Well my pictures finally loaded (took a full 8 hours in Spain to load this many pictures at the hotel). Day two of Madrid was a blast! Some other students and I literally walked around the city for over seven hours. I quickly realized why some Europeans are so thin but smelly. Some other students, a couple locals, and I went club hopping together in the Plaza del Sol which was so fun!
Just to list some of the major differences from the US: no air conditioning, drinking alcohol more than water (alcohol is most of the time less expensive but sometimes equal to water), terrible wifi, and conserving energy and water (like turning off the shower when you're scrubbing your hair and then back on to wash it). Oh and eating dinner at 8:30ish and lunch at 2:30ish. I said clubbing, but keep in mind the drinking culture in Spain is VERY different than the US. In the states, "getting wasted" is seen by many as equivalent to partying. In Spain, drunkenness is rude and embarrassing to the other members of your party even if you don't feel embarrassed yourself. It's a wine country, and they like to drink, but Spaniards drink in moderation. Adults and children go together to bars. Their cervezaria (bar) sells not only alcohol, but ice cream, expressos, and pastries as well. It's like an ice cream shop, coffee shop, and pub all mixed together. To be honest, I'm not sure why they have heladarias, cafeterias, or cervezarias since they practically all sell ice cream (helado), coffee (cafe), and beer (cerveza).
In the morning. ISA (International Studies Abroad) took us on a tour of the Museo del Prado and Museo Reina Sofia, which are both art museums. The cathedral below was behind the Museo del Prado. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures inside of the museum. It is an art museum that held the masterpieces of Goya, the Greek, and Velazquez. They were beautiful. Also, the entire tour was in Spanish so I didn't catch all the facts, but I did understand some of them.
Personally, my favorite is Goya because you can see so much emotion in his paintings. So much pain. He lived during the time when Spain was attacked by Napoleon of France. His two most famous paintings show the incredibly brave uprising against their french conquerors and the massacre that resulted. In his later days, Goya suffered from depression and his paintings become darker and darker. I love the expressionism in his paintings, the way they seem to be artfully portrayed screams from within.
The painting above shows the massacre that occurred in Madrid on the 3rd of May in 1808 after the towns people had attacked the french troops with kitchen knives, pitch forks, basically anything sharp that they could grab on May 2nd. It was very courageous, and the were killed for it. Madrid celebrates their act of bravery on its anniversary every year. I believe the front of the museum is the picture below (if I am remembering correctly)
The Museo Reina Sofia was pretty boring, in my opinion. It's a modern art museum. I understand that it's all about the perspectives and imagination…but I'm into the beauty and emotion in art. It just wasn't my taste. It houses the artwork of the famous Picasso and Dalí. Most people know about Picasso, so I won't go into that. Dalí is very famous in the Latin world. He created surrealist art. The tour guide talked for 5 minutes about the symbolism in this one painting…but I just felt uncomfortable since it was apparently his wife sniffing a guy's balls (the painting was symbolizing the naturalism of sexuality…still weird). Overall, I wasn't really into the museum, but I'm glad I went to it.
In Madrid, a friend named Kylie and I had our first paella in Spain! It was actually really good. It was paella mexicana, which has rice, saffron, pimiento, peas, salchichas (sausages), peppers, and a kick:). We shared it and almost ate the entire thing. It figures that an american would like the paella mexicana, but I am not into seafood so it seemed like the best choice. It is the one and only time I will try to drink beer with my meal. It was lunchtime and everyone in the restaurant had beer, so Kylie and I figured we would follow custom and got the small 1 euro ones. She liked it; I didn't even finish mine. However, I can say i've had a local Spanish beer called Mahou.
Here are some pretty pictures of government buildings in Madrid:
Some of the most spectacular buildings in Madrid are located in their financial sector.
After walking around all day, my friends and I stopped at a little bar. Here is my first sangria! The chips in the middle is the tapa we got with the sangria. If you can see the little computer screen in the back, that is a slot machine and an old lady playing at it. First sight of gambling in Spain…reminds me of Oklahoma;).
The most fun of the day happened at night with the clubbing in Madrid. Keep in mind, prime time for clubbing is three am and we didn't get back to the hotel until 4:45 in the morning. They close at five.
All in all, Madrid was a great experience! Later today or tomorrow I will post about Toledo and arriving at my host family in Granada (which i I did yesterday. I am behind).
¡Hasta luego!
Maegan
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