26-Jan-09, 20:24 MADRID.
Ahh! I hate the eating schedule here! I can’t seem to adjust to it. Breakfast is good because it’s pretty light. But that’s at like 8am and then you don’t eat lunch until 2 and by that time I’m dyinggg. It’s alright, I think I can manage to deal with that via coffee & rice cake around 12. However, then they don’t eat dinner until 9 and that’s when I die. How can you just eat nothing for 7 hours and not be shaking from hunger?? (I like to eat.. can you tell?? lol) Oy, I’ve gotta figure this thing out and find healthy snacks because if not, I’m going to end up stuffing my face with Spanish Teddy Grahams, which translates to “Chiquilin Ositos” This is very much not good. --
Most of you have already heard about this, but I did something quite lovely the other day – I fell. Oh yes. I am that graceful. I got lost on my way to my internship and so I was looking at a map while walking. Obviously not a good plan. I didn’t see a little pole right in front of me, walked right into it and went *THWACK* That is the precise sound I made as I fell ever-so-gracefully in the middle of the street in Madrid. Now I have a gigantic blue bump on my left thigh that hurts. ::sniff::
In recent news: My host father spoke to me! We’re making progress! Mom talks to me, now father talks to me. We’ve only got one more to go (host bro), although he’s going to be a little bit more difficult. I’m thinking of inviting him out for a celebratory coffee/caña after his finals are over although I’m guessing he’s already going to be doing that with his friends. Oh well, my job is to offer.
Also, I’m very close to finding my intercambio partner! The Instituto recommended this website to sign up on to find a person to intercambio with (speak English/Spanish) and I only signed up 2 days ago but already 3 people want to talk to me! =D Yay for me. I want to get to know more Spaniards as opposed to hanging out with American students all the time. (Not that they’re not wonderful.. you are!)
The night before last I went out to dinner and we got Indian food in Lavapies and it was soooo yummy. Then we went to a restaurant to watch a flamenco show which was really cool but the guy was yelling into the microphone and I'm almost positive that I went a little bit deaf.
All in all, things are okay for now. I'm going to Toledo on Friday so there will be much a picture-postin'! Keep a look out on facebook. (:
Hasta luegoooo.
-Chiquitica
20-Jan-09, 21:52 MADRID.
So today was kind of a weird day.
I had my internship “interview!” And I put “interview” in quotes because I already had the job. It was more of a getting-to-know-you type meeting, but it was great! I thought that I was getting some sort of left over internship because of the whole psychosis with the Study Abroad office at BU, but this company is really cool. Since they do study abroad with students, they get to go on excursions and guess who gets to go with them.. for free! Yes! ‘Tis I! They have a trip to San Sebastian and Bilbao one weekend and another to Córdoba later in the semester. When I was told about this, I said “Oh wow, how much do I have to pay to come along?” and my boss kind of stared at me as though I just grew another head. She said, “Just tell me if you want to go so I know to order a hotel room for you!” Say it with me, Amazing.
Another fantastical thing about this internship is that I get to walk by the Palacio de Comunicaciones every Tuesday & Thursday on my way over there. If you told me a year ago that I’d be walking by the Palacio de Comunicaciones twice a week for four months, I would have told you to go get your brain checked, but it’s actually happening!
The interview finished pretty quickly so I found a nice little café to sit in while I waited for my friend Lori to meet up with me. Naturally, I had my cup of café con leche that was quaint and wonderful (much like me!) and was sitting quietly reading my recently purchased Spanish version of Frank McCourt’s Tis, which incidentally in Spanish translates to Lo es, and this man starts talking to me. He had a speech impediment and I had the hardest time understanding what he was saying because aside from the speech impediment, he was speaking Spanish (obviously). He started rambling on about how he used to live in Queens and the Bronx and that he was a lawyer. I’m not entirely sure if he was lying to me (because he didn’t really look like a lawyer), hitting on me, or just lonely. In the end, he gave me his card and left. Like I said, today has been a weird day.
Then I met up with Lori and we walked down Calle de Alcalá all the way down to Sol (on a sunny day, no less.) and saw Plaza Mayor during the daytime. It was nice and we did the picture taking. There’s a bit of a strange art exhibition going on in Madrid right now that involves painted cows. So there are just random statues of cows all over the city. Of course we took pictures with them because well, who wouldn’t want to take a picture with a colorful cow in Europe? This one is from last year:
Plaza Mayor was kind of quiet because It’s been really cold in Madrid so no one really wants to sit outside and drink coffee. I’m sure things will become more exciting once the weather becomes better.
After that, we went to the Instituto to watch Obama’s inauguration. They were streaming it from MSNBC and it was so ridiculously slow. At one point we were 10 minutes behind the actual event. But we got to see the speech even though it was stopping every 15 seconds (I kid you not.) It was so cute that he messed up during his oath. He is human after all and it showed that he was nervous, as anyone well would be! When that was done, we went to a bar nearby to take “freedom shots” as someone called them. I didn’t actually do that, but I did pay way too much money for a limon y vodka, but it tasted really good so I guess it was worth it. :P Curse the high price of hard alcohol..
Well that’s enough babbling for now.
Hope you’re enjoying the stories!
-La Pequeñita.
17-Jan-09, 13:59 MADRID.
In recent news, I went out last night! On Friday and Saturday nights we’re given 22€ to eat dinner by ourselves and get a chance to explore the city. I recommended that a bunch of us go to Cañas y Tapas because that was really the only place I could remember and no one else knew what they wanted to do. Turns out everyone really liked it and it wasn’t expensive! This made me cheerful. I’m always afraid people won’t like what I recommend, but this was very much great success. I ordered my first glass of legal wine. This was exciting considering the fact that it was cheap and tasted really good. It was Rioja. After dinner we went walking around Sol and ended up going to this little bar called Bodega. It was pretty calm and laid back. I tried some sangria and it was absolutely incredible. Mm.. I am so going to enjoy wining and dining in this wonderful city.
After that I went home and Skyped with Mommy, Daddy & Renata. I miss them, but I know I’ll see them soon. Breytman Women Prague-Vienna’09! Woo! I’m hoping to get a phone card soon so I can talk to them. The internet isn’t exactly the best over here.. At the moment I have stolen WiFi probably from a neighbor or something, but it’s extremely slow and barely works. Which brings me to my next exciting event..
I met my host family! They seem really nice but have left me alone for a couple of hours and I’m kind of bored. I don’t really know what to do. =/ They told me I spoke Spanish really well and thought I was Latin American, as did the Peruvian cab driver who I made friends with on my way here. I guess it’s good that they think I’m a native speaker and don’t have to dumb things down for me. That also makes me cheerful. Juanjo (the 20-yr-old) was at the university and when he came back was really quiet and didn’t talk to me that much. Also I’m pretty sure that Nicolas (the 14-yr-old) has decided to ignore my existence. Welcome to my life. :P
Tomorrow we’re going to walk around Retiro around 12pm but that’s about it. Classes start on Monday and I have a meeting about my internship that day too. I haven’t really got much more to say at this point. We’re going out for dinner again tonight. I’m hoping my phone will work, because I have yet to send any texts or anything like that.
We’ll see.
Hasta luego!
Marianita
15-Jan-09, 22:19 MADRID.
I’m finally here! I can’t believe this is all happening. I still kind of feel like I’m here on vacation for a week and that I’ll be back in NYC/Boston next Friday. I don’t think it fully hit me until I was actually in the airport, hugging my mommy for an hour. That was probably the scariest thing – leaving my family and everyone in JFK. It just all felt kind of final, like I was never going to see them again even though I know I will. Mommy & Renata are coming in March/April and hopefully we’re going to go to Prague and Vienna. It’s going to be amazing and I can’t wait for them to get here.
My plane was delayed an hour and we didn’t even end up leaving until 8:30pm NYC time (my flight was for 6:00pm). The food on the plane was okay.. my stomach kind of hurt but I guess it was just nerves. As soon as I landed, the stomachache went away, so that was good. I met a really nice girl on the plane and I’m staying in the hotel with her. She’s in Level 1, but I’m hoping we’ll be friends even though we won’t be taking classes together.
On the way to the Hotel Regina, we passed the Palacio de Comunicaciones (Madrid’s main post office) and I swear I almost cried. It’s almost as thought it’s more beautiful that it was when I last saw it four years ago. I wish I could just stand in front of it for hours upon end and just stare at it. For those of you who have never seen it, here’s a little glimpse of Madrid’s beauty:
This isn’t my photo because I haven’t really had the time to engage in much picture taking, since I’ve only been here a day, but there will be plenty to come.
After getting settled at the hotel and meeting Amalia and Tio Ray, we went to get our cell phones with this funny guy who helps out with the program, Evan. I couldn’t figure out where my telephone number was, so I had to call customer service and that was quite the adventure considering the fact that the woman was speaking at an ungodly speed and I had no idea what she was saying. In the end, it worked out and I found out how to use my phone. By the way, it’s free for me to receive calls, so whoever wants to talk to me, I’ll be more than glad to give you my number and hear all of your darling voices!
Then we found a “locutorio” (internet café type place) where I got to go online for 30 minutes and it only cost me 1 euro! It was great – I got to send out my standard “I’m alive” e-mail to my family and even talked to my sister on gmail for a bit! It’s pretty cool because if you don’t use up all of your time you can come back later. This is very much exciting to me, as is everything in this new and crazy place.
After that we ate, napped and registered for classes. I’m really tired from the flight and such, so going to sleep early is most definitely on the top of my list. Tomorrow is a really hectic day, but on Saturday we get to meet our host families, which I am extremely excited about! I can’t wait to meet Elena, Juan, Juanjo and Nicolas! Oh, and the bird, of course. They have a bird. (:
Until my next Madrid adventure,
LittleOne.
