I'm baaaacck!
After how long it took me to finally write my first entry, you're probably shocked to see another on your computer screen. But, here I am (constantly keeping you on your toes... anxiously awaiting the next blog from España...)
Perhaps also surprising is the fact that I am *still* alive and well in the smelly city of Madrid. (Spain I am sorry, but it's true... You have a strange odor of either garbage, smoke, strong cologne and/or perfume or some strange combination of the above). But regardless... I am still here. Not in love yet-but, there's always the possibility of divorce in 5 months.
Monday we had the morning off, and Courtney and I went shopping. Perhaps this means I'm not a real girl, but I'm not usually a fan of shopping, and I'm especcially not a fan of shopping in Europe for two reasons:
1) Here "shopping" generally consists of aimlessly walking around looking at random supposedly 'cute' things. I'm half girl in that I don't mind shoping if I have specifics in mind that I need to find and perhaps more importantly, dinero, but I HATE looking around aimlessly.
2) I'm a firm believer that Europe tries to TRICK you, and I ALMOST fall for it every time! 15 euros, ¡increíble!.. I then plug this number into my handy-dandy conversion calculator (mi mente) to find out that they once again lied to me.
Regardless, I had a surprisenly nice time out at Sol. Afterwards, we grabbed some small sandwhiches (tengo un bocadillo con queso) at a local bakery and went to Orientation.
Another thing that amazes me about Spaniards... I swear that they can read the future. And not just the psychics on the streets... There are times in which people enter the Metro from atop and randomly start sprinting... They somehow (and this is what fascinates me) know that the Metro is about to stop. What further intrigues me is that the Metro comes every 5 minutes (10 at the most) and everyone a) races down the escalator (apparently I was wrong in assuming escalators=relaxing) and b) dives into the car.
But quite possibly the strangest thing, is that Spaniards are always late!
So you can read the future and sprint like a track star down the stairs, and yet still not make it to the building on time?
Anyway... So, we learned a lot at our (perhaps 3rd?) General Orientation. I will share a few tips with you at this time:
1) Do not worry about turning down the beso greeting or good-bye... especcially if the man has a beard (a-because he's sketchy and b-because it's scratchy... totally made up the sketchy part).
2) If you want to try any form of drugs, please go to Amsterdam. You are advised to avoid the following (including, but not limited to): smoking pot with other students in the cafeteria and snorting coke in the bathroom with the ladies.
3) Use condoms. Apparently Spain has either the highest or second highest rate of HIV in Europe.
4) Spanish men are not afraid to hit you back.
Needless to say, the Orientation practically glorified Spain. After I signed a contract to live here for the rest of my life, we went home and I basically went to bed.
Tuesday brought gifts of a 2 and 1/2 hour tour of Old Madrid and, rain (just another example of Europe lieing to me... Madrid, some water crisis you are in-it's rained half of the time I've been here). On the bright side, we saw a ton of incredible lugares including the Palacio Real (where the Moorish fortress used to be), the Plaza Mayor (central square in Madrid), the Palacio de Cibeles ('town hall'), and the Opera. We also saw the President of the region, who offered me her place when I graduated (world domination, here I come!).
The tour really solidified not only how much I hate being outside in cold rain, but many of the reasons why I'm here. It also reminded me of Spain's incredible random-ness (perhaps I was born in the wrong country). It fascinates me that you have the juxtaposition of these amazing historical monuments coupled with sex shops and English Department stores (i.e. Cortes Inglés).
After the tour a few of us grabbed lunch at Galetaria 4D Caffetteria and went to our Cursillo de enero (mini-course). Spain tricked me yet again in that I was under the impression I was ordering a shrimp meal for seven euros, which instead, ended up being 7 mini shrimp. To lighten the load, at least my cafe con leche had a heart engraved in the foam on top. The Spaniards are full of class.
The rest of Tuesday brought yet another delicious dinner, and churros, purros and chocolate at San Giles... By the way, HIGHLY recommended (and I don't even like chocolate... which I realize, makes me even less of a girl, but rest assured, it's true...)
Wednesday brought *real* regalos. We had Orientation with regards to classes con some estudiantes from the Universidad Complutense. I was much too tired to concentrate on the Spanish, so hopefully I will not be more of a mess than I am already anticipating come the start of classes. After Orientation, we had lunch with all program participants at Hylogui. While we were designated to the outcast table (mentor-less and with staff), I could essentially write this entire blog about my delicious experience. Because I know this entry will be long enough already, I will attempt to limit the description to 3 sentences (here goes nothing...)
Not only was the food free (probably another lie-I'm sure it came from our program costs), but there was a ton of it... We began with individual loafs of unlimited bread (una cosa frustrante-bread etiquette is ALWAYS a surprise... in some places, it's 'un-classy' to put oil and vinegar on your bread even though they will give it to you. In others they will give you a plate. In others they expect you to to put it directly on your bread. So, buena suerte.) (By the way, anything in parenthesis does not count towards my sentence limit). So like I said (continuation of sentence 2), we began with a ton of bread and were then introduced to a family style salad/appetizer tray, fried calamari, a Spanish Omlette of asparagus, mushrooms, ham and some other random incredible surprises, Swordfish, icecream, and unlimited wine. While we may have been assigned to the outcast table, it paid off in the end, because we attempted to finagle our way into a second helping of free icecream, and, were very successful. (One win for Spain!)
After lunch, we came home, eventually made our way to view a piso, ate dinner (I'm learning they LOVE puree of leftovers here) and met some friends out. We went to a small bar called Urgullos, enjoyed some sangria (slightly addicted...) and made our way out to the Sol area. So in Puerta del Sol in Spain, clubs send their employees to the area to hand out flyers and get people to come to their bars. We were lucky enough to have 2 muchachos representing a karaoke bar with promises of free karaoke and sangria approach us. We gave in (mostly because the bar was called "Cher's") to find that we were initially, the absolute only people in the bar. The evening soon included dancing with a crazy 60 year old drunk man with huge sunglasses who loved Wisconsin and singing a duet to Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Once Thursday quickly approached us, we went to view a few apartments (complete disaster), purchased some fresh fruit and bread from a few local markets, and went to our mini-curso.
Thursday night we had the brilliant idea of attending Joy, a popular discoteca. We first grabbed some sangria at Montaditos where some French man complimented me on my 'very nice accent.' I am fairly positive he was refering to my English accent, but I would like to think he loved my Spanish accent, and am sticking to this conclusion. Joy brought dancing with a lack of personal space, some silly Germans, and over pretencious security guards.
Friday, with approximately 4 hours of sleep, which has become my norm, we attended the Prado. Absolutely incredible... I'm a huge fan of learning history indirectly. While the tour was over 2 and 1/2 hours, we still didn't make it through even half of the museum. Dang it Pablo! We also saw a play put on by the students in Reunidas (hilarious).
By the way, on the note of other people, now that I've shared a little bit about myself, perhaps you would like to tell me a little bit about you?
No?
That's fine I wasn't that interested in the first place.
So back to me...
I'm still missing people, peanut butter and not wearing shoes. But, I'm not missing winter or sorostitutes (we only have real prostitutes here). I've become addicted to baked goods from the store down the street (perhaps partially because I cannot subcomb to my baking addiction here until I have my own place), and having coffee made for me every morning.
I'm about to head off to a training session (apparently they trust me enough to have me teach English over here), but I have high hopes of keeping up better with this blog in the future (wish me luck).
When is the next entry coming?!
I'll keep you in suspense... ;)
After how long it took me to finally write my first entry, you're probably shocked to see another on your computer screen. But, here I am (constantly keeping you on your toes... anxiously awaiting the next blog from España...)
Perhaps also surprising is the fact that I am *still* alive and well in the smelly city of Madrid. (Spain I am sorry, but it's true... You have a strange odor of either garbage, smoke, strong cologne and/or perfume or some strange combination of the above). But regardless... I am still here. Not in love yet-but, there's always the possibility of divorce in 5 months.
Monday we had the morning off, and Courtney and I went shopping. Perhaps this means I'm not a real girl, but I'm not usually a fan of shopping, and I'm especcially not a fan of shopping in Europe for two reasons:
1) Here "shopping" generally consists of aimlessly walking around looking at random supposedly 'cute' things. I'm half girl in that I don't mind shoping if I have specifics in mind that I need to find and perhaps more importantly, dinero, but I HATE looking around aimlessly.
2) I'm a firm believer that Europe tries to TRICK you, and I ALMOST fall for it every time! 15 euros, ¡increíble!.. I then plug this number into my handy-dandy conversion calculator (mi mente) to find out that they once again lied to me.
Regardless, I had a surprisenly nice time out at Sol. Afterwards, we grabbed some small sandwhiches (tengo un bocadillo con queso) at a local bakery and went to Orientation.
Another thing that amazes me about Spaniards... I swear that they can read the future. And not just the psychics on the streets... There are times in which people enter the Metro from atop and randomly start sprinting... They somehow (and this is what fascinates me) know that the Metro is about to stop. What further intrigues me is that the Metro comes every 5 minutes (10 at the most) and everyone a) races down the escalator (apparently I was wrong in assuming escalators=relaxing) and b) dives into the car.
But quite possibly the strangest thing, is that Spaniards are always late!
So you can read the future and sprint like a track star down the stairs, and yet still not make it to the building on time?
Anyway... So, we learned a lot at our (perhaps 3rd?) General Orientation. I will share a few tips with you at this time:
1) Do not worry about turning down the beso greeting or good-bye... especcially if the man has a beard (a-because he's sketchy and b-because it's scratchy... totally made up the sketchy part).
2) If you want to try any form of drugs, please go to Amsterdam. You are advised to avoid the following (including, but not limited to): smoking pot with other students in the cafeteria and snorting coke in the bathroom with the ladies.
3) Use condoms. Apparently Spain has either the highest or second highest rate of HIV in Europe.
4) Spanish men are not afraid to hit you back.
Needless to say, the Orientation practically glorified Spain. After I signed a contract to live here for the rest of my life, we went home and I basically went to bed.
Tuesday brought gifts of a 2 and 1/2 hour tour of Old Madrid and, rain (just another example of Europe lieing to me... Madrid, some water crisis you are in-it's rained half of the time I've been here). On the bright side, we saw a ton of incredible lugares including the Palacio Real (where the Moorish fortress used to be), the Plaza Mayor (central square in Madrid), the Palacio de Cibeles ('town hall'), and the Opera. We also saw the President of the region, who offered me her place when I graduated (world domination, here I come!).
The tour really solidified not only how much I hate being outside in cold rain, but many of the reasons why I'm here. It also reminded me of Spain's incredible random-ness (perhaps I was born in the wrong country). It fascinates me that you have the juxtaposition of these amazing historical monuments coupled with sex shops and English Department stores (i.e. Cortes Inglés).
After the tour a few of us grabbed lunch at Galetaria 4D Caffetteria and went to our Cursillo de enero (mini-course). Spain tricked me yet again in that I was under the impression I was ordering a shrimp meal for seven euros, which instead, ended up being 7 mini shrimp. To lighten the load, at least my cafe con leche had a heart engraved in the foam on top. The Spaniards are full of class.
The rest of Tuesday brought yet another delicious dinner, and churros, purros and chocolate at San Giles... By the way, HIGHLY recommended (and I don't even like chocolate... which I realize, makes me even less of a girl, but rest assured, it's true...)
Wednesday brought *real* regalos. We had Orientation with regards to classes con some estudiantes from the Universidad Complutense. I was much too tired to concentrate on the Spanish, so hopefully I will not be more of a mess than I am already anticipating come the start of classes. After Orientation, we had lunch with all program participants at Hylogui. While we were designated to the outcast table (mentor-less and with staff), I could essentially write this entire blog about my delicious experience. Because I know this entry will be long enough already, I will attempt to limit the description to 3 sentences (here goes nothing...)
Not only was the food free (probably another lie-I'm sure it came from our program costs), but there was a ton of it... We began with individual loafs of unlimited bread (una cosa frustrante-bread etiquette is ALWAYS a surprise... in some places, it's 'un-classy' to put oil and vinegar on your bread even though they will give it to you. In others they will give you a plate. In others they expect you to to put it directly on your bread. So, buena suerte.) (By the way, anything in parenthesis does not count towards my sentence limit). So like I said (continuation of sentence 2), we began with a ton of bread and were then introduced to a family style salad/appetizer tray, fried calamari, a Spanish Omlette of asparagus, mushrooms, ham and some other random incredible surprises, Swordfish, icecream, and unlimited wine. While we may have been assigned to the outcast table, it paid off in the end, because we attempted to finagle our way into a second helping of free icecream, and, were very successful. (One win for Spain!)
After lunch, we came home, eventually made our way to view a piso, ate dinner (I'm learning they LOVE puree of leftovers here) and met some friends out. We went to a small bar called Urgullos, enjoyed some sangria (slightly addicted...) and made our way out to the Sol area. So in Puerta del Sol in Spain, clubs send their employees to the area to hand out flyers and get people to come to their bars. We were lucky enough to have 2 muchachos representing a karaoke bar with promises of free karaoke and sangria approach us. We gave in (mostly because the bar was called "Cher's") to find that we were initially, the absolute only people in the bar. The evening soon included dancing with a crazy 60 year old drunk man with huge sunglasses who loved Wisconsin and singing a duet to Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Once Thursday quickly approached us, we went to view a few apartments (complete disaster), purchased some fresh fruit and bread from a few local markets, and went to our mini-curso.
Thursday night we had the brilliant idea of attending Joy, a popular discoteca. We first grabbed some sangria at Montaditos where some French man complimented me on my 'very nice accent.' I am fairly positive he was refering to my English accent, but I would like to think he loved my Spanish accent, and am sticking to this conclusion. Joy brought dancing with a lack of personal space, some silly Germans, and over pretencious security guards.
Friday, with approximately 4 hours of sleep, which has become my norm, we attended the Prado. Absolutely incredible... I'm a huge fan of learning history indirectly. While the tour was over 2 and 1/2 hours, we still didn't make it through even half of the museum. Dang it Pablo! We also saw a play put on by the students in Reunidas (hilarious).
By the way, on the note of other people, now that I've shared a little bit about myself, perhaps you would like to tell me a little bit about you?
No?
That's fine I wasn't that interested in the first place.
So back to me...
I'm still missing people, peanut butter and not wearing shoes. But, I'm not missing winter or sorostitutes (we only have real prostitutes here). I've become addicted to baked goods from the store down the street (perhaps partially because I cannot subcomb to my baking addiction here until I have my own place), and having coffee made for me every morning.
I'm about to head off to a training session (apparently they trust me enough to have me teach English over here), but I have high hopes of keeping up better with this blog in the future (wish me luck).
When is the next entry coming?!
I'll keep you in suspense... ;)
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