Spur of the moment blog post! Microonda edition

So, it is midterms week, as exemplified by my surplus of blog posts and excessive movie watching. But I do actually have reason to be writing right now.

Lately, during dinner, we have been experiencing power outages. It is only our apartment, and Paloma goes and futzes with the fuse box, and eventually she works it out so that the lights come back on. Last night, Paloma worked late, and Jade and I ate dinner on our own and then went into our respective rooms. All of a sudden, the power went out. Jade freaked, because apparently she is afraid of the dark, and I went to fix the problem (with Jade clinging to me and yelling about my flashlight app). It was somewhat comical, and I kept hitting the switches and alternating which were up and which were down. I could only get the lights in the main part of the house and our bedrooms to work, while all the lights and electricity in the bathroom and kitchen would not come back on. We settled for light in our rooms and wifi, and resolved to not worry about the kitchen/bathroom wing of the apartment.

Finally, a couple hours later, Paloma came home and I attempted to explain to her that the power had gone out and we were unable to get the kitchen and bathroom lights to work. She tried to fix it, went to change a light bulb (though she realized after that the electricity was the problem and not the light bulbs . Eventually she called her mother, and they tried to solve the problem together. The lights seemed to be working, and I figured all was well. That is until this morning when I went to make breakfast. The toaster was working and the lights were working, but when I went to plug in the microwave all of the power in the whole apartment went out. So there was the problem.

I was able to get the power back on in the whole apartment, and just skipped the tea since the microwave was no longer available. I went to class, and then to the gym, and returned home exhausted and ready to have a quick lunch and then study. That is when Paloma asked me if I could help her change out the microwave and explained that the microwave was the cause of the electrical problems. I happily agreed to help her, but when I went to move the old microwave, she stopped me and said that we had to go get the new one first. This resulted in an hour long excursion which included walking to the further metro station, taking the metro one stop, buying a microwave, lugging it to a cafe (where she had a beer and smoked two cigarettes and bought me a glass of wine), and then dragging it back home the same way we had come, except that we walked two blocks out of the way for her to buy beer and cigarettes.

It was an exhausting trip, and a bigger investment of time and energy than I had prepared for when I thought all I had to do was bring the old microwave to a dumpster. That's what I get for not speaking Spanish, I guess. Despite this fact, Paloma talks ceaselessly and while she is nice, and clearly cares for us, it has become infuriating. I mostly just nod and try to smile, but I am growing increasingly less tolerant.

This is the view out my window. Not super interesting, but if you look at the courtyard in the center of the picture you can see a little black and white dot. That is the cat which cries outside our window everyday and into the night. 

Damn cat. It really howls, and that would be bad enough, but Paloma feels the need to imitate it every time we mention how annoying it is which, believe it or not, is as annoying as the actual miserable animal. 

Two more days, and then I will be headed to Lisbon for a much needed break from my host mother and her apartment.

Looking up

I have been less than great at posting regularly, but I feel like a lot has happened since my last post. On Friday the 15th my seminar group took a day trip to the fortified city, Avila. It was honestly not a very notable trip. It was cool going on the walls of the city, but mostly it was a day of trekking around a sleepy town with 25 of my extremely hung-over peers.

In contrast, Saturday the 16th was really fun and not at all boring. I met my friend, Charity, along with two other girls, to go to the Reina Sofia museum. We saw about half of the first floor before everyone was tired and wanted to leave. But it is free and I will definitely go back, probably alone next time. Afterwards, the four of us took the Teleferico, which is a cable car that travels between Parque del Oeste and Casa de Campo. Then we visited the Egyptian temple in Parque del Oeste. It was a great day, and nice to spend some time with different people.

It's a Calder!

I thought this room was super cool.

Egyptian temple at sunset

After Saturday I was not up to much. I started to get really home sick, and have been spending way too much time in my room. It isn't even that I miss home per se, or that I miss specific people. The problem is that I don't have nearly as much to do here to keep me busy as I do normally, and I am not comfortable. Wednesday I explored the area near my apartment, which was really cool, and it was nice to get out. I finally got back to the gym on Thursday, once my hip had finally calmed down after about a week and a half. I decided to walk home from the gym instead of taking the metro. It turned out to be about 45 minutes away from my apartment, walking. I have figured out that I am much happier walking around than just wallowing in my room. It is no surprise, I just need to find more cool places to explore. I will try to keep checking out museums and different areas of the city.

I don't feel like I want to be going out more at night, or like I need to join into the party scene with which my peers seem so enthralled. Hopefully things will get a little better. I am going to Lisbon with my Seminar class next weekend, and London for Spring break. I also would like to plan at least one more weekend trip.

This Friday, the 22nd, I went on a school trip to Segovia, not for a class or anything, just to see the Roman aqueduct  and the castle, and to have something to do. It ended up being really fun. I knew a few people on the trip, and ended up hanging out with a really good group. It was a nice way to spend the day, and maybe I will be able to spend time with a greater variety of people.

Roman Aqueduct in Segovia

Overall, things are looking up. I spoke with my host mom so that now I feel more comfortable cooking in the kitchen, and I found an awesome place where I can buy inexpensive and delicious strawberries. Three more months, I just need to make the most of them.

Falling to Bits

Friday I went on a hike in Cercedilla in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains, north of Madrid. It was really fun, but unfortunately there was some bad weather. We were unable to take the Smith route on the northern side of the mountain because of a storm, and the shortcut which our guide, Professor Montes, normally takes to the lookout point on the south side was blocked by snow. We walked for a while up the mountain, and hit some deep snow. However, many people were under-dressed, one girl was wearing capri running pants and sneakers. We cut the hike a little short, but it was still a good , and we all agreed that we would like to try again in April.

View out the window on the drive to Cercedilla

On the hike I met some new people who seem really cool. Jade and I went to a jazz club with two boys and one girl we met on the hike, and it was a really good time.

Friday night at the jazz music bar.

On Saturday, Jade and I went to a few vintage stores in the Tribunal area..

Cool statue in one of the shops, took a pic for my mom.

The rest of the weekend was pretty cruddy. I slept a lot, and got pretty homesick, plus I worked myself into a bit of a panic about what the heck I am going to do this summer.

Once the week rolled around, and classes started up again, I calmed down. I Skyped Emily and Marissa (two friends from Syracuse) on Monday, and talked on the phone with my mom. I am looking into different options for the summer, and honestly think as long as I find something to do I will be fine.

Other than that, I have come down with a cold, and did something to screw up my hip, but I'm sure I'll be back to 100% in a couple days, especially if I keep on sleeping as much as I have been.

Getting Comfortable

I realize it has been a while since I posted anything, but I think that is just because I am settling into life here and the adventures are not so dramatic. Every day is still a new and interesting experience, and I am loving the city and the people.

I finally found boots, and I have definitely become accustomed to walking everywhere all the time and to taking the metro many times a day.

I joined a gym, and have gone to two Pilates classes which are really fun, and one yoga class which was impossible to follow. The Pilates is doable. I can look around, and look at the teacher, and basically figure out what the instructions are. This is not, at all, the case in yoga. The yoga class is all about meditating and holding positions and closing your eyes. We would be lying down, and the teacher would be speaking constantly in a soothing monotone. I'm sure it would have been very relaxing if I had any clue what she was saying, but I did not. I wasn't sure if she was instructing us to leave our arms at our sides and pretend they don't exist, or if I was supposed to be doing something. It was awful, and stressful, basically the opposite of what yoga is supposed to be.

Friday, we kicked off our weekend by going to a little bar which was supposed to have live music. We got off at the Lavapies metro stop, and began walking. We were immediately confronted by man after man trying to sell us on one of two things:
1) Dinner. That is apparently the area of the city with an entire street of various Indian restaurants. It smelled and looked awesome, but was not really what we were looking for at that moment.
2) Marijuana dealers. There were men every five feet who were clearly selling and smoking pot. It was an assault on the senses, and we were basically constantly dodging people, and the occasional car, on the small street.

The bar turned out to be a bit of a bust. The music was a guy with his guitar and four or five women trying to sing American songs from printed out sheets of the lyrics. One song they did was "Kiss" by Prince, but they only did the first verse, repeatedly, until they got it and then they stopped. It was very weird, but also amusing. Plus the place makes an awesome Mojito.

Friday and Saturday, Jade and I went out to an Irish Pub, so we did not have the most Spanish weekend. It was fun, we met an Irish stag party, which was hilarious, and the second night we met two guys who work for an airline company, and fly planes to test out all the equipment before flights. Later Saturday night, we were approached on the street by a group of aggressive, young Belgian boys, who were hilarious and a little eager.

The night life here is interesting and a little strange. People constantly call at you on the street, and try to entice you to come to their club/bar/restaurant. It is just a constant flood of "Hola guapa!" and "Bonitas!"

Sunday Jade and I went to the Prado Museum, which was ridiculously crowded, and I am sorry to say I don't have much to report from there. It was cool, but I did not devote the time or energy to it that I should have. I will likely go back again, and I will also try to go to some of the more modern art museums which are more my scene. Afterwards I got an awesome hot dog with fried onions, pickles, and mustard, from this tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant called It Dog.

Classes are good. I am in the second level of Spanish, despite never having taken a Spanish class in my life. I went to the 101 class on Thursday, and my teacher told me and two other students that we needed to be in 102, not 101, and that after class we should go talk to the woman in the office. I did so, and then chose to go check out the 102 class before making the official switch to confirm I could handle it.

The professor instructed us, in Spanish, to write a composition about our past semester. I was a little confused and panicking  so asked the professor, in Spanish, if I could talk to her in the hall for a minute. I explained to her that I had never taken a course in Spanish, but had been told I should be in 102, and wanted to check it out first. I also asked her to clarify what I was supposed to write. She brushed off my concerns, and we went back into the class.

As we wrote, I used maybe two verbs, over and over, only spoke in present tense, and guessed on a bunch of words. She assured us that this was just to gauge our level of Spanish knowledge, but I still felt lost. I asked, in Spanish, how to say certain words, but the professor just got angry, told us that we could only speak Spanish in the class, and said that she could not translate for me. When male students inquired about specific words, she answered, but when I asked she was very mean, and kept brushing me off. I ended up working around words I didn't know, and wrote as much as I could.

The woman was thoroughly unpleasant, but luckily she is not our professor. From Monday on we have had a male professor who is awesome! He is super chill, and just wants us to try our best to speak as much as possible. He keeps encouraging us not to be scared, and just to talk and communicate our point. There are about fifteen minutes at the start of each class where he just has us speak about whatever we want for a few minutes each, and not worry about grammar or perfect conjugating.

My biology professor is ridiculously enthusiastic and likes to say "super duper" every five minutes. And my Sexuality in Spain professor is a very small young woman who is a delight, though she does struggle to communicate her point sometimes.

So all is well, and my Spanish adventure continues.