A small update

I've now been in Spain for 12 days. Not too much new to report, as mostly I've just been going to classes and living life (and of course missing you all). So here are some details of mi vida española so far:

I'm taking 4 classes - Contemporary Spanish Politics, Spanish History, Contemporary Spanish Novel, and Spanish Cinema. All are going well so far, even though I missed the first week of the Spanish Novel because I was going to take Women in Spain but for BU to count all my credits, I had to switch.

Last Thursday Menchi, my señora, took me to her cooking class, which was way fun. I met a bunch of her friends, including a professional hang glider on the Spanish National Team (bet you didn't even know that existed. Neither did I). We ate delicious food and I got to listen to lots and lots of Spanish, of which I think I understood 75%.

Some friends and I went out last Friday night and attempted una noche madrileña: We ate at a bar (ok, its not that Spanish-ish to eat at a bar), then we bottelon-ed a bit (its legal-ish to drink in the streets here! Ok, by legal-ish I mean they are not going to arrest you but its frowned upon, etc). The best part was realizing we didn't have a corkscrew so we improvised to Macguyver the bottle open. Then we went to a club (admittedly, one that caters a bit to foreign students, but we had coupons!). When we finally left, we all got home on our búhos (night busses) because the Metro was closed. I got home about 4:30 - a bit early for a typical noche madrileña but I'm getting there.

MacGuyver-ing our wine

I also went to my first Spanish movie (made in Spain, not dubbed): Todo lo que tú quieras. It was muy bonita, and I understood almost all of it without subtitles! Plus, BU will be reimbursing me for my cultural experience. I also went to the Reina Sofia art museum last week with some friends. It is huge, and we did not get through all of it, but we did catch a couple highlights, including Guernica, other Picasso works, and lots of Dalí.

Picasso Horse (part of the sketches for Guernica, but they didn't allow photos of that)

Sculpture/collaboration between Dalí and someone

This weekend, we are going to Galicia (NW Spain - sitting on top of Portugal). I've heard it's a lot like western Oregon, ie rains a lot and is very green. We're spending a day in A Coruña and a day at Santiago de Compostela, which is a big ol' Catholic pilgrimage site because supposedly St. James (Santiago) left some bones there or something. I'll let you know how it goes...

Sorry, not a lot of photos this time. It seems a bit strange running around with my camera out all the time when I live here, so...

Except for this. I love this. I'm coming here every day from now on.

¡Bienvenidos a Madrid!

So first of all I would like you to know that it is kind of hard not to write this in Spanglish. If I'm thinking at least some words in Spanish, that bodes well for the rest of the semester, right?

So Madrid is AMAZING. It's huge and beautiful and has nice weather (for now) and the best Metro on earth. How am I ever going to go back to the T? Here trains have a schedule (what?) and actually stick to that schedule (double what?), and there are signs that tell you how long you have to wait for the next train (never more than 5 minutes).

We arrived in Madrid on Thursday morning all jet lagged except those smart people who took sleeping pills on the plane. Besides BU, there are students from Northwestern, Harvard, Villanova, and a bunch of small colleges. Ray, who is the program director (recently dubbed el Rey Ray), took us on a bus to our hotel and we finally got to take showers and nap, which was of course the most important thing. Our hotel was in the Plaza del Sol, which is a big plaza with lots o' tourists in the center of the city. That first night Amalia (one of our profesoras) took us on a walk to see the Plaza Mayor, the Palacio Real, and other touristy spots nearby. On Friday, we went to the Instituto Internacional where all our classes will be and had daylong "serious" orientation - choosing classes, filling out your abono (in order to get a Metro pass), checking out the library, etc. And of course Friday night we lived the typical madrileño life and checked out the local bar scene (though we were not typical madrileños because we didn't stay out till 6am).


La Puerta de Alcalá

Weird European Cars

Barajas Airport International Terminal

Saturday we all said adios to the Hotel Regina and met our host families. My taxista was very nice, practicing his English while I practiced my Spanish. He even instructed me on a bit of useful slang. Carmen, or Menchi, is my señora and ella es buenisíma. She's super nice and a great cook (she even teaches cooking classes locally). She lives in a cute barrio with lots of tiendas, and is very patient with my Spanish. We went on un paseo (a stroll) yesterday after I got here and she showed me the Metro stop, the cheap shops, and we stopped for drinks and tapas twice.

Last night was la Noche en Blanco, which basically means stay out all night. All the museums were open and free, and there was music and performances and activities for kids all throughout the city center. It seemed like the whole city was out on the streets, and it was probably not the best idea to go out in a huge group because we were a) indecisive about eating and b) kept getting separated and having to find one another. I didn't stay out too late cause the Metro closes at 2 and I didn't want to miss it (otherwise you are stuck until 6 when it opens again), but today I found out there is a buho (a night bus) that stops close by so I won't have to worry about that again.

Buses that look like insects

La Noche en Blanco garbage

So. Many. People.

Yeah, that's Donkey Kong on the side of that building.

Today Amalia y el Rey Ray took us on a walk through part of el Parque del Buen Retiro, down el Paseo del Prado, and near the Real Jardín Botánico, telling us all about the history of the park and museum and los Reyes Borbones (Bourbon kings) and the Enlightenment in Spain. Tomorrow, classes start at the Instituto. I'm taking History of Spain, Women in Spain, Contemporary Spanish Politics, and Spanish Film. Things I still have to get used to: the lisping (sometimes you say an "s", sometimes you don't), using Euros (4.5 Euros is a good deal for sangría, right? Oh wait, let's do some math...), and the toilets (I used my first unisex bathroom last night. Que awkward).

Reflections on a plane ride...

In JFK, Iberia shares gates with British Airways, so I heard more Castellano and Queens English in the six hours I sat there than ever before in my life. Go figure.

So here we are in Madrid, finally. We arrived at ten on the 9th, leaving at 9 on the 8th from New York. Needless to say it was a long flight. Iberia surprised us all by feeding us. Since when does an airline feed its coach passengers? We got dinner (at about 10:30) and breakfast at 7am. Dinner was chicken or beef, with some shrimp appetizer thing, vino tinto, and dessert. I hoped the vino was going to help with the sleeping, but alas, I was up for most of the flight. Breakfast was some croissant sandwich that I didn't eat, harsh coffee, a fruit cup, mushy muffin, and a Twix. The twix made it pretty much the best breakfast ever.

More coming soon!

Last minute updates...

For the interested...


Yep, that is a meaty plate I just cleaned. Mmmm, tacos from Don Juan's. My foray into the land of meat was the meal I have been ordering since childhood, eaten the way I have eaten it since childhood (beans and rice mixed, deconstructing the taco).

My packing skillz. Now let's just hope they meet the weight limit...

T-minus 2 hours until I leave for Portland, then 10 hours until I board my flight, and after that 19 hours of travel until Madrid!

An Aside

I'm not that into Oregon football. Well, not even college football. I like to know who won when the Beavers and Ducks are playing, maybe see how they are doing in the Pac-10 (soon to be Pac 12?). I like to root against USC no matter who they are playing. [Growing up in the Pac-10, USC is like the evil empire of college football - lots of money; big, seemingly unbeatable program; the epitome of the arrogant, heartless team to beat in all those kids sports movies (I'm specifically thinking of The Big Green), but those descriptors don't sound too antithetical to Oregon anymore, do they? The biggest difference it seems is that when USC has a great season, plays in the Rose Bowl, or contends for a national championship, they don't always follow it with mistakes, disappointment, and scandal, which the Ducks have perfected.] I do still get a little bit of a kick out of the Civil War, but I view my loyalties as pretty much even between the two, with perhaps a slight edge to the Beavers because they seem to be the perennial underdogs. And, of course post-season play/bowl games are worth paying attention to in the all-important arena of bragging rights.

I'd forgotten what it's like to be in Eugene on gameday. Its only been three Septembers since I last experienced it first hand, but when you go to school across the country, and to one without a football team, I guess you have no reason to reminisce. Today is the season and home opener at Autzen Stadium. I've been long gone and have already started classes by this time this happens. This year, because I'm going to Spain, I leave about two weeks later than usual and thus am reintroduced to Eugene's typical Saturday in the fall.

It's not even that I forgot there was a game and accidentally drove near campus, or worse yet, down MLK Jr Boulevard. Nope, I went to return books at the library and run a few other errands safely out of the expected nuisance zone. And its not like I was especially annoyed by traffic or obnoxious people, or tailgaters already drunk before noon. It was partly heartwarming, that the majority of the city supports the same team, and partly weird, because I had simply forgotten how pervasive college, and especially Duck, football is in my hometown.

Its not uncommon to see people wearing Oregon gear all year round. Much as wearing a Red Sox t-shirt for no apparent reason is perfectly acceptable in Boston, so is wearing U of O apparel here. Part of me wonders if it's because you can always find something green and yellow and branded with an O at the local Goodwill, but I digress. Its weird to see people just walking around, going about their business, shopping or walking or eating looking, as they say around here, "all ducked out." Are these people even going to the game? Its 40 minutes before kickoff, shouldn't you be at Autzen drinking and tailgating and yelling and generally preparing yourself already? Or is that just my stereotype of Oregon fans? Mostly, though, I think I just don't like football enough to fully understand and appreciate the obsession.

Una Semana

One week until I leave for Madrid. I decided that maybe this momentous occasion called for me to start packing. I've realized that I need to start packing before now, but every time it crosses my mind I ignore it because a) it's damn hard to know what I am going to want in Spain and b) even when I figure that out I have to fit it in one suitcase. I'm going to have to be ruthless in deciding what makes the cut, even though by my nature I am warm and inclusive (and a chronic over-packer). Hence the procrastination.

But, tonight I started packing. And by started packing, mostly I mean I threw some things that I won't be needing in the next week into a corner on top of my suitcase. Winter coat, you may join the pile. Passport, you should probably move from under the pile of papers on my desk to this more suitable locale. Sweaters, check. Guidebook, into the pool, too. Past the obvious, though, it gets tougher. Check out the preliminary carnage:



Also, I know it will be utterly useless and a waste of space, but there is still a part of me that wants to pack my hockey jersey. All I have to say is that if the Freep lets me down and does not live-blog the hockey and basketball games this season, I may be forced to commit premeditated acts of violence (through the internet?).

The other item on my agenda (literally, I did put this on my calendar for today) is to start eating meat. I started again with fish last week (well, had it twice, two days in a row, and not since then). The logic is that maintaining a vegetarian diet will probably be close to impossible in Spain (they love their jamón over there), so to avoid any unpleasantries during my first couple weeks there, I should probably reintroduce my digestive system to meat beforehand, just in case it rebels.

The problem? Pretty much anytime I contemplate eating meat I feel nauseous. Probably not the best plan to try to avoid sickness by eating meat that makes you sick. Literally nothing I can think of with meat sounds appetizing. I tried thinking of what did I used to really enjoy containing meat, but mostly I've only come up with fish. I don't want a turkey sandwich, bacon, a hamburger, chicken nuggets, or sweet and sour pork (all previously eaten and relatively enjoyable). Suggestions?