Trabaja Duro, Juega Más

Week 3 and first week of my internship completed! Another incredible and incredibly busy week!

First of all, the internship is really great! I'm working for a full-service communications and publicity company in Spain called Alcandora. They are one of the top in the city, and do advertising and PR for clients such as the Metro of Madrid and the city council - they even helped out with some of the PR when Madrid was in the running to host the next olympics! It takes me about an hour to get there via public transportation, the metro and a train, but I guess on the plus side I'm almost done with a whole book in just one week! And it's a pretty scenic train ride, but definitely another new experience. I'm working 9am-2pm, but only Monday through Thursday so it's a pretty nice schedule, minus the early mornings. Everyone I work with is really nice, very young and friendly and easy-going. I have my own computer and desk, and so far I've been doing a lot of translating work for them and their clients. For example, I translated a whole brochure about the services/policies/philosophies that Alcandora provides for their clients, and I'm currently working on translating a website for the Asociación de Deportistas (the Spanish Athletes Association), including a 20 page legal document about their statutes. It's hard - a lot of technical/business Spanish terms but I'm learning so much! Here is the link to Alcandora's website if you'd like to check them out:

http://www.alcandora.com/index.html

Only working until the afternoon still leaves plenty of time to continue playing and exploring around Madrid! On Monday we were lucky enough to have discovered a movie theater playing the final installment of Harry Potter in English (it was kindof funny to watch the Spanish subtitles trying to translate "blimey" and "bloody hell") and then out for tapas and sangria. Tuesday we got a group together and had a potluck picnic dinner in Parque del Retiro (the Central Park-esque place where we did the row boats a few weeks ago) which was so incredibly fun!! The weather absolutely couldn't be any more ideal, it's still so warm in the evenings, and people are out and about everywhere. 

Of course, we also continued our Wednesday tradition at our favorite 100 Montaditos 1 Euro restaurant, I have a feeling that will be a weekly thing without fail! And on Thursday we went to the Templo de Debod, a beautiful Egyptian-style monument in the middle of a really nice area of the city. Last week they had free concerts every night of the week featuring traditional music from a different part of the world, so we took our picnic materials (aka, the sangria of course) out to the park and enjoyed an evening out there. 

And then, the weekend! This weekend featured 2 separate trips to 2 different public pools, which were actually really nice and the first time it felt like I actually relaxed since I've been here! At first I was skeptical of  public pools, in the states that draws the connotation of small kids peeing in the water, but it's a very common thing to do here especially for young people when the weather is so hot! There are usually multiple pools and locker rooms and hot tubs, showers and big grassy areas, cafeterias and snack bars, and people of all ages: families, older people, teenagers...and it's true what they say about the Spanish people not being shy when it comes to sunbathing! That was quite a shock at first! 

We also had our first experience at a huge fancy discoteca called Kapital, 7 floors of multiple dance floors, bars, all kinds of lights and special effects, lounges, karaoke stations, and so much more! It was really overwhelming, like something out of a movie. But it was definitely a fun thing to experience. And, we made it to our goal of staying out until the metro re-opens in the morning...at 6 am! Coming home with the sunrise was exhausting but so much fun at the same time. I also was lucky enough to see a familiar face - Uncle Andy had a layover in Madrid so we got to go out to lunch and spend the day together, which was more comforting than you can imagine! It was so much fun and so nice to see some family in this brand new city. On Sunday, a few of us went to El Rastro flea market, an absolutely enormous outdoor market that takes up almost an entire community and is just small curvy street after street of vendors selling absolutely everything you could imagine. We made our way back to Parque del Retiro for a nice evening boat ride and tour of the Palacio de Cristal (The Crystal Palace). 

El Palacio de Cristal

And we also got extremely lucky because on Sunday evening, we literally ran straight into the culmination of a month-long demonstration against unemployment that has been making its way through different major cities in Spain and ending in Madrid. There was a huge march and people in the streets absolutely everywhere, it was really an impressive sight to see and such an important thing for the city, so were really glad to be able to witness something like that firsthand. A very interesting time to be here!

Monday was actually a holiday for us too, after only one week of work I got a free day! Apparently, it's written in the Spanish law that they have to have a mandated 10 bank holidays/days off per year, and most of the usual holidays this year happened to fall on Sundays so they're picking some of the more minor holidays to celebrate. The Spanish don't mess around when it comes to their free time! We had another picnic on Monday evening at the Temple de Debod, a fantastic way to round off the long weekend. 

Loving being here, but missing you all so much! Thanks so much for all of the facebook messages and emails and skype dates, and even the snail mail/postcards! It helps so much and I love hearing from everyone - keep them coming!! 

Week Numero Dos!

Another week has already flown by, I can't believe how much we did! This was the second and final week of our language school, so week 3 will mark the beginning of my internship.

We started out this week on Monday with our usual Menú del Día for lunch with a few friends I've met through the language school from all over the place, Poland, Denmark, Russia and a few from the states! Lunch is their biggest and most important meal here and they usually eat at around 2 or 3 pm, and many restaurants will offer this Menú del Día (Menu of the Day) where for a fixed price, usually around 10 Euro, you get 4 options each for an appetizer, entree, dessert, and beverage (added bonus - wine and water are the same price!) and after that we headed over to the Palacio Real of Madrid. The one in Madrid is known as the one where most of the country's ceremonial events take place, including royal weddings, the official throne room of the King and Queen, and the room where Spain was signed into the EU. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside, but here are a few views of the outside:

 






After taking the train to find where my internship building was located, a friend and I discovered we were already halfway to the beautiful mountain town of El Escorial, and made a spur of the moment decision to visit! It was so picturesque, with the most incredible mountain views, a gigantic monastery, and the summer palace of Carlos V. We spent the afternoon there just walking up the big windy hills and small calles, enjoying escaping from the city streets to see a bit more of nature for a day!

Also included in the week's festivities was a new tradition at a place called 100 Montaditos, a restaurant with 100 options for little bocadillo sandwiches with every combination you could dream of from chocolate and jelly to jamón, to calamari, to spanish omletes ("tortillas") to mozzarella and basil, to hot dogs, and absolutely everything inbetween! On Wednesdays every single thing (again including the wine) is only 1 euro! We also had our first taste of the traditional Paella: a delicious dish of rice, vegetables, and either seafood or meat all mixed together. also very salty (like everything else here). A lot of their bottled water they call "mineral water" because it has a bunch of salt and sulfites added into it...organic? AND we finally experienced another Spanish breakfast tradition of churros con chocolate! It was absolutely delicious, and the chocolate was so rich and so good, they put it in a mug and some people put a drop of milk in it and drink it when they're done with their churros!! Below is a picture, again can't do justice to the real thing. And while we're on the subject of food, Spaniards are also obsessed with Fanta, they don't have Diet Coke they have "Coke Light," and they loooove their meat, especially seafood, beef, and of course, anything having to do with jamón (ham!) and it's very common to see large animal parts hanging in windows of restaurants, shops, and bars. thus, you will have a very difficult time finding vegetables, God forbid a salad with actual lettuce, anywhere on the menu. However, luckily for me I can still get my salad fix with the little outdoor market stands, or "Fruterías" that sell really amazing and delicious locally grown and really reasonably priced fruits and vegetables.

The Reina Sofia museum was really cool, a lot more modern/diverse kinds of art than El Prado. They had everything from contemporary featured artists to Salvador Dalí and Picasso (including his most famous mural of Guernica) and a lot of other paintings, propaganda art, and even cinema from the WWII era.

A Salvador Dalí piece "The Enigma of Hitler"

AND THEN over the weekend....we went on our first weekend trip to Seville and Granada in the southern Spain region called Andalucia. It was absolutely gorgeous and I'm so glad we fit so much into just one weekend, but I really wish we could have spent more time there! We skipped Spanish class on Friday (whoops!) and left on the train really early in the morning, and arrived at the hostel, our first hostel experience! It was actually an incredibly nice place, really clean and with 4 floors and a rooftop terrace and bar, tons of common spaces and computers you could use, a full kitchen and breakfast served every morning, and every day they have a really awesome guided morning and an afternoon walking tour which we did on Sunday before we left, as well as a "Tapas Tour" where they take you to the best tapas bars and a flamenco place, pub crawls, etc. There were a ton of huge rooms with about 12 bunk beds in each one and 1 bathroom per room, so that was definitely an experience but overall it was a good first exposure to hostel life! And the best part was that I was really inspired because I met a lot of people who were traveling on their own and doing months-long Europe tours all by themselves. Quite adventurous and a boost for my comfort level with being independent! 

 <-- Our Hostel

In Seville (the hottest city in Western Europe, and it definitely felt like it) we did a TON of walking! It really is a beautiful city, and a lot more "quaint" than big-city Madrid, so that was nice for us to have a break. Very clean and a lot to look at, the southern region of Spain is very well known for its Islamic style roots and influences. Some of the coolest things we saw were the Cathedral (used to be the largest in the world, now it is the 3rd largest but still holds the Guinness World Record for the largest area of a cathedral) and the Giralda tower, said to be guarded by 2 Catholic women patron saints because the tower withstood 3 huge earthquakes when everything else around it crumbled. Christopher Columbus's tomb is also in there!

Also in Seville was the Real Alcazar, another Royal Palace (surprise surprise!) But this one was cool because it was different due to all of the Islamic Influences, the courtyard looked like the Jungle Book! It was so impressive to look at and it was enormous to say the least. 

The Queen's Bath!

We rounded out the day with a pitcher of Sangria and tapas, dinner at 10 pm, and then an authentic Flamenco show at La Carbonería, converted to a nightly flamenco song and dance performance from an old Coal Mine. Seville does lay claim to being the birthplace of Flamenco, after all! 

                                

Also a ton of orange trees in Seville. Legend was that a very fat, ugly, lazy Islamic King was arranged to be married to a Muslim woman who was going to be brought to him in Seville. Needless to say, the woman wasn't happy about it at all, and refused to talk to the king whatsoever. On her birthday, the King imported a ton of orange trees to try to please her because it was what she missed most about her hometown. Supposedly it still didn't really work, but the trees are nice now! We were advised not to eat them because: 1. they are public property, meaning they are technically the property of the King of Spain. So, eat one and you're stealing from the Royal Family. 2. Orange trees are not native to the extremely hot and dry area, and orange trees need a lot of water to be fertilized. Not a lot of water, but they still thrive. A lot of tourists drinking in the streets at night...draw your own conclusions!

The very new Plaza Mayor of Seville! Every major Spanish city also has a Plaza de España, unfortunately we just saw Seville's from afar but they did film the opening scenes from a few movies there, including one of the Star Wars movies! Another thing we got to see was the university, converted from an old Tobacco factory, and also the scene of the true story that inspired the storyline for the opera, Carmen. Also, I didn't get pictures of them all but there are a million and one monuments and beautiful gardens all throughout the city, because the city had the grand idea of having a World Fair to attract tourists and make a bunch of money. Apparently round 1 didn't work because it was planned for 1929 (America messed that one up with the Stock Market Crash and that whole Great Depression thing), but round 2 was a big success the year the olympics were held in Barcelona. Regardless, it's very clear that Seville has put a lot of work into beautifying and maintaining their streets, monuments, legends and rich cultural history. 

P.S. also fun fact, the national animal of Spain used to be the rabbit, but when the whole idea of the reconquista came about they decided they needed a more ferocious mascot. Hence, the current lion.

On Saturday, we took a 3 hour bus ride over to Granada, famous for La Alhambra: an enormous landmark site containing ancient royal palaces, forts, gardens, and cathedrals. Again, very famous for its Islamic influence in all of the architecture, design, and culture. It took us an entire day to explore the whole place, but it was definitely worth it! 

Sorry for the weird alignment/spacing at the end, this has been a very long blog to write and I'm getting sick of trying to format everything haha!

Week One!

I have officially been in Madrid for over a week, but with all that we've been doing it feels like it's been so much longer! Here are a few of the highlights:

For the first 2 weeks of my program, we attend an intensive language school from 9 am - 1 pm. It's actually a ton of fun, the teachers are incredibly nice and funny, and it's really interesting to talk with international students from all over the world, including Poland, Denmark, South Korea, Germany and Saudia Arabia - not to mention good practice! After class we usually go out for lunch, consisting of tapas, bocadillas, or the "menú del día" - a fixed price with daily choices that includes a starter, main meal, dessert and a drink (water and sangria are the same price!) and after that another exploration of the city! Some of the things we have seen so far:

- Plaza Mayor: many major cities in Spain have a "Plaza Mayor," usually square shaped and modeled after the Palace of Versaille. A really beautiful plaza with lots of fun restaurants in the corners as well as street performers, comedians, and magicians!

- Parque del Retiro: an enormous and beautiful park with statues, monuments, millions of benches and big grass areas to play and relax, and a small lake where you can rent a little row boat and chat with other people on the lake. Lots of runners, bicyclers, families, older people (the retired - get it?) and young people, reading or relaxing or having picnics! It's the perfect place for any afternoon and I definitely plan to spend a lot of time here

In front of the monument of Alfonso XII

- Gran Vía: built in the early 1900's and also in the really historic center of the city, this enormous street has some of the most impressive architecture in all of Madrid. Today it houses a lot of economic buildings, hotels, and big theaters, as well as, of course, restaurants and cervecerias. At the end of the street is La Plaza de Independencia, in front of the beautiful Plaza de Cibeles

- El Museo del Prado: one of Madrid's 2 most famous museums, probably one of the most well known in the entire country. We spent hours here taking in millions of pieces of art from sculptures, to paintings, to drawings, to tapestries, to tables, from lots of different periods and artists, most notably Goya and El Greco. I feel so much more cultured already!

- El Congreso de Diputados: a 15 minute walk from the language school and one of the weekly excursions provided by the program. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed, but it was full of really ornate and detailed decorations, offices and rooms, as well as a grand auditorium where the Congress meets. It was really cool to see exactly where a lot of the political decisions are put into action, especially because I had to take some European government classes for my International Relations major

- Day trip to Toledo!: Just a short and easy 35 minute train ride north is the beautiful city of Toledo. It's famous for it's marzapan, possession of El Greco paintings, incredible gothic cathedral, millions of other chapels and churches, and beautiful historic architecture. Unfortunately no pictures allowed inside of the cathedral either, but that's just as well because none could have done it justice! The streets were all cobblestone and most were too small to allow car access, but it was a lot of fun just walking around, as well as visiting the Toledo Cathedral, the Cathedral of San Tomé, and the museum of Santa Cruz

Quaint streets looked straight out of a movie!

Toledo Cathedral, the city's main tourist attraction

Spanish boyfriend...sorry mom

Toledo in the background!

- Aranjuez and Chinchón: another excursion provided by the school, included a bus tour to Aranjuez to see Casa del Labrador and the Palacio Real (The Royal Palace), and then to Chinchón, both about 45 minutes by bus south of Madrid. There are many Palacio Reals around the country, because the royal family used to have one for each season. The one in Aranjuez was their springtime home, and the Casa del Labrador is only a few minutes away from it, and that's where they spent their days listening to music, reading, talking and studying. Chinchón was another small city about half an hour away from Aranjuez, and is famous for it's after dinner liquor called "Chinchón" that tastes like black licorice and is supposed to be good for digestion, as well as their meats and traditional meat dishes, sweets, and wine! We went to a traditional and delicious restaurant for lunch, and first they take you to the wine cellars for a tasting and tapas before your meal. 

El Palacio Real

La Casa de Labradores

Wine tasting in the restaurant's cellars