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!