Madrid & Its Neighbors

(this picture pretty much sums up the past week here)

MADRID

I’ve been in Madrid for a month and 2 days now. I can’t believe its been that long. And at the same time, I feel like I’m running out of time here and that I’ve wasted precious weekends by staying in Madrid and not traveling. From now on, Adriana and I will be leavning the city every weekend. This weekend we hit up Toledo and Segovia. Next weekend we’re going to Valencia for Las Fallas.

So this past week has been hectic for no good reason. I’ve been out just about every night this week, including Monday. I guess that’s what happens when you start making friends. Mind you, all of my friends are from the States or England. All the Spaniards in my classes and around the campus are really cliquey. They never even attempt to start up a conversation with us. No one even talks to me in my mini-curso where there are only 14 other students. Not because I’m amaerican, they don’t know that yet because I’ve yet to open my mouth in class, but because they only talk to the 2 other people they signed up for the class with. Maybe I’m so used to having my friends in classes with me, but I feel like there isn’t as much of the exclusion and cliqueiness back home in Berkeley.

Anyway- back to the good parts of my week. Monday night we went out for post-school drinks and I didn’t get home until 1:30 in the morning. And the rest of the school week followed suit. Wednesday night Chris was yelled at by an angry Madrilleno. Thursday night there was some discotecca action but I was more excited by the karaoke section of the club than the dance floor. Friday night was a flat-party hosted my the wonderful Zarlashta Christiana and Emma. I made friends with more students from Carlos III (again- all English). The most interest thing about the party was the fact that the only Americans there were Cal students (except for the couple visiting from Barcelona). I don’t know what that means…

I had an absolutely amazing weekend. Madrid is still not a city I love, but I’m warming up to it. In fact, I defended the hell out of it when Adriana and Emi made some negative comments about it. Sure Madrid isn’t as beautiful as the cities in Andalucia. Sure the people here are rude. But once you get past the few setbacks, you can enjoy it a whole lot more. You just have to put yourself out there- cliché, I know, but so true. Madrid has a lot to offer, it’s just not as obvious as in other places. The culture shock tends to obscure the treasures.

A few treasures:

Playing Uno in a sangria bar hidden underground.

-Taking a picture of the police, watching them get out of their car to get angry at us, and having to delete said picture
Kinder-eggs and the toys hidden inside
The sandwich shop in Getafe

Sunsets over the park

THE NEIGHBORS

Toledo is impossible to navigate, so we just wandered around the entire day. We (meaning Adriana, Daniel and myself) somehow managed to see a great deal of the city and discovered some interesting vistas and plazas. It ended up being a very chill day filled with tiny cafes, el Greco painting, and laying down on a cliff overlooking the hillside below. It’s a good thing we walked around a lot otherwise I would have felt bad about eating all those marzipans (a specialty in Toledo). We also trespassed into an art school without knowing it. A teacher there spotted me looking lost and confused through the courtyard and, very kindly, led me out to the street adn pointed me in the direction of the church I was looking for. I claimed that I was alone as Adriana and Dan walked into a closed exhibition and pissed off a tempermental artist. I heard the artist whining about them on my way out and immediately called Adriana once the coast was clear, urging her to make a quick escape.

In Segovia we (Adriana and I) met up with Santiago for all of 2 minutes. Adriana and I hugged the aqueduct a few times as we were so inspired by its historical significance. I was so excited by the gothic cathedral, my brain hurt and I couldn’t stop pointing out the ribbed barrel vaults and flying-buttresses or force the image of my arch history professor doing the gothic architecture dance. And when we were through with the city, we took the bus back to Madrid. What a beautiful drive!