Cordoba-Granada-Sevilla

Dear friends and fam,

I’m currently in the Granada train station, although when I’m actually posting this, I’m sure I’ll be in my hostel in Seville. Traveling the last few days has been an adventure. I think that when I set up this trip, I was just so focused on finally being liberated from my schoolwork and full of desire to see more of the country that I didn’t really consider how, after a semester plagued by bouts of loneliness, traveling alone would affect me. I feel like this trip has just had so much silence, which has really …

Oh my goodness. This woman just came over to ask me a question about her phone (since, as she told me 3 times, me on my computer must know more about it than her). She’s convinced that every time that there is a missed call, her clock resets. So I put the correct time on her phone and then she just went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on talking to me for half an hour, always pretending like she was going to get up and then staying. She kept repeating the same things over and over. Like how she was going to go to the phone store when she got back to Barcelona, and that it was the missed calls that were ruining everything, and how she’s already told her husband and sons not to leave missed calls (which I tried to explain is impossible to avoid unless they just don’t call), and that the missed calls were ruining everything, and didn’t I speak Spanish well, and when she got back to Barcelona she was going to go to the phone house, and that she thanked me very much, but it was those darn missed calls that were ruining her phone, and what if she needed to set an alarm and the clock reset, and didn’t I speak Spanish well, and she was going to explain it to the people at the store when she got back. I think she just wanted to keep the conversation going but really had nothing else to talk about.

Anyways, got to love those somewhat awkward cultural encounters. It’s funny how I was writing about silence when all that started. But I still affirm that silence has had a heavy weight in this trip, but at the same time, I’ve met a lot of great people, so it’s been a really fun experience in that regard. I was talking with Gina and decided that this week is an exercise in spending time in and by myself.

I’ll get the pictures up soon. Since I’m by myself, I just take pictures all the time. I think it serves both as a way to pass the time and also as my attempt to artificially be able to share the experience with other people. While I’ve gone out with and met new people at night, all my tourism so far has been alone. I don’t mean to seem overly pessimistic about it—I have had some really amazing moments, like touring the Alcazar in Cordoba at sunset, with its enchanting gardens and tall medieval towers with hardly anyone there, or standing on top of the Watchman’s Tower at the Alhambra in Granada with the most expansive view of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the city, the river and the hills and contemplating everything—but there is just something a little empty about not being able to talk about it while it’s happening, and a reproduction of it is impossible. When I was at the Alcazar this was a very loud buzz of bird songs that the pictures obviously miss and mountains never show up as dramatically in photos as they do in real life. So in light of that all, I think there has been a sort of shift in attitude about what this is about for me and just seeing it all for me. It’s a very selfish experience in so many ways, and I don’t mean that to be pejorative at all, but really internal.

Enough of philosophizing, let me tell you all about what I’ve been seeing.

I think I left my previous post in Cordoba right before I went to the Alcazar, which like I said was a really magical experience. When I checked into the hostel, the guy at the front desk had mentioned that it was free entry on Wednesday if I wanted to check it out so it was just kind of a spur of the moment decision and very worth it. I really like the photos from there. That was the first place that I attempted the self-photo, which has continued to be an awkward struggle, but with my reluctance to hand over my camera to a stranger, my only way of getting photos of me. For every good one I get, there were usually like 20 mistakes. That night I went over to Jocelyn’s and met her very vivacious Southern Spanish roommates. Since I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before, I just called it an early night and went back.

Thursday, I got up early to go to the Mosque/Cathedral (as with so many monuments in Southern Spain, what was once Moorish became incorporated into the Catholic kingdom) while it was free, which was an excellent choice because it wasn’t crowded at all. Really nothing has been crowded which has made it so much more enjoyable. I’ve had crazy luck with weather. It’s just been sunny and gorgeous everyday so far. The Mosque/Cathedral in Cordoba is the one that has the red and white arches that I’m sure most of you have seen a picture of at some point. There are just hundreds of arches and so it’s very impressive. I really feel like it’s the best of the two worlds: the architecture is Muslim with some really beautiful geometric tile patterns on the walls, and then there are beautiful chapels and a big Christian altar in the middle. There as well a random lady came up to me and kept on talking about where the best places to take pictures were. I couldn’t decide if she wanted me to pay her? Or what? She most definitely did not look like she was looking for money, but it was just strange. I don’t think I quite understand Spanish señoras.

Then I just kind of toured the center of the town, did some post Christmas shopping with the sales (since Christmas ended the 6^th) and read a while by the river in the sun. For dinner, we went to the super hippy, hole-in-the-wall place where they made this gigantic pot of lentils with vegetables (the meal is always vegetarian) and had a little bar with everyone sitting outside. For the drink and the dinner, you just play whatever you think is appropriate, which is a little difficult to navigate in some ways because I feel like there is a strict, unspoken moral code. It was a fun environment though. Then we went out to this horribly corny Templar bar that was kind of in the style of the Rainforest Café. We walked into what seemed like a castle, and when we got downstairs, we went through a door and into an enchanted lost garden with paintings of castles and trees. It was fun though.

Got home at 4 am that night. 3 and a half hours later, I was up and getting ready. Made it to the train station at 830 for my 830 bus and snuck on just in time. The bus was EXTRAORDINARILY hot. I was stripping down (I changed my shirt and even went so far to take off my shoes and socks. I couldn’t handle it). All the Spaniards, of course, had their jackets their jackets zipped up tight. In some combination of lack of sleep, my general issues with carsickness, the extreme heat and a potential hangover, I was miserable. For the last fifteen minutes I was just holding on to the seat in front of me repeating “Please don’t throw up.”

Finally arriving to Granada, I sat on a cold bench for a while to recuperate and once I was finally ready, started walking from the train station, sans map (a favorite activity of mine), in search of my hostel. Grabbed breakfast along the way and eventually made it over there. Changed, washed up and then went to the Alhambra.

The Alhambra was originally the fortress of an Arabic king and then was conquered by the Christians, so it has evidence of it all. It has the 12^th century (if I remember correctly) fortress part, a Islamic-style palace and another palace of Carlos V, so it’s just a mixed bag of architecture and art, which makes it a lot of fun. The complex also connects with another palace from 1931 that has beautiful fountains and gardens. I spent all afternoon there touring around and taking a gazillion photos. When I was on top of the Watchman’s Tower looking over the city (the place I mentioned earlier), it just totally struck me that Granada is a huge place full of many people with its own long history… and that there are hundreds of other equally vibrant cities in the world. It’s crazy.

Yesterday night I had dinner at the hostel. They made this absolutely gigantic paella. The pan was easily 3 feet in diameter. It was delicious. I met two sisters from Seattle, one of whom has a boyfriend who is studying here (the sisters left today to study in Cadiz), and the 4 of us went out. In Spain, it’s popular to go out for tapas or to get tapas when you get a drink. At certain bars in Madrid you can get tapas, which are usually a complimentary plate of little empanadas, olives, ham and bread, paella or torta, etc… something small but nice to have along with your drink, and if you had a few rounds you could fill up. In Granada, tapas are just straight up meals. We got our drinks (which cost half as much as they often do in Madrid, I might add) and straight up got sandwiches with fries. It blew my mind.

Today I slept in a bit. I was going to go on the hostel tour, but when I got down to check out at 10:55, he told me I had missed it. I asked him what time it had left at and he told me 11… They had snuck out a little early I guess, so I just asked him to show me the route that the tour went on and followed it. I went through the Albaicín, which is an old neighborhood in Granada. There’s a lookout point that has striking views of the Alhambra. Unfortunately, I got there at 12:30 or so and the lookout looks east so it was just at the point where it was a bit difficult to look at the castle and the pictures didn’t turn out. Kind of a disappointment in that regard, because I would have loved to just sit and stare at it, but it was still a spectacular view.

After my little tour, I just went back to the hostel for a bit, grabbed some lunch at the grocery store and made my way over to the train station. I’m now on the train on my way to Sevilla.

Hope everything is well with you all.

Big hugs.

Jason

P.S. Just arrived at the hostel here in Sevilla. The guy who works here told me that I have the best Spanish of any non-native American speaker he's met, so that was flattering. Had a great conversation with the girl sitting next to me on the train about linguistics and politics and what have you. We started off in Spanish but then she wanted to practice her English so we switched. It was fun though.

Travel blog kick-off

So the study abroad blog idea was essentially a failure, but I'm back with my new travel blog. I fear that it will probably succumb to a similar fate, but here's to trying.

First and foremost, I am officially DONE with fall semester. Today, in a somewhat dingy coffee shop in Cordoba on a pay-as-you-go computer, I submitted my final essays. It was glorious. I had written my final project last night (finishing at 4 am) but had a couple little guys to knock off before the 1 pm deadline today. But enough with that boring stuff.

Here's a quick run through of my day:

Today I got up at 8 to grab my train to Cordoba. Running of 3 1/2 hours of sleep, I set my alarm for a few minutes before we'd arrive at the station and nodded off. When I woke up, we were coming down the off the Meseta and there were just gorgeous moutains and rolling hills, covered in green. The sky was covered with clouds, but fortunately, we went into a tunnel and came out on the other side to a perfectly blue sky and the sun shining. It was beautiful.

When I got off the train, I could swear it smelt like the ocean. Cordoba all day has been a huge tease. I keep thinking, smelling, feeling like I'm near the ocean, but I am absolutely not near it. Something about the palm trees and the orange trees and the would-be ocean high rises is completely tricking me and in the most disappointing of ways.

In the train station, I picked up a ticket for the last missing leg of my trip (Granada-Sevilla), found a map, and started walking. I just was wandering in search of a café with free wifi (something I've realized I'm horrible at doing). I passed through the wall into the Jewish Quarter and walked a bit around it's narrow streets, which was amazing. Once I found a café, I got my work done and then hit the streets in search of a new camera charger (mine was mysteriously absent when I was packing last night). In the midst of the search, my friend Jocelyn from Middlebury got off class so she called me for lunch. I had a great time eating with her, trying the local Salmorenjo and practicing good ole español. Stopped by her apartment to look for a Sony retailer and took the trek out there. They charged me and arm and leg for it, but in the current bind, I didn't feel like I had much of a choice. Then walked from there through the Old City (the Mosque, the Alcazar, the Roman Bridge) over to the hostel from where I'm writing you all now.

I have a super sassy roommate that just walked in. Dusk is falling right now and he just mumbles to me "Do you want a light on?" and then gave me this very sassy look. Anyways, I am now off to tour the inside of the Alcazar (fortress) since it's free on Wednesdays until 7:30.

Hope you are all excellent. Miss you lots.

jason

P.S. As a general outline, my travel plans for the next three weeks are: Cordoba, Granada, Seville, Madrid (home), San Sebastian, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Poitiers, Paris. Should be a good time.

hump day

i guess i haven't written in a while because i went through a stage of homesickness/depression/loneliness mixture, and as the adage goes, if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. i also didn't want to come on here and complain about my life here when i knew that the problems would be temporary and that my view of it on the other side (ie now) is a lot different, and today i find myself in another one of those i-love-madrid-and-want-to-stay-the-year days on the very, extremely cyclical movement of my perspective about spanish life.

anyways, the explication of this all starts a month and a half ago at the beginning of october. i had just finished my second day tutoring this adorable kid named lucas, and instead of taking the metro from nuevos ministerios, i decided to walk. i had no idea how long that walk would be, but feeling adventurous and knowing the general direction in which i had to go, i was excited. the walk will surely turn out to be one of the highlights of my stay here in madrid. i strolled for an hour through the tree-lined paseo de la castellana on one of those amazingly perfect fall nights where the temperature is cool but comfortable. the sun was setting. i was passing gorgeous historical monuments. and i had the conscious thought during at all that right then and there i was falling in love with madrid.

fast forward a couple weeks and all that was completely forgotten. i actually didn't think about that night again until today. i guess depression begets more negative thoughts. you don't really see the big picture in the middle of it. i don't know what really sparked the slump, but some combination of little fights that sprung up with my friends (i have such a low tolerance for drama), missing all you back home, frustrations with spanish (i can express myself in basically any daily situation, but there is something lost in terms of my personality. i feel boring in spanish. my jokes don't usually work out how i want them too, i think because people just take my comments at face value even when they're supposed to be ironic. and so i felt like i was devoid of deep personal connection), normal daily stress (those hated weekly econ papers, working 16 hours a week on top of everything), and the like. more than anything though, i think that i just spent too much time in my room. it's kind of crazy how a little bit of isolation can affect you so much, but i think that might have been the crux of it.

through many long e-mails and good conversations with my family and good friends from home, i started to feel a ton better and feel a lot more connected. spent an amazing weekend with a friend of mine here going to the madrid gay and lesbian film festival and randomly walking around the city. last night i had a good dinner with another spanish friend. and today i had the best run (something about just moving through the city invigorates me). thursday is my long day: i have work from 9-1, class in getafe (which is about a 45 minute trip for me to the south) at 2:30, then i tutor lucas (which has become a nightmare, more on that later) at 5 in republic argentina (near nuevos ministerios in the north of madrid), ballet at 7:15 and after grocery shopping on the way, i get home around 9:30. today, for whatever reason, i felt like i wanted nothing more than to run, so that's exactly what i did. made myself an hour long playlist with my favorite songs and head over to parque retiro. the park is gated so on my way in i checked the sign to make sure it wouldn't close on me, and since it didn't say anything i figured i was good to go. it was great. a bunch of the paths are lighted so i didn't have to worry about footing or creepy stalkers (although the first person i saw in the park was in the shadows with his pants down... i'm hoping he was peeing). just as i was on my way out, i ran by the man-made lake that has this big, victorious statue of a guy on a horse that was all lit up and was struck with awe. the lake during the day is full of touristy but romantic rowboats, but tonight in the de facto runners-only park it was black and empty with just the slightest of ripples. i was inspired, so i decided to go over to the statue and soak in its majesty. it was pretty spectacular. at the foot of a gigantic statue that is surrounded by roman columns at the shore of a lake. the sky was a dark blue with scattered orange-tinted clouds (thank you madrid smog). on the horizon was an enlarged, bright orange crescent moon. really wish i could have captured it all in a picture, but didn't have my camera and i'm sure it wouldn't have turned in. feeling centered, coming close to inner peace and knowing that if i waited any longer my legs were going to stiffen up and starting the run back up would be miserable, i got back into the run, finished up the playlist and headed towards the exit to leave the park. got to my gate, and it, of course, was locked with a gigantic bolt. starting running the parameter. next gate locked. and the next. i was genuinely trying to determine if i could hop the 8-foot spiked fences and then i realized i needed a new plan b now that my emergency action plan (run like hell home) was completely compromised. in search of an exit, i was forced off the central lighted paths onto the very very dark ones, but i will say that there is nothing like a dose of fear to motivate you at the hour mark of your run. kept going and going around the park until, finally, on the other side i found a police man who led me out and i made it home half and hour late.

recent highlights (i'm sure i'll forget a bunch, but we'll see what i come up with):

my former professor and good friend esther came to visit. she's originally from cuba and has a ton of other exiled friends who are here in spain, so i spent the weekend getting to know more cubans than i had ever met in my life, but it was a very fun group. my friend jacob who is teaching english in san sebastian (in the basque country) came down for the weekend as well so it was pretty exciting. lots and lots of eating, moving from one place to another for breakfast/lunch/tapas/coffee/a drink/dinner or whatever excuse we could make for the given time. it was a good deal.

the film festival that i went to with marcela was fun. i'd say i saw 1 great movie, 1 good movie, and one horrible movie. the last one being a french film "homme au bain". after bearing as much of it as i possibly could, i turned over to marcela, asked her if she was enjoying it, responded that i wasn't either and we left. unfortunately, it had a bunch of silent moments where the main character was filming and the viewer sees through his camera, so of course once we got up one of those started. the good one was about the bahamas and the gays who are simply trying to live their life and the religious groups that fight against the supposed destruction of their society and all the horrible things god will do... you know the story i'm sure. it was very poignant and especially interesting to me because i have a friend who is from jamaica and lives that same story. being a low budget indy film though, the acting wasn't superb, but not so bad that the story couldn't come across. my favorite movie was called violet tendencies. from the us. it's about this woman who is "the oldest fag hag" in new york city and her attempts to finally someone who loves her in a romantic way. very funny and cute.

started a new class. it's 2 credits while my other one's are 6, so it only goes for 5 weeks instead of the regular 16. it's international action against terrorism in the law department. i love it. it's really interesting so far. we've been talking about who's a terrorist, why there isn't an internationally accepted definition (mainly because islamic countries want to consider the palestinian forces as legitimate as any military and apply the same international laws instead of terrorist ones where as the west doesn't, although that simplifies it all). we'll see how it goes.

although it's becoming less and less a highlight, i've been tutoring marcela's cousin lucas in english. he can be super cute and provides a bunch of good stories, but really really struggles (or that would imply that he tries) to focus on studying english with me, so it can be really hard. the more comfortable he gets with me, the less he seems to respect me, as formality goes out the window and he just figures he can be more honest. at one point during the lesson, he ran upstairs and i eventually found him behind the curtian in his sister's room. as long as i lower my standards, it can be fun, but since i'm getting paid to teach him english, i get frustrated sometimes because i feel like i'm not fulfilling my duties... but his parent's obviously know how difficult it is. i am probably making him sound like a monster, which he isn't. it's just him being 7. there are definitely adorable moments, like a few weeks ago i came and he was intent that since he knew that his teacher had sent an e-mail to someone, that it must have gone to me, in the small world perception of kids where since i am another adult that lucas knows, i must be receiving the e-mails. he seemed disappointed and perhaps a little confused that i hadn't received an e-mail. sometimes we just give up at the 45 minute mark when he can't stand any more and play legos or with playmobile.

work is going well. feeling really integrated there and overall doing interesting things, but someone has to do the really boring things and that someone turns out to be me. but we just updated the accounting for the 3rd trimester and i ended up doing the majority of the accounts, so that was fun. the boss said that she wanted to hire me to do the accounting, i kind of laughed thinking she was joking because they get me for free, and then she seemed disappointed like i had rejected the offer in one of those unfortunate linguistic exchanges that just don't quite turn out like i hoped they would. i try to pull english day on thursday mornings, which usually turns into them giving me a few phrases and then we discuss the english in spanish, but that's still fun.

registered for classes today. i was somehow gifted senior feb status (for those who don't know, febs at midd start in february, hence the name, and are therefore a half class behind, so i registered with the febs a year up). i will have 26 credits in february, but was placed into the 27-30.99 group. i had figured that all the language schools had gotten it and the group was really 26-30.99 but that apparently wasn't the case. amanda and i concluded that they must know how much registration means to me and let me have it (i obsess about registration and know the catalog with way to much intimacy). ended up getting the 4 i went for. so i'll have religion and american politics (a 2 for 1 on my final general requirements, philosophy and north america), urban economics, sex and gender in france (my french class), and stochastic processes (a really nerdy math class). thinking about doing the unspeakable and adding a fifth (game theory 1), but we'll see if i still feel that way in february.

went to rocky horror picture show over halloween. loved it. those events where everyone is ridiculous together really warm my heart. plus i loved the combination of watching an american movie with subtitles and then yelling things at the screen in spanish. brad is a gilipollas and jane is a puta and you must replace their names with those words every time. it was a blast.

i'm going to leave it here because i know how intimidating extraordinarily long blog posts are, and i fear that i've already past my own personal limit (i don't usually read blog posts that are gigantic. there really isn't a good reason, but i just avoid them), and i can't really expect you to read something that i wouldn't do. i should really stop writing before i get into a discussion about blog post lengths.

big big hugs from spain.

love,
j

I unfortunately start every post with a feeling of guilt for not having written in a long time. My last post was 3 weeks ago, which is the longest I've gone without posting, but instead of apologizing, I am simply going to redefine my expectations of how frequently I post, decide that once every couple of weeks is sufficient and go from there. :)

The last few weeks have been good. Fall is here. I love the cool weather, and seeing the changes in the leaves when I run through Retiro Park (my one contact with nature in the big city). I have gotten into a rhythm here in Spain with my classes, work and the like. I got Oct 11 and 12th off. The 12th was The Feast of Saint Pillar/Fiesta de la Hispanidad (Hispanicity?). It's a day of Hispanic heritage in Latin America and Spain. Monday was "puente" or a floating holiday, but also Columbus Day. It's funny for me that it exists here, too (obviously, but just to have the same holiday as in the US). Took the weekend to catch up on rest, go out with my friends, and take a day-trip to Toledo.

Toledo was really pretty. I went with my friend Edwin from Midd and a few Spanish friends of his. It's just a 45-minute or so bus ride from Madrid, so it was a perfect day trip. The center is an old, walled town on a hill. It was the capital from the time of the Visigoths in post-Roman Spain until the Moors invaded and then again with the Spanish until they moved the court to Valladolid in the 16th century for a bit before it moved to Madrid. It has a long history of coexistence between the Jews, Christians and Muslims, and then when the Spanish reconquered the city, instead of pillaging the Moors, they just kind of continued with the mix that they had. I guess in Toledo the coexistence allowed them to do a lot of translations from Arabic of the "lost knowledge" from the Greeks and Romans. Toledo, as a result of the mixed religions, has a big synagogue, a few churches including a ridiculously ornate and amazing cathedral, and a mosque. We entered in the synagogue which simple but pretty. They had a nice art exhibit of Christian and Jewish works. The mosque was partly under construction and not very large, so we decided to pass it up. And then cathedral is the big attraction. It's a mammoth, impressive display of the Church's wealth, or at least that's how I saw it. It's now part church and part museum because they've created displays of a ton of art, robes, jewels, artifacts from the 16th century and such. It was fun to see all of the pieces of its history reconstructed and preserved. But honestly, ever part of that cathedral is decorated. It's a bit ridiculous at points, but for the most part tasteful. The have a room with portraits of all of the archbishops of Toledo going back to the Middle Ages and before that I liked a lot. And then in the jewels, they have this gigantic, gold I-don't-know-what that is just gaudy, of course, but is distinct in that it was made from the first pieces of gold brought back from the New World. Overall, the cathedral shows off the grandeur of Spain in that age. The rest of the city is a bit touristy (they seriously have a knife shop every block, just in case you want to relive the era with actual weapons... or buy one of the random samurai swords that they also sell), but the narrow streets and the old architecture make it precious. Every once in a while you run into something, like the gate that I have a photo of, which is original and like 1500 years old. We climbed into the fortress to take some pictures from above, which I'll post on Facebook with the rest of the one's I took that day as well.

I think the only other big change is that I started taking some dance classes with my friend Darryl. We enrolled in a ballet one and a hip hop one, neither of which I have ever done before, but it's been a lot of fun so far. My ballet teacher is hard but honest. If we do something poorly, she won't hesitate in telling us so, but it's done in a supportive way. My hip hop teacher is young and his choreography is a lot of fun. It's fun to go between the two because in ballet it's so exact and then in hip hop, he'll tell us to stop looking like we can dance ballet and just do it relaxed. I think after watching the girls dance for so many years, I've wanted to try it myself, and so I'm finally doing that.

Other than that, I've been taking my classes. Just finished reading El Jugador (The Gambler) by Dostoievski (how we spell this name in Spanish) and the Coloquio de los perros by Cervantes for my lit class. They go surprisingly well. Cervantes is a bit more difficult because it's so old, but I can just sit down and read it, which is a cool feeling. My flatmate always comments on my books and tells me that most Spaniards have never read what I've been reading. It's such an ironic combination that I can read the great works of literature, but then sometimes I flounder in daily conversation. Econ is going well. Learning a lot about Spanish economic history (as one would expect from the course title) but also just about economic history in general and how it's studied. The professor is a strict, hard-line jerk to be honest (for example, last week, 5 weeks into the class, he said that some students write so poorly that they should just drop the course right then because there is no way that they'll pass. Although it may be true, he just goes about it in the wrong way). Nevertheless, he does know his stuff (nearly every week we have an article of his and then everyone else cites his work), so it works out. Lately he's been throwing jokes into his lectures, so maybe he'll turn out to be nicer than he seemed at the beginning, but we'll see. My grammar class is mostly boring. The professor is great and vibrant and fun, but the material is really basic for me since we have such varied levels. The directors of my program initially suggested that I not take the class and instead do one with the Spaniards in the university, but then they eventually decided that I might as well just take the one with my peers to be more included in the program. Not sure what would have been the better choice, but I guess I'll just take it as a reinforcing review.

Work is going well. I'm currently writing this blog entry at work, which goes to show that I don't always have things to do, but for the most part, I've been doing much more interesting and productive things recently. I'm doing a lot of accounting and the like for the various projects that Fundeso has abroad, so it's a lot of excel spreadsheets and accounting programs, entering numbers and moving money through the banks. Lots of patterns and making things balance, both of which my analytic mind enjoys. The main advantage of the job is that I work with great people. Last week I saw co-worker play in his band. They call themselves Billy Bob Dillon and pride themselves on being the most bearded group in Spain (he's Basque, which with common stereotypes here in Spain, perfectly explains the beard.) Last Thursday we had our first "English day" in the finance department, where we attempted to speak in English as a group, but they usually would say a phrase and then talk about what they just said in Spanish. They're all in English classes, but as for all language students, there's some hesitancy to put it into practice, especially when you're with someone who speaks your language better than you speak his or hers. It was fun though.

I've been feeling more homesick lately, a little bored with the routine here in Madrid, and fed up with some drama that is going around my friends, so I've decided that I need to travel somewhere and get my mind off of things. Planning on heading up to San Sebastian in the Basque country next weekend to visit a friend and am excited about that. This weekend is obviously Halloween back home, which isn't much of a holiday here, but a few of the clubs are throwing costume parties, so I think we'll be celebrating that. Then Monday is a national holiday for All Saints Day. Looking forward to another long weekend.

Hope all is well with you guys back home or in whatever country you find yourself. Big hugs.

Chugging along

Realizing that I never fulfilled the promise to post pictures. In the process right now of uploading everything I have to Facebook, but to really show you guys parts of my life here in Spain, I'm going to have to take the pictures, so I'll get on that as well. For those of you who are so inclined, a glance at recent photos with me tagged should give the run-down on what's been happening.

Life here in Spain is continuing well. My weeks are becoming variations on the same theme, but it's still very enjoyable. Last week was my first at my internship. The people there are awesome, even if the work side of it is starting slow. They haven't really gotten used to giving me work (or had the opportunity to plan for it) so a lot of my time there in the first few days was completely unproductive. They're going through some changes in personnel and what not and had a big deadline Wednesday when I was there so I think that things should start to improve. I do the typical intern things: enter data, archive, make sure that long excel spreadsheets are correct. Look forward to the day that I have a job that actually requires an education. But complain as I might, I really enjoy the conversations I have with my co-workers and the environment there, so it's all good.

My weeks are usually a big push to make it through Tuesday. I have a paper due every Tuesday for Economic Progress of Spain, and it always ends up that I'm doing it in the middle of the night Monday/Tuesday morning and then trying to finish it between classes. What a mess. This week, I at least had started the articles prior, but still haven't learned. On top of it all, our professor tells us weekly that our papers (everyone's in the class) are horrible and it pains him to read them. He, however, has never given us more constructive feedback than that nor has he returned our papers with comments. One of my American friends in the class was worried about the situation (the professor is unnecessarily rough sometimes, he told us that there are 3 kids in the class that he needs to talk with Thursday because they absolutely cannot write and should immediately drop the class... in week 5), so she decided to ask him about it, and for what he could remember, our papers were well done. Apparently in Spain, they never really teach students to write an essay. (Period). I still can't really fathom this fact, but they stress the importance of writing, and while Spanish students will out perform Americans in math/science in high school, they just really don't write. My professor was saying after class how thank god he sends his kids to British/American schools abroad so that they learn it well. It's interesting.

Last weekend was perhaps enjoyed a little too much (I ended up with a cold, which was only exasperated by getting 4:30 hours of sleep last night). We went out Thursday-Sunday, with Sunday being a special exception. Gran Vía, one of the main, central Madrid streets turns 100 this year, and they have therefore, in good Spanish fashion, decided to celebrate all year. They closed the street between two big plazas and had a stage with live music in both. We heard a bunch of local Madrid groups and then as it was sponsored by the top 40 radio station here, had a gigantic outdoor, under the rain dance-party. There were thousands of people and it was a lot of fun. Along with the White Party, it makes the 2nd street party that I've been to so far here in Madrid, and they've both been memorable.

Next Tuesday is a holiday. The Feast of Patron Saint Pillar. And since it falls on Tuesday, I get Monday off as well. Couldn't be more excited. Primarily because that means no econ paper and therefore the complete lack of hump day. I've been debating running off to see some Spanish city (Sevilla?), but am thinking that I might just hang around here. Perhaps a bit of hiking outside the city with a friend, a day exploring the Prado or La Reina Sofia (two big art museums), getting ahead on my reading for my literature class, and enjoying the weekend in Madrid like we always do.

Fall is starting to come to Madrid and I am just constantly thinking of Minnesota and Middlebury. Something about fall triggers a ton of memories for me. Suffice it to say that I miss you all lots, and while I'm doing my best to keep my mind centered here in Spain, a big part of my heart is back in the US of A.

I'm off to upload the pictures. I have virtually none of Madrid I'm just realizing, but my friends have done a good job of taking and posting them. Never put up Berlin or Amsterdam photos, so that'll happen now.

Besos.

One month in

Whoops. When you wait 10 days to post again, the day-by-day commentary becomes increasingly difficult, as I really just can't remember what I've been up to. But here's an effort:

The last time I posted was Sept. 15, the Wednesday before I went to Amsterdam. I suppose that's no so long ago. Amsterdam. I had a wonderful weekend with my sister and mom. What a gift that they were both in Europe. Having had Bri around for such a long time definitely eased the transition to European living so it was hard to believe when leaving Amsterdam that I wasn't going to see her again until Christmas (if she can come) or February. I had definitely gotten used to seeing her every couple days. I feel like there are always little things that make living in Europe or being away from home seem really real. I am blanking on the handful of other times that I have this sensation (I'm telling a good story here, right?) but what I'm getting at is that traveling from Spain to Amsterdam and coming "home" to Madrid. I've been living here for a month now, but it was leaving Madrid that made it feel like home.

Back to the trip. Got to Amsterdam at like 5 or so on Friday after my flight was delayed. Took the train into central Amsterdam and walked over to the hotel. After I found out that my phone doesn't work in the Netherlands like I had expected and that the hotel was going to charge me 12 euros to use their wi-fi (which I wasn't going to pay), I decided to hit the streets in search of a café so that I could connect to the internet and touch in with mom and Bri who were supposed to land later that night. Everywhere I looked there were "coffeehouses," but the cafés with wifi were no where to be found. Ha. Eventually I just plopped myself down in the lobby with Hamlet (my class reading en español) and waited until the arrived. Had a nice dinner and crashed in our 3-stars-would-be-generous hotel (later Brianna would revisit the travel sites and see commentary about a former mouse infestation). Saturday was not our day. We started off with a canal tour which was nice. Then we excitedly headed over to the Anne Frank house only to find out that it was closed for Yom Kippur, then stopped by a church to go up in their tower. They only had 1 spot left that day, which the lady offered to us in case we wanted to pick one of us to experience it while the others waited below. Grabbed a quick late afternoon lunch and headed over to the shopping street around 5... and the stores closed at 6. We essentially did nothing, but hey, we were there to spend time with each other (at that we succeeded) so we were still content. Sunday we succeeded in taking a tour of Anne Frank's house. It was emotional, especially connecting it with Dachau from a few weeks ago, and I couldn't help but think that all the millions of people that were sent to the concentration camps would have had a story equally moving. There was a quote on the back of the guide pamphlet that says (translating from Spanish): "Anne Frank alone moves us more than the innumerable people that suffered as much as her, but their images remain in shade. And maybe that's how it has to be: if we could share the suffering of all, we couldn't keep living." It was quite apt. I about lost it as we were walking through the house and reading the quotes that they have posted about her diary. There was one where she said (again I have to translate from my Spanish pamphlet): "For a long time I've known that my biggest dream is to be a journalist and later a famous writer. No matter what, when the war ends, I would like to publish a book called 'The Annex.'" For me, just conflicting emotions of being so happy that amidst all the tragedy that at least her dream was realized and the sadness that she never got to experience her fame because I'm sure that if she had survived she would have achieved her goal.

After waiting in the long, Anne-Frank-house line, we didn't really have time to get over to the art museums (next time), so we just wandered a bit through the shops again, got an early dinner and I headed home, finishing my Hamlet reading on the way back.

Last week was a lot of just getting into the groove of life here. I'm getting used to cooking regularly for myself (made a nice Thai-style curry tonight and feeling super culinary), getting into my classes, and the like. I had my interview for my internship on Friday. It was funny: the first guy I talked to (the director of volunteering and what-not) was saying that after the process, he and the director would discuss my qualifications and such and let me know. After I talked with him, I talked with the director, who then introduced me to the group as their new intern. Overruled. Ha. So I'll be working at Funeso which is an international economic development NGO based out of Spain. They do work in Latin America, Africa and Asia. I'll do a lot of the regular intern things, but hopefully it will be good. I have my first day tomorrow, so we'll see how it is.

The weekend was a blast. Really enjoying the group of Midd kids that we have here and incorporating some wonderful Spaniards. We had a big dinner party on Friday to celebrate my friend's birthday and I helped my friend Darryl, at whose house we had the dinner, cook and prepare for it all. That was a blast. We always seem to find places that want to give us free shots/drinks for coming to their bar, so we headed out and did that. Very nice. Saturday I slept in, hung out (should have done work, I'm now wishing) and then we celebrated the b-day again (gotta make a weekend out of it) with a great Italian dinner, more free drinks (don't know how this is profitable for them but I won't complain), and I ended up with some sangria with Darryl in the plaza in Chueca. Today I had a brunch filled with great conversation, did a bit of my 16th century Spanish reading, made the dinner, talked with some friends and family on Skype, and here I am.

Madrid has been good to me. Loving it so far and looking forward to getting to know it better in the next few months. I'll try to do a better job of updating regularly so that I don't have to do a sweeping overview of things that happened long ago and can dive into more of the fun anecdotes, but for now, I should read a few more poems and hit the hay (ha, I also am loving saying idioms in English because I know so few in Spanish. I can say a lot of things in Spanish, but not with the character that I can do in English).

So that's that. Pues nada.

Buenas noches (although it's 5 pm for most of you, it's midnight for me).

Besotes desde España

Starting from where I left off last time:

Tuesday I had my great day of classes. Got up early, made my way over to Getafe in time. Checked my piece of paper that reminded me to go to 6.1.05 (6th building, 1st floor, room 5). Found the room easily, sat down and waited. There were other kids there but the professor hadn't come. Eventually it got a bit past the start time of the class. I started a conversation with the kid next to me, who was very nice, and subsequently found out that I was in the wrong place. Ran over to the library to check it out and found out that I was supposed to be in 6.1.05B (the room next door) but by the time I made it back there, it was 20 minutes into class, and already being a foreigner, I didn't want to just drop in while the professor was talking. It makes me think of Mean Girls... I'll never know what I missed on that first day of Game Theory.

I successfully made it to my next 3 classes, plus an additional one that I attended with some friends. I went to Literary Movements, Modern History of Spain, Regional and Urban Economics and Economic Progress of Spain. I really liked the professor for my literature class (and continue to like her as I stayed in that one and Economic Progress of Spain). It totally reminds me of an AP English class, just in Spanish. Right now we're reading a book of Golden Age poetry (16th century), and goodness, it has obscure words and grammar. I'm slowing figuring it out, but there are a lot of differences. I feel consoled when I look up a word and it's not even in my favorite online English-Spanish dictionary because then I don't feel like I should have known it. Turns out "modern" history of Spain means 16-19th centuries. What we would call modern history is "contemporary" here. So that was a bummer. In the first minutes, the professor acknowledged that in English we use modern for contemporary and that it might have been confusing to us. At that point, I asked myself if I could leave right then and there, but feeling that that would be inappropriate, I stuck around for what was then a 90 minute lecture on Spanish archives. He spent the whole time telling us where they were, what was in them, and the like, which would have been interesting in an abbreviated version, but wow. Urban and Regional Economics was interesting. It's all about land use and pricing and how to make the best use of everything while keeping green space and local laws and everything in mind, but since I'm here in Spain I figured it would be best to take something I can't take at home and save Urban Economics for Midd. Still don't know exactly what Economic Progress of Spain will be like because we haven't had our first official lecture. So far we've just talked about the class itself, but it should be good. I have that with two good friends of mine here, so that was good.

The first day of classes, I didn't really meet any Spaniards but now I am starting to get to know the kids in my classes so that makes it a lot more interesting. I think once we get into the swing of things, it's going to be a really great experience.

Wednesday last week I had my oral proficiency exam. I think it overall went really well (I just got an e-mail from my school saying they want me to take the Spanish Language class at Getafe instead of theirs. It's a class in the first year of the Humanities major so it'd be super legit... the only problem is that Midd waited so long to tell me so I've now missed two weeks of that class.) Anyways, it was fun. It was just like a 30 minute conversation with a professor, but sometimes my difficulty answering a question was in no way linguistic. The last question she asked me was "In a democratic society, if no one voted, what would happen?" Think about it.

Thursday we had to do this obligatory tour. Middlebury, for whatever reason, makes the cultural events obligatory. (For example, I'm missing the group trip to Segovia this weekend, and they told me that I have to go back, alone, and do all the same activities they do.) The tour was horrible. She took us to some really beautiful sights, but she had this weird mix between dumbing it down and having huge expectations. She talked really slowly and constantly made sure we understood, but then would ask us about specific events in Spanish history that clearly we don't know. The descriptions were just too general to be interesting. In terms of her mini-quizzes, at one point she asked us for writers from the Golden Age (Siglo de Oro). I said Gracilaso de la Vega and someone else piped in with Miguel de Cervantes, who are two major Spanish writers. She then goes, "No, come on, some really famous ones." I added Boscán, and she told me it was a work of literature, not a writer (He's a writer, I've been reading his poetry). It was uncomfortable.

Bri came back to Madrid Friday. We got dinner and then went over to my friend's birthday party for a bit. Eventually called it an early night to save up for Saturday... Saturday was crazy. It was the Night in White (la noche en blanco). It's this night where Madrid turns into a big city-wide fair. Grand Vía, which is usually filled with traffic, is filled with people. There are slides in the middle of the street, kids doing skateboard races. We saw a woman dancing hanging from the side of a building in this acrobatic rope thing. That was pretty cool. There's just stuff everywhere... and all this is happening at 2 am. We started off with a dinner party at my roommates' friend's apartment. It was really fun. Everyone brought a little something to share. The group was exceptional: 2 Spaniards (one of which was Basque), a German, a Brazilian, an Englishman, a Dutchwoman, an American, and Bri and I. The German and the Brazilian speak Portuguese at home (we were at their apartment), as do the Dutchwoman and the American, who met in Brazil. It was so amazingly international. Very good company. We left for the club just before 2 and then stayed there until 6. My 35-40 year old roommates had just gotten home a bit before Bri and I when we walked in at 6/630 am, and on the way home the streets were still busy. About the amount of people you'd see at 10 at home in Minneapolis.

Obviously, the party scene here is quite different than home, and I think it's going to be really weird to come back to the US, be 21 and go to the bars for the first time, and then have everything close at 2 since I'm only used to going out here and things start then. On Friday, for example, I was walking to the train station at 830 and the bar on the corner near my place was full of people, drinking beer, who hadn't yet gone home. Javi, my roommate, told me that things have quieted down a lot, and that it used to be normal for someone to leave their house of Thursday and not come home until Monday afternoon, going out every night. (Those guys, though, he added, use a fair amount of cocaine). Don't worry. I certainly don't take it there, but it's an interesting perspective.

Sunday we slept in and then went to Rock the Ballet starring the Bad Boys of Dance. Bri and I had seen this advertisements all around Berlin with these amazing dancers but upon approaching the pictures, we very disappointedly found out that they had left Berlin a day or two before we arrived. But they just moved into Madrid, so it all came full circle and we were able to go. It was a lot of fun, lots of Michael Jackson, Queen, U2 mixed in with classically trained dancers. The styles were at times a little conflicting, but overall it was very well done. They were super talented with some very impressive moves. The main dancer is 29, choreographed the show, and apparently has taken the dance world by storm.

Then my MOM came Monday. Quite the influx of Mooty's here in Madrid. She was obviously exhausted from the traveling, but we made it over to San Miguel Market, which is this old iron-roofed building (built at the time of the Eiffel Tower when iron was so in) that has been renovated into an upscale wine/cheese/appetizer place. Had a nice dinner. Bri, feeling adventurous, blindly ordered some fish that we didn't know. Turned out to be these aquatic worms, so you all know how she received that. They were interesting. If you closed your eyes, they tasted all right, but looking at the bowl, I more than half expected them to start squirming around.

Bri and mom went off to Barcelona yesterday. I'm here in Madrid taking my classes and hanging out. Off to Amsterdam to see them Friday and spend the weekend there.

Much love from Spain.

Besotes.