I am productive

I actually accomplished quite a bit today. I went to see the Roy Lichtenstein exhibit, and I rode the bus there. I had lunch at Pizza Jardin, where I have wanted to go forever because they are supposed to have amazing salads, however it was disappointing. I picked up me and Carl's tickets for Florence and I returned a dress to H&M. It may not sound like too much, but all the places I had to go were sooo far away, so it took a while.


Also, I forgot to mention that Sunday I took a stroll in Parque Buen Retiro w/Sandy and her boyfriend, Kevin. And, wow, now that it is getting warmer there are so many more people there. Literally, the park was packed. I took a bunch of candid photos..
here are my favs....

American Kids Love Electro

Me: "What kind of music do you like?"
Them: "Oh, I like everything, except for Country and Techno"
Me: "Go away, we cannot be friends"

I HATE PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT! I mean, I don't voluntarily listen to Country, but I don't mind it, I by no means "hate" it. So WHY!? Why make the generalization. As soon as I got to Madrid, everyone said, "Oh, I am going to hate the music here, I hate electro." But based upon what I have seen in every nightclub in Madrid contradicts that. Even at this club, Pacha, that I went to last night, people said, "Hey, I really like this music, what is it?" Usually I can identify it, and then they download/buy it.

Carl, DJing

So Yeah, Stop Hating Electro/Dance music, because you know you love it.

I just had to get that off my back.
<3 Chau

You know you have lived in Spain when....

Found this online.... most of it is startlingly true

You Know You're in Spain When...

1. The mullet, made for men and women alike.
2. You know what a croqueta is.
3. You've eaten more fish and veal in one week than in your whole US life.
4. You write on graph paper and not lined paper.
5. You´ve been suprised to see a ¨big¨car.
6. Personal space = <1 cm
7. You have seen porn on TV under news.
8. You have seen people in 50 degree weather in winter coats and scarves.
9. You have been stopped at the plaza and asked if you speak english.
10. You have seen old people out at 2 am
11. You have heard P.I.M.P. as a ring tone.
12. You watch a dog take a crap on the side walk and the owner doesn't clean it up.
13. You have encountered tiny children wandering the streets.
14. You have seen a cigarette box that says ¨smoking can cause a slow and painful death¨
15. When you know how to the use the metro when the map is in Spanish.
16. You know where the closest TGI Fridays is.
17. You have stolen internet.
18. You have seen a vending mashine with thongs.
19. You have a lisp…
20. You have had a staring contest with a stranger in the streets.
21. You´ve watched Simpsons, multiple multiple times.
22. You have trouble speaking both English and Spanish.
23. You´ve left the house to go out at 1am.
24. You have never been to a store between 1430 and 1730.
25. You have learned that deodorant is obviously not necessary.
26. You know what a doner is.
27. You got drunk off wine.
28. You are a huge fan of the Menú del Día.
29. You stayed in out until til 6am because the Metro doesn´t start.
30. Your dinner time is about 2130.
31. You know what Corte Inglés is.
32. You know what the Chinos are, and when they are open...24-7
33. You have seen buildings that are older than our country.
34. You know who Velázquez is, and how to say it.
35. You know where to find cheap tickets.
36. You have encountered numerous people haciando un pis in the streets.
37. You know what a ferret store is.
38. You know you can have a chipmunk as a pet.
39. You´re life span has been shortened 5 years because of the second hand smoke.
40. You know what a true dulce is.
41. You have fought with the lock on the door and have only won half the time.
42. You have gorged on scrambled eggs at the hotels.
43. You´ve had bread everday for every meal.
44. You know what Joder means.
45. You can take showers in a 2 ft box called a shower.
46. You jump when you hear the words Vamos A Comer
47. You have seen rainbow hair.
48. Fútbol is amazing.
49. You root on Barcelona or Madrid...
50. You know what Turron is.
51. You know Tortilla Francesa.
52. You have gotten Flan in a pudding Cup.
53. You have seen Pizza boys on Mopeds.
54. Gazpacho, you know what it is...and ya like it.
55. You know the differnce because tengo calor y estoy caliente.
56. You have walked an hour to school
57. Vale, pues, venga
58. It´s not hasta luego, it´s hadalugo
59. You have found the horrible truth that double spacing is not normal.
60. You have learned the true meaning of a cell phone bill.

Regular Life...

I just re-vamped the last post, so if you checked it out earlier you might wanna take another glance at it.

But anyway just thought I would write a random update on life. Today I finally made it to the Museo del Prado and checked out the awesome Tintoretto exhibit.


But before I made it over to the museum I met Sandy for lunch at CEO, which is the real Spanish university that our school is surrounded by. We eat lunch there because it is soooo delicious and cheap. But anyway, before I got to school I ran into my Spanish teacher on the metro and we were chatting about where I live, ect. I told her how long it takes to get to school and she informed me that there is a bus line that goes straight from my house to school. It takes about the same amount of time but you can actually see the city and you don't have to change lines (I change lines twice in the metro)

So, after lunch when I decided to go to the Prado, I found bus 45 and took it all the way to the Prado (which is basically across the street from my house) So I am so excited now because I plan on taking the bus way more!

Also, I have commented latley that I don't really feel like I am learning Spanish as well as I had hoped, but I think I am actually better than I think. For example today I rode on the bus with these three little old Spanish ladies and after we got off at the Prado stop she came up to me and started talking. She said I had pretty eyes and I didn't freak out that someone was speaking Spanish to me (usually I freeze). I thanked her for the compliment and then she started asking me questions like where I was from and how long I had been here, then her friends started talking to me, and although I didn't catch all of it, I still managed to respond and have a converstation! I was so stoked!

Also, later on when I was in the Prado this woman came up next to me and asked the security guard if she could get back into the exhibit because she forgot to go into the gift shop, but she was speaking English, and I could tell he understood her, but that he didn't speak English. SO, in Spanish, he told her to go downstairs because there was another gift shop. But she didn't understand him, but I did, so I told her in English what to do! It was cool, but later I realized that there is no giftshop downstairs, and maybe that guard really had no idea what she was saying. Oh well, I hope she got her Tintoretto coffee mug, or whatever she wanted from the gift shop.

After dinner tonight, at about 10, I went to Flamenco night, which was sponsored by Suffolk, my school here in Madrid, and it was pretty good times. They were AMAZING flamenco dancers, but our seats weren't too good so we couldn't see thier feet, which is the coolest part. Then I hung out with my friends for a while, we walked around, grabbed some late night food and now I am home, in my bed. I have a Spanish test tomorrow, so I should get to bed. But yeah, good times today...

Nightie.

Here is a different video from the Flamenco Dancers in Granada....

Adventures in Lisbon

Well... where to begin for Lisbon
We arrived by train on Monday and after about 30 minutes we finally figured out how to get to our hotels. Luckily Sandy and I had a hotel near the other four girls we were with... However, as we came to discover, it was quite the hotel. While our friends had the cozy Comfort Inn, we were stuck with the Excelsior. As grand as it may sound, do not be fooled. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it was pretty gross. Lets just say it felt a little worn out, and my comforter smelled like dead skin.





But anyway, Noel, one of the girls we were with, was meeting her mom and sister in Lisbon, they had just flown in from Boston and they were going to hang out with us in Portugal, take the train back with us, and then stay in Madrid for a week. So we had a total of 8 people, including myself.

The first day we realized that we sounded kinda weird speaking Spanish to the Portuguese, because they all speak English. It was awkward because we were all so used to ordering or buying things using our Spanish, but really English is very prevalent over there. After lunch we watched a bit of a protest in the middle of the main street (it was apparently over unemployment, see video) headed over to the botanical gardens (or as I called it the secret garden, because it took a while to find), then worked our way down to the center of town and did some shopping/sightseeing along the way.







Our friends who had gone to Lisbon last week said they had amazing cheap seafood somewhere downtown and we managed to find the same place that night. I had the salmon, and it was the best salmon I think I have ever had! Notably we were on the Atlantic, so the seafood should be good, but this was phenomenal!





After that we were pretty tired so we walked back to the hotel and called it a night

The second day we took a bus tour, which I am glad we did because we got to see parts of the city we wouldn't have traveled to otherwise. During the bus tour is when I realized that Lisbon must be a sister city to San Francisco because they looked so similar, the same dock looking areas, with the train tracks by the sea, and the Golden Gate Bridge!




We walked all over town and had lunch outside. We had the pastery that Portugal is known for, they are called Natas. They are these custard/egg filled pasteries that weren't bad. We also watched some street perfomers who had little dogs that sang along with thier music!(see video) Later that night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. We had to wait an hour for our table because we had 11 people because our other friends came into town that day, Rick, Chante, and her friend from Rome. On the way to the Hard Rock Chante lost her wallet, but at the time she wasn't too concerned about it.





Dinner was awesome and very filling. I commented at dinner that I had never been to the Hard Rock before and I will never go back, just so I can say that, "I have only been to the Hard Rock in Lisbon." People went out that night but Sandy and I just went back to the hotel and chilled.

Sunday was interesting, we usually NEVER have three full days in a place, so Sunday we were like.. oh what do we do? And although there were plenty of things, it was POURING rain. So most of our plans got shot down because of that. Also, nothing is open on Sunday, except for this huge mall, so we went there to get food and be out of the rain and just window shopped until it was over.

It was pretty weird actually because it was the first mall I have ever been in in Europe, but it was cool. Luckily it stopped raining so we didn't have to be sooo lame. We went and chilled downtown, sat and drank coffee in the main square and watched all the street people, and got harassed by a few.


The best way I can describe Lisbon is that it is very similar to Spain, but it is a little more run down. It is how I imagine Spain must have looked before it joined the European Union. Anyway it is an amazing country and I really can't wait until I can go back one day. I really want to check out Porto and Lagos I would just love to explore that whole country.


I had an awesome time, I totally recommend Portugal to everyone, it's pretty cheap too!!


Chau

Wait...Was I in Lisbon or San Franscico?

Quick summary
- Traveled by sleeper train
- Stayed in a "real" European hotel
- Eat good sea food
- Saw a protest
- Went to "The Secret Garden"
- Took a bus tour
- Saw the Golden Gate Bridge?
- Shopped
- Learned some Portuguese words

[Developing... I just have to finish my essay and PowerPoint on The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration...ick]

Portugal!

Well, tonight at 10:45 I leave for Lisbon, or "Lisboa", in Spanish. I am very excited, this will be the first time I have ever left the country! Also, will the first time I have ever been on a train, a sleeper train no less! Which is great because we sleep the whole way there, arriving at about 8am. I do usually enjoy looking out the window, but after about 2 hours, it gets pretty boring.

Also Portugal should be interesting because they speak Portuguese (duh), and although it is similar to Spanish, I doubt we will be able to communicate too much. Luckily, according to my roommate, most people spoke English. Oh well, guess I will not be practicing Spanish, or much Portuguese this weekend.

Anyway, I will try and find an Internet cafe while I am there, but if not, you will hear from me on Monday morning, at 9am when I get back to Madrid.

<3 Chau