Holiday in Spain
¡¡¡¡¡Hola mis amores!!!!!
Well, I´ve kept you in suspense long enough, yes I am still alive and yes I am coming home in 5 days....I will be flying into Philadelphia Airport at 8:20ish pm Tuesday December 19. Flowers, posters and greetings are welcomed, haha (food is too).
Much has happened since my encounter in Rome with Enrique...where to begin? I don´t even remember what I´ve told you and what I haven´t. I guess what I should do is elaborate on a few things from Rome that I maybe, sort of forgot to tell you about. My dad reminded me that I did indeed go to the Pantheon, which is only one of the oldest pieces of architecture in the world, I mean, easy to forget, right? We came up upon it our first day in Rome, all of the sudden it was just there, in the middle of this beautiful square, and the three of us kind of just stopped and let our jaws work their way back from the ground to our faces. We went inside, we had been planning to save it for another day, but it was just too incredible to wait, so we went inside and admired everything. Raphael is buried here....there´s no sign or anything, you just walk up and read a little plaque and all of the sudden you just go, "Oh, that´s Raphael" and then pee in your pants a little. The dome is absolutely incredible...I couldn´t believe that this building was so old. It is incredibly well preserved and as impressive as it must have been hundreds and hundreds of years ago when it was built.
Another quirk of Rome is that they don´t have very many pedestrian crossing lights. They have crosswalks, but they lack the little man who changes from red to green to show you that it is in fact safe to walk. So you basically just decide when you´ve waited enough and cross the street. The first few times it was pretty scary - we might have screamed. But I got the hang of it really quickly and I was always the first one to jump in front of cars (I´m sure my mother is shaking her head at me right now) and Molly and Alec would follow...Alec said that this was my city, what can I say? There´s something about going out in front of a moving vehicle and being quite assured that they will stop that makes you feel very powerful. What can I say, I felt like the Lady in Red from the Special K commercials, who is very powerful and beautiful and the whole world stops to look (or something like that).
Last week was pretty uneventful, we had a "puente" which means that we had a lot of vacation time so I think I went out, but studying for finals has really fried my brain, be patient with me, mis amores...
On Friday, Vanessa, Molly and I decided to go out to Kapital, the largest nightclub in Spain, if not in Europe. We decided to make it a girls night, and set out around 11 to Sol, and went to an Irish bar (they are actually quite common here in Madrid), where they got girly drinks and I got...a beer. Well, actually, it´s a Clara, which is beer and lemonade which makes it slightly more girly...we had a good time at the bar, I dared them both to eat pork rinds, because Babis had already made me try them. They also had beer from Grimbergen at this bar, which totally made my night. For those of you who don´t know, the summer before I came to GW, I went to Belgium to be an au pair, which is like a nanny for 3 Belgian children who didn´t speak a word of English or French. The town I lived in was Grimbergen and like all Belgian towns and cities, they make their own beer. So I got really excited, but I was the only one.
Then we went to another bar, and we happened to find David and Andrew, two guys from the program who had just gone to the movies. We went to a jazz bar with them and us girls shared another drink. Then we ditched the guys and headed off to Kapital.
We had passes thanks to Vanessa to get in for 11€. I´m pretty sure that the normal cover charge is 20€. This may sound like a lot, 11 may sound like a lot, but we got a drink included and the reason why it is so expensive is because it is an absolutely amazing, impressive nightclub. There are 7 stories, each with a different kind of music, it´s own bar (or bars), places to sit, places to dance, places to watch music videos, places to do karaoke...we spent most of our time between the 3 main dance floors, one of which plays Spanish music, the other House (aka techno) and the last a mix of Spanish and American. We danced for 4 straight hours, not stopping until 4:15am. I was quite surprised by the forwardness of Spanish men...I was not without a dance partner for almost the whole night, but there were quite a few that I had to leave behind because of "inappropriate dancing." The Spanish floor converted temporarily into a middle school dance when they put on Grease. Vanessa, Molly and I kind of just looked at each other and started laughing. They also serenaded us with YMCA. We laughed the whole time and knew all the words....Spanish men sound really funny when they try to croon English songs into your ear, it´s not very romantic, it´s just very silly.
We left around 4:15am and I didn´t get home until after 5. I felt very Spanish!!! My Spanish family was obviously very proud of me...then the rest of the weekend was mostly spent studying. I was moody on Sunday and treated myself to a visit to the Prado, because it is free on Sundays. I spent the majority of my time looking at Goya. I have to admit that I find his work rather ugly. It´s not bad, it´s not poorly done, it´s just ugly, especially because I spent my time looking at his "Black Period." There are some quite disturbing paintings there, like the one of Saturn eating one of his sons. But it was good to go back, and also to go without someone telling me what to be looking at and why I should like a painting. It´s not that I don´t like the information, I just get tired of having facts thrown at me when I´m trying to take a painting for what it is for me, and not what it is for someone else.
I´ve had exams practically all week, except for Tuesday. Yesterday, I took some time off and went with Babis to see La Natividad, the Christmas movie that is currently out all around the world. It was absolutely one of the best movies I´ve seen in a long time, if not my whole life. It was very true to the Bible and respectful of Catholics, which I really appreciated. I think there are a lot of movies these days that do not respect where stories come from. Babis and I both loved it, and I loved going with her. We walked both to and from the theatre, and she told me how her sons met their wives and also how she met Emilio. we also ran into one of her sons, Tristan, and his wife Saleta, as we were walking home. It´s a nice change to recognize someone on the street! Her daughter Turu is currently sick with Salmonela (is that how you spell it?), which makes me really sad. We´re going to go visit her before I leave, because she can´t come over for dinner like she was originally planning to. I will miss her a lot, she is one of the nicest people I´ve ever met. I hope that I will be able to stay in touch with her, and also that she will be able to come visit me at some point in the US.
I still have one more final tomorrow...I´m really letting finals get to me this year, it´s a problem. They´re really stressing me out and I´m really frustrated. I think that I´m just ready to go home...it´s very hard to be on the brink of being somewhere and not. I am trying to think of these next few days as a Holiday here (I like the British term, holiday, better than vacation, also it´s an alusion to a song), just that I have very few days to see and to do everything. I think that will make it go faster...not that I really want this to go faster, it´s just the mixture of anticipation and nostalgia. I´m sleeping less than usual, as if that were even possible, and the food is finally starting to fray on my nerves. I´m going to get really sick when I get home because all I´m going to eat is junk food!
A woman came to visit from the GW program in DC. She came to my house here and took some photos to show prospective students. I was surprised at how difficult it was for me to converse with her in English, I felt really awkward and I didn´t really know what to say. My vocab is a complete mix of Spanglish and when she started speaking English in my house, I was completely taken aback. I suppose this is a good thing, but it´s kind of scary, I´m nervous about the culture shock I will experience when I get home. I know it´s only been three and a half months...but I´ve really adjusted to this culture and the language as well.
The final dinner is on Sunday...I´m looking forward to that as well, and not only because I heard a rumor that we have an open bar until 3am...haha, don´t worry, I always behave myself. We have to dance flamenco - gasp! That will be quite a sight, I hope no one brings a video camera, because we are all going to make fools of ourselves, haha.
Well mis amores, tomorrow is my last day here at UAM, so it is my last day with a computer. I will probably not have much news, so look for an entry later next week, when I tell you all about my trip home!!!!!
Muchos besos, y amor siempre
Well, I´ve kept you in suspense long enough, yes I am still alive and yes I am coming home in 5 days....I will be flying into Philadelphia Airport at 8:20ish pm Tuesday December 19. Flowers, posters and greetings are welcomed, haha (food is too).
Much has happened since my encounter in Rome with Enrique...where to begin? I don´t even remember what I´ve told you and what I haven´t. I guess what I should do is elaborate on a few things from Rome that I maybe, sort of forgot to tell you about. My dad reminded me that I did indeed go to the Pantheon, which is only one of the oldest pieces of architecture in the world, I mean, easy to forget, right? We came up upon it our first day in Rome, all of the sudden it was just there, in the middle of this beautiful square, and the three of us kind of just stopped and let our jaws work their way back from the ground to our faces. We went inside, we had been planning to save it for another day, but it was just too incredible to wait, so we went inside and admired everything. Raphael is buried here....there´s no sign or anything, you just walk up and read a little plaque and all of the sudden you just go, "Oh, that´s Raphael" and then pee in your pants a little. The dome is absolutely incredible...I couldn´t believe that this building was so old. It is incredibly well preserved and as impressive as it must have been hundreds and hundreds of years ago when it was built.
Another quirk of Rome is that they don´t have very many pedestrian crossing lights. They have crosswalks, but they lack the little man who changes from red to green to show you that it is in fact safe to walk. So you basically just decide when you´ve waited enough and cross the street. The first few times it was pretty scary - we might have screamed. But I got the hang of it really quickly and I was always the first one to jump in front of cars (I´m sure my mother is shaking her head at me right now) and Molly and Alec would follow...Alec said that this was my city, what can I say? There´s something about going out in front of a moving vehicle and being quite assured that they will stop that makes you feel very powerful. What can I say, I felt like the Lady in Red from the Special K commercials, who is very powerful and beautiful and the whole world stops to look (or something like that).
Last week was pretty uneventful, we had a "puente" which means that we had a lot of vacation time so I think I went out, but studying for finals has really fried my brain, be patient with me, mis amores...
On Friday, Vanessa, Molly and I decided to go out to Kapital, the largest nightclub in Spain, if not in Europe. We decided to make it a girls night, and set out around 11 to Sol, and went to an Irish bar (they are actually quite common here in Madrid), where they got girly drinks and I got...a beer. Well, actually, it´s a Clara, which is beer and lemonade which makes it slightly more girly...we had a good time at the bar, I dared them both to eat pork rinds, because Babis had already made me try them. They also had beer from Grimbergen at this bar, which totally made my night. For those of you who don´t know, the summer before I came to GW, I went to Belgium to be an au pair, which is like a nanny for 3 Belgian children who didn´t speak a word of English or French. The town I lived in was Grimbergen and like all Belgian towns and cities, they make their own beer. So I got really excited, but I was the only one.
Then we went to another bar, and we happened to find David and Andrew, two guys from the program who had just gone to the movies. We went to a jazz bar with them and us girls shared another drink. Then we ditched the guys and headed off to Kapital.
We had passes thanks to Vanessa to get in for 11€. I´m pretty sure that the normal cover charge is 20€. This may sound like a lot, 11 may sound like a lot, but we got a drink included and the reason why it is so expensive is because it is an absolutely amazing, impressive nightclub. There are 7 stories, each with a different kind of music, it´s own bar (or bars), places to sit, places to dance, places to watch music videos, places to do karaoke...we spent most of our time between the 3 main dance floors, one of which plays Spanish music, the other House (aka techno) and the last a mix of Spanish and American. We danced for 4 straight hours, not stopping until 4:15am. I was quite surprised by the forwardness of Spanish men...I was not without a dance partner for almost the whole night, but there were quite a few that I had to leave behind because of "inappropriate dancing." The Spanish floor converted temporarily into a middle school dance when they put on Grease. Vanessa, Molly and I kind of just looked at each other and started laughing. They also serenaded us with YMCA. We laughed the whole time and knew all the words....Spanish men sound really funny when they try to croon English songs into your ear, it´s not very romantic, it´s just very silly.
We left around 4:15am and I didn´t get home until after 5. I felt very Spanish!!! My Spanish family was obviously very proud of me...then the rest of the weekend was mostly spent studying. I was moody on Sunday and treated myself to a visit to the Prado, because it is free on Sundays. I spent the majority of my time looking at Goya. I have to admit that I find his work rather ugly. It´s not bad, it´s not poorly done, it´s just ugly, especially because I spent my time looking at his "Black Period." There are some quite disturbing paintings there, like the one of Saturn eating one of his sons. But it was good to go back, and also to go without someone telling me what to be looking at and why I should like a painting. It´s not that I don´t like the information, I just get tired of having facts thrown at me when I´m trying to take a painting for what it is for me, and not what it is for someone else.
I´ve had exams practically all week, except for Tuesday. Yesterday, I took some time off and went with Babis to see La Natividad, the Christmas movie that is currently out all around the world. It was absolutely one of the best movies I´ve seen in a long time, if not my whole life. It was very true to the Bible and respectful of Catholics, which I really appreciated. I think there are a lot of movies these days that do not respect where stories come from. Babis and I both loved it, and I loved going with her. We walked both to and from the theatre, and she told me how her sons met their wives and also how she met Emilio. we also ran into one of her sons, Tristan, and his wife Saleta, as we were walking home. It´s a nice change to recognize someone on the street! Her daughter Turu is currently sick with Salmonela (is that how you spell it?), which makes me really sad. We´re going to go visit her before I leave, because she can´t come over for dinner like she was originally planning to. I will miss her a lot, she is one of the nicest people I´ve ever met. I hope that I will be able to stay in touch with her, and also that she will be able to come visit me at some point in the US.
I still have one more final tomorrow...I´m really letting finals get to me this year, it´s a problem. They´re really stressing me out and I´m really frustrated. I think that I´m just ready to go home...it´s very hard to be on the brink of being somewhere and not. I am trying to think of these next few days as a Holiday here (I like the British term, holiday, better than vacation, also it´s an alusion to a song), just that I have very few days to see and to do everything. I think that will make it go faster...not that I really want this to go faster, it´s just the mixture of anticipation and nostalgia. I´m sleeping less than usual, as if that were even possible, and the food is finally starting to fray on my nerves. I´m going to get really sick when I get home because all I´m going to eat is junk food!
A woman came to visit from the GW program in DC. She came to my house here and took some photos to show prospective students. I was surprised at how difficult it was for me to converse with her in English, I felt really awkward and I didn´t really know what to say. My vocab is a complete mix of Spanglish and when she started speaking English in my house, I was completely taken aback. I suppose this is a good thing, but it´s kind of scary, I´m nervous about the culture shock I will experience when I get home. I know it´s only been three and a half months...but I´ve really adjusted to this culture and the language as well.
The final dinner is on Sunday...I´m looking forward to that as well, and not only because I heard a rumor that we have an open bar until 3am...haha, don´t worry, I always behave myself. We have to dance flamenco - gasp! That will be quite a sight, I hope no one brings a video camera, because we are all going to make fools of ourselves, haha.
Well mis amores, tomorrow is my last day here at UAM, so it is my last day with a computer. I will probably not have much news, so look for an entry later next week, when I tell you all about my trip home!!!!!
Muchos besos, y amor siempre
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