is this what a chino looks like?

today my photography class had a field trip to Calle Fuencarral, which is half a residential street, half commercial. We had to take a photo story...so a series of pictures that have a similar theme. I had no idea where to start so my friend Carla and I walked down the street and just took pictures of anything that caught our eye. Eventually I had four different themes going: graffiti, people window shopping, shoes, and this woman with a little dog who we met. so now I have a million pictures and don't know which direction to go with. It was really interesting because you had to be really gutsy going up to people and taking their pictures. I wish I could really fluently and confidently speak spanish (I mean, I can) and ask if I could take their picture. I was just too scared. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. My goal is by the end of the semester to ask a stranger to take their picture. We'll see what my final product looks like.

Sol told us that there are a couple of Chinos (little cheap stores owned by Chinese people) near us, and I really wanted to buy a fur vest (obviously fake) because that's what everyone wears here! Don't worry dad, I want a cheap one. So Carissa and I walked down this long street, but we've never been to a Chino before so every cheap-looking store we walked by, we said, "Is this what a Chino looks like? Is this it???" But eventually we got to one...no fur vests :( but i ended up walking out with a trench coat. oops.

Also, we had a surprise visitor at home tonight. One of Sol's girls who stayed with her last summer came and visited. She had dinner with us (but Sol wasn't even there) and hung out for a little. Her name is Danielle and she's visiting her friends in Madrid for her spring break. She's a senior at UCF. So yup...finished my homework, so off to editing these pictures and watching A Bug's Life!

velazquez and goya and el greco, oh my!

so this week I have three field trips. do i even go to college here? Today my art history class went to el museo del prado and walked around for 2.5 hours. let me tell you, my feet kind of hurt. it was great though because my class combined with my professor's other class (taught in english) and we just walked around the museum and talked about art. it was great. even though i know a lot about art history, i really did learn a lot. my teacher is amazing and she's so cute. we walked through the museum stopping at almost everything. by the end, the people who worked there were yelling at her because apparently the "explaining" hours ended so you weren't allowed to explain the paintings to groups anymore (?? i don't get spain)...but she said to every person who yelled at her "this is the last one, I swear" and then we'd move on to the next painting. such a bad ass. I love her. And she was complaining about the huge groups of Japanese tourists walking around hahahha. At the last painting, she told us that we have to do it again and after go to a tapas place in Plaza Mayor and get tapas and sangria together. how cute. i can't get enough of her. and she was on her way to go buy a painting for her birthday....and she complained about how her husband loves golf and how every one of his birthdays all he asks for is golf clubs and balls and clothes and she's bored of buying golf stuff...sound familiar??

anyways, it was a great visit and i had a lot of fun. tomorrow i have another field trip to a street called Fuencarral where my photography class is going to walk around and take pictures for a photo story. And then Thursday, my color theory class is going to the Thyssen museum to see the Chagall exhibit. Great great week.

wait..it's march already?

hullooo. not too much new lately. this past weekend my art school friends from WashU who are studying abroad in Florence came and visited! It's their spring break so they are traveling all around Spain (how perfect) and they came to Madrid for the weekend! It was really great to see familiar faces. Friday night we went to El Tigre for dinner (crammed, sweaty, good food). They went out and I stayed in and watched Up with Carissa (yep). Saturday, we met at 100 Montaditos (I don't know if I've mentioned this place yet, but it's heaven...I went 4x last week). Danielle and Carissa came and ate with us, but then they went home. We all walked through Plaza Mayor and then went to Parque Retiro. It was a little chilly, but we walked around and sat for a while on the grass. Then we went to Museo del Prado and split up because some girls wanted to go the Reina Sofia instead. It was so funny to walk around the Prado with people who have sat through the same art history class as me, so we all commented on the same paintings and laughed about our professor, Wallace.

That night, a couple of the girls came to a concert (but we only found two of them there), where we saw Crookers. They're two guys from Italy who dj, and are incredible. I'm so glad I was able to see them live. I stayed in Sunday to do homework, etc. so I didn't see them again, but I'll see them in 2 weeks in Belgium!

Today is Danielle's birthday..HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLEEEE!! We went to a mexican restaurant last night to celebrate...got there around 7:30, and found out that they don't open until 9pm. Great job, Spain. So we walked back home and waited around until 9. I had chicken enchiladas, which were sooo good.

In my communication class, we're talking about intercultural communication and thereby mostly comparing and contrasting American culture and Spanish culture. It's really made me realize how different the two cultures are; and there have been so many things that I've had to get used to. For example, I hadn't realized until I came here how rushed eating is in the states. You go to Starbucks and you only get a to-go cup, people eat on the go all the time, and the minute you finish eating in a restaurant, the waiter runs over and gives you the check. Here, Starbucks assumes you are going to drink your coffee there so you get a ceramic mug (you have to ask for a to-go cup), people stare at you if you eat on the street, and you need to ask the waiter multiple times for the check. And the mexican restaurant example too...you don't realize how late people eat here. Restaurants OPEN at 9pm...on a sunday! And it's rude to put your hands under the table when you're eating...but in America that's what you're taught to do.

also, it was around 70 degrees last week and I was legitimately sweating in a light sweater, but everyone else was still in heavy coats, scarves, and gloves. I don't get how they do it. So i asked my Señora and she said that the custom is that when it's winter, you dress like it's winter, no matter what the actual temperature is. how strange! In the states, if it's February 1 and 70 degrees out, you wear shorts and flip flops.

Also when we were talking about intercultural communication, my teacher discussed culture shock. He explained how it goes in a U shape, where you're excited about something, but then realize all the differences and get homesick (even physically sick!) and then come to accept it and start the U all over again. And I've realized that yes, I miss home and I DEFINITELY miss the food, but I really haven't had a hard time adjusting. I love this country, despite it's minor cons. It has been a lot of learning (and a lot of learning about life in America too! becoming much more aware of culture) but I couldn't imagine being physically sick due to culture shock. I'm trying to accept everything as it is and live as much as a Spanish lifestyle as I can. I can't believe I only have about 9 weeks left here. It really has flown by, and now that I'll be traveling every weekend for the next 7 weeks, it's going to go even faster. (Sweden this weekend to visit the au pairs!!!)

Sorry for the rant, I think all the ham is getting to my head.

the icing on top of the cake

so as a perfect weekend comes to an end, it becomes even more perfect. it was almost 70 degrees today and sunny so the 5 of us girls decided to have a picnic in parque retiro. we brought blankets, wine, freshly made bread, salami, and a hunk of cheese. we sat in the sun for hours and ate and listened to music. ideal.

after, we were craving the violet gelato again, because who wouldn't?, and we went BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYYY...so we got rose flavored gelato instead, which was a close second, but i still like the violet the best. who knew that flower flavored gelato would be so amazing?

literally best 4 days ever.

cuchinillo is not my thing

wait. just listen. let me tell you about my perfect weekend in spain. I had winter break this week...so i had thursday, friday, saturday, and sunday to do what i want in madrid. perfection.

thursday, carissa and i went shopping over at nuevos ministerios and got this awesome gold shiny sweater. it's ke$ha-esque and amazing. then we met the girls (lucie, ariel, and lucie's friend allie) at plaza de españa and went to a chinese buffet. omg so good. just what i've been craving. such a hidden gem too...like crystals all hanging from the ceiling.

then friday, we (me, carissa, ariel, lucie, and katie- the core 5) went to la mordida (a mexican restaurant) where we got nachos con guacamole and margaritas and more. again, amazing. we were walking back to the metro when we spotted a gelato place and i didn't want any yet i got violet gelato. ICE CREAM WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. this gelato was UNREAL. i don't even know how to explain it. it was a mix of the lavender smell and violets and pure joy. it was such a gorgeous day out so carissa and i came back home and grabbed a blanket and walked to the park and laid down for a while. it was so fun! i also have a portrait assignment for my photography class so i was snapping pictures the whole time- when they're done being edited, i'll put them up.

so then today, carissa and i went to segovia (the other 3 went to el escorial). it was quite an adventure. we decided to go, but we weren't sure which train to take (because there was cercanias train and renfe ave train). we went to the metro stop that the train station is at and couldn't find where to buy the tickets. we wandered around like lost ducklings until we walked into the right place- the train station. but we STILL couldn't find where to buy tickets until we spotted it up further ahead. we waited on line but were scared we were going to miss the train...when carissa saw that one of the ticket booth lines said Segovia on it so we went over there and skipped the line and bought tickets. we got on the train and in 30 minutes, we were there. THEN we get off the train and we're in the middle of nowhere! there's a tourist office/store where we asked how to get to segovia and she gave us a map and directed us toward the public bus. uhhhh okay. so a million people CRAM onto this public bus and the driver was horrible so we were all falling all over each other and it was horrible. 15 crammed minutes later, the aqueducts were in sight. we hopped off and took millions of pictures and walked all around. it was GORGEOUS and it was a beauuuutiful day. it kind of looked like toledo. carissa and i also had a 3 hour lunch, sipping on white wine and eating croquetas. and the aqueducts are unbelievable. there was also a jewish section! and a castle that the castle in sleeping beauty was inspired by. all in all, it was a great day. but i'm tired.

segovia is also famous for their cuchinillo (suckling pig) which is like literally a baby pig and you eat it and they're all over the restaurants but i wouldn't even think about eating it. disgusting.

and people need to stop making out in public. why is everyone in a relationship here?

and the men need to stop being attractive. enough, already.

the castle inspiration for sleeping beauty!

"is that africa?"

long time no see. sorry, my life's been boring here in madrid. WELL last weekend, we went down to the south of spain to cádiz, a city on the southwest coast, where there was Carnaval (the third largest in the world). It's basically a giant halloween. so much fun. i was a fairy (hence the wings), that eventually ended up being crumpled in a ball by the end of the night, sadly. there were thousands of people in so many crazy costumes (firefighters, popes, hockey players, more inappropriate costumes haha). the 9-10 hour drive each way was not the best, but the leaders of the trip played weird british movies, which were hilarious.

also, the countryside of southern spain is GORGEOUS. like picturesque rolling hills and animals grazing and you get the jist.

and todayyy we found out that there's this AMAZINGGGG restaurant right near school. it's called cervecería 100 montaditos and it's a chain in spain (they actually have one in miami!) and they have like 1 euro sandwiches of all different types, which are unreal. one of mine today was shrimp and pineapple and some sauce. um so good. i'll be going every single day for lunch. mom and dad...we're going there when you're here. you don't have a choice.

that's it for now. i'm not sure if i'll have any posts anytime soon. i'm here in madrid this weekend (hopefully a daytrip somewhere) and then next weekend mis amigas from florence are coming!!!! so so excited.

and i'm drowning in midterms. at least they're over on wednesday...kill me.

Holla at me Kate Middleton

this past weekend i went to england to visit Emma!! For those who don't know, Emma was my first au pair (nanny) when i was little. I flew in Friday morning (SO EARLY) and hung out with Emma all morning. It took forever for me to find her at the airport because we were in two different places but thought we were in the same one. Then we picked the kids up at school, which was super exciting. That night we had the classic British fish and chips for dinner. SO YUMMY.

Saturday we ventured into London. We took the tube into the city and walked all around. We saw the London Eye, Big Ben, went to the Tate Art Museum of Modern Art, saw some skateboarders, etc. Caitlin and Ollie rode around London on their scooters all day, zooming around. We then took the Underground to Leicester Square and walked to the M&M Store and down to Covent Square for dinner. On the way I RANDOMLY ran into a girl in my sorority from WashU who's studying abroad there! Such a small world. Actually. And we went to this American restaurant for dinner and had the BEST tomato soup and veggie burger for dinner. NO HAM!!!!

Sunday it unusually snowed like 3-4 inches and it was crazy! Everyone was soo excited about the snow, when it was like nothing for me. But we managed to slowly drive to the airport and even though my flight was delayed an hour and a half, I finally made it home! In time for the (depressing) superbowl.

I would chat about the superbowl and how fun the night was, but today I am deeply depressed and i'm trying to repress those memories.