Mi fin de semana favorito

Wow, what a weekend! This weekend, a whole slew of people from our group went to Rome, Italy... but I stayed with a few to relax. This was one of my few free weekends.

To start, on Friday, we had our arte class at the Museo del Prado, the most famous museum in Spain. There are what... 4 floors? We only visited two rooms out of the entire 3 buildings, but it was truly amazing. We specialized in neo-classisism and barroque paintings of El Greco and Ribero. After that, I ended up taking a 4 hour nap and then met up to get icecream and sat around at the Palacio de Cristal, which is the crystal palace in the Parque del Retiro, the huge park by my house.

That night, walking around town around midnight with some friends, we heard a concert happening some 10 blocks away, so we happened our way to a huge convention tent! There was a group called Melocos, which is a boy-rocker band geared towards teenagers. We enjoyed that for a while, and then went home, having spent an enjoyable evening out while spending NOTHING! :)

The next day, I slept in like crazy. This weekend was a Festival in this town a 45-minute train ride away called Alcala de Henares. The festival celebrated Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote, and Medieval markets... so going there meant a half-mile long open medieval market, with food carts, hand-crafted jewelry, and thousands of visitors. As you can see in the picture, that cheese was as big as coffee pots, and the employees were dressed in traditional garb. I can't believe how we were able to make it there, knowing only the name of the town, and nothing else. We somehow found the train, walked into the center of town, and enjoyed everything there. We had a blast, and ate homemade chocolate, dried fruits, and much more. In fact, Alcala de Henares has its own university, which is so beautifully built that we study it in Art class!

After a long day of walking, we made it home to take a siesta and eat some non-sugary food. That night, we went to a friend's house and watched an incredible french-canadian movie called Les Invasiones Barbaras... I recommend it. Very sad, but moving.

On Sunday, we woke up pretty early (11am... early for a day I'd like to sleep in more) to go to El Rastro, which is the biggest flea market in Spain that happens every Sunday from 8am to 2pm. However, today was also a national holidy... 12 de Octubre... the day Columbus discovered America! As I walked out of my house to get to the metro, 7 jets speeded overhead, spewing out pink and yellow and white smokes in a gorgeous V-formation. I had no idea.

Unfortunately, I forgot that there was a parade, and when we took the bus to get the El Rastro, we encountered tons of traffic, so we abandoned ship and took the metro finally. Having arrived an hour later than planned, there were thousands of people walking through El Rastro. It was overwhelming and stressful!! You had to keep your bag close to you (because there are a lot of pickpocketers) all the while bumping into people going every which way. You can hardly walk to see the tiendas you want to see, because there are just too many people. It's increible. Note: El Rastro in spanish means the red trail/stain of blood left by slaughtered animals, and in this case, the slaughter of bulls.

Tonight I have to study for my first Spanish exam. I'm currently learning outdated analogy phrases. I know they're outdated because I'm also taking a Colloquial Spanish class, so I know what's "in use" and not in use, haha. For example, you are more stubborn than a mule, or this place is louder than a henhouse. Oy... Talk to you luego, loyal readers!

He tardado.... lo siento!

Back again! Sorry I've taken so long to update, there has been a lot going on. Classes are in full swing, and I have homework in every class every day. It's pretty intenso, although it's not impossible to achieve. During the week, my classes are really early... with the hour commute, I've been waking up so early.

We also had a day trip to Toledo with our group, which means our coordinator and a tour guide came with us. We saw the famous cathedral, along with the many works of the famous painter, El Greco. He was actually greek, but spent a lot of his life living in Toledo. His obras were incredible, and I enjoyed the trip a lot. The only disappointing aspect was that we were there from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., having had an extravagant lunch. However, we were scheduled to see some other museum that was unexpectedly unavailable, and instead of staying to walk around Toledo, we went straight home, having had no time to look around.

Also, this past weekend, we went on a walking tour of the old city of Madrid, the Austrian area. It was a gorgeous day out, perfectly sunny, with everyone flocking to the center of town. There were street violin musicians playing Beethoven, tables of crafts for sale, street artists (the ones that stand really still like statues and when you pay them, they'll suddenly break out of pose and move), and tons of people with their dogs. We had lunch at a posh restaurant, a place I would have never considered.

Let's see... in my clase de arte, we've visited 2 museums so far. We visited the Museo Arquiologico and the Palacio Real, even though the king doesn't actually live there anymore. The Palacio Real is so extravagant and overly ornate (derroche o recargado) that you'd have to spend at least 20 minutes in each room to be able to see every piece of art there is. So awesome!

I also had an intercambio with a Peruvian student who is at Carlos 3 getting her Masters in Pharmacology. However, there seeemed to be a misunderstanding with the word intercambio, because she didn't speak any english! Usually, students speak half in spanish, half in english, so that both can take advantage of a native to practice with. She was under the impression that I would teach her, from scratch, how to speak english. I'm going to try my hardest, and my first tutoring session is tomorrow, even though it's not mandatory that I help her. She was very sweet, offering to cook me a traditional dinner and introduce me to some of her masters' friends.

I've been having a little trouble with some things here or there, so please send me some kind words if you can. I miss you all.

"Jam Session"

Queridos readers, this will be a quick post. While flipping through a Madrid book, we found some live-music bars in Madrid. Last night, a few of us went to a jazz bar in Calle Huertas, which is one of the main bar districts in Madrid. There was no cover, and although we arrived an hour after it started, we managed to get a table in a corner. Last night's session was a "Jam Session" (no spanish needed to describir that). Just like any other jazz club (I've never been to one), it was so rad I can't even believe it. There was a trumpet, upright bass, piano, and drums. Before any song, they would quickly glance at a fakebook to check out a tune, and then just improvise their way through it. It was BRILLIANT, and absolutely amazing. The solos were ridiculously increibles.

In the middle of a song, a guy brushed past our table and headed toward the other players. He whips out his trumpet, and starts soloing. The first trumpeter turns around, because he had no idea the other trompeta was coming. And that's the jam session. Anyone with an instrument or a voice just walks up there and joins in with the others. Near the end, 3 drummers took turns, there was a saxist, 2 basists, a singer, and 3 trumpets. The drinks were very expensive, but it's definitely my #1 club. Time for homework!

Clases!!

Uf! Clases have started. And can you believe that I have tons of homework already? I am taking 5 classes: Spanish Law, Spanish Cinema, Spanish Art, Language, and Colloquial Spanish. At this juncture, my two favorite classes are Colloquial and Cinema.

In Colloquial, there are about 50 students in a large room. Our first two classes were spent disecting a staged email between two female friends in which one recounts a party, school, work, etc. We tagged all of the expressions we didn't recognized, defined them, specified exactly when and how to use them, and then found synonyms. We really just jumped right in! Furthermore, the vulgar expressions are as readily taught as the non-palabrotas. It makes for both an interesting class AND this is the kind of stuff I use every day. In fact, a word I learned today, cojonudo/a (super awesome, superlative for great, but vulgar) was used in my Cinema class! Just think... if I hadn't learned it, I'd have lost the meaning of that entire scene.

And cine! This class is split between two professors equally, one day with the profesora and another with the profesor. The female professor was a bit boring, but today with the male professor, we did lots of fun activities while learning some theory. We disected a spanish beer commercial by character, camera angle, feelings evoked, and spanish values. Then we watched snippets of the movie La Comunidad, which I highly recommend as a comedy.

Those were the highlights of the week. But inevitably, I began to compare this school with Johns Hopkins. The system is entirely different. Instead of buying books, teachers (in class) give you a three-number code. With that code, you must walk to 1 of 4 buildings and wait in line at a Reprografia to obtain photocopies of these materials, which will then become either class materials or homework. This is inefficent for many reasons: 1) the teachers are often unprepared and will give you the clave but not have the materials available, so you have waited in line twice, and had to rush your work once you actually DID get the materials; 2) Instead of one lump sum, you have to pay for your copies each time you get them; 3) If the teacher forgets the code, you can't get your work, not even if you ask the front desk, and; 4) Materials for different classes are unique to certain buildings, so you spend your time being rejected from some and trying to find others.

Another queja (complaint) is that some of my teachers are Latin-American, including my Language teacher! The whole Spanish experience is difficult BECAUSE we learned Mexico-dialect Spanish in school, and we have to relearn accents, different phrases, different expressions, and different ways to address people. Why, then, does the teacher who is responsible for fine-tuning my Castillian vocabulary, accent, and expressions, not use them herself?? This makes no sense to me. Here, they call it racisim. But I call it being practical. A similar analogy might be going to Portugal and having a Brazilian teach you about Portuguese history. Or going to Britain and having an American teach you British history. This is also the case with my Law class. Having a foreigner teach you about a country he/she also only knows by the books is a little weird to me. I feel that a big part of law is how it affects your everyday life. Also, the accent and vocabulary in which you learn a subject in is also how you will describe it to others. If I learn about Law in Mexican-dialect Spanish, I have not completed my objective to fine-tune my Spain-dialect Spanish.

Other than that, I really do enjoy all of my classes, without a doubt. I chose the most interesantes classes and I can't wait to really get in the swing of things. Our classes only contain other Americans from other universities in California, New York, Boston, etc. I wish I could meet more spaniards.

However, it's time for me to dormir because I've got class early tomorrow morning! I know that the next time I post, I'll be more positiva, having gotten used to the system at my new school and such. Until then!

La noche en blanco...

Hola! Looking back now, I see that I've only been in Madrid for 1 full week, but it feels like I've been here a month! I'm a pro at the Metro (not so much with the Autobuses), I don't always need my map (when I'm going places I recognize), and I feel like I've been to a million cafes around the city. But it has only been 1 week! I start classes tomorrow el lunes, and my schedule is a little crazy. 4 of the 5 days of the week, I start by 10:00 a.m., and if anyone knows me well, it's that I NEVER make it to early class. Unfortunately, attendance here is obligatorio, so here comes grumpy Sarah every morning. One good thing is that there is this sandwich store near campus that makes the biggest and best sandwiches in the world for very little money. And the ladies that work there are such sweethearts. They call everyone corazon and reina. It's endearing.

The week has been busy... findning my way around the city, drinking way too much coffee. On Friday we went on a double decker bus tour of the city. It was SOOO cold out, but we saw lots. After that we found a cute cafe with the best bocadillos I've had yet. The bread was warm and soft (yet crunchy), and the jamon serrado was amazing.

This week, I also explored the Parque del Retiro, the huge park near my house, with some friends. It's so big that it's impossible not to get lost there. There are beautiful fountains everywhere and people rollerskating and biking and running. The only bad thing about this park is that I live on the wrong side of it in terms of having uninterrupted access to Madrid. Anywhere I go, I have to hop on at least 2 different metro lines to circumvent the park and get to the center of the city. When I leave with enough extra time, I can walk through and enjoy it. There is also a huge pond/lake in the center, and you can rent rowboats for 4 euros. They stock the pond with fish and ducks, and la gente is always feeding the animals.

On Friday, we went out for a night on the town, spanish style. We went to a few bars and a discoteca. The only disadvantage was trying to find a mode of transporte on the way home. The Metro closes at 1:30a.m. and the buses are elusive in that there is no comprehensive schedule that you can read! Either you know your stop and all the stops near you AND the corresponding bus numbers, there is no way to get home. That being said, at 5:30a.m., exhausted and achy from walking, I hopped on a bus that I thought was going to Principe de Vergara, which is a metro stop not so far from me. Instead bus took me to La calle de Principe de Vergara, about 3 miles up the road. I didn't know where I was so I had to take a taxi, which was extremely expensive. Live and learn!

Another exciting happening was La Noche en Blanco, a city-wide event that was increible. The premise of this activity was that the city doesn't sleep. From (I think) 9pm to 7am, the city has tons of activities going on. All the museums are open and gratis, so you don't have to pay anything. The metro stays open until 3:00a.m., and the streets are closed off for pedestrian walking (I'm talking the MAIN streets like the Gran Via). Aside from the free museums, most restaurants and bars are open to compensate for all the people. There are also hundreds of booths and open-air art expositions around the streets, which were published in a magazine with a map of which activities were where. In the past 2-3 years, only 1.5 million people attended, but this year the number was estimated at 3 million.

Of course, I attended. Our group had gone for tapas that evening, so I decided to leave directly after dinner. The metro was PACKED. There was no room to even hold on a rail, there were so many people crammed into the trains. The trains were slower because of the added weight, as well as open longer at each parada because peoples limbs were blocking the doors from closing. Once we got out of the metro, it was super slow even walking up onto the street because of the hundreds of thousands of people. The foot traffic was unbelievable.

Last night we decided to meet up with our spaniard friend, because maybe they would know the best places to go during the madhouse of an acontecimiento (event). My host father explained that it would be crazy, with the tons of foot traffic, and that it would be nearly impossible to enter any museums because of the long lines. He was correct. However, while we were waiting for Carlos and his friends, we were in front of the city hall (I think) watching modern art at work. The gigantic building had red blobs projected on it, and we heard weird noises echoing throughout the streets. First we thought they were red blood cells, then donuts. We soon realized that the red blobs being projected at a HUGE scale on that building were lips, kisses, and the sounds we heard were kissy noises. It was WAY COOL.

When we finally met up, we walked a ton to some exposition. Here, on the steps of a museum, where hundreds of candles surrounding a man in his underwear. This piece of art was interactive. Anyone who wanted to could take a candle and pour wax on the man. The poor hombre was shivering from the cold, and wincing each time the wax touched a bare patch of skin. I don't think he was allowed to move at all. It was a very moving piece of art... some of my friends were disturbed.

We soon ducked out to grab some churros y chocolate, which were delicious. When we stepped back out onto the street, the wax was even more accumulated on this man. So interesting!! By then I was tired and afraid that I wouldn't be able to get home before the metro closed at three, so I hopped on the metro and went home to sleep.

Here I am on Sunday, and class starts manana. Tonight there is a soccer game on tv, and a few of us want to go to a bar to watch it (to possibly meet some spaniards). I had a great lunch, and I'm still going over all the cool stuff I saw last night, along with the other 3 million people. Until later!

Por fin, la familia!!

Two days ago (Lunes), my family finally came back from their wedding in Italy!! And the second that I walked in the door, the 13-year old daughter ran up, greeted me, gave me a huge hug and a kiss, and then ran away as fast as she came. This sets the tone exactly for how it is in the house. My host parents, especially the mother, are the most overly-caring, sweet, outgoing, and adorable people in the world. I can't even get a word in with how much they tell me I should do whatever I want. It's such a placer to finally have a permanently smiling face and caring person to cuidarme. Everything I need, they help me with.

They speak a little english, so every once in a while, I'll hear a word that doesn't fit in the conversation and I realize that they've translated a word or two into english (that I can't understand). It's so endearing and actually helpful at times. Also, my host father and Patricia (the younger daughter) often correct my grammar, which is very helpful. Finally the house is alive and I want to spend all of my time in the kitchen talking with everyone.

Even today, I helped Patricia with her multiplication tables, although at times she talked so fast and said the numbers so fast that I was more confused than she was. Every day my spanish is getting better and better.

We also started Orientation at the University. We took our spanish placement exam (1.5 hours), and then today we had our oral exams. I think they went very well. There are tons of Americans in our program (which is designed for foreign students), many from California. It's very interesting to see the dynamic between all of the separate groups. To be perfectly honest, I don't want to meet americans; I want to meet spaniards.

The struggle these days is trying to find the most efficient way to commute to school. I have a few possibilities: Walk +Bus + Walk + Bus = School, Metro + Bus = School, Bus + Train + Walk = School, Metro + Metro + Train + Walk = School.... the list goes on and on. It's pretty inefficient, and I'm sure that this will be the one aspect of the program that I won't enjoy (aside from the overabundance of Americans).

Every day, I get to school beaming about something my mother said, or how nice it is at home. I sleep well, I eat well, I siesta. Right now I just want classes to start so I can start meeting new people. Our group has divided, and it's disconcerting at times. Some people just aren't madura.

I have so much to do: buy notebooks, confirm what classes I'll be taking, write in this blog, sleep, find my way around Madrid, find cool places to go out, meet people, find the most effective ruta to school, chat with my host family, keep cool in the humidity, learn new vocabulary, etc etc etc. I'm getting tired just thinking about it. Until then!

¡Madrileña!

Wow. Only two days have passed and already I have too much to catch up on. Let's see...

On Friday night, a few of us went to the concierto of Amaral, the popular spanish rock-ish band, in Salamanca. Having never heard them before, it was definitely an experience. I enjoyed the music, and everyone knew every word to each song. We went with José, our professor (although he is no longer our professor). Everyone was smoking cigarettes inside the huge venue, even though there were tons of señales saying not to. You could buy tickets to buy refrescos and like any other concert, it was exorbitantly expensive. But after all that jumping around and standing during the concert, I definitely needed to go home. One of my compañeras decided to stay out until 7:30 am partying!! AND she had to pack her suitcase to leave Salamanca by 1:00pm. Nutso.

We left Salamanca, and stopped at the beautiful town of Ávila to have a picnic lunch. It is a walled city on a mountain, and that surely gave us something nice to look at. Meanwhile, everyone was nervous about arriving in Madrid to finally meet our host families. When we got there (as I had already acertained by e-mail) my host family was not actually there because they were in a wedding (boda) of a relative in Italy. So, the helping hand of their household, Maite, and their 18 year old hija came to pick me up. We drove home and I spent an hour or so unpacking into my room.

My cuarto is the perfect size, with enough space for all my things, a table, a small tv, and a twin bed. This weekend, however, has been a bit strange at times. Maite is very agradable but she has a life too, and she can't spend the whole weekend taking me around and welcoming me, like most of the other students' families have done. Instead of taking me out with friends, the daughter, Elena, has been studying crazily for exams, which is totally understandable. I don't have internet on my own computer (I am using theirs, so the pictures will come later) because they forget the password, and I don't have my own key to the apartment until my familia comes home. Kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere. In place of a family activity, I found out where some of the students from my group live, and took a walk.

Sunday, today, I decided to go explore. I found a café chain called Café y Té and went there to write in our mandatory journals, and invited a few of the other students. It was fun planning my way to a shop online and then having to walk there. The lunch Maite made was absolutely delicious... a type of homemade rice with chicken (although NOT a paella), along with cold gazpacho soup and bread. Then this afternoon, we had our group orientation of the train, bus, and metro systems of Madrid, all of which are very modernos. Tons of walking. My apartment is situated next to the Parque del Retiro, which is like the Central Park of Madrid. Sarah and I decided to arrive at the main train station by walking through the park, but we ended up getting lost because it is so big. Qué asco. After our orientation (metros here are like metros in any big city. the end.), a few of us decided to explore another part of the city and grab a caña.

So here I am. Tomorrow the rest of my host family returns from Italy, so I hope to have a lot more interactions. We also start the first day of orientation at the Universidad de Carlos III at the Getafe campus. Exciting stories to come. I hope to soon get used to living in such a big ciudad, Madrid.