Estoy perdida!

(Chocolate con Churros at La Chocolateria in Madrid, Spain)

I almost went to Toledo this morning.  On accident, of course.

I take the C-4 Parla train to get to Carlos III.  The C-4 leaves from platform 8 at the Nuevos Ministerios train station.  I have done this several times in the past and have never have had a problem.  So today I was sitting on the train and realized that it was taking much longer than usual.  I looked up from my Spanish notes, (yes, I study on the train) and didn't recognize any of the scenery.  Of course, all the screens that show where the train is going were shut-off, so I figured I was probably just being paranoid, and waited to see something I remembered from my past trips.  After a few minutes, I still recognized nothing, and when we pulled into a station with a name I'd never heard before, I decided I better get off.  I scurried myself on over to a map (considering my class was starting in about 30 minutes) and tried to figure out where I was.  Well on my way to Toledo, I discovered.  Apparently, C-3 Toledo trains leave from platform 8, as well.  Good to know.  So I was going to have to backtrack about 3 stops, find the C-4 line, and catch a train to Carlos III.  I was pretty proud of myself for getting to class only 15 minutes late, but I don't think the Professora was impressed.  Does that count as exploring?

But don't fear - I impressed my Spanish teacher with my intelligence and humor, (after I arrived from my near vacation).  As soon as I sat down, she asked me to read this paragraph on the handout we had.  Everyone else had been stumbling through their readings, so of course, I read to impress, and impress I did!  Then we all had to write horoscopes for each other and then read our favorites aloud to the class.  Mine were read the most, and were pretty witty, I might add. 

I had thought my conversation with Julia about bringing my lunches to school had finally been understood, but apparently not.  I told her that I would take my lunch to school with me today, (or so I thought) but when I went to grab it from the kitchen, the table was all set for me to eat.  I figured I could eat faster than try to explain that I needed to pack my lunch, so I gulped my food down and ran out the door.  This tardy start did not help my lengthy train trip.

I've already finished most of my homework for the weekend, so Lizzie and I wanted to go to a flamenco restaurant tonight.  I spent about an hour and a half trying to find one cheap enough for us to afford, and when I did (at about 9:30 pm), I made reservations for the 10:30 pm show.  Although we thought this would be enough time to get there, we were wrong, and we didn't get off the metro until after 10:30 pm.  We also couldn't find La Plaza de España, but that's because we had kind of given up by that point (or at least that's what I'm going to tell you - I won't admit to being lost twice in one day. . .)

We ended up walking along La Gran Villa, a major street in the theatre district of Madrid.  There seemed to be a few premieres happening, and lots of fans were taking pictures of Spanish celebrities that Lizzie and I didn't recognize.  We then walked back towards La Plaza del Sol, in search of a chocolateria Ana had told me about.  We found it, (after asking for directions twice - both times in Spanish, though, so we were proud of ourselves) and got Madrid's famous chocolate con churros.  Very good, but different than I expected.  Not as sweet as one would think - evidence of why all these Spaniards are so skinny!

The editor of globalpost.com sent me an e-mail saying she really liked my article, and she wants a picture to go with it.  She suggested a picture of some madrileños eyeing Americans in a café.  That seems awfully specific, but if it involves me sitting at a café all tomorrow, I guess I'll manage.

Fotografías

Hey everyone,  

Here's a link to my pictures online: http://gigiinmadrid.shutterfly.com

Enjoy!

Estudios Internacionales

(El Palacio de Comunicaciones in Madrid, Spain)

Today I had three classes: Present History for two hours, Spanish for an hour and a half, and Economic History for an hour and a half.  Unfortunately these classes are spread out over a 10 hour period, so I will be spending a lot of time at Carlos III on Wednesdays.  These days will get even longer when my fourth class starts later this month - also on Wednesday morning.  But the bright side is that I have time to do all my homework in between classes.  The even brighter side is that I still don't seem to have any homework! (I better keep my fingers crossed. . .)

My Spanish class went really well today because everything we talked about I have actually learned before!  I felt pretty intelligent, not going to lie.  My Economic History class was interesting, too.  It is a class on international students taught in English.  Today the professor split us into groups, gave us an article to read, and told us to answer all the questions at the end.  In my group, Laurie, a girl from Great Britain, and I finished the article pretty quickly, but the two boys, one from Spain and the other from the Philippines, were less fluent and took longer.  I was impressed they got through the article at all - I was nearly asleep by the end.  Answering the questions consisted of Laurie sounding really brilliant because she said everything in a British accent, and me writing answers with really big vocabulary, (I've found that this is the best way to make one's self sound smart).  I had to make a conscious effort to stick to my American accent, because I have a bad habit of imitating British people and it's led to some awkward situations in the past. . .

Today, I also got my last class to count for my International Business minor.  I was talking to a BC student who had gotten it approved for the International Studies minor, which is essentially the same thing, so I asked him to send me the e-mail from the BC professor.  Now here's how this works.  My problem has been that I have been sending my professors the class syllabi.  This student, a much more creative thinker than I, paraphrases the classes in his own words.  Turns out this is a much easier way to get a class approved.  Yay!

Oh - interesting cultural tidbit.  The other day when I was talking with Ana, she said that she thinks madrileños are very outgoing and open because Madrid is more culturally homogenous than other countries such as America.  She said that madrileños don't have to worry as much about insulting other races or religions, because there really aren't any.  There's fewer social constraints in Madrid.  Thought you might want to add that to the trivial knowledge banks.

I came home exhausted and don't think I said a single grammatically-correct sentence to Julia, but I managed to keep my head off the table through dinner (fish and salad).

I sent in my globalpost.com article today: The Madrileño Secret.  If they put it on the website, I'll give you the link, and if they don't, I will complain about how they do not recognize my genius.  Either way, you get to hear more of my ramblings.  Lucky you!

El primer día de escuela

(A view of Universidad Carlos III in Getafe, Spain)

Yesterday was the first day of school.  I went to class, and got there on time and everything, (even after being slowed down by a half-hour conversation with Julia about whether I was bringing my lunch or not. . .)  The first class was Spanish - it was pretty easy, and I think it is the right level for me, so I'm happy to be back learning grammar and vocabulary and whatnot.  I even know some people in my class, so I'm glad I will not be forced to talk to strangers (just kidding).

Then I went to lunch with Lillia and Nick, who are both in my Spanish class, and we went to the library and did our homework together (this blog is starting to get pretty exciting now, huh?)  

I had Historic Economics afterwards, which is where my problems started.  I got this class approved by my BC advisor with the syllabus that had been listed online.  Turns out, the syllabus listed online was for a class that doesn't exist anymore.  So I e-mailed the professor (we had a sub, the real professor is at a conference), but still haven't heard anything back.  The reason this is a problem is that now I need to find a new class that will be approved by BC and will fit into my schedule - keep in mind that these classes have already started and learning is happening without me!

Anyway, I took the train home with Nick, James, Matt, and Jeff (I seem to be the only girl that likes Economics) and they're all really nice.  They've been having trouble getting classes approved, too, so we complained all the way home.  Good times.

I got back home and spent three hours trying to find a new class, to no avail (hence my lack of blogging) so I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about that.

Then to top everything off: last night I was attacked by a cucaracha (for you french fries out there, that's a cockroach).  I was parched and innocently on my way to the kitchen to fetch myself some water.  I only turned on half the lights, and saw a black spot on the floor that I thought was a pattern in the tile.  I stepped over it and the bugger literally chased me across the kitchen.  Then we assumed an I-won't-smush-you-if-you-don't-smush-me stance and after that was settled, I ran away real fast (of course, leaving my waterbottle in my wake).

Today I had to get to get to class by 10 for Present History.  Seems like a pretty interesting class, so that's good.  Also, there's a final paper instead of an exam, yay!  Then I had a meeting with Ana to interview her for my article and go over these class issues I've been having.  She kept letting the other students go ahead of me so that we would have time for the interview, but we ended up only having about 20 minutes, because I had to leave to go to my second class.  The interview was fine, but none of my class problems were solved.

I officially signed up for a 4-day trip to Morocco today from October 1-4th!  The program is with other BC kids and through an organization called Morocco Exchange.  We pay 150 euros, which isn't bad, considering the trip was originally 350 euros, and BC pays the rest.  We will travel to a bunch of cities and stay with Moroccan families.  There will also be discussions on culture and Islam with students from Morocco.  It sounds like an awesome trip and the pictures on moroccoexchange.com are really spiffy.

I also told Julia about the cockroach today.  She got all excited and started spraying cockroach repellent all over the floors.  Honestly, next time I will probably still run.

Un domingo en España

(Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain)

Last night, a bunch of BC kids (and I) went to a party at a Spaniard's house right off the Puerta del Sol.  It was a really nice apartment and it was filled with lovely Spanish boys.  But of course, as per usual in Madrid, they were drinking.  Sidenote: since being in Madrid, I've been trying to widen my horizons by taking a sip of the drinks people give me (that's an awkward sentence - I don't mean just anybody, only trustworthy non-drunk people.  Also, this adds up to about two sips a night).  But they were all drinking this nasty stuff - I don't even know what it was.  They opened the bottle and that stuff smelled awful!  So I gave my drink to the guy next to me, who was really pleased with the situation.  I've only tried one drink I've liked - some cherry something with vodka, but after one sip, I gave that one away as a matter of principle.  Now that you've heard that saga. . .

The plan had been to go to the discotheque, El Capital, but we had a ticket to get into Joy for free, so we ended up going there again.  Half the group left after a while to go to El Capital, but you had to pay to get in there, and I figured that since I am a poor college student, that was unnecessary.  So Lizzie, Elisha, Kevin, and I stayed at Joy.  Pretty much the same as last night, except that they had two flamenco shows during the night, which were pretty nifty.  Also, it was much more crowded this time around and there were a lot more creepers.  But seeing as we don't know how to use the night-buses, we stayed until 6 am so that we could take the metro.  It takes a while for me to get home, so I probably didn't fall asleep until about 7:30 am.

Today I woke up at 2 pm, in time for lunch, and afterwards, Lizzie and I decided to go out exploring.  We went to El Prado, because it's free on Sundays, and walked around El Paseo del Prado, a main street in Madrid.  El Prado was really fantastic - the place is huge and there is a lot of famous artists featured there (you probably knew that already).  We only stayed for a little while, because we had errands to run and needed to be back to our homes for dinner, but even what we saw in such a short amount of time was impressive.  We then went to El Corte Ingles to buy school supplies and snacks.  I bought some delectable tea cookies called Marbú Dorada and chocolate candies called Maltesers.  But what's really exciting (well, to a nerd like me) is that notebooks are different here!  The standard paper they use in Europe is a different size than in the US, so the notebooks are a different size, too.  Also, the paper is what we know as graph paper and they don't use just regular old lined paper.  Needless to say I'm pretty excited to start taking some notes!

I headed back to Julia's for dinner at about 9 pm and her English-speaking niece, Alexandra, joined us for dinner (croquettes and salad).  Julia kept telling Alexandra to speak to me in only Spanish, so what I did catch was that tomorrow, she's going to start looking for a job (the unemployment rate in Spain is about 18% right now).  Alexandra also said that she plays the piano, which is cool, and she said that we can go to some concerts together.

So that ended my whirlwind of a weekend!  Today was the last day of summer vacation, because classes start tomorrow.  And while I'm not excited about the homework that will be forced upon me, I'm glad I will be taking Spanish again, because that will help me improve.  Plus, there's been talk of Spaniards at this school, so that puts a pleasant haze on things. . .

Fiesta

(Modern meets traditional in Madrid, Spain)

I am exhausted. Last night was craziness. 

First, transportation.  I left my room at about one (after being very indecisive about getting dressed) and hurried to the Cuzco metro stop, which is the closest stop to Julia's apartment.  I ended up having to wait almost 20 minutes for a train, so I was already going to be late to meeting Lizzie and Elisha at the Nuevos Ministerios metro stop.  By the time I got to the stop, the trains had stopped running and my friends weren't there.  A security guard told me something in Spanish, which from his tone I took to mean, "You should leave now," so I did and tried to call Lizzie.  Of course, there wasn't any reception in the metro station, so that plan flopped.  I was nervous because I was halfway between Julia's apartment and where I was trying to go, it was 1:20, and the metros stop running at 1:30.  So I booked it on over to the metro line I needed to get downtown and was relieved to find that I could still make it.  I got to the Sol metro stop, (downtown Madrid) at about 2 and again tried to call Lizzie.  Now she had no service, and neither did Elisha, (but I did not know this at the time, because the pre-recorded "no-service" message is in Spanish), so I called Amanda and asked her to call either of my friends and tell them I was waiting under the main clock in the square.  I didn't hear anything back for about half an hour.  In the meantime, I am standing under the clock, in the cold, by myself.  I don't recommend standing there for very long, because people start to talk to you and take your picture (yeah - it was sketchy).  Finally I see Lizzie and Elisha, who didn't realize they had had no service in the bar that they were in, and we head off, me, relieved to finally put an end to my 2.5 hour trip.

So then, Lizze, Elisha, and I are wandering around the Sol area.  In Madrid, girls get a free drink for going into a club (also sketchy) so a lot of people just go bar-hopping, getting drinks for free.  I am annoyed that their Spanish is better than mine, even after they've been drinking (it's so not fair. . .) but after hanging out a couple mediocre clubs, we hear word that the discotheque Joy is really good - and it is.  There is a huge dance floor and private boxes and it's pretty classy.  They played American music and it was packed.  We danced for a long time - we only stopped once to get our free drinks - I ordered a Sprite and the bartender gave me a look that I did not appreciate.  The Spanish boys were awfully friendly, but most could be dismissed without problems.  Only one of the boys that tried to dance with me was guapo and we danced for a while.  But he started getting awfully friendly and needed to be dismissed, too.  The only problem with this club was that people danced with their drinks in hand and all the bottles ended up on the floor.  Most of them broke from being stepped on, so the floor was covered in broken glass (that's a recipe for disaster, isn't it?).  I had so much glass stuck in the bottoms of my shoes that those things could have been used as weapons!  Luckily (or somewhat unluckily, I guess) I only cut my foot once, right towards the end of the night.  We ended up leaving Joy at 6 am - when the metros started up again.  I've been told that this is the general night schedule in Madrid - get to where you're going by 1:30 when the metros stop and leave at 6 when they start up again.  Ah, Madrid.

So after this night of fiesta-ing, I slept until 2 pm, waking up just in time for lunch.  I didn't do much else all day because I'm still trying to write my globalpost.com article.  Also, it is really hot, and I've practically melted into my bed.  But Julia took me to mass today - the church is in the park right next to the apartment building.  The mass was only 20 minutes, and after church, Julia showed me where the pharmacy, the bank, and the grocery-type store were.  We came back in time for dinner, and I've just received news that my friends are going out again tonight!  This time, to some Spanish student's house party and then to El Capital - a seven-story discotheque downtown.  I've not yet decided whether I am going to go do this or sleep, but more later!

Una noche en Madrid

(Chueca, a barrio in Madrid, Spain)

This morning I had a meeting with Ana, my advisor at Carlos III.  I thought the meeting was for 1:20, but I had forgotten that it had been pushed back, so I arrived an hour early.  But everything worked out nicely, because I happened to meet my friend Lizzie in the train station and we ended up spending the day together.  

We toured around Carlos III, taking pictures, exploring, and speaking in Spanish.  That's right - folks, at least an hour's worth on conversation from your's truly!  I headed off to my meeting and Lizzie headed off the the computer lab to work on her classes.  Unfortunately, when I got to Ana's office, I saw two other students in line ahead of me, (apparently meetings run on Spanish time, too) but this also ended up working out, because I made a couple of new friends.  One of the girls, Callan, has already spent over 1,000 euros - her computer, glasses, and Ipod all broke within the few days we've been here.  But my sympathy wore off a tad when I found out that she and the other girl, Theresa, are spending the weekend on the Southern coast of Spain with the Prince of Sweden.  I'm not even joking.  I told Lizzie that we're not trying hard enough to meet royalty, but don't worry, I'm on it.

My rest of my meeting was less exciting, as no titled millionaires were in attendance, but I did successfully fix my cell-phone (which involved having a conversation on the phone in Spanish) and pick most of my classes.  I will be taking Economia Historica de España (in English), Cultura y Civilización en España (in Spanish), Historia del Presente (in Spanish) or Sociología de Género de España (both are taught in Spanish), and two Spanish grammar classes.  I will take the class taught in English with Spanish students, and the classes taught in Spanish with American students.  And if you counted, yes - that's four out of five classes in Spanish.  Adiós, GPA!

After my meeting, I went to lunch with the other student who had been in my meeting, Kevin.  He arrived late because he was an orientation leader at BC and has already been robbed.  While he was on the metro, someone stole his wallet from an inside pocket of his backpack (I was amazed).  They took all his credit cards, money, and driver's license.  His first phone call back to the US was to tell his dad they needed to cancel all his credit cards.  I decided I would be the worst thief ever and also decided never to use my backpack in Madrid.

I met up with Lizzie again and we took the train back to Madrid, where we decided to stop at El Cortes Ingles, the biggest department store in Madrid.  It was rather expensive for my taste, but they did have a supermarket, about which I was really excited.  I was debating whether I should buy a bag of apples or a bag of spanish candy for my room - I'll let you guess how that played out (Hint: there are about twenty candy wrappers sitting on my bed right now. . .)

Afterwards, Lizzie and I stopped to get ice cream near the metro stop, as it was still a few hours until dinner. It's funny how quickly you adjust to the schedule here.  Dinner is usually at around 9 pm, so 6:30 is still legitimately snack time.  

I headed back home for dinner: sardines and noodle salad.  Julia was eating her sardines, bones and all, so I followed suit.  They weren't bad, but then after I finished she showed me how to take the bones out.  This is not a conversation I ever practiced in Spanish class, so I was rather confused and hope sardine bones aren't poisonous or something.  But besides this bump in the road, our conversation was pretty decent.  She told me that my Spanish has improved and also told me I have pretty hair - brownie points for Julia!  Then I successfully asked about laundry (done every Monday) and finding the news in Spanish (my TV now works).  Speaking Spanish really gets you places in this city.

Seeing as it is Friday night in a city that never sleeps, my friends and I decided that we needed to go out and experience Madrid's nightlife.  (We went out a couple nights ago to Chueca, a barrio much like NYC's Village, but our lack of Spanish ended us up in a lesbian dance club.  We ended up leaving to go to a mexican restaurant, but that night had petered out a bit. . .) I, a dancing fool, suggested that we go to a dance club (or discotheque, en español).  People thought I was brilliant (and who was I to argue?) so they all called their sources and found a club downtown that we are going to go to.  Want to know the best part?  The clubs don't really get going until 2:30 am, so I'm going to be leaving my room at about 1 am.  I'm pretty darn excited, but I'm currently having issues with my bag (I'm sure you're dying to know the details, so I will elaborate).  First, to get into Julia's apartment, I need to use four keys.  Now, these aren't your run-of-the-mill normal US keys, these are honkingly-enormous keys that look they could get you into the Pentagon.  These keys do not fit into my wristlet bag (my standard night bag) and when we went to Chueca, I literally had to bring my entire purse, just for these keys.  I most certainly do not approve of this situation and must now leave you so that I may channel all my creativity into producing a solution.