The Real Deal

Written while drinking a coke zero from the mini mart downstairs and wondering why minions are a much bigger thing here than in the states...the movie comes out tomorrow!

Hola amigos, y feliz fin de semana!  It's been a pretty good great two days here in Madrid, and may I say the weather is just sweltering hot beautiful.  We've had the opportunity to visit some great places with class, and I think this is the most interested I have been in the classroom material during this entire program.  We visited the Museo del Prado both yesterday and today; yesterday's visit focused primarily on Velazquez's and Goya's paintings.  While the visit was quite short because Cities as Living Museums is a one hour class each day, it was interesting to see two of the most famous paintings in the museum.  I will be writing my final exam composition comparing their two family portraits, and I am excited to explore their meaning and artistic style more in depth.  We are also allowed to insert opinion, because who doesn't love giving their opinion on pieces of fine art?  Then, we went back today for our Museums and Heritage class; this time looking at how some permanent collections have inspired the temporary exhibits.  Primarily we looked at an exhibit that compared Picasso's paintings to baroque style as well as a former exhibit that integrated natural history artifacts with different paintings in the permanent collection.  Personally I preferred the natural history exhibit because it seemed more relevant, but our teacher bought and gave us books (in Spanish) about each of the exhibits to keep!

Rewind a little bit: this morning we got to visit Palacio Real for our Cities as Living Museums class after having coffee with our professor!  By a chance of fate and some luck, we ran into her at our metro stop and got cappuccinos before exploring the palace.  I had actually visited the palace back in high school, but again it was much more fun and relevant this time because I was there to learn for class.  While the Royal Family no longer lives in the palace, it is used as a headquarters for important state events.  It is open every day to the public except for special occasions.  While we were not able to take pictures inside, my roommate and I had a little bit of fun with my GoPro in the courtyard before attempting to find something to eat after the visit.  If you couldn't tell we're struggling a little bit with the eating culture here.  Typically here in Spain people start the day off with a light breakfast at home or in a coffee shop for an hour before going to work.  Before afternoon siesta (my favorite part of the day by far), people eat a large lunch before pausing everything to rest.  Most offices and businesses close during this time-even my gym closes for siesta and lunch-which I wish was something that we did back in the states.  Then, once everybody goes back to work they do not eat again until tapas/dinner around 8 or 10pm.  All of the cities that we have lived in are different in their eating culture, so it has been a little hard adjusting so frequently.  Today after our visit to Palacio Real we were so hungry (having only had coffee and no substance) that we broke Spanish tradition and got lunch at noon!  We went to our favorite neighborhood place-La Rollerie-where we munched on croquettes as an appetizer and I was able to get A SALAD for lunch.  Probably the best caesar salad that I have ever had.  Seriously so good; complete with sesame coated chicken.  After topping it off with a slice of red velvet cake, we headed home for our nice, long siesta.

After class at the Prado I was able to go to my gym for a little bit before we decided to go get something for dinner.  Also-you may have noticed that we have been doing a lot of eating out, and there is a good reason.  Our kitchen is very tiny, and our fridge miniscule.  But, we are lucky in that there are plenty of good value places to eat near our apartment.  We also share a lot of food, as it is not custom to get your own meal but rather get a few things for the table.  We decided to go to Cervecita 100 Montaditos, which is a chain of Spanish bars that are known for having 100 types of mini-sandwiches.  We opted for a few different types of sandwiches and tapas, which may have actually been the cheapest meal we have had this entire trip.  While it is a bar we have at school (it's much, much better here) and popular among students, we thought the food was just ok.  But, we have some more time to explore and try new places-after all, we are in the busiest part of town!

I'm in a particularly good mood because classes are over for the week, and I am heading to Amsterdam tomorrow!  My flight is not until later in the afternoon, so it will be nice to sleep in and catch up on some much needed rest before heading out.  Everybody I know who visited Amsterdam during their semesters abroad said it was one of their favorite weekend trips, and I am very excited to see it for myself.  It's a bit weird though because it's my last free weekend and the last weekend before classes end next week!  Time is really flying by now...no worries though, we still have a lot to do before it all ends...did someone say finals?  Okay, I'm only kidding...a little bit...we don't have finals but rather a few final papers.

Until then, it's off to attempt to start packing for my trip (aka putting it off until tomorrow morning) and keep up with my personal French lessons (yes, I have decided to teach myself French because I figured why not?).  More to come about Amsterdam later this weekend or early next week!

Hasta luego!