A rough week.

I still love America.

The Spanish public education system makes me appreciate the UC system SO MUCH. I started class at Complutense on Monday and it was definitely a cultural experience. First of all, I'm not officially enrolled in any classes yet because EAP doesn't allow us to matriculate until a week after classes start. We also wont know if the classes we attended during the first week of school are even on the "approved course list." Disorganized much? Anyways, here's a run-through of my day:
Cervantes, my first class- I've never fought so hard to stay awake in my entire life.
Teatro griego- couldn't find the classroom, gave up. Would it really break the bank if the university put some signs on the front of their buildings?
Mitos (Myths)- professor doesn't show.
Literatura española desde 1975- professor says the class will be "mierda" if all the foreigners try to take it.
Literature hispanoamericano I- professor says the class will be too difficult for you.

The second day was much better. Cervantes was slightly more interesting. I attended a history class of the americas, very interesting from the spanish point of view. The mitos professor showed up and told us class was cancelled for the next two weeks (woo hoo)! (Who does that?) And I plan to take an anthropology class at the other Complutense campus starting next week!

Campus reminds me of a scene that should have been in Inception. The literature buildings are modern looking, with clean lines and lots of stairs and there is a large courtyard with overgrown weeds and randomly a few beds of roses. The mixture of modern architecture, with weeds, roses, benches, and graffiti everywhere is just kinda spooky.

Most of the graffiti I see everywhere is about women's rights, Latin America, or Israel. I had no idea that there are Spanish people who think that the government should be helping Latin America. It's an interesting topic and I want to look into more. Also I didn't know that there was still a strong anti-Jewish sentiment in Spain. I thought that was over centuries ago, but apparently not. The graffiti about Israel basically accuses the country of committing genocide.


Anyways, as my last post said, I was supposed to be in Brussels right now. But thanks to the Belgian and Spanish national strike, I have been deprived of the waffles I so seriously desired. Who is begging to go to Brussels? Uh, I guess I was. I think everyone should just boycott Ryanair instead of going to work. Ryanair es mierda. My roomies and I had to call 5-6 times before they promised to refund our flights... and I had a bad feeling that's not even going to happen. So much for going to Brussels. I don't think I'm going to try again... I already spent all the money and time I had in me for Brussels. I hope Easyjet is better.

Toledo & Plans!

A lot has happened since my last entry and I don't think I'm going to be able to write about everything that went on simply because I have no free time and I'm a little lazy.

TOLEDO
Last weekend Danielle, Erin, and I went to Toledo! We arrived at the Atoche Renfe train station in Madrid thinking that 30 minutes would be enough time to buy tickets and find the train. Oh no, I'm beginning to figure out that it's better to expect everything to take a long time and be unnecessarily complicated. Well, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if we bought our tickets online.

We arrived in Toledo around 6ish, found Hotel Imperio, dropped off our stuff and then began exploring. After shopping, taking pictures, and eating ice cream (yum), we met up with some girls in our program for dinner. It was nice to be with some native speakers. The way they can just communicate with everyone is envious. I really need to be fluent now. Dinner wasn't bad and the wine was delicious! After we finished dinner, the seven of us went out to a small bar, don't know the name, and had mojitos. It was a much older crowd in the bar but we got to practice our Spanish a little bit.

Toledo is such a cute town and I definitely would like to go back once more before I go home. I'm a big fan of the jewelry :)

CLASS
The ILP is practically over! I take two finals tomorrow and I'm done! After the finals we get to drink with our professors in the cafeteria too. I love Spain. In America it would definitely be inappropriate to get crunk with our professors, but here it's an event! I really want to get a picture with my favorite professor, Antonio. He made fun of me and called me out during class all the time, but I know he loves me. He was substituting the other day and called me out for having a lentil face? I guess that means I looked expressionless (it's a phrase here)? But before I figured out what he said, I definitely turned to Danielle and said, "...Did he just ask me if I like lentil soup and if it's expensive?" The miscommunication that goes on between the spaniards and me can really lead to some hilarious situations.


PLANS!
Next week Danielle, Erin and I are going to Brussels and Brugges! Can't wait to see the capital of Europe and eat some waffles. Then the second week in October I'm going to visit Whitney in Rome and Megan in Siena! AND THEN, Courtney is coming to Madrid and we are going to AMSTERDAM for Halloween weekend! Too much excitement headed my way.

Oh yes, and I have finals tomorrow and a lease to sign tonight. So I really don't have any more time to write. Hope the next entry is better!

Found my piso!

I had only been here for 7 days until I found myself, Danielle, and Erin a piso! It is a beautiful planta 4 (5th floor) flat located in Chueca. It has three bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and two balconies (both of which are located in my bedroom!). Chueca is a neighborhood in Madrid known for its nightlife, great cuisine, trendy stores, and for being home to lots of gay people!

Last weekend a group of kids in my program and I ventured into Chueca to find El Tigre, a tapas bar that Sydney recommended. El Tigre was cheap, delicious, and packed with people. For a giant mojito and a large plate of tapas, I only paid 6e. Yeah, we were big fans of that place. But anyways, the girls and I immediately fell in love with the area and said we wanted to live there. Didn't know it was really going to become a reality!I'm so excited to live in such a social and lively area. I think its going to feel like a combination of Isla Vista and San Francisco but in Europe, and SO much better.

The only reservation I had about taking this piso was that I wouldn't be living with spaniards or other international students. However, I don't think living with girls in my program is going to get in the way of my becoming fluent in Spanish because I'm determined to make spanish friends and practice spanish on the daily. Also, most spaniards my age live with their parents still. So the spaniards I would be trying to live with are in their late 20s. While it's possible that I could connect with them, its unlikely that we would really become great friends since they already have adult lives. And living with international students would be fun too, but who knows if they will even speak spanish or whatnot. So after much contemplation, we have decided to live together in this BEAUTIFUL place :) However, our contract for this piso in Chueca is on a month-to-month basis anyways, so if for some reason I feel like I need to live with spaniards this year, I can still make it happen.

The ILP has begun and I'm almost done with the first week of classes! I think it's actually helping my spanish too, at least I'm hoping it does. I just wish I didn't have to wake up so early. If I want to shower before class I have to wake up at 6:45am, eat breakfast at 7:30, walk to the bus stop by 8:30 and catch a bus to get me to the Somoaguas campus for class at 9am! It's definitely more of an ordeal to make it to class, but I like living in the city like this.

My favorite class is my Madrid class! We had a walking tour of Old Madrid today and I got to see parts of the city that are a little more hidden from the everyday tourists. What class lets you just wander around and PAYS for the students to eat tapas and drink sangria together? Only the best class ever.

This city makes me feel like I am an adult. I'm doing everything on my own and I'm actually getting by so far. I love how much more walking I do here and I thoroughly enjoy trying a different way of living. Waking up to spanish voices outside my window, going to a breakfast bar that has cereal but no cups, eating at dining tables that have salt and no pepper, fighting to try on a pair of shoes at the store, and getting anxiety over calling landlords and other people to only speak in spanish... all these little idiosyncrasies and obstacles are enlivening.

Mi vida, tu sueño.

Inception

If you've seen the recent movie, Inception, and you remember how when the characters did strange things in their dreams their projections would begin to stare at them. Well, that's kinda what it's like here in Madrid. When spaniards hear you talking in english or when you're walking down the street with your girlfriends (and you look nice) some people may begin to stare. And it feels like the staring as a domino effect. Like when one person points in the sky, everyone has to look... well, if one man begins to stare, his entire possy will start to stare. Sometimes the staring is out of curiosity and sometimes the staring only precedes the catcalling.

My friends and I have managed to just make jokes out of those situations so it hasn't become too big of a deal. The cultural differences are really interesting to examine though. Here in the dorms, the spaniards are extremely loud and sometimes even obnoxious. I thought Americans were supposed to be the noisy and annoying ones.

For the most part, however, the spaniards I have come into contact with have been jovial and patient people. I've already gone to look at a few pisos (a piso is a flat) for rent and the landlords were SO nice and spoke slowly so we could understand them. The first piso I looked at was in Palacio (a certain barrio/ neighborhood). It was right smack in the middle of so many pubs, restaurants, etc. but the room I would have had only had a window to the interior of the building and there was no living room. And for some reason, my room wouldn't have gotten internet...strange. BUT AHHH, the second piso I went to look at was BEAUTIFUL. It is located in Sol (pretty much in the center of Spain), right next to the Plaza Mayor and the Ópera metro station on Calle Arenal. GREAT AREA... but Danielle and I would have had to share a room. And for the price we'd be paying, we can probably find a place with our own habitación.

Oh the food here in the dorms is HORRIBLE. They put HAM in EVERYTHING. I can't even pretend to be hungry when I enter the dining hall. Its like my stomach is begging me not to eat.

But the nightlife is AMAZING. On wednesday, Erin (my roomie), Danielle, Scott and Chris went to Joy and Palace (two clubs in Sol). It was funny how on the first night all of us SBers found each other and went out together. I realized that night that I LOVE CLUBS. The girls got in for free everywhere and we all got free sangria at Palace. We danced and drank and had a grand time. I even made friends with some of the people working there :) It was a great way to start off our time here in Spain.

Last night the entire program went to Kapital, a 7 story high nightclub in Madrid. I LOVED THE LATIN FLOOR. The men actually dance here! They were swinging Danielle and I around like we were pro salsa dancers! I didn't even attempt to wear heels either of these nights I went out. My feet hurt enough from all the walking I've been doing during the day. I'm definitely in the market for a pair of grandma shoes (super comfy) that I can pull off as fashionable shoes for all the walking I do when I'm exploring the city.

School starts on Monday and I don't know how I feel about that. While I do want to brush up on my spanish, I also don't want to have class everyday! :( But I just have to remember its only for a month... and then hopefully I'll only have class twice a week :).

Sorry this entry was so random and jumbled. I haven't had time to keep this updated with everything going on... but I'm going to get on top of it! Thanks for reading :)

PS- I bought my first bottle of wine the other day! Probably going to drink it tonight before dinner with some chicas...maybe it will make the food taste better.