Oda al Metro

At least an hour of my day each day of the week is spent on Madrid's metro. It is very easy to use and very convenient to get around the town, but there are also some things I find amusing about it.

Dear Metro,

Thank you for starting my days with a few short sprints to catch your trains,

for giving me mini heart attacks when my abono flashes red at the check in for a moment,

and for giving me that sense of accomplishment for making it into a train before it departs.

I wish you would shower a little more often,

most days you smell of caca and perros flautas.

Sometimes your habitants awkwardly stare at me,

brush their hands against me,

and listen in on my convos.

On the weekends, you're the most popular place for botellones,

meeting up with others,

and beginning the night.

I love the entertainment you provide,

from accordians, to singing, to quartets,

you have all the latest artists.

If I am ever looking for a strange gift or trinket,

all I have to do is leave you, or stop at your entrance.

Your blue line is old, your orange line is new.

Your travelers are the same way, too.

Thank you, Metro, for always being there when I need you.

Except, of course, after about 2.

Typical busy day on the Metro

Accordion man

Selfies on the blue line

Singer complete with microphone

Guitarist

Another accordion man

La Segunda Semana

Time is already flying by here! I can't believe it has already been two weeks. So much has happened and there is still so much to do!

This past week was spent eating a lot ton of foods and doing a lot of touristy things. Marina is, as I've mentioned, an amazing chef so every meal she serves I'm definitely going to be home! I'm a huge foodie, though, so this makes it a little bit harder to justify eating out when all meals are delicious and free. My solution: tapas and pastries. These things are literally everywhere in Madrid and it is SO hard to say no! Last Monday I finally tried this giant pasteleria in Puerta del Sol that I practically pass everyday, and it turns out it is basically the most fantastic pastry shop in Madrid. I'm not even ashamed to say that within a week I have been three times. Yum!

La Mallorquina with Taylor!

Tapas are small portions of food served with drinks at bars, kind of like hors d'oeuvres. Normally it's a slice of baguette bread with some sort of topping, like jamón, queso, patatas, and tortilla española. The first place I went to was this cute little spot I found on yelp and the "tapas" were HUGE! I got jamón expecting small portions and what the waiter brought out looked like a meal. Regardless, it was delicious!

La Malaspina

Friday I went with a group of friends from ISA to El Tigre, one of the more popular tapas bars. The deal there is that you buy a drink and get free tapas, and the more people you have the more tapas you get. It was awesome. They brought out giant drinks and a bunch of plates piled with tapas (the normal size) of all kinds. We inhaled them within minutes...and then they brought us more! Best 6 euros spent on tapas for sure.

El Tigre

As far as touristy things, I have been shopping a few different times and have been to a couple historical places/museums. Yesterday we went to El Rastro, this giant market that pops up in the street a few minutes away from us every Sunday. Everything there is so cheap and very cool! I bought a scarf, a pair of earrings and a coin purse for just 12 euros. Awesome!

El Rastro

Wednesday I went with my school to the Palacio Real and toured a few key rooms in the Royal Palace. It was beautiful and so intricate! It had a couple rooms that were Chinese themed, and I'm realizing that China has a huge influence in Spain. It was freeeeezing cold and rainy that day so afterwards a group of us went to a random bar for wine and tapas, surprise!

My illegal picture in Palacio Real...oops

Friday there was another trip to the Prado, a historical art museum, but the second I got there I realized I left my phone at the school. I decided to turn back and get it since it would be closed by the end of the tour, and it took me 2 hours to go all the way back to school and home. I was so exhausted, and bummed I missed the tour. Never forgetting anything at school again!

Today Nebrija took us to the Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. It was very cool and I'm definitely planning on going back soon to see the rest of their collection, I only saw a fourth today. I found out that their Salvador Dali exhibit is much smaller than usual because part of the collection is out at other museums for awhile. Dali is one of my favorite artists and my favorite piece by him is out and won't be back until the end of the year. I'm so sad! But the rest of the art was amazing, and there were some great Picasso and Ponce de León pieces as well.

¡Vamos a Toledo!

Saturday was ISA's first excursion of the program, and we went to Toledo. It was about an hour bus trip away from Madrid, not too bad. When we arrived we had a short bus tour of the city then stopped at the top of the mountain for a great view of the entire place. It was beautiful! The rest of the day we spent in the heart of the city being mega tourists. Our tour guide was originally from Toledo and just about everything he told us on the tour was spoken in spanish...so naturally I got tired of trying to understand and missed some details...oopsie.

The first place we visited was San Juan de los Reyes, a monastery built for Ferdinand y Ysabel, King and Queen of Spain many many years ago. The entire monastery had their crest, initials, and other things all about them throughout. It was a huge, beautiful, historic building with so much detail throughout. I can't even begin to imagine how much time was put into the construction of it. This was my favorite place in Toledo because of all the detail!

A monkey on a toilet reading a book, ha!

The Monastery

Inside the Monastery

So much detail!

Next we went to el Museo Sefardí-Sinagoga del Tránsito. This place was also very cool but the Synagogue wasn't preserved as well as the monastery - it had been converted more into a museum. The few things that stuck with me about this place was that when services were held there, the men and women would be separated to eliminate distractions - men on the first floor and women on the second. Also, in one of the cases of historic things, our tour guide pointed out a knife and asked if we knew what it was for...we had no idea. It was for circumcision. EW. But the place was very pretty!

The main wall in the Synagogue

Finally on the tour we went to la iglesia de Santo Tomé, where the famous painting by El Greco "El Entierro del Señor de Orgaz" is housed. Our guide spent about 30 minutes explaining the painting and it was all very interesting. No pictures were allowed of the actual painting so I bought a postcard of it.

After the guided tour we had about 2 hours for exploring Toledo on our own. We went to a small restaurant and got bocadillos y dulces (me encantan las dulces) then went souvenir shopping. Toledo is famous for its gold, knives, and swords, so a few of us bought these things. I only got a couple trinkets but it was fun wandering around the city looking at swords.

Some friends from ISA and I en una calle

All in all, Toledo is a beautifully historic city in Spain that I would definitely recommend to anyone!

Marina y Carlos

This week I spent a lot of time getting to know my host parents, Marina and Carlos. They are originally from Argentina so they don't have the traditional Spanish accent, which is very nice. Marina cooks a lot of Argentinian dishes and they're all so delicious! There hasn't been anything I haven't liked yet. Carlos is a writer and director of plays, and Marina is an actress. They own a school of theater together called Plot Point. They have four kids, all grown and out of the house. So far I have only met one, Tomás.

On Thursday night, M&C took Casey and I to dinner at an Argentinian steakhouse here in Madrid. It was fantastic and our table was spoiled because they have known the waitress for about four years! We started off with champagne and bread, then wine with argula salad and steak, then dulce de leche crepes with icecream and a frozen peach drink, then a shot of limoncelo. So much food! The dinner took about 3 hours, so we really got to know them more. They asked us about our hopes and dreams and more about who we are, so it was cool to spend some more quality time with them outside of the house. 

I asked them how they met and it's the most adorable story - Carlos was a writer and Marina was an actress, both living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Marina's friend told Carlos about her and he put Marina's number in his little black book of girls to call up for dates. Marina was only 21 and Carlos was maybe 30. One day, he was looking through his book and decided to call her up for a date, and she said yes. 2 months later, they were married. About 30 years later, they are still married happily in love with four kids!

Friday night Casey and I went to one of their plays that Carlos wrote and directed and Marina was starring in. We got to see Plot Point and it was really cool seeing first hand what they do. The play was about a crazy mother - Marina - and her daughter. I couldn't understand a ton of what was going on, but the crowd loved it and Marina was hilarious!

A board with all their students

Plot Point before the Play

I'm excited to get to know them more, they are the most genuine, funny, interesting people I've met here in Spain!

Nebrija y Comida

Tuesday and Wednesday this week were quite eventful. Lots of school, food, and friends.

ISA Office Building

On Tuesday, we had orientation and placement exams for the first month of intensive spanish classes at my university, Antonio de Nebrija. The school is very small and all the classes are in one building, but it is very nice. After the placement exam, all of the ISA students in my program got to know each other better and went to the ISA office in central Madrid, where we had a few more hours of orientations. It was a very long day of tests and information being thrown at us, but it was nice to get to know the others in the program better.

Nebrija

Nebrija is about 45 minutes away from my homestay door to door. We have to get up pretty early and take three different lines on the metro then walk about half a mile, but it's a very easy commute. I'm starting to really get a hang of the metro system and I'm excited about how easy it is to go anywhere in Madrid!

After a much needed siesta and cena, my roommate and I decided it was about time that we tried Chocolate con Churros. Within maybe 20 minutes of where we live is the most popular place for this, Chocolatería San Ginés, so we met a couple people from our program there for the most delicious dessert ever. The place reminded me a lot of Cafe Du Monde's beignets in NOLA. Next we decided to wander around Madrid for some vino, and found a cute little hole in the wall place that served pan con pollo with any glass of wine. Apparently in Spain, and maybe all of Europe, whenever alcohol is served it must be served with some food, so the bread and chicken spread was free of charge.

Tyler, Casey, and Sheldon

Chocolate con Churros!

Wednesday was the first official day of classes for the intensive month. I was placed into the intermediate level with a class of 8 students. Here, instead of the students moving from classroom to classroom, we stay in place all day and the profesoras come to us. We have the same group of students for all of our classes this month since we don't have an option in which classes we take based on our level, so it's interesting being with the same 8 people four and a half hours every day. I haven't quite figured out the differences between the three classes we're taking, but we only have two profesoras between them. It is all in Spanish and at first it was a little hard to follow, but after a couple hours I got it. The teachers are very animated in explaining concepts and the classes are very entertaining.

Since we didn't have a very early start to our day Wednesday, Casey (roommate) and I were full of energy and ready to further explore Madrid. We met up with more ISA students and went shopping along the streets for some good rebajas. All over the place there are tiny shops with really pretty scarves in the street, so I got one for only 5 euros. Some places have them as cheap as 3 euros, so I'm sure I'll be buying more! Next we went to Mercado de San Miguel, which is basically a little marketplace where people can buy tapas, frutas, y dulces. I went straight to the baked goods and sampled a pionono, which is a common sweet in Argentina with dulce de leche. My host parents are from Argentina, so Marina was surprised when I was telling her about the pionono here in Madrid.

Dulces!

Our last adventure of the day was to Cien Monteditos. 100 Monteditos is a Cervecería that has beer and bocadillos for 1 euro more or less each, so naturally Casey and I each got bocadillos con jamón and chips, and a beer for only 2 euros! It was really good and cheap so we're already planning on going back soon.

Small sandwich, big beer

Tonight Marina y Carlos are taking Casey y yo to an Argentinian restaurant for dinner, I can't wait!

Lucha, Metro, y Palacio Real

Yesterday was el día de Tres Relles Magos, which is when most Spaniards have their Christmas. The Three Magic Kings gave presents to Jesus, so Spaniards exchange gifts. Since the Holiday was on a Sunday, today is a Bank Holiday. We pretty much had the day off to do whatever we wanted, so my roommate and I wandered around with two others from our program for a couple hours.

We went to El Corte Ingles, a huge department store that is found all over Madrid. The one we went to had seven stories and was full of people. Today was the first day of tons of sales, rebajas, in Madrid so the place was crawling with people. It was crazy! We left to sight see a little, and headed to Plaza de España. From there, we took the metro to Plaza Mayor and explored some in that area. Madrid is a huge city with so many places to see!

Congress Building

Later in the day ISA took us on a bus tour and we scouted out a bunch of places to visit while we are here. On the way to the meeting point for the tour, we saw a full on spanish fight break out in the middle of a small street right by our house. Two middle aged men were yelling and throwing punches at each other, and then one threw the other onto a car! Things were getting pretty intense so we got out of there fast. The bus tour drove around the main parts of the city center, and ended at the Palacio Real, Spain's Royal Palace where the King used to live. It is a huge place and soon we're going to tour it with ISA.

Palacio Real

Tomorrow is the placement test for the intensive month, and then classes begin on Wednesday! Everything is going well and I'm falling in love with Madrid.

El Primero Día

My first day in Madrid was a whirlwind. I arrived in the airport at 7:30 am and after getting through customs and finding the baggage claim, I left for my home stay. My host parents, Marina and Carlos, are so nice, we talked for about an hour and a half and they told me about their four children and the school of theater that they own. My roommate Casey arrived two hours later and we both took a pretty long nap soon after. After our nap, we wandered around the Puerta del Sol area and got some coffee. Madrid has many beautiful buildings and is quite historic. The streets are windy and make no sense to me, but they're pretty cool at the same time. I need to start taking a map along with me when I wander around so I stop getting so confused!

Some buildings near Puerta del Sol

Later in the afternoon, we met the rest of the students in the program and had orientation. The ISA office was closed Sunday so orientation was held at a chain restaurant called Pan & Company. We had bocadillos y papas fritas as we received our personal metro cards and spanish cell phones. There's about 30 people in the program from all over America, and I'm the only one from UT!

The Christmas Tree in Puerta del Sol

For almuerza y cena, Marina cooked for us and it was delicious! Lunch was a torta de jamón y queso, which is basically a puff pastry with ham and cheese, and dinner was a mixture of rice, bell peppers, chicken, and peas tossed in habenero salsa. Marina and Carlos are originally from Argentina, so they love comidas picantes. After dinner we ate some carmelized pecans that I brought them as a gift from Texas, and they loved them! Pecans aren't found in Spain so there isn't a spanish word (that we knew of) for them, so Casey and I taught Marina y Carlos how to say it.

Around midnight Casey and I decided to go for drinks at Dubliners, an Irish Pub a few streets away from home. Most Spaniards don't go out until 1 or 2 am, and many stay out as late as 6 or 8 am, so we were having quite the early night. The pub was filled with americans and a football game was on TV. It was hilarious, but a great break from speaking spanish all day. My roommates from this past fall were in town for a couple days so they met up with us there, and it was so great to see familiar faces.

Overall, it was a fantastic first day and I can't wait to get going in this semester!

Salida de Austin

After a LONG morning of sitting, waiting, being questioned about my stuffed full luggage, and wandering around giant airports, it's finally 2 hours until takeoff. I still can't believe I won't be back home for just about 5 months when I leave, it's so unreal to me. I'm happy to have a glass of wine watching snow out the window at the airport in Chicago to help calm my nerves. I've never really left Austin for more than a couple weeks, so this is going to be quite the adventure. Frankly, I'm scared to death. At the same time, I absolutely cannot wait. This is la aventura I have been waiting to have for years, and its finally here! For now, I'm going to make the final walk to my terminal and bury my nose in Gone With The Wind. See you in Madrid!