Jenn's blog

you can't wear clothes in this kind of heat

Oh man, I spoke too soon, it was 96° yesterday, and Lakeside is on the other side of the world. No air conditioning, this might be my last blog, for i might die of heat exhaustion. 

It's COLD

I really need to share that it is noon, and only 16 degrees Celsius, it is about 60 degrees F.  It was cold Friday, and all weekend. Usually it is so hot, I dread going outside. This is a nice change, I doubt it will be around for awhile, refreshing.  People were wearing winter coats, this morning. The sun doesn't set until around 9:45. I've heard that it doesn't set until 11 in August, but I won't be around to see that...

No Abono

I have about an hour commute to school, taking the metro and the bus to Pozuelo. Pozuelo is a suburb of Madrid, and a pretty new community. Though, Pozuelo and my school is only 20 min. outside of Madrid, if you google map it. But nothing is ever fast in Spain, and well it is public transportation, buses and stops and so on. Every month I buy an Abono (comes from the verb: abonar which means: to pay or to credit.) for Madrid Metro and Buses and the B1, which are buses that go to Pozuelo. This allows me to take the public transportation how ever much I want from 6am-2am, and the bujo buses (bujo means owl so these would be night buses), pretty amazing. Since I am over 21, my abono is red, all my friends have orange...and pay 25 euros less than me.
I'm not buying an abono for the month of June, no school, no need for B1 buses...

So, last Friday (May 29th), Rosi and I ran around Pozuelo getting pictures and stopping places we might no see again.
There is a field, with some old cars, trailers, unconventional Spanish housing? There is bus stop right in front where you can see a skyline of Madrid city and cups placed in the fence to spell "Sonrise!" which means "Smile!"

Every now and then it gets cold, I guess it is the mountain wind blowing down to Madrid, it is refreashing, a break from the sun. I took some photos of a storm rolling in last Saturday night (May 30th). But last night, it looked as though it would rain, it didn't,  just go really cold, like March weather, probably 15 Celcius...but then again, I have yet to learn celcius, it is just a guess.

Sorry, the storm pictures might be a waste of your time.

no class, only finals.

I finished my last day of class Friday, May 29th. Now I have three weeks of finals, but of course the four of the five classes I'm talking have finals on the same day.
This Thursday I will talk my Spanish exam.
Friday, my Museologia along with my Esteticas II exam, and submit a project.
Tuesday, June 9th I have a Graphic Design exam and Cont. Art
School is officially over the 19th of June, and my program is over the 28th.

Who needs Sundays at Sam's when you have tapas...

Do you know what tapas are? It is your free food that comes with your caña (small beer), cervaza clarita (beer with sugar carbonated water), cervaza con limón (beer with lemon fanta)*, sangria*, vino tinto* (red wine), tinto de verano (summer wine), sidra* (cider)...you get the idea.
*my favorite.

Spain is known for tapas, they are appetizers, but included with your drink. Some times it is jamon, chorizo or cheese with bread, green olives, calamari, patatas bravas (potatoes with brava sauce), tortilla española (egg omelet with onion and potatoes) served on bread or croquetas (cheese with ham, breaded and fried).
You don't get a lot of food, but if you order enough alcohol you could eat dinner, especially at El Tigre. This is our favorite restaurant, or bar, or tapas bar...For one drink, 1.80 euro, you get a huge plate of food. In Madrid, I have not discovered another restaurant like it.
But when I went to Granada two weeks ago, they are known for having large tapas, in fact it is a stereotype. Stereotype: Andalucians (South of Spain, Granada, Sevilla...) drink wine all day, get free tapas, because the people are "cheap," take siestas and watch or perform flamenco, a lifestyle I wouldn't mind.
Back to tapas in Granada, I ordered a glass of wine and received several shrimp and seafood salad, that was to split with two other people but still, free food, then at a different bar, we each got some sort of Kebab thing.

Legend has it...
Tapas began in Segovia. The workers would take breaks the hottest time of the day 2-5, the time for siesta, to cool down with a beer, and since they hadn't eaten too much they would get a bit tipsy and not able to work. Drunkards. So the king passed a law stating that all alcohol had to be served with food.
The other story, tapas means top/lid, to keep the flies out of the drinks they would put bread, on top of the drinks, and bartenders got creative and put food on the bread...which I would think, would still attract bugs.
I like the first story. I guess I don't really care either, the workers are happy, the flies are happy and I'm happy.

Now, you don't get tapas at night-out bars, only bars that are also restaurants, that are open 11-11, yes, I have seen people with beer at 11am.
You know how people bar-hop? Well, people here tapa-hop, for their dinner. I have friends who do this anytime they go to a new city in Spain. In fact, it is even a verb: tapear.
¿Tapeamos pronto, si?

My Mother is going to kill me.

Mmmm, "que buenos son," indeed.  I love, Luuuuuhv,  Fontaneda, La Buena María galletas.
These are just small, round cookies, nothing special about the packaging or design (a fault of Spain, they are just not designerly), but I am truly addicted. I eat these like they are going out of style. Before Spain I never ate breakfast, and I liked it that way. My senora would always layout these cookies, fruit, and soy milk (I don't particularly like utters). I would leave the cookies, stow away the fruit in my purse for school and drink the milk. Until one day, I ate the cookies, I should have known better. I would never eat bland, white breaded stuff like this before Spain (they are unecesary calories), nor would I eat ham, eggs, apples, white pasta, ham and butter sandwiches (<-- I only did that twice), I will say I did good with the sugar, I still use my Splenda packets. But I got weak, I gave in. Now I buy these cookies probably twice a week and for .70 centimos = 1USD, it is hard to say no. I eat them for breakfast, I keep some in my purse, I take them on trips, they are my favorite snack with *instant* coffee and tea. I have found crumbs in the bottom of my bags, and I'm not upset about the crumbs, I'm bummed about the wasted María.
They taste sort of like animal crackers, but that doesn't do them justice. Sure they my look dry and brittle, well, they are...I like to dunk them in coffee, soften them up a bit, I mean, that is what they are doing to me...(it is only fair).
I should have just remembered what my Mom says about her weakness foods "I can't just have one, so I won't have any," I've definitely gained weight since being in Spain, but when I return in 35 days, I'm going to train my stomach back to the old days, no more white bread, no more eggs, cookies, unnecessary foods. But until then I'm going to enjoy my time with La Buena María. La de ayer, la de hoy, la de mañana por la mañana.

I can't keep my hands out of the cookie jar.

Programa de Intercambio Académico

Thursday, May 21st
Graduation was actually a lot of fun, not to mention, we had sangria afterward, yes, alcohol at school. It is a private university so they can get away with that...Oh wait, it is Spain, so they can get away with that.

Some Americans were traveling, and some just didn't show up. In total there might be about 12 US students, seven came, but 250, international students, a majority are from Latin America and France.
The bottom right hand corner of our diploma reads, "Sin validez académica." This has no academic value, I guess I will have to wait until December for my actual transcript and graduation.

A Private Collection

Wednesday, May 20th.
I only have on class one Wednesday, Esteticas II. After class, Rossi (exchange student from Mexico) and I signed up for Graduation, which is tomorrow. I'd like to see how this goes. I never get e-mails from the office, so I heard about it from word-of-mouth. When I went to the international office, they said it is impossible for me to not get e-mails from them, the office is so inefficient, welcome to Spain, four months overdue. But, I argued a little, and they found out that, I really haven't received any e-mails from them. We are not officially finished with school, it is a graduation for the extranjeros, last day of classes is next week, I think.
Rossi and I went to Caxia Forum, a private art collection, display was fauvism / expressionism.  This company basically owns Madrid, it is also a bank and they sell the futbol tickets.

Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

Tuesday, May 19th.
Today I went to the Science Museum in Madrid. Too bad it was under construction, so they only had their Charles Darwin book collection and some old stuffed animals out. I'm in a museum class, so I have to visit seven and write about them, no big deal...but in Spanish. Then I tutored.

Rome V

April 14th, Tuesday - 15th, Wednesday

We knew going into this day was going to be tough. We need to sleep in, but still be out of the hostel by noon...because next time we sleep it will be in an airport. Our flight from Rome to Madrid was at 6:20 am on Wednesday the 15th.
There were still many things we all wanted to see...what was it? What am I leaving out...? We saw the Forum, St. Peter's Basilica, the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, famous fountains, the Pantheon, the Pope...what am I leaving out...Oh that's right, The Sistine Chapel. You know the one painted by Michelangelo...

Back again to Vatican City...to see the Chapel and well the tombs of all the Popes. First we went to the crypt, but it was very loud, and people were taking pictures, I was one of them. We saw really old tombs and also where Pope John Paul II was laid to rest. His tomb was covered with roses, letters and photos.

We got some lunch, because we knew we wanted to a large amount of time in the Sistine Chapel.

We used our student IDs to get a discount into the Chapel. We were led to a large court yard with a gold ball, followed the crowed to a room with many sculptures, such as "the Athlete," "Baby wrestling a goose,” Egyptian art and mummies, paintings, modern art...
Basically the Sistine Chapel is one giant art museum, and you go through several rooms, takes up to 2 hours before you finally get to Michelangelo's work.

The boys and I got some cheap eats, Chinese food. On our way back we saw two guys with a dog and some puppies, they were so little, and a sign that said Adopt, in Italian. But they puppies were still too little to be on their own, their eyes were still closed.  I had to make a tough decision not to take the two remaining puppies and the mother home with me...

We made it back to our side of the Tiber River, where our hostel was keeping our luggage for the day, and got some night pictures of the Colosseum.

Off to the train station to get to the airport, 30 mins, outside of Rome. We were on the train waiting, and noticed it was getting really late and we hadn't moved, we were on the wrong one. Apparently, the train station chained the plans and didn't tell anyone. So we missed it along with other very angry customers that expressed their strong opinions to the office. We were very upset, but then again not surprised, because the same stuff happens in Spain all the time...Oh Europe.
Finally, we made it to the where we needed to be, but still had to get a taxi to drive us to the airport. A girl on our train said when she arrived in Rome, she noticed a gypsy camp, and didn't think it was safe to pass by at night with all our belongings. So taxi it was.
We found a cozy spot on the floor in the airport, and hung out there with every other College Spring Breaker until 4 in the morning, when we had to board.
Three-hour flight later, I was in Madrid, getting back to my place and laid down for real sleep.