So now that I've been here almost a month, here are some things that I've noticed that are strange to me about Spain: Spaniards do not care about their personal space. Or at least they are very willing to invade others'. I think it stems from very crowded metro trains. Everyone here is also really into saving electricity. All of the lights and most of the escalators are motion-sensor or on a timer, so it's not uncommon for lights to turn off on you. This is especially disconcerting in the bathroom. Oh and everyone here has bidets- though the best thing about this is that the cat in my house (yes Hannah I have a cat, he is beautiful and his name is Ramses, BE JEALOUS!) sits in the bidet and drinks from it because he likes running water better. I have no clue how my host family discovered this, but I love it. I continue to eat extremely well, everything from gazpacho to paella to all kinds of ham to papas fritas (french fries, they're EVERYWHERE here). The only thing is they eat mayonnaise on everything. I happen to hate mayonnaise and may possibly be dying of mayonnaise poisoning, if that is possible, but I seriously love everything else that my host mom puts on my plate. I'll probably die of eating something too delicious before I die of mayonnaise poisoning.
I guess I should write a little about my classes, since I'm technically here to study... I'm taking four classes, one that is Spanish grammar only and three others. My grammar class is only 8 people, the professor is incredibly sweet, and we get a receso for ten minutes in the middle of the hour and a half. I have started to worship the coffee machine (like literally a machine that fills your cup and even makes cafe con leche for you) that is in the basement. Only .45 centimos for a cup! My favorite so far is Escritoras Españolas Contemporaneas (Spanish Contemporary Women Writers) because the professor is fabulous and we're reading amazing short stories and selections from novels. We had a discussion about Lacan, the French philosopher and his theory about the self (in Spanish) during our first week of class. It was amazing. My other class is Anthropology of Spain: Gender and Culture. I hope it delves deeper soon, so far the reading is very difficult to get through but not as interesting as I'd like. I'm trying to reserve judgment. My final class is about painters and is called Arte y Communicación and I love it. Starting in October every other class we meet in museums around Madrid like the Prado and the Reina Sofia (home of TONS of Dali, Calder, and Picasso- including the Guernica). My professor is super dynamic and she often brings up words in english that she loves because they are beautiful- including sunflower and skyscraper.
Last weekend was this huge annual art festival that's called La Noche En Blanco: literally the entire population of Madrid was out in the streets, visiting the over two hundred art performances and installations scattered throughout the city. All the museums were also open all night long for free, and the metro was open until 3AM!! It was incredible to see all the people in the streets, and I learned some hip hop dance moves from a huge screen set up in one of the plazas with a group of like twenty other strangers and my friends. It was super fun and I even ran into two friends from Mac- Gabi and Eshita! Eshita is studying in Madrid and Gabi in Paris, and I couldn't believe I randomly saw them in a crowd of 8 million people. It was awesome and great to see them!
Yesterday my friends and I were feeling like a little America, so naturally we went to MACDONALDS! I have never craved fast food so badly until I saw this GIGANTIC McDonald's on Gran Vía during Noche en Blanco this weekend. It tasted exactly the same, and gave me the exact same sicky feeling afterwards too. Congrats on your consistency across continents, McDonalds.
The best thing about my schedule is that I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I have a four-day weekend every weekend. I love it because it gives me time to rest up from the weekend nights when I'm up til 5, to explore the city more and to go to CHOIR! Two of my friends Alice and Julianne and I joined the choir at a catholic university nearby. It rehearses on Wednesday and Sunday nights, and it is becoming one of my favorite things. All of the people are incredibly nice, I get to practice my spanish and make friends from outside my program and I get to sing!!!! It's been since high school that I've sung regularly (excluding of course acting as my campers' radio all summer and performing at Menogyn camp fires...) and for me it's an awesome way to relieve stress. Did I mention practice my spanish? We're singing a few songs in RAPID FIRE spanish and they're a challenge.
Also, have I mentioned how much I hate the euro? I have a currency converter on my computer (a mistake, surely, because I look at it too often and cryyyy over the 1 euro = 1.47 dollars AYYYY DIOS MIO!)
So, LISBOA, PORTUGAL this weekend!! We're leaving really early tomorrow morning and getting back really early on Monday. We're taking an overnight autobús on sunday night, can't wait to report on our adventures! I'm on my way back to the metro now- I come home for an hour for lunch and then turn around and ride the metro for 40 min. back to school to go to class again. My favorite thing about this is that it's often cooler in the mornings than the afternoons and I get to change my clothes. Plus I also eat with my family instead of packing a lunch, which rocks.
I love and miss you guys, hope all is well at home (or at your study abroad home too, amigos!)
Love,
Natalie
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