Learning by Living

            As this is our first full week in Madrid, we have spent the past several days trying to get a feel for how to live in it. My goal for the semester is to make Madrid my city, and the best way to do that is to get out and do things.

            Wednesday was exciting, as it was our first actual class of Contemporary Spanish History at CEU. At first I was totally overwhelmed and was positive I was going to fail, but when I stopped clogging my brain with that thought and instead used my powers of cognition to interpret my professor’s Spanish, I was pleasantly surprised to find that as long as I focus (uh oh!), this semester won’t be so bad after all! It was my birthday and the A-team got me what might just be the most delicious cake in Spain. We haven’t really been exposed to too much Madrid food because Angeles’ cooking and mine and Erin’s cheapness have really dissuaded us from not eating at home. This dessert makes me want to try more. We relaxed at home a bit and then went for a run in the other direction along the river, because we like to change things up like that. We were actually trying to find this ancient Egyptian gift to Spain which was apparently in this direction, but unfortunately we didn’t see it. We also bought magnum bars (ice cream) – I’m not ashamed. It was my birthday. After dinner with A&E, much to their surprise, we actually went out and did something other than going to bed. We met up with everyone at what we thought was Parque Oeste but turned out to actually be the Rose Gardens. Same difference? After hanging out for awhile and directing many confused people, we made our way to Café Orange, which is anything but a café. It was definitely more of a discoteca. I’m glad that the opportunity for me to praise my own dancing has come up again; I rocked it on the dance floor.

            The next day (Thurs), CEU classes were canceled so Erin and I didn’t have class until 17:30 (I’m getting into the 24-hour time thing,) so we woke up and walked to the Palacio Real. What type of life could I possibly be leading where after a mere 10 minute walk I am literally at a palace? (A sick one, obvi.) Unfortunately, they don’t allow photos inside the palacio, but being super stealthy, I was able to snag a few. 

So illegal. (Obviously also referring to it being
illegal to look as good as Erin does)

I'm thinking of getting one of these done in my room.
Not a big deal.

Not illegal, but still pretty. (Who knew
legal things could be cool?)

If I were to choose two words to describe it, I would choose immense and intense, and not just because they rhyme. This place was grand in every sense of the word. The chandeliers were probably bigger than my room. There were murals on the ceiling, and more chairs at the dinner table than friends that I have. It seemed also that dinner used to be a spectator sport, as there were chairs lining the outside of the room too, since the dinner table was filled up. Maybe they tagged teamed it? I know I could use a partner to help me eat Angeles’ hearty meals. After class, one of those, and a run, we went to Sol and met up with everyone again. I’m impressed that we still travel in groups of 30. Sol is nightlife focal point of the city, and it was neat, although I was not a fan of having to transfer subway lines – I love me my circular (my subway line). There are a ton of promoters on the plaza who try to coax you into coming to his or her respective club or bar, and eventually James (our Spanish promoter friend) brought us to an Irish pub. It was pretty cool, but we all had our metaphorical dancing shoes on and wanted to go to a discoteca. So we left in the pouring rain, made our way to the famous Joy club, cut the entire line (no big deal), saw transvestites dance to “Bad Romance” (awesome), and finally, saw security ask K.Cross to put his shirt on. (He was like, nah, Imma keep my shirt off. This proves that songs are sometimes based on real life, or maybe that real life is sometimes based off of songs?) So begun our 3 day weekend. Since we’re the coolest people I know, we didn’t come home until the club closed and the metro reopened. I KNOW. I didn’t think I was that cool, either.

            Yesterday, Erin and I went to the Centro Comercial (mall) with Josh where I got a 10 euro dress from H&M. We met A&E’s granddaughter who is so cute it hurts. I can’t wait for her to visit again so I can take a swing at communicating with her. We went for a run and had an awesome dinner, and went to Sol again. After collectively deciding that we didn’t want to go to a discoteca, we obviously went to the most famous discoteca in Madrid – Kapital (aka da club). It was awesome because it was free for ladies. Win! It had an impressive 7 floors of lounges and dancefloors and we explored a bunch of them. We came home earlier than last night because we can’t be 6AM cool all the time.

            I’m starting to feel like a real Madrileña – luckily, if ever I have a question, A&E are full of helpful advice.

Tips from Angeles:

1. Don’t marry someone old. (Emilio is 8 years older than her. She said she wants to go out and do stuff and he never wants to do anything. She said she has a boyfriend in Toledo.)
2. If you’re old, it’s okay to be naked. (This was how she justified crossing the hall naked at the same unfortunate time that Erin was in the hallway)
3. Women are not clever. (This is what she thinks husbands think about their wives.)
4. If you don’t know how to cook, your husband will divorce you for someone who does. (Gotta get on that one)
5. If you wear perfume, the boys will be linin’ down the block just to watch whatchu got. (Not in those words exactly – it was more a description of why we should wear perfume followed by an unrequested spritz…in the face.)
6. Keep track of all of your novios (boyfriends.)

Tips from Emilio:

1. Don’t want to be bothered with your wife’s crazy antics? Just shrug and bear it.

It seems pretty clear to me that living in Madrid, I’m going to be learning a lot more than which metro to take.