A Class Act

            This week has gone by in a whirlwind. Suddenly, it’s the “weekend.” As always, getting here was a struggle filled with many, many stairs. Tuesday is mine and Erin’s most annoying day in that it’s filled with all sorts of awkward breaks. It’s neat that all of our classes are sort of overlapping, though. (A ruler we learn about in contemporary history will come up in conjunction with an artist in painting which will inspire something we’re talking about in my Madrid class which will obviously relate back to cooorcoorse in some way, since, you know, it’s at the core.)

After a solid start in history and painting, followed by a large Angeles-style lunch, we were ready for the track back through Guzmán to go to our Madrid class. We were supposed to come into class with a few facts about assigned items and how they related to the city of Madrid specifically. Instead of sharing our facts from our seats, it turns out we were going center stage, and instead of two or three facts, it turns out everyone had basically a mini-essay. Awesome. I had La Virgen de Almudena and Jesús de Medicenali. Cool artifacts. Better story: I was up and babbling (you know how I like to babble), and was realizing I was running out of things to say. I’m talking about the legend of this statue of Mary (La Virgen de Almudena) and figured I needed some sort of concluding statement that tied it all together. Not realizing it until it came out of my mouth, I cleverly went with “And that’s why I like the virgin.” Sorry, what? It’s times like these when I know my life is a complete and total joke. I came home to have dinner and further solidified my awareness that people think I’m in idiot when I was asking Emilio about the vote taking place on TV. “What’s that about?” I asked. “This is Congress,” he explained. “They’re taking a vote. If more than half say yes, then it passes.” He also told us that the US does not like Hugo Chávez, and Angeles added the helpful “he’s a bad man.” Well, thanks. I’m learning all sorts of new things this week. We checked out the volcano bar that night briefly to wish a happy birthday to Erin’s friend Darren who’s also studying in Madrid (through the NYU aka lame program), which was pretty cool. More importantly, the sandwich shop we grew to love in Sevilla was there! It’s a chain! 83’s here I come!!!!! This day definitely ended on an upswing.

The next morning was life-changing. The Beefeater sign which is the landmark of our building has been removed! Apparently it’s illegal to have a sign that big advertising alcohol? Who knew? (Again, most of my learning here takes place outside of the classroom.) While it was depressing to lose our identity as the Beefeater building, it was awesome that we’ve replaced our views of the back of an advertisement with those of the Palacio Real. I’m still a little emotional about it, but I’m getting through it.

                       Before                                             After

Wednesday is our early day, so we took advantage of our free time to do nothing in particular. It was awesome. We went for a run a little earlier than usual, because we weren’t feeling too hot and wanted to get it done. We were nearing the end and I heard some guy catching up to me. You know when you’re running and you pass someone and you pretend you’re racing? This was not pretend. We were racing all the way to the finish line, because losing is one of my least favorite things to do. I took him down like the champion that I am. Well, I guess he kept going, but since I had decided we were racing in my head, I also had decided that any movement beyond my finish line didn’t count. I ended up beating my goal by 1 second (always the best feeling) and Erin came up right behind me. I think we’re officially in shape aka ready to run through the massive Parque de Retiro. Unfortunately, my competitive nature doesn’t always directly correlate with positive outcomes. Angeles has been continuing to put us in direct competition in order to see who eats more food (we’re currently tied for wins), and as a result, I am definitely eating more. She’s also upping the sneak attacks. She’s got us allllllll figured out.

Today, we left early and got to class at a reasonable time. Obviously, we were the last ones of the group to get to class, but we did get there before the previous class got out. We learned about nobility in the seventeenth century even though yesterday we were talking about the 1980s (Contemporary History apparently doesn’t mean chronological), and then we were off to our first museum of Madrid. We had signed up to take a tour of the Thyssen which is a museum with a lot of impressionist art. Carmen, the woman who gave us the bus tour of Madrid waaaay back when, was our guide and she was awesome. She would tell us scandals in English so other people could tell what she was talking about, she would ignore ropes and touch paintings – my type of tour. Of course, when I tried to do something illegal (take a picture, obvi), I get accosted by a security guard who tells me in a polite but sinister whisper that I am not allowed to take photographs in this museum. My new goal is to get at least 1 illegal picture in every place I visit. 

Get it, Anne. (Note: She was fully aware that this was illegal when it was being taken. REBELLLLL!)

After the museum we came home and did some work. (I’m not even kidding – we sometimes have to do that here.) I wrote a blog entry (in Spanish, and a lot less interesting than this blog) about the strike that’s supposed to happen this coming Wednesday. Apparently it’s going to be a big deal. We shall see! Erin and I got our student cards today (we’re officially CEU students) complete with unattractive picture. As I’m sure one could have suspected knowing my life, on the way into the building which was riddled with stylish Spanish students, after saying how inadequate we are in comparison, I tripped up the stairs on the way into the building. Erin’s laughter did wonders to make the situation better. It’s fine though, because let’s be honest. The ‘trip’ only called attention to my hip, blue, cheetah-print sandals which I’m sure will lead to many new friendships in the future. After convincing myself that this was the case, we went to our Madrid class where I tried to limit my embarrassment. I made it through and home, too! We ate later today after our run, with Emilio (normally we eat too early for him) and even Angeles had a little something to eat (she never eats). She gossiped with us and told us how she thinks her son is going to Argentina to visit a girl. (I bet she cooks really well.) We enjoyed a bunch of laughs as Angeles called Emilio old and Erin and I poor eaters. Family dinners are the best.

After showering I realized that, as always, I was/am woefully underprepared for the trip I’m about to embark upon. Erin and I are off to Oktoberfest in t-minus 4 hours and I’m nearly ready! I’ve heard there will be beer, chicken, and rollercoasters. What more could any classy girl want?