Andalucía Slideshow

Here is a slideshow of all my pictures from Andalucía so all 4 of my loyal followers can see the ones that arent in my posts. Enjoy!

Sevilla, like a Cadillac

Sevilla, at first, did not impress me much. I had heard so much about how historic it was, how beautiful of a city was, but driving up all I could see were 80s era apartment buildings and other things like that. About 2 minutes walk away from the bus stop, however, my opinion changed very quickly. Streets began to narrow, all semblance of an organized system of streets faded, and I was in what I knew was traditional Andalucía. The whitewashed walls and narrow cobblestone streets, like in Córdoba, make you feel at home right away, and they really do keep the temperature down. We got there in the afternoon and had free time for the rest of the evening. We took a quick nap and then walked around to get acquainted with the area. Sevilla is bigger than Córdoba but you can still walk anywhere without it taking too long, which I really like in a city. The first night, we learned from some locals that there is one plaza with a few bars on it where everyone starts their nights. When we arrived, it was not at all what I expected. The entire plaza was packed with people around our age, and no one was in the bars. We quickly learned that this is because everyone gets their drink from one of the bars (they are all more or less the same, and everyone just drinks cañas) and enjoys their nice cold cerveza in the plaza, al fresco. It was definitely a cool sense of community, and I got the opportunity to meet up with a few of my good old Brophy brothers, Drew Eppenheimer and Diego Ezzre, which was cool.

¡Muchisima Gente!

All of the sudden we came to the realization rather quickly that everyone was leaving…but it was only like 11:30 or so! Where could they be going?! No worries, everyone was headed to the NEXT street that is full of bars where tons of people enjoy their drinks in the street. We went to a bar called Bare Nostrum (what is it with drinking establishments being named in other languages?) where you gather a group of compañeros and order a pitcher of shooters to share. We got an orange-grenadine one, which was pretty much just what you’d expect it to be. Nothing too special but the bar and the area had a really good vibe all around, and everyone was really friendly. The people of Sevilla are very accommodating and love meeting foreigners, so it was fun and a good night to practice my Spanish in a more social setting.

Chupitos

Day two in Sevilla was a day of learning. We started it out by touring the Alcazar of Sevilla, a fortress-castle that was used by both the Catholic Kings and the Moors. It is a beautiful example of Mudejar architecture, and the beauty that there is in its simplicity. The use of geometric patterns and differing materials, to me, is so much more timeless than the use of human images. It is interesting because although this was converted from a Moorish building to a Catholic one, the integrity was largely maintained unlike in the Mosque of Cordoba. The stimulation of all 5 senses and the use of materials with a short (relatively speaking) lifespan make you feel like you are truly in the moment, that you are more interacting with your surroundings than absorbing them. Overall it was a very beautiful structure with peaceful gardens, I imagine it wasn’t too bad of a place to live either.

Arab Bath in the Alcazar

After that we went to the cathedral. If I had to describe it in 3 words, I would use the following: immense, gothic, and America. Immense because it is absolutely massive, almost as big as the one in Toledo. While I have never really been able to understand the whole “power of God through the treasures of the Church” mentality, if I were an uneducated peasant years ago, walking into this cathedral certainly would have given me a sense that something was greater than me. There has to be something filling all that space between you and the ceiling, right? I would describe it as gothic because it is…Gothic architecture has always been impressive to me so I really liked it. It seems so much more honest than the rococo style like in Córdoba. And America, finally, because Christopher Columbus is buried there. There is some controversy over whether or not his remains are actually there or somewhere in South America, but I am still gonna tell people I saw where Christopher Columbus is buried.

Christopher Columbus

To finish our cathedral visit, we went up to the tower for a panoramic view of the city. This is always one of my favorite ways to see a city, so I really enjoyed it. It also gave you a sense of how big the cathedral really is, and the fact that it was built so long really is impressive. They were even smart enough to put ramps up to the top of the tower instead of stairs so they could ride a horse up to ring the bell…the world’s first escalator. From the top of the tower you have a great view of the bull ring, which is supposed to be one of the better ones in Spain.

Plaza de Toros, Bull Ring

Cathedral Courtyard from the Belltower

After that, we took a walk through the old section of town and saw where we were going to a Flamenco show that night. The tour led us back to our hotel, so we recuperated a little bit, then rented bikes and rode down to the river. Cities on rivers just seem more enjoyable than other cities. I think it is because you feel like it is a place you could survive naturally, not someplace where you are fighting against nature to keep a civilization going. No offense Phoenix...I'm sure the Salt River used to be pretty nice.

We began the evening with a very traditional Flamenco show in a tiny performance venue; there couldn’t have been more than 40 people there. The show was very impressive, especially the guitar for me. The woman dancing, however, was a surprise. It is far less elegant than I had always imagined, and much more of a display of power. The facial expressions they make certainly don’t help that cause either. The whole show was very interesting though, especially the way the different members interact. The supporting members constantly give yelps of approval and interact with the main performer in a more direct way than I had expected. It was a unique experience, and definitely not what I had expected going into it.

El Tablao

Bailando

From there, we set out to fill our bellies with some delicious Andalucían tapas that we had heard so much about. It is true….the food is better here. All of the dishes we had were delicious, and the portions were much bigger than they would be in Madrid, a product of the rural heritage in the area. There was far more actual meat as well, and far less seafood. We crawled our way up a street away from the cathedral, and all of the sudden we found ourselves back at the bar with the pitchers of shooters! Fancy that. As you have guessed by now, we shifted from dinner mode to going out mode and pretty much repeated our previous night. When things started to wind down, we realized that it was fricking cold in Sevilla! This was the first night it was cold enough to warrant a jacket my entire time in Spain. We headed back to the hotel and hit the sack, excited to head to Granada in the morning. 

Córdoba

I'm back! Sorry it took so long...got busy with school believe it or not...but now I'm back! I know you guys were worried about it (read that aloud, thickly coated with sarcasm)

This post is about my recent trip to Andalucía, but only the part that was organized by school.

Andalucía is an Autonomous Community (pretty much the Spanish version of a state) in the south of Spain, and its coast is called the Costa del Sol. The reason it is so important, culturally and historically, is because it is where the strongest Arabic influence was because they inhabited "Al Andalús" for the longest. Mudejar, Moorish, Arabic, all of those terms more or less mean the same thing when speaking about Spanish Culture unless you get very specific, so dont confuse yourself over them, no matter what your tour book says.

First stop on the trip was Córdoba. The main attraction here is the Mezquita de Cordoba...the Mosque of Cordoba. Now, it is actually a Catholic Cathedral...but we can get into all of these details later. When we arrived, it was lunch time. I had gone out to dinner with Mark and his parents the night before, and our waitress was from Córdoba, which proved to be a great connection to have. She told us several things we needed to try, and was the friendliest waiter I had had up to that point despite the fact that she was working like a dog.

Sidebar: The place we went was a "modern tapas" place, which pretty much means that they put some unique spin on a bunch of traditional spanish dishes. Rabo de Toro, or Bull's tail, is typical of Andalucía, but at this restaurant it was served in a rice stew, almost a risotto. It was indescribably good. If you're weirded out by the idea that it's a bulls tail, don't be because it is incredibly tender and delicious, most comparable to short ribs. Eating it made me miss Chelsea's Kitchen short ribs....wanna bring me some when you come out Mom? Thanks, you're the best.

Back to Cordoba...Lunch! When I'm traveling to someplace I am not going to be again in the near future,  I personally believe that going out and getting a doner kebab or chinese food is a waste of time and money. Eat what the locals eat. For that reason, some friends and I went to eat with our two teachers/ tour guides/ amigos, Saul and Nuria. They took us to a place that was also extremely tasty. We had Flamenquín, at the recommendation of my waiter from the night before, Berenjenas con miel de caña, and salmorejo. Flamenquín is a rolled, battered, then fried ham and cheese dish which is very good, but drier than I expected. Not in a negative way though. Berenjenas con miel de caña is fried eggplant with cane-sugar honey, which was so tasty. Sweet, but not overwhelming. It was as close to being a dessert flavor as you can have without being a dessert flavor. Salmorejo is pretty much a different variety of gazpacho, much thicker and with a slightly different, smoother taste. Also delicious. I realized quickly that what I had heard about food in Al-Andalus was true. Delicious, larger portions, cheaper, and meatier.

That white wine is a Vino Fino. Good, but not exactly my bag. A little to sweet but very refreshing on a hot day like it was in Cordoba.

After lunch, we wandered without destination or a map, per usual. Cordoba is not a terribly vibrant town in comparison to Madrid or some of the places we would go, but it was a perfect introduction to the white walled narrow streets that I would come to love in Andalucía.

Typical Andalucía, White and Yellow

Iron art on a random wall

"Disappear Here"...it was a dead end

After our wandering we met back up with the group to visit the Mezquita. Everyone else went and sat in the same restaurant the whole time, which made me feel even better about my wandering. Our visit began with us waiting to get tickets in the courtyard of the mosque/church, which is full of aromatic orange trees and a few Arab style fountains. Arab fountains and Christian fountains are very different, as Arab fountains are generally not meant to impress but are symbolic. The Moors believed that all 5 senses should be stimulated in an ideal building, so the sound of the water was a big part of that. This was my first inclination that I was going to like the style of Andalucía. In the right places, you are comfortable and enjoying yourself just because there, and the Moorish architecture and design is very good at making sure that is the case.

The belltower/minaret through the orange trees

We went inside, and the first thing that strikes you is the size of the building. Not in the same way that a cathedral does, with its vaulted ceilings and long, open halls, but in a very unique way. There are literally hundreds of arches, all painted red and white, all throughout the mosque. Ideally, it would be a continuously repeating pattern across the entire floorplan, but one day the Christians conquered and decided that the symbolic action of putting a gaudy cathedral smack dab in the middle of the 2nd most important mosque in the world was more important than preserving the authenticity of this beautiful, and simple building. Sometimes I wish people would have thought a couple hundred years down the road when they decided to do all of these "symbolic" things. Such is the way of the world though. This is my first inkling that Moorish architecture is among my favorite in the world, and in a class far above Baroque and the majority of Renaissance styles as well.

Ugly church in a beautiful mosque

After that, we bounced outta Córdoba and headed to Sevilla. The drive was very pretty, so I'm told, but I guess the inside of your eyelids look the same just about anywhere. Whoops.

Next up, Sevilla post!

Fun Stuff in Madrid

So everyone has heard about all the stuff I'm doing not in Madrid, but believe it or not I do stuff here too! What a concept.

First off, Melo's. Melo's is a little restaurant we found out about through the wonders of the world wide web, and boy was it a good find. Their sandwiches are called Zapatillas. A Zapato is a shoe. They are massive. The thing probably weighed about 2 pounds and was a delicious combination of things all cooked on a flat grill. Mostly just ham and cheese...but what else do you need? So greasy, so tasty, and so unhealthy. I've been needing something unhealthy so it certainly did the trick. Also, huge croquetas (fried batter balls with cream and cheese and bacon filling, unhealthy also I guess) and the most delicious, simplest side dish I've had here. Very lightly fried padron peppers sprinkled with sea salt...probably my favorite part of the whole meal. (Mom, I know youre gonna make these as soon as you read it). 

The coolest part about Melo's is the fact that it is in an area, Lavapies, where there are literally no tourists. It is all Spaniards and there are tons of good, cheap places to eat. Such a welcome break from Sol, Plaza Mayor, and Gran Via where everyone at every bar is a foreigner. Also, there are tons of Doner Kebab places, which is the best value in food here, so it was a pretty revolutionary discovery.

On Thursday, there was a French DJ I knew in town, Etienne de Crécy. He was playing at Sala Heineken, which is a pretty good venue for DJs because its small and everyone can dance still. He killed it. He didnt bring his usual live setup, but it was still a great show and a great time. We met the preppiest Spaniards of all time, and after we all got separated, I went to work on meeting a few chicas españolas, with moderate success. The bouncers also let people on stage, within reason, which was pretty cool. Also, he ended with Animal by Miike Snow, which just capped it off for me.

Yes, I took that picture. He's an older guy, which I didn't know, but still likes to party and pretty much got escorted off stage by bouncers because he wasn't ending his set if thats any indication of the kind of set it was. 

Right now, were off to do some more exploring, maybe ir de tapas for a little while.

¡Hasta luego mis amigos!

OKTOBERFEST!

This weekend was a weekend for the ages. I'm talking a day that will never be fully remembered, but never be forgotten. Have you ever seen the movie Big Fish, where the dad tells his son seemingly tall tales, but they all turn out to be "true"? This weekend will be my tall tale. I am baffled by why more of the world doesn't have festivals like this. It isn't only about the beer, or even about the tradition or culture. It is something you truly have to experience to understand. Okay, enough propagandizing, here's the stories to go with it.

Day 1: Friday, Viernes, the Book of Genesis

Mark and I, being the responsible adults we are, decided going out on thursday would not be a smart idea before a weekend largely based around consuming alcohol. In retrospect, I was gonna come back with an empty tank regardless, so we probably could have. Live and learn...I'll sleep when I'm dead. This is our first journey to the Madrid airport, which is conveniently accessible by my favorite thing, the metro! It's actually not bad to the airport seeing as it's a nice train and doesnt cost 40 euros like a cab would, but it still lacks air conditioning. Aside: I have heard that the metro does not change temperature with the seasons, and in my summer clothes I struggle, and almost always fail, to stay dry...so pumped for a winter coat experience in that climate. Back to the program: We arrive at Madrid Barajas Airport...and the other terminals are pretty impressive just like T4 was. We took advantage of duty free and got a bottle of rum so our experience in Munich on friday night would be cheaper. More to come on that note. Lufthansa 4421, MAD to MUC, was a very enjoyable flight. The germans arent always friendly, but their in flight service is fantastic. With my 100 dollar ticket, I got a full hot meal, more legroom than I've ever had in coach, and free drinks of whatever I fancied. I love Southwest and all, but my flights to Dallas have to stop and all I get is peanuts and a sore back. Little nap....wake up feeling a little hungry, but its no problem because were....

wait for it...

München!

Munich airport is a shopping mall. It is just as cool as Madrid's. Why do they put so much money into their airports?? We walk through all of the airport-chic shopping and meet up with long lost Kinsey and Cam, and begin the next voyage to the hotel. The train takes us right there, so thats not an issue.

Things I learned on the train:

1. Cam's phone has a sheep on it. Like a tomagatchi with a touch screen.
2. Cam can read just fine. She can actually read every single station along our train line.
3. Cam can not read. A map. "Which stop is ours and what is the one before it?" Cam proceeds to read almost every single place we stop...except ours and the one before it. There were some texans (Texan count: 2) sitting across the aisle from us that we had been chatting with (they opened with a sarcasm laden "You guys are here for the museum tour too, right?" and we seemed to get along) and they decided to help her out.
4. Germany, when cloudy, is kind of depressing, but I was so excited that nothing could have bothered me.

We got to our hotel, pulled the old switcheroo and put 4 people in a reservation for 2. Got settled, I went on a mission because I forgot deodorant. Terrifying. Not only do I innately want to speak Spanish to everyone now, I speak no German but people seem to speak it to me. I finally found the only stick deodorant they had because all germans have a roll on deodorant fetish and headed back to begin our night. Begin our night means the 4 us sitting around drinking, each taking our turns saying "Alright, we should go now" right before the subject changes and we dont leave. Eventually we all decided that it was time to leave at the same time and actually left, and headed out on foot for Marienplatz. I've been to Munich once before, for 8 hours or so, so naturally I decided that I should navigate. I mean we had a map, so I would definitely go the right direction. Not exactly, but we ended up there eventually so no harm no foul. No one had seen Munich but me and Cam when she was a child so I figure I did everyone a favor...especially seeing as we walked by Hofbräuhaus and subconsciously realized how fun our night would end up being. We walked around some more, walked by the 2nd place Champions league trophy tent which unfortunately was closed, but I think soccer trophies are now following me so I'm bringin that mojo back to Amurrica. My secret goal of finding a Maus Straβe was a failure, so on to the next mission.

Time for dinner at ze Hofbräuhaus. We turned a corner and saw the mob trying to get into the place before we even realized it was where we wanted to go...but once again, we saw a VIP line, why not try? And once again, it worked. I'm hoping this luck doesnt run out, I'm getting used to it. We went in and headed up to the 3rd floor and quickly found a table. The third floor was so incredible. A big long beer hall, full of people, and boy were they rowdy. There was a live band too, and we were soon to learn that there were dancers ever 30 minutes or so too. Who says that the party people don't have culture?

 

We all ordered random german foods off of the menu, and of course, our first liters of beer. German beer is just too tasty to turn down, and we all thought we had walked off all of our rum...probably not true. We asked the people at the end of our table to take a picture, they turned out to be....Texans! (Texan count: 4) from Plano nonetheless. Small world. We finished our food and drinks and immersed ourselves in the song and dance more and more as the night went on. A friend, Meg, and a friend of a friend, Rosie, joined us, which only added to the jubilation. Singing led to cheersing, cheersing led to Gates covered in beer and our table covered in glass...thanks girls.

We took that as our cue to move somewhere else so we went outside to the garden/patio area. Meg and Rosie had already moved out and seemed to have made a friend, a man in his 40s, so I figured I should go sit with them...little did I know that man in his 40s was Italian and married...to another man. He took a particular liking to me which was uncomfortable, especially since his husband was sitting 1 table over. Meg came to the rescue and played the "Gates, tell him how we met" card which alleviated some of the awkwardness. Still, my first experience, and hopefully last, being hit on by a gay married Italian. Time to leave we decide....time travel back to the hotel to rest up for the big day to come.

Day 2: Saturday, Sabado, The Book of Revelations

The revelation is that Oktoberfest is the best thing ever, I'll get that out of the way right off the bat.

Now for how I came to that revelation. Wake up, early. Get ready for the day, put our mental drinking caps back on, and head out around 7:45.We had some friends who had already arrived and worked their way to the front of the line, thanks for that guys. Great friends honestly, got us a spot at the front of the line and greeted us with a tall can of Paulaner. This is our first time seeing each other since either summer or last year depending on the person, so yeah, were pumped. The Oktoberfest grounds is far more than "tents" on a fairgrounds. It includes the entire fairgrounds part too, and it is a permanent fixture, not seasonal by any means. I imagine it is pretty exciting for locals walking by in the weeks before the festival, knowing what awaits them. There was a ride called Wilde Maus too, which I didnt know was trying to tell me that Maus was in for a Wilde ride.

Our friends had chosen the Augustiner Brau tent, which we later learned is known for having the best beer and the friendliest tent, yet for some reason is not considered the "best" tent? I mean I went to Oktoberfest for beer and friends, what more could I need? Everything we had heard would turn out to be true. We got into the tent around 9....but they cant serve beer until 12 the first day because the mayor has to tap the first keg and cause a hoopla. However, we did manage to get a table, which is more or less unheard of the first weekend without a reservation. The beer gods are on our side. Whatever, it was worth the wait, and we were with our long lost amigos so it wasnt too bad. Finally, around 11:30, we started to hear some hoopla...it has begun. There was a parade, which we couldnt see because we didn't want to lose our table, but it sounded cool? The Augustiner flag/sign thing finally was brought into the tent, it was time to do some drinking. The whole modus operandi for these tents is perfect for what it is. A liter of beer at a time, and women who can carry 10-12 liters at a time. Quite a system. The first sip of this beer was completely euphoric, not only because of how long we had waited for it, but also because it was incredibly delicious. Smooth, not too light but not too heavy, and a little bit sweet. Augustiner has a special brew for Oktoberfest, so if you want to try it for yourself, you're gonna have to head to Munich. The house brass band plays a certain song every 10 minutes or so that is more or less a toast, and ends with 1 2 3 drink...so yeah, it's a toast.

List form is the best way to summarize the actual drinking part of the day, so here it goes:

1. 18 year old german at the table next to us stands up on his bench and chugs a liter. I dump my plans to drink for America and concede defeat. 
2. Drinking games involving cards, hands, everything but ping pong balls. Camaraderie and beer is a beautiful thing.
3. Most chaotic bathroom experience of my life. So many yelling germans, a lady who's job it was to direct traffic, and people standing at the urinal for about 5 minutes...not faking.
4. Certain someone (not me) decides to take a little nap, with a liter glass as his pillow. Beer: 1. Him: 0.
5. Memories are made and then very soon after forgotten.
6. Everyone leaves to go ride roller coasters, except me. They come back to find me at a table with 6 Germans, who were far more friendly towards me than they were to everyone who came back and wanted to sit back down haha. 

That sums up the day. At this point, its about 6. We made it back to the hotel, somehow, and managed to make reservations with the concierge for an italian restaurant? This is one of those forgotten memories, and we slept through the reservation. Except Cam, that is, she took it upon herself to go to said restaurant and get 2 pizzas and 2 things of pasta. Needless to say when I emerged from hibernation at 2 AM, I had quite the WTF moment with mystery italian food in our room. I am also pretty sure that instead of woodfiring the pizza, they used cigarettes, because thats what it tasted like. The pasta was a nice surprise though. We decided against rallying and going out, which was probably a sound decision, seeing as Sunday was quite a struggle anyway, certainly not the lords day.

Oktoberfest was incredible. It was without question one of the most fun weekends of my life, and everyone who has the means needs to experience it. It was that good

(Didn't use the word awesome in this post once Dad)

Segovia, but more importantly, friends come to visit!

Friday after our first week, we had a school trip to Segovia and La Granja. La Granja is a big ol palace built by the first king of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain, Felipe V. He missed Versailles, so he did his best to build it in Spain. The palace was not extraordinary by european standards (aka still awesome). The gardens, however, were even euro-awesome. Massive, incredibly manicured, and full of fountains. Pretty awesome stuff, and the town around it is pretty cool too. It's in an area that reminds me a lot of northern Arizona, so obviously my zonie-senses were tingling and I thought it was awesome. Here's some pics...even with people in them, just for you mom :]

Cell phone pic, but looks like the route to Flagstaff

Palacio de La Granja

Oh, just the side yard

Back...yard?

After La Granja, we went to Segovia, home of the most complete, longest ancient Roman Aqueduct. Sounds boring, yeah? False, pretty crazy actually. It was built about 2000 years ago, and the Romans in typical "Look how smart we are, were gonna be talked about in middle school history classes one day!" fashion decided to build it without cement...and there it stands, to this day, without cement. Check out the 2nd picture, you can tell. I guess theyre the one's laughing now. 

Segovia is also known for a special type of roast piglet called Cochinillo that is ready once it can be cut through with a plate. You can google it if you want to learn about that though, because its expensive so I didn't eat it (regret that, everyone said it was amazing). We went to the Alcazar after that, where Ferdinand and Isabella lived. since they were the first royal couple to have "equal power" (Ferdinand was totally whipped and Isabella was pushy, she wore the pants), they had a phrase coined that goes "Tanto monta, monta tanta, Isabela como Fernando". Pretty much means that they are both equal above everything else. The coolest part about the Alcazar is that their throne room was there, which means I stood where Christopher Columbus asked them to fund his search for India. Yeah, I had an America moment there.

The actual Alcazar is as much a fortress as a castle, so it isn't the prettiest of castles, but it has some great views of the spanish countryside. I saw my future house too, built into a small cliff and had a pool that looked like something James Bond would spend his summers at, but I couldn't get a picture of it.

We came back from Segovia around 7....so tired. I dont know if it was the heat or what but everyone was wiped. But we had a big weekend ahead of us, time for a supersiesta. After successfully convincing my body that 30 minutes of sleep was all I needed, we ate dinner and rallied for the night. First stop was El Tigre, where we were going to meet all the girls that were coming into town (Julie, Christine, Meg, and Kinsey, if youre counting). Mark didnt know that Kinsey was coming into town so we did the whole surprise thing then moved on with our night. El Tigre is quite an experience. They give you 2/3 liter cups of beer/sangria/mojito and MASSIVE amounts of tapas. Each person, instead of getting a tapa, gets a plate loaded with tapas...

                          

Pretty good bang for your buck seeing as you get a meal, more or less, with every drink. Post surprise, we started the walk (to go cups, as you can see in the picture), to a disco called Joy Eslava...Slavic Joy?. We used our Americanness (read: Blondes) and flyers to get in for free...but drinks are still expensive inside. What we figured out that for the cost of a bottle, you would get about 10-12 drinks...and we were going to be there for a long time so 6 of us split a bottle, which puts you up on the stage and makes you feel cool, and saves you money, win win win situation. The part that really made it worth it though was the fact they brought it to you with a sparkler on top. 

Time travel forward a few hours...time for churros! There is a churro place that I led everyone to... in the morning they wondered how I led them there seeing as I had only been there once before (it's around the corner). Churros here are not covered in cinnamon but served with very thick hot chocolate to dip them in...jury is still out on which is better but fried dough with a topping of something sweet is a recipe for success. 

The aftermath of churros...

The next morning, mostly just a continuation of the night before, we decided to show our visitors around Madrid like good hosts. We first took them to 100 Montaditos, which is a place that has a bunch of (100) cheap, tiny sandwiches on a sushi style menu that you fill out yourself. The guy behind me in line asked where I found all my friends and if he could take a picture with them...they literally go gaga for blondes.

Retiro is next, and we finally decided to go on the boats! Which would be even more awesome if there was a breeze or something, but it was still enjoyable. Relaxing on the water is always nice. 

More Retiro, showed them the Rosaleda and the Palacio de Cristal and then it was time to retiro back to my bed for a nap.

Night 2, we walked around showing them some cool areas at first. It was "La Noche en Blanco" where Madrid basically turns into disneyland, you couldn't even walk sometimes because there were so many people. All the museums and stuff stay open til 6 and are free, but our señora told us that it wasnt even worth trying because the lines are so long. We went to a turkish bar that has these big towers of beer and hookah, kind of a dive, but everyone in there is always having so much fun and dancing and stuff in a place clearly not meant for dancing. After that, an Irish pub. Irish people seem to only be in Ireland and specific parts of America...but their bars are everywhere. All the Irish pubs here are exactly the same in as many ways as they can be, so 1 is pretty much the same as the other. 

We didnt stay too terribly long, and after that we all kind of went our own ways. I met a spanish guy who spoke perfect english, makes a living rapping in Spain. He raps now not by choice, but because he played professional basketball, went up for a rebound and someone went under his legs and he broke his neck, ouch. He told me we'll only meet foreigners and creepy spaniards who want to talk to foreign girls at the places we've been going to so he gave me his number and we're gonna try to experience the real Spanish nightlife. 

Hasta Luego!

First 2 Weeks of Class

Woke up monday morning to quite an unpleasant surprise....I have to take class here?! (Just kidding mom and dad). We had learned how to get their on the bus before we went to Toledo, but the bus is crowded, stops all the time, and smells, so we did a little geography and found out that the metro is relatively easy to take as well. Assuming you can find the station. Mark and William were doubting my directional skillz and were convinced we were going the wrong direction...until we asked someone who told us we were going exactly the right direction. Bingo, 30 minutes later we were there. The metro really isn't much better than the bus, but seeing as we have to make the round trip commute at least 4 times a week every little bit counts. Our school, Fundación José Ortega y Gasset is tiny, its an old mansion and then one other building. The mansion houses the library and the important peoples offices, and all of our classes and everything we really have to partake in take place in the other, less awesome building.

I am taking 4 classes, and am done every day at 12:30. Which would be cool in America, but seeing as they dont sleep until...never, I would much rather start at 12:30 and forfeit a siesta for some real sleep. That being said, my weekend does begin at 12:30 on Thursday so I can't complain too much. On Mondays and Wednesdays I have Advanced Grammar and Conversation, Culture and Civilization on Tu/Th, and Political History of Spain on Thursdays...all in Spanish. Fortunately I can understand all of my teachers and my classes are relatively interesting too, so the school part of the semester is going to be a positive aspect (it seems) and not get in the way of positive aspects hahaha. The homework load is enough that you still realize you are in school but not miserable. Overall, no complaints.

Conversation and culture are more or less the same class...except for that one day where we had a lecture about stereotypes of women and why they arent as common in the workplace... and there are only 3 guys in the class. It turned into a discussion of fashion vocabulary. The power of numbers. I also thought it was funny when the only stereotypes brought up were all extremely positive (independent, sensitive, those types)... there were 3 tongues bitten in that class.

Now....time for OKTOBERFEST this weekend. Plenty of pictures and hopefully videos to come.

La Llegada y Excursión a Toledo

Mark and I woke up relatively early, checked out of our hotel and set off to meet our señora, excited and maybe even a little nervous. We hopped in a cab with a driver that reeked of BO...of all the cabs in Madrid we may have chosen the smelliest. Once again, our driver got lost, but not nearly as badly as the last time. Just bought us some extra time to bathe in his stink, exactly what we needed. We arrived at the apartment around 10:30 and the portero (doorman) led us up to our door in the worlds smallest elevator (I later found out it was the freight elevator...but honestly I don't know how much freight would fit in there anyway). We knock...hear a dog barking for a moment, and then silence. ¿Donde está nuestra señora? We go back down to the portero and he tells us that she won't be back for a few hours, so much for getting there early. Fortunately her sister came to take the dog for a walk, and she let us in. We unpacked, got situated, and waited for our 3 month mother to arrive. Our room has 2 twin beds in it, 2 desks, and a built in wall unit/closet thing. Comfortable, roomy enough, and it has its own bathroom...extremely sufficient. 

Our house mother finally arrived and came up to meet us. She is an incredibly nice woman, speaks only spanish, quickly, and is a good cook...well be fine. Our first night, we had to get up early so we went to a little cafeteria right by our house and they gave us potato chips with our beer again...but this time they had anchovies on top? Far too strange. 

The next morning we woke up early, and took the metro with our señora to the school, Fundacion de Jose Ortega y Gassett. The school is an old mansion that houses the administration offices and the library and 1 other building with classrooms...very small. Until October, it will be just the SMU kids there so we are gonna get to know the staff well. We had class to talk about classes (weird) and then we left for toledo. Pretty ugly drive actually, but everything changed once Toledo came into view. Its a beautiful city, with the old part walled in, all perched on a small mountain. We went to the Toledo campus of the Fundación and got settled, then went to walk around. Toledo is everything you would expect from a medieval city. Narrow, winding cobblestone roads, big wooden doors, and buildings made from stone that make you wonder how they made them without all the cranes and stuff we use to build today. We were walking around and happened upon a massive line of very excited people. We asked one of our teachers, Saúl, who happened to be walking with us, what the commotion was about and he told us in a tone far too nonchalant that the World Cup Trophy was visiting Toledo for that day only. Really? No one felt like telling us that? Our next move, obviously, was to go wait in the very long line to get a picture with it and even touch it. How many people, especially Americans, can say they have done that? It is surprisingly small though.

Frustration that it is touring Spain, not the US

Our first evening out in Toledo was highlighted by the torrential downpour none of us saw coming, and we went to a bar called "El Circulo del Arte". Bar is a general term...it is an old church that is an art museum by day and a bar/ dance hall by night. It was pretty cool, and Mark and I met the Santa Clause of Toledo and talked to him for an hour or so about all kinds of stuff. He hasn't shaved his beard for 25 years. He once shaved it when his son was little and didn't get a good reaction, so he hasn't shaved since. He seemed perfectly content chatting with us gringos, and was a pretty interesting guy who has spent his entire life in Toledo. 

Santa Clause de Toledo

The next day we did our sightseeing after a quick history class on Spain. We learned about how it is a city of 3 cultures, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim. The coolest part is that in the architecture, all 3 elements come together and make a really interesting combination. We first went to San Juan de los Reyes, a church/monastery with a beautiful cloister. There are shackles hanging from the side of the church, hung by Ferdinand and Isabella as a symbol of the victory over the Moorish opression. In the cloister, there is a pattern of "F"s and "I"s and their symbols, a quiver of arrows and a yolk on a Moorish style roof, with alot of Jewish colors and stuff. Very interesting. They were pretty narcissistic....they really liked exalting themselves in as many ways as possible. Sounds like another important political figure I know (Had to, can't discuss politics over here). Annnnywho, back to to Spain. We went to the synagogue next....Muslim style arches and ceiling, and a pretty cool museum too. The roof has an interesting, geometric wood framing not like most of the old buildings I have visited. After that we went and saw El Greco's "Burial of Count Orgaz" which is cool in itself, but the coolest part is that El Greco painted himself into the picture. He is the only character who is looking outward, and his eyes follow you creepily. It's housed in a Jesuit church as well, which is awesome. Finally, we went to the cathedral. It is the 2nd biggest in Europe with the exception of the vatican...massive. It has tons of paintings by El Greco as well, in addition to so many others. You cant take pictures in the cathedral which is a bummer, but it is so regal that you cannot describe it. The treasury is the coolest part, full of invaluable artifacts and treasures meant to show how powerful the church was....a theory that still seems to work today because I was certainly amazed. After that, and a nap, we had our welcome dinner, complete with sangria. Mark and I had already napped so we went to the "University Bar" right by our school and got a head start on the rest of the group. After that, we went to an Irish Pub (who knew the Irish were so worldwide?), then back to the church bar. The vibe was entirely different tonight, everyone was dancing and it was way more crowded. We met these Norwegians....all about 25, they had just gotten jobs at Ernst and Young, and they were on a company "retreat" before they started work with their boss. That being said, you never would have known because boy did they like to party. They all spoke perfect english too, and were really fun to talk to. When we we're leaving, they said "oh I forgot, you Americans need your sleep." Patriotism kicked in and I obviously couldn't back down from a challenge, so we stayed until they left...late.

La Catedral

The next morning we had to get up...early...for the bus ride back. Not good. After we went to the top of the mountain across the river from toledo for a panoramic view, which was awesome, but I'm pretty sure nobodys BAC had gotten back down to zero seeing as the Norwegians had us out so late.

Toledo from across the Tagus River

Now we're back home in Madrid for our first weekend, which will definitely not provide much rest...

The Crew

More to come!


-Gates