Blogs from District of Madrid, Spain, Europe - page 171

Today we went to El Escorial! It is a monestary, a school, a castle, a city, a library and the official burying place of all the kings and queens of Spain, dating back to the 16th Century. They actually don't get buried, they are all in these masoleum type deals. The castle's architecture was awesome, but the one thing that interested me the most were the frescos, the painted ceilings. They were exceptionally impressive in the church and library. The city is about a half hour out Madrid. For lunch I had el menu del dia, where I chose judias verdes, green beans prepared with olive oil, a very similar dish to what Grandpa Bart and Grandma Stella make, so you know it has to be good. For my second course i had tortilla de benito, ... read more

Went to class and stopped at La Galeria, a local marketplace. They have different stands of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, and groceries. Lindsay and I got some fruits. The grapes were amazing!!! They were white and had pits, but their taste made it worth it. Spanish class was fun but I have a lot of homework for tomorrow and my first quiz. Ayy! Anthropology is amazing!!! Did you know that there are four official languages of Spain? There's castellano or Spainsh, Gallego or Galician, Catalán or Catalan, and Vasco or Basque. We also learned about the differing work ethics when geared to gender rolls solely due to the amount of rainfall. Some crazy stuff!!! We had lentils with sausage, and an omelette and guess what? It was good, as always. Probably have to go to Atocha ... read more

So classes started yesterday. I decided that I don't think I'm going to like the classes I chose. So of course I have a required 6 credit intensive language class, which I actually love. Then only 2 other classes, worth 4 credits each to have a 14 credit load. They two classes I enrolled in originally are, Culture of Spain:An Anthropology Perspective, and Garcia Lorca: Theater and Poetry. Because I wasn't sure about them, I also went to the other classes offerered in English, Global Economics and the EU, Intro to Latin American culture, Seminar: Fascism, A look into the Prado Museum. Those are ALL the classes in english here. I have no good choices. I wouldn't mind learning about some of these subjects, but the work is crazy. All have research papers(around 10 pages), most ... read more

Today was Paloma's 20th birthday. She is our Spanish sister, Maria's daughter. It was so cool that we celebrated with them. I really feel like I'm a part of the family. I went out to El Rastro this morning to buy a gift for her from Lindsay and I. I found this awesome pair of sunglasses, and Lindsay bought some flowers. Lindsay wanted to show them some real Italian cooking, so she cooked Eggplant Parm. It was delicious. I can't believe that today marks one week of being on Spanish soil. It’s been great! Tomorrow starts school. Classes won't be as hard as New York, and I'm only taking three instead of at least four. I went out with some friends for dinner at VIPS again. I had the same amazing oriental salad. I hope to ... read more

So we were told to come to the Retiro park(basically their Central Park) to meet Spaniards and have some fun. So yeah, they split us into groups and there was one spaniard for every 10 people. We walked through the park, but then went forever and ever away to eat. We sat in a cafeteria and talked. I didn't really understand everything, but other people were laughing so I would laugh. One of the girls has never taken spanish before and was so lost, I felt bad. We stayed for long time before going home. I went to El Corte Ingles, the expensive supermarket, because the others don't have real milk. They just have this other stuff that doesn't need to be refrigerated and stays good for months. EWW. I tried it, but it's so bad. ... read more