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!
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!
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| 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.
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| Victoria and I at one of the Parque Retiro gates |
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| Lake with fountain in Parque Retiro |
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| 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.
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| Back of Catedral de Almudena |
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| Plaza de Espana |
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| 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
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