Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was Sina's last day at TANDEM. So after class all of us went out to 100 Montaditos to wish her good luck (she's starting college next Monday), and to say goodbye.  It's weird that people I've made friends with are already leaving and it's only been a week and a half.  After a few montaditos and some drinks (coke for me!) I left so I could make it back to Loli's in time for lunch.  After lunch I worked on homework and relaxed a little bit.  Then at 5:30 I headed out to meet Mikaela in Puerta del Sol so we could go to our cooking class!  We got on the metro and met Katie at the entrance to the metro stop closest to our destination.  After everyone had gathered together we walked to the restaurant we were learning to cook in, Mano a Mano.  Once we were seated in the restaurant we were served a delicious salad with lettuce, mango, apple, and cherries.  Very light and summery. Then we all went back into the kitchen where the chef taught us how to make two different kinds of paella: vegetable and mixed.  Both were delicious, but I enjoyed the mixed one more because it had all kinds of seafood in it: baby shrimp, calamari, some kind of fish, chicken, and scary looking (yet delicious tasting) prawns with the heads and legs still on them.  A dinner party will be in order once I return.  After we ate the paella, we had some coffee (or tea if you're me and don't like coffee).  On my way home I stopped in el Corte Ingles to buy some things for school, and the most important thing of all: peanutbutter. :)

Today after class Katie and I decided to walk to Retiro Park and do some of our homework and eat a snack (apples and PEANUTBUTTER of course).  After we finished our worksheets we went home to each lunch with our families.  At 4:15 we were meeting outside the metro to walk together to the Sorolla Museum.  But when I got out of the metro stop I had no idea where I was. So I had to go back down into the metro and walk all the way to the other end so that I would be at the correct exit. Needless to say, I was a little late.  When we got to the Sorolla Museum, our guide, Sonia, talked about Joaquin Sorolla, his life, inspiration, where he lived, painted, etc.  The museum is one of Sorolla's houses.  The gardens outside (one of his inspirations) were small, yet beautiful, with fountains and beautiful tiles everywhere.  The house has two floors.  On each floor the walls are covered with some of Sorolla's best works, and each room contains different artifacts that were part of the house (when it was still a house).  I think Sorolla is my new favorite painter.  I love the soft lines of his paintings, the blurring of the edges, the subtle changes in color.  I especially love his beach scenes (which shouldn't be surprising).  There was one painting of two young girls holding hands while playing in the ocean. It was my favorite because it reminded me of Carolyn and I at the beach.  I wish they had a museum shop because I would have bought a print of that in an instant.  I will definitely be going back to that museum. On the way home I stopped in at a souvenir shop and picked up some post cards to write out. Expect mail!

Beginning of Week 2

Monday! The beginning of the second week of classes (already!). When I got to school I was surprised at how many people were there. Literally I think the size of the school tripled over the weekend. The size of my class doubled! There are now, 2 more girls from Germany (well one’s a girl and one is a woman), 1 woman from Ireland who lived in Australia, 1 girl from Austria, and 1 boy from England. It’s definitely a multi cultural class. And now we have Ruben first and Susana second (which makes me a little sad because, while I like Susana, I enjoy Ruben’s class more and it was always nice to look forward to his class during Susana’s.) After class I went home and ate lunch and did a little homework. Then I met Katie and Sina in the metro and we went to a big mall together. We were there a pretty long time.  I bought myself 2 plain short sleeve shirts to wear with my patterned skirts. They were only 3,50€ each and I know I’ll wear them a million times.  When I got home I ate dinner, finished my homework, showered, then talked to my family on Skype. I went to bed later than I wanted to, but it was still a successful day.

On Tuesday right after class I went home, changed my clothes and went for my first run in Spain. Boy was it painful (since I haven’t run in weeks, but shhhhh keep that a secret).  But I forced myself to do it and was happy afterwards. I ran to the Temple Debod which is located in a nice park with a big circular path around it. So I was able to run around the path 4 times and run back.  When I got back I went to unlock the door when suddenly Loli appeared beside me. She had been waiting because she couldn’t unlock the door. So I tried to put my key in the lock and it only went halfway and no further. We were locked out. So we chilled in the neighbor’s parlor for a few minutes until Jacinto came home.  Loli told him her key and my key weren’t working. So he tried his and of course, it worked.  Loli said to the neighbor “of course it’s the man’s key that works.” She’s so funny.  We ate a delicious paella lunch together. Then I did ALL of my homework and showered.  Then I walked back to school for our first cultural activity this week. We walked to the tourist office in the Plaza de Colon as a group (there were like 20 of us from school now). It was supposed to be a tertulia for all the students from Madrid area schools, but only we showed up. So we listened to this kind of boring lecture about things to do in Madrid. I kind of fell asleep.  But we got little presents from the tourist office (Madrid Post-it notes, a little notebook, and a couple of guides on fun things to do as students in Madrid). After that Katie and I hopped on the metro to meet up with Antonia and Sina in Sol.  When we got there we went to this fantastic bakery right on the plaza and got Palomas Chocolates (basically a giant cookie-like thing covered in chocolate.) They were freaking delicious! When Sina and Antonia arrived we went to a little restaurant for a drink, but the waiter told us (only after we had ordered our drinks) that if we were just going to drink we had to go to the bar, because the tables were reserved for people who were going to eat. So we ordered 2 croquetas de jamon just to please the snobby waiter. We didn’t leave him a tip. After that we made our plans for tomorrow (Sina’s last day L) and went home.  

Our First Weekend!

Saturday began our first free weekend in Madrid. Katie, Antonia, Sina, and I decided to get the most out of the pool as we could before it closed, so at 11:30 we met up, and grabbed the same spot on the grass as the day before. We spent until 6 doing the same thing as the day before (except we played a few rounds of asshole this time).  After we left the pool we went home to nap, shower, and eat dinner. That night Mikaela and I met up in Sol around 10:30.  We were waiting for Katie (who took forever to get there because she was figuring out transportation home) for a while, so we decided to go to 100 Montaditos and get a drink while waiting. Finally she arrived and we texted Sina and Antonia to ask where the discoteca was. Unfortunately, neither of them answered their phones. So we decided to just pick a direction and walk (especially when we were done being approached by strange men).  We ended up going to a really small club called Star Studio.  The benefit was we got in for free, and they gave us free drinks. So we didn’t really complain. Plus they played American music so we knew all the songs. After dancing a bit we were so hot (it was burning in the club) so we went outside and sat down under lamp (like everyone else in the plaza was doing). After sitting for a little bit we tried to find a 24 hour pharmacy for Mikaela because she was having an allergic reaction to something, but we didn’t see one. We ended up hanging out in Sol, till about 3 am when Katie saw her bus pull up and decided it was time to go (since her bus only comes once an hour).  Mikaela grabbed a cab and I got walking. I skyped with Ali for a few minutes when I got home then I slept like a rock.

On Sunday I went to church with Loli at 12. We went to la Iglesia de San Gines right near out apartment.  It’s a beautiful church.  As good as some of the ones we had to pay to see. After mass was over Loli and I walked around the church so I could see all the different chapels.  She told me her two sons, and all of Jacinto’s brothers were baptized in that church. It was so sweet our bonding moment. After church we met up with her friend Candela who took us out for a drink (Loli had a beer. I love her!).  Candela came over afterwards and ate lunch with us. Loli stuffed me full of food (I think I need to ask her to give me less or else I might explode one day).  After lunch I did my homework and made a study sheet of the subjunctive for later on.  I also skyped with my entire family while they were at Nana’s for the Labor Day Weekend Clam Bake.  (Next time don’t move the computer so fast guys!) Then Katie and I met up at the movie theater near her house.  We saw Conocerá al hombre de sus sueños (You will meet the man of your dreams), which goes by the title You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger in the US.  It’s a Woody Allen Movie with Antonio Banderas, and Naiomi Watts.  For the most part I understood what was going on, except it ended a bit suddenly and I wasn’t quite sure what had happened. I would like to see it in English too so I can fully understand why people around me were laughing and I wasn’t.  After the movie Katie and I went to McDonald’s to get a 1€ icecream.  Then I went home and ate dinner, skyped some more with mom and dad and went to bed.

First Week of Classes Part Two

David Bisbal

On Thursday after class I walked with Mikaela towards Puerta del Sol where she catches the bus.  We went into a few stores along the way and she bought herself a pair of shoes (I didn’t buy anything).  After eating lunch and doing my homework, I went back to school for our second cultural activity of the week: a session on Spanish music (past and present) with Ruben.  He played us
 all kinds of music in order to get us interested in Spanish bands.  Some of the bands I like and want to look up on itunes, but others were awful.  After the activity was over everyone who was there went to a 100 montaditos close to school to get a drink together.  Katie and I split the mini hamburger and bread with white chocolate (it was literally a mini baguette with a hunka white chocolate inside. Not what we expected at all, especially since we had ordered the regular chocolate one and received a white chocolate one.) One of the girls that came with us is from Poland. When I looked at her I thought to myself “wow it’s completely obvious that I’m Polish.” We have the exact same body shape, and face shape, not to mention that we were the exact same height, and both have blonde hair.  I think I found my lost sister. After that I went home, ate some dinner, and had 3 different Skype dates.

Friday after school Katie and I went with Antonia and Sina to the pool. The weather was gorgeous so it was the perfect day to lounge around and get a suntan.  The pool is located in the Casa del Campo and it was the last weekend it was open (kind of like how a lot of seasonal things close after Labor Day).  We got ourselves a spot on the grass and spent the entire day tanning, talking, and swimming.  The pool is an interesting place for a few reasons: #1 it’s the gay pool (for men) so there were a bunch of couples longing together on the grass in their speedos (yes, all the men wear speedos), #2 topless women (which really doesn’t need much more explanation except that at least 50% of those women should not have been topless nor in a bikini), and #3 thong bikinis (see previous explanation). So needless to say we saw some pretty interesting people at the pool.  In fact, Sina and Antonia had gone so much they had names for a few of the women there. Miss Raja (raja is the slit in a skirt) is a women who is at least 60 that wears a thong bikini and goes topless and enjoys to spread her legs out and give everyone a nice view.  Miss Plastico (plastic duhh!) has had some work done. And Miss Flaca (skinny) is a woman who is so skinny you can basically count her ribs when she lies down.  We didn’t leave the pool till after 7 (and we had arrived at 12:45!).  Since the sun had drained all of our energy we decided not to go out that night and rest instead.

First Week of Classes Part One

Since I don't think it's entirely necessary to explain each day in detail I'll lump 'em all together and point out the important things.

Monday was the first day of classes. They start at 9 am and end at 12:15.  Since it doesn't take me that long to get ready for school, I've been waking up at 7:45.  I'm trying to get as much sleep as possible in each night! Spaniards eat a very light breakfast, so I've been eating 2 pieces of toast with Nutella along with Cola Cao (hot chocolate).  It's a light breakfast, but I haven't felt like I need to eat more
afterwards. Drinking hot chocolate in the warm weather is a little difficult, but I've been able to stomach it.  I've decided to walk to school everyday (unless I'm running late or it's super crappy weather, which is unlikely to happen).  I leave the house at 8:30 giving myself plenty of time to complete the 20 (ish) minute walk.  It's a really nice walk that takes me through the Puerta del Sol and past the Congress building.  Usually I get to school by 8:50 so I have time to walk around and get my things in order for class.

Our day is divided (for the moment) into 2 classes. One from 9-10:30 with one professor (so far Gemma on Mon and Tues, and Susanna Wed-Fri) then a 15 minute break, when I usually eat a piece of fruit, followed by our second class from 10:45-12:15 (with Ruben). So far we've been doing a lot of grammar review, learning about Spanish culture, learning new adjectives, and doing a lot of hands on activities.  There are only 5 people in our class right now, Katie and I, 2 German girls, and 1 British man. People will be coming and going from our morning grammar classes all the time, as a lot of students come to TANDEM for a few weeks to either improve on their Spanish or start learning Spanish for the first time. So far Ruben is my favorite.  He's very energetic when it comes to teaching, and his class basically consists of lively discussion about the homework or other topics ("the best way to learn spanish is to get a spanish boyfriend." "do you have any friends that would want to be our boyfriends?")

After classes are over, we've been doing all kinds of things (keeping in mind that we return home (normally) for lunch with our families).  On Monday after class we had our academic orientation where Lesley told us all the things we needed to know about when classes are, how we're graded etc. Monday night I went adventuring around my neighborhood again for a few hours.  I walked all the way to the Temple Debod and back. There was a gorgeous park on the way with statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza on horseback, as well as a fabulous fountain.  Everything was lit up beautifully and the night was warm so there were a million people out.  It was a great way to end the night.

Tuesday after class I went home for lunch then met up with Katie, Mikaela, and Anke (a girl from Germany who finished Tandem classes that day). We did a little shopping at Principe Pio mall before heading back to school to meet with Ruben for our first cultural activity.  Ruben took us on a walking tour of Madrid and pointed all kinds of neat things out to us that you might never learn on a regular tour of Madrid such as: the marker on the ground in Puerta del Sol from which all distances in Spain are measured, the clock that people watch on New Years Eve, the statue in Plaza Mayor that birds used to get trapped inside, and many other things.  Everything was in Spanish but I understood most of it. After the tour, everyone in the group (Katie, Mikaela, Anke, Julian (boy from Germany) and I went and got bocadillos de calamares (calamari sandwiches) per order of Ruben. They were delicious, but it was hard to eat the bread and the calamari at the same time.After we finished the bocadillos we desperately needed a drink, so Katie, Mikaela, Julian, and I found a little restaurant with an outdoor patio and got something to drink (us girls split the sangria of course. We let Julian have some too.) As we parted ways for the night, Julian, Katie, and I were all headed in the same direction (towards Puerta del Sol).  As we got closer we noticed there were tons of people in the plaza all cheering and chanting and wearing Atletico (one of the soccer teams in Madrid) gear.  Soon we found out that el equipo Atletico had won some European Championship and this was the day of the celebration. All the players were inside one of the main buildings on the plaza.  We grabbed ourselves some free crowns (that say campeones (champions) on them) and tried to see if we could get a glimpse of some of the players. Unfortunately, there were too many people by the building so we couldn’t get a good look. But it was still kind of fun to participate in a big celebration like that.  After that we all went home for dinner.

On Wednesday after class we hung out at school for a bit, just chatting and getting to know each other better. After that I went home for lunch then decided I needed to run some errands. I went to el Corte Ingles and bought myself a modem from Orange that lets me get the internet wherever I am.  It was 20€, plus 3,50€ each day for internet service. But if you use the internet more than ten days in a month (which will obviously happen) you pay a flat rate of 35€.  It’s a little expensive, but I couldn’t live without my computer and the internet.  Then I went to the grocery store and bought myself 7 apples (one for each school day for the next week and a half).  The apples are HUGE. But they’re not very sweet.  Still, they’re a good snack in between classes.  After dinner that evening I met up with Katie, Antonia and Sina (our German friends), and a bunch of other people from school that I hadn’t met yet at a restaurant called 100 Montaditos. It’s a restaurant where everything costs less than 2€ each, and they have 100 things to choose from.  On Wednesday nights however, you can get 1 montadito, and 1 LARGE drink (like tinto de verano (summer wine)) for only 2€.  Pretty sweet deal.  All the little montaditos are basically 3 bite little sandwiches filled with a variety of different things.  You place your order by marking off on a sheet of paper what things you want. Then you bring it up to the bar, they place your order, and you wait till you hear your name called over the loudspeaker (Katy, por favor, Katy), and you go up and get your food. It was super crowded but really fun.  We left the restaurant at about 11:15. By that point I was super tired, so I went home (and I wanted to Skype with my family), but everyone else went out to another bar to get a drink. I was glad I didn’t go, I would’ve been so tired on the next day! After Skyping with my family I finally went to bed.