Barcelona and the Strike!!

Sorry I've been on hiatus for a while!  It's been so crazy this week with classes starting etc.  So much to talk about, but I guess I'll start with Barcelona!

By far one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited.  I really wanted to study abroad there, but I decided on Madrid because GW has a program here.  Ultimately though, I'm glad I chose Madrid.  Friday we did a driving tour and got lunch down by the water.  It was a beautiful spot for lunch, and we tried fideuá, which is a traditional dish from Catalunya (which is the region where Barcelona is).  It's a dish with noodles and seafood.  I personally though it was somewhat bland, but maybe that's the restaurant's fault.  We walked down the beach at night, but we all ended up in bed early because of the early flight in the morning.

Saturday was much busier.  We started off at the Miró Foundation in the morning.  Miró was a 20th century artist who was known for very modern art.  On the completely opposite side of the spectrum we went to the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalunya) afterwards.  Here we looked at much older art, especially Medieval frescos etc.  I really enjoyed everything, but it was certainly exhausting.  Afterwards we went back into the city and explored some of the streets/shops.  This past weekend was La Merce, which is their city's huge festival every year.  Everything was so busy and fun, but the nightlife had nothing on Madrid.  After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, we had dinner in the hotel and went back down to the beach for a while.  We got back relatively early so we could get a lot more in on Sunday.

Sunday morning we went to a "human pyramid" show, where everyone piled on top of each other.  It was awesome, but we wanted to do some tourist things too.  We went to the Temple of the Sagrada Familia which was designed by Gaudí, who is one of the most famous architects from Barcelona (and has influence all around the city).  The style is so ahead of its time, and the temple still isn't finished.  It should be done by 2030(ish), but I'm sure the recession has complicated these things as well.  Then we went to one of Gaudí's houses.  It really shows where 1950s "modern" architecture comes form.  It was definitely not my thing, but I can appreciate how ahead of its time it was.  Then we had to fly back to Madrid.  Note - one weekend is certainly not enough time to see Barcelona.

We started classes this week, which has been nothing but chaotic.  Monday/Wednesday I have Spanish Grammar, Spanish Literature, and Art History.  I'm not very interested in my Art History class, but we have class in the Prado, so I supposed if you're going to take art history this is the place to do it.  Tuesday/Thursday I only have one class - International Business.  The professor is really awesome and does lots of consulting work all around Europe.  He's really awesome though - but extremely busy.

Stikes - OMG.  So today there was a strike in Spain (see NY Times Article).  Absolute ridiculous-ness.  The metro was working pretty well this morning, but we take the commuter trains to school.  Getting there wasn't a problem, but we waited exactly ONE HOUR for the train on the way back (note - they usually come every 8 minutes).  I'm not really sure that it accomplished much, but things were certainly more laid back around the city today.  It was kind of entertaining how few people showed up on campus today, but I suppose that's the Spanish lifestyle.  My host mother was going off about the Unions etc, but she is pretty conservative so it was expected.

I finally started planning my trips last night!  I'm going to London November 4-7, and the weekend before I'll be in Amsterdam/Brussels.  I'm so excited for both trips, and I'm hoping to go to Istanbul or Berlin (not sure which yet).

I'm posting more pictures on Picasa - so check out the link on the right side of my blog!

Charting the City

First off, sorry I haven't posted in a while!  What a week this has been!

We had our first mid-terms (in a three week class, it comes up quickly), and I finally got to explore Madrid on a more intimate level.  I wish I could express in words truly how wonderful everything has been thus far.

The beginning of the week was relatively mellow.  Thursday was the day of our mid-term exams, so nothing too exciting happened on Tuesday/Wednesday.  We did do our studying Madrid-style however and studied in the Retiro Park.  The Retiro is basically Madrid's central park, located within walking distance from my apartment.  The park is gorgeous with some of the most magnificent gardens and architecture/sculptures you can find anywhere.  There was nothing better than reviewing Spanish culture while laying in the grass of Madrid's most outstanding park.

Thursday brought us back to the theatre to see a play called "Brokers."  It was supposed to be a satirical critique of American capitalism.  There were certainly some very entertaining parts, but I didn't love it.  The style of humor was less satirical and more "slap-stick," and I honestly didn't see the type of critique that I thought they could have done a better job with.  I think my expectations were too high going into it though.  Overall, it wasn't terrible, but it could have been significantly better.

Friday, 8 of the girls in our group of 17 people left for Valencia for the weekend.  I thought about going on the trip, but ultimately decided to save the money.  It sounds like they had a wonderful time, and I wish I had been able to enjoy it!

The rest of us went to Chueca, which is somewhat like Dupont Circle in DC.  There's a big gay population, lots of bars, lots of clubs, lots of shopping, very artistic etc.  It was tons of fun!  Five of us spent the night exploring and even met some Spanish people!  The "nightlife" here makes the US look like a convent.  Normally in Spain, you don't leave your house until 11/12.  Because people don't even go out until then, it isn't abnormal to stay out past 6AM.  Obviously this is mostly unheard of in the US, but most of our host mothers find it strange if we come home by 4:30AM!

Saturday my friends and I went to a restaurant that Anthony Bourdain went to on his trip to Madrid (Thanks Dad!).  The food was some of the best I've had in a while.  The restaurant was modern and creative, but not too expensive.  After dinner, we ended up back in the Gran Vía/Chueca area for the evening again.  It was another fun night, but this time we met up with all the students who stayed behind from Valencia.  The one thing I'm finding it hard to adjust to is the excessive proliferation of smokers.  Every night you go out, anything you were wearing WREAKS of cigarette smoke.  Hard to get used to, but hardly a deal breaker.

Sunday I worked on a cool project for my culture class!  We were each assigned a different neighborhood in the city to explore and do a presentation on (for tomorrow).  I was assigned to Vallecas, so I went for a walk through my neighborhood and took the metro there.  The neighborhood is a stark contrast to where I'm living now.  I live in Salamanca, which is more or less the "Uptown" of Madrid.  The buildings are old and grandiose, and the people are certainly upper-middle to upper class.  Vallecas is more or less the opposite.  The neighborhood was built in the 50s/60s as a worker's enclave.  The buildings were much more modern than what I had encountered in Salamanca, and the shops were less expensive/high-end.  All in all it was a great experience, and it was fun to see more of the city!

Today was monumental.  I finally started exercising.  I've had such a hard time adjusting to the diet since (although it's much healthier) the servings are so large!  My host mother cooks wonderfully, but I truly can't eat this way without ballooning up (to 100 lbs - VeryMaryKate fans?)!  I went for a nice half hour run through my neighborhood and the Retiro.  It was beautiful!  Since I love exploring the city and running, I'm excited to finally have some time to do this.  I really think it is the best way to learn a city and see it first hand!

I'll be going to Barcelona this weekend!  I can't wait to see it, since I've heard it's absolutely awesome!  I have some more fun culture notes, but unfortunately it's well past my bed time!  I've posted some more pictures to the Picasa album (link on the right side of the page), and I'll certainly post at least one more update before Barcelona!

I also started to feel slightly home sick on Sunday!  I'm really missing everyone back at GW, and it's hard to not just be able to pick up the phone and call!  I hope everyone has been having a wonderful semester so far, and don't forget to keep in touch!

Geoff's Iberian Adventure

Here is a Picasa Album I've made for my trip! I'm going to continually post photos on here!

A Very Spanish Weekend

Sorry the posts have been somewhat few and far between.  It takes some time to write these, so I usually wait until a night when I have some time to kill.

On Friday we went out in small groups with our "monitors."  They're students at the university who show us around and take us out.  We met up down near the center of the city, and our monitor (Pilar) took us out for tapas and drinks.  I tried rebujitos - which are white wine and 7up - and they were wonderful!  After a few hours of walking around the city and stopping in at shops, bars, etc. Pilar went home, and we went out.  We found a small bar near La Plaza de España and got some Sangria, which was better than some of the other ones I've tried here.

Saturday we went on a trip to Toledo which was absolutely marvelous.  I had visited many of the places we went the last time I came to Spain, but the city was just as beautiful as the last time we visited.  Toledo is the old capital of the Spanish Empire and has all the splendor of the old world.  The streets are small cobble stone walkways there are beautiful cathedrals and a great deal of history.  We visited an old Arab palace, the Cathedral, and a synagogue.  Since it was built in the Middle Ages, it is situated on a hill and surrounded by the Río Tajo to provide protection.  I'm going to put some pictures up on the blog later (since I actually brought my camera!)

Last night was Madrid's "La Noche en Blanco."  When you spend the night "en blanco" you don't sleep, so it was "The Night without Sleep."  It's a huge festival here and is apparently very typical of large European cities.  Starting around 9pm last night and going until about 7am this morning there were numerous events: concerts, wine tastings, beach ball tosses, dance parties, and much more.  The museums were free and open late, and it was really a sight to be seen.  Many of the streets were closed and just full of people.  We all met up at a bar around 11, and then we met up with our monitors.  I ended up spending most of the night people watching.  In the US 15 year old kids have secret parties when their parents aren't home; in Spain, 15 year old kids drink in the street.  I've never seen such a sight before, but it truly illustrated the Spanish lifestyle.  We stayed out until 5am, but there were still thousands of people in the street when we were leaving.  When we visited Gran Vía (one of the main avenues in Madrid) this morning, it looked like nothing happened even though there were broken bottles and people scattered through the streets until well into the morning.  A truly once in a lifetime experience.

Today was obviously much quieter.  Most of us slept until late morning/early afternoon.  We had Paella for lunch again (which I don't think I can become tired of).  At 6pm, we went and saw a play called Zoo.  It was a "slap stick" style comedy, somewhat like a Disney movie.  The play had no speaking in it and was obviously designed for kids - but there were many jokes that only an adult could understand.  This Thursday, we're going to see Brokers which is a satirical play (at the same theatre) about American Capitalism - CAN'T WAIT!

Most of the other students in my program are going to Valencia this weekend, but I'm going to stay in Madrid with a few others and explore some more.  I think I don't know Madrid well enough to go away just yet.  I also want to save my money for some other trips.  We're planning a trip to Fes, Morocco for the day because flights cost €10 ROUND TRIP.  You could spend more money than that on coffee in a week (trust me).  I'm also planning a trip to London to visit a friend, and I really want to go to Germany. Since the program pays for a lot of traveling in Spain, I'm hoping to use my money for trips out of the country.

On more personal notes, I'm loving the country and the culture here.  I'm adjusting really well, and it's really nice having another GW student staying with me.  My host mother is wonderful!  She cooks awesome food for us and is really a joy to talk to.  My Spanish has improved immensely in the past week.  I can't believe we've only been here for one week - it seems like a year already.  Unfortunately, I know it's going to go by far too quickly.  Other than that classes are going well - since we're only taking one 3 hour class per day right now.  It's slightly hard to get used to the European lifestyle because I can't control the chaos in my life just yet, but I'm getting used to it.  I'm really trying to take this semester and learn how to relax - something I usually struggle with.

More pictures later tonight!  Until the next time!

Oh right - there's classes!

We started classes this week, and it has been a much harder adjustment than I was expecting.  My Spanish has already gotten infinitely better, and we've been here for less than one week!  Getting accustomed to the eating schedule and the class schedule has been difficult though.

Classes start at 10AM, but since we have a 45+ minute commute to school, this entails getting up by 8:30.  We're taking one class that is language/grammar intensive and another class that is about the culture of Spain.  I really like our culture professor; he has a great sense of humor and is really easy to listen to for an hour.

We've had events every night this week pretty much.  Monday a bunch of us went down to Sol (Madrid's version of Times Square) and explored for a while.  We visited the Plaza Mayor, the Mercado de San Cristobal, and the magnificent Palacio Real.  It was a wonderful walk, but unfortunately I yet again forgot my camera.  Tuesday we made plans for a similar "paseo" in another neighborhood, but we ended up in the area around Sol again.  It has been wonderful to have some time to explore the different areas of the city.  Since we only have 3 hours of class per day for the next two weeks, I'm going to try and explore while I still can.

Last night we went and saw Carmen, which is a play about how Flamenco dancing developed.  In brief, it was a combination of the different countercultures (Jewish, Muslim, etc.) in Southern Spain.  Most of it was during the Spanish inquisition and sought to assimilate themselves into the Catholic culture.  Ironically, ham's popularity in Spain is a byproduct of this era as well.  In order to prove that you had converted to Catholicism many Muslims and Jewish people would eat ham.

This afternoon, I wasn't able to take my daily 30 minute siesta because we had a visit to the Prado Museum.  It was wonderful to hear about the history and the symbolism in the marvelous paintings that were there.  I'm very excited for my art history class, which is going to be two days per week: one day at the Prado and one day at the Reina Sofia.

That's about it for this week.  Things have been winding down a little bit from the weekend since we're back into classes.  Hopefully this weekend will bring some good times (and certainly some pictures).

Homestay!

¡Buenas Tardes!

I apologize for the lack of blogging the last few days, but it has been a little bit crazy.  I'll recap for everyone.

On Friday, we arrived in Madrid around 11:30am.  Surprisingly both Sydney and I slept a little bit on the flight.  When we arrived at the hotel, we found out that we had most of the afternoon free.  Sydney and I explored the city for a little while and got some coffee, which was some of the best coffee I've ever had.  That night, one of the directors took us for a walk through el Retiro which is the large park in the center of the city.  Then we went to a brief meet and greet thing followed by a Tapas which were WONDERFUL.  We had una tortilla española, manchego and bleu cheese, gambas (small shrimp) cooked in oil with garlic, calamari, and a salad with tuna on top.  I thought it was amazing, but the directors told us that the food is horrible there compared to our homestays.

Saturday morning began with another cup of coffee and a brief orientation program to help us learn how to use the metro, obtain a cell phone etc.  We also learned some of the Spanish customs that might be confusing for someone coming from the US.  Most of it was pretty straightforward - don't be rude.  However, apparently in Europe there are some table manners that we don't have in the US.  Here, when they eat fruit, they use a fork and knife.  You take the knife and peel it, and then you're supposed to cut the fruit with your knife and eat it with your fork.  Also, you're supposed to always keep your hands above the table.  It seems somewhat strange to sit at the table when you're not eating with your hands there, but it is completely the norm here.  We had the afternoon off and got cell phones, a quick lunch, and our metro passes.

For dinner last night we went to a place called El Espejo (the Mirror).  The building was beautiful and made of all glass.  It was located in the middle of a large boulevard called El Paseo de la Castellana.  We had salad, sangria, fish with a garlic oil on top, and flan.  After dinner we wanted to find a bar to go have a drink, but it was difficult to find a place with 17 people.  So we headed back towards the hotel for the evening.

This morning was a little rough waking up.  I think the jet lag is starting to hit me again.  Last night we went to bed a little bit later than the night before, and it was a lot of work to get out of bed.  At noon, my señora picked me and Trey (my house mate) up.  The elevator in her building is not approved for use by the Ministry of Industry, so she had someone who works in her building pick up our bags with a van and bring them upstairs for us.  We walked from the hotel to her apartment, which was a short walk.  She lives in Goya, which is a part of the old city.  Her apartment is very old but very beautiful and ornate.  The building is at least 150 years old from what I can tell.  Right next door to her apartment is the large department store which is very convenient.  There is also a "supermercado" there.  My spanish has definitely improved even in the less than 12 hours since we've moved in.  She made us paella for lunch with chicken and chorizo, and it was delicious.  For dessert, she gave us fruit, and I ate a peach (with a fork and knife obviously).  After lunch was a siesta, which was very much needed today!  Then Margot (my señora) took us on a trip on the metro to show us how to get to school tomorrow.  It could take up to an hour, since the school isn't in the central city.  The metro here is so clean and much more functional than in the US.  It covers nearly every portion of the city, and even on a Sunday you only have to wait 5 minutes at most.

Life here is so much slower, and it is definitely a lot to get used to.  One of the first things I noticed was that it is impossible to get a coffee to go.  Obviously they have Starbucks here, but no local café offers anything like that.  It just illustrates how quickly we rush through life in the US.  For me it's been difficult to try and slow down to appreciate these things, but I'm certainly trying to so I can get the most out of this experience.

If anyone wants to call me I have a Spanish mobile now, and you can contact me on that.  I can receive calls for free - so if you come across a calling card - gimmie a call!

Tomorrow is our first "class" day.  For the next three weeks we are taking an intensives Spanish class to improve our language skills.  In the morning, we have a placement exam, which will determine the class we take until GW classes start on September 26th.

I could write another entire page, but I'll spare you the details for now.  I promise before the end of the week I'll upload some photos.  I haven't really been taking too many pictures yet, but I'm going to try and do better this week.

¡Until next time mis amigos!

Almost There!

Within 24 hours I'll be in Spain!  I'm on the Acela train headed for New Jersey where I'll be meeting up with my friend.  From there I'm taking the 10:10pm flight from Newark to Madrid!  This is really the first time I've ever done a blog, so we'll see how well it goes.  I'll be sure to post pictures for everyone once I get there.

Once we arrive, we'll be staying in a hotel until Sunday when we move in with our host families.  It's hard to believe this is all happening so soon, but here it is.

¡Hasta Luego!