I don't like to waste time. So with this being one of the few weekends I'll actually be IN Madrid this semester, it was time to be my own tour guide.
Saturday I met Ali, Kayla and Maggie at Mercado de San Miguel for tapas and Sangria. It's an indoor food market with tapas, wine, helado, etc. stands, and you walk through and get food and drinks! It's so fun and overwhelming and one of those places you just want to try EVERYTHING.
We had fresh Sangria, and Ali and I split tostadas and SEA URCHIN
After, we tour Palacio Real, where the royal family lives. The old rooms are so freaking ornate, and when you walk into the dining room its like you can just IMAGINE being at a ball there 200 years ago.
Siesta time, and then después I go to a hookah bar with Tara and Judy's promoter, get free alcohol, and then go to some lounge with him. Here's a new vow from now on: NO MORE AMERICAN PLACES!!!!!
Sunday was one of the best! I get everyone up and force them to go to the Rastro with me, which is a flea market only on Sundays 9-3. My mother would have been in Heaven. This place is HUGE and so crowded with jewelry, rugs, clothing, antique, book and anything else you would need, stops. You're supposed to haggle with them, but I'm not very good at it. I got 2 rings, a shirt for Dylan, and a bullfight poster with BAUMAN printed on it!
Later that day we go to the Corrida del Toros. We arrive at the plaza, which is HUGE, and looks like the Colossium, except better kept. Outside there are stands selling souvenirs, nuts and candy. Our host father said May is when the Spaniards go, and this time of year is when the tourists go, so the stadium was only about half full. The bullfight is insane, offputting and horrid, but I'm so glad I went. There are 3 matadors, all around my age, in beautiful clothing, and they kill a total of 6 bulls. It's insane to watch them stab the animals repeatedly, while people in the stands cheer and wave white flags, finally to watch the poor bull stumble to the ground, collapse, and then get dragged off by three horses.
Now that I've been in Spain for a month officially, I think the biggest culture shock and adjustment I've had to make is the time schedule. Things are just so laid back, and later. No one's in a rush and everyone takes their time with everything, so days go on for so long. This is the longest I've gone in my life with the least amount of sleep. Lunch at 3, dinner at 9:30 and pregaming at 12 is the norm. But with classes and touring, I wake up early because I don't want to miss out on anything, and continue to go on week by week with barely any sleep.
Last week I went to the Prado museum with my Arts of Spain class for the first time. We go about once a week. It was amazing being able to tour through with an art expert and recognize styles and time periods just based off of lectures and classes! Like I can tell you what the Pontacrator is, and when and where he was probably painted. It's a man, sitting on the universe, holding up three fingers in one hand to symbolize being the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in one, and the Bible in the other! We learned art of the Middle Ages is characterized by 2D styles and thick black outlines because the point was not for beauty, but to teach and tell a story...like a comic book!
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