First Day of School

This morning I woke up, dark and early, to one of my favorite cantantes, Julieta Venegas. She's from Argentina and I recognized it because I did a project in one of my classes based on her song, Me Voy. I say "dark and early" because though Spain is more geographically aligned with Wales, it's on the same time zone as Germany. As such, the clock should really read an hour earlier. Plus, all the tall buildings tend to block a lot of the early morning (and afternoon) sun. But back to my story. Anyways, after my usual tradition of using the sleep button twice, I got ready for my first day of school. I heard backpacks are kind of odd here, so I just used a plastic pocket folder left by a previous student in my room. Concha fixed tortilla, an omelet with cheese not to be confused with the American tortilla, and I had some coffee and golden grahams as well. After a leisurely breakfast, I was off.

I live close to school, which means I can walk and enjoy the sights as opposed to having to use the Metro. I could use the autobus, but I can only conquer so many things in one day (or week). Anyways, the city is just starting to wake up at 9am, with people rushing to work and the opening of many storefronts. Getting to school is pretty much a 20 minute straight line, though the massive traffic circle I ran into got me so confused I ended up walking a ways back the direction I started! Also, the street signs on the walls of buildings named after Spanish historic names mean nothing to me (though I do appreciate Spanish culture!), so after awhile, all the Fernandez's and Diego's and Geraldo's run together. Regardless, I made it to my first class on time, History of Modern Art in Spain.

I thought I would just try out the art class, but it ends up, I was already enrolled in it. Turns out, they enrolled me in 15 hours because I couldn't make up my mind which class to take (5000-level Spanish Lit. of Theatre or the art history). As everyone was checking their schedules, they all thought I was ridiculous and I had to explain to nearly everyone that I really only plan on taking 12 hours. Modern, or Contemperan~o, art was a great class that goes to the museum nearly every week. I can still go on the museum trips even with the lit class, but since I'm not majoring in Spanish, I figure, why bother taking the lit class. After Art was Marketing, which definitely is not taught by the American ex-pat that I was told it would be. Hmm...

After class, 3 of my friends (Melisa, Emily, Chelsi) and I decided to go out for lunch. I had to stop by the bank to change dollars to euros, so we casually looked for a place to eat. I really wanted a lunch of traditional menu del dia, so we picked Revi 40 for our first lunch. For 11 euros, I had an amazing meal at a great little restaurant that can only seat maybe 30 people. It was a really nice restaurant with tablecloths and our very kind and patient waiter was wearing a bowtie and all. The menu del dia consisted of 3 courses and came with wine, bread, and a simple tapas to taste. My first course was a wonderful soup for a cold day, consisting of potato, carrots, and bits of pork rib in a nice, thick broth. The waiter brought it out in a big pot and ladled it to us individually. Then came some dish, which I can't remember the name, but it was like thin pork steaks (tenderloin?) with an amazing, you-can't-believe-it-unless-you-tried-it pumpkin sauce (pure de calabaza). For dessert, two of us had fresh kiwi and the others had very good ice cream. Though I can't pay 11 euros for every meal, this one was fantastic!

After that, nothing is open in the afternoons, so I went to Melisa and Chelsi's apartment because it's really close and their madre told them it would be fine to have friends over to study (though we actually watched a movie). Part of the culture here is that it is not typical to entertain at home. Homes are considered private and only for family. Since I love having people over for dinner and movies and such, I think that that may be the only thing I don't like about Madrid. When the movie was over (Kung Fu Panda in English), we went out to run errands. One thing I absolutely love about Madrid is that the city streets are lined with tons of unique, family-owned stores and restaurants. There are very few chains, other than banks. As such, we went to a paper-store for our school goods, a market for vegetables, fruit, meat and cheese, a video store strictly to rent them another movie, etc. There are perfume stores, furniture stores, electronic stores, car stores (literally in buildings right off the street!), even a honey store! Every store has it's own character and unlike Philly or NYC, there aren't many abandoned or closed down stores. However, they are never all open at the same time! The Spanish time table is extremely hard to get used to! Banks are only open to the public 10-2, stores from 9-2 and 5-8, restaurants (other than cafeterias, that are cafes, not cafeterias) are open 2pm-5pm and 8:30pm-11pm, and bars 2pm-2am. So you have to plan your day in kind of an odd way.

However, I really, really like Madrid. It's like NYC, without the grime, glitz, chain stores, and people begging on the street, etc. You can walk all over the place, though I think I'll pick up a metro pass soon. One thing I'm tired of in Dallas is that everything is the same, the same chain restaurants, the same clothing stores, the same-looking houses, the same cars. It's boring. But here, there are many, many different stores and markets with all sorts of different wares. It's a bit expensive, since I don't exactly have a working income, but it's all good.

I also got my phone, which is kind of confusing and seems to have a bad battery. We'll see what happens there. I don't think any of y'all can call me unless you want to pay a pretty penny.

Tonight I think I may just have a quiet night in so that I can read a little and maybe to bed sooner than not. We'll see. Concha just returned to cook dinner. We're having some sort of creamed vegetable with dinner, either a zucchini or a cucumber- I couldn't tell. She also handed me a block of dark chocolate with honey to snack on. Much tastier and more savory than Hershey's (though I miss milk chocolate!).

Hasta luego,
JHunt