Too Much for a Title 03.05.11-29.05.11

You know, one of my favorite song lyrics is from the Pink Floyd song, "Dogs" and goes: And when you lose control, you'll reap the harvest that you've sown. How true that is! Now I sit here, Monday evening, feeling the bitter consequences of everything I have brought upon myself: my room is a disaster because I've neglected to clean it, my head aches from the lack of sleep I've been getting (averaging around 5hrs/night for two consecutive weeks), my conscience is more than a wreck as I approach my exams in two weeks and I am still not prepared, and most importantly, I face what will probably be my longest entry yet as I've missed a lot of entries. Which leads one to ask, was all this procrastination due to many things going on worth it? And I say, you bet it was!
So a couple weekends ago, I decided to make something typically "American" for my roommates, my French friend Laura, and her visiting friend. As hamburgers and hotdogs are becoming the norm here, I decided to create breakfast for dinner. I made a couple batches pancakes, bacon, and a 10-egg oven omelette and, as every proper American meal should be, it was way too much food! It was perfect, we ate until the induced food comas put us to sleep.
The next week was pretty studious, because I had needed to prepare for my two Spanish exams. The first exam was less nerve-wrecking because it was for my Spanish course and covered material we had been drilling for the past two months. However, I spent a lot more time worrying about the second exam which was the Dimploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera (DELE) by the Instituto Cervantes of Spain. This exam, administered by the Spanish government, is an evaluation of fluency in Spanish. I took the immediate level exam, so hopefully I will pass and by officially certified in Spanish! This will look incredible on my resumé, and it's just generally something to be proud of. The old exams I practiced with were pretty simple and straight-forward, but I unfortunately think that they upped the difficulty this year. I think I still have to wait a few weeks to here my results so, fingers-crossed...

Marisa, Giorgia, and I in Plaza Mayor

Then two Wednesdays ago, my good friend from IIT, Marisa, came to visit me here in Madrid! It was slightly easier for her to get here than normal because she was coming from Ankara, Turkey where she is also spending the semester abroad. Then that Sunday, my best friend Giorgia arrived from here home in Italy with her boyfriend/Madrilean friend, Jose. Then that Monday my other good friend, Nicole, arrived from her study abroad location of Sweden to visit! So it was one huge friend party! I really enjoyed the experience of having people here because I got to be a tourist here myself, showing them all the many sights Madrid has to offer, not to mention what it means to be "Spanish".
The first Friday, with just Marisa here, we went around the city center. That was also the same day as my DELE exam, so we didn't go out until that afternoon. One of the places we saw was the Plaza de Cibeles, where Real Madrid parties and celebrates after they win games. The impressive building in the plaza was the city's post office, but now is being converted into the new town hall. What's really cool is they are offering for now free admission to the observation deck on top of the building, so we decided to take advantage of this great opportunity. The view from the top is really impressive, because you see all around the city sprawl of Madrid. That night we went out to a big outdoor party in Madrid's Templo de Debod, a park with (believe it or not) Egyptian ruins that were donated to the city as a gift.

Me, Marisa, and Jose by the Protest

When Giorgia and Jose arrived on Sunday, I went with Jose's mom, Carmen, early that morning to pick them up from the airport. We then returned to Jose's house for breakfast and a brief walk around the neighborhood of Malasaña, which I was delighted to find wonderful: close to the center, tons of life, cute, etc. I say this because I will be changing apartments once my roommates leave to Navarra and Galicia and live with one of my roommate, Laura's, friends' place in that same area for the month of July. Then we went back to my place to pick up Marisa (I let her sleep in because we stayed out late) and then return to center for a walk around. In Sol, the heart of Madrid's downtown, there was a huge student manifestation going on which overtook the plaza. The student's were protesting the crisis and their limitations and continued to camp out in the plaza until yesterday. I believe this made international headlines. We also went to the Plaza Mayor, and finally ended up in the bohemian district La Latina again (it's always the best on Sundays). We had lunch at a well-known Madrilean restaurant famous for it's "huevos rotos", or broken eggs. Essentially, it's like a dish with french fries on the bottom, and then scrambled eggs and sausage pieces. It was good, but nothing stunning. However, we also ordered octopus, croquetas, and a tomato salad which were all quite good. That night, Marisa and I went back and watched the movie "Easy A" with my roommates and had some typical Turkish food that Marisa had brought to share.

Toros Stadium: Las Ventas

Opening Procession

After I finished class Monday morning, Marisa and I went to pick Nicole up from the airport (3rd time that week!). We then came back to my place to drop here stuff, made a late lunch, and went to an event I was equally looking forward to as I was regretting: a bull fight! I knew it was something I would really regret not seeing, but at the same time the very principle of watching an animal be killed was horrifying. To my surprise, I ended up really enjoying the bull fight. First of all, it was a lot less tourist-y and cliché as I had assumed it would be. In the arena, we were almost completely surrounded by geriatric Spanish who had been attending these fights weekly nearly all there lives. My French Laura, who attended with us, was seated next to a couple of the latter types which was great because they ended up explaining to us a lot about the fight. This also helped ease a lot my discomfort because they told us about how well the bulls are raised and treated (much better than ordinary cattle) before they are killed, and how in their death their meat is eaten so that they were not killed just for pure sport/in vain. Even though the bull fight has very intense moral implications, I'm really happy I went. After the fight, Nicole, Marisa, and I went to one of my favorite tapa's bars, El Tigre (I know I've talked about it before!) There, Jose and Giorgia met us and once again we stuffed ourselves silly with tapas of all sorts. After that we went out in the center.

Signal for Final Kill

Dance

Tapas from El Tigre

The next day I took Marisa and Nicole to my university before my classes to show them where I study. We had breakfast in the cafeteria, which for all of us was a little over 3EUR (gotta love student prices). When I had class, they left to go shopping and then afterward I met them downtown for lunch. My Swedish friend, Valentina, also came to join us which was quite amusing for my friend Nicole who just happened to be studying at her home university. After that, we all went to el Parque Retiro to take in some sun, but even at 6PM it was almost unbearably hot, mid 90's Fahrenheit! After we returned, I got ready to go to my dance class and rehearsal, while Nicole and Marisa got ready to go out to dinner for Jose's birthday. After dance, I met up with them and we back to downtown to spend the last night out. At around 3AM we went for chocolate and churros at San Ginés, perhaps the most famous spot in Madrid for this food icon. Best of all is that it's open 24/7! When we left that night, Marisa, Nicole, and I had to take the night bus back home. The unfortunate thing was that it was arriving right as we were getting to the station, so we had to hurry to get on and I had a lest than proper goodbye with Giorgia (she was leaving early that next morning). As my best friend, her and I haven't been so good at keeping in touch this semester cause we are both psycho busy and it really sucks! I'm really looking forward to being around her again in the Fall.

Marisa, Nicole, and I

The next day was also Marisa's last, but she wasn't leaving until the afternoon. We all three got up somewhat early and went to visit the Palacio Real where the King of Spain lives. I was expecting a palace, but not nearly something as extravagant as it was! I believe the palace was equally decked-out as the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris, just minus the sprawling gardens/grounds outside. After that, we went to take lunch at Museo de Jamón (Museum of Ham) in Plaza Mayor before heading to the airport (4th time). After saying goodbye to Marisa, Nicole and I returned to my place. That night we walked with my roommates, Gara and Ruben, to 100 Montaditos (the other restaurant I know I've talked about) for 1EUR Wednesday. After awhile, my friend Elias met us there too. After returning home, I went to bed early cause I had class again the next day. While I was in class, Nicole went out around the city to explore, and then when I got back at 3PM I quickly packed my luggage and we booked it to the bus station for our 5PM ticket to Valencia, where we would spend two days visiting.

Valencia Flag, Spanish Flag, Community Flag

Plaza in the Center

Valencian Paella

The two days in Valencia were really great, and I glad that I finally made it (no flu preventing me this time!). I could definitely distinguish this city as southern, it had a lot different feel than Madrid or any other part of Spain I'd seen. The center is really beautiful, old and historic. However, Valencia also has the City of Art and Sciences, which is an impressive museum/theater campus designed by Spanish architect, Calatrava. Another interesting thing about Valencia was the region's "language". Valencians claim to have a native tongue, Valenciano, but outside of this community linguists assure there is no difference between Valenciano and Catalán, the language of Catalunya, where Barcelona is located. Because of this secondary language, at times things became confusing in the city. For example, the subway stop names and streets were in Valenciano, but in Castellano (Spanish) on the maps. Since the Community of Valencia (name of Valencia's autonomous province) is less resistant to using Castellano as they are in Catalunya, I can only imagine how things are in Barcelona. Before we left  Valencia, I accomplished the two goals I had had for the trip: I went swimming in the Mediterranean and ate an authentic Paella. Made in tradition Valencia style with local rice, saffron, green beans, chicken, artichoke, and rabbit, it was exquisite.

Ciutat de Artes y Ciencias

When we arrived back in Madrid that Saturday night, Elias invited us over for wine tasting because he had just been back home to Austria and managed to bring back some white wine produced from where he lives outside of Vienna. I know that I am from the red wine country in California, but I must admit, I'm beginning to prefer white. The next morning, I again got up bright and early to go to the airport (5th time!) with Nicole, as she had to return to Sweden for her first day of her internship this Monday. After one and a half weeks of studying by the morning, being a tour guide by day, and partying by night, I was completely exhausted. While I had good intentions to be productive yesterday, it was nearly impossible.
Now I am facing the immense pressure of exams. I am so nervous because I truly have no idea what to expect, so I guess the more and more I study, the lesser probability of me being unprepared. Plus now I've got a lot to look forward for afterwards: travel! I have confirmed flights bought for Stockholm and Barcelona, and I'm probably going to make a trip through Andalucia and maybe even return to País Vasco. I'm going to play it by ear, or more so see how my diminishing budget is looking once summertime rolls around. More than anything I want to take advantage of being here, in Spain. This semester is unequivocally the opportunity of a lifetime.