Week 6: Moving In and Hanging Out

Hello out there!

So I'm afraid my updates are going to be a bit boring from here on out as real life is settling in. I've officially moved into my piso and that's about it, nothing too terribly exciting.

1. Move in: I really like my piso, it's a bit small but it's homey. I live with a girl from the Dominican Republic, a British guy and an Italian guy. They're all really nice and friendly! I've been looking for decorations for my room because right now it looks a bit like a hospital room--its very very white! I realized that the one thing I completely forgot to pack were pictures, silly me [Hint, hint]!

Moving into my piso also means having to be a responsible adult which means that I have to actually feed myself and do my laundry. I have to admit, I was getting quite used to having my senora doing everything for me. Seriously, she would pretty much wait on us [which was super awkward at first, but I tried to help out every night and my senora always said no]. I miss the fantastic food--my first cena [dinner] in my piso was the dinner of champions [a Nutella sandwich with some frosted flakes]. Fortunately, I've got the Mercado de Argüelles [Argüelles Market] is like right down the street from me. Something I have to get used to is bringing my own bags with me to shop for groceries because the markets here make you pay for bags; which is actually a really smart way to encourage people to reuse bags!

Another great thing about my piso is that I'm really close to a lot of my friends. Two of them live just down the street from me and the others live in the Arguelles neighborhood with me. A few of my friends are in Cuatro Caminos, which is about 20 minutes by metro.

My bed

My desk

 

 

 

 

 

My closet

My kitchen

More kitchen

Little sitting area in kitchen

2. Classes: Classes are classes, haha I've figured out that college in Spain is pretty much college back home. Except to for the fact that profs don't really explain what they want you to do. It's kind of a trial-and-error basis for me right now, but I'm planning on going and talking to my profs about what books they recommend for me to read as background info for their class. Unlike in the States, classes here do not have a specific texts we have to read; they just give us a general bibliography [I have one that's five pages long of reference books to read]. Another thing I've had to get used to is that there really is no homework, which makes procrastinating extremely easy to do. Its week 2 of classes, but after this week I really need to buckle down and figure out what I need to do and get into a routine.

3. Weekly Shennanigans: Tuesday night, I went to my friend Victoria's piso to cook dinner with some of our other friends.We went shopping and decided to make a stir-fry and tortilla espanola. Our tortilla ended up being more like patatas braves with scrambled eggs mixed in, but it was still delicious! We also attempted to make our own tinto de verano which is basically red wine or sangria with lemon Fanta [yes, Fanta, Spaniards love the stuff! It's everywhere!]. We also picked up a really yummy cake from a bakery in Arguelles, it was delicious! We had a lot of fun cooking and just hanging out!

On Wednesday, two of my friends and I went for a run in Parque del Oeste. I can't remember if I've told everyone about this yet, but its a park near my piso with ruins of an old Egyptian temple (Templo de Debod) and it has a fantastic view of Palacio Real. I also went swimming with another one of my friends at the piscina at UCM. It was fantastic! I'm glad that I've found somewhere were I can swim because I definitely prefer that to running! One thing I have to say is that I probably should have waited for a day before going swimming because my legs were killing me on Thursday, I haven't worked out for a while so I might have gone a bit overboard for my first day back!

View from Parque del Oeste

On Thursday, I met with my intercambio again. We went to a really cute area of the city called Malasaña, there were tons of bars, boutiques, and little cafes! We went to a french cafe where they serve smoothies and crepes. It was really small and the smoothies were delicious [it was a little odd though because the smoothies weren't cold]. I'm definitely planning on going back to explore that area of the city some more!

Over the weekend, I mainly just hung out with friends in their new pisos and that's about it! Nothing too terribly exciting happened this week. A few friends and I decided to get a hotel in Valencia so we can go to Las Fallas, which is a huge festival where they burn floats, in about mid-March. It'll be my first trip on the Ave [the high speed train] and I'm really excited about it!

Until next time!
<3 Kelsey

Week 5: Complutense Classes, Moving Out, and Carnaval

Hello out there!

Wow, I've officially been here for a month, how crazy is that? I feel like I've been here way longer than a month and time has just flown by! This week was kind of crazy hectic, I started my Complutense classes, moved out of my senoras, and went to Cadiz for Carnaval!

1. Complutense: Complutense classes are probably the one of the things I was/am most nervous about. I consider myself to be pretty decent at understanding when profs lecture in Spanish, but a lot of the people in my program had told me how horrible their Complutense classes were and how they didn't understand hardly anything. So I went to my first class, Historia Moderna y Contemporanea de Europa y el Mediterraneo (which is one of my back-ups) and the prof was really easy to understand! I didn't really enjoy the class all that much though, which kind of stinks, its a lot of group work.

My second class, Cultura Andalusi, was really good as well. It was a little frazzling on Monday because 4 other students and me had the wrong room number, so we ended up going on a bit of a wild-goose chase to find the right aula (classroom). We eventually found it and we were about a half hour late to the class. I had a bit of trouble following the prof (especially since we came in in the middle of the lecture), but when I went on Tuesday, I didn't have many problems. The class is really interesting, especially because we're discussing very very old history (like the 500-1000s) which is something that I learned about in like 6th grade, so I don't remember it very well.

My other class, Introduccion a La Cultura y Mitologia Clasica, could be a lot of work. I'm going to have to do a lot of reading and translating because pretty much everything I know about Classic Mythology I've obviously learned in English. I'm kind of intrigued to see all the differences in the names of the mythological characters. In my Pintura del Prado class, we talked a bit about the Roman gods which was interesting to hear the names in Spanish as compared to in English (fortunately they're pretty similar since the Roman gods are names after planets...or vice versa, whichever way you want to think about it). But, I will say that I miss Purdue's registration system; its easy and logical and doesn't usually make last-minute changes without telling anyone! Like my Cultura class, my Introduccion class changed aulas without telling anyone, so I was late to that class as well, but everything worked out pretty well.

Just a sidenote: I have to say back in the States we're very spoiled. And by spoiled, I more mean that it's expected that all of our classrooms and schools have up to date technology. At UCM, the computers look like something out of the early 2000s--they're huge desktops and unlike at Purdue, not every classroom has a projector and computer in it. Its something that I've really taken for granted; I will definitely appreciate it next year when I'm back at school! Especially because most of my professors have terrible hand writing so whenever they write something on the board its like looking at a completely new language of random scribbles. I swear, I had never been so happy to see a PowerPoint in my life when my prof pulled one up on Tuesday.

2. Moving out: On Thursday, I moved out of my senora's, into my friend's for the weekend. I can't move into my piso until Monday (the 18th) so one of my friends offered to let me stay with her on Thursday and Sunday night since I was in Cadiz for the weekend. Packing up was weird...I think that moving into someplace that is actually mine is going to solidify this whole "real life" feeling.

3. Weekly Shenanigans: I think that this section is going to become a regular, mainly because I like to use the word shenanigans [it's fun!]. Anyways, aside from class and packing this week was pretty tame. On Valentine's Day, I went out to dinner with a friend and then we got some yummy gelato as a sweet treat!

Another random sidenote: Spain is going to kill me. There are so many little chocoleterias [chocolate shops], pastelerias and panerias [bakery and pastry shops]. I swear they're around every corner and everything looks absolutely delicious and cute! Also, in the cafeteria at UCM they sell croissants, palmeras [an elephant-ear dipped in chocolate], napoliano chocolates [chocolate croissants] for like .80 euros. Its so tempting and all of them are delicious. We need to have more of these little bakeries back home!

4. Carnaval in Cadiz: My friends and I went to Carnaval through a program called European Vibe; it was interesting. The bus ride was 7 hours long, so I did a lot of reading and sleeping. But, Spain is an absolutely gorgeous country! Before I same here, I didn't really expect to see a whole lot of hills and mountains, but southern Spain is covered in rolling hills. Southern Spain is also way warmer than Madrid, I think it was in the mid-60s all weekend (Madrid is usually around the mid 50s), so that was really kind of nice. We drove through the outskirts of Sevilla and Cordoba along the way, which really just made me want to visit there even more.

Our hostel in Cadiz was awesome even though we were about 30 minutes outside of the city. It was really close to the beach and the rooms were fantastic! The showers actually had water pressure and the breakfasts we had were awesome (lots of toast and Nutella!)

On Friday night, we went to dinner at a restuarant and then we went to an "exclusive" club, which turned out to be really lame so my friends and I just went back to our room and hung out.

On Saturday, we got up and walked along the beach. My friends, Bekah and Amber, and I were the only ones brave enough to go put our feet in the water. It was freezing, but it was awesome to be on the beach in the middle of February. Before heading back to the hostel, we walked along the beach and collected lots of shells that I'm going to try to bring back with me. On Saturday night, we all put on our costumes and headed to Carnaval.

Carnaval was super fun, but I'm not sure I would do it again. If I do, I'm definitely going the first weekend instead of the second because there are parades and the like. Carnaval was basically a giant botellon. Botellones started when Franco fell, its basically a giant party where young people go out and drink and listen to music in the streets. Now, they're illegal because people started getting a little too rowdy, but Spainards still have them, just on smaller levels. 

Like I've said, Carnaval was lots and lots of fun. We had some delicious empanadas [pretty much a meat poptart] from these street vendors and kabobs that weren't really kabobs, and we tried this drink called manzanilla which was basically hard sparkling cider. We also met a guy who was kinda from Purdue! He was wearing a Purdue sweatshirt, so we went up to talk to him and it turns out he is in the navy and stationed near Cadiz, but his brother goes to Purdue! Everyone was dressed up in crazy costumes, there some mobsters, people dressed up like the points on Google maps, lots of girls in tutus, and lots of people with masks!

Overall, the trip was lots of fun, but I'm definitely going to have to go back to Cadiz to actually see the historical side of it. I didn't take any pictures, but my friends did so once they send them to me I'll post them.

Andddd, that's all I've got for this week. Until next time!
Ciao,
Kelsey

Week 4: Intercambios and Salamanca

Hola, Hola!

This week marked the start of another one of my classes and besides a day trip to Salamanca on Saturday, that's pretty much it. This update is really short compared to the other ones, I think its because I'm settling into everything here and Madrid is starting to feel more like home than like a city I'm only visiting for a few days.

1. Classes: Another update for you all, I started my third Reunidas course this week. This one is the Pintura del Prado, which I'm really excited about. We're starting with the mid-17th century and going up through all of Goya's works. This week, we just started with a brief history of Spain and then started to discuss the Borroco (baroque) period of art. The week after next, we start our practicas, which means every Wednesday, I'm going to have class in the Prado! So Mom, Dad, Ross--when you come to visit, you'll have your own personal tour guide! I'm very excited!

Next week I am starting my Complutense classes, wish me luck! I'm really nervous about it. Everyone I've talked to has told me pretty much the same thing: the profs speak really quickly and they change from topic to topic with pretty much zero transition. I'm really hoping that everything won't be too overwhelming!

2. Intercambios: I've signed up for two intercambios. An intercambio is a Spanish speaking student that's looking to improve their English while helping English speakers with their Spanish. Basically once or twice a week I meet with my intercambio and we spend part of the time speaking in English and the other part of the time speaking in Spanish. I had my first meeting with one of my intercambios, Patricia on Thursday. She's super nice! I was really nervous about it, but it went really well! We spoke mainly in Spanish and I could understand pretty much everything! I'm quite proud of myself! She was an Erasmus (european study abroad) student in London last year so she speaks with a bit of a British accent, but she knows English pretty well. She showed me around her facultad which is where my classes that start next week are!

3. Weekly Shenanigans: Like I said, this week was pretty calm, mainly just settling into the routine of classes and "real life" starting. Personally, I think that the study abroad office should really look into the whole "study" part of study abroad. There's so much that I want to do and see here that classes are kind of getting in the way!

I had my first huelga [strike] experience this week! Actually, I had a few. The first was last Friday when my friends and I went to El Tigre. We came out of the metro stop on Gran Via and there was a protest going on in the middle of the street. We were surprised by it because these people were literally just standing in the middle of Gran Via and blocking all of the traffic, it was definitely a sight to see.  

Huelga #2 happened at UCM on Tuesday morning. I got the the facultad around 8:15 or so for my 8:30 class and there was a giant crowd of people hanging out outside of the building. Turns out that the administration of UCM decided to strike this week and didn't show up to unlock the building that morning. They got the door open around 8:45 and all the classrooms unlocked by 9:00 so we still had class (but, hey, we got out of a half-hour of it!). Also, since the administration was striking, profs didn't have to show up to classes if they didn't want to teach. The most interesting thing for me is that when huelgas happen it's no big deal here and most of them seem to be pretty peaceful (at least the 3 I've seen were).

Huelga outside the facultad

And lastly, Huelga #3 was on Wednesday in Sol. My friends and I were meeting there for lunch and we came out of the metro and there was a big group of people protesting against the PP (the political party in power). I'm not quite sure what the protests/cuelga were about but I'm fairly certain they were about the budget cuts going on in Spain right now.

Also, this week, I took a class that taught me how to teach English. A lot of other WIPTitos [as the Spanish call us] took a course through Canterbury English which gave us tips on how to teach little kids and adults English. We will teach for an hour or two each week and make about 15 euro for each session! It'll be nice to have a little extra pocket money for hanging out around Madrid and traveling! Our instructor was a bit...quirky? On Thursday night (our last night of the course), he took us out to a bar where an intercambio was being held, bought us all drinks, and told us to go talk to people to help them with their English. I was so unprepared, but it went really well! I ended up talking to these two guys named Pablo and Olivier, we mainly talked in Spanish, which was great for me because I got to practice some more! But I found out that Pablo had worked in Dublin for a while and that Olivier was moving to London in a week. It was kind of funny because Olivier wouldn't speak with us in English, only Spanish. But, the whole experience was a lot of fun. They have intercambio nights every Wednesday and Thursday, so I'm definitely planning on going back!

Today, my friends and I went to the mall to go to Ikea so we could get sheets and such for our pisos [which we move into this week!]. The mall was massive, it looked and felt just like an American mall. The only problem is that its a solid 30-40 minute metro ride from Embajadores. I'm sad to be leaving the ease of my senoras, I'm going to miss having someone cook for me and do my laundry; but I'm excited to move into the students area of the city and have the chance to live in a piso and cook for myself!

4. Salamanca: On Saturday, my friends and I decided to go out of Madrid for the day to visit Salamanca. Salamanca is in the Castilla y Leon province of Spain and is about 2.5-3 hours away from Madrid. When I was a junior in high school, I had to do a project over a city in Spain and mine was over Salamanca. It was really cool to see the La Iglesia del Espiritu Santa (La Clerecia), Catedral Nueva, Plaza Mayor, and Casa de Conchas.

La Iglesia del Espiritu Santa or La Clerecia was built in 1617 by King Felipe III and Margarita of Austria. When we got there, we decided to climb to the tops of the towers to see the city. It was so much fun, it was basically training for going to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. La Clercia is the second tallest building in Salamanca [the tallest being Catedral Nueva]. Once we reached the top, we found out that there was a very small and narrow passage we could take that lead us to the other tower. Mom, you would've hated it, it was like 3 feet wide and only had an iron railing along the ledge--not to mention the ground was started to slope downwards! We were even able to climb all the way to the top of the tower where the bells were. I think overall, La Clercia, was my favorite part of Salamanca!

Ringing the bells at the top of the tower

On the platform

We climbed to the second window!

Catedral Nueva was gorgeous, its very gothic style. Unfortunately, we went after lunch so the only part of it that was open were the towers which we decided not to climb because we had already climbed the towers of La Iglesia de la Clerica. Catedral Nueva is, like I said, stunning. The detail work is insane! We walked around the outside of the building and took lots and lots of pictures.

Catedral Nueva

Plaza Mayor was pretty cool, it's a typical plaza. There were these guys walking around with signs that said "Doy abrazos gratis" [I give free hugs] and "Doy besos gratis" [I give free kisses], two of my friends went and got free hugs from them.

Plaza Mayor

Casa de Conchas was cool to see in person. I've seen tons of pictures of it in my classes but to actually see it in person was amazing. It was initially built as a noble's house, but now its one of the cities libraries.

Casa de Conchas

La Universidad de Salamanca is one of the oldest universities in Spain. There are tons of old campus buildings in the middle of Salamanca, all of which have just as much detailing on the facades as the Catedral does. But, one building in particular is the most famous. On the facade of La Universidad Civil, there is a huge engraving and hidden within it is a rana [frog], according to legend if you can find the frog without help you will have good luck for a year! I'm happy to say that I found the frog, so hopefully I'll have good luck for the rest of my stay here!Now, it's your turn: try to find the frog in the picture I've posted!

Find the Rana!

Overall, Salamanca was tons of fun! It was a very relaxing day trip and I really enjoyed being able to just travel and spend time with my friends. The big difference between Salamanca and Madrid is how quiet it was! I've gotten so used to there always being cars passing by or people walking down the street that the white noise of the city seems quiet to me. Although Salamanca has a huge student population, I'm really glad I chose to study abroad in Madrid simply because of how much there is to do here!


5. Carnaval in Spain: Saturday [Feb 9] marked the start of Carnaval in Spain, which basically means there are tons of people walking around in costumes and playing music and just generally enjoying themselves. Speaking of Carnaval, I just want to give y'all a heads up that my update next week could be a little late--I'm going to Carnaval in Cadiz [Spain's biggest Carnaval celebration] and I'm not quite sure when I'm going to be getting back!

That's all I've got for now! Miss you all!
Besos,
Kelsey

Week 3: Classes, Pisos, and Modern Art

Greetings from Madrid!

Before I start, I just wanted to say sorry for all the Spanish in these posts, sometimes its hard to come up with the word in English. And this way you all are learning the language a bit too! This week has been a pretty calm one, I started classes on Thursday, went to the Reina Sofia and Parque Retiro, and officially signed the contract for my piso!

1. Classes: First off, the Spanish school schedule is really wacky compared to the American one. At UCM, not all of the classes started this week. Only Reunidas courses started this week, and even then they started on Thursday instead of Monday [how weird is that?!]. I have more classes that will start on Monday [Feb. 4th]. Those ones are the courses under the college of Geografia e Historia. And then a week from Monday [Feb. 11] all courses under Filologia and Filosofia start. Like I said, it's just so weird that not all of my classes are starting at once, just like it's weird to me that classes are either Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays are reserved for practicas [recitations (or discussions for all you non-Boilermakers out there)]. Classes are an hour and a half long, so by the time I've finished this semester the power hours [hour and 15 minutes] and normal classes [50 mins] at Purdue are gonna be a breeze!

The classes I had this week were: La Mujer en la Literatura Espanola and Historia de Hispanoamerica. My prof for La Mujer is really good. He actually knows Profesora Hart from Purdue [I had her last semester for my Spanish Civ and Culture class], so that was kind of cool to find out. Just proves how small the world is! I'm happy to say that our readings for this class are mainly going to be from the 20th century, so I won't have to read medieval Spanish again! This week we read Genesis from the Bible and talked about the creation of Eve and la caida [the fall from Eden] and then we discussed image that the Bible gives of women and how it has effected the western world. It was really interesting, it was something that I've never really thought about before.

My prof for Historia is awesome. She's a Spainard, and is absolutely hilarious. She is very blunt [like most Spaniards are]. This week we've been talking about the 15th-18th centuries in Hispanoamerica, so we've been talking about the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans and the conquering of South, Central, and North America. It's been really interesting. I've learned lots of things I didn't know before, like for example the Pope only gave permission to Portugal and Spain to discover the New World because (1) they had the most advanced naval technology and (2) the Pope was from Valencia. My prof also gives us little chocolate pieces shaped like a euro coin when we answer questions correctly [I got 2 on Friday!].

Sometimes I really think I should have picked up a double major or maybe a minor focusing on European history. I'm absolutely fascinated by all the monarchies and seeing how interconnected all of the countries in Europe are. Anyways,I have class everyday at 8:30 in the morning, which is good and bad--bad because I have to get up at 6:30 so I can make it there on time and good because then I have more free time in the afternoon!

2. Pisos (Round 2): So, remember that piso I wrote about in my last post? Well, it's not going to happen. I looked over the contract with my coordinator, Amy (who by the way is absolutely amazing--she's basically our mom while we're over here), and there were a ton of hidden costs and a very likely chance I wouldn't get my fianza back. So I said no, and Amy gave me the contact information for one of the landlords she knows. Turns out, he had just rented one of his pisos to another girl in my program but he has another one opening up for the 18th of February. So I looked at it and  I just got a feeling that it was my piso. So Friday, I signed the contract and paid the fianza, and its mine! There are 5 rooms total: I'll be living with an Italian guy, a British guy, and some other girls (I don't know where they're from). I'm really excited, the kitchen is big and all of the bathrooms have been recently renovated! Some of you are probably thinking that its weird for guys and girls to live together, but it is very normal here and plenty of other people are doing the same in my program. The location is absolutely fantastic! It's a little bit further north than I initially wanted, but its close enough to get to the big Arguelles shopping area easily and still be pretty quiet. I circled it on the map below so you can see where I'll be living in comparison to where I am now. And the best part? I don't have to take two metros and possibly a bus to get to UCM! I'm like 5 mins from the Moncloa Metro/Bus station!

[Map: So, the big black circle in the upper left is UCM, the small black circle beneath that is my piso, and the black circle in the lower right is my homestay. The big highlighted outline is the walk I took on Thursday and Saturday--see the Weekly Shenanigans section to hear more about it]

3. Musings on Modern Art: On Wednesday, my friends and I went to the Reina Sofia, it was...interesting? I remember now why I don't like modern art. There was some really weird stuff in there! The big thing at the Reina Sofia is Picasso's Guernica and they have a lot of works by Salvador Dali as well. Luckily, entrance to the Reina Sofia is free for students, so my friends and I got to save some money! For anyone who as ever been to the Reina Sofia, they know its a completely square building with one hallway connecting all the rooms. Seems pretty straight forward, right? LIES. I am proud to say that I got completely separated from my friends on the fourth floor and was lost for a solid 45 mins. The Reina Sofia has a lot of very odd stuff in it, and its easy to get turned around! Also, future reference: if you're looking for the Guernica its on the second floor...not the fourth, like my friends and I were told.

After finally finding my friends, we found the Guernica and it was pretty impressive. I'm not a huge fan of Picasso or cubism, but it definitely was cool to see it in person. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the room, so for anyone who isn't quite sure what the Guernica is I pulled it off the internet for you!

Picasso's Guernica

4. Weekly Shenanigans: Besides getting hopelessly lost in the Reina Sofia,  my friends and I got a little lost walking around Plaza de Espana and trying to find the cine [movie theater]. After about 30 mins of wandering up and down Calle Princesa near Plaza de Espana and Ventura Rodriguez, we finally figured out which theater we actually wanted [which we only passed 1 or 2 times while looking for it] and we made it there just in time for the movie! We went to see El lado bueno de las cosas AKA Silver Linings Playbook. It was in version original, which means its in English with Spanish subtitles. It was really funny because the humor and emotions were completely lost in translation with the subtitles. At one point Bradley Cooper said "Te amo" [I love you] and the response they put was "Vale" [which means okay].

I've been doing a lot of wandering in the city as well. On Tuesday, my friends and I explored Parque Retiro. It was absolutely gorgeous! And its massive! You go into the park and its like you've been transported miles outside of the hustle and bustle of the city. There's a lake where you can rent little boats and row around it. There's Palacio de Velazquez, which holds some random pieces of modern art. My friends and I walked around and "interpreted" the art. There was a room that was just a projection of a curtain so we made shadow puppets on the projection. There's also Palacio de Cristal, which is a building covered in windows that had some modern art piece in it [it was a whole bunch of strings woven around the pillars in the building to make a web]. Also, Amy--you would love it, there are tons and tons of random cats roaming around the park.

Victoria and I at one of the Parque Retiro gates

Lake with fountain in Parque Retiro

Palacio de Velazquez

On Thursday, I was feeling a little restless, so I decided to walk around in Puerta de Toledo to see what all was near it and I ended up walking from my senora's to Puerta del Sol by following a loop that takes you around Puerta de Toldeo, past Palacio Real, Plaza de Espana, and up Gran Via all the way towards Calle Preciados [the most crowded street in Madrid--there are tons of shops like H&M, Bershka, and Zara near by] until Puerta del Sol. I took the metro home once I got to Sol because I made the mistake of wearing boots with a bit of a heel on them, so my feet were killing me! The whole walk only took me like an hour and a half at most. On Sarurday, I put on my gym shoes and did the same loop, but this time instead of taking the metro home, I walked from Puerta del Sol to Paseo de Prado until I hit the Reina Sofia and walked back to my senora's which is only 10-15 minutes from the Reina Sofia. I was a complete tourist and took tons and tons of pictures, so I've posted a few on here.

Back of Catedral de Almudena

Plaza de Espana

Palacio Real

On Friday night, I had my first sangria and tapas in Madrid at El Tigre off of Gran Via. It was awesome. We all ordered drinks for about 6 euro and the tapas just kept coming. We had croquetas [fried ham and cheese dumplings], jamon serrano [ham on a little slice of bread], tortilla espanola, and patatas braves. It was twenty times better than Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba in Chicago. Ross--when you come to Madrid we are definitely going there!

On Saturday night, my friends and I got our domestic side on [Sash, you should be proud!] and we went to a cooking class that was put on through Disfruta Madrid Mas [DMM]. DMM is a company that works with universities in Madrid to promote the more cultural side of Madrid. The WIPT program bought us all memberships so that we can get some fantastic discounts and go to free cultural events. But at the cooking class, we learned how to make gazpacho [cold tomato soup], paella mixta [chicken and seafood paella], tortilla espanola [potato and egg omelette], and tarra de Santiago [a pound-cake type thing]. It was absolutely delicious, and now I know how to cook authentic Spanish food!


5. Culture Shock, Stage Two: As much as I hate to admit it, I'm officially in stage two of culture shock. I've been getting  homesick and the little things differences between Madrid and the States are starting to annoy me. I miss all of my family and friends a lot and its finally starting to sink in that I'm not going to be home for 5 more months. I'm still enjoying myself a lot and I'm still having fun, but the shiny "Oh my gosh, I'm in Spain" feeling is starting to rub off a bit and everything is just starting to seem normal. Its like when I was walking around the city and I passed Palacio Real or whenever I pass by Plaza Mayor, they just seem so normal for me, like its not really anything special. I guess thats a good sign though, it means that I'm starting to get used to being here!

Things I miss the most from home [besides all the people!]: dryers [no one in Spain uses a clothes dryer, so everything takes at least 1 day to dry], Target/Walmart [even though Spain has Corte Ingles, which the more I go in the more I realize is more of a Macy's than a Walmart, I miss the ease of having everything I need in one place] and being able to take long showers [gastos [utilities], like water are super expensive here so my showers are 5 minutes long]

But I really love the Madrid way of life [la vida madrilena--get it?], everything is just taken at a much slower pace here and everyone is much more relaxed about the little stuff, like starting on time--Spainards seem to run on "Spanish time" and are 5-10 minutes late for pretty much anything. I'm starting to adapt to it and I can actually be a little late to things without freaking out [Family, I know you're all falling over in shock that I'm able to show up 5 minutes late to something]. Anyways, that's all I've got for now! Make sure you check in next week to hear about my day trip to Salamanca!

Besos,
Kelsey