This just in . . .

Numbers are not the same everywhere.  Read this.

Cutest Commercial Ever? Quite Possibly.

The Rain in Spain . . .

Falls mainly on the plain.  Falls everywhere.

Last week it rained on the whole damn country.  And starting on Wednesday, it looks like we are in for the same treat once again (luckily after my vacation ends!).  However, Madrileños are just breaking into the rain boot (aka best invention ever) business and it appears as if only some folks are on board with the style.  Even if they make me stand out in a place where I want to fit in, my rain boots are one thing I am not compromising. 

Midterms and Baby's First Buñuelos

Basically the last week and a half was consumed with midterm exams.  For the first six weeks of classes, we were never bogged down with work.  The professors just wanted us to pay attention and gave some homework and books to read here and there.  However, midterms rolled around and they basically buried us alive.  Info from three new books, a creative presentation (where I dressed up as Zorro), a sizeable chunk of the art on display in the Prado, the history of Spain from 1800-1960, and more all had to be stuffed into my brain ASAP.  I know what you’re thinking, I just procrastinated and I should have been doing my work all along.  Incorrect.  This is just the way midterms are here, apparently.  There is some twisted joy in throwing all of this at us at once and seeing how we handle it.  Good news – I survived.  How well I did?  That has yet to be determined. 

But I survived.  Which luckily for me, means that I have a glorious five-day weekend!  Thank you, Spanish government, for closing the city frequently to celebrate a bunch of Saints.  Thank you again, for believing that we shouldn’t work in between such special times.  Here, folks, we call that puente (bridge).  For example, when there’s a holiday on a Tuesday, you don’t work on Monday either.  However, I get the pleasure of an acueducto (aqueduct), as I have off every Friday (wahoo!!), so from Thursday after my last final, through Wednesday morning, I am on vacation!  (Get the bridge/aqueduct joke?  It’s one of my favorites.)

Buñuelos - a traditional dessert for All Saint's Day (which is on Tuesday).  They look like DD's Munchkins but they surprisingly taste nothing like them.

What exactly am I doing for this long weekend?  The plans changed about 4 dozen times, and I am more than pleased with the final decision.  Here’s what was in the running, none of which I could try to argue as bad choices: Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Canary Islands, southern France, Rome (to visit Paul and Amanda!  Happy birthday, Paul!), Athens, etc.  Although most of this has yet to be checked off of my travel bucket list, I have no doubts that eventually I’ll be fortunate enough to see all of these places.  So what exactly am I doing this long weekend?  I am reuniting with my best friend Madrid.  We haven’t hung out in a while, and we have a bit of catching up to do. 

I’m off to enjoy some quality time with my favorite city.  Hasta pronto, friends!

PS – Happy Halloweekend everyone!  I might just have to dress up and ask my neighbors for candy.  Social experiment?  I have until Monday night to work out this genius plan…

Food for Thought

Some things I’ve been pondering on sleepless nights, long bus rides, and boring classes:

-The cultural similarities and differences in body language

-How much does Spanish sign language differ from American Sign Language?

-Can you study the linguistics of a Sign Language?  That could be cool…

-Old Spanish traditions of eating immense amounts of food, and how that clashes with the modern, socially “acceptable” image of women (everyone is pretty judgmental and talks about how they are fat, their friends are fat, and the people on TV are fat; rarely is this true).

-The interconnectedness (in my opinion) of punctuality, reliability, and responsibility and their relationship to judging character in a person; especially when these traits are less important here

-People are never expected to be on time (and rarely ever are), but the public transportation is scheduled to the second

-Table etiquette differences (hands and/or elbows should be on the table when eating here, etc.)

Most recent ridiculous thing to consider:

There are what seem to be an extremely high number of blind people here.  But then again, it’s a huge city, and there’s a lot of just about everything.  I was waiting for the metro last week when a blind woman walked by.  I noticed she kept her eyes closed pretty tightly.  Well, that made me think about that proverb about how eyes are the windows to the soul.  But, would this be true from someone who can’t see?  Would we still show our emotions and personality through something that serves no purpose (as in, do we control this; is it something we learn)?  Yep, these are the fascinating things I think about…

Caught with my shoes off

Let me tell you, I am fairly certain it’d be more acceptable to be caught in the nude than shoeless.

Barcelona, Take One.

Yes, I went to Barcelona.  When?  Two weeks ago.  Apologies for the delay.  So what did I do?  More like what didn’t I do!  But pretty much every European city has its own twist on the same things.  So… we saw cathedrals, museums, monuments, and food. 

The memories of exactly what we did when are a little hazy (strictly from lack of sleep and the amount we walked).  I think I’ll leave this post to the pictures with a small commentary.

Barcelona's Cathedral.  Nothing special..

Fruit stand in Mercat de Santa Caterina.  Delicious.

Picasso Museum.  Awesome.

Chocolate Museum.  My entrance ticket was a chocolate bar.  Enough said.

Beautiful view on the four-mile walk to the beach on a chilly day.  Why were we going to the beach when it was cold?  Because we could.

Sagrada Familia (famous Gaudi Cathedral).  I'll save the pictures of the inside for Barcelona, Take Two in a few weeks!

This sums up Barcelona in four words.

Parc Guell (Gaudi, again)

One of the many protests going on here.

Protests.

And I'll just save the rest of my pictures and thoughts for my next visit to Barcelona in a few weeks.  My thoughts on the city:  interesting, modern, lots of neat architecture, pretty crappy metro, and mostly, NOT SPAIN.