So I have survived another week in Madrid without theft or death. SUCCESS!
Okay well I keep getting asked about classes (aka parents). I used to have nothing to say about them other than the fact that I go. We really have zero homework and they are pretty boring actually. Well today, after my USP class, I have QUITE a few things to say....
1. They are classes designed for children, not university students. For example, to day we learned all about........the scientific method!!! Honestly. Really. Did I not learn about this in 5th grade? and again in 6th grade? and again every year so that it's now permanently imprinted in my brain? Yes. And did a Spanish student actually ask what a "blind experiment" is? Yes. Lovely. That was such a critical hour of my life...wasted.
2. We have to write a paper about a book that we are supposed to read. The paper is laid out as such:
1. Bibliography. Not only do we have to include the normal last name of the author, title, etc, we also must include THE SIZE OF THE BOOK (his example was 25cm X 10 cm) and THE PRIZE OF THE BOOK (his example was 27 Euro). REALLY? Does the size or cost of the book actually matter?? He said that this was not a joke, and was, indeed, normal for bibliographies. Okayyy.
2. Accomplishments of the author. Not just credentials. This also includes where, when and WHY the author wrote this book. Why? I don't know, maybe he just felt like it??
3. Summary of the book. I was slightly confused, but the gist of what I got was basically "find the main idea of each paragraph, cut out the extra words, and then smoosh all of the sentences together and attempt to make it coherent. If you can't reword the sentence, then just copy it directly. Max 10 pages." What ever happened to avoiding plagiarism? So basically he wants us to rewrite the book, just in a condensed form. Cool.
That's as far as we got. But he also did mention that we have to write a critique of the book. Yet at the same time, we have to make sure our opinions don't get in the way. ?? what?? He doesn't want our opinions to get in the way of our critique?? I am just very confused by this whole class and I don't feel like it was very necessary for me to be there today. I think I lost brain cells.
So that's a little sample of how class is going. If you were interested.
Other things...Well Friday morning I finally went to the Prado, Madrid's big art museum. It was really cool, it was a guided tour and I really liked our tour guide. It was kind of funny, she would get in trouble every once in a while for talking too loud, and she said that she gets so excited when talking about this art she completely loses sense of how loud she's speaking! She was pretty elderly, but still super enthusiastic about the paintings. Some of the famous things I saw include Las Meninas by Velasquez, the Black Paintings by Goya and a lot of paintings by Greco, including the royal family of Carlos IV (I forget its real title). I'm not an art person at any rate, but I feel like I learned a lot in those two hours and I can understand better why everyone loves these specific paintings, due to the "genius" of the artwork. I noticed details such as space, light, etc (thanks to the guide for pointing them out!) which makes me look at it differently.
Later some friends and I all hung out in the Retiro park and just chatted, which was a nice way to pass a beautiful day. Then I had 2 girls over at my house (Laura, my roommate, was away at Oktoberfest!!) and we drank wine and chatted with Sol, which was really fun! Then Sol told us that there was a discoteca really close to our house! So we went to check it out. It is called Tequila, and it's literally under a HUGE financial (I think?) building. So we went in, and it was ALL Spanish people! We were literally the only foreigners. Which was pretty cool, but I definitely could tell the difference...from how they dress to how they dance was different, but I still had a really fun time!
Sidenote: I had told Sol that I was having fun in Madrid, etc, but that I was kind of getting tired of doing the same thing at night, going to clubs that were pretty touristy and expensive, etc. Well, she said that she would ask her best friend's son, who's around 23/24, if he had any good ideas for us. Which turned into, "Jose will come by the house at 10 on Saturday night to take you out with his friends." Ahh! I was actually terrified, I'm not sure why, maybe just knowing I'd have to speak Spanish, etc, I don't know... anyways..
So Saturday rolls along and Jose comes and picks up my friend and I in his car, which was pretty cool because the only cares I'd been in so far here were taxis. We went to a bar and met up with some of his friends. They were all super nice and talkative so it wasn't weird. They were also all engineers haha, so they were all smart etc. We eventually met up with even more of their friends and then went to a place called Daily which played some merengue and salsa music, which was pretty cool, although I have to say that I prefer "normal" music haha.
Sunday there was a huge party on the streets supporting Madrid as a candidate for the 2016 Olympic games. We got there around 7 and it was RIDICULOUSLY crowded. Packed. People from every age were there. Then when we got off of the metro we were handed these big yellow papers and were told to hold them over our heads. It was basically a plaza completely shut off and on the four corners were tons of people, each side was holding a different color. Then there was a helicopter taking aerial pictures of us! Okay so I attempted to make that a link to a picture of the aerial view thing, if it didn't work, then this url should...
http://www.madrid2016.es/en/prensa/fotogallery/Paginas/ampliacionimagen.aspx?&ImageId=80&galeria=DiaCorazonada&pageNumber=9
anyway, it was pretty cool being part of that huge crowd! Everyone was really pumped. Then there was a concert by David Bisbal, a famous singer. I even know 1 of his songs! Look him up, he has super curly hair. But we didn't stay for the whole concert because it was late and I was starvinggggg.
So that was my week! Got through Monday! Just a few more days of class, then we're leaving for Barcelona for the weekend! I'm super excited!!
I love and miss you alllll!! xoxox
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
true hart failures...
So I'm assuming you have all noticed that the title of this blog is "Hart Failures" right? Well, I got another one for ya....
Friday night I went out with some friends and we ended up at a club called Pacha, I'm pretty sure it's a chain. It was really cool, I had a fun time, etc. Well, fun as in I lost my phone and my wallet. I have no idea how it happened. It just did.....BUT I was extremely lucky in that nothing was charged to either my debit or credit cards and I really didn't have much cash with me at all. Nevertheless, it is a great annoyance, one that I easily could have avoided had I just paid more attention and taken more care. Sol, my senora that I live with (who is AMAZING btw, I love her!!), told me that one time some one stole her wallet and charged 6000 euro to her card!! And on top of that, she didn't get ANY of the money back because the banks just don't work that way. How ridiculous is that? I told her that is identity fraud (it is right?) and that was absurd that she didn't get anything back, but she said that's life, and she's learned to be super careful about everything now. So have I. And I always have to learn the hard way...but that's the Laura way of doing things I guess.
Anyway, Saturday night was La Noche en Blanco, the Night in White, where a section of the city is roped off to cars and thousands (I heard 2 million but I have no idea how accurate that is) of people just walk around the streets, and the museums are open (the Prado and the Reina Sofia) for free entrance, and the Royal palace was also open and there were free concerts, etc. It was really cool. We went out to go to the Royal Palace but it hadn't opened yet when we got there (around midnight) and there was already a huge line...so we just decided to wander the streets, etc. Everyone was carrying these white balloons (get it, la noche en BLANCO) and I really wanted one so I asked this guy on the street where he got it and he gave me his!! I was so excited, it's almost embarrasing...but then I tied it around my finger and it slipped right off and went up into the sky. So there's another hart failure for ya....But yeah, we didn't end up going into any of the free entrance places because it was too crowded and things were too far away. But I had a really fun time! The only problem was...we were out until 5, and the metro was closed. No biggie, Laura (my roommie) and I would just grab a taxi...well that was the exact idea of EVERYOTHER 1,999,998th person.....so it took us nearly an hour to get a taxi. When we did I told him he was a gift from God and Laura promptly fell asleep (it was almost 6 am..). So home at 6. Honestly, that's no big deal here, that's normally when I get home [sidenote: the metro actually opens at 6, and on Thursday we took the metro home from this huge 7-story club called Kapital that was insane and had some cirus act deal that I have pictures of that I'll add later]...except...that we were going to El Rastro on Sunday. El Rastro is this HUGE outdooor market on Sunday mornings that sells a ton of stuff. We were going specifially for pasminas (I bought 3 for 2 euro each!!!!!), but they also have t-shirts, jewelry, leather items like purses, shoes, jackets, other clothes, etc. So we had to wake up at 11 to go there. So basically, we were dying, but mission accomplished with the 3 pasminas! Laura also bought a Real Madrid jersey because she went to the game on Sunday!! I didn't go because the tickets were extremelyyyyyy expensive. But she had a lot of fun (we won!) and had an awesome Ronaldo jersey (btw if you didn't know, he's my boyfriend. yep. be jealous) from el Rastro!!
Then Monday we had class, etc. I've decided to switch into a different USP class because 1-it will count for my major, 2-it also looks fairly easy, 3-i have friends in it, 4-lots of spanish kids in it! So Tuesday was my first day of that class, and I talked with the professor, and everyone is supposed to be in groups and since I was late, I'm now in a group of ALL Spanish kids. And he was like, yeah just talk to them for your group stuff. Uhhh, maybe give me a name or an email?? People just don't do email here like they do at home. Email is my life. I almost ALWAYS have my email open. Here, I guess it's hard for some one to even email you back. Whatever. So I dunno what I'll do about that, I guess wait until Monday to talk to my group? Oops. Oh well. But I'm all registered and everything for my classes, so yay!
Tomorrow we get to meet Vicki, Sol's oldest daughter, who's pregnant! She has been trying to get pregnant for some 6 years and this is her FOURTH insemination thing. But she's FINALLY PREGNANT! So everyone is suuuuuuuuuper excited for the baby, who'll be born while we're here! I'm so excited. Everyone is just so happy for this baby, it is already loved SO MUCH. :)
Well I think that's all I got. Suz - I made the font bigger, can you tell? Is it easier to read?? You and your old eyes ;) JUST KIDDING! anywho, love you all!! miss you a ton!! xoxoxo
Friday night I went out with some friends and we ended up at a club called Pacha, I'm pretty sure it's a chain. It was really cool, I had a fun time, etc. Well, fun as in I lost my phone and my wallet. I have no idea how it happened. It just did.....BUT I was extremely lucky in that nothing was charged to either my debit or credit cards and I really didn't have much cash with me at all. Nevertheless, it is a great annoyance, one that I easily could have avoided had I just paid more attention and taken more care. Sol, my senora that I live with (who is AMAZING btw, I love her!!), told me that one time some one stole her wallet and charged 6000 euro to her card!! And on top of that, she didn't get ANY of the money back because the banks just don't work that way. How ridiculous is that? I told her that is identity fraud (it is right?) and that was absurd that she didn't get anything back, but she said that's life, and she's learned to be super careful about everything now. So have I. And I always have to learn the hard way...but that's the Laura way of doing things I guess.
Anyway, Saturday night was La Noche en Blanco, the Night in White, where a section of the city is roped off to cars and thousands (I heard 2 million but I have no idea how accurate that is) of people just walk around the streets, and the museums are open (the Prado and the Reina Sofia) for free entrance, and the Royal palace was also open and there were free concerts, etc. It was really cool. We went out to go to the Royal Palace but it hadn't opened yet when we got there (around midnight) and there was already a huge line...so we just decided to wander the streets, etc. Everyone was carrying these white balloons (get it, la noche en BLANCO) and I really wanted one so I asked this guy on the street where he got it and he gave me his!! I was so excited, it's almost embarrasing...but then I tied it around my finger and it slipped right off and went up into the sky. So there's another hart failure for ya....But yeah, we didn't end up going into any of the free entrance places because it was too crowded and things were too far away. But I had a really fun time! The only problem was...we were out until 5, and the metro was closed. No biggie, Laura (my roommie) and I would just grab a taxi...well that was the exact idea of EVERYOTHER 1,999,998th person.....so it took us nearly an hour to get a taxi. When we did I told him he was a gift from God and Laura promptly fell asleep (it was almost 6 am..). So home at 6. Honestly, that's no big deal here, that's normally when I get home [sidenote: the metro actually opens at 6, and on Thursday we took the metro home from this huge 7-story club called Kapital that was insane and had some cirus act deal that I have pictures of that I'll add later]...except...that we were going to El Rastro on Sunday. El Rastro is this HUGE outdooor market on Sunday mornings that sells a ton of stuff. We were going specifially for pasminas (I bought 3 for 2 euro each!!!!!), but they also have t-shirts, jewelry, leather items like purses, shoes, jackets, other clothes, etc. So we had to wake up at 11 to go there. So basically, we were dying, but mission accomplished with the 3 pasminas! Laura also bought a Real Madrid jersey because she went to the game on Sunday!! I didn't go because the tickets were extremelyyyyyy expensive. But she had a lot of fun (we won!) and had an awesome Ronaldo jersey (btw if you didn't know, he's my boyfriend. yep. be jealous) from el Rastro!!
Then Monday we had class, etc. I've decided to switch into a different USP class because 1-it will count for my major, 2-it also looks fairly easy, 3-i have friends in it, 4-lots of spanish kids in it! So Tuesday was my first day of that class, and I talked with the professor, and everyone is supposed to be in groups and since I was late, I'm now in a group of ALL Spanish kids. And he was like, yeah just talk to them for your group stuff. Uhhh, maybe give me a name or an email?? People just don't do email here like they do at home. Email is my life. I almost ALWAYS have my email open. Here, I guess it's hard for some one to even email you back. Whatever. So I dunno what I'll do about that, I guess wait until Monday to talk to my group? Oops. Oh well. But I'm all registered and everything for my classes, so yay!
Tomorrow we get to meet Vicki, Sol's oldest daughter, who's pregnant! She has been trying to get pregnant for some 6 years and this is her FOURTH insemination thing. But she's FINALLY PREGNANT! So everyone is suuuuuuuuuper excited for the baby, who'll be born while we're here! I'm so excited. Everyone is just so happy for this baby, it is already loved SO MUCH. :)
Well I think that's all I got. Suz - I made the font bigger, can you tell? Is it easier to read?? You and your old eyes ;) JUST KIDDING! anywho, love you all!! miss you a ton!! xoxoxo
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
oh so funny
the beach in Galicia, with my little shell family next to me !!
this isn't me, it's my friend :) BUT the cool story is, those little white tissues are tied on the fence and then you make a wish. the wish should come true when the wind unties the knot and the thing blows away!
Baroque side of the Santiago de Compostela cathedral. This was built years after the original cathedral b/c they didn't think it was fancy enough. and they only built the main entrance this grandiose because they couldn't afford to redo the whole cathedral.
galicia pis 2
fog at the highest cliff in spain
horse! sorry it's sideways, dunno what happened
inside the Santiago de Compostela cathedral
queso de tetilla (nipple cheese) it was pretty good actually, it tastes like swiss cheese
galicia pics
torre de hercules
beautiful coast!
some weird "amusment" park that was built in the 1800s - had weird stuff in it like a dinosaur statue and caves, considered scandalous at the time
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