Spain Thing

Man oh man, a full day, if not particularly captivating. After rising with the dawn, we headed off to school a little early so we had time to figure out Spanish Printing. It's only a couple of cents per page, like at home, but gone are the days of dropping by Whispers on the way to class to run off your essay with the help of your all-purpose WUSTL ID.

Not that that ever really works anyway. But the potential is there.

This computer lab is empty!!

Here, there's some website called PrintCopyRed (red=internet) where you can upload your documents, then you go to the photocopy center on campus, give them your passcode, have them print it off, and pay your 2 centimos or whatever. The trouble is they're not always open.

Luckily, this morning, they were, and off we went to Latinamerican Lit, our Borges response paper in hand. This was followed by Lit Theory (our one all-Spaniard class), where we spoke up for the first time with a comment of the utility of literary genres. My heart has never pounded so hard.

After class, we swung by Ramiro's office, where we FINALLY got our course credit shit sorted out. There's this program called the Passport to Culture that lets you earn credit for going to museums and shows and lectures and stuff, so we're going to give that a shot. We also signed up for a Photoshop seminar, which is supposed to start meeting on Tuesdays.

But, after a swim and Zumba, when we traipsed off to the designated computer lab, the workshop was nowhere to be found. So instead, we just chilled in the lab, did some homework, checked out course listings for next semester (The Literature of Gossip in Early Modern England??), and headed home.

 Some kid puked on the metro, but he missed my shoes, so joke's on you, nauseous seven-year-old.

Irresistible Spain

Okay, so we missed another day, but trust me, you missed nothing, we barely left the room. Our professors have suddenly decided to start giving us homework, which leaves less time for gallivanting. Like, if we wanted to "go to school," we could have stayed at Wash U, amirite?

Zayn looking a little pale :(

Anyway, today we had Lit Theory and Lengua, then hit the gym for a quick run and swim before heading back to Madrid to camp out at a little bicycle-themed cafe called "La Bicicleta Cafe." Creative, no? No, but very cozy nonetheless. Unfortunately, the internet was a little spotty, so we weren't able to finish our work until just now, since it was dinnertime pretty much right when we walked in the door.

Dinner included a kind of weird discussion about the evils of hipster culture and how it's brainwashing Spanish youths into personality-eradicating conformity. Host dude referred to them as braindead leeches on society. I didn't really know what to say to that in Spanish or English.

We're also supposed to start giving English lessons to a couple of kids this week, but we haven't totally sorted out the scheduling yet because we have class during the time the mom proposed. We'll try to sort it out tomorrow, but we've simply got to get some sleep now.

ALSO in case you didn't know, Zayn's got a new single out!!! Show your support!

Magic Spain

Well kids, after sleeping in til noon, we woke up to our usual fabulous breakfast courtesy of Esperanza, did some reading (homework's gotta happen sometime, armirite?), then went to meet Hannah and Alexandra, plus a Danish girl named Emily who Alexandra met last weekend, at the train station so we could go to the big event of the day: Spanish Oktoberfest.

Spanish Oktoberfest?? Isn't that a German thing, you ask? Why yes, yes it is. Spain does not know how to do Oktoberfest. I suspect they skimmed a Wikipedia page, possibly one written in JAPANESE, and then decided they knew what it was all about.

It was held in Colmenar Viejo, a tiny industrial town at the end of the train line, PAST Getafe. The "fest" itself was in a local park which also contained a children's playground. There wasn't any live music, but the did have a couple of speakers playing some early Christina Aguilera. Why go to Munich when you could have all this?

So many to choose from!

All kidding aside, though, we really had a great time. It was super affordable, and there was actually a great selection of craft beers, definitely the biggest spread I've seen since being here. We didn't get too crazy because 1) It was early afternoon and 2) I'm still kind of off alc after 1-Euro Shot Night on Wednesday. I tried a blonde ale, a wheat, and this weird "smoky" ale that literally tasted like beer-infused barbecue sauce.

After WeirdBeerFest, we headed back to Madrid for dinner at "La Gringa," the sister restaurant of Carmencita, where we had brunch last weekend. It's owned by this woman from Arizona, so it's got the best American Southwest food in Madrid, as far as I know. This country somehow missed the whole Tex Mex thing.

We tried to hit up El Tigre afterwards, but we were all so full of guacamole, pulled pork, and chicken flautas--oh and also carrot cake whoops--that we couldn't even finish our first mojitos. Plus the taste of liquor made me want to vom.

Tomorrow we're going to have to hole up at a cafe for some hardcore homeworking before the week ahead, but, then again, chilling at one of Madrid's many fun cafes for the day is no great hardship.

Truly, Madly, Spain

Soaking in some culture!

Man, we have not been on our blogger game this week. We don't even have a fun story this time, we just stayed up late Skyping, first with Liz, then Rachel. So we felt quite social despite sitting alone in our room til 2AM, and we completely forgot to blog.

BEFORE the marathon Skype sessions, we actually had a pretty good day. We started the day with a swim out in Getafe, then back to Madrid for our first art museum visit of the semester at the Reina Sofia, Madrid's modern and contemporary art museum.

The current exhibit is the first retrospective on Richard Hamilton, who I'd never heard of, but was pretty cool, as it turns out. Mostly weird pop art stuff, which is not like my ~favorite~ kind of art, but always a fun gallery experience. The stuff on the bottom floor was very contemporary and very weird and kind of like being in an emotionally-wrought haunted house, like, kind of moving but in a very distressing and creepy way.

Couple of cute lady friends!

The permanent collection has a bunch of surrealist, stuff, which I really like, Dali and Bunuel and stuff, plus Miro, and, most exciting, the honest-to-goodness Guernica, which I've always wanted to see, ever since we first learned about it in sixth-grade Spanish Culture class. That thing is huge.

In other news: I am already excited for Christmas. Too early? Absolutely not.

Summer Spain

Of course, we're actually sliding into fall now, but the track listing is what it is. I actually broke out the jeans today for the first time.

Things are pretty good here. Last night we went to an Irish pub called Dubliners that's popular with American students. Not very adventurous, the familiar atmosphere and prevalence of English-speakers was pretty comforting. As was the soundtrack, which was more or less Greatest Hits of 2006. Serious middle school flashbacks.

Inside Rodilla!

Unfortunately, we got back super late and slept through our 9AM class. So it goes. We headed over to Getafe (Heh-Tah-Fay: the suburb where Carlos III is) anyway for a quick swim before Ramiro's class back in Madrid. We've made it up to the 1500's in Spanish history, mostly conquistadores and the Inquisition. So a lot of genocide.


After class, we actually went INTO a Rodilla for the first time and had one of their "world-famous" sandwiches. These sandwiches are great for snacks, not so much for meals, because they're really glorified finger sandwiches. Crustless white bread cut sold by the triangle. We had creamy bleu cheese with arugula on some kind of poppy seed bread and munched while we got started on reading Cosmopolis for Lit Theory. It's a Spanish translation of an American book and is now a movie starring Robert Pattinson, so he's on the cover. Go figure.

Just browsing!

A quick anecdote: we bought the book yesterday at the Corte Ingles in the "foreign narratives" section, which is all translated books, most of which were originally in English and a lot that I own or have read at home. Most titles apparently don't really translate directly, though, so it's interesting to see what they've decided to call stuff here. The Silver Pigs, for example, translates to British Silver, a "Marco Didio Falco" novel.

Now we're home, awaiting dinner and prepping for a night in with Skype and Netflix. A much-needed night of recovery.

Spain Don't Know About Us

Well, kids, not much to report today, either. Maybe that means we're finally settling in for a day-to-day routine? Or perhaps not taking full advantage of being abroad. Either way, we were on campus til almost 6, which, when you account for the commute, doesn't leave a whole lot of time for gallivanting.

Looks like we won't be able to take Illustration after all, so we'll have to think of some way to keep it up on our own. On the other hand, we will, space allowing, be taking Franco's Spain through Literature and Film, and an opera seminar focusing on Death in Venice. So that's alright.

Grabbing a quick snack!

We did Zumba with Riva and Alexandra, and there was this weird line-dancing bit that had everyone running into each other while trying to grapevine and salsa-swivel simultaneously, and I swear it was the hardest I've laughed the whole time we've been here. Which has been over a month, can you believe it?

Since we didn't really come across any new scenery today, we took a quick pic with one of Madrid's MANY Rodilla Restaurants. The ubiquitous Rodilla is famous for cheap, crust-free sandwiches, decent (tiny) coffees, granizados (Spanish slushies), and a name that translates to "Knee." Some dude's name, I guess.

Bacon Cheeseburgers for dinner with Cookies n Cream Haagen Dazs for dessert. Feels like home.

Back for Spain

Just the normal amount of ham

A fairly uneventful today, but to be fair, all 120 days can't be totally action-packed. We'd be exhausted. We did our usual early rising and headed off to Getafe for 9AM Lit Theory.

Still trying to sort out our class schedule. Two weeks into the semester. So we'll see what happens there. We apparently do have to take five classes, so I'm still lookin.'

We had lunch with a couple of Vassar kids, then headed to the gym for a quick run and then our swim of the day.

We made it back to Madrid in a record 40 minutes and made the thrilling discovery that we apparently live across the street from a decent grocery store with a full ham display and also a store with a full window display of granny panties. No idea how to say that in Spanish.

On the other hand, we did learn in Spain, peaches are called "molocotones" (MO-LOW-CO-TONE-EHS). Which is a heckuva a mouthful. Especially when that mouth is already full of peach.

Spain Again

Last night we met up with Riva, Alexandra, and Miguel in Chueca to paint the town. We started at this bar called El Tigre, which is apparently pretty famous as A Place To Go In Madrid, and it definitely lived up to the hype. We all got huge, cheap mojitos, and they came with the most massive tapas I have ever seen, stacks of fries, croquettes, and bread covered in blue cheese and jamon. We couldn't even finish them, and you know how I feel about leaving food uneaten.

Most Important Meal of the Day!

We hit a few other places after that, ending the night with churros and chocolate at San Gines, another famous Madrid place. Churros and chocolate (thing a mug of warm fondue-style dark chocolate) are apparently Spain's answer to the half-and-half, catering to drunken youths and grown-ups alike.

We cabbed back to Salamanca with Miguel (nice to be able to split the fare) and got in a solid eight hours of sleep before getting brunch with Riva, Alexandra, and Andrew at this place called Carmencita's which specializes in American brunch. We tried to go last Sunday, but apparently you have to book a reservation like a week in advance, which is what I did as soon as we were turned away last weekend. I had a killer triple Eggs Benedict; one with avocado, one with lox, and one with real American bacon.

Afterwards, we waddled off to a nearby Starbucks (it was the only thing I could stand walking to with all that hollandaise in my stomach), where we hung out and got some homework done for pretty much the rest of the day. Tomorrow, back to the grind.

Spain Would

We enjoyed our quiet night in last night with a little Netflix and red wine, and then got a full night's sleep for the first time all week. We slept in til about noon, which felt SO GOOD.

Enjoying a Heifeweizen!

This afternoon, we went to meet Riva in Puerta del Sol to go for a little stroll through Malasanya, one of the restaurants everyone keeps recommending as a place for "cool hipster youths." Our first stop was a craft brewery called Fabrica Maravillas, where we sampled their summer style Heifeweizen and a blonde A-IPA, both house-made and both incredible. Turns out it is possible to have good local beer in Madrid, after all.

After that, we pretty much just wandered around scoping out places to return to once we have more cash. There are a bunch of great-looking vintage clothes shops, plus cafes, bars, and bookshops, and some places that seem to be a combination of all of the above.

The last place we stopped was an cafe-bar-used bookstore. It's owned by a couple from L.A. and sells only English-language books. It was pretty cool to see so many familiar titles on the shelves (saw a couple Louis Erdrich books, shoutout Ma, also Snow Falling on Cedars and the Twilight Saga) and more familiar names on the bar (first Magners in Madrid, Dad!), so we'll definitely be going back soon. They do Trivia Night on Fridays, and the guys working there were Scottish, Irish, and American. Plus, there's free Wi-Fi!

We'll probably go out tonight, seeing as we're so well-rested, but we'll keep ya posted!

Change My Spain

Today was the big excursion to Toledo! We loaded into an 8-passenger van with Ramiro and Belen just before 10AM and drove the 45 minutes to Toledo (pronounced To-Lay-Dough, not like the one in Ohio).

Church? Synagogue? Mosque? Who knows??

Toledo's pretty cool because it was one of the first capitals of Spain, but what that means is that it's been controlled and populated by a lot of different people, all of whom figured out a way to leave some kind of mark. The Jews, for example, left little tiles with menorahs printed on them inlaid in the sidewalks, the Muslims left a strong influence in religious architecture, and the Catholics left the bloody graves of their enemies.

In any case, the result is pretty kooky. Example: we toured an Alhambra-style synagogue called St. Mary's. Confusing? Yes. The Islamic art and architecture built during the Christian era in Spain is called "mudejar" (moo-day-har), and mostly consists of churches that look like mosques.

We had lunch at a kind-of upscale terrazza place (not our wallets' particular style, but it was convenient), then did a little wandering around for photo ops before checking out yet another Islam-influenced cathedral. I spent more time in church today than I have in my whole life.

Mosque-turned-church??

A couple of fun things about Toledo: most of the city is on top of a mountain, which would mean a lot of climbing, BUT some brilliant architect (slightly more recent than the mudejares) built escalators up to the summit. The winding cobblestone streets are neat, but there's no way I could climb them that far up.

FUN FACT NUMBER 2: We bought a box of fresh marzipan from an order of cloistered nuns through the iron bars of a dark stone building's narrow window. How many times do you get to say that?

Forgot to mention: Last night, after updating the blog, we strolled around Salamanca's Vogue Fashion Night, which consists of late-night shopping at most of the neighborhood's upscale stores with a number of open-bar receptions, from which we sampled Mahou (Madrid's saddest beer) and mason jar mojitos. We met up with a few of the other WUSTL kids later and almost went clubbing, but we, along with Miguel, decided to bail after half an hour in line outside the club. We caught the last metro back to Salamanca and were home in time for a whopping five and a half hours of sleep.

Thanks for reading!

Drink Responsibly!

Probably staying in tonight.

Rock Spain

Man oh man, we missed another day! It was another late night, I'm afraid, so we figured we'd postpone it until today. Not to worry, you didn't miss a whole lot.

Mood lighting!

Yesterday was pretty nice, we didn't have class until 12:30, so we were nice and rested. After Language class, we went for lunch with Riva, then to Zumba and a quick swim to wrap up our day at Carlos III. We headed off to Malasanya to meet the gals at a cute little coffee shop filled with retro decor and tiny chintz armchairs. Very cute, but I also hit my shins on a lot of kitschy end tables.


Wowza, it just started pouring here!! The first real rain I've seen in Spain! Very exciting stuff, it is really coming down out there. Bummer for all those people sitting at terrazas down on the street.

Rainy day in Salamanca

Anyway, after the cafe yesterday, we came home and Skyped with Rachel until dinnertime (sorry for our abrupt log-off, Rach, can't let those burritos cool), and then we made our decision that led to yesterday's lack of blog: we went out on a Wednesday night despite our 9AM Thursday class.

It was a real blast, though, we headed back to Malasanya with Riva and the boys to explore a few bars. Luckily for our livers, everywhere was pretty expensive, so we had a nice little tromp through the throngs of abroad students who let's be real are the only ones able to go barhopping on a Wednesday night. But we had a lot of fun and got home by 2, so we still got five hours of sleep.

Today was another day at school, we had Latinamerican Lit in the morning and Spanish Culture in the afternoon, with gym and pool time in between. Hm. Well, if that's all I had to say, I guess it's for the best that I missed a day. If it stops raining, we might go out tonight. Tomorrow, Toledo!

Spain Attack

Two classes this morning, which was a bit rough, as 9am always is, but then we were done by noon and off to Zumba! We met a nice girl from Brussels--originally from France--who spoke about a billion languages yet lamented the relatively clumsy nature of her Spanish.

"Spain, your breakfast is weird." -Zayn

Luckily for everyone involved, there are very few language skills involved with Zumba, so we all did pretty well. Some of us, of course, have received more PROFESSIONAL instruction, but those of us who did high school instead of international pop stardom had a good time too.

After Zumba we did our usual daily swim, chatted with a nice Spanish girl named Augusta ("Ow-GOOSE-tuh) in the pool, and headed on home. These 7AM wake-up calls are so not doing it for me in terms of stamina, and we were pooped once again.

After dinner (salmon and veggies with chocolate pudding for dessert), we started watching Stardust, and now my computer is frozen on the Netflix screen, so I guess we're in it for the long haul. No class til 12:30, but we may pass out before then...

Last First Spain

Wheeehoo kiddos are we bushed or are we bushed! We only had two classes today, Lit Theory and Lengua, but man oh man, did we keep busy. A quick side-note on Lit Theory--if we can get through it in Spanish, Wash U's English version better be a piece of cake. The one thing we can't figure out is when our assignments are due... Potentially problematic?

We also managed to fit in a meeting with Ramiro to iron out the details of our activities (Zumba, here we come), the theater group on campus (We'm missing auditions but will be in touch about making them up), and confirming our registration for the Illustration class at Complutense.

Bonding with a fellow child star!

After class, we went for a swim before meeting the rest of the kids--minus Miguel, where is that kid?--at a cinema near the Puerta del Sol (aka Madrid Mile Zero) to see Boyhood, which I had never heard of--feel free to check out the deets here--but it was actually amazing! I thought it'd be boring an artsy--admittedly we often like boring artsy movies--but it's done in a way that just feels very genuine and not necessarily happy or sad but pretty cool overall. Also, who knew that's what Ethan Hawke was up to for the past 12 years? Was this before or after Gattacca?

Well, even though it felt like a very long day, I guess there wasn't actually all that much to say. To be fair, Boyhood is three hours long, so with my commute we didn't get home until after 10. The chicos were already eating, but Esperanza waited for us, so we got to have a nice chat with her without all the usual craziness. And now, to bed!

C'mon, Spain

Sleepyhead missed the concert!

Ok, so we know we didn't post last night, and we offer sincere apologies, but it was 4AM by the time I got home, and Zayn had already turned in for the night. So this'll be a bit of a double post, and we apologize for the length.

We didn't do much yesterday until late afternoon, when we went for a quick run around Salamanca, during which we discovered the FIBA stadium is totally within walking distance to satisfy our extensive pro-B-ball needs. When we got home in all our sweaty glory, we ran into our host dad, who, as it turns out, is a personal trainer (I thought he just went to the gym a lot), who seemed very excited to see that we are trying to Stay Fit.

After a Skype sesh with the fam (and a much-needed shower), it was time for DCODE Music Festival, which I think is Spain's largest music fest. Sadly, Zayn wasn't feeling up to it and decided to hit the sack early. Let me tell you, that kid missed out.

I met Riva and Alexandra at their apartment, and from there we metro'd to the Complutense campus, grabbed some pizza, and settled in for the night. The crowd and music were pretty similar to LouFest, just the nocturnal version. We got there around 9PM and left after 3AM, which isn't like the *ideal* schedule but oh man I had so much fun. For sure my best night in Spain so far, really good music, everyone so happy to be there, lots of dancing. Highlights were Jake Bugg, Beck, La Roux, and CHVRCHES. It was still going when we left, too, but we wanted to be able to catch a taxi before the rush hit. Plus, as I said, it was after 3AM.

Craft beer at last!

This morning, we joined the WUSTL kids for brunch around 1. We were trying to hit up this American brunch place--I need some fucking bacon, man--but apparently you have to make reservations like a week in advance, so we strolled around a little and found a place nearby with a decent lunch menu and a large craft beer selection, where Riva and I had our first good beers in Spain! It was a Madrid-made lager and gave me hope for humanity.

La Ciudad Invisible

We spent the rest of the day chilling with Riva in this very cool coffee shop with free Wi-Fi AND outlets with a kind of Kayaks-y atmosphere. Gotta have someplace to do homework, which I had kind of forgotten about, but this seems like a good bet. It's called "La Ciudad Invisible," and is pretty near a Metro stop, so this may be the place to hit.

I'm not expecting any more excitement today, so this'll probably be the only update til tomorrow, even though it's still pretty early. At least by Spanish standards.

Spain Things

Holaaaa chicos, here we are at the end of my first week of classes in Madrid! Not that we have class on Friday, but we did have to do this "intercultural" classroom session with Ramiro this morning (different from culture class). What did we spend two hours learning? Well, we'll try to summarize:

1. Spanish culture is different from American culture, which is not necessarily good or bad, plus you should avoid stereotyping.

That's it. That's literally it. He also tried to tell us that all the racist and misogynistic shit we've been noticing is okay here because it doesn't mean the same thing as it does in the U.S. Excuse me if I'm not tolerant of old dudes making kissy faces at me on the metro. Clearly I'm failing to assimilate.

Anyway, in order to cool off after class we went to a cute lunch place with the gals where we got this awesome tostada (really good thick slices of crusty toast) with mozzarella, tomato, basil, and olive oil, PLUS a cafe con leche, all for under 3 Euro!!! V. exciting for a cheap connoisseur like myself.

Sunny Spain!

Later on, we headed to Retiro, where we failed to find the other gals but enjoyed a peaceful afternoon with our paints, watching people play bumper cars with the rented rowboats. We ran into Riva and Alexandra on the way back to the Metro and were able to throw together some plans for the night along with the other Wash U kiddos.

Just heard back from the Illustration professor at Complutense, and he's perfectly willing to let me take his class, woohoo! The painting prof's email kept getting rejected, so we took that as a sign and moved on.The trouble is that it's on Fridays, which will be a pain in terms of traveling, but whaddaya gonna do. If it's a good class, it'll be totally worth it.

Spanish Fun Fact of the Day: The grocery stores here sell 60-cent liter-boxes of wine.

Kiss Spain

Disaster struck today. Just as I was enjoying an iced coffee after class with some friends (all of which I will get to), I reached for my phone to snap an insta-worthy pic of Zayn with my frothy beverage, only to find that the battery had died!! So I apologize if today's update is a little lame.

Anywho, we had Latinamerican lit this morning, where we bonding with more Vassar kids while sitting in the empty classroom waiting for the professor to show up. As it turns out, we were in the wrong place as the class's location had changed, but I'll take those Facebook friends however they come to me.

Following class/a flurried exchange of Spanish phone numbers, we took off for the pool, where we enjoyed an hour and forty-five minutes or so of paddling around before leaving Getafe for Madrid, where we had our first official Culture Class with Ramiro. It's just for the Wash U kids and is one of the two classes I need to finish my Spanish major (the other is Lit Theory), but honestly it seems like a lot I already know. NOT TO GET COCKY KNOCK ON WOOD.

After class, a few of us went to get iced coffee (me and you-kno-who) and smoothies (everyone else). There was a Starbucks across the street which would have been FAR SUPERIOR COFFEE-WISE but now is not the time to shoot down a bonding sesh.

By then it was almost 8 o'clock, so we headed home to try to sort out all this art class stuff before dinner. Minimal progress thus far, but I'll keep ya posted.

Possibly going out tonight?? Possibly not???? If not, we'll stay in and enjoy a light rom-com, as pictured:

"Is Hugh Grant in this one?" --Zayn

Live While We're Spain

Hey kiddos. Despite having only one class today, I didn't get home until almost 8 o'clock. Getting wild, you ask? In tragic reality, there are no thrills to report.

Following Spanish language class, we grabbed a quick sandwich roughly the size of a mature fetus with Riva and Alexandra before heading to talk to Ramiro about that art history class we wanted to take. Things aren't looking good on that front, but he has offered to call Complutense, one of Madrid's more artsy universities, on our behalf to see if we can get in on that artastic artistic action.

Riding the bus home!

Bidding Ramiro adios after borrowing his copy of L'age d'or, we tramped over to the pool for a little swim which ended up lasting almost two hours. Granted, we took a fifteen minute break to talk to a couple of girls from Vassar. We are all alone and desperate for friends, and not even the glamour of a swim cap can deter us.

A quick note on meeting Americans in Spain: although this has been heavily frowned upon by the rest of the earth's population in terms of successful cultural acclimatization , I would like to point out that Hemingway and Fitzgerald and those dudes stick pretty close to their fellow Americans despite their "multicultural" salon lifestyle with Stein & co. Not to say that's the ideal expat experience, only to suggest that they are no better than I. Plus I don't even smoke. Mary: 1, Hemingway: 0.

Spain Should Have Kissed You

Well, another day at the old grind. Meaning our second day of classes ever, we have not even been here three weeks, as you loyal #zayinspainers will know (here's looking at you, Mom). 

We started the day with a brief review of the syllabus for Latinamerican Literature, which looks like a pretty standard survey class, but we will be reading Diamela Eltit, who Professor Kirk mentioned last semester as being an also-ran for her syllabus, and I trust her taste. 

Making new friends!

That only lasted half an hour, so afterwards we got coffee with some of the other Americans from the class, some of whom we may like, some of whom we will never again be trusting with our ears or political opinions, but that's neither here nor there. We had to peace early to make it to Day 2 of Literary Theory, which is challenging as promised but after all we are in school.

A nice swim, then off to "Humanism to Dehumanization: A history of Art" which sounds like it's gonna be the shiiiit but possibly conflicts with our Spanish culture class, so we'll be having words with Ramiro tomorrow. Kathryn said art history was the most beneficial part of her semester abroad, and obviously I wanna heed that advice. 

Nothing wild after class, just the bus ride home--surprisingly speedy at non-rush hour--followed by a little siesta, aka three hours of reading John Green and watching Once Upon a Time. We take no pride in those activities, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, and the same holds true for 12" pop icon "Standees." 

Homework, dinner, homework, and then to bed. Livin' la vida loca.

Spainproof

Last First Day of School Pic!

In honor of One Direction's release of their new single, Fireproof (which I'm listening to for the first time right now--pretty good so far, thanks for the heads-up Clare), we have strayed from our chronological album track listing title inspiration, but don't worry, we'll be back on it tomorrow. We're almost through Up All Night!

So today we had our first two classes, Literary Theory (which I'm also going to have to take at Wash U in the spring haahaha) and Spanish Language. Lit Theory looks like a lot of work but very interesting, whereas Language looks easy but boring. So it goes.

Between classes, after some aimless wandering, I FINALLY got to the pool and I swear I almost cried tears of joy to plunge into that sweet sweet chlorine. I swam to the dulcet tones of Fergie blasting from the elderly woman's water aerobics class in the adjacent training pool, and I could not have been happier.

Getting tricked out!

After class and a quick lunch (we haven't really been hungry at lunch because our host mom puts out a buffet every morning plus snacks to go), we tagged along with a couple of the other WUSTL girls to the Corte Ingles (Remember that weird department store that's like a mall but everything's the same brand?) for some school supply shopping, where we enjoyed a wide selection of merchandise featuring the lads' smiling faces.

Post-shopping, we met up with the fourth Wash U girl at this little bookshop/lending library/cafe tucked away in a part of Madrid I'd never been to before (to be fair, there are many of these parts; Madrid is fucking huge), but was a great find (Shoutout Hannah). Free Wi-Fi and every drink you could think of from Cappucino to Strawberry Smoothie to Gin&Tonic. I myself had a glass of white wine. V. adventurous.

Still searching for Spanish beer that doesn't taste like watered-down pee (No offense, Spain, your wine is great), so if anyone has any recs, lemme know.

Na Na Spain

Our first cloudy day in Sunny Spain! Not to worry, it was still ~mostly~ sunny, but there were a few clouds, and I swear I even felt a raindrop at one point. I wasn't even on the plain! (Ouch.)

But we were outside most of the day. After sleeping in (again), we went on a free walking tour of Madrid to get some historical insight and that sort of thing. Most of it I already knew, thanks to Ramiro and three years as a Spanish major, but that did mean I got to be the know-it-all American, which was fun. The tour was in English (cheating!!), but the group was mostly from Lithuania. Go figure.

Anywho, we did pick up some new info, like the fact ("fact?") the Isabel II hated bathing, so she just rubbed her skin with goat milk to keep it moisturized. Despite the weird green tone this gave her skin, she apparently got a ton of ass. So for one or both of those characteristics, she got called Spain's "Dirty Queen." #history

Posing with Philip IV at the Palacio Real!

The tour ended at the Palacio Real, close the the Opera Real, which apparently does 15-Euro student rush tickets for shows that normally cost like 150 Euro. Something to keep in mind, as I have never been to the opera but sure as hell will not be spending 150 Euro to watch fat dudes scream at each other in Italian. But for cheap? Could be fun.

We sat around in the park by the palace reading for awhile--I am getting a lot of reading done since I still have no friends here (besides my main man, of course!!), so hit me up with book recs, please--then felt that drop of rain and hopped on the metro home. I stopped briefly at a bookstore, where I learned that in Spain, The Fault in Our Stars translates to "Under the Same Star" (Is it the star of cancer???) and "Okay? Okay." becomes "Vale? Vale." We have seen this on bright-eyed preteens' t-shirts, which is comforting proof that some things are truly global.

Tomorrow's our first day of class, Lit Theory and Spanish language, so wish us luck on that early morning commute!

Another Spain

Well kids, we got pretty wild today. After sleeping in til noon, getting out of bed at 2, and putting clothes on at 3, we set off with laptop in tow to find a nice coffee shop with free Wee-Fee to sort out our class schedule, etc. for the upcoming week.

As it turns out, Spain doesn't really *do* coffee shops. Mostly they do tiny beers (cañas) and slurp olive oil like soup (ok that might be a lie). So rather than hiding away in a cute little local place where all the cool Spanish hipsters and aspiring Hemingways hang out, we ended up in Starbucks: España. 

Our favorite lady friend!

After trying (and failing) to say "frappucino" without sounding like an American, we settled in on a nice couch by the window and gorged ourselves on the unlimited internet collection. Two faults with Spanish Starbucks: No outlets (they don't encourage professional loiterers like myself), and no Whip on my frapp. Not knowing how to say "whip" in Spanish, I let it slide. Next time, Spanish barista, next time.

Another thing I've been noticing: I do not look Spanish. I don't really consider myself to look overwhelmingly "American" (whatever that means), so I was surprised to discover that I do not fit in. I am not golden tan, my hair is naturally straight, I more or less let my eyebrows do their own thing, and I often forget to apply massive amounts of black eyeliner before leaving the house. Rarely do I see all of those quantities in a single woman, but everyone embodies at least one. 

However, there is one trait I share with the rest of the Spanish population: We are all white.

Moments (In Spain)

We awoke to a sunny (air-conditioned) morning in our Valencia hotel room, luxuriating in climate control and clean clean clean pillow clouds before moseying on down to the breakfast buffet included with the extortionate room fees. Having blown all our money on those privilege of sleeping in those crisp white sheets, we took full advantage of filling up for the day so we wouldn't have to buy lunch (or dinner, as it turns out).

After filling my purse with fruit and cereal (provisions for the rest of the day), we returned to the room to enjoy our final hours before checkout, taking a quick catnap and a loooong shower, following a brief tour of the rooftop hot tub looking out over the beach. Pretty swanky stuff.

Squinting in the sunlight!

After packing up and checking out, we decided to be adventurous (my feet cried out from their threadbare Keds) and walk to Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences, an area of the city with a bunch of MOSI-type museums, an aquarium, and nice parks, all with very cool, very modern architecture.

After an hour or so of walking--nothing compared to yesterday's four-hour trek from the train station--we did indeed come across a cluster of pretty sweet buildings. Unfortunately they all charge about 30 Euro to check out the marvels within, so we began the trek back to the beach for some much-needed downtime and a soak in the Mediterranean.

And now, thanks to taxi, train, and the Madrid Metro, we are back in Salamanca, the open window letting in the wild Friday night sounds of middle-aged madrilenos having dinner or tapas or whatever people without blogs do at 12:45 AM.

I am still crusty with seawater and completely exhausted, so it's off to shower and bed for me. Until the morn, kids.

Spain Up

I missed a day!! It wasn't anything thrilling, just orientation for international students at Carlos III, so Zayn definitely did not miss out. Honestly I would have been happy to play hooky with him, but part of orientation is registering for classes, so I had no choice.

Following a late afternoon realization that all the other WUSTL kids had trips planned this weekend, we decided we might as well take advantage of our last long weekend before classes start. After much deliberation (thanks Megan, Rachel, Dad, Clare, and Liz), we decided not to get to crazy for our first solo trip in Europe, and bought a simple train ticket to Valencia.

Someone took I nap while I hit the beach h!

Of course, come morning, we ended up missing that train side the train station is in fact in a different building than the metro stop of the same name. Whoops. But we got on the next one only half an hour later and we're soon zooming through the Spanish countryside at a brisk 300 km/h on your way to the beach.

We set off on the scenic route from the train station, walking through the city center to the beach. When we were only halfway there two hours later, we agreed that scenery is bullshit when you're carrying all your painting supplies turtle-style and it's 95 degrees outside. So we got on the metro and hopped off practically onto the smooth Saharan sand.

Sunset selfie!

Due to our charming spontaneity, we didn't exactly do the whole "reservations" thing when it comes to hotels, and by that point we were so not feeling another tromp through the unfamiliar city to do some comparison shopping, so we ended up in a pretty nice read:$$$$$) hotel right on the beach. We'll head back tomorrow to avoid bankruptcy, but until then we're enjoying some beaching and those little bottles of shampoo!

Spain My Heart

This morning we had our placement exam, part written, part oral, bla bla bla. We´ll see how it went this Friday. Registration isn´t until tomorrow, so we just had a little tour around the campus of Universidad Carlos III, courtesy of Ramiro. We had lunch at a little sandwich shop nearby, apparently a student favorite. After that, we were done for the day, so we began our journey back to Madrid.

First Day at School

And a journey it was. Getafe, the suburb where the university is, sits about an hour away from my apartment by metro, train, and bus. That´ll be fun for my 9am classes.

Not much else to report today, I´m still pretty wiped out from my trip, so siesta just kind of lasted all day. I was feeling a little homesick, mostly because I didn´t have anything to do, but I had a couple of great chats with Liz, who suggested I go for a walk or call a friend, and Megan, who suggested I rename my blog Zoon in Spoon. I love you both and thanks for your help.

Also a very happy 21st birthday to Miss Clare Mulligan, whose official birthday wishes are posted on Facebook!

Spain You Tonight

Today we made the 4-hour journey back to Madrid from Granada. It is just as hot here, but there is, sadly 100% less air conditioning. The bus ride was just as sweet as last time, complete with leather seats, a snackbox, and a smooth Mercedes engine. I tried to sleep on the bus but ended up watching Juno instead (No, not in Spanish. Bad Mary).

So good to be back where we belong!

When we got back to the apartment in Salamanca (our neighborhood in Madrid), I realized I'd left one of my power converters in the hotel (of course), and there was no one home anyway, so I went out to the Corte Ingles (think Target on steroids) to buy a replacement. The place is huge, and I checked all 9 floors before realizing there was a whole other building across the street. Finally I broke down and asked for help, after a quick Google Translate of "power converter." The mission was a success.

It's nice to be back, and I didn't really have anything scheduled for the rest of the day, so I decided to take a little nap to make up for the one I didn't get on the bus. That was around 6. I just woke up, and it's now just after 9. That'll take care of the day, all right.

Tomorrow morning we meet with Ramiro to check out Carlos III for the first time and take our language placement exams. Wish me luck!