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!
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