Capítulo Ocho: So we Dance the Night Away

"I am not young enough to know everything."
- Oscar Wilde


I'm definitely going to adjust to this three-day weekend every weekend thing.

Took my last class yesterday (Cine), and it should prove to be fairly interesting I guess. There's something about the way the professor speaks that doesn't agree with me, though. She's sometimes hard to understand because she puts a lot of words together, and her speech seems boring and repetitive. Still, the study of film history and cinema as a whole is something that's very appealing to me, so I'm hoping that that will overshadow the professor's boring talk.

Last night, however, was quite possibly the best night I've had thus far in Madrid. La Kapital (the seven-story club) was having a night where girls could get in free and get a free drink, so obviously we had to go. It was six girls accompanied by the solo three men in our CIEE Group. And it was a blast. I generally don't enjoy dancing that much unless it's with a big group of people as well as being surrounded by others who didn't/wouldn't know me and thereby acknowledge me by my terrible dancing skills. That's what made La Kapital so perfect: it's huge (durr), there are hundreds and hundreds of people that don't even speak your native language, and . There was a bar on nearly every floor, and they had just about everything to drink. On some floors, there were seats where you could just sit and chill and socialize. On another floor, there was Karaoke (sadly, we did not get around to trying this out), there were two places for dance floors: one was small and had mainly rap and hip-hop music, the other was huge, with mesmerizing flashing lights, two dancers on stage, and lots of pounding techno music.

Starting out the night at 1 AM, we headed up to the seventh floor to grab our free drinks. We each got a Mojito, which I have to say was a bit...disappointing. Don't think badly of me for saying this, but that Mojito, while tasting okay, was weak. Still, it was free, and so I really shouldn't complain. We sat around and talked for a little bit, took pictures, and then we finally hit up the dance floors (we switched back and forth all night). Like I said, I normally don't care for dancing too much, but I really liked this, just being able to relax, dance around without anyone giving a hoot, and enjoy the company of the friends I was with (as well as meeting a few others). Once our feet decided they had had enough of heels, we made our way out, which was around...5 AM.

That was probably my first real Spanish night out, starting late, coming back late and all, and I loved every moment of it!

I will probably have pictures of this event later. We all dressed up for this, so we all look really nice!

I have to say, in many ways, Spain is turning me into a girl. I'm using a purse, I'm dressing up/dressing nicely, I'm doing big girl outings...this list is probably going to get longer. Seriously, what the hell?

Not going on that CIEE Excursion this weekend, because it's in a place I've already seen. This just means I'll have to make my own adventure this weekend.

Construction workers woke me up earlier than I wanted to rise, so I'm going to try and rest again now that their stupid jackhammer is done booming.

Hasta Luego.

~ LSquared

Capítulo Siete: Learn to do it!

"Are you ready for some football everyone?!"
- Hank Williams Jr.

Small update.

Classes started on Monday, and I think they're all going to go pretty well. I really like my language course, actually. It doesn't seem frustrating or very hard, but what it does is teach me to correct the little errors in my grammar, which is something I definitely need! The professor's really nice and fun, too, which always helps. An additional fun fact: she was also the one that gave the oral exam.

Spanish History has potential. This particular class focuses on the big events and how everything impacts Spain's history and culture, which in my opinion is really cool; most history courses have the typical memorize this date and remember that name sort of thing, but what about being a bit analytical, maybe even theoretical? This course is supposed to examine those things, and I'm hoping it picks up soon. I'll admit today's two hour class was boring, though.

Cuento (short story) should be really interesting, though I have a slight bias since I love to read short stories and write. It should be interesting to see how it reflects Spanish culture, too. El profesor es really enthusiastic about it, and he definitely has the mind of an English professor (creative, witty, anayltical). He definitely appealed to me immediately. The rest of the students? Not so much. I have a big (well, at least my definition of big) class of probably over 50. I don't mind the big number, but I hope that there are at least a handful of students who will take it seriously -- most of them seemed kind of...well, stereotypically speaking, like dumb Americans.

While on that subject, I often wonder what the Spaniards think of us American students after witnessing some of the monstrocities that have made their way here to Spain. Not to be rude, but listening to them speak (both Spanish and English) and watching their gestures, they frequently come off rude and snotty, as well as ungrateful and apathetic. It just kind of seems like they're there for the social outings, or just because it was something to do. Makes me kind of mad, because this is a pretty neat opportunity, and some of them seem like they're going to be wasting it.

But who am I to judge, though?

I haven't taken my final class, Cine Espanol, yet. I start that tomorrow, and it meets every Friday for three hours. I am really looking forward to it if only for the fact that I love movies, and I look forward to seeing how Spanish movies fair against US movies.

All in all, classes are good! It doesn't sound like it's going to be easy necessarily, but I don't think I'm going to spontaneously combust from stress either. Hopefully I won't want to drive my head into the wall as a result of stress, which has happened several times at IWU (but to this day I look back at those times and smile, because I'm proud I made it through those obstacles successfully). I'm looking forward to learning a lot, though, especially since it's about a completely different place and a different lifestyle than America.

I started making a "Palabra del Dia" (Word of the Day) as well as a "Frase del dia" (Phrase of the Day) in order to expand my Spanish vocabulary and continue to work on my speaking. I put them on post-it notes and stick them on the wall behind my desk so I can always look at them, go over them, and practice. I'm thinking I definitely should have done this earlier, as in like high school or something, but better late than never, right?

The CIEE Group went out to an Irish bar tonight to watch the Real Madrid futbol team play; it's similar to what we do in the US when we go out to a bar to watch a football or baseball game. I'm sure everyone knows these things already, but if not, futbol's kind of a big sport there (and by kind of, I mean it's huge), and it is not futbol americano; it's soccer. I think we were initially expecting to go to the stadium and watch them play, but we just went to a bar and watched it on a big screen as well as socialized. I guess it makes sense that we didn't go to the stadium; it's pretty far, and I'm sure tickets are expensive as hell. Regardless, I really had a good time just chilling in there, chatting with people, looking at the gorgeous soccer players (numero 10 y 7), jamming to some music (this bar actually played some good tunes), and just sipping on a beer (I actually found a beer that I liked...weird). The people weren't paying as close attention to the game as I thought they would, but after a while and a few drinks, people warmed up to it and screamed the traditional "GOL!" whenever we scored. Madrid won 3-0.

One more day of classes, and it's a three day weekend. I think I am going to easily adjust to that whole three-day weekend schedule. =)

Now that I've booted out most of my sickness, hopefully I will finally get to a discoteca this weekend. There's also another CIEE Excursion this weekend, which means...mas fotos!

Hasta Luego.

~ LSquared

Capítulo Seis: Ready, Set, Go! It's Time to Run!

"An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of actual world."
- George Santayana

Today reminded me of one of the big reasons why I wanted to study abroad in Madrid (and Spain, for that matter).

There was a CIEE Excursion that, to be honest, I probably shouldn't have gone to given my current physical condition (I was feeling better this morning since I wasn't really dizzy and nothing really ached, but I had no voz), but I didn't want to miss out on any explorations, as well as the opportunity to take more photos. So I got myself up at 8:30 and went on the day-long adventure.

And I don't regret it for a moment.

We went to El Palacio Real de Aranjuez, explored its jardines (gardens), and traveled to La Casa del Labrador, none of which is used now. From inside to out, El Palacio Real was simply marvelous. Like many other buildings in Madrid and Spain, it was just covered in art, the walls, the ceilings, the floors, the stairs. Seriously, it made me wonder just how long it took to build the whole place (it underwent several renovations, but even then). Statues of people and other things scattered in each sala (room), paintings in frames hanging elegantly on the wall, metal crosses, utensils, paintings on the ceiling. There's no way I can put this into words. This place was just jaw-droppingly pretty, and even if you're not a fan of art or architecture, you have to admire just how much went into this place. Clearly, only the finest (royalty) could live here. The one room that really got me was what I think was a chapel. Honestly, no church I've been to could ever surpass the beauty that was in here. They also had some old clothes (like robes that the king and queen would wear), cars, and fire arms that were used back in the day. I don't think I could praise this place enough for what it had to behold.

We traveled through the fairly small gardens in the back after our tour inside El Palacio Real, and this was gorgeous, too. It had several different trails, multiple flowers, and lots of stone/statued fountains to go around. If you looked out into the gardens from the palace itself, you can see some of the city, and even a slight hint of mountains in the background.

After that, we took a break and hit lunch at the nearby market. I'm not going to give my reasoning, but I ended up getting this large-ass postre (dessert) that was pretty cheap. Just looking at it screamed "Oh my God! Chocolate!" And then tasting it was like, "OHMYGODCHOCOLATE!" Seriously, it tasted like a bloody chocolate truffle, a rich bloody chocolate truffle. I could only eat 3/4 of it before I had to inevitably give up. Eating that much of it was a success for me not only because of how big and rich it was, but also because I usually get sick of the taste of chocolate fairly quickly unless I have milk with it.

After lunch, we made our way through a forest to go to La Casa del Labrador. There was something so natural and beautiful about these woods that just reminded me of some old enchanted fairy tale, or (for other people) Pride & Prejudice. I mean, it was green and rich like a forest, it smelled clear like a forest, it was an actual, cool forest. We were pretty close to El Rio Verde (green river). Like every other place in Spain, there were statues and fountains scattered about, and under the forest shadows mixed with the rays of sun sneeking through the leaves, those were pretty to see. It was one of the better "hike through the woods" I've had in a while to say the least, and I must say, it sparked a few story (more or less, fan fiction) ideas.

We finally arrived at La Casa del Labrador, which looked small on the outside, but the inside was a whole different story. Like El Palacio Real, there were plenty of paintings everywhere, as well as gorgeous art on every spot possible. There were small models of other places, and of course, statues, maybe just as many as Palacio Real. The place smelled old (like an old person's house, ha), and we had to wear these cute little slippers that reminded me of elf shoes so as to not track in the house. It's nice to see them preserve the place. It wasn't as cool as Palacio Real in my opinion, but it was nifty in its own cute, little way, and the walk through the woods to get there was just the cherry on top.

As stated already, it's difficult to describe these places with words.

So you're probably waiting for pictures of these places, huh? Well unfortunately, photography of the insides of the buildings was prohibited, which I think is ridiculous. You simply can't show us something drop-dead gorgeous and expect us not to take a picture of it (especially in the age of technology); it's like putting a cookie in front of a five-year old boy and expecting him not to eat it.

Robby and a few others were able to sneak a few photos of inside of Palacio Real, a couple which I stole and have posted below. Even the pictures hardly capture its hermosa, though, but at least you get an idea. Actually, the couple of people that got caught with pictures really got scolded; poor Nan got yelled at by the Security guard, then watched the entire times as she made here way down the royal marble stairs (which, by the way, were a lot like the "Beauty and the Beast" stairs).

Put simply, Madrid is wonderfully artistic, and that was a big reason as to why I wanted to study here, because I wanted to see its art with my own eyes. You can look at all this from magazines or postcards, but it does not compare to experiencing in real life; "pictures fade away, but memory's forever."

Classes start tomorrow...or today, technically. Yikes! Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, given that piece of information, you're going to have to forgive me when my updates on the blog (and maybe even Facebook) become less freqent and even shorter entries. Once school is in full swing, I'm going to become very busy with classes and maybe other activities, so vamos a ver (we'll see) how much time I'm going to have after that. I promise that I'll update when I can.

Hasta luego.

~ LSquared

Capítulo Cinco: Down with the Sickness

"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."
- William Shakespeare

It's Saturday. It's a beautiful day with possibly the best temperature we've had since being here, and I've got a lot of free time on my hands.

...and yet here I am stuck.

Not really, but I seemed to have come down with a small sickness. I woke up yesterday morning with my throat feeling a bit funny, but everything else seemed to be okay, and I figured it had just been because I'd been around a bunch of smokers the night before and that it would clear up as the day went on.

Well, that didn't happen.

Robby, Trinity, and I had spent much of the day wandering around, starting at the Plaza de Espana and El Museo de Prado. It was a very nice time, but it probably didn't help matters, as I was exhausted (very sore and sleepy) upon coming back. Not only that, but I had started feeling fairly light headed, and my throat wasn't getting any better. So instead of going out last night with the CIEE bunch, I spent the evening sleeping. Lovely.

I'm feeling better today, but my nose is runny, I'm a bit dizzy, and I still have a small cough. At least I'm not utterly exhausted, though, and I have some medicine. I'm sure I'll be over this in a day or so. Still, I was hoping to avoid getting sick, especially this early and right before classes start...

Speaking of classes, I won't get a confirmed schedule until next week sometime (my final selections are due next Friday), but it sounds like I will be taking Spanish Cinema, Spanish History, a language course, Short Story, and take a minicurso about mythology. I ended up getting into a fairly high language course (Lengua Avanzado Alto C), which I guess kind of surprises me a little bit if only because I felt the multiple choice part of the entrance exam was really difficult. Even the AP test wasn't as hard as that thing was! Not to mention I hardly studied at ALL for it. But nevertheless, I'm pretty happy about that; I didn't want to take anything that was too easy or that wasn't going to improve my language skills.

Picking out courses has been slightly frustrating in the sense that I have to make sure I get enough to fulfill Wesleyan's "full-time student" requirement. What I have now should suffice, but figuring out the requirements has been a little confusing to say the least. But as time has gotten closer, I am really looking forward to classes starting.

Alright, I don't feel like talking. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Hasta Luego.

~LSquared

Capítulo Cuatro: I'm not Dead, and I'm not for Sale

"There are of course those who do not want us to speak...while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth."
- V, V for Vendetta

It's September. I've been here for a little over a week.

In some ways, I feel I've been here for longer, as I'm slowly learning this part of the city and have adjusted to the living situation pretty well; in other ways, I feel like I still have so much more to do, like, you know, start classes.

But hey, CIEE Orientation officially ended today, and now I have three days to prep myself for classes and to go and hangout in the city before I get too busy.

The presentations at la universidad about the cursos hispanicos over the last two days were pretty boring actually. Lots of the subjects were really interesting, but the length at which some of the professors talked as well as the presentation itself were not good enough to keep my attention. The other problem was that they lasted for four and half hours, which was honestly draining; it sapped my energy very quickly. There was, however, one guy who was really enthusiastic about what he was teaching (Literatura Siglo XX, I think), and that's really nice to see. You can just tell people like that are going to be great teachers.

And overall, I guess they gave us a nice welcome to the university, so I respect the administration in that regard. We got to meet a bunch of other American students from different study abroad programs, too, which was kind of neat.

Heading out again tonight, but given the fact that today's presentations have kind of ruined my night time stamina (others's also), I'd say it's going to be a chill night. Sunday, the CIEE Group is taking an excursion around the city, which means...more fotos are soon to come! =D

Some thoughts:

Slowly, I am growing fonder and fonder of tomatoes. Mi anfitriona puts them in a lot of things, and today she gave them to me plain to eat with my meat, and they tasted wonderful. I normally dislike tomatoes by themselves but find them scrumptious in sauces or with other foods, but I think I may soon change my mind.

Coca-Cola tastes different here due to the sugar. I should actually mention that it tastes better than what it does in the US. Still, I'm drinking more water than refrescos, which is good; I'm trying to keep myself hydrated.

It's hard to tell if my Spanish is improving or not. It's only been a week, but I've seen a few changes here and there -- I'm trying to develop the accent a little bit, and I'm gaining more and more confidence in speaking it. I need for the conjugations and vocab words to come naturally to me, though, so I guess I still have a long way to go. But then again, I still have a whole semester to go, too. It's going to take time, and I just need to keep reminding myself that. I mean it's like my 6th grade teacher said: "How do you eat an elephant? Take one bite at a time." I know I'm heading in the right direction, and I'm going to march on, head up.

Speaking of going on, I'm headin' out for a peaceful evening.

Hasta luego.

~ LSquared