¡Mis Pruebas Son Acabadas!

(A view of El Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid, Spain)

I have finished my last final. I am done. Todos de mis cosas son acabadas. Hurrah! I'll give you a quick update on the past week:

Sunday: I got up early this morning because I wanted to go to mass at one of the big cathedrals in Madrid. I ended up picking La Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, which has the largest dome of any church in Spain. I called ahead to see which masses had music (surprisingly, none of the masses I've been to yet have had music) and was told the 12:30 mass would be accompanied. So I got to the area at about 10, so that I would have time to explore.

The metro let me off in a big, circular plaza that had 5 roads branching off in different directions, which I new was a recipe for disaster. My map-reading skills have gotten worse since being in Spain, and I can't seem to find anything anymore. So I tried the first road, which looked promising, but realized that wasn't right, so then from that, I figured out which direction I was supposed to take. I walked down the second street and found the tale-end of El Rastro, which was not supposed to be there. I checked my map again and discovered I had been heading away from the Cathedral. But I wandered around El Rastro a bit and found a nearby park that had an old steam-stack still standing in the middle. So after taking some pictures of the park, I headed back in the other direction and started walking towards the road I needed. Turns out it wasn't the road I needed, but I did find the correct street on my fourth try. Fourth try out of five roads - it could have been worse.

So I walked down the correct road (luckily in a straight line now) and found the basilica. There was a nice little park next door with a nice view of the city, so I took some pictures there, as well. And since I still had time to explore, I kept going and ended up finding another really pretty park that was on a sloping hill and had a really cool view of a nearby bridge. I also saw another huge cathedral on the other side of the park and walked over to see which cathedral that was. I nearly got myself stolen in the process. I was about halfway up a trail when I noticed that behind every tree was a big gangster-looking fellow. All of them seemed to be watching me and I got a little nervous. So I put on my don't-mess-with-me face and made it out of the woods alive. Whew!

I got to the second cathedral where a gypsy tried to talk me out of my money - but if I can handle woods filled with gangsters, than I can handle a gypsy woman. The church was closed to tourists as it was Sunday and masses were being conducted, but I realized I was at La Catedral de la Almudena, the cathedral right next to El Palacio Real. I thought El Palacio was on the other side of the city. So I toured around a bit and found another whole area that I had been to before. Go figure. I did some souvenir shopping and then happened across this cool marketplace, El Mercado de San Miguel. It reminded me of Fanueil Hall in Boston, with a lot of little shops, so it was a neat find. Then I wandered a bit more and ended up in La Plaza Mayor. Again, I had no idea how close all of these places were to each other - maybe my map is printed backwards. . .

I then headed back to the basilica, and the place was gorgeous. There is a huge fresco ceiling and statues everywhere. I was surprised to see that it's not a classic Romanesque cathedral, which has a long nave and transept that intersect in a cruciform positioning (don't I sound smart after taking my Art History class!). The whole church is essentially under the dome, which is something I've never seen before. The music was just a man at a keyboard and a single singer (I would have sang, but they don't seem to give out hymnals in Madrid). There was a huge organ, and I don't know why they weren't using that, but it was still nice to hear some music.

After mass, I headed back to the metro, passing a really sketchy carnival that was set up in a small square. I got back to Julia's and then did work for the rest of the day (paper, studying, and internship applications - wahoo).

Monday/Tuesday: I was pretty much a hermit. Julia and I had an interesting conversation, though. We were talking about how my family's going to need to go shopping for food on Christmas Eve, and she was saying that most everything is closed in Spain on Christmas Eve. I mentioned that even on Christmas Eve, WalMart is open in the US, but she had never heard of WalMart. I was trying to explain the superstore concept, and when I finished Julia said, "Like Saks?" I said, "Yeah, kind of. . ." Oh, Julia. How much there is to learn about America.

Julia and I have been bonding though. We had a heart to heart about about how nervous we both were on my first day here and she seems to be opening up a bit. She showed me the Christmas lights she had put up on her gigantic acacia tree and even pointed out some pictures of Alexandra and Maria when they were little. We are making strides, Julia and I.

Today: Got up early and studied and then headed to Carlos III for my economics test. The professor decided it would be an oral final, so thank goodness this is my English class. I ran into James, who was taking the same test, and we walked to school from the train together. When we got to the classroom, our friend, Liz, was in with the professor taking her test. She was in for quite a while and me and James were getting nervous, especially when James peeked in the window and saw that the professor had Liz explaining graphs. This was an oral test, which was supposed to eliminate graphs! Liz came out and James went in, so I was left to my own nervousness. About 10 minutes later James came out and didn't seem too horrified, so that was a good sign.

I walked in and sat down in the row of desks the professor was using. He kept switching back and forth between seats and seemed more nervous than me. He explained to me that he had to record the test and how the structure would work. Essentially, he would ask a broad question and the depth of my answers would determine my grade. So he first asked me about convergence and Malthusianism, and I was all over both of those. He seemed impressed and told me I had a perfect score so far. Then he showed me a comparative advantage chart and a picture of a factory - I nailed those, too. He said he didn't need to go any further because it was obvious I knew everything. I agreed. Total test time: 6 minutes. Not bad.

Then I printed my boarding passes for Rome and London and ran into Guillermo in the computer lab. It's hard to say goodbye to these Spaniards, because I might never see them again. It's scary how that works. Then I decided that I needed a haircut and looked up a Peluqueria near Julia's house. The phone call to schedule the appointment was strenuous. As soon as I started talking, I realized that I didn't know the word for haircut, so I ended up saying things like, "I have long hair, I want short hair," and then "The thing you do with scissors." She seemed confused - I thought it was quite self-explanatory. What else would I call a Peluqueria for?

I stopped at Corte Inglés on the way home to buy a book for my trips (I figured that when I'm in London by myself, I might have some reading time on my hands. . .). Then it was back to Julia's and off to Peluqueria Manuel Aranda. I got really nervous when I walked by the place the first time - it looked pretty fashionable and I was wearing my sneakers. So I did a loop around the nearby park, plucked myself up, and headed on in. They sat me down with this guy who looked like quite the diva, so that didn't help my nerves at all. He asked me what I wanted to do with my hair, and I showed him a picture of myself over the summer. So after my wash, cut, and dry did I look like my picture? Of course not. But it is a nice haircut and much less scraggly than it was before. So it's a success.

Then it was back to Julia's for dinner (tuna in tomato sauce) and packing for Rome and Italy. I have mastered the art of packing for a 4-day trip in just a backpack - which I consider to be a major accomplishment. Alexandra stopped by after dinner, as it is her birthday tomorrow. Even though Alexandra has been unemployed for months now because of the economic crisis, Julia told me that she's been in Rio de Janeiro, with what I thought was some sort of paid position. So I asked Alexandra what she's been up to and she said, "Playing some sports, looking at beautiful places." It's tough being unemployed in a millionaire's world.

So tomorrow I'm off to Rome with Lizzie for 4 days and then I'm heading to London for 3 days by myself, (just me and a map - what could go wrong?). Yay for pasta and British accents! Talk to you all when I get back!