Capítulo Quince: Picture Perfect (In Your Eyes)

As promised, here are a bunch of pictures from this weekend's trip.

I think I'm getting better at this picture thing, eh?

La Catedral de Santa Maria de Burgos; las puertas de la catedral

Stained glass window; gold and figurines

The ceiling in one of the rooms (notice the star shape and the statues); on the bus on the way to La Rioja

Another bus shot (still pretty); grape field

Las Uvas (grapes); me in La Rioja

You can't see it, but the vines are twisted together; me squirtin' down some wine

Robby, me, and Trinity -- we're pretty much the Three Musketeers; vinyard

Wine bottles in the basement; you had to cork your own bottle to earn your prize

"I am invincible!" (name that movie); los molinos (windmills)

Outside of Vino Villa Lucia -- it reminds of Pan's Labyrinth, only not as creepy; me and the grape fairy?

Vino Villa Lucia; this is where they store the wine

The doors of some random church; las puertas de La Santa Maria de los Reyes

The inside of Santa Maria; landscape shot from the overlook (I probably took like fifteen shots of this)

Sun setting over las montanas; me with the land beyond

Sun setting over northern Spain; small group picture with the sunset in the back (picture courtesy of Jen)

Myself and the sunset; Trinity and I ready for Kayacs

Capítulo Catorce: There's Beauty in the Breakdown

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all."
- Helen Keller

Alas, I have returned from my weekend excursion to La Rioja, which is one fo the most famous wine fields/companies in the northern part of Spain. I actually got back fairly early Sunday night, but have had homework to catch up and no stamina to write. But now I have some time, so gather 'round the campfire (or the computer screen) so I can tell you my tales, because this really was a great weekend.

We met up in Atocha on Friday, where the coach bus would pick us up and drive four hours to Labastida. I realized earlier that morning, as a result of going out on Thursday night, I had once again lost my voice. I was feeling fine, but I guess I'd been shouting more than I'd expected. My voice was very cracky and softer than usual, and it would proceed to be like that the entire weekend, and on Monday as well. Still, this didn't stop me from enjoying myself.

After we all got on the bus, we began our long trip north. They threw in una pelicula se llama "Juana, La Loca," a Spanish movie I'd obviously never seen before. Well, let's be honest: even now, I'm still yet to see this movie: I fell asleep probably twenty minutes in. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, so I was pretty tired. When I woke up, though, the landscape had changed quite a bit: it'd gone from long, sometimes tall city buildings to stretched out lands of hills, and then the mountains eventually came into sight. I'm sure many people have seen a mountain range before, or mountains in the background of somewhere (I myself have been to the Smokies in Tennessee), but these were gorgeous -- they matched the greener, hilly landscape so well. I think quite a few of us spent much of the weekend admiring them. Shamefully, I can't remember their names.

We took a two hour detour or so and took a tour at El Catedral de Santa Maria de Burgos. Back then, cathedrals took several generations of people to build, and the amount of art and architecture put into them seems so unreal -- you wonder how the builders were able to do that statue, or make that carving, etc. This one itself took 544 years to create. Now, I've studied cathedrals before -- they've always fascinated me -- and I've seen plenty of pictures of them, but seeing one and entering the inside of one was just...amazing. Completely unbelievably beautiful. You could tell right at the Cathedral's front doors that it was something special. The builders captured some of the smallest of details in their work, like the statues, the carvings, the figurines. I mean, you could see why it took so long to build. The entire layout itself is just astounding, and it's huge! The religious symbols scattered about were really amazing -- shows you just how much religion influenced society. Like El Palacio Real de Aranjuez, it's really hard to put into words how beautiful this building really was. I'm so glad that I got to see this. The art in Spain continues to just blow me away. And getting to see a European cathedral makes me a very happy panda.

After the tour, we got back on the bus until we finally made it to the hostal we were staying at in Labastida. We got all of our stuff into our rooms, and then we went out to eat (it was a really late dinner and we were all starving). We went to a very Spanish restaurante called Bar El Bodegon. The service was pretty much the same as the other restaurants we'd went to during orientation week, but the feel was a bit different. Since we weren't in a populated city, it had a much more calmer feel to it, and it wasn't busy at all. Also worth noting is that the restaurante, like many of the other buildings in this small city, were made of stone, with a little bit of gridiron. In a way, they were kind of like castles. This type of structure is a bit different than Madrid. As far as the food goes, delicious. There was this really interesting chorizo that apparently was soaked in a blood sauce. Not going to lie: it looked and sounded disgusting, but it was actually quite tasty. The fact that it was stuffed with rice also helped it. Main meal (escoloton) was good, and dessert was also nice. After dinner, we were all pretty tired, and Trinity and I, who were reunited roommates again, pretty much collapsed after we got back to the hostal.

The next day, we woke up early, had a small breakfast, then got back on the bus to go to La Rioja. On the way, we passed more gorgeous scenery, with mountains and farm crops all around. Sounds like una viaje tranquila, but I don't know how many times I felt like that giant bus was going to tilt over from the curvy roads, or stay a little too far to the right or left and start rolling down a hill. I had a window seat, so looking out the window and seeing how close we were to a slope was slightly frightening (okay, very frightening). Thankfully, we made it there in one piece.

We met atop a tall hill, where as usual, the mountains stood beyond us, in the background, as if they were taunting us with their beauty. We ignored them for the time being and followed our tour guide down the rocky road to explore the vinyards. It was absurd -- grapes, grapes everywhere! It was ridiculous how much of this stuff they grew! It was kind of neat to see some of the plants the grapes grew on though. One bush actually, grows in two parts, and eventually the two parts meet by wrapping around each other. There were also small trees full of them. I enjoyed seeing this, but I don't think anyone had as much of a field day as Trinity did. In fact, she went around, taking pictures of the grapes, then not-so-accidentally eating them. I'll admit: they were delicious (we got to try some later). After we looked at the fields for a little bit, we went back to the beginning part of the road (where we started) and had a small snack. The tour guide gave us pan y chorizo (bread and sausage) and of course, some wine. Here's the tricky part: you had to squirt the wine in your mouth, holding the top and then squeezing the bottom. I was so afraid that I was going to epic fail this, but I ended up not spilling on myself! The wine wasn't terrible tasting either.

Once we finished our snacks (and for some of us, our photo shoots), we headed down the hill and to the small hut where the wine is made. First of all, the tour guide let us in another small field of grapes, where we got to pick some grapes, try some, and then see what their juice's level of alcohol would be. Afterwards, we headed in the house, which seriously reminded me of a disturbing horror film, especially the underground parts which were a bit dark red/purple from the grape juice. Anyway, we got to see where the wine was made, and then we got to test some wine ourselves. There were two: one labeled 2007, another labeled 2008. I don't like wine as it is, but 2008 was extremely bitter, and I did not like it one bit. I don't even know how I finished that small glass. 2007 was significantly better, as it was a tiny bit more sweet and smoother. We all got to pick which one we liked better, and then she'd pour us some from the big keg into the bottles. Then we got to keep one bottle of wine for ourselves...but only after we corked our own bottle. There was this ancient machine in the basement which we had to use before that, and it required a bit of strength to get it to work. I'm so thankful for all that weight lifting this summer now! Haha, but in any case, the wine was a very nice surprise.

We headed to a small town called Fuenmayor after La Rioja, where we got to walk around a little bit and eat lunch on our own. The atmosphere was so much different here than what it is in Madrid. It's a lot smaller, therefore having a community-like feeling, and the people here are much nicer. Madrid's got some good people, too, of course, but these people were genuinely friendly. We were trying to find a small place that just had tapaz (we weren't that hungry), and a group in a pasteleria kindly pointed us in the right direction. This is the famous hospitality of Spain. Seriously. Spain's known for its nice people, and this town showed us just why that was. It was nice to go somewhere where the people were so amigable and there weren't an abundance of people around.

Afterwards, we went to El Centro Tematico del Vino Villa Lucia, another wine place (this is mainly where they place the bottles and ship 'em out). I personally didn't find this as cool as going into the grape fields, but it was very informative. I kind of feel like a wine expert now, even though I actually don't like wine...heh. I can't think of what the place reminded me of. Some sort of fake yet pretty exotic display? Kind of like Rainforest Cafe maybe, only better. And with wine.

We left Villa Lucia and then went to Laguardia, which was an old fort with a small town in it. It's been through lots of battles (and in some ways, you can tell), but it still stands. It reminded me a lot of a castle, or an old beaten-down kingdom, which was really cool and was really pretty from the outside. There, we were seeing Santa Maria de los Reyes (otra iglesia). It was another church, much smaller than the cathedral we saw. Obviously, it paled in comparison to El Catedral de Burgos, but it was still gorgeous, especially for its significantly smaller size. The outside door, with all the little figurines and statues and carvings, were pretty spectacular, and the only room (the main room) that we got to see had a peaceful feel to it, along with some gorgeous figurines itself.

We had some free time after that small visit, so we kind of split up into a few groups and walked around. The place was small, so it wasn't too hard to navigate. The group of folk I was with went to the Overlook, where you could look over much of Spain and see the beautiful landscape. I don't regret that for a minute. The sun was setting over the hilly crop areas of northern Spain, and at times it was so breath taking. Mountains, green grass, fresh crops, hills, I don't think the scenery could have gotten any more beautiful. And of course, I took tons of pictures, probably too many for my own good (pretty much finished off my camera battery), but still, definitely worth it. After walking around, we found a nice small bar for dinner.

Sunday was our last day. I got my first kayac experience en El Rio Ebno (one of the most important rivers in Spain)! Myself and many others hadn't ever done it before, so there were some people who were quite nervous about trying it for the first time. But it was actually quite nice. The temperature was just right with no wind, the water was warm (and green...but that's beside the point), and the scenery was nice (oh, and lots of platos (ducks)). I found it much more fun cuando el rio was moving faster -- it added an element of excitement. I'd say we were all successful since none of us tipped over. In fact, there was one part in which the guy was telling us that roughly 65% of the people flip over because of the pace and direction which the current was taking you. I found it not to be that difficult -- it was just a matter of timing. Anyway, we kayac-ed down the river for a couple of hours (a few people decided to stay dry). I actually broke a sweat for the last bit of it -- we were going opposite the current, and at that point, we were all tired and hungry. Still, gave my arms a nice workout, especially since I haven't done that at all since coming here...I'm going to have to do some serious training when I get back.

After the kayacs, we found a nearby park and had a picnic lunch. Sandwiches were made, and plenty of other food (like fruit and, torta, y honey-fried peanuts) was there as well. And of course, wine, though I think lots of us stuck to water. This was a nice way to wrap up the trip. Actually, the original plan had us returning much later, like around midnight, but none of us wanted to stay that late due to homework and class the next day, so we ended up getting back much earlier, like around 9:30. I also ended up giving my bottle of wine to mi anfitriona. It would be silly of me to keep the wine when I probably won't drink it, and since she loves Rioja wine. She really liked it, too.

In not so few words, that pretty much sums up my weekend trip. I had a great time despite practically having no voice for it. I saw some incredible things, and I tried some new things. Most importantly, though, I got to experience another part of Spain, the non-city part. And I loved it. I thought it was a learning experience, too, not just learning about wine, but also getting a better idea of Spanish life. As stated, the feel out there was different than it is in Madrid, and while they share similar values in terms of culture, they're a group of different people out there and live differently according to their surroundings.

So I probably still have much to learn in Spain.

This post is much too long already, so I'm going to stop here. It's not letting me add pictures right now, so I will add them later in a separate post or something.

Hasta Luego!

~LSquared

Capítulo Trece: Reflections

"Oh sure, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it, or...learn from it!"
- Rafiki, The Lion King

I have nothing to update with, other than I obviously won't be here for the next few days because I'll be in La Rioja. So no updates until next week sometime. But given that I've been here for more or less a month (a month as of Friday or Saturday), I figured I'd reflect on some of my likes and dislikes of my time and life in Madrid thus far.

Likes:
- Art (and sight seeing). The entire city seems to be based around this, and that makes it one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen or been to. Pictures don't even tell half the story sometimes.
- Discotecas. So much fun. So many people and so much dancing. I never thought I'd enjoy something like this as much as I have.
- Night life. This gets its own separate category, because night life isn't limited to just discotecas, because there are bars, parties everywhere, futbol games, or you can just chill. It's diverse, what can I say? Seriously, US, you need to learn how to have a proper night life.
- Food. Okay, I like all foods pretty much, so this one might not be fair, but I've found some good stuff here, like um, CHURROS Y CHOCOLATE!
- The metro. I find it an extremely convenient mode of transportation. It's a lot like DC's.
- Siesta. It's every college student's dream. Do you know how much easier classes would be if we just got a short nap everyday?!
- Certain CIEE Orientation Events and Excursions. I liked all the restaurants we went to and a lot of the places we went to, like Aranjuez. They've been really nice places to see and get out. The other thing I really appreciated was how they taught us how to use the Metro system and taught us the lay of the land. Really, I don't think I would have learned to navigate this city as fast had they not helped us out with this.
- La Universidad Carlos III. I really like how small the campus is, and most people seem nice. Can't complain about classes or my schedule, either.
- Mi anfitriona. She's so sweet, and she cooks for me! And we've had some good conversations. She's helped me adjust, and didn't make the entire 'living with a host' thing awkward.
- The 'Personal' Spanish life. This is something I've noticed about Spaniards and is very different from US culture: Spaniards have a much more personal bond, especially in terms of family. Let me put it this way: The US is a very individualistic society; it's about your personal happiness, your personal success, your life (you can be anything you want to be). Spain isn't quite as enthusiastic about this -- they're about helping each other, particularly the people close to you. And I really respect that. I'm not saying that people in the US don't do or support this, nor am saying that I prefer this closer-bonding lifestyle over the individual US, but I do respect this way of living a lot.
- Friends. I've met some awesome people here, and we've had good times and conversations. Having Robby here has also been really nice.

Dislikes:
- Smoking. I hate smoking everywhere, but it is pretty bad here. Since I have asthma and allergies, me breathing in smoke is not so nice.
- Parts of the 'city life'. People wizzing in the street. Dog poop everywhere. Hundreds of people in a huge place that seems too small for that large of a population. Sewage smell. Yeah, these are just some of the reasons why I don't want to live in the city when I'm on my own.
- The USD to Euro Exchange rate. Ouch. I haven't withdrawn anything yet, but many people in my group have, and even before I came here, I got a bunch of Euros. Yeah. Ouch.
- CIEE's nasty habit of not telling us things we need/would like to know. There's a pretty long list of things that I wish they had told me, like certain expenses (phone, metro pass) and small pieces of information (classes), and there are some situations that they haven't handled very well. This program has been nice, but color me unimpressed with certain things.
- Cat Calling. Okay you know what? I'll be honest: I don't exactly dislike this. In fact, I find myself more often than not flattered when a man compliments my appearance; however, they will sometimes say some what I would consider to be inappropriate comments, or sometimes, they're just plain obnoxious, and that's when I just get really annoyed and aggravated with it.

I could probably think of more on both lists, but I think this is good enough for now. Also have to head out to Wine Country now! Hopin' to taste some of Spain's finest!

Hasta Luego.

~ LSquared

Capítulo Doce: Living is Easy with Eyes Closed, Misunderstanding all you see

"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions, but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."
- Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird

Not only do I have to adjust to three day weekends, but I now have to get used to not having classes on Tuesdays! However will I make it? Ha, I must seriously have the easiest college schedule in the world right now. It's ridiculous. It doesn't help que la mayoria de mis clases no son muy dificiles...I really hope I don't turn into a huge procrastinator.

I won't be without class every Tuesday, though, once mi minicurso empieza. I like the fact that the curso doesn't start until 4 or something like that, and it's only a few Tuesdays every month. That means I can sleep in, get something in my tummy, and then head to class late and still get back reasonably. So yeah, procrastination may still be a problem...

That being said, I've already mentioned how I'm excited for the first paper I have to write. Sad much? I really am looking forward to it, though, because I enjoy essays and writing more than multiple choice and exams. I think once I start writing papers constantly, as I did last semester, that's when the Spanish will definitely kick it into high gear -- I remember last semester how it became difficult to write papers in English because most of my essays had been in Spanish. That's how it's starting to get. Even writing this blog or emails or messages has been problematic at times, because I'm in the mind set of writing solely Spanish (all my notes are in Spanish, too...); my typos are frequent, and sometimes I'll go back and forth between English and Spanish unintentionally. But surely, this is a good thing.

On the topic of language, I really like my language course, which I know I've said already, but it's definitely my hardest yet most beneficial class. It's not only teaching me to correct errors, but it's also teaching me new frases, and also how to say things "fluently" (as in say things how an everyday person would say them). It seems so simple and yet tough at the same time, but that's what it's like learning a language I guess. Sometimes I feel like there's so little about this language that I actually know, and that everything that I've been taught has been in some ways wrong, or just not natural. They're not 'wrong' obviously, but I'm learning the language of a true Spaniard, and I'm really happy about that.

La Noche en Blanco I'd say was on the disappointing side. There were lots of different activities going on, like big screens of dances being taught to la gente, hundreds of balloons, bands playing all over (nothing "popular" though), and there were plenty of places open late, but none of it was really...spectacular, I guess. I thought the city would be lit up like a Christmas lights show, especially los jardines botanicos, but it was actually kind of lame. One might call it weird more than anything, because las luces de los jardines looked like IV bags from hospitals. As far as the rest of the city goes, there were some cool lighting effects, but, as said before, still nothing mind blowing. I still had a pretty good time, though; it was kind of like a nice chill walk in the evening. But good lord, la gente was ridiculous; there were so many people. I felt that my space was invaded even more that night than the nights we went to the discotecas. It was alright at first, but it got annoying after a while, especially when you had a really old and slow couple walking in front of you...

Next day we got to see una carrera de ciclismo (bicycle race). It wasn't a big tour or anything, but it was still really cool to see. I was really afraid that it was going to be like El Encierro de los Toros, where it all happened so fast that you didn't even get to see anything. Thankfully, however, that was not the case. I'm not entirely sure how the rules work, but I guess once the bikers got to a certain point, they had to take six laps around a large loop (it was in Atocha). We were right by the loop, at one of the ends, so we had a pretty good view. I got some pretty good shots, too -- my camera has a 'sports' mode, which I found to be the most magical thing for una situacion like this.

This weekend is a big CIEE Excursion that is going to take the whole weekend (leave Friday and don't come back until Sunday) en La Rioja, which is like a winery and wine field. It's supposed to be pretty different than anything we've seen or done thus far, so I am really excited for it. Honestly, this place is constantly tempting you with alcohol...

Robby and I are set to go to Ireland now! I'm thrilled to be able to visit some really good friends as well as the hilly, lucious green land! Apparently, they've already started planning stuff (and we had a few things in mind as well), so it should be an awesome weekend when we go.

Trinity moved to a new house here in Madrid (aka her host moved). It's only a little bit less than ten minutes than her old place, and it's much bigger and right down the road from a cathedral that looks over a part of the city. It's a nice new place.

Mom's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday again!

I've heard about the gnat/aphid/small insect problem that's going on in Bloomington-Normal, and I'm really glad to be away from it. I remember last year, too, there were small, gnat-like insect that would fly onto you and bite you; most annoying thing ever. Glad not to be part of it this year. But the rest of you folk in that area...keep your wits about you I guess, even though they're not really dangerous...

My sleep is still kind of messed up. I'm thinking early bed time tonight.

(and by early, I mean 12:30 or 1...)

Here's a bunch of pictures.

Hasta luego.

~ LSquared

Top left, right, bottom left: La Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Metropolis (I think it's a bank); Los Jardines Botanicos (IV BAGS!)


Top left, right, bottom left: I wasn't kidding about the IV bags; Un Palacio; La escultura afuera del palacio


Me by a statue (Poseidon?); the cycling race (the big crowd); another picture of the cycling race (I have lots more)


Me at the cycling race (guy to my right refused to move); catedral cerca de la casa nueva de Trinity; looking out from Trinity's old balcony



An awesome shot of Gaston, the cat that used to visit Trinity's casa; soccer kitty; the amazing trio with Gaston -- anoraremos a ti, Gaston!

Capítulo Once: Karma Flavored Whiskey

"Some dance to remember, and some dance to forget."

- The Eagles

Good news! According to the weather forecast, we're supposed to sneak back up to the 70's this week!

Okay, so that's not exceptionally, fantastic, amazing news, but it's something to look forward to after a week of freezing rain.

Remember that one post where I said we'd planned out on a map a bunch of places we wanted to go see this weekend and this amazing, picture friendly excursion planned out? Well, the planning stage really happened; the excursion, however, did not. We ended up going to another discoteca on Thursday night, Joy, in which entrance was free, along with one free drink. We were very worried that we weren't actually going to get in for free -- the cutoff time was 1:30 AM, and we got there around 12:45 with an enormous line ahead of us. Luckily, however, we did get in, and we had a great time dancing for hours. And the drink wasn't...disappointing. We each got a rum and coke, and good lord, I knew that they did this, but watching as they filled over half the glass with rum was making me wonder how I was going to drink that. Eh, continuing on, the music was just as good as La Kapital's music, though that's probably because it was American pop and hip-hop, so we knew the majority of the songs. There was only one dance floor, and it was significantly smaller than La Kapital's main floor. Thus, dancing/space was sometimes an issue (this was probably as bad as any rock concert I went to). Another thing is that the floor was pretty dirty -- there was broken glass from cups and bottles everywhere, and people freqently stepped/tripped on them. I ended up with a small cut from a large shard of glass, but it's nothing to worry about. Actually, I came out of there with several battle wounds, really. I was wearing flats, and flats versus heels (or any other shoe for that matter)...is not a fair fight, so I had a couple of bruises from people stepping on my feet. Another bad thing about flats: if you're not used to wearing them all the time, they can really blister your feet. So yeah, given that I rarely wear flats, I came out of there with around five blisters...

I don't mind, though, because I really had a good time there. Why can't there be discotecas in the States? They're so much fun.

We left around 4:30, and then we went to get churros y chocolate, which were FANTASTIC! All the good things I've heard about them were completely right. Nice, long, cake-like churros dipped in sweet, warm chocolate...they were just so yummy. And they were cheap (only about 3 or 4 Euros for an enormous plate full).

We didn't end up getting back until around 5:30 or 6, so once again, our sleep schedule was a bit distorted. I myself didn't wake up until 2 or 3 in the afternoon (though I did wake up at 11:30 briefly, but went back to sleep). Obviously, that walking-around-all-day thing wasn't going to happen that day given our exhaustion, but it wasn't a waste of a day at all. We went out ot a nearby cine para mirar la version original de Malditos Bastardos (the original version of Inglorious Basterds with Spanish subtitles), which I highly recommend. It's very much so a Quentin Tarantino movie, and if you're familiar with and/or like his style of movies, then you should be able to appreciate what he's done with this comedic war film. Yes, it's violent and gory, as is every Quentin Tarantino movie, but it's got a lot of wit and comedy; Brad Pitt is hilarious, and actually, the whole cast gives a nice performance. It's completley historically inaccurate, but that just adds to the humor of it, really. The one frustrating part, though, is they speak at least three different languages throughout the film: English, German, and French, and broken Italian (oh man, that scene is hilarious). The entire film had Spanish subtitles, so when they were speaking French and German, which was quite a bit of the film, I was reading Spanish subtitles, which wasn't necessarily hard, but I felt like I was switch between four different languages. I actually found myself reading the subtitles throughout most of the movie, even when they were speaking English, and it wasn't because I couldn't understand them, but really it's because I'd become adjusted to reading Spanish and the subtitles in general; it was actually weird to hear them talk in English sometimes, especially when they were going from German to English, or French to English, etc. The changing of accents was just really strange to hear. I think I left that movie with a small headache trying to translate Spanish and listen to the dialogue and pay attention to what was going on. Still, very good movie, and it was a pretty nice theater that wasn't badly priced.

And even in the midst of all this, we're still doing La Noche en Blanco tonight. So yes, all-nighter it is! But I'm definitely looking forward to it -- they say it's a really cool thing to go to, and there's so much you can do. Mi anfitriona gave me a booklet of all the different activities you can do, and places that you can visit (which is everywhere, really). And of course, more photography opportunity!

So our excursion will just have to wait until next weekend, which I'm kind of hoping is party-free if only for a small break...

Oh, what am I saying? This is Spain; screw sleeping!

Robby and I are trying really hard to plan a trip to Ireland. There's one time in October (the weekend of October 9th) where we have a four-day weekend. We have a good handful of friends studying abroad in Maynooth (right outside of Dublin), and we'd like to visit them and see Ireland. As soon as we get confirmation from parents and friends, we're booking flight tickets.

Alright, now I need to finish up some homework and rest up for the long night ahead.

Hasta luego.

~ LSquared

Capítulo Diez: We've Learned what Matters Most, so we Keep our Hearts Cold

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange...But the world isn't perfect, and the law is incomplete. Equivalent Exchange doesn't encompass everything that goes on here, but I still choose to believe in its principle, that all things do come at a price, that there's an ebb and a flow, a cycle, that the pain we went through did have a reward, and that anyone who's determined and perseveres, will get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected. I don't think of Equivalent Exchange as a law of the world anymore. Instead, I think of it as a promise, between my brother and me, a promise that someday, we'll see each other again."
- Alphonse Elric, Full Metal Alchemist

There's been a sudden change in the temperature. It suddenly feels like...fall here. It's significantly cooler, and there's a small gust of wind everyday. In some ways, it's nice, because now I don't constantly feel dehydrated or feel like I'm overheating; in other ways, it's kind of a pain, especially at night when you're walking around and it feels like it's freezing. In my room, I no longer don't sleep outside the covers and sweat myself to sleep; I now sleep with an extra blanket.

Talk about experiencing the two extremes.

I haven't updated lately mainly because I haven't had anything to update about. I've gone to classes the last couple days, and they've been going well, though I've undergone a few changes.

First of all, there used to be two history sections, but since both were small, they were combined. Thankfully, it's still at the same time, but now we have two professors who switch back and forth depending on the topic/time period. This week, we had the other section's professor, who seems like a nice guy, but he repeats himself a lot. I'm sitting there, trying to take notes, and then I'm realizing that he's saying a lot of the same things, over and over again. On top of that, he has horrendous breath, a common factor among the Spaniard, unfortunately. On Monday, a group of us were sitting in the second row, and he'd stand and lecture in front of us, and you could just smell the atrocity...I'm really not trying to be insulting, but the professor seriously needed a breath mint or something; it was hard to concentrate. We were sure to avoid the "line of fire" by sitting farther and away from where he usually likes to stand. On a brighter note, today we were going over the influence of the Roman Empire and government on Spain, which I thought was really interesting to listen to. In particular, it's neat to see how much of Spanish art is influenced by Greek and Roman art and religion, though it doesn't entirely surprise me if you look at it close enough.

While one of my courses combined sections, one of my other courses, Cuento, has divided into two sections, and it's been a little frustrating trying to figure out where I'm supposed to go. We were supposed to get an email from the professor telling us what we had to read next and what section we were in. Yeah, never got sent. Went to class yesterday, where he introduced the other professor that would be teaching the other Cuento section, then sent around an attendance sheet with which section/grupo we'd be in. Mine said I was in Grupo B. I check the board for Los Cursos De Hispanicos this morning, and now I'm in Grupo A. Now my schedule's been changed, which is kind of a pain since it was kind of a last minute notification as well as the fact that I have to change professors now (even though he didn't email us about the switch, I really do like him as a professor, as mentioned before), but the new schedule might work out to my advantage. I now have three classes on Lunes (Cuento at 10, Lengua at 2:30, and History at 6), but have absolutely NO classes on Tuesday! This schedule might change, though, because now I may switch my minicurso from taking a course on Mitos y Leyendos (myths and legends ) of early European villages to taking a minicurso on Don Quijote. As much as myths and legends interest me, Don Quijote is one of my favorite novels, and taking a whole course on it (meets every Tuesday for just an hour or so, and only for a month and a half) would be fantastic!

Actually, I think one of the professors in the Hispanic Studies department at Wesleyan, Profesora Nadeau, who is also my adviser and the department head, wrote quite a few essays, or even books about Don Quijote. I will have to read those once I get back!

Can you tell I love Don Quijote?! That's it. I'm totally taking that minicurso.

Other than that, I've had an unexciting last couple of days. In the last week, I've come across at least two guys taking a wiz in the street. In major big cities, that's probably not that uncommon, especially if he/she is homeless, but having never seen this done before, and seeing that one of the guys was clearly not a hobo since he had a cell phone in his hand, I naturally found this a little disgusting and weird.

Actually, while thinking about that, there are a handful of really strange people in this city, some to the obnoxious and creepy extent. I understand that men are much more foreward here, as it is part of the culture, but there's a difference between doing something as part of the culture, and doing something to be an asshole or an immature idiot. I am not going into specifics, but I've seen and experienced a little bit of oddness from a few of the people here, and it's discomforting at times, especially since I'm not entirely familiar with the way things work. Then again, those kinds of people are in every city, I know, so it's not as if Madrid is the only place. Still, it's kind of disturbing to think about the fact that there are some extremely shady people in this world, and sometimes that makes it dangerous.

But hey, most of the time, I try to think the best of people.

La Noche de Blanco is Saturday, and I'm excited for that. It's basically a festival on one night of the new moon in Madrid, and all the stores and sites are open, there are performers in the streets, and there are lots of different activities for people of different or all ages. It should be worth noting that it's an all-night thing, so I'll definitely be pulling an all nighter Saturday to Sunday. If we thought La Kapital messed up our sleeping schedule, I can only imagine how this is going to be...Red Bull, give me wings!

Also plan on doing a lot more exploring this weekend. Robby and Trinity were over here earlier, and we were marking places on the map that we wanted to see and visit. I won't say all the places we're going, but I will say that we plan on visiting one of the botanical gardens on La Noche de Blanco, where it will all be lit up and beautiful. And of course, there will be pictures. Ooh, we finally plan on getting chocolate y churros this weekend, too! We tried to find a place last night, but couldn't -- churros is generally a breakfast food (kind of like donuts in the US) so there was no place that was open that had them at the time.

Boring post = done.

Hasta Luego.

~ LSquared

Capítulo Nueve: Listen to the Rain

"I got everything I need right here with me. I got air in my lungs, a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what's gonna happen or, who I'm gonna meet, where I'm gonna wind up. Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you, to make each day count."
- Jack Dawson, Titanic

For the first time in a while, it's rained here in Spain. Did I see it rain? Not really. But I can smell it from outside my window while sitting here on my bed. Such a wonderful, calming smell, even in the city. What's nice is since it's usually warm, and sometimes dry here (you'd be surprised on how much of Spain is desert), rain is always welcome. Makes me wish I could go out and play in it, really, like that one time over May Term. Truly, playing in the rain is amazing and surprisingly refreshing.

The last couple of days have been really uneventful. After La Kapital on Thursday night, my (and mostly everyone else's) sleep schedule was a little messed up (that's what happens when you stay out until 5:30, te he), so we kind of needed a couple of days to regroup ourselves. Friday was kind of a wasted day, really. I woke up around 10:30 due to the construction workers right outside my building (with a jackhammer, grr), so once they stopped , or seemed to have stopped, I laid down and proceeded to fall asleep for four more hours...whoops. After that, Trinity and I walked around El Palacio Real (the other one that's closer to Sol), exploring its gardens and walking by the gorgeous cathedral that was there, at least I think that's what it was. It was around sunset time, so the sky was very pretty, as well as the lights that were hitting the cathedral! Pictures are below. After that, we went to La Plaza Mayor and grabbed a drink and talked for a while. Era una noche muy tranquila, but it was exactly what we needed after an exciting night beforehand. Robby joined up with us later, and then we went back to Trinity's place and watched the remainder of Narnia.

Oh God, speaking of Narnia, we started watching the old, crappy BBC Version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that's from 1988 or something of that sort. My family had it in two parts on VHS, and I watched it every time I was at home sick. Watching it now as a much older, mature person is a different experience. It's got the same charming storyline that I fell in love with when I was a kid while reading the books and watching the movie, but good lord, the acting is horrendous, and Lucy has the ugliest set of buck teeth I've ever seen. It's obviously very fake, too -- the costume design is really crappy (especially the beavers, who might I add, are taller than the kids are in this movie), and the special effects consist of terribly drawn and animated monsters. So yeah, I am enjoying rewatching it, but it's very different watching it now.

Anyway, yesterday, we went walking around the Parque en Atocha for a few hours, and played some card games. The park was pretty big. To be honest, it wasn't one of the most special things I've seen here, but it had some cool things, like a small Palacio hidden en el campo, and a really cool statue by the lake. Again, pictures below. And there must have been dozens of stray cats hidden all around the park. My brother would have had a field day here. Later that night, we went back over to Trinity's and hung out for a while, continuing to watch the BBC Version of Narnia. Sounds like an uneventful day, but it was a fairly interesting night.

I had fast food for the first time since being here today. Got a Bacon Burger from Burger King, and it was GLORIOUS! I assumed that it wasn't going to taste very good since it wasn't 'Americanized', but it ended up tasting just right, and it was delicious. Although I am enjoying a lot of the food here, there's a lot of American food that I really miss.

In the middle of dinner today, a commercial came on for a program that was about ocean creatures and boats. That's neat and all, but what immediately caught my attention was the music that was playing: the song was "Never an Absolution" from the Titanic soundtrack. I jumped up excitedly and pointed that out to mi anfitriona, who at first must have thought I was strange, but also recognized it once I told her.

Moral of the story: the Titanic soundtrack is truly fantastic, and I enjoy listening to it frequently (and not just for "My Heart Will Go On"). You all should listen to it, too, even if you don't like the movie. It's got the perfect tone for the plot (sounds almost like an elegy) and it's relaxing.

Other moral of the story: I realize that if I had put some focus into music while growing up, I really think that I could have been pretty good at it. I'm good at sound recognition; I can pick up on patterns, rhythms, and styles decently. Unfortunately, as my brother has helped me discover, I am tone def, nor can I match pitch. Still, makes me kind of wish I'd studied music, because I do enjoy it, and I always wish I'd learned to play an instrument.

Okay, sorry for the boring post. Here are some pictures to help bring some excitement to this update.

Adios, amigos.

~ LSquared