I arrived to Hotel Regina in Madrid at around 2AM Friday morning and was not especially excited to wake up at 8AM in the morning. I was happy to meet some of the newbies, though. I am trying as hard as I can to avoid talking about last semester, but it is proving difficult, especially since I miss the dynamic so much. Last semester there were half as many people, everyone attended the International Institute, and everything was new to everyone. This semester, I attend La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (a legitimate Spanish university with a campus and everything), had a one month intensive daily seminar before classes at la UAM started, and I will start an internship soon. Sure, change is great, but it is hard all the same. As much as I was surrounded by people I knew last semester, I am alone and isolated this semester, but admittedly improving my Spanish a lot more.
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| Found a nice little fatty in La Plaza de Colón |
Natalie and I skipped the orientation presentations and waited until night-fall to start bonding with the new kids. We drank in our friend´s hotel room, went to El Tigre for cheap drinks and tapas and then to Club Joy to finish the night. It was a comforting and familiar way to start up the Madrid-party-weekends again.
On Saturday, I returned to my home-stay and anxiously awaited the arrival of my new roommate. Her name is Shana (pronounced like Shayna) and neither of us were particularly happy they put two people with such similar names together. However, she is smart, goes to BU and is good at Spanish, so I like her.
Sunday was my hibernation and gchat day. I also had to start reading for the 3-week intensive seminar I had (that I almost done with; THANK GOD). The seminar counts as a full class (4 credits) and took place before my classes started at la UAM in February. We had 2 hours of class a day, usually had to watch a movie, and had 1-2 hours of reading daily (so usually 6 hours of hard academic work a day). It was every day except Sunday. I am finishing my final paper for the seminar class now and it is as enjoyable as getting hourly paper-cuts between my toes.
On Friday, my seminar started later in the day, so Thursday I botellon´d in the streets with Shana and some other new girls in my program then went to Club Kapital (7 floors of epic-ness if you have forgotten). I realized at 4AM I had promised to skype with my Dad, so I may or may not have skyped with him in a drunken state.
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| Note the child at our table at the Bar |
On Friday, Natalie and I went to see También la Lluvia (Spanish movie about the Bolivian “Water Wars”) and on Saturday, I went to a tourism fair as a requirement for my seminar and was very upset about the lack of free things they gave out. Highlights: A free piece of Jamón Ibérico (very expensive ham) and Carnaval dancers from the Murcia region (there was a male dancer gayer than Ricky Martin´s silver pants he wore to the Grammys; he was obviously our favorite). On Sunday, I met my 3 new roommates, who all sorority sisters at Syracuse University. Two of them have never taken Spanish and one started recently, so I am doing a lot of translating for them. Obviously this is both good and bad in terms of helping me with my Spanish. Having five students instead of four, like last semester, makes this place feel eerily like a dorm, of which I am not a particular fan. However, having been here last semester pacifies any strange feelings of being an outsider in the family. It took a while, but now I truly do feel like these people are my second set of parents and siblings.
Later during the day, Natalie and I went to a free exhibit on Dalí and Lorca at Caixaforum. That night, after a failed attempt to go out, Natalie I saw “Carne de Neón”, one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Later during the day, Natalie and I went to a free exhibit on Dalí and Lorca at Caixaforum. That night, after a failed attempt to go out, Natalie I saw “Carne de Neón”, one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
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Obviously Dalí
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| Stopped in the Anthropology Museum to see some really weird exhibits |
The next week was full of stress, reading, watching Spanish movies, writing reactions, and picking classes. Picking classes was more difficult than I could have imagined. There is no order to the Spanish university´s website and no way to know if classes are full until you try to officially join them. Even worse, there is no RateMyProfessor.com. So, if you go to BU and complain about registration in front of me, I will be tempted to slap you across the face.
Thursday night was a Kapital night again. Natalie and I went Dreams beforehand where they have a free open bar for girls on the weekdays (I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THEY DO THIS, I just know that it is absolutely amazing). On Friday night, I went to Maoz (a vegetarian chain in Europe) and had a delicious giant Falafel Pita, followed by a massive stomachache due to the size of said pita.
On Saturday, I finally went El Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, which holds one of the largest private collections of art in the world. At night, Natalie and I walked around La Calle Huertas and stopped in Chocolat, which is our new favorite café. They have the best chocolate con porras (thick churros) I have ever tasted and OFFERED free water, which is very rare in Europe. We went to Museo del Jamón (a chain bar in Spain) to get 1 euro sandwiches and catch a fútbol game after that. Our night plans went awry because we are cheap and refuse to pay to get in anywhere. Hmph.
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| Water fountain in a museum in Europe! |
The following Monday, our seminar broke into two sections, economics and my section, literature, which meant a lot more reading and a significantly more horrible final paper than the economics section. I did enjoy the week of literature much more than the previous weeks talking about Islam in Spain, though. I did NOT enjoy going to the office of international relations daily at La UAM through the week to try to find classes that would work in my schedule and for my majors.
For one day of our literature section we had a lecturer discuss immigration and integration. “At what point is an immigrant truly integrated into his or her new country?” She asked.
She asked us about American cultural intricacies that would impede integration. We could not think of anything. She gave us an example she experienced in Spain. In the cafeteria of a school in which she worked, the daily meal had ham (no surprise because the Spanish are obsessed with ham). The ham was a problem when more and more Muslim children started attending the school and their parents asked if they could leave the ham out. The “Spanish” parents were furious, questioning why they should have to adapt their customs for new people. After hours of debate, the “Spanish” parents said they would allow for the dish to exclude ham for some, but not all, days of the week.
No one could think of an similar example from their experience in the U.S. to satisfy her; she was shocked. We all explained, in our own way, how much America truly feels like a mix of cultures and thus, stories like the one she told were very uncommon. While I love that we can be relatively tolerant in America (I will admit our society is not perfect), at the same time I sometimes feel that we lack a unified culture. While, I love being able to discuss cultural backgrounds with fellow Americans and feel like I live in a truly diverse country, I will always be a little envious of the cultural unity many countries in Europe have. Catch-22, can´t have your cake and eat it too, whatever you want to call it, it’s one of those truths that if you have one thing, you must forgo the other. Clearly, I really enjoyed the class controversy this professor stirred.
That weekend was GastroFest in Madrid, so there were deals at restaurants all over the city. I went to Estado Puro, a very sheek bar (probably too sheek for my friends and I) to have some Mahou (Spanish version of Bud) and the best jamón croquetas I have ever eaten. We went to Club Riviera after that to dance the night away, drink, etc, and I FINALLY experienced the joys of the Madrid Night-bus (my excuse for never using it before is that I did not have a monthly transportation pass)
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Estado Puro Bar
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| Natalie and I at Riviera |
The next day Natalie, myself, and a girl-posse went to Aranjuez, a quaint city just South of Madrid. It is home to a Royal Palace constructed in the second half of the 16th century (while Phillip II was in power), adorable pastry shops, and royal gardens. Not everything was as green as we would have liked (it was February after all), but the weather was amazing and I was so happy to get away from the city for a day.
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| Aranjuez is famous for Strawberries...in the summer. woops. |
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| Palacio Real in Aranjuez |
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| Natalie and I in front of the Palacio Real |
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| Super Cute duck pastries at a Pastelería |
On Wednesday, I was very pleased to finally be able to go out with my host sisters, Maria and Marta. We went to a local bar (I mean very local; it seemed like everyone knew everyone- Madrid ‘Cheers’ status) to watch a friendly Spain vs. Colombia fútbol game. I unfortunately had to go home early to do reading for my seminar. Blah.
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| Marta, Shana, Maria, and I |
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| Maria and I! |
WAHHHHH MARIA AND MARTA!!!! :( :(
ReplyDelete:( miss you :(
<3 Katy