No Bill O'Reilly you are not welcome...

This is just too hilarious for words. 

Background: Last December on his program Bill O'Reilly gave my town Great Barrington shit for not having enough Christmas lights in downtown and for generally being anti-Christmas. (?) He called GB "the town that hates Christmas." Well actually, the Chamber of Commerce was trying to save a little money and electricity by turning off the lights two hours earlier. How many lights does a town of 7,000 people in western Massachusetts need anyway? Who's out past 8 pm to look at these things? 

So now Fox News has returned to Great Barrington....and you can watch:

1. ) Favorite quote: "This town is held hostage by secular progressives" 

2.) Yes. We do hate your input. 

3.) I know the guy with the baby! Ryan Arnold.

 Ironically I see him every year at the Christmas Eve service. Anyway Ryan posted a quote on youtube: "That's me with the Baby, I didn't think to ask what station this was for. I want to assure Mr. O'reilly that my two year old is not anti-christmas... but may be a secular progressive. Great Barrington is a gaggle of leftist uber-liberals but we still enjoy a bit of egg nog and Santa Claus!!" 

Very true. 

48 hours

I'll be heading home in less than 48 hours!! Gracias a Dios. 

I've discovered that having nothing to do can be difficult (for me). 

Most of the IES kids left last Saturday (or Friday) and it was sad to seem them go. There was a big goodbye comida at a fancy schmancy restaurante that was quite good. Everyone was sad that the semester had ended so fast and it's hard to say when we will all see each other again. 

At that time I was definitely glad that I had an extra week to enjoy Madrid. I was still glad on Sunday and Monday when I was studying and taking my last final. Tuesday and Wednesday I was glad because I saw the last art exhibits I had missed. But now I'm sitting here on Thursday, pretty much packed, with nothing to do. Sure I could go shopping or get some food, but 1.) I'm trying not to spend any more money and 2.) I couldn't fit more clothing in my suitcase if I tried. My friend Virginia and I are going to walk around later and it actually should be nice because it's sunny and 52 degrees F. Niceee 

Other than the weather (wmass, you guys have power yet?), I will be happy to be back in the EEUU. As much as I have loved my time in Spain, I don't think I would ever be able to blend in or live permanently as a madrileña. I will miss the city itself though...the parks, the bars and restaurants EVERYWHERE, the metro, the language (hearing it, not necessarily speaking it because I'm still not fluent), the people watching. Madrid is wonderful. Really a great city. 

I'm secretly hoping that the 2016 Olympics are in Madrid and not Chicago so I can come back, although I will come back regardless. 

it's the final countdown....

15 days until I leave Spain. How did that happen? 

I'm excited to go home, but I'm afraid that excitement is going to wear off really quickly. I will be home from December 20th until January 10th or 11th (whenever I decide to go back to Tufts.... classes start Jan. 14th).  

I probably shouldn't torture myself like this, but when I'm home I'm going to:

EAT

cheerios and milk, cheddar cheese on wheat thins,  broccoli (basically my Dad's stir fry), wheat bread, brown rice, peanut chicken, stonyfield farms vanilla yogurt, turkey sandwich, burritos from all the best places, american cheese, pizza from four brother's, greek salad from four brothers, feta cheese

DRINK

Actually the drink in Spain is way better than home. I will especially miss chocolate a la tasa - really really thick hot chocolate, not too sweet, but very rich. And I don't turn 21 until June 15th so there will obviously be no alcohol (?) when I return to the states. 

DO

watch TV, run around (for exercise and for fun), drive my car, go to a mall where they make jeans that fit me (I mean come on Spain, there are women that are larger than me), play paddle tennis and basketball, go skiing, movies, 

SEE

My family for the holidays and my friends before THEY leave for abroad

ahhh should keep me busy....

This is a little old (Feb 25, 2007) but I just happened across it on NYT and it's about Great Barrington, MA. For those of you who don't know the Berkshires has its own currency ...a fact that is altogether ridiculous....and charming.

Fun Fact

The population of Madrid (city) is 3,228,359.  That is larger than Chicago (city) which has 2,836,658 people. That means that if Madrid was located in the USA it would be the third biggest city by population. Heyyy 

#1 is New York City and #2 is Los Angeles.  

Of course if you include Chicago's metro area and suburban area it is much more populous than Madrid. 

Don't be sad...Tonight is a fiesta!

After my parents left, I was eating la comida at the table and my host mom must have thought I was sad because she told me, in spanish, "Don't be sad Aliz, tonight is a party!" 

Hmmm a party at our house. I asked if it was for her family and she rolled her eyes and said, "Friends". Haha so I spent the evening helping Ana prepare tapas for the party. Her brazilian friend Pachi was there as well. Pachi put on music and Ana told me with a wink that "te mueres cuando él baila" or "you die when he dances". She was quite right, as I found out later. 

Turns out my host mom has very young friends (22-28 years old) and they are all international. Ana and one other guy were the only spanish people at the party. The rest were columbian, ecuadorian, brazilian, french and american. My friend Emily came to the party with me and basically we have concluded that north americans can't dance. To their credit, everyone tried to help us move our hips and dance. But the salsa, merengue, bachata, etc they were doing was definitely beyond my comprehension. It was a little better when they put hip hop or reggaeton on because at least I have a minor understanding of how to dance to that.  They let me put on some music and they lovedddd M.I.A, rihanna (of course) and the older, random songs like "No scrubs" and "Sorry Ms Jackson". 

It was a lot of fun and definitely made me miss house parties.  I'm ready for some Shire fests over winter break (3 weeks). Then Medford....(6 weeks)!

The family visits...

My family flew back home on Saturday afternoon. It was sad to see them go because we had such a good time together here in Spain. But I'll be home in 20 days!

Highlights of the trip:

-Showing them the Prado - I wouldn't mind being some sort of tour guide, really.

-Outdoor dining in November - The day they arrived was so sunny and beautiful (60's F) we were able to sit outside on a terrace and have lunch

-San Lorenzo de El Escorial - we took a day trip to the mountainous northwest region of madrid where there is an old palace and monastery built by the Austrian spanish rulers. It is a very austere and cold building, but very impressive with great views of madrid and mountains.

-Palacio Real - we went inside the royal palace in Madrid built by the Borbones, the french family that ruled/"rules" spain. It was much, much more decadent than the Escorial. The king and queen still use the palace and dining room for special functions today. They don't live there however. 

-Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum - one of the three large art museums in Madrid and the only one I hadn't gone to. This museum is great. It is a personal collection that spans all the way from primitive Italian and Gothic paintings to Pop art. It's nice to see the progression in painting. 

- Paella- We had a lot of good food. I'd say our actual Thanksgiving was on Wednesday when we went to a nice paella restaurant Balear that turned out to be two blocks from my house. The place was recommended in my Frommer's guide, and it definitely lived up to the reputation. The paella was delicious...I'm making my version of it when I get home. 

- Churros were a big hit. Also I think the spanish version of coffee, specifically café con leche, may have hooked my Dad on caffeine again. 

-Live Jazz - My Mom and Dad went out three nights to here various live musical acts. Three nights! That's more than they go out together all year ...haha no I'm kidding. I went with them one night to a Blues jam session that was a lot of fun to watch. The lead trombonist was actually a New Yorker. I wasn't able to go to the other clubs, but rumor has it that Mr. Stevens brought his trumpet along to one of the places and sat in for a bit. (Only my family would bring a musical instrument and not a computer on a transatlantic trip. )

All in all,  I loved showing my family around the city that I have gotten to know over the past couple of months. I think they were impressed with how well I know how to get around...both on the metro and by foot. Truthfully, I know Madrid better than Boston ...hands down. Even better than Pittsfield, MA but that's not such a loss haha. For me the week felt like a vacation within a vacation. I got to kind of forget about IES crap and hang out with my family! Win win. I know for my family it was rough to travel that far only for a week, but I'm so glad they did because it made my Thanksgiving (and hopefully theirs) one to remember.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another good one

It's been another good weekend here in Madrid. 

I took my family to the Rastro market today and then to the Prado and then to el parque de buen retiro. A pretty traditional Sunday in Madrid. The Prado was great obviously. I hadn't been there in about a month (?) so it was nice to revisit my favorite paintings. And I got to explain everything I've been learning in my art history classes ...esp GOYA. My favorite thing. Hopefully I didn't bore them too much (haha no, it was the perfect amount of museum). 

After eating and introducing them to a siesta, we went out for some drinks, and ended up at a blues jam session at a club called El Junco. We just got back from the blues club actually. It was my first live music in Madrid...and definitely cool. The leader dude (a wicked sweet trombone player) is actually a New Yorker and after their set my Dad (a trumpet player) went to talk to him....qué mono :)

I have to take leave of my family for a little bit tomorrow because I have class but in the afternoon we are planning on visiting the Palacio Real or royal palace. 

What else?? 

OH! I played an Amish card game (?) thanks to my friend Greg. It's called Dutch Blitz. and frickin rocks.... especially if you like Spit, a game that I like a little too much thanks to the Eden Hill sports camp game room.  

They're here! 

My family is in SPAIN with me for the week!!! Happy (spanish) Thanksgiving!

Random thoughs

Fall has finally come to Madrid. I'm not kidding - the leaves are just starting to really turn yellow and fall down. That reminds me...there are a lot of trees in Madrid. More than I expected. It's a very green city. I would even dare to say that there are more trees in Madrid than in Boston and wayyy more than in the packed streets of Somerville or Medford.  

I also can't get over how it is sunny 90% of the time. I made up that statistic, but basically it's correct. How can you not have fun when you live somewhere so sunny? I love it. 

If you are bored sometime and you like surfing around on Amazon, then you should search for the Culture Smart guides to the USA or some travel guide like it for the US. You can read the first couple of pages of the book if you click on "search inside" and I just find it fascinating the kind of advice they give  international travelers when they come to the US. For example:  

"There's some surprise at how causally Americans dress. 'They never dress up. They have no style' says a Brazilian. 'They just wear jeans and sweat suits, and women don't wear heels.'  'They are very casual but clean.' says a Mexican. 'You can wear anything' said one visitor 'It's very easy to dress. ' "  (hahaha, yea. But thank god about the heels. European women are crazy. I've seen so many old women with horribly deformed and swollen ankles that are STILL wearing heels. Really? Is that necessary?)

"Nothing happens at night. Almost everything closes after 9 PM"

"Very often the friendliness is the first thing people notice. 'They smile to strangers and open the door'  'They are very polite'  'American people talk well to strangers' " (I couldn't find it to quote but one book said that often foreigners misunderstand the friendliness as either sexual advances or being mocked...whoops. )

A slightly more serious book reported that  people who move to the United States often have a very hard time adjusting. Especially if they move into a suburb or a rural area. They have to drive everywhere, stores and restaurants close early, people spend a lot of time at home, and everything is so spread out and large.

I think this sums it up: a Chinese man said "Bring a lot of tapes from home. It's so boring." 

You are correct sir.  It is boring, but that's part of the fun. 

I had, what can only be called, a fabulous weekend.

Thursday night started off with a group of friends going out to dinner at the Pizza Jardin (Pizza Garden). While this may sound lame...it wasn't. The inside is like a huge warehouse and everything is silver, with giant discoballs. My friend Greg who discovered this place initially thought it was a discoteca. The food was a spanish twist on Italian - nothing too amazing, but all in all a good night. I love going out to dinner pretty much anywhere - this may be a hard habit to break when I go home.

Friday my program took a trip to Toledo, which I talked about in the previous post. And Friday night we hit up a bar called Patatus. It's a big, wooden, rustic, sporty, smokey bar with tons of twenty-something spanish people packed together. After making our way to the bar, shedding about three layers, and creating a little circle we had a good time. The best part was their patatas - we bought a big plate of fries for 4 euro. That's very cheap. Drinks were cheap too. New hangout? Es possible.

On Saturday morning after waking up at 8 am voluntarily I realized that I hadn't slept in (as in past 8 or 9) since October 19th. I promptly rolled over and slept until noon.

After such a refreshing sleep, I felt energized and made my way over to the Sorolla museum a couple blocks from my house. Joaquin Sorolla is basically Spain's version of an impressionist painter who lived at the beginning of the twentieth century. His work, although fluffy, is really beautiful. He was quite rich and they kept his large house intact and created a museum out of it. It's an intimate museum that showcases both his work and decorating sense. I recommend it to anyone who comes to Madrid. It's not as intimidating as the Prado and a LOT more welcoming than the sometimes creepy Reina Sofia.

Niñas en el mar 1909 (I'm writing my paper on this painting)

Saturday night was fun because we hung out with a group of Spanish kids at a hole-in-the-wall German bar. This may sound silly, but I haven't met many madrileños (besides my host family). I knew before coming here that it is difficult to make friends with spanish peers. They often have the same friends from childhood on and get used to international students coming and going; it's not necessarily exciting for them to meet americans because there are so many around each year. That being said, hopefully we can hang out with the group again this week!!!

Sunday was a good day as well. It began with Emily, Anna, and I going to the Rastro and filming a video for a class. It's pretty ridiculous, as all school videos tend to be. I'm pretty sure I swear a couple of times and burst out laughing at random.

Thanks to one of the strongest cafes con leche I've ever had, I didn't get tired all day, so Emily and I went to an Atlético Madrid soccer game. Atleti is one of two professional teams in Madrid the other being David Beckham's former team (and the arguably more popular team) Real Madrid. I'm glad we saw Atlético Madrid play, they have really cool red and white striped jerseys with blue shorts. They won 4-1 against a team from ... somewhere. We sat pretty high up, but I really don't think there are any bad seats in the stadium. You can see the field clearly from all over. One thing Emily noticed was that no one was eating or drinking in the stadium. That is SO spanish. For them, food is taken sitting down at home or in a restaurant, not in public. There is no grab and go. No eating in class or in the metro. (I actually like the no eating in class rule. Last year in orgo I saw a girl pull out hot soup....and a spoon. That's just weird.) I'm getting off topic - to summarize soccer in europe > soccer at home.

WooHoo good weekend.

And you probably don't care about this (except you mom and dad) but I registered for spring classes last week and I am taking: Analytical Chemistry, Calculus III, Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Crises in Africa, Special Topics in Global Health, Latin American civilization, and Chem Research (hopefully, finger's crossed about this one). I'm excited about the Africa class, especially. I also found out that my advisor will be on sabbatical next semester :(. Should be an interesting semester...

pregnant chinchilla?

Along with a cat and a rabbit, my host mom also has three chinchillas. You know, " crepuscular rodents, slightly larger than ground squirrels, native to the Andes mountains in South America." And guess what? One is very pregnant. So soon the three chinchillas will be four and the lovely nocturnal chirping/barking/scratching noises they make will be even louder. Joy. 

Other news: I am so excited to spend a weekend in Madrid. I've been gone the last three weekends. A little crazy. Tonight my friends and I are going to a popular bar near where I live and then possibly Kapital, the largest discoteca, if we are up for it. 

Today we traveled to Toledo, Spain. It's a small, very old city in the region Castilla y La Mancha of Spain. The old buildings and narrow cobblestone streets were very nice. I was most impressed by the huge gothic cathedral. Construction started on the cathedral in 1226 and took about 300 years. It was especially pretty because it was built out of white stone (marble?) which, along with huge stained glassed windows, made for a very luminous cathedral. The cathedral doubled as an art museum as well. The spanish painter El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) lived and worked in Toledo so the cathedral housed some of his portraits along with a spattering of other painters including Caravaggio and Zubarban. 

Toledo is also famous for mazapan or marzipan. Before I went here I didn't really know what marzipan was but it's a moist and chewy almond meal- sugar cookie. Very rich, but it really doesn't taste like much. The texture was the best part. 

My family is coming to visit me in Madrid a week from today! 

Rome

Ahhh Roma. Grazie. Prego! That's pretty much all the Italian I picked up. Although menus, street signs, and even some conversations were easily understood because of the similarities between italian and spanish. Not to mention the fact that Italian food and pasta (spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna) has penetrated most of western culture so menus are pretty self explanatory as it is. 

What did I like most about Rome?

~ Trevi Fountain...... beautiful at night

~Colosseum ......for obvious reasons. It's effing amazing. 

~Gelato .....muy rico y delicioso and perfect for my insatiable sweet tooth

~ Traveling with Virginia.....we had an excellent time together and managed to see most of Rome in three days

~Getting asked about Obama! 

~The Sistine Chapel and Raphael rooms.....very impressive to this day

~Stumbling upon the Pantheon unknowingly

~Free pasta dinner arranged by our hostel

~Meeting a Dutch person......(i really think they are the coolest)

~Listening to Italian

~ Pizza! thin crust and yummy

Visiting Rome was great. People had warned us that the traffic was crazy and it was hard to get around. The traffic may have been louder and faster than Madrid, but we found the city very manageable by foot. There are also some conveniently located metro stops at the Vatican and spanish steps to aid travel, but otherwise we walked everywhere. Rome was also surprisingly cheap. We didn't shop in Dolce and Gabbana or Fendi haha, but the places we did go were reasonable... and I thought such a touristy place would hike up the prices. 

Update

The last two weekends I have traveled to two of the most well known cities in the world (Rome and Paris), and what is the first thing I talk about?  The tiny place where I grew up. People who live in Berkshire county and people from small towns  all over the world share a common love for "small world" stories. Because I belong to this aforementioned group, I love them too. Probably a little too much....On the return flight from Rome to Madrid this morning my friend Virginia and I were sitting in our sits discussing our trip when two American men sat in the seats in front of us. We had heard A LOT of english during our trip to Rome, wayyy more than is spoken in Madrid, so this wasn't too strange until I heard them start talking about the Clark art museum and Mass MOCA (museum of contemporary art), both of which are located about 40 minutes from my house. They were in an intense discussion for most of the flight, but after we landed I interrupted them and told them I was from Great Barrington! 

They were pretty shocked and frankly a little worried that I had overheard a lot of inside museum gossip haha.....but the older man turned out to be the director of the Clark and the younger guy the assistant director. They had been in Rome meeting with museum directors and are in Madrid to attend meetings/negotiations at the Prado about any works that could be brought to Massachusetts for an exhibition. 

As the plane taxied we talked about colleges because it turns out the director's son wants to look at Occidental where Virginia goes. He also loves my town Great Barrington and wants to move both his house and the museum there to attract more visitors. He even thought he knew what house I lived in!  Baba Louie's, the triplex, and the coffee shop on Main Street were all brought up and it was nice to think about something so familiar after being in Rome for a bit. (Then..... I named dropped the Fitzpatrick's so Mom expect an email at work...)

I will be posting about Rome and Paris soon...after la siesta?

Logging onto facebook it is crazy/amazing to see how everyone has "donated" there status to remind people to vote Obama tomorrow. I am very hopeful that for the first time, the youth will put its money where its mouth is and actually vote. That would make me proud. Really proud. I mean the older generations who voted for Bush completely screwed the youth, so it's about time we did something. This passage is from Thomas Friedman's NYT column from November 1:

We are all going to have to pay [for the economic crisis], because this meltdown comes in the context of what has been “perhaps the greatest wealth transfer since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917,” says Michael Mandelbaum, author of “Democracy’s Good Name.” “It is not a wealth transfer from rich to poor that the Bush administration will be remembered for. It is a wealth transfer from the future to the present.”

Never has one generation spent so much of its children’s wealth in such a short period of time with so little to show for it as in the Bush years. Under George W. Bush, America has foisted onto future generations a huge financial burden to finance our current tax cuts, wars and now bailouts. Just paying off those debts will require significant sacrifices. But when you add the destruction of wealth that has taken place in the last two months in the markets, and the need for more bailouts, you understand why this is not going to be a painless recovery. 

I'm nervous. Please, please, please gobama! 

 

Paris!!!

Heyyyyyy

I'm in Parisssss!!!!! It's amazing. I saw the Eiffel tower and was going to go to the Louvre but instead we are going tomorrow.  I walked around by myself today while emily was at class and I had a lot of fun! The city is a lot  bigger than Madrid......and reminds me of NYC. 

Happy Halloween! and I hope Emily is having a great birthday weekend in Madrid!

Lisboa, Portugal

Portugal is beautiful!

                       (Virginia, me, Bethany, Claire, Emily, and Anna at a vista high up in Lisboa)

This weekend a group of my friends went along on an IES trip to Lisbon and to Sintra, Portugal. We flew from Madrid on Friday afternoon and landed about an hour later in the capitol city. My first impression of Portugal was that it was extremely bright and sunny. I stepped out of the airport and was blinded for a second by the strong sun and incredibly blue sky. The climate there is definitely warmer there - palm trees grow outside the airport.  Side note: I have a theory that it is never really "cold" on the Iberian peninsula (well maybe in January, but I'm not here then haha) and that theory was cemented in Lisbon. The weather reports  had said around 22 degrees C which, as chemists know, is room temperatures.  BUT today bank thermometers around the city said 27 degrees C. That's amazing for the end of October! I'm going to freeze when I go back home. 

Back on track... we took a bus from the airport to our hotel and along the way got a peak at the city. The buildings all seem a tad older than here in Madrid and are painted in lighter, fresher colors. Small, glossy, painted tiles called azulejos cover the facades of many buildings in Portugal (also the interiors). The tiles have been used in Portugal since the middle ages when the moors ruled and today they are reminders of the islamic history of Portugal. I took a lot of pictures of these tiles because I think they are pretty; it's cool when a city has public art like that. 

That night we got a chance to experience the nightlife in Lisboa. The neighborhood with a million bars and restaurants is called Barrio Alto. Situated up on a hill,  you have to hike up narrow and windy cobble stone streets to get there. There weren't many cars though, so the walk was easy enough. We went out to dinner and I got to try the grilled bacalao or cod fish that is so good and fresh in Portugal. We also discovered that they like to serve both white rice and french fries with the main dish. I did get one big carrot though. Yay for vegetables. 

After dinner we tried to find a reggae club because Bob Marley is still awesome, but instead we just hung around some bars. Eventually rather large crowds formed in the little streets in Barrio Alto. The bars give you your drinks in to-go plastic cups - quite convenient for mingling outside in the street. 

The next day we traveled outside of Lisboa to Sintra - a small town about a half hour away. There we visited a cool castle up on a mountain, another castle (too many castles), and a beautiful vista called el cabo del roca or the cape of rock. This little tip of Portugal is the most western piece of land on continental europe. Looking over the cliff onto the Atlantic was really impressive- the water was soo aqua. It's strange not seeing beaches though. The land juts straight out into the water - no way you could safely swim or even go down by the shore. Makes me appreciate our side of the ocean. 

to be continued...

Tomorrow we go to Lisbon, Portugal... where everything is blue. 

What happened today?

I VOTED!!!    The ballot is off in the mail and has two weeks to arrive so I should be all set.

I made a peanut butter sandwich.  Last night I finally broke down and bought some peanut butter and bread. Trying to buy dinner out every night (and not having cooking privileges) was getting a little difficult. 

I was surprised...I thought the trees in my plaza were being trimmed, but it turns out city workers are stringing up  lights in the canopies! It is going to look so pretty at night.

I hung out in the library at the university. My class was cancelled because the professor was sick, so I wandered into the humanities library. Overall I thought it was pretty nice. Shiny wood panels, lots of books, newish computers, and long table-desks with those individual desk lamps for studying. I even studied for my art history midterm... a little. 

Get it Together

Today I filled out the Transfer of Credit Requests for all of my abroad courses. This process can be completed online and will allow me to get credit for the courses at home. Thankfully Tufts has made it really simple and all that is left is for them to approve the courses! It shouldn't be a problem either. 

I finally decided to get organized today because I realized I will start registration for Spring 2009 in three weeks. Classes should be posted soon as well. I figured I should probably make sure I'm getting credit before thinking about the future.

And that is exactly what I was thinking about when I couldn't fall asleep last night: the future. I am really worried that I will have trouble completing my degree(s) if certain classes overlap and all that. Tufts is not big enough to offer multiple sections of higher level chemistry classes and most are only offered specific semesters. Add that to the fact that some electives are only offered every other year... and you have a blargle of confusion, at least that is what it feels like to me. Blargle is not really a word....but it could mean mass or jumble. I have spent hours making lists of classes I will take in the remaining three semesters and it seems like I will be able to complete everything, but most of my lists are pure guesswork because the 2009 course offerings have not been released. I am only working with old Spring class schedules.  I think I should just relax because it will work out... 

Not good

Cammye was in Starbucks today studying for midterms with one of her friends when her bag got stolen. It really sucks. Her computer, wallet, keys, and even passport are GONE. Thankfully no one was hurt, and she was able to cancel all her cards immediately. The biggest loss is the computer with her music and pictures, but music can be replaced and most of the pictures are on facebook. My friend Nick in London also had his computer jacked earlier this month, so I will remind myself and everyone...keep an eye on your shit at all times!!!

In other news: Two things I really like have come together for this weekend: Madrid and tennis! It's the Madrid Masters and today I watched the semifinal with Federer and Murray of Great Britain. To my great surprise Federer lost! Everyone in Spain (and the tennis world) had high hopes for an epic Federer/Nadal battle. Interestingly enough, a couple of hours after Federer lost, Nadal was also defeated.

I don't have anything profound to say today (or any day). But I think this man does: Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch. In September 2007 he delivered a one-of-a-kind lecture that proved to be an instant classic. I first heard about this "Last Lecture" this summer when the professor passed away, but I was reminded of it when my spanish teacher brought in the book of the lecture translated into spanish. As the video has been watched some 7 million times, it is quite possible that you have watched it. But if not, set aside 1 hour and 20 minutes to listen to him speak about achieving your dreams. The video is on youtube or you can click here.  

Madrid update: 

I am excited to spend another weekend in Madrid. I orginally was planning on going to Barcelona, but that will have to wait. The weather is still really nice here. I always think the day looks cloudy and I leave my sunglasses at home - but by noon I'm blinded by the sun. I also think it's funny that I am much tanner now in October than I was in July. I unfortunately didn't spend much time outside this summer. My friends and I are going to the zoo on Saturday! I have never been to a zoo. Really. Never. So naturally, I'm pretty excited. Hmmmm my host mom Ana has been more talkative to me lately, which is nice. She even complimented my spanish! I guess even if I don't think it's any better, she does. And she's the expert. Ana can speak spanish, english, and german. She lived two years in Britain and one in Germany. Pretty cool. We didn't know she spoke German until one of Cammye's friends who is studying in Germany stopped by and they started speaking together haha. 

What else? I think the Red Sox are amazing. I just heard about their impossible comeback against the Rays. Also, when did the Rays drop the Devil? 

It's parents weekend at Tufts so that's kind of making me miss school a bit. Although I'm sure when I am spending hours and hours in Tisch this spring, I will miss Madrid. 

Presidents and Kings

  I got my ABSENTEE BALLOT!!!!! It looks so official and I'm excited to vote (even if, as some say, it won't count). I was worried it was taking too long, but it's here! In addition to President there are some important questions on the Massachusetts ballot. One is about income taxes and one is about reducing penalties for possession of marijuana. I love MA. 

The King! My friends Claire, Anna, and Bethany were sitting on a bench in the Prado museum and the King of Spain walked by them, surrounded by a whole security detail. I missed Juan Carlos by a minute or two. The reason he was at the Prado is that there is a new Rembrandt exhibit opening today. I guess as royalty, he gets to preview it first. 

I found a candy store with chocolate covered raisins. All is right with the world.

Juan Carlos I - Rey de España desde 1975

That's So Madrid

This weekend my amazing friend Emily visited me from Paris. It was so nice to have a familiar face here in Madrid! At one point we remembered back to sophomore year in high school and decided that hanging out on the terrace of a cafe in Europe is a lot more enjoyable than roaming around the Triplex parking lot. We had a great time catching up and  I played tour guide and took her to all the "important" sites likeee the park, nice buildings, churros, mi casa, the flea market, shopping, mexican food haha, and some bars.

We also went to the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum, which was really cool. I liked all of the Dali, Picasso, and Miro among others. Mark Rothko too ! They didn't have any Helen Frankenthaler though.. :(. Guernica was pretty impressive however. Picasso knew how to express pain.  I was surprised how much empty space there was in the work. I knew the painting was large, but seeing it in the flesh is definitely different than reproduced in a text book. 

So what do I mean by "That's so Madrid" - the title of this post?  At the Reina Sofia, Emily and I ended up talking to these two guys in the elevator. We had a brief conversation and covered the "Oh yea, I'm from Boston, where are you from? Oh New Jersey, cool, what part? And you're from Holland? Wow, nice." Then we went our separate ways and that was that. Later that same night, Emily and I had finished a great Mexican dinner (apparently they don't have mexican in France) and headed downtown for some bars. We were walking near Sol - the main night life area - and as we walked by this crowd we heard "HEY you're from the museum!?" and we ended up meeting up with the guys from the elevator. Now, what are the odds.....we'll I haven't taken stats but basically there are 3.2 million residents in Madrid (5.5 mil including suburbs)!. The four of us ended up dodging the rain by hanging out in a bar for a bit. They were very nice. Now the "That's so madrid" keeps going because I also ran into a group of Tufts kids! I ran into Lara and Tara from my freshman english seminar randomly outside in the street. Hopefully I can meet up with the Tufts chicos again. 

One more thing: I found the coolest cafe. The Cafe Comercial has been in business since 1870. The waiters still wear old-fashioned uniforms and the solid marble tables and cushy booths have probably been there for a long time. In addition to being right down the street from me, the coffee is good, they serve breakfast, and they leave you alone. I can definitely see myself sitting there reading a paper for a very long time. The service is decidedly spanish where you say what you want, you get it, and pleasantries are unnecessary. It's not a cozy cafe, it's large and airy, cafeteria-esque (but nicer). I think it's perfect for doing work during the day and then catching up with friends at night. 

Don Quixote siting!

Today I went to Alcala de Henares. Alcala is a suburb of Madrid that is the birthplace of Spain's literary hero - Miguel de Cervantes. The city also houses  Spain's second oldest university.

This week is a celebration of Cervantes  and we got to enjoy the party, including food and craft vendors along with musicians, in the  plaza mayor of the city. 

My only goal for the day was to see someone dressed up as Don Quixote

 anddddddd I did - he rode by on a horse. It was awesome.  Sancho was there too. 

SIDE NOTE: I have decided caramelized onions are the most amazing food in the world. And I miss Cheerios. Also, I think I'm going to a Real Madrid game Oct. 22nd.  

Success!

So that class I couldn't find yesterday turned out to be in the building I initially thought it was in....yay stupid mistakes! It was in a small lecture hall with long wooden desks with folding chairs attached. There were maybe 50 students total and several english speaking students that I heard chatting. The class was an hour long and the professor sat on stage and discussed the historical background of Goya's painting. I understood her well and actually found her pretty funny. I'm excited about this class. After lecture I went to ask her if it would be possible to take the final exam early (Spanish students take exams in February, and as my flight leaves Dec. 20th, that's not really an option) and she said that would be ok. This is good news because some teachers are difficult and won't let you take their class if you leave that early. 

So....Granada!? 

Granada was really nice. It is a city of 240,000 people so it was pretty manageable to see the sites in a weekend (and it is only 4.5 hours away from Madrid). We first visited La Alhambra, which is a moorish fortress built by the Moorish rulers of Granada and completed around 1340. It a very popular tourist attraction as it is a prime example of the islamic influence in Spain. There is a lot to see at this fortress and my friends and I probably spent 3 hours touring the palace, military fortress, and gardens. Not bad for 13 euro. Oh yea, the palace was beautiful. The walls are all either carved out in great detail or covered in shiny ceramic tiles of greens, teals, yellows, and browns.  Here is the group standing in a courtyard with a pool:

                                           (Anna, Erica, Claire, Emily, me, and Bethany)

Before I came here to Spain I read that like most countries the people in the southern parts are nicer. I wasn't in Granada long enough to evaluate the behavior of the inhabitants, but they definitely seemed more laid back. The people were not as dressed up, and I saw more dredlocks than I did on a trip to Vermont this summer. The city had a cool vibe. I'm glad I'm not studying in Granada because I feel like I would get sick of the same streets/ small city , but I recommend it to anyone in Spain who wants to travel for a weekend or maybe a little longer. 

This is a view of La Alhambra from across the valley at the lookout El Mirador de San Nicolas. We hiked up the narrow streets at sunset to get the other perspective of the fortress. It was a bit cloudy and the sunset wasn't spectacular but still was pretty nice. 

                                              (La Alhambra from Mirador San Nicolas)

I got my first hostel experience on this trip, and as a whole I would say it was pretty favorable. It was clean, quiet, and they gave us a free breakfast.....aka toast.  We stayed in a backpackers hostel so there was a range of people - some hard core backpackers with large packs, some wandering Europeans both older and younger, several Australians, Asians, and us. I'm not sure if there were any other americans. English was definitely the main language used to communicate between everyone though.  I stayed in a room with 12 people. It was fine for me, and the people in my immediate room were very nice.  I can't wait to go to some other hostels and meet more travelers.

Just a little complaining

Today I had a minor set back when I was supposed to attend my first class at the Complutense: I couldn't find it. I had my map of the campus and I went to the building marked 'Geografia e Historia' on the map...but room 23A was not there. Or at least, all the rooms were labeled B. I did remember being told that there are A,B,C,D,E  'Filologia' buildings so I tried to find Filogia A to no avail. I don't understand why this Art History class would not be in the same building as all the others...it really isn't a big deal because Spanish students are in a shopping period until Oct. 15 or something. I will just have to track down aula 23A for tomorrow. 

This setback can be attributed to my lack of attention, but it got me thinking about some of the things that have been annoying me here in Spain:

1. Lack of signs or incorrect placement of signs. In Madrid there are no sign posts, rather the street names are attached to buildings on corners. A lot of corners are labeled, but then there are times were there are absolutely NO street names on buildings...this can go on for blocks and gets annoying when you are lost. Also you would think signs for huge tourist attractions like El Prado would have great signage....but no. The first time we went there, we found only one sign pointing from the metro. One. And let me say that the walk from the metro to the museum is 10 mins. Now we found it easily, but I would just think they would have many signs to instruct helpless tourists. My favorite sign anecdote occurred in Granada. We were looking for this Federico Garcia Lorca memorial park and  asked for directions from an older couple walking down the street. They told us to take a right at the end of the street and then cross the street, the park is on the left side down a few blocks. So we round the first corner and aha! there is a sign, however the arrow was pointing in completely the wrong direction. We ignored it and found the park just fine.  

2. My señora. My host mom is a little lazy. I know I shouldn't judge, especially because napping has become part of my daily routine here, but really, she doesn't have a job (I'm not sure how that works because this apartment is sweet) and only has her daughter stay with her every other week. Why can't she do our laundry once a week as IES says? She told us at the beginning of our stay that she would wash clothes on Thursdays. The first week that happened exactly but today is Monday and I still don't have the clothes from last Thursday. It's not a big deal because I have enough clothes. But I'm wondering...what does she do everyday to pass the time? I would go crazy without a job or school. 

4. My history professor. Oh my god, I hate that class. Our teacher put together a syllabus for "Contemporary Spanish History", but I have no idea why. Instead of following the logical historical order, she jumps around and gives us information on the current terrorist group ETA right after having discussed the Spanish American War of 1898......with no transition. Many Spaniards are loud, but she may just be the loudest I've encountered. It doesn't help that class is at 9 AM. It's at 9 AM and being hungry, tired, and cold it is difficult to tolerate her shouting. I actually stopped taking notes already because I can probably go take her tests and pass with information from my other political science class that is actually good. One more thing: she is obsessed with a controversial spanish law called "La ley de la memoria historica" which is a law passed in 2007 that tries to acknowledge, repay, and basically make up for all of the persecution and violence that occurred during the civil war and subsequent dictatorship. She discusses it / reads from it every single day. Obviously it is important, but without proper background into the civil war and dictatorship (which she is SUPPOSED to be teaching us), it is difficult to comprehend the intricacies of the law. And it's in legal jargon. Most of which would probably be over my head in english, let alone spanish. Blahh

Now, just because I don't like a few things about my stay in Spain doesn't mean that I'm not having a great time (I don't like that the T closes at 12:20 in Boston or that the drinking age is 21, but so it goes). Living here has been great!!! I was reading a blog of another Tufts student who is living in China and I was really impressed with what she is doing (see her blog). If she can live off squisy noodles and weird dumpling things in an ugly city, I'm all set here in beautiful, fun, and safe Madrid. 

Granada

I went to Granada this weekend with my friends and it was AMAZING!

I am too tired / should do my homework so I can't post anything now, but later this week  I will recount our adventures in Granada including:

La Alhambra, hostels, flamenco show, tea shops/ hooka bars, El Mirador de San Nicolas, ice cream, taking the bus, and kebaps!

time

Not much to report. I can't believe it's Oct. 1st. I have been planning out my travel for my remaining weekends here - and there aren't that many!! :(. Right now I have definite plans for Granada this weekend. Emily visiting from Paris the following weekend, then a weekend in Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris (or Amsterdam), Rome, open weekend, Family visiting for Thanksgiving, and Berlin with Emily. I'm still looking to fit in Prague or Switzerland. 

Speaking of time flying...the countdown is 5 weeks until the election. It is killing me a little to be missing it. Instead I have been reading articles online and then reading the comments posted by regular people. There are so many conservatives in our country...and they all like to post online apparently! I have lived my whole life in one of the most liberal enclaves in the US and then I went to a liberal university. Based on this framework I just can't grasp conservative policies. I never thought of myself as a "raging" liberal, but when we are discussing politics here at IES I find I am among the most liberal. This led me to think, can people ever radically change their political mindset? Will I ever change my positions?  In regards to social issues, I definitely do not think I will change. As for economic issues, I am really not that educated in this area and so possibly could change one day, but hmmm not in the mean time. 

El Otoño

(Cammye, me, Alex,  and Lisa @ Star Cafe)

Just a quick update about my weekend:

Well, it all started Wednesday night when we decided to go out to Star Cafe for some sort of "Welcome to Spain" party for international kids studying in Spain. There was free admittance and an open bar for those on "the list". And thanks to a couple of IES kids who are working as club promoters we were on "the list". The crowd was mostly American, but definitely included kids from all over. We even had an encounter with rude French girls!! Yay they are the best. There was also beer pong......? Yea, a bit strange but it doesn't last very long - once people start dancing the beer pong is forgotten. 

Thursday night - aka first night of the weekend for IES kids - was a trip to the discoteca. Joy is one of the main discotecas in Madrid. It is a converted old theater with a big dance floor on the bottom level and two levels of balconies that look down onto it. I met up with my friends for dinner, followed by some bar hopping were we got sangria. I topped of the sangria with a couple of beers (called Mahou) from the convenience store for good measure. Discotecas in general are better with some alcohol in the system.  Joy can be very expensive, but once again we got in for free and got a free drink. I made the horrible mistake of buying a second drink. DON'T do that haha. It set me back 11 euro. I was pissed, but also laughing at how a $15 drink is ridiculous. Overall it was a fun night because a lot of friends were there and it was good to hang out. ((I don't have any great pictures of these friends yet b/c i never have my camera but Emily, Virginia, Claire, Anna, Bethany, and I are going to Granada this weekend so I will have photos soon!))

Friday and Saturday night were more of the same except much more relaxed. We hung out a small bar one night and got delicious Mexican food on Saturday. One cool thing Saturday was that we went to el Real Jardin Botanico which is a lovely botanical garden situated next to the Prado museum. Unfortunately the blooming season is pretty much over, but we did see some Dahlias, roses, and amazing trees. I didn't take any pictures because I forgot my camera, but some of my friends did so see the facebook...

On Sunday we hit another Madrid tourist landmark: El rastro. Basically it is a giant flea market were vendors come to sell crafts, clothing, scarfs, tapestries, jewelry, bags, shoes, pipes, etc. I got a cute purse and a scraf....most things are a good deal. The market is located in La Latina, a neighborhood in the city, and apparently, apparently there is a huge street party after the market closes at 2 pm. We were there from 10 am - 12 pm so we missed the party, but we will be returning. I know I heard a sweet band in the subway station playing upbeat latin sounding music with trumpets and saxophones. I gave them some change. Maybe they move to the street for the partay? 

Check out Julieta Vengas "Limon y Sal" - she is a mexican singer, with a really nice voice and simple songs, but they are catchy. We listened to her in language class and she was actually in Madrid last weekend for concerts. 

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 Love you Arty, Claire, Nora and Liza

My Favorite Things

(In the Plaza Mayor on one of the first nights)

What are some of my favorite things about being here in Spain?

- walking home from school in the beautiful sun
- the metro (so comprehensive and muy facil)
- ¡patatas bravas!
- staying up late, but compensating with a nap
- having wifi
- vale (OK - pronounced "va - lay" ) it's what everyone says all the time
- there are sooooo many restaurants and shoe stores
- hanging out with IES people
- Zara
- living in a real city
- no mosquitos ...ever
- the fountain and plaza by my house
- getting mail from the US (thanks for the crossswords mom !)
- reading novels/magazines/newspapers in spanish
- futbol
- my room and bed here
- sitting outside at restaurants
- wandering around alone, getting lost, and then finding something cool or better yet - actually recognizing where I am
- churros
- Rafa Nadal .....seriously
- Baked Lays Ruffles potato chips were just introduced here and they are my favorite snack...sooo happy
- pretending to myself that i look like a native
- having very easy classes (i am going to die in the spring)
- the weather is beautiful 90% of the time
- dressing up to go out
- going out
- walking around

What don't I like so much?

- breakfast or not really having one
- missing out on the election
- not being able to wear comfy shoes all the time
- the metro stations are hot...really hot
- the milk
- walking from the metro station to school at 8:30 am every day
- screwing up easy words/phrases just because i'm not thinking
- being in HUGe groups of americans talking loudly in english


What do I miss?
- por supuesto (of course) mi familia 
- and our amazingly comfortable couch (furniture is just not as comfortable here)
- my friends
- Tufts! I didn't think I would, but I do :(
- I suppose american TV

- CHEERIOS
- my other clothes
- seeing the leaves change in the shire
- certain foods (i don't want to go into it haha there are too many)

(Nina, me, Cammye, Alex, Aleksis, Meredith on......a bench)

3 weeks / First Weekend Trip

I've been in gone from the US three weeks as of today! This is the longest I've been outside of the country. I took a tour of the Complutense, the university at which I will (eventually) be taking classes at. I really liked being back on a college campus. It is huge! But laid out very nicely and easily - each Facultad / Department has an obvious sign so it's hard to get lost. Overall UCM didn't seem too different than Umass except maybe a little more run down and less greenery. Fun fact: Franco operated out of the buildings on the campus and stationed troops there during the end of the Civil War in 1939, when Madrid was about to fall.

FIRST WEEKEND TRIP 9/21/08

I wrote this entry on Sunday, but I didn't publish it because I couldn't get all the pictures to work. Alas they still don't:

This past weekend about half of the IES kids went on a trip to Northern Spain. First we stopped by the town of Leon and toured a very old gothic cathedral, which was impressive. The coolest thing was the residents of the town still attend mass at the cathedral, even though it's more of a tourist destination. The town was really cute as well.

Leon was only the first stop on this trip and from there we travelled to the mountains, Los Picos de Europa. We stayed in a tiny town called Posada del Valdeon. When I say tiny, I mean tiny. It had maybe 60 residents?? That is a pure guess. We talked to one old lady who was walking with a bunch of long sticks who asked us where we were from and she told us her sister has lived in the US for 30 years. The people live off the land, but probably really make a living from all the tourists/backpackers that come through to see the beautiful mountains. IES provided dinner and lodging in the town and we had a nice relaxing night there. It turned out we needed that rest because we went on a 9 km "marcha" or hike the next morning! While this sounds impressive and outdoorsy we actually walked down the road, downhill most of the way, and didn't go on any trails. Haha but it was still really nice and fun. Despite being downhill, I was sore and I still have shin splints worse than I ever have before from my feet slapping down on the pavement.. I would describe the mountains but I can't seem to do that right now....instead just check out the pics:






We left Los Picos de Europa on Saturday afternoon and proceeded to Llanes in the province of Asturias on the northern coast of Spain. I never do well with buses but I swear our tour bus WAS going to fall off a cliff. The roads we took were treacherous in a bus - very narrow, windy, and adjacent to huge cliffs. We kept rounding sharp corners with no idea what was around them, as in other cars or trucks. After that I was happy to arrive check into a hotel and walk around the beach!!

School

We started classes this week at IES. It's been so long since I've had a class (classes ended in late April) that it feels really strange. Obviously I don't want to be in class, especially when the weather is so beautiful. However on the other hand, having classes adds structure to my days which makes me feel like I am in Spain with a purpose and not just to go on vacation. Also the classes seem pretty innocuous and shouldn't be too much work or too difficult. AND I bought really cute notebooks here and school supplies are exciting.

One thing I have to do for three classes is current events. Hahaa brings me back to 7th grade. Yep, I will be cutting out articles, summarizing them, and bringing them to three classes. Oh I feel so mature doing that. The reality is that I would much rather just read the paper for pleasure like a normal/responsible adult. In the IES center I've been reading a Spanish paper between classes and the Metro paper also keeps me up on Spanish news. Most of the time, the big US news is in the newspapers here, but if not, I don't miss much because I compulsively check cnn.com and msnbc.com . I don't know why but I think this developed over the summer when I was bored at work.

Last night we went out and got SUCH a good dinner. And it wasn't too expensive. There were 7 of us and it ended up working out to 10 euros each. For those 10 euros we got a lotttttt of food. Shared by the table we had ensalada, patatas bravas which are roasted potatoes with some orange peppery/bbqish sauce and we also had Croquetas which are made of a "thick bechamel usually containing flecks of serrano ham (though chicken, fish and meat croquetas are also common), coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried." These little guys are everywhere and pleasing to probably everyone. For actual dinner I had kind of a chicken parm open faced sandwich but with sweet strawberry jam on top. Very good as well. Needless to say I was pretty full until the next afternoon.

This weekend I'm going to the Northern coast of Spain, the Asturias region, with an IES group. We are spending the weekend there hiking, beaching, and partying? It's not a huge town so we'll see. And I just paid for Portugal, so I will be going to Lisbon Oct. 24-26!!!!!!!!

Food

I love churros!

They taste so much better here!

La noche en blanco

Forget Seattle. It is sleepless in Madrid. Tonight was la noche en blanco. La noche en blanco is part of the European-wide "white nights" celebrations in which activities take place outside from 9 PM until 7 AM in the streets. Under the full moon tonight there were street performers, musicians, DJ's, along with what seemed to be everyone in Madrid. I have literally never been in crowds so large.

My friend Emily and I met up with some people and listened to some indie rock group named Remate (from Madrid? but sang in english). After we got sick of that, and I tend to easily get sick of people with horrible voices who think that they are great, Emily and I headed to the museum mile to see a tight rope walker. After getting some chips and beer we found a huge crowd gathered below a cable strung from one side of a broad avenue to the next. The roads were closed to traffic which was great. I am really bad at judging distances but the cable was 6 stories high? There were huge spotlights going, techno beats thumping, and people getting impatient waiting for the guys to walk across the rope. The dare devils kept peaking out over the edge to huge roars from the crowd. Unfortunately at this point, the weather was not cooperating and after waiting about an hour, the wind was still too strong for the stunt to continue. It would have been amazing though. I really wanted to see the guy walk between two buildings (very far) without a net or harness or any security. It was too windy though - I was freezing.

After this we walked a ways...got some food at McDonald's. Yes, yes horrible I know, but it was either that or the guy selling half eaten bocadillos on the side of the road. I should mention ALL the museums and sites are free for la noche en blanco, so that is a big attraction for many people, although the lines tend to be HUGE. We wanted to tour through the Palacio Real, but it closed at 2, so we didn't make it. Instead we wandered around, people watched, and eventually made it back to the metro.

Now I'm home and so happy about that because I'm exhausted. I'm also excited to meet Ana's daughter, Ana. She's a 9 year old girl had been on vacation with her Dad for the past month or so, and she just got home tonight. It will be fun to have a little host sister! I can't wait!

Wow, two posts back to back

When I found out that I had wireless internet in my homestay here in Madrid, I was shocked and very happy. The connection here is better than the wireless in my house in the Berkshires! Anyways I think having Internet readily available along with features like skype and ichat have made the transition to living in Spain easy, but almost too easy. So far I have not felt the traditional homesickness or culture shock at all. I know I haven't been here very long and I am probably still in the "honeymoon" period, but I'm feeling pretty happy about my adjustment. If anything, I am surrounded by too much American culture. American music is everywhere, "That 70's show" is dubbed over, and Starbucks abound.

On the other hand there are definitely differences in culture. One major thing is mealtimes. I'm definitely going to lose weight here, despite the fact that I go drinking a lot, because I'm walking so much and portions are smaller. Breakfast is a VERY light meal. I've been having tea and a piece of toast. My host mom is always asleep when we leave, so toast is what she leaves us. At home I love breakfast, particularly cereal in the US, so I might have to buy some of my own breakfast foods. Lunch, as you've probably heard, is their BIG meal and is eaten around 2:30 pm. I love it. My host mom has been making good stuff from lentil stews to roast chicken to ziti with sausage to salads with tuna. Dinner is usually eaten 9:30 or 10 pm (it's especially late in Madrid). For this meal, if I'm out with people and we are really hungry we get bocadillos (sandwiches). If no so hungry, we stick with tapas along with our drinks. A really common bocadillo is the tortilla española (potato and egg omelet on a baguette).

Other differences include the dress. Los madrileños are wicked stylish compared to college campuses in the states. There is definitely a range though. Not everyone looks amazing but you do pass very well dressed people a lot. A big thing is shoes. Gladiator sandals, strappy metallic sandals, and cute flats are really popular. As are heels. I am always awed to see a girl walking to class in heels. They look so painful! I guess I'm lucky I don't ever have to wear heels haha. ALthough my flats are giving me sucky blisters. The Spaniards might have better style because the shopping is sweet. If you are coming in the Spring 1. break in your shoes prior to coming and 2. save your money because there is a lot to buy! The prices aren't too outrageous either, at least at the two major shopping stores - Zara and Mango. I bought a black dress at Zara for 20 euro or about $28. Most things range from 15 euro to 40 euro, with coats and boots running around 100. If I don't go home with a better sense of style then I think all hope for me is lost.

Other small differences are no feet up on tables or couches when relaxing. Always were slippers in the home. Don't waste water or electricity (as opposed to the huge wastefulness in the US). Don't eat in class. Don't yawn or stretch in class (The professor WILL send you home to sleep). Don't tip anybody. People will stare at you too. Especially on the metro. At first it feels like they KNOW you are American, but my professor was saying that is just normal and is not because you look different. They like to look you up and down and It's perfectly fine to do so. So I've kind of taken that up haha. Also if you meet someone's eyes, you don't smile at them. This goes for walking on the street or through the park too. A smile suggests you know the person or are slow, i'm not kidding. This isn't much of a change from Medford or Boston really. A girl from Kansas was in my orientation class and she told us how she kept smiling at everyone she passed, and was not getting very good reactions haha.

All in all, there seem to be slight differences but nothing that doesn't make sense or can't be overcome!

The Prado Museum (Visit 1)

Today is September 11th and I have officially been in Madrid for a week. It seems like a lot longer, but I'm sure things will start to speed up when I start classes next Monday.

Today I finished signing up for my classes through IES. For my program, students can take classes with other americans at IES or take classes with Spanish students at U. Complutense de Madrid. I think I am going to take two IES classes, two Complutense classes, and a required grammar class. At IES I am definitely taking an art history "History of Spanish Painting" where we spend one class a week in a museum. I will also be taking "Contemporary Spanish History". The others are TBA because classes at Complutense don't start until Oct. 2 and we don't register until next week.

Yesterday I went to the Prado museum for the first time with some kids. IES arranged for a tour guide and we got a 1.5 hour tour of some of the museums big guns.....like "Las Meninas" by Velazquez and "The Third of May, 1808" by Goya. Let met tell you, I will have to go back to this museum a couple more times at least. t's collection is HUGE! They have all the European masters from Raphael to Titian to Rembrandt and Van Der Weyden. Basically every early-ish painting I learned about in art history at Tufts is in this museum. So cooool.

The tour was brief but one thing that stuck out was Goya's Pinturas Negras or "Black Paintings" which he did near the end of his life, on the walls of his home, that were probably not meant to be seen by anyone. He was very isolated and approaching death at this time of his life so they 14 paintings all feature deformed mythical and human creatures that are very dark and fantastical. It might be a little weird but I really liked these paintings...and here's one to lift your spirits:





Anywayssss I do have one funny story. My friend and I wanted to go the the movies last night so we checked out the theater. Besides Sex and the City and Batman the other original version film in english (with spanish subtitles) was I Served the King of England. Having no idea what this was about, we decided to go because hey why not. We got pop corn and then went in to the theatre (which was completely empty). Just as the movie is about to start maybe 5 people came in. So there the seven of us are and the movie starts. The credits are at the beginning and there are these funny accents on all the names....and basically we can't read anything. We start laughing - this does not look like an english film. Then the movie starts and it's set in Prague. Of course there is no dialog for the first 10 minutes adding to the suspense of whether it is in english or not.....and finally it's in CZECH! hahahhhh. It turned out fine because we understand the Spanish subtitles but there was definitely a "What the Fuck? this is in Czech" moment.

That's all for now.
Hasta luego.

I'm Here!

I made it to Spain... and I'm loving it so far!

My flight landed at 10:00 am on Thursday Sept 9th and the whole trip from MA to Newark to Madrid was very smooth. I even sat next to a guy from Seattle who is on my program. After landing we met up with IES staff, proceeded to a hotel and spent the night. The next morning I met my home-stay mother Ana. I liked her immediately. She is young (43) and stylish. She also has a 9 year old daughter, which I am really excited about. For those of you who know that I don't have the best relationship with animals - get this: she has a cat, (named Gato appropriately) who likes me!!! He hangs out in my room with me.

My roommate, Cammye, is from New Mexico and is really cool. We have been going out and hanging out together. Today being Sunday we finally had some free time and we explored the city a little bit, bought some necessary umbrellas and hair dryers at El Corte Ingles (department store), and finished with some tapas y cerveza downstairs from our apartment.

I'm kind of obsessed with the apartment and its location right now. We live right on plaza Olavide which is a small park with a playground, fountain, tons of benches, and some trees/flowers. Today it was crowded with families and their children playing. It is also really close to lots of metro stops. I'll put a picture up as soon as I get one.

9/11/08 Photo of Plaza Olavida



Now for the fun stuff. Last night I stayed out until the metro opened again in the morning. That is, 6:00 AM. Cammye and I met a group of IES kids in a park around 12:30 AM for botellon, which is drinking in the park. From there we took the metro to one of the largest and obligatory clubs in Madrid. Kapital is a seven- floored discoteca which has a different dance/music theme on each floor. Floor one was techno and had goo goo dancers on the stage. Some of the other floors were Latin/Salsa, Reggaeton, HipHop, etc. The club was pretty crowded. There were a lot of Americans, but people from everywhere else too.

We also had an orientation trip to Segovia (1 hr north of Madrid) on Saturday. What struck me about it was how much history Spain has. I thought Stockbridge was old. Not really, I'm kidding, but check out some pictures:

http://allisonstravelphotos.shutterfly.com/

We have orientation this week but hopefully I can do another update soon.

Hasta Luego

One week left

Hi all,

Today I have a week left before I leave for Spain!!! WIth this in mind I thought I would resume this blog and use it for the purpose I had in mind originally: the ubiquitous college kid travel blog.

So yes it's true (even if I don't believe it yet), I will be spending the fall semester in Madrid, Spain. I will be taking classes at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spanish: Universidad Complutense de Madrid) for the fall semester 2008. I just received the final mailing from my abroad program and it looks like there will be about 100 total American students attending IES Madrid Fall 2008. It should be exciting meeting kids from all over the country. My roommate goes to Santa Clara, in fact. I also got my homestay housing assignment with Ana Colón Mateos at Calle Raimundo Lulio 2, 1ºD (First floor), 28010 Madrid. If you like googlemaps as much as I do then check it out:
View Larger Map

So yeaaa, looks good. I'll write again soon and hopefully include Skype information for you

Sneakers

As I sit here in the beautiful music library (my new favorite finals study spot), I should be focusing on my orgo and geo finals tomorrow, but instead my mind is wandering to my semester abroad. Yesterday Tufts hosted a "pre-departure" meeting that was supposed to help us figure out the bureaucratic stuff and also make the transition "easier". I haven't really had time to actually think about what living in Spain is going to be like. Frankly, I have no idea.

A few things caught my attention at the meeting:

"Sneakers will undoubtedly label you as an American." I have to find alternative footwear.

Flip flops are definitely out. One girl who spent time in Italy said that they work out in tracksuits and high end athletic gear - her T's and shorts got weird looks from people. Are Americans that sloppy? Spending money on clothing is fun, but I def. don't excessively shop or buy very expensive things. It seems that Europeans spend more money on clothing. I would think that Americans would be the materialistic, the buy-expensive things type, but I suppose Europe is just classier so they place more importance on fashion. I'm bummed clothes are going to be so expensive in Spain booo. I remember at Tommy Hilfiger we had a constant influx of people from Europe who would buy $100's because clothes are soo much cheaper here. Why they bought Tommy, I don't know....?

Skype is going to be really useful. And free.

By the way for all future posts or possible post readers the TIME displayed on these blogs is wrong. It's 3 hours slow. Right now it's 12:48 AM. I guess I'm on Pacific time. who knew?

summer in the distance

It's amazing what a nice day can do to New Englanders.

 Today was what can only be called a glorious day. The sun was out, the breeze was perfect, and the temperature climbed to the 70's. It probably hasn't been that warm since October. Days like this convince us that there will really be a summer here, even though it seemed doubtful for a while. Everyone was out playing frisbee, having picnics, throwing  baseballs, or just basking out on the lawn. I haven't seen that many people outside on campus all year. It's something about the first warm day that make people freak out, in a good way. Everyone feels like they must bust out the shorts, skirts, and sandals in case the warmth doesn't last. (They are wise because tomorrow the temp is dropping back down and it's going to rain). My favorite image of the day goes to the frat boys of 123. They brought a hugeeee TV out on their front lawn and all of the brothers were chilling on couches in their outdoor living room. Clever fellows. I bet they barbecue. 

I'm excited for summer, but it seems that my plans have changed. I will be staying out here by school and working for a biotech company. I only hope that it doesn't get too hot around here in the summer. I love days like today - in the 70's, but I am a true MA resident and anything above that is too hot. 

Another bit of good news - I'm going to SPAIN!!!!. Fall 2008 in Madrid. wooo yessss. I guess this, ahem, "travel blog" will get to be written in at least one foreign country.

Peace - i must go get free snacks in the lib. 

Sundays

I can't decide if I like Sundays. Actually, no wait, I decided. I hate Sundays.

ART

I love Helen Frankenthaler. Yes. Helen Frankenthaler. She's an arTIST. She is associated with (or pioneered) a movement called post-painterly abstraction.  Her stuff comes after Jackson Pollack and such. She wanted to make paintings increasingly abstract and she did this by eliminating the texture. Her work is very watercolor-like. Note: this is a paraphrase of what I remember from last year's class, it's the basic gist of her work, but there is obviously more to it. Check out some of her awesomeness above ^^

5 weeks to go...

I can't believe it, but sophomore year is almost over. We have something like 5 weeks left and then finals. My friends were discussing what classes they are going to register for in two weeks. I didn't even know we were registering so soon, but then it occurred to me: I'm NOT registering! Haha! I will be taking classes in Spanish at la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. I'm still a little freaked out by the fact that my major will be somewhat difficult to complete by going abroad, but when I was pondering simply staying on campus the next two years, I knew I would go crazy. Also, my aunts, uncles, mom, dad, and friends told me that I would regret not having the abroad experience. Alas, I am listening to their advice (especially the advice of my older relatives who have been working for years and years without a break). I think a semester in a european country beats out physical chemistry and glacial geology or whatever hands down. Yeah. 

So now the problem that I am facing is what to do this summer. If I were rich, ha, I would travel with my younger sister. That'd would be amazing. She has recently demonstrated an interest in working/ volunteering with kids in latin america, which I think is great. I feel like my sister is about 3 years ahead of me; it wasn't until probably last year when I realized that I should try to take advantage of whatever opportunity to travel/see the worldddd, and she has realized it so soon. Anywayyss I am probably going to end up going home this summer, as the internship I applied for will most likely go to a junior, so I want to get my environmental internship out of the way by volunteering for Project Native. Project Native is this sweet plant seed company that specializes in distributing native plant seeds back to MA. In addition to that I want to work in landscaping/gardening and at a restaurant at night. Jack's Grill here I come babyyyy. Gotta love Housatonic...