Retiro Park

Well yesterday I had a great day with some friends, and none of it was planned! A few of us met up in Retiro park in the afternoon just to walk around. Retiro is probably one of my favorite places in Madrid. It is just so pretty especially with all of the leaves changing colors. There is so much to see and there are always a bunch of people there. In the middle of the park, there is a lake where you can rent a boat for 45 minutes and go out on the water. So Landri, Joe, Lindsey and I decided to do it. It was a lot of fun. Then after Retiro, we decided to walk around a part of the city that we had never been to. We ended up walking to the Real Madrid's soccer stadium and found out there was a game that night. So I ran to the ATM, got some money, and tried to find the cheapest tickets. We bought some about 15 minutes after the game started for a pretty good price, considering the cheapest that the box office had was 250 euro. Real Madrid was playing Atletico Madrid, the other team from Madrid, so it was a loud and rowdy game. The atmosphere in the stadium is very cool, and I'm glad I got to be there for the game. I'm wearing my Real Madrid jersey to class tomorrow (last day of class!) because my teacher is a huge Atletico Madrid fan. Hopefully, he doesn't get too mad...

On the boat in the Retiro

Joe and Landri at the Real Madrid game

Then after the game, we met up with some more friends and my "amigo," Alberto, from school. We are set up with amigos (friends) who live in Madrid and they plan events with us so we can get some good interaction with Spaniards. It was Alberto's birthday so he invited us to go out to a bar with him. It was funny because Alberto and all of his friends wanted to practice their English, but we wanted to practice our Spanish, so we would talk to them in Spanish and they would respond in English. We stayed there until about 4 am, and then Landri and I decided to go get churros and chocolate from San Gines, a famous chocolatería in the middle of Madrid. We walked there since the metro was closed and it was SO COLD. But SO WORTH IT. I have been there twice at around 4:30 am, and both times it has been packed with people coming back from clubs or bars. After that we decided to skip on a cab, and wait until the metro opened at 6:00 to head home. The metro at 6:00 am is also an experience. It's a lot of kids going home from being out (like me). Usually, people are falling asleep in their chairs, or being loud and obnoxious. So overall, it was a great day/morning!

Churros con Chocolate

On Thanksgiving, our school organized a dinner for all of us, our teachers, and some students from another university. We had Spanish appetizers, but the main meal was turkey, stuffing, and french fries. It was a little weird not being in the states for Thanksgiving, but hey I'll take Madrid!

This will be a busy week for class. We have final exams on Tuesday and Wednesday, and our big theatre performance on Thursday for our Theatre class. So lots of work to do, but then we have a week of traveling in Andalucía in the south of Spain!

The Past Few Weeks

Avila

Wow it's been awhile. Time is flying by - a little over a month left! We had our final Prado visit last Friday. Our art teacher came with us each time and taught a lesson about either Velazquez, Goya, or some other artist as we looked at different paintings. The Prado is huge. After going 5 different times, I still have not seen a good majority of the paintings there.

A few weeks ago, we took a tour of the Spanish Congress. In 1981, there was an attempted coup d'etat and members of the Congress were held hostage there. We could see bullet holes in the walls that they keep there as a reminder.

Two weekends ago, I took a day trip by myself to Avila where Saint Teresa of Avila is from. It is about a 1.5 hour train ride from Madrid. It is a medieval city with a huge 12th century wall surrounding it. They had a small museum with some of Saint Teresa's belongings like her rosary and a crucifix she carried. Oh - and her ring finger. There wasn't much else to see there but it was a neat little town.

Last weekend, our group traveled to Toledo which is about an hour south of Madrid. It was one of my favorite trips we have taken. We saw lots of churches and buildings. They are famous for having some of the best mazapán (marzipan) in Spain and the world. They sold it everywhere and it was so good!

Our school also took us to see an authentic flamenco performance. That was really neat. We also went to see a play for our theatre class last week. It was called "El perro del hortelano." I couldn't understand all of it, but it was still entertaining.

The Spanish elections were on Sunday. Instead of just having two main political parties like in the U.S., they have several different parties. This year, the conservative Popular Party won with President Mariano Rajoy. My Señora freaked out a little. She basically said that all of Spain would change for the worst and that everyone was being ignorant. She has extremely strong opinions over almost everything and especially politics, but I suppose I have learned a lot from her!

I am ashamed to say it, but last weekend was the first time I went to Mass here in Spain. I went to a church that I had seen behind the Prado called Iglesia de San Jerónimo el Real. Here's a picture...

Mass was a lot different than what I expected. First of all, there were not that many people there. The whole time, tourists would come in and walk around, even though there was a sign outside that said not to visit during Mass. There was no singing or music. The priest didn't enter down the main aisle - he just came in through a side door near the altar. The same man read all the readings and the Responsorial Psalm all at once. There was no method to going up for the Eucharist - everyone just kind of walked up at once. And it all lasted about 35 minutes. I guess I was just expecting something a little more grand and exciting, but it was still interesting. I never told my Señora that I went, because she is kind of anti-religion. She has made several negative comments about Catholicism in the past. I have actually gotten this impression from a lot of people in Spain. Probably because of Franco who forced Catholicism on all of Spain from about 1953 - 1978. I don't think she would have been mad if I told her, I just think it would have been a little awkward.

Since I was here by myself last weekend, I did a lot of wandering around the city and hanging out with Señora. We watched a lot of politics because the Spanish elections are coming up on November 20th. Señora is very knowledgable so she explained a lot of things to me. One day, I went to the Temple of Debod, which is an ancient Egyptian temple donated to Spain in 1968. It was really pretty at sunset.

Halloween wasn't really a big deal here. A few kids stopped by our apartment for candy, but nothing like in the U.S. I had to buy candy though, so I went to a little market near my house and bought some Spanish candy! My friend Ryan and I went out to a discoteca (club) at night. Everyone was dressed up in scary costumes like zombies and mummies. I missed America where everyone tries to be funny with their costumes. I still don't understand how the Spaniards do it. We got to the club around 12:30 (because it was free before then), and we left right around when it was getting busy at 3:00! People were still walking in when we left. I think a lot of people just try to stay out until the metro opens at 6:00 (which I may have done once or twice...). Ryan and I went on this long walk looking for the buses because the metro closes at 1:30 and we can ride the buses for free. They call the buses "búhos" which means "owls." I always have a hard time finding them, but it is worth the money saved from not taking a cab!

This past weekend, we had a day trip to Segovia. The main thing to see there is this huge roman aqueduct built in the first or second century. We also visited the Segovia Cathedral and the Alcazar.