just Luz and I and we walked all around the city very leisurely. Then we went over to Real Alzazar, a massive palace built in the 14th century to which I had not yet gone. It was extremely beautiful and elaborate, but I think that I like the Cathedral better. But it was very relaxing there especially when we sat down for awhile just to talk in the gardens. It was late afternoon and at that point when the light has lost just a bit of its strength and the temperature has dropped just a couple degrees with a light breeze. It was the perfect temperature and atmosphere. There were birds flying around and the distant echoes of the small, slightly ghetto waterfall there. Around 6 we left for La Casa de La Memorias, a professional Flemenco club, where we got tickets for a show that night. Then we walked back to the Cathedral and managed to slip into a mass there for a little before leaving for a quick bite to eat before the Flemenco show. The section of the Cathedral where the mass was held was absolutely beautiful and I think the most pretty part of the building largely because it was more clean than the other parts. I've been thinking about religion and the Catholic Church a decent amount since I've been here since 95% of the history is linked in some way to the Catholicism. I feel like behind all of these beautiful works of art there is so much pain and hypocrisy at times. The majority of the funds and raw materials for these amazing sculptures buildings, and paintings came from taking advantage of a variety of different peoples. In most cases it was the Native Americans or the Jews. Although they are amazing and inspirational pieces of art... where do you draw the line as to what defines art. In class we were shortly discussing whether or not Bullfighting is art and many students mirrored the thought that it is not because it is directly bringing about the harm and death of a life form. Although I do not yet have a strongly established view on the topic, I feel that if all of this Catholic art can be called art, then bullfighting should as well. Whatever the source of the money is, I'm not going to deny that these are the most amazing works of mankind that I've ever seen.
Got dinner at some little tapas bar and then eventually made our way over to the Flemenco Club after getting a little lost in the narrow winding streets. We were the only two young people there other than one or two others that were there with their parents. I think it is because it takes a bit more planning to get in because the tickets sell out very fast. It cost 12 or 13 euros for the show and I can honestly say that it was the best buy I've made since I've been here. It was an electric and magical environment and the dancing was absolutely pheonomenal. The movements were so crisp yet fluid and perfectly in sync with the music and singing which accompanied it. Flemenco is a little like tap dancing with an Arabic vibe to it with respect to the arm movements. The passion in their faces and in each of their movements made it an unforgettable night. I just wish Jess could have been there to see it all. We're definitely going to need to travel together more because there is so much to see out in the world and now is the best time to travel and see it all. Provided that I still have money, but I think I'll be fine. Studying abroad really makes you get the world traveler bug. After the show we went right to the bus. Got a bit of sleep on the buss.. much more than on the way down and got back at 5:15 am. Took a couple of days to get back into the normal rhythm of things again.
SEVILLE Day 1
Turns out that I was the only one in the bus that ended up having two seats to myself. After 6 hours of off and on sleep we finally made it there, but we were too tired and it was too dark for us to start enjoying it yet. It was only 7am and it was very cold and I had just a t-shirt and shorts on.. not the smartest choice, but I was in a rush. But one thing I did manage to bring or do that no one else remembered to do was to get directions to the hostel from the bus station. Fortunately I had taken a picture of the email they sent us about how to get there so after the deliberation and imminent slow action of any large group, we made our way over to the hostel which was near the center of the city and about 15 minutes away walking. Unfortunately we couldn´t check in until 10:30am so we sat around and ate breakfast on some park benches for an hour or so until we dropped ourself off hesitently in the commonroom of the hostel. They said it was safe but I wasn´t quite confident about it considering it was my first stay in one. Then we made our way together to the absolutely amazing Cathedral which is the 3rd largest in the world and the 2nd largest gothic structure as well. It wasn´t open yet for tourists, but what was running was a tour of the city by horse and carriage.. I was in and we got together a group of 4 to do it. It was just 10 euros and it was worth it. It wasn´t amazing but it was very relaxing and gave you a quick look at everything in the city and many things we would not have otherwise had time to see. The driver was this old Sevillan man who was the quinticential carriage driver.. it was like he was out of a movie and he was very nice although a bit quiet at times. Went by the Cathedral, the bull fighting arena, one of the oldest and best in Spain, the University of Seville (70,000 students) which is located inside of the city´s old tabacco factory which is massive and beautiful and has a moat around it, the Palace of Alcazar, the Plaza of Spain, the Gardens, and much more. After the tour we did some tourist shopping, relaxed a bit and then went into the Cathedral as soon as it opened. It is spectacular inside.. kept in tremendous condition and is the proven resting place of Christopher Columbus or at least a large portion of him.. I can´t explain it all but please check out the pictures that will be up this Wednesday! We then walked over and got lunch... took almost 30 minutes to find the place that had been recommended to us but we eventually found it and it was very good.. maybe not worth the walking.. but it was affordable. But one thing I like here is that although they say that in the US everyone is Capitalistic and out for the money, but here they charge for everything.. eating outside.. 30 cents per tapa ordered.. 7% tip included.. the bread which we didn´t even ask for.. and sometimes they even charge for the bathrooms here. But we spent about 2 hours eating and talking. It was very nice and was just the 4 of us. It was an interesting group.. I don´t know if I´ll be great friends with all of them but they definitely have different perspectives and come from California or Mexico so have had very different lives than I. I´ll spare the details about each of them but two had a little thing going on between them although they are very, very different. I don´t see the relationship going far especially because one of them has a girlfriend back in the States.. but according to him it´s a don´t ask don´t tell kind of agreement when abroad..
After lunch we joined up with the main group back at the Hostel to take a much needed nap. The Hostel was nice.. or definitely good enough for our purposes. And the room I was in was with just BC people so I didn´t have to worry about my stuff as much although it would have been nice to have been with others in order to meet new people. From then on I stuck with the other group while the group of now 3 hung out by themselves for the majority of the rest of the trip. I like the new group better and found them more fun overall. After waking up we went over to get Flemenco tickets but they were sold out for the night unfortunately. Then picked up some wine and sangria for our botellón later and then went out to a nice tapas place for dinner. Got chiken kababas(thought they were going to be more like the bonner kabab sandwiches which are delicious, but they weren´t) which were good but nothing special.. I wasn´t very hungry. Then I ended up eating half of Margarita´s dish which was a squid in a black sauce of some sort which was great although a bit salty. Definitely more like what I wanted. I need to learn some more spanish food words so I know what I´m ordering moreso. I just want to try something native and different everywhere I go. Pizza would be nice at some point though..haha After talking about cameras with Melinda and other things at dinner we went back to pregame a bit on the roof of our Hostel with a view over all the city. Then we went over to the free, ameteur Flemenco show which was not very impressive and I got a bit tired afterwards, but after leaving I decided to stay out with 3 other girls and explore the city a bit more at night because it was only 1am.. Earlier I had walked around on my own for about an hour and so had established my bearings in the city, so I guided everyone around to Plaza España and a bunch of other buildings and places which looked magnificent at night. We ran into this Fair of the Nations and a outdoor restaraunt next door which looked informal, yet very romantic where people were eating on velvet beds outside. It was very interesting and refreshing becaues we had no expectations. Before heading back we found the party district.. but we weren´t in the mood to go out late that night and were all starting to get a bit tired but it did seem like a lively and young party scene. Didn´t get lost surprizingly given the very thin and winding streets and then went right to bed.
After lunch we joined up with the main group back at the Hostel to take a much needed nap. The Hostel was nice.. or definitely good enough for our purposes. And the room I was in was with just BC people so I didn´t have to worry about my stuff as much although it would have been nice to have been with others in order to meet new people. From then on I stuck with the other group while the group of now 3 hung out by themselves for the majority of the rest of the trip. I like the new group better and found them more fun overall. After waking up we went over to get Flemenco tickets but they were sold out for the night unfortunately. Then picked up some wine and sangria for our botellón later and then went out to a nice tapas place for dinner. Got chiken kababas(thought they were going to be more like the bonner kabab sandwiches which are delicious, but they weren´t) which were good but nothing special.. I wasn´t very hungry. Then I ended up eating half of Margarita´s dish which was a squid in a black sauce of some sort which was great although a bit salty. Definitely more like what I wanted. I need to learn some more spanish food words so I know what I´m ordering moreso. I just want to try something native and different everywhere I go. Pizza would be nice at some point though..haha After talking about cameras with Melinda and other things at dinner we went back to pregame a bit on the roof of our Hostel with a view over all the city. Then we went over to the free, ameteur Flemenco show which was not very impressive and I got a bit tired afterwards, but after leaving I decided to stay out with 3 other girls and explore the city a bit more at night because it was only 1am.. Earlier I had walked around on my own for about an hour and so had established my bearings in the city, so I guided everyone around to Plaza España and a bunch of other buildings and places which looked magnificent at night. We ran into this Fair of the Nations and a outdoor restaraunt next door which looked informal, yet very romantic where people were eating on velvet beds outside. It was very interesting and refreshing becaues we had no expectations. Before heading back we found the party district.. but we weren´t in the mood to go out late that night and were all starting to get a bit tired but it did seem like a lively and young party scene. Didn´t get lost surprizingly given the very thin and winding streets and then went right to bed.
Peluquería, Paella, y Pasando tiempo
I lied when I said I could sleep in... kinda. I had to get up around noon because I had made a haircut appointment for today at 1pm at a ¨pelucuría¨nearby which Eugenia had recommended to me. After heading over to the grocery store beforehand to buy some very fresh fish and some other items for the paella that was for lunch that day, we went over to the haircut place together. I have enough trouble trying to explain what I want done with my hair in English, let alone Spanish.. so it was interesting to say the least. The guy, Alvonzo, is a typical male barber.. gay but he seemed nice although a bit quiet.. which was nice because I had enough to concentrate on.. watching him cut my hair. I didn´t feel trying to muster conversation in Spanish with him. He did a pretty good job.. a bit to short on the sides though but it´ll be fine in a week or so. Not a big worry of mine. After getting back I almost immediately went over to Mendez Alvaro, a bus station near by, to buy my ticket to Seville for that night. I didn´t realize that I was low on cash.. so I ended up having just 2 or 3 dollars to spare after getting my ticket. For the rest of the day I ate lots of paella, relaxed, used the computer, tried to nap, talked with Eugenia and went through a bunch of her photos, took photos of the moon and spied on some neighbors using my camera with Eugenia. It was a fun, and low-key night which is necessary some times even in Madrid. Some people go out 5 days a week till 5 or 6 every night.. but I don´t think that is what we´re here to do in the first place. We´re here to learn about and experience the culture and there´s only so much you can get from going to the clubs. It´s also not cheap by any means..
Lastly I skyped with Jess up until the last possible second almost and then packed all my stuff away really quickly hoping that I had everything I´d need.. did pretty well I´d say.. just forgot.. or rather neglected to bring a sweatshirt. Before leaving I had to change out of my FC Barcelona jersey upon the advice of Eugenia.. and that I might get shot for wearing it in Madrid.. I listened closely and took heed to it. Ran out the door and to the cercanias to get to Mendez Alvaro which is just 2 stops away, but it stopped running 2 or 3 minutes earlier which I had not realized and so I ran to the metro which could get me there just a bit slower but probably on time, but it was 9 minutes till the next one arrived and that would be cutting it too close so I ran back up to the street and got a cab. It only cost 6 euros or less which sucks compared to nothing, but it´s better than missing it altogether and I only had a 50 on me so we had to drive over to a bar quickly so he could run in and get change for me... unfortunate timing considering I was already running pretty late, but eventually I made it there on time and met up with everyone in the main bus lounge. I only knew 3 or 4 of the people there out of the 12 so I introduced myself and before I knew it we were off to the bus and into our seats...
Lastly I skyped with Jess up until the last possible second almost and then packed all my stuff away really quickly hoping that I had everything I´d need.. did pretty well I´d say.. just forgot.. or rather neglected to bring a sweatshirt. Before leaving I had to change out of my FC Barcelona jersey upon the advice of Eugenia.. and that I might get shot for wearing it in Madrid.. I listened closely and took heed to it. Ran out the door and to the cercanias to get to Mendez Alvaro which is just 2 stops away, but it stopped running 2 or 3 minutes earlier which I had not realized and so I ran to the metro which could get me there just a bit slower but probably on time, but it was 9 minutes till the next one arrived and that would be cutting it too close so I ran back up to the street and got a cab. It only cost 6 euros or less which sucks compared to nothing, but it´s better than missing it altogether and I only had a 50 on me so we had to drive over to a bar quickly so he could run in and get change for me... unfortunate timing considering I was already running pretty late, but eventually I made it there on time and met up with everyone in the main bus lounge. I only knew 3 or 4 of the people there out of the 12 so I introduced myself and before I knew it we were off to the bus and into our seats...
Friday, September 25, 2009
Classes (condensed version)
Had econ this morning.. it was alright. I don't really like the professor that much. He is kind of an asshole at times and at times I get the feeling that he thinks we're less intelligent just because we can't articulate our thoughts very well because of the language barrier. And the one kid who is fluent in the class always asks questions and interjects although his questions and comments are not very educated. After class I had a 3 hours or so to spare before my next class so I got some lunch with some int'l friends and finished up my homework for the next class. Got back home and started planning for the trips we'd go on for the next few months. Got it all figured out and sent out TONS of facebook messages to try to coordinate things and get people to travel with.. I'm very excited to just get things booked. But I want to wait to get at least 1 person to travel with for all of the trips. I'm not going alone unless I know people where I'm going. I didn't have all that much to do that night but was up late planning and doing other things on the computer.. other than blogging.. sorry for letting these pile up to one day. Sometimes it's so easy to procrastinate..
Nothing exciting or novel happened the next few days. Classes went as normal and went to the gym afterward.. it's funny and weird being one of the strongest people at the gym every time I'm there.. I guess Spaniards just don't work out as much as people in the US. There are none of those crazy jacked guys at this gym.. This Wednesday I had my first class with Ana and she simply introduced the class and what we would be doing and then we had a presentation given by a guy representing the Morocco Exchange Program. I think I'm going to go.. it seems like a very cool and unique experience and I'm very excited to go. I think I'm going to be going on the weekend of October 16th. So one other funny thing happened the following morning.. normally my classes begin at 10am but on wednesday my classes used to begin at 11am until Ana's class started at 8:30am on Wednesdays.. so Thursday morning for some reason I thought class began at 11am and that I had a late start that day. So I got up at 9 or so after a great night's sleep and I felt great. Caught up on my sleep and strolled to school very relaxed. I even got there "early" and waited outside of class reading our homework over until about 10 minutes before it "started." So I opened the door and the class was filled with people and the professor was talking.. i was completely confused. Looked at my watch several times and found a spot up in the front right next to the professor... unfortunately. After checking my phone to see if I had the right time.. it hit me that class began at 10am this morning and that I just walked into the 1 hour class.. 50 or more minutes late.. I felt terrible. Very disrespectful. Had I realized it before I would have just stayed outside of class. But fortunately we were discussing a story that I had already read in high school and so I had already gone over it once before although it is all very hazy to me now. Then I had econ again and we went over our homework assignment about GDP which was extremely frustrating and difficult as I mentioned before in another post. Took a long time to do it, but I did a good job with it and it turns out that we're going to be working with what we did in the future and expanding on that and adding a lot to it so fortunately I now have a good foundation to work with. I had to give a presentation to the class about my graph and about the basic economic history of Spain using what I had prepared because he had asked for a couple volunteers. It went really well and he really liked what I had done .."Casi perfecto" just a few minor changes that I needed to make after class.. and I even touched it up some more afterward and it looks great now. I just felt a little bad because I'm a bit of a perfectionist at times and I'm pretty good with excel so it looked really good and hopefully I didn't set the bar too high for everyone else or make them look bad with respect to me... I say this all with the utmost humility.. haha I got back home after class and going to the gym quickly and had a great lunch compliments of Eugenia.. it was the dinner she had prepared for me last night. I had mistakenly eaten the wrong dish from the refrigerator, but it wasn't a big deal. All the food is great! Then I spent hours on the computer doing stuff. Time seems to pass so fast on the computer. I don't know why. Then I tried to take a nap for a bit but wasn't really that tired. It was just that I was going out that night to the Joyeria.. 5 dollar open bar till 12:30am and then to Joy, the discoteca, after. Couldn't sleep really and so I just talked with Eugenia and then Skyped before getting ready and going out to meet up with Perrine and her boyfriend. I got to Sol to meet up 45 minutes late but it turned out that they were 50 or so minutes late and it worked out great. I had actually tried to find la joyeria on my own for a little bit walking.. because I had been there once before but I wasn't paying much attention at the time so I was having a little trouble finding it. But the weather was great.. perfect.. and I was very relaxed and not it any hurry and so all was good. I felt very Spanish.. no rush at all. Then I walked back to sol and ran into Perrine and her boy friend.. Daniel.. I think that's his name though I could be mistaken. We eventually found la Joyeria together although we were a bit late and only had 30 mins or so to drink although that was plenty. Ran into a bunch of friends there. It's great that any thursday I can go there.. alone if I want and I'll run into 20 or 30 people that I know. Had a great time there although it was STEAMING hot inside there. 30 mins was more than enough. I then headed over to Joy with Derise, a friend from my Spanish class and a few of her friends and waited for almost an hour in line to get into Joy. It was crazy but definitely worth it. Just missed the free cut off though by 5 or so minutes but what can you do.. Got 2 free drinks with the 12 euro entrance free which was more than enough for me. Maybe a bit too much. It was the most drunk I've been so far in Spain. I think it's that I normally drink more but it's Sangria and it's in a long period of time. But we danced for hours in there but I left at 3:30 or so because I felt like I was a bit too drunk and didn't want anything to happen or my dancing partner to try to make a move or anything although she already knew that I had a girlfriend and all. I had had a great time already anyways and it was a good time to leave. Walked home.. only took about 15 minutes but that was when I realized that I was actually pretty drunk. You don't really realize it when you're in a club with loud music. But I was fine. Made it back alright and on MAIN ROADS mom. Don't worry about me. Time to sleep in, relax, and get ready for Seville!
Nothing exciting or novel happened the next few days. Classes went as normal and went to the gym afterward.. it's funny and weird being one of the strongest people at the gym every time I'm there.. I guess Spaniards just don't work out as much as people in the US. There are none of those crazy jacked guys at this gym.. This Wednesday I had my first class with Ana and she simply introduced the class and what we would be doing and then we had a presentation given by a guy representing the Morocco Exchange Program. I think I'm going to go.. it seems like a very cool and unique experience and I'm very excited to go. I think I'm going to be going on the weekend of October 16th. So one other funny thing happened the following morning.. normally my classes begin at 10am but on wednesday my classes used to begin at 11am until Ana's class started at 8:30am on Wednesdays.. so Thursday morning for some reason I thought class began at 11am and that I had a late start that day. So I got up at 9 or so after a great night's sleep and I felt great. Caught up on my sleep and strolled to school very relaxed. I even got there "early" and waited outside of class reading our homework over until about 10 minutes before it "started." So I opened the door and the class was filled with people and the professor was talking.. i was completely confused. Looked at my watch several times and found a spot up in the front right next to the professor... unfortunately. After checking my phone to see if I had the right time.. it hit me that class began at 10am this morning and that I just walked into the 1 hour class.. 50 or more minutes late.. I felt terrible. Very disrespectful. Had I realized it before I would have just stayed outside of class. But fortunately we were discussing a story that I had already read in high school and so I had already gone over it once before although it is all very hazy to me now. Then I had econ again and we went over our homework assignment about GDP which was extremely frustrating and difficult as I mentioned before in another post. Took a long time to do it, but I did a good job with it and it turns out that we're going to be working with what we did in the future and expanding on that and adding a lot to it so fortunately I now have a good foundation to work with. I had to give a presentation to the class about my graph and about the basic economic history of Spain using what I had prepared because he had asked for a couple volunteers. It went really well and he really liked what I had done .."Casi perfecto" just a few minor changes that I needed to make after class.. and I even touched it up some more afterward and it looks great now. I just felt a little bad because I'm a bit of a perfectionist at times and I'm pretty good with excel so it looked really good and hopefully I didn't set the bar too high for everyone else or make them look bad with respect to me... I say this all with the utmost humility.. haha I got back home after class and going to the gym quickly and had a great lunch compliments of Eugenia.. it was the dinner she had prepared for me last night. I had mistakenly eaten the wrong dish from the refrigerator, but it wasn't a big deal. All the food is great! Then I spent hours on the computer doing stuff. Time seems to pass so fast on the computer. I don't know why. Then I tried to take a nap for a bit but wasn't really that tired. It was just that I was going out that night to the Joyeria.. 5 dollar open bar till 12:30am and then to Joy, the discoteca, after. Couldn't sleep really and so I just talked with Eugenia and then Skyped before getting ready and going out to meet up with Perrine and her boyfriend. I got to Sol to meet up 45 minutes late but it turned out that they were 50 or so minutes late and it worked out great. I had actually tried to find la joyeria on my own for a little bit walking.. because I had been there once before but I wasn't paying much attention at the time so I was having a little trouble finding it. But the weather was great.. perfect.. and I was very relaxed and not it any hurry and so all was good. I felt very Spanish.. no rush at all. Then I walked back to sol and ran into Perrine and her boy friend.. Daniel.. I think that's his name though I could be mistaken. We eventually found la Joyeria together although we were a bit late and only had 30 mins or so to drink although that was plenty. Ran into a bunch of friends there. It's great that any thursday I can go there.. alone if I want and I'll run into 20 or 30 people that I know. Had a great time there although it was STEAMING hot inside there. 30 mins was more than enough. I then headed over to Joy with Derise, a friend from my Spanish class and a few of her friends and waited for almost an hour in line to get into Joy. It was crazy but definitely worth it. Just missed the free cut off though by 5 or so minutes but what can you do.. Got 2 free drinks with the 12 euro entrance free which was more than enough for me. Maybe a bit too much. It was the most drunk I've been so far in Spain. I think it's that I normally drink more but it's Sangria and it's in a long period of time. But we danced for hours in there but I left at 3:30 or so because I felt like I was a bit too drunk and didn't want anything to happen or my dancing partner to try to make a move or anything although she already knew that I had a girlfriend and all. I had had a great time already anyways and it was a good time to leave. Walked home.. only took about 15 minutes but that was when I realized that I was actually pretty drunk. You don't really realize it when you're in a club with loud music. But I was fine. Made it back alright and on MAIN ROADS mom. Don't worry about me. Time to sleep in, relax, and get ready for Seville!
Relajando
Got up around 12:45, but by then it was already too late for mass which started in 15 minutes or so and still needed to take a shower and wake up.. Eugenia made lunch for me to go because I was going to be out for most of the day walking around and going to the library to get some work done.. But first on my list of things to do was to go to the Rastro, a big marketplace in which there are tons of street vendors all on one street. Bought a few things there. Then I just started waking again. It's the best way to get to know a city especially when the majority of your traveling is done underground in using their metro system, which is absolutely amazing btw. Boston really needs to do some work on its metro system.
I made my way over to the outskirts of the city center right near the Palace of Madrid and over to this big, grassy hill where I decided to eat lunch with a view of the entire city as it sprawled out into the countryside and to the mountains which surround the city on that side. It's was absolutely magnificent. Million dollar view. It was a very relaxing day. Then went over to the library and got all my work done for the next few days. The workload is pretty light here although it is picking up a little bit but not at all like at Boston College. Life is good here.
I made my way over to the outskirts of the city center right near the Palace of Madrid and over to this big, grassy hill where I decided to eat lunch with a view of the entire city as it sprawled out into the countryside and to the mountains which surround the city on that side. It's was absolutely magnificent. Million dollar view. It was a very relaxing day. Then went over to the library and got all my work done for the next few days. The workload is pretty light here although it is picking up a little bit but not at all like at Boston College. Life is good here.
La Noche en Blanco
We rented bikes today to take around Madrid and over to Casa de Campo. We were going to meet at 1:00pm in Sol but I woke up a good hour and a half early so I decided to leave early for Sol and walk there and take the scenic route/ explore the city a bit more. It only took about 10 minutes to walk from my place to Plaza Mayor which is then only 3 or so minutes from Sol, but I had much more time then that so I started wandering around.. found a really cool Cathedral to which I'll start going to mass.. for the weekends when I am in Spain that is.. Absolutely beautiful inside and I managed to take a quick picture when no one was looking because its mal educado to do so. I didnt have time to stick around for mass though.. and wasn't quite properly dressed in my athletic gear and ipod headphones draped over my shoulder. I then found my way over to a very cool marketplace right next to Plaza Mayor with all sorts of fresh fruit, wine, cheese, fish, churros, and all things in between. Jess and I will have to go over there at some point to eat. I'm going to have to start getting some recommendations for places to take her to eat as well.. at least sit down places because I've only been to a limited few so far... I blame Eugenia. None of these restaurant's food compare to her's most of the time. But I do like Spanish food a lot. But I think after 3 weeks I can say that I like American food better and I think it's actually healthier in the US as well. Or at least it feels healthier. Maybe it's that we use so many preservatives.. I don't know. I just love our variety.
...So after walking around for a bit I made my way back to Sol where before meeting up with the group I watched this one group of street performers playing classic music.. they were tremendous! Pretty soon after I got to the rendevous we all walked over to the bike rental store. I was the only one who knew where the place was.. good thing I looked into it beforehand.. gotta love google maps and street view. We actually started off walking in the exact wrong direction and then I asked where we were going and they said that they were just following Julia. Turns out Julia was just randomly walking hoping to find it.. haha Biking was great after we got out of Sol and away from the hoards of people. We made our way all the way over to Casa de Campo, a massive park a couple miles away. I'll definitely be taking Jess there on her runs. They even have a gondala-esque thing which would give you a tremendous view of the city because it's located on a big, gentle hill outside the city. Almost ate lunch at this Equadorian food festival where they were cooking food in front of you but I held out for Bonner Kabobs a bit later once we got back.. I had never had one yet at that point but I had heard that they are amazing. The park was very nice and we found some cool graffiti in a tunnel there. On a whole I'd say the graffiti is prettier here. Actually one graffiti I found is actually the background on my computer right now. Once we made it back we quickly got rid of the bikes and got over to the Kabob place.. they were not lying!! So soo good and not very expensive at all. 5 euros for the whole meal. But it must be terrible for you.. but once in a while it's not bad to indulge yourself.. but then again I had a second one that night so who am I to tell you about self restraint..
Got back home for a strategic 2 hour nap before meeting back up with the group for La Noche en Blanco! I was very excited for all the festivities of the night where the city doesn't go to sleep. There were SOOO many people out tonight it was crazy. It was like new years in NYC(not that I've ever been) all over the place.. I think there were around 1,000,000 people out in the streets that night.. that's what the paper said but I have no idea how they measured that. I was a little let down though by the number of events we got to.. we only really went to two places and the second was a mistake.. there were thousands of events around the city to go to.. but it is hard to find them and navigate through the masses. But I still had fun. Got back home at 3:30 or so just before the metro stopped running because for some reason I was getting very tired and wan't really in the mood to go to Joy.. it's hard to expect your body to get up at 8 am every day during the week and go to bed at a reasonable hour and then turn around to the weekend and go to bed at 6am.. I don't know how some people do it. Are they doing it to simply say they went out every night till 6am or are they really enjoying it.. The latest I've done is 4:45 or so.. which is pretty good. But I did feel weak because my Senora didn't get home that night till 6:30am.. so I lied to her and told her I got back at 4:30.. haha
...So after walking around for a bit I made my way back to Sol where before meeting up with the group I watched this one group of street performers playing classic music.. they were tremendous! Pretty soon after I got to the rendevous we all walked over to the bike rental store. I was the only one who knew where the place was.. good thing I looked into it beforehand.. gotta love google maps and street view. We actually started off walking in the exact wrong direction and then I asked where we were going and they said that they were just following Julia. Turns out Julia was just randomly walking hoping to find it.. haha Biking was great after we got out of Sol and away from the hoards of people. We made our way all the way over to Casa de Campo, a massive park a couple miles away. I'll definitely be taking Jess there on her runs. They even have a gondala-esque thing which would give you a tremendous view of the city because it's located on a big, gentle hill outside the city. Almost ate lunch at this Equadorian food festival where they were cooking food in front of you but I held out for Bonner Kabobs a bit later once we got back.. I had never had one yet at that point but I had heard that they are amazing. The park was very nice and we found some cool graffiti in a tunnel there. On a whole I'd say the graffiti is prettier here. Actually one graffiti I found is actually the background on my computer right now. Once we made it back we quickly got rid of the bikes and got over to the Kabob place.. they were not lying!! So soo good and not very expensive at all. 5 euros for the whole meal. But it must be terrible for you.. but once in a while it's not bad to indulge yourself.. but then again I had a second one that night so who am I to tell you about self restraint..
Got back home for a strategic 2 hour nap before meeting back up with the group for La Noche en Blanco! I was very excited for all the festivities of the night where the city doesn't go to sleep. There were SOOO many people out tonight it was crazy. It was like new years in NYC(not that I've ever been) all over the place.. I think there were around 1,000,000 people out in the streets that night.. that's what the paper said but I have no idea how they measured that. I was a little let down though by the number of events we got to.. we only really went to two places and the second was a mistake.. there were thousands of events around the city to go to.. but it is hard to find them and navigate through the masses. But I still had fun. Got back home at 3:30 or so just before the metro stopped running because for some reason I was getting very tired and wan't really in the mood to go to Joy.. it's hard to expect your body to get up at 8 am every day during the week and go to bed at a reasonable hour and then turn around to the weekend and go to bed at 6am.. I don't know how some people do it. Are they doing it to simply say they went out every night till 6am or are they really enjoying it.. The latest I've done is 4:45 or so.. which is pretty good. But I did feel weak because my Senora didn't get home that night till 6:30am.. so I lied to her and told her I got back at 4:30.. haha
Friday, September 18, 2009
Spain's National Library
I’m currently sitting on the steps under the archway of the Spain’s National Library writing this entry. My butt is a bit cold from the stone stairs but it is pretty comfortable outside although it has been raining for the past hour or so up until right about now. The sun is just coming out and blue sky is beginning to break through the seemingly endless sea of clouds. After today the weather is supposed to clear up and be in the 70s for the next week or so. Just the other minute there was this little brown bird which flew in here to get out of the rain and kept hopping closer and closer to me and just sat next to me and walked right around me for a few minutes. I got pictures. But it was ugly as hell.. it was very cute what happened but once I got a better look at it, it’s feet were mutated and part of its beak was deformed. But it’s been nice just sitting here writing these entries and relaxing.. people watching now and again as people take pictures in front of the absolutely beautiful building which has these 4 large statues of king-like men sitting in large, scholarly chairs pensively staring off into the distance as if they are the safe keepers or guardians of the books within the building behind them. Got up late this morning and helped Eugenia put her computer back together after she took it in to get fixed. I also installed updates and different programs on her computer to help her keep in touch with friends and share pictures easily. She said she likes to learn new things so I’ll be happy to teach her although the terminology poses a bit of a problem when translating to Spanish. After sending out some emails about course approvals and making sure Jess’ travel plans are well thought out and that all is taken care of, I got a bag of my books together and left for Retiro and the National Library. Of course right when I got out side it starts to rain, so I took the metro and trains to the Library which is apparently off limits to the public unless you have some prearranged matter of study or tour. They were nice about it and I had been warned that this may be the case ahead of time. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of the house and into Madrid. I may sign up for a tour some Friday in the future. Now I’m going to go walk around the city a bit and take some pictures because the sun is now out and it’s much nicer out.
Spain's National Library
I’m currently sitting on the steps under the archway of the Spain’s National Library writing this entry. My butt is a bit cold from the stone stairs but it is pretty comfortable outside although it has been raining for the past hour or so up until right about now. The sun is just coming out and blue sky is beginning to break through the seemingly endless sea of clouds. After today the weather is supposed to clear up and be in the 70s for the next week or so. Just the other minute there was this little brown bird which flew in here to get out of the rain and kept hopping closer and closer to me and just sat next to me and walked right around me for a few minutes. I got pictures. But it was ugly as hell.. it was very cute what happened but once I got a better look at it, it’s feet were mutated and part of its beak was deformed. But it’s been nice just sitting here writing these entries and relaxing.. people watching now and again as people take pictures in front of the absolutely beautiful building which has these 4 large statues of king-like men sitting in large, scholarly chairs pensively staring off into the distance as if they are the safe keepers or guardians of the books within the building behind them. Got up late this morning and helped Eugenia put her computer back together after she took it in to get fixed. I also installed updates and different programs on her computer to help her keep in touch with friends and share pictures easily. She said she likes to learn new things so I’ll be happy to teach her although the terminology poses a bit of a problem when translating to Spanish. After sending out some emails about course approvals and making sure Jess’ travel plans are well thought out and that all is taken care of, I got a bag of my books together and left for Retiro and the National Library. Of course right when I got out side it starts to rain, so I took the metro and trains to the Library which is apparently off limits to the public unless you have some prearranged matter of study or tour. They were nice about it and I had been warned that this may be the case ahead of time. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of the house and into Madrid. I may sign up for a tour some Friday in the future. Now I’m going to go walk around the city a bit and take some pictures because the sun is now out and it’s much nicer out.
Casa de Granada
Another day of classes… nothing too unusual other than having a very boooring substitute teacher for Econ. It’s not that the subject material was boring, it’s just that it went on seemingly forever without any breaks. We were studying the history of the European Union which is very interesting and I don’t know why we have never learned anything at all about it in the past. In Cuento which I had just before this, we simply did introductions for everyone in the classroom which took the entire time period because he arrived late. In previous classes we had way too many students and so he had divided up the class and now we were in our final positions so he found it important to get to know something about each other. Although it was an elementary class I actually felt that it was important and made me feel more comfortable in the classroom. The professor is one of those guys that knows something about everything. He seems like a very well read person who has done a lot of thinking in his life about what things in life are important. I am very excited for the class and I feel like he will give the readings very new and different perspectives while at the same time providing a classroom environment which is favorable to classroom participation. Overall I am very happy with my classes and I’ve already started the process of getting them all approved for when I get back to BC in the Spring. After class and the gym I got back, went on the computer, relaxed, had a massive Italian sausage and ham pasta dish, and took a short nap before going out to the metro stop Tirso de Molina to meet up with my friends for the dinner I organized for that night. Dinner was at 9 so I told everyone to meet at the metro stop at 8:30. Because I organized it I felt like I should be there on time so I ended up getting there 15 minutes early, so I found the restaurant which was up on the 6th floor, pretty much hidden away up there, and checked our reservation. When I got back down, no one was out there. I ended up waiting for 30 minutes out in the cold before Kevin Perrin showed up which was nice because it gave me someone to talk to for a little while and drink the Sangria which I had picked up earlier. 15 Minutes later.. it’s now 5 minutes after our reservation, people started showing up. It all ended up turning our alright and somehow… exactly 14 people showed up to eat. Sometimes things just work out. Dinner was great and got to meet a few new people and catch up a little with Pierro and Andrea. I couldn’t believe that they were both 24 or 25 years old.. they definitely don’t look it. I’m getting old. Food was pretty good. Not excellent. I was expecting better. A lot of fried tapas dishes, but it wasn’t expensive and so that was nice. We all had a good time so that’s all that matters. We then headed over to the Joyeria after counting through tons of small change for the bill. Open bar on Thursdays for just 5 euros.. not a bad deal except for the long lines and the heavy smoke. All my clothes needed to be washed after. I think I’m going to develop lung cancer. Might as well take up smoking. More people smoke in Spain than I’ve ever seen in my life. I headed back early with Greg and Kasia because I, like they, were tired early for some reason. I had even taken a nap. I guess sometimes it just goes that way. I’ll sae up my energy for Saturday night which is El Noche en Blanco, a night when the city doesn’t sleep and everything is open. Everyone goes out and parties and all the museums are open that night. I think we’ll be bar crawling or something in the Huertas district. Finished We Were Soldiers that night and went to bed.
It's a Small World
Today I decided to get up nice and early although I didn’t have class until 11. Sometimes it’s nice to just get up and ready at a nice leisurely pace and not have to look down every other minute at your clock. Eugenia must be a light sleeper because every morning while I’m in the shower getting ready she gets up and gets a bowl, spoon, and mi bocadillo ready for me. It’s very nice of her. I really need to get her a present and a card of some sort. I walked over to Atocha this morning because I had so much time which always wakes me up a little more.
I had my correct Historia del Presente class and it turned out to be really good. I like it about the same as the other although hit does move a little faster than the other one. I think that the challenge will help me in terms of learning the language and the students in there are all bilingual or at least at my level of Spanish so we are always speaking Spanish before and during class which is very nice. This way I get to know some people that aren’t from BC because I’m now the only BC kid in the class, while in the other there was a hoard of us who always sit together. I met these two girls from California who seem to be very nice.. Margarita and Roxanne.. and we grabbed lunch together afterwards and met up with Grzgerorio and Kasia as well. At lunch before I headed over to class I borrowed Greg’s computer to check my email and facebook. I got a response from Casa Pata’s (a famous restaurant and Flemenco place in Madrid). I had made a reservation for 14 at the place for the whole Int’l group and chose that restaurant after reading about it in the paper. But the funny thing was that they didn’t have their prices listed anywhere on their website, so I had sent them an email to ask about it. Turns out it is 31 euros per person just to enter for the show and then extra for the dinner… I cancelled the reservation. I don’t think anyone had that kind of money to spare for a Thursday night dinner.. So I sent a message out to Pierro and Andrea about other recommendations and Pierro had suggested Casa de Grenada, a hole in the wall tapas (not topless dad) place in Madrid which not to many people knew about. Because my phone wasn’t working properly I had to borrow Eugenia’s to make the reservation. One thing I miss about being home is being able to make calls as often and as long as I want.. sorry dad. It can sometimes get very difficult to organize things here when phone is the last means of communication due to the price. But we get by. Facebook is helpful.
In my language class today I sat next to Sophie, a girl my age from Wash U, so I figured I’d ask her if she knew Laura Pridmore, the only person I know who goes there, and it turns out that they are good friends there. It’s a small world. She seems very nice too and has a very thick.. Spanish accent… I think. It’s a weird accent. But I guess it’s better than the traditional American accent.. which I have confirmed by 3 foreign girls to not be a very attractive accent when spoken in Spanish. After class and the gym I went home earlier than normal and relaxed a bit before facebooking for a while and skyping to help figure out future travel plans with Trish and Gigi. Sometimes you just have to take charge or else nothing really gets done. I think we may go to Italy, Prague and then Amsterdam for the last 11 days we have off between finals and returning to BC. I’m very excited for that. We had some delicious soup served with empanadas for dinner with ice cream to top it all off. Then watched some Spanish game shows with Eugenia for a little before retiring to my room for the night.
I had my correct Historia del Presente class and it turned out to be really good. I like it about the same as the other although hit does move a little faster than the other one. I think that the challenge will help me in terms of learning the language and the students in there are all bilingual or at least at my level of Spanish so we are always speaking Spanish before and during class which is very nice. This way I get to know some people that aren’t from BC because I’m now the only BC kid in the class, while in the other there was a hoard of us who always sit together. I met these two girls from California who seem to be very nice.. Margarita and Roxanne.. and we grabbed lunch together afterwards and met up with Grzgerorio and Kasia as well. At lunch before I headed over to class I borrowed Greg’s computer to check my email and facebook. I got a response from Casa Pata’s (a famous restaurant and Flemenco place in Madrid). I had made a reservation for 14 at the place for the whole Int’l group and chose that restaurant after reading about it in the paper. But the funny thing was that they didn’t have their prices listed anywhere on their website, so I had sent them an email to ask about it. Turns out it is 31 euros per person just to enter for the show and then extra for the dinner… I cancelled the reservation. I don’t think anyone had that kind of money to spare for a Thursday night dinner.. So I sent a message out to Pierro and Andrea about other recommendations and Pierro had suggested Casa de Grenada, a hole in the wall tapas (not topless dad) place in Madrid which not to many people knew about. Because my phone wasn’t working properly I had to borrow Eugenia’s to make the reservation. One thing I miss about being home is being able to make calls as often and as long as I want.. sorry dad. It can sometimes get very difficult to organize things here when phone is the last means of communication due to the price. But we get by. Facebook is helpful.
In my language class today I sat next to Sophie, a girl my age from Wash U, so I figured I’d ask her if she knew Laura Pridmore, the only person I know who goes there, and it turns out that they are good friends there. It’s a small world. She seems very nice too and has a very thick.. Spanish accent… I think. It’s a weird accent. But I guess it’s better than the traditional American accent.. which I have confirmed by 3 foreign girls to not be a very attractive accent when spoken in Spanish. After class and the gym I went home earlier than normal and relaxed a bit before facebooking for a while and skyping to help figure out future travel plans with Trish and Gigi. Sometimes you just have to take charge or else nothing really gets done. I think we may go to Italy, Prague and then Amsterdam for the last 11 days we have off between finals and returning to BC. I’m very excited for that. We had some delicious soup served with empanadas for dinner with ice cream to top it all off. Then watched some Spanish game shows with Eugenia for a little before retiring to my room for the night.
Is Technology a Waste of Time?
Sometimes I wonder how much time I would save by simply not using a computer and the internet. Is it worth it to use facebook almost all the time to share photos and keep in touch with friends although I’m thousands of miles away? I just am starting to feel like I should just make myself a computer schedule and just use it for the short period of time I budget for it so that I force myself out of my room and out into Madrid and the rest of Europe other than at night.
Though lately I’ve been trying to just go out to walk around the city on my own and get to know it on my own, but the last 3 days it just keeps on raining or is very cold, terrible conditions to walk around. Eventually the weather will have to get better.
I just realized the other day that I mistakenly wrote down the classroom number for the lower level course of Historia del Presente and so I have been mistakenly attending class with the wrong professor although it is almost the exact same material anyways. I really like my current teacher and I think that I can stay in this lower level course as two of my other classmates managed to do. They just told me to talk to the professor and then to Ana about it. But after attending class this morning I went and talked to Ana and she said that it was absolutely not alright for me to do and that she never authorized Amanda to drop down to the lower course. I hope I didn’t screw over Amanda’s situation. On Wednesday I’ll just attend the higher level course and hopefully I won’t be too thrown off by the different teacher and won’t be intimidated by all the bilingual people.
After going to the gym I finished a bunch of the homework that I had been assigned and got home just on time for dinner that night. We had eggs over easy with some type of sticky rice with sautéed mushrooms and bacon (or some thin-sliced ham) which I chopped up and mixed all together. Surprisingly it was reaaaly good and hit the spot for sure. After talking to her for a little while I skyped with Jess and then threw on We Were Soldiers by Mel Gibson for an English movie to settle my desire for a little American culture back in my life. Again, some hot milk with Honey to completely get rid of my little cold. I’m almost 100% better now.
Though lately I’ve been trying to just go out to walk around the city on my own and get to know it on my own, but the last 3 days it just keeps on raining or is very cold, terrible conditions to walk around. Eventually the weather will have to get better.
I just realized the other day that I mistakenly wrote down the classroom number for the lower level course of Historia del Presente and so I have been mistakenly attending class with the wrong professor although it is almost the exact same material anyways. I really like my current teacher and I think that I can stay in this lower level course as two of my other classmates managed to do. They just told me to talk to the professor and then to Ana about it. But after attending class this morning I went and talked to Ana and she said that it was absolutely not alright for me to do and that she never authorized Amanda to drop down to the lower course. I hope I didn’t screw over Amanda’s situation. On Wednesday I’ll just attend the higher level course and hopefully I won’t be too thrown off by the different teacher and won’t be intimidated by all the bilingual people.
After going to the gym I finished a bunch of the homework that I had been assigned and got home just on time for dinner that night. We had eggs over easy with some type of sticky rice with sautéed mushrooms and bacon (or some thin-sliced ham) which I chopped up and mixed all together. Surprisingly it was reaaaly good and hit the spot for sure. After talking to her for a little while I skyped with Jess and then threw on We Were Soldiers by Mel Gibson for an English movie to settle my desire for a little American culture back in my life. Again, some hot milk with Honey to completely get rid of my little cold. I’m almost 100% better now.
Classes are Set in Stone
I got up early this morning to head over to Carlos III early with a Carolina because she had class beginning an hour before mine and she lives pretty close to me and so takes the same route to school. She joined our “group” late because she didn’t really get to school until later than most for some reason and somehow got to know some of our French friends in some way or another. She has studied in Madrid before and so her Spanish is slightly better than mine is and was most recently studying abroad in Italy. I think that the whole idea of studying abroad is much more popular and common among European Students. I had also wanted to get to school early because I needed to head over to a bank near school to complete a couple money orders for my TACO discount card as well as my gym membership at the university. I couldn’t pay with cash and I had no card to use because I cancelled both of mine after my wallet was taken. After I took care of the whole payment thing, I relaxed for a little and read the paper before heading to econ. Then I had a bunch of time to spend figuring out what classes I would take divinitively because Monday was the last day we had to figure that out. I decided to stick with econ after seeing how a couple of my other classes would end up double counting. And I think that econ would be interesting when taught in a different country. We are heavily studying the EU and so the subject matter is a bit different than I was used which is good, but also similar enough where my past experience with it will help me pass the relatively hard class given that it is discussing complex ideas in a language in which I’m not at all fluent.
After spending some time in the office with Juan, I felt much more comfortable with my academic position. I’m very glad we have these advisors here.. we’d be lost without them. It seems like I always have someone there looking out for me and helping me out every step of the way. After class I didn’t end up doing very much. Just organized myself academically and read some Spanish news to get back in touch a little with what is going on and went home for another amazing dinner complements of Eugenia. I was a little under the weather so I went to bed very early and slept a lot after a hot cup of milk with honey which put me out almost instantly.
After spending some time in the office with Juan, I felt much more comfortable with my academic position. I’m very glad we have these advisors here.. we’d be lost without them. It seems like I always have someone there looking out for me and helping me out every step of the way. After class I didn’t end up doing very much. Just organized myself academically and read some Spanish news to get back in touch a little with what is going on and went home for another amazing dinner complements of Eugenia. I was a little under the weather so I went to bed very early and slept a lot after a hot cup of milk with honey which put me out almost instantly.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Vagando en Retiro
After getting home late last night I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in a little.. got up around noon. Would have slept longer but I had promised to meet with Kasia and Grzgorio to walk around and take lots of pictures before going to the park for the pic nic in Retiro and then to the Prado later to take advantage of the free museum Sundays. So I met them at the McDonald's near Atocha and we walked down Calle Valencia which is loaded with Museums and beautiful government, and banking buildings. Every once in a while I start getting used to having all these beautiful buildings around and I have to snap back to the reality of things. We walked over to the Botanical Garden near the Prado and relaxed a bit and took pictures although it wasn't all that impressive at this time of the year, but it was worth the time there. Unfortunately near the end of our time in there my camera batteries died and so I'll have to get the rest of the pictures from Kasia and Greg.
We spent the next couple hours just walking around, talking, taking pictures, and grabbing something small to eat and a round of canas.. not to be mistaken for cona or cono.. always have had trouble getting those words correct but I think I have it down now. So after taking pictures of one beautiful building after another we got to Retiro to meet for the Pic nic. The Franceses didn't come earlier because they were back at Getafe making crepes for the pic nic. This week there was plenty of food to be had and I ate so much for so long that I wasn't hungry until the following morning. But it was worth it. Haven't put on any weight here yet despite the amount I'm eating. I guess I'm just walking a lot more. Finally getting into a workout routine.. minus the running part. But I'll definitely need to start running again if I want to even pretend to keep up with Jess on her short runs when she comes to visit here.. Maybe I'll just give up hope and just relax on the grass when she runs and watch her. The latter seems like the better idea, but I'm tired now.
I love these ESN events like the pic nic because I keep getting to meet new people from all over the world and everyone seems so nice and are so open to meeting new people. One thing I've learned from them is that we pay soooo much more than they do to go to school it's unreal. The British students actually get paid to study abroad.. because they are under represented as far as numbers go. Bollocks I'd say. Las Franceses ended up arriving 4 hours late.. but they did have the crapes which were delicious although not as good as grandma's. After the pic nic we walked over to the little plaza next to the huge statue in Retiro next to the lake where there were a bunch of drummers playing and some street performers juggling things. There were a bunch of people watching and it was a good place to just relax and hang out. But Agatha (Agette) had the urge to dance and so she actually went over to the drummers and started dancing in front of everyone. It was very funny yet inspirational and made me want to join her. It wasn't as if she was totally out of place either. The atmosphere and the beat of the drums gave to it.. It reminded me vaguely of the movie with Jim Carrey which I think is called A Beautiful Mind where the main character in it starts dancing in the middle of the club and you can really see that she is at peace and in her own place as herself. It was the same feeling I got at Ryan McDaid's house party/ concert in his basement this past summer. Although it was an odd type of music I really got into it and watching Lauren dance there just as herself and not having to impress anyone in her own scene.. a scene which I did not at all expect her to be part of. It was a good sensation.
By that point it had already gotten a bit late and so we nixed the plans to go to the Prado.. I don't think the Prado or museums on Sundays is a great idea anyways because although it's free .. the lines are ungodly long. So we decided/ thought we'd go to see a movie.. So we started walking over that way.. and if I've learned anything during my time here is that big groups move slower than molasses .. especially when there are cameras / and/or girls involved and shopping areas. That's one piece of culture that is shared across all the world.. that and the idea that if one girl goes to the bathroom.. so does half of the other girls there. So we eventually made our way over towards Sol and stopped for Churros and Ice Cream. I decided on ice cream and after much thought.. we went to Hagen Daaz... it's actually a restaurant here and it is absolutely beautiful on the outside and inside.. But the best part was not the container.. but what was inside. The ice cream was the best I think I've ever had.. and the most expensive.. 4 Euros.. so maybe not the most expensive but up there. Very worth it. I never actually made it to the movie although some of the group actually did end up going, but I and some others had to head back because we had work to get done. I had to figure out my classes and get all that finalized as well as finish a bit of homework and Skype. I was already late.
We spent the next couple hours just walking around, talking, taking pictures, and grabbing something small to eat and a round of canas.. not to be mistaken for cona or cono.. always have had trouble getting those words correct but I think I have it down now. So after taking pictures of one beautiful building after another we got to Retiro to meet for the Pic nic. The Franceses didn't come earlier because they were back at Getafe making crepes for the pic nic. This week there was plenty of food to be had and I ate so much for so long that I wasn't hungry until the following morning. But it was worth it. Haven't put on any weight here yet despite the amount I'm eating. I guess I'm just walking a lot more. Finally getting into a workout routine.. minus the running part. But I'll definitely need to start running again if I want to even pretend to keep up with Jess on her short runs when she comes to visit here.. Maybe I'll just give up hope and just relax on the grass when she runs and watch her. The latter seems like the better idea, but I'm tired now.
I love these ESN events like the pic nic because I keep getting to meet new people from all over the world and everyone seems so nice and are so open to meeting new people. One thing I've learned from them is that we pay soooo much more than they do to go to school it's unreal. The British students actually get paid to study abroad.. because they are under represented as far as numbers go. Bollocks I'd say. Las Franceses ended up arriving 4 hours late.. but they did have the crapes which were delicious although not as good as grandma's. After the pic nic we walked over to the little plaza next to the huge statue in Retiro next to the lake where there were a bunch of drummers playing and some street performers juggling things. There were a bunch of people watching and it was a good place to just relax and hang out. But Agatha (Agette) had the urge to dance and so she actually went over to the drummers and started dancing in front of everyone. It was very funny yet inspirational and made me want to join her. It wasn't as if she was totally out of place either. The atmosphere and the beat of the drums gave to it.. It reminded me vaguely of the movie with Jim Carrey which I think is called A Beautiful Mind where the main character in it starts dancing in the middle of the club and you can really see that she is at peace and in her own place as herself. It was the same feeling I got at Ryan McDaid's house party/ concert in his basement this past summer. Although it was an odd type of music I really got into it and watching Lauren dance there just as herself and not having to impress anyone in her own scene.. a scene which I did not at all expect her to be part of. It was a good sensation.
By that point it had already gotten a bit late and so we nixed the plans to go to the Prado.. I don't think the Prado or museums on Sundays is a great idea anyways because although it's free .. the lines are ungodly long. So we decided/ thought we'd go to see a movie.. So we started walking over that way.. and if I've learned anything during my time here is that big groups move slower than molasses .. especially when there are cameras / and/or girls involved and shopping areas. That's one piece of culture that is shared across all the world.. that and the idea that if one girl goes to the bathroom.. so does half of the other girls there. So we eventually made our way over towards Sol and stopped for Churros and Ice Cream. I decided on ice cream and after much thought.. we went to Hagen Daaz... it's actually a restaurant here and it is absolutely beautiful on the outside and inside.. But the best part was not the container.. but what was inside. The ice cream was the best I think I've ever had.. and the most expensive.. 4 Euros.. so maybe not the most expensive but up there. Very worth it. I never actually made it to the movie although some of the group actually did end up going, but I and some others had to head back because we had work to get done. I had to figure out my classes and get all that finalized as well as finish a bit of homework and Skype. I was already late.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Segovia!
8:00 AM out of bed once again.. but this time I actually got up because it wasn't class that I was going to, it was SEGOVIA. I mean the name itself has such a... ring to it. I feel like I'm going away to some mystical, far-away palace where all my dreams will come true... Segovia is a city just about an hour northwest of Madrid and is famous for it's beautiful architecture and scenery. That's about the extent to what I knew about it going in.
So I woke up and had all my things laid out already so that it was fast and easy to get ready when my eyes were glazed over.. coffee would do the trick. Got ready very fast made myself some cereal made sure I had what I wanted and I was on my way..EARLY That makes a first for my time in Madrid.. but it felt very good. I got to walk around casually and take a few pictures before getting there. I was hoping to be able to walk all around when I got there, but Pat and Steve were already there so I talked to them and got some coffee until everyone else got there 30 minutes later.. After figuring out a few ticket problems.. we were on our way to SEGOVIA. No idea what to really expect, but luckily.. out quasi tour guide, Pat, had everything worked out for us in his itinerary supplemented by his map and tour book. We were set. For most of the ride there sean and I were messing around with our cameras / listening to music. It was an unspoken competition to see who could take the better and/or more artsy pictures during the trip.. but it was all in good fun. He ended up taking 500 pictures on the trip alone... I guess that's what happens when you have a big SLR camera.
After the expected wait outside of the station in Segovia while we figured out our first stop and did the potty breaks for the 15 + people in our group, we were off... at a snail's pace. Which was nice because there is so much to see and so many Kodak moments (See the pictures above and this link to my online album). We stepped inside of a small cathedral first which wasn't too impressive, but then soon got to the ancient aqueduct system in the city which looked a little like a bridge and was in use up until the 19th century. More photos. Then a few more. But it was nice to fool with my camera and definitely got some great photos.
I liked traveling with a large group because it gives you the chance to get to talk to a lot of people because there were still a lot of people I hadn't gotten to know that well. But in the future less would be better for the sake of pace and not sticking out too much. So after passing through a series of winding small roads we got to the main Plaza Mayor (I think that's a pretty popular plaza name) and it is home to the main Cathedral in Segovia which is absolutely massive and was built by the Moors. It is the last major Gothic style building to be built in Spain and has a hint of Renaissance style as evidenced by the large domes on top. Although I didn't go inside, the building looked beautiful by the looks of a few pictures that I saw. Massive. Like Bapst times 20. Our last main stop in Segovia was the Castle which was on a cliff on the edge of the city. I found myself lagging behind for most of it looking around.. there was so much to see.. and so many pictures to take. Got a bit artsy with the water fountain shots, but it happens sometimes. But Gigi was nice enough to stay back with me. She's a very good friend and is very thoughtful. I've gotten to know her well over this trip although I had never met her before on campus. The Castle was very nice looking inside even though in 1864 it had been set on fire. After exploring the rooms we headed up to the top of the tower .. all 160 steep and spiraling steps. Yes, I counted. It was a great view from up there and got a great panorama shot of the place.
By the time we got down and walked around for a bit it was time to catch the bus to Lag... can't remember the rest of the name but it is a nearby town with a "mini-Versailles" bulding there. I've never seen Versailles but it was an amazing building with a beautiful gardens outside of it. Unfortunately we didn't have much time there because we had to catch a bus about a half hour after. After we got back to Segovia we went to the 3rd best bakery in Spain.. it was pretty good.. I didn't like the main thing I got but I tried a few others'. While we were eating there were some soldiers who were doing performances with their guns and music playing. It's all one huge tourist attraction. There was even a wedding there soon after and I half think that was fake just for the tourists' sake.. Time was running low so I had to run back to make my bus back to Madrid and luckily Alicia was also on my bus so I talked to her for the whole time.. mostly in Spanish which was good after a day of all English.
Just when I thought it was all over and I was walking back to my place there was a big festival going on right near my place with a concert starting a bit later and these big/ huge paper mache*sp puppets that were controlled by individuals inside of each of them who were dancing around to music played by a small band with them. It was a very cool and interesting spectacle and a great way to end the night!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Sober & Sophisticated to Shitfaced and Sweaty
Final day of classes for the week.. very much so ready for the weekend even though it was a pretty easy week. The days are starting to go a bit faster.. last week was THE longest week I've EVER had in my life.. it was definitely a good things but I can't even imagine how long this entire experience is going to feel. Class went well again and I was done by a little before 1 and so I quickly ran over to the gym to work out again and get into some semblance of a routine.. After a quick workout I was on my way home and ran into a few Erasmus girls who are friends with Trish from BC and we ended up talking for a bit about class and meeting up tonight before Shanghai. But I had to get going because I had promised my Senora that I'd be home for lunch .. which is later in Spain that in the US by far. It was the fastest trip home I've ever had.. just about 30 minutes.. I timed all of the trains perfectly and moved at a very brisk pase..
Later that night Sean, Michi, Jack, and I went to see our first Spanish play and luckily it was La Casa de Bernalda Alba.. a play that I had already read in HS... otherwise I would not have understood very much about what was going on at all. It was a bit difficult to understand what they were saying but the acting was great and the whole experience was awesome. Definitely felt sophisticated in that crowd.. but just past 10 it was over and our night had yet to really begin. We took the Metro to Sol to meet up at some restaurant with some other friends but after we found the place after awhile it turned out that it couldnt fit our big crowd and everything was shades of gray in there because of all the smoke.. I must have smoke a pack just standing there waiting to be helped. So we went across the street and got some paella.. so good.. Just Sean, Michi, Jack and I ate but there were 15 of us at the table and we got a bunch of drinks.. I had already went to the grocery store and picked up 2 bottles of Sangria... for next to nothing and had been carrying them around with me all that night so I decided to save some money and just drink from those.. I'm sure I looked like the token alcoholic of there group pouring drinks under the table.. but it was definitely worth it and by the end of dinner and before we made it to club Shangai we had finished both bottles (3 Liters) and were ready to dance...
Shanghai was so much fun and I had already had my ticket and 2 free drinks which I had bought at school at a discount at the ESN office so I didnt have to wait to get in, but I waited for a while anyways until I had to go to the bathroom that is.. The club was packed and we got there around 1:30am There was a small metal jail cell on one end of the club into which I was thrown at one point early in the night... with another guy and a male police officer.. it was very uncomfortable and not my choice at all.. very awkward. Luckily I knew the other guy in there I guess so I felt slightly more comfortable.. The police officer made me pat him down and almost forced me to go to second base... but I was not about to have that.. it was an experience to say the least. There were 2 cops.. one female and one male and they had people in and out throughout most of the night. My friend Kasia was next in there and she was given a thorough pat down but the fake policeman and I had to force him to stop early because it was getting a little far and she is .... married... But after that we just danced throughout the night and enjoyed the great music. I ended up leaving a bit early at 4:15 or so and walked back to my place which was about 30 minutes away walking but I DID make it there.. every time I walk I figure I get to know the city better and it definitely sobered me up a bit..
Later that night Sean, Michi, Jack, and I went to see our first Spanish play and luckily it was La Casa de Bernalda Alba.. a play that I had already read in HS... otherwise I would not have understood very much about what was going on at all. It was a bit difficult to understand what they were saying but the acting was great and the whole experience was awesome. Definitely felt sophisticated in that crowd.. but just past 10 it was over and our night had yet to really begin. We took the Metro to Sol to meet up at some restaurant with some other friends but after we found the place after awhile it turned out that it couldnt fit our big crowd and everything was shades of gray in there because of all the smoke.. I must have smoke a pack just standing there waiting to be helped. So we went across the street and got some paella.. so good.. Just Sean, Michi, Jack and I ate but there were 15 of us at the table and we got a bunch of drinks.. I had already went to the grocery store and picked up 2 bottles of Sangria... for next to nothing and had been carrying them around with me all that night so I decided to save some money and just drink from those.. I'm sure I looked like the token alcoholic of there group pouring drinks under the table.. but it was definitely worth it and by the end of dinner and before we made it to club Shangai we had finished both bottles (3 Liters) and were ready to dance...
Shanghai was so much fun and I had already had my ticket and 2 free drinks which I had bought at school at a discount at the ESN office so I didnt have to wait to get in, but I waited for a while anyways until I had to go to the bathroom that is.. The club was packed and we got there around 1:30am There was a small metal jail cell on one end of the club into which I was thrown at one point early in the night... with another guy and a male police officer.. it was very uncomfortable and not my choice at all.. very awkward. Luckily I knew the other guy in there I guess so I felt slightly more comfortable.. The police officer made me pat him down and almost forced me to go to second base... but I was not about to have that.. it was an experience to say the least. There were 2 cops.. one female and one male and they had people in and out throughout most of the night. My friend Kasia was next in there and she was given a thorough pat down but the fake policeman and I had to force him to stop early because it was getting a little far and she is .... married... But after that we just danced throughout the night and enjoyed the great music. I ended up leaving a bit early at 4:15 or so and walked back to my place which was about 30 minutes away walking but I DID make it there.. every time I walk I figure I get to know the city better and it definitely sobered me up a bit..
Never Have Had so Much Trouble Printing
Today I had History and my Language classes again and both were good. But I had my first assignment do for my Language class and I had it all done and proofread 30 minutes or so before class, all I had to do was print it... turns out that you can't print from where I had been working on the paper, so I emailed it to myself and then went upstairs because I was told I could print from there. So I did that but it turns out that you have to walk half way across campus and far away from my class to pick up the print job in building 9. So I try to find other alternatives but I end up just wasting time and so I decided to walk quickly to go get the document.. turns out that the print room is randomly closed that day. So I ten go and reprint it to another building (17) as I was told to do, but it's almost time for class already so I'm getting worried and a bit frustrated.. and 17 is all the way to one end of campus and further from my class! I get there and I can't frickin find the printing room. So eventually I find a printer attached to a computer and print it from there.. but it wasn't working and you had to supply your own paper.. I had just 1 page to print. I was already 10 mins late at that point so I cut my losses and ran to class late.. Talked to the teacher after and she said that I can simply email it to her from now on... that would have saved soo much time. But it couldn't be that easy. I haven't already had enough hard-learned lessons..
After class I finally bought a notebook and some other school supplies to organize myself which took a little while. Got home late for a tremendous dinner and went immediately to bed for a long sleep because I only got 4 hours the night before b/c of Karaoke..
After class I finally bought a notebook and some other school supplies to organize myself which took a little while. Got home late for a tremendous dinner and went immediately to bed for a long sleep because I only got 4 hours the night before b/c of Karaoke..
2nd Day of Class- Karaoke!
As obvious by my lack of posts... I've been extremely busy these last few days figuring out what classes to take, exploring madrid, and organizing myself. So I guess I'll start back at Tuesday morning. I had my first History class which was really a toss up as to whether or not it would be interesting, but it turns out that the teacher is extremely engaging and easy to understand. She talks fast but enunciates very well which makes a huge difference. I think I'm really going to like the course because I've never been a big history person. I understand that in order to advance forward we have to learn from the mistakes of our predecessors and that there are great similarities between events of the past and those of the present.. so there are many lessons to be learned. But simply I don't find it that engaging or interesting, but I guess it really depends on the professor. All of mine to this point have been very boring. But this class uses newspapers and magazines as its primary resource and really studies much more recent topics and issues. It seems like a very dynamic class. Then right next door I had my next class called Cuento which is simply a literature class studying short stories in Spanish and the teacher seems very interesting though he is a little hard to understand at times. But the class was absolutely PACKED.. twice as many were there that could fit in the room so he is going to divide the class into two sections. Luckily my section is at the same time in the same room so I can still make it.
After class I went on a short run and then Sean and I met up to go to the gym..it's nothing special there, no life time fitness.. but I desperately needed to go! it had been about 3 weeks and I was beginning to feel like shit. After all the exercise I definitely felt much better and much more energized. At the gym there was some random guy that kept spotting me and helping me put things away. I hope he didn't have the wrong idea..
Got my wallet back! Everything was in there.. .but the money of course.. and unfortunately the debit and credit cards were already canceled.. I ended up staying out at campus for a long time because after I finished lifting and getting my ESN discount card, I met up with all of my Erasmus friends at a pool which was inside one of their residences. It felt amazing to jump in the pool after feeling like there is a perpetual layer of sweat glazing my body due to their egregious lack of A/C I now know why the rest of the world uses so much less energy than we do.. I ended up staying out there with them for a while until we walked back to campus to grab something to eat and pick up some sangria for our botellon (pregame). That night there was a big karaoke party down in Madrid and not too far from my house. By dinner there was just 3 of us because the others had already eaten and needed to start getting ready, but turns out that at dinner Kasha has a sister who lives just 10 minutes outside of downtown Munich where Oktoberfest will be and is going to invite 5 or so people to stay with her there.. I guess it pays to branch out and find new friends. I actually really have much more fun with my Erasmus friends than I do with many of my friends from BC in Madrid.. some of them are just downers.. So it's hard to decide who to spend more of my time with because I know I'll be traveling with all the BC kids a lot of the time and so I don't want to estrange myself from that group.. hopefully I can find a happy medium between the two..
Karaoke was so much fun and I had my first Mahito (Def spelled that wrong) of my life. It was soo good. We also have a new addition to our "group." Her name is Carolina (but said with a french flare) and she seems really nice. She got here late for some reason but she seems very nice. After a couple hours of karaoke I got a little bored and began to get a bit tired.. because you can't really dance that much and there were too many people and it was too loud to really talk.. kind of like Fr. Hymes description of a cocktail party if you ask me.. so after a few hours we ended up leaving.. partly because Coco had a bit of a headache probably from the alchohol and smoke in the bar.. Spaniards ...and French people smoke soooo much.. I'm sorry if I get lung cancer while I'm here, but it's impossible to avoid all the smoke. I think sometimes there is smog above the city just from the smoke... just kidding and actually there is never... NEVER clouds in Madrid. I don't know how the plants survive here. It's like a desert. But the weather is tremendous. Much better than Boston's or Detroit's. After we left I ended up walking home from Atocha for the first time and realized how fast and easy it was to do so.
After class I went on a short run and then Sean and I met up to go to the gym..it's nothing special there, no life time fitness.. but I desperately needed to go! it had been about 3 weeks and I was beginning to feel like shit. After all the exercise I definitely felt much better and much more energized. At the gym there was some random guy that kept spotting me and helping me put things away. I hope he didn't have the wrong idea..
Got my wallet back! Everything was in there.. .but the money of course.. and unfortunately the debit and credit cards were already canceled.. I ended up staying out at campus for a long time because after I finished lifting and getting my ESN discount card, I met up with all of my Erasmus friends at a pool which was inside one of their residences. It felt amazing to jump in the pool after feeling like there is a perpetual layer of sweat glazing my body due to their egregious lack of A/C I now know why the rest of the world uses so much less energy than we do.. I ended up staying out there with them for a while until we walked back to campus to grab something to eat and pick up some sangria for our botellon (pregame). That night there was a big karaoke party down in Madrid and not too far from my house. By dinner there was just 3 of us because the others had already eaten and needed to start getting ready, but turns out that at dinner Kasha has a sister who lives just 10 minutes outside of downtown Munich where Oktoberfest will be and is going to invite 5 or so people to stay with her there.. I guess it pays to branch out and find new friends. I actually really have much more fun with my Erasmus friends than I do with many of my friends from BC in Madrid.. some of them are just downers.. So it's hard to decide who to spend more of my time with because I know I'll be traveling with all the BC kids a lot of the time and so I don't want to estrange myself from that group.. hopefully I can find a happy medium between the two..
Karaoke was so much fun and I had my first Mahito (Def spelled that wrong) of my life. It was soo good. We also have a new addition to our "group." Her name is Carolina (but said with a french flare) and she seems really nice. She got here late for some reason but she seems very nice. After a couple hours of karaoke I got a little bored and began to get a bit tired.. because you can't really dance that much and there were too many people and it was too loud to really talk.. kind of like Fr. Hymes description of a cocktail party if you ask me.. so after a few hours we ended up leaving.. partly because Coco had a bit of a headache probably from the alchohol and smoke in the bar.. Spaniards ...and French people smoke soooo much.. I'm sorry if I get lung cancer while I'm here, but it's impossible to avoid all the smoke. I think sometimes there is smog above the city just from the smoke... just kidding and actually there is never... NEVER clouds in Madrid. I don't know how the plants survive here. It's like a desert. But the weather is tremendous. Much better than Boston's or Detroit's. After we left I ended up walking home from Atocha for the first time and realized how fast and easy it was to do so.
Monday, September 7, 2009
1st Day of Classes!
I almost saw the sun rise for the first time since I've been here.. I set my alarm for 8am and actually got up.. I impressed myself. After much persuasion by Michi.. I decided to go to Econ taught in Spanish at 10am even though I dont need to take the course for BC or anything. It seems like it will be an interesting course although the teacher is all over the place it seems, but he is definitely understandable and speaks slow enough to understand.. that is.. other than the Econ vocab that I don't really know yet. I'll give it another shot on Friday and see how it goes. That would be my 5th and final class and my other options are slim. I had a few hours free after that and so I ate lunch and failed to get myself a TACO discount card or a gym membership after waiting in line for an hour because I dont have a credit or a debit card.. they dont take cash. BUT good news! The police found my wallet after someone turned it in and they sent it over to my campus for Carlos III and I'm going to go pick it up tomorrow.. I hope there is money in it!
My next class was Spanish Language (Avanzado Alto C) and it was great. I think I'm going to really like the class and it is easy enough to understand and the teacher is great. I think that I'm at the correct level also, but we'll see. Lastly, I had Spanish Literature. The class could not have been more boring. She was a terrible teacher. At first for the first hour I didn't know what to think. It was hard to get a read on her or the class but for the second hour.. all we did was read this 11 page story that NO ONE could understand because of all the ridiculous vocabulary in it. No way am I taking that class. I just zoned out for almost all of it. Stupid waste of time. I was only testing the class out to see if I like it. I have to choose between 3 different literature classes and I decided to go with Cuentos. Seems the most interesting and is supposedly the easiest. After class I wanted to go to the gym to workout but I ran into my erasmus friends who were playing volleyball behind the gym and I decided to join them instead. Tomorrow we will be going swimming at a friend's place near campus at 4 and then I think I'll stay there until later when we go out for Karaoke later in Madrid. It should be a good time.
After getting back I talked with Eugenia and her daughter and played with her grand daughter. At first her grand daughter was afraid of me and started crying, but then she started to take to me and got along quite well after I played with her a little and do all those stupid things babies like so much. After they all left I talked with Eugenia about the street talk that I had been learning and she taught me a few things.. quite crude humor but we were laughing very hard about it all on her porch which overhangs the courtyard behind her house. Dinner was fantastic.. genial i should say because I just learned that word today. I don't know what they were called or how to describe them.. i normally leave that up to Jess anyways.. she knows her food.. but it was some soup and a very rich fish dish.. superb. Then topped it off with a little Strawberry swirl frozen yogurt. Now it's time to hit the sack.. it's going to be a long day tomorrow and I'll need to have a lot of energy for it..I think it's time to try a little cafe again..
My next class was Spanish Language (Avanzado Alto C) and it was great. I think I'm going to really like the class and it is easy enough to understand and the teacher is great. I think that I'm at the correct level also, but we'll see. Lastly, I had Spanish Literature. The class could not have been more boring. She was a terrible teacher. At first for the first hour I didn't know what to think. It was hard to get a read on her or the class but for the second hour.. all we did was read this 11 page story that NO ONE could understand because of all the ridiculous vocabulary in it. No way am I taking that class. I just zoned out for almost all of it. Stupid waste of time. I was only testing the class out to see if I like it. I have to choose between 3 different literature classes and I decided to go with Cuentos. Seems the most interesting and is supposedly the easiest. After class I wanted to go to the gym to workout but I ran into my erasmus friends who were playing volleyball behind the gym and I decided to join them instead. Tomorrow we will be going swimming at a friend's place near campus at 4 and then I think I'll stay there until later when we go out for Karaoke later in Madrid. It should be a good time.
After getting back I talked with Eugenia and her daughter and played with her grand daughter. At first her grand daughter was afraid of me and started crying, but then she started to take to me and got along quite well after I played with her a little and do all those stupid things babies like so much. After they all left I talked with Eugenia about the street talk that I had been learning and she taught me a few things.. quite crude humor but we were laughing very hard about it all on her porch which overhangs the courtyard behind her house. Dinner was fantastic.. genial i should say because I just learned that word today. I don't know what they were called or how to describe them.. i normally leave that up to Jess anyways.. she knows her food.. but it was some soup and a very rich fish dish.. superb. Then topped it off with a little Strawberry swirl frozen yogurt. Now it's time to hit the sack.. it's going to be a long day tomorrow and I'll need to have a lot of energy for it..I think it's time to try a little cafe again..
Sunday, September 6, 2009
5th Day
I'm starting to get used to the spanish schedule.. very different than in the US. Everyone stays up till 4 to 6 in the morning on the weekends and then sleeps all day.. it's going to be hard to get into a normal class schedule during the weeks and then do a 180 degree change during the weekends.. but like everything else, I suppose I'll get used to it. We had the picnic today at 2 so I pretty much went directly there right after waking up and eating something small for "breakfast." I ran into Kasha and Henry, two of my new friends from Poland, on the Metro on the way there. Kasha was the first person I met as part of the ESN program.. she's 21, very pretty, extremely nice, has an interesting accent, and is MARRIED!!.. already. She just got married 3 months ago and then traveled around Europe for her honeymoon I guess.. her husband is 10 years older than her. The nice thing about staying with the Int'l students is that everyone always is speaking spanish and are all very determined to learn the language whereas most American students stick together and speak English and take the easy way out.. I'm a little torn between hanging out with each because I do want to cultural exprience of hanging out with Int'l kids but I don't want to miss out on forming strong relationships with BC students as well, but I guess I'll have time to do that when traveling around Europe with them. After the picnic Kevin, Perrin, Greg and I went on a little row boat in the lake in Retiro and it was nice to relax.. and splash each other with water occasionally.
The night before at Joy Sean had asked whether or not European people liked the sound of an American accent when spoken in Spanish.. so I asked a Russian student that I met and she said that she personally didn't like it but that I didnt have any American accent.. which made me feel proud.. she was probably bending the truth a little though. No one wants to make enemies.. After a bit I had to go home for dinner, but I'll see all of them again tomorrow at the sports day at carlos III and then again Tuesday at a friend's pool over near the campus.
Sometimes I want to take the easy way out after almost constant frustration with not being able to say exactly what I want in Spanish, but I'll make it though it.. but now Im going to go to bed. It's late and its my first day of classes tomorrow! Whooo... it's definitely a weird feeling though because it's almost like I'm on vacation here..
The night before at Joy Sean had asked whether or not European people liked the sound of an American accent when spoken in Spanish.. so I asked a Russian student that I met and she said that she personally didn't like it but that I didnt have any American accent.. which made me feel proud.. she was probably bending the truth a little though. No one wants to make enemies.. After a bit I had to go home for dinner, but I'll see all of them again tomorrow at the sports day at carlos III and then again Tuesday at a friend's pool over near the campus.
Sometimes I want to take the easy way out after almost constant frustration with not being able to say exactly what I want in Spanish, but I'll make it though it.. but now Im going to go to bed. It's late and its my first day of classes tomorrow! Whooo... it's definitely a weird feeling though because it's almost like I'm on vacation here..
4th Day
Once again I woke up later than I had intended.. becoming a trend I suppose but I guess I need my sleep. After I got ready I went on the computer to try to organize something to do today to no avail.. its impossible to organize a big group to do something in Madrid I realized.. especially college students in the first week of being abroad... and without really using phones because of the cost... :( I'll deal with it. After failing to coordinate plans Eugenia's daughter came over with her 3 sons Pablo, Angel, y Eventually I met up with Jeff and James at el Parque Retiro. I had never been there before.. took a lot of photos which I'll update weekly on Wednesdays from now on. This weeks photos and videos are going to be great..
Retiro is a beaatiful park in the center of Madrid and it's enormous. There is a big lake in the center (man made) but still very pretty with people on row boats around a large statue in the center. There was a random army man that didnt move for his job until you paid him.. a couple mickey mouses and a lot of venders. We then went over to The Palace of Madrid which is by the Opera House and is once again beautiful and enormous. Maybe the prettiest building in Madrid, but there are so many it's hard to judge. Europe is so different than the United States in so many ways. There isn't the hustle and bustle of a large city like NYC or even Boston although it is almost as large as NYC and definitely as many people as Chicago or even Toronto although the buildings are much shorter.
So after meeting up with Jeff and James we walked over to the Madrid Opera House which is right next to a huge palace and a beautiful courtyard. After walking around and exploring for awhile we met up with some other BC students and before we knew it, it was almost 5 and Jeff, James, Amanda, Trish and I met over at Sol to meet up with the ESN (Erasmus Student Network I think) international students and we did a huge scavanger hunt around the city which gave us a chance to see the city and get a feel for it while at the same time getting to know students from around the world. It's almost like going back to Freshmen year of college where everyone has their doors open and everyone is introducing themselves to each other. I just hope that the "doors" don't close after awhile and that people don't form cliques.. We did a whole array of different activities and we used my camera to record them thankfully.. We passed an apple around our group of 20 or so using our mouths.. not exactly sanitary but that's alright I didn't get sick. We also had to chug a bottle of champagne as a group.. Nicholas, our elected group leader from California selected 4 brave souls for the task. 5 people in the group had to stuff their mouthes with cookies and then say "Tres tristes tigres comieron trigos en un plato de trigos... i forgot the rest.." We had to do the macarena at a specific location, find a fast food place and pretend to eat hamburgers.. and lastly we also had to all pose for a picture jumping in the air and everyone all 20 or 25 of us had to be in the air at the same time.. that posed a loooot of difficulty but it all worked out in the end. We ended up getting 5th in the competition although Piero, our ESN leader, lied to us during the competition I think, saying we were almost in the lead.. it was all in good fun. Afterwards we relaxed in the famous Plaza Mayor with about 150 of us and talked. I have made a bunch of great friends from France, Germany, and Poland. There are tons of germans here.. I think it's a very common for German students to study abroad several times. It's very interesting to see the various similarities that exist between us although we are all from so far away and are all so very different. I can't wait to get to know them all better and it's sometimes very frustrating because conversation is very constrained at the moment because of all our varying and intermediate spanish levels. But soon... I hope very soon.. I'll be good enough to talk about whatever I want and hold some deeper conversations and hear all their stories and share mine, because I'm sure theirs are very very interesting and from what I can tell of their personalities.. they are going to be all very different. Tomorrow we have a picnic in Retiro and everyone is going to bring a popular food from their country.
A smaller group of us then went over to a Museo de Jamon (ham museum) to get some cheap sandwiches and some drinks.. the Spanish people are obsessed with ham.. it's kinda abnormal. Later we got some sangria and talked for awhile before they had to leave to catch their buses which stopped running at midnight. I then met up with some BC kids and went to Joy for the night.
Retiro is a beaatiful park in the center of Madrid and it's enormous. There is a big lake in the center (man made) but still very pretty with people on row boats around a large statue in the center. There was a random army man that didnt move for his job until you paid him.. a couple mickey mouses and a lot of venders. We then went over to The Palace of Madrid which is by the Opera House and is once again beautiful and enormous. Maybe the prettiest building in Madrid, but there are so many it's hard to judge. Europe is so different than the United States in so many ways. There isn't the hustle and bustle of a large city like NYC or even Boston although it is almost as large as NYC and definitely as many people as Chicago or even Toronto although the buildings are much shorter.
So after meeting up with Jeff and James we walked over to the Madrid Opera House which is right next to a huge palace and a beautiful courtyard. After walking around and exploring for awhile we met up with some other BC students and before we knew it, it was almost 5 and Jeff, James, Amanda, Trish and I met over at Sol to meet up with the ESN (Erasmus Student Network I think) international students and we did a huge scavanger hunt around the city which gave us a chance to see the city and get a feel for it while at the same time getting to know students from around the world. It's almost like going back to Freshmen year of college where everyone has their doors open and everyone is introducing themselves to each other. I just hope that the "doors" don't close after awhile and that people don't form cliques.. We did a whole array of different activities and we used my camera to record them thankfully.. We passed an apple around our group of 20 or so using our mouths.. not exactly sanitary but that's alright I didn't get sick. We also had to chug a bottle of champagne as a group.. Nicholas, our elected group leader from California selected 4 brave souls for the task. 5 people in the group had to stuff their mouthes with cookies and then say "Tres tristes tigres comieron trigos en un plato de trigos... i forgot the rest.." We had to do the macarena at a specific location, find a fast food place and pretend to eat hamburgers.. and lastly we also had to all pose for a picture jumping in the air and everyone all 20 or 25 of us had to be in the air at the same time.. that posed a loooot of difficulty but it all worked out in the end. We ended up getting 5th in the competition although Piero, our ESN leader, lied to us during the competition I think, saying we were almost in the lead.. it was all in good fun. Afterwards we relaxed in the famous Plaza Mayor with about 150 of us and talked. I have made a bunch of great friends from France, Germany, and Poland. There are tons of germans here.. I think it's a very common for German students to study abroad several times. It's very interesting to see the various similarities that exist between us although we are all from so far away and are all so very different. I can't wait to get to know them all better and it's sometimes very frustrating because conversation is very constrained at the moment because of all our varying and intermediate spanish levels. But soon... I hope very soon.. I'll be good enough to talk about whatever I want and hold some deeper conversations and hear all their stories and share mine, because I'm sure theirs are very very interesting and from what I can tell of their personalities.. they are going to be all very different. Tomorrow we have a picnic in Retiro and everyone is going to bring a popular food from their country.
A smaller group of us then went over to a Museo de Jamon (ham museum) to get some cheap sandwiches and some drinks.. the Spanish people are obsessed with ham.. it's kinda abnormal. Later we got some sangria and talked for awhile before they had to leave to catch their buses which stopped running at midnight. I then met up with some BC kids and went to Joy for the night.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Day 3
After a long night out and a long trip home... i ended up sleeping in later than expected but still managed to make it out on time for my appointment with Ana that day at Carlos III. When I got there there were already a few other BC students lined up outside her office waiting.. two of them were having culture shock and one really wanted to go home if the rest of the weekend didn't go well. Her glasses, phone, ipod, and computer all broke within the first week.. bad luck I guess. Made me feel a little better about what had happened to me though. But then I felt bad about feeling good at her expense.. The meeting went well and it helped me figure out what kind of classes that I would like to take there. After the meeting I went to the computer lab to catch up on my second life in the US and before I knew it it was already "late" by US standards and I headed home for dinner. Dinner was great! And afterward I stayed in with Eugenia and just talked with her for a long time about her family who was coming the next morning to visit and many other things. Then we listened to her music and watched some television programs, but after awhile I was exhausted and went to bed. I still have to become accustomed to this lifestyle.. very very different. goodnight all!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
El Segundo Dia
Also here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Kevin.Hylant/MadridWeek19298?feat=directlink
Refreshed I woke up from my non air-conditioned house.. they don't believe in it or something.. I swear to God.. and had a few pieces of toast with Spanish coffee for breakfast. I am planing on trying everything here and coffee is something I dont drink in the US. So I had a relatively big glass with milk and almost 3 spoons of sugar.. It was surprizingly good.. not great but alright. I dont know exactly what it was.. the coffee or the sleep, but I was wired for the rest of the day.. and here I am at 5 am after going out writing this blog so something must have done it. I got to school using the metro again and went to find a computer to research classes and sign up for my email account there... I'll finish this later.. i have to join my tour group which is walking by..
Well apparently I set the watch that I found in my luggage yesterday 1 hour behind Madrid time.. and so I missed my meeting this morning with the BC in Madrid coordinator and was late for the campus tour that very luckily ran into me.. I was in 1 of at least 40 "aulas informaticas" or computer labs. The campus tour was nice and it helped me become a little more familiar with the campus and learn about a few discounts and other options that they offered there. They even took us to this hole in the wall bocaderilla (sandwich place)where they sometimes will even name sandwiches after the customers if they order them enough. I already had a sandwich which my Senora made for me earlier so I decided to save some money. After the tour we went to a series of presentations about the arts, theater, and other activities they offered on campus for the students. The last of the main set of presentations before the individual course presentations which followed was a presentation on the group "ESN." The group organizes many events largely for international students and center their events around cultural experiences, but two of their larger focuses are on partying and getting to meet people from around the world. It seemed like a cool group and they offer a few trips and events that seemed very interesting but we were wondering whether or not we will have time to go out on our own during the nights to meet up with friends and stuff. Therefore... being an endlessly curious person who always ask questions, after their presentation I caught up with them outside of the building and asked the question, which they more than answered. It began a conversation with the 3 of them( Andrea, Piero, y Alexia) which began in the main plaza and after 15 minutes there they asked me if I wanted to help them bring a couple boxes ligeros(light-they taught me that word) to their ESN office and because I was loving talking to them and I could understand almost everything that they were saying and because they seemed like very fun and nice students who were my age, I agreed and helped them bring them over. At their office we hung out and relaxed and we shared a small bottle of reallly good Spanish wine. I think it was one of the best I've had and I'm not really a red wine drinker. This Saturday I'll be meeting up with them and a few other Int'l students and a couple BC students who I convinced to come with me rather easily. We're meeting at "SOL", the main meeting place in the city near all the bars and clubs at 5pm for a city tour and then to go clubbing afterward. I'm very excited to do this to meet a bunch of new people and take the non-american route which is to generally stick with other americans..
I then met up with Sean and Michi and took the metro back home.. one problem sometime while I was on the metro, I got ROBBED.. yes Robbed. Pick pocketed to be more specific. My second day and I lost my wallet which I took with me that day just to buy a sim card earlier that morning for my vodafone.. what luck. I only realized it after I got back home after a really nice and long conversation with my senora about my day and everything that had happend and a nice long explanation of the streets and destinations in the city. All of which I understood. It's crazy how much of a differnce 1 day can make to your understanding. It's incredible. Even my speech has improved 2 fold easily. After we figured out that I had been robbed I had my dad cancel my credit and debit cards which I had in there and tomorrow I will report to the madrid police the IDs that I lost as well so that there cannot be any identity theft associated. Eugenia was very very helpful throughout this process and nothing was charged to my accounts. the only thing that I lost was the about 140 euros that were in there (that's a lot of money but then again it is just money as my senora told me, I'm lucky to still have my health) And I cant complain too much because so far I think my first 2 days went extremely well, especially the second because I could concentrate which your really need because sooo much is going on that you really need to be able to. Also, earlier today I met 3 girls that also were from schools in Boston, one who unfortunately got wait listed at BC and no one likes that..
After figuring out all the stuff with my stolen wallet, I had a tremendous dinner that my senora prepared for me. A noodle soup with homemade sushi and some Spanish Tortilla. It was great and there was a lot of it so it really filled me up. Almost immediately afterward I joined 14 other BC students at SOL and went clubbing trying to get as many free or cheap drinks as possible.. I hardly paid anything partly because I lost my wallet and people felt bad for me.. I can dig that haha. I don't think that makes me a bad person.. I hope. We went to Dreams where there was free drinks for the ladies and it was fairly cheap for the guys and spent time there moreso talking before we left after an hour or so and then went to the big club Joy which is a huge discoteca that looked like an old smaller opera house with gold platted ceilings and a big projector which had a music video playing all the time with lots of lights and very good music. We had a great time.. and toonnns of fotos to prove it. Some of which are likely to be a bit embarrassing.. haha And that is it for today. And it's 5:08 now and I need to sleep. Good night all. Oh and I almost forgot.. when I got back to my apartment.. I actually entered the apartment complex just a little down the street which looks almost identical to mine ... and for some reason my keys worked...!? They didnt work well but after a little I got them to work I thought it may have been because I was a litttle tipsy but then I tried to get into "my" homestay apartment.. and it wasn't working and small things looked strange to me.. but I ignored them it was late and I was tipsy. after a while i tried going up one more flight.. maybe i had the wrong floor.. again to no avail.. went down stairs to try again and then they woke up and were speaking strongly at me from behind the door but I couldnt understand them I said I was sorry and that I had the wrong place.. I couldn't figure it out.. I thought it had to be the place.. I mean I got in and all.. after a long 1 hour journey back to my place from the clubs. eventually I thought that maybe this was the wrong place so I after a while got out of the place using the wrong keys and then went just up the street maybe 20 yards and there was my apartment... I thought I had finally made it back.. from the club but I had to try to enter the wrong apartment because that was the first time I entered the street from the other direction.. just my luck that night. good night en serio.
And So It Begins
Made it through my first day in Madrid... and it couldn´t have been much more hectic.. running on maybe 1 hour of sleep (on a plane) I began my experience in Madrid. To step back a little, both getting to the airport and the plane ride went very well; that is, other than the fact that I could hardly get a wink of actual sleep while on it. I think that was the second time that I have ever had a meal on a plane, and it wasn´t half bad. Pot roast and mashed potatos with beans and shrimp on the side. I think I was semi allergic to the beans because my throat started to swell up a little... but that is neither here nor there. I made it to madrid and did so one hour ahead of schedule. Blurry-eyed I walked through the airport taking pictures here and there and got through customs. Walked to the baggage claim and got my bags quickly. All was going well.
I then went outside to grab a cab. There I was. The first time I had to use Spanish since I stepped on the plane in order to get around... other than eaves dropping on conversations here and there along the way that is. Luckily I picked a cab driver with a thick foregin accent, but I had written down the address so that wasn´t that much of an issue. The driver got me to the place and just using the address and using my still rusty spanish I somehow found the place and my senora came down although she had been sleeping, to let me in. Her name is Eugenia Lozano Rodriguez and she is 52 years old and a mother of 3 children with 3 grand children as well Pablo(who is crazy), Angel, and I cannot remember the name de la ninita. She seems like the nicest woman in the world and is endlessly helpful. She really is like a mother away from home. It seems like wherever I travel to I have someone to look over my shoulder and help me..just keep reading this and I'll explain an instance in the following day which was... shall I say.. a learning experience. Once I lugged my things into her apartment which is very nice with a homey feel located right near the heart of the city, I talked with her for a while and got to know her a little. I then unpacked a little and got ready to go to school because that day at 11am I had a language placement exam to take. So Eugenia packed me a sandwich and I was off. Because she had explained to me how to use the metro mas o menos, I tried to use it to get to school because its much much cheaper than a taxi. She walked me down the the metro stop nearby but although she was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction, she gave me the wrong directions but luckily I figured it out on my own and arrived at my university (carlos III) with only one small mistake. After arriving, I then had to find the university which was very close by, but being very unfamiliar with the area, was having some trouble doing so. Luckily a student there named Nora from Finland helped me find the university because the last time she was there someone had helped her out. I arrived at the campus at 11am, right on time, but then because of some misdirection I couldnt find the exam room until 11:25 and by that time the students were well into it and I had to start late. The professor game me a little time after, but I hadn't finished yet. I think I did pretty well, other than not finishing but we'll see because I hadn't slept in over 35 hours at that point and I was beginning to crash as the adrenaline left my system while sitting in silence in that classroom. After the exam I met up with the other students from BC at Carlos and we had wine, pop, and beer as well as a few small appetizers(mostly derived from "jamon" (ham) as is everything here). I've never been served alcohol at a school event. It was nice. We then had to attend a few presentations, but I left early in order to get some sleep as Ana(the BC coordinator) had advised. But one problem. Once I got onto the bus I realized I had lost my metro pass which Ana had specifically told me was expensive and to be careful with it. So I rushed back to Carlos III and luckily I found it where I thought it would be.. in the chair where I sat for one presentation.. it must have fallen out of my pocket. That was a huge relief! Eventually I got home and then slept for 14.. count it.. 14 hours from 6:30pm until 8:30pm. I really needed it.
I then went outside to grab a cab. There I was. The first time I had to use Spanish since I stepped on the plane in order to get around... other than eaves dropping on conversations here and there along the way that is. Luckily I picked a cab driver with a thick foregin accent, but I had written down the address so that wasn´t that much of an issue. The driver got me to the place and just using the address and using my still rusty spanish I somehow found the place and my senora came down although she had been sleeping, to let me in. Her name is Eugenia Lozano Rodriguez and she is 52 years old and a mother of 3 children with 3 grand children as well Pablo(who is crazy), Angel, and I cannot remember the name de la ninita. She seems like the nicest woman in the world and is endlessly helpful. She really is like a mother away from home. It seems like wherever I travel to I have someone to look over my shoulder and help me..just keep reading this and I'll explain an instance in the following day which was... shall I say.. a learning experience. Once I lugged my things into her apartment which is very nice with a homey feel located right near the heart of the city, I talked with her for a while and got to know her a little. I then unpacked a little and got ready to go to school because that day at 11am I had a language placement exam to take. So Eugenia packed me a sandwich and I was off. Because she had explained to me how to use the metro mas o menos, I tried to use it to get to school because its much much cheaper than a taxi. She walked me down the the metro stop nearby but although she was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction, she gave me the wrong directions but luckily I figured it out on my own and arrived at my university (carlos III) with only one small mistake. After arriving, I then had to find the university which was very close by, but being very unfamiliar with the area, was having some trouble doing so. Luckily a student there named Nora from Finland helped me find the university because the last time she was there someone had helped her out. I arrived at the campus at 11am, right on time, but then because of some misdirection I couldnt find the exam room until 11:25 and by that time the students were well into it and I had to start late. The professor game me a little time after, but I hadn't finished yet. I think I did pretty well, other than not finishing but we'll see because I hadn't slept in over 35 hours at that point and I was beginning to crash as the adrenaline left my system while sitting in silence in that classroom. After the exam I met up with the other students from BC at Carlos and we had wine, pop, and beer as well as a few small appetizers(mostly derived from "jamon" (ham) as is everything here). I've never been served alcohol at a school event. It was nice. We then had to attend a few presentations, but I left early in order to get some sleep as Ana(the BC coordinator) had advised. But one problem. Once I got onto the bus I realized I had lost my metro pass which Ana had specifically told me was expensive and to be careful with it. So I rushed back to Carlos III and luckily I found it where I thought it would be.. in the chair where I sat for one presentation.. it must have fallen out of my pocket. That was a huge relief! Eventually I got home and then slept for 14.. count it.. 14 hours from 6:30pm until 8:30pm. I really needed it.
Friday, August 21, 2009
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