Geeking out in Madrid on Sunday.

First off, for this weekend I did not plan any trips just to stay here in Alcalá the last weekend and try to enjoy it for what it is worth. On friday night I just stayed in Alcalá and we ended up just hanging out behind the shool talking and watching life go by in the plaza behind the school. We played soccer with some local kids behind the school as well as watch a guy get rejected from a good night kiss, a dispute erupt in a restaurant near the school, and some drunk teenagers (shame on them). It was pretty hilarious see the police come back with this insanely angry Spanish man, and a guy shouting from his balcony at them to shut up. On Saturday, I went to the pool with one of my classmates and we meet some other students at the pool and had a good time talking, of course only in Spanish, and later we went to his house and drank some wine and made Italian food. Sunday, I spent 6 hours geeking out at the Prado with an audioguide, it was bliss because I was by myself and didn´t have to have anyone rush me. I certainly took my time because I know that I´m not going to come back anytime soon. I used my Alcalingua student ID to get a 4 euro discount yes! and I got an audioguide for 3.50 euros. I enjoyed listening to the commentary because you don´t notice some of the stuff one your own without someone telling you. For me, I like to geek out with historical audioguide, I certainly did enjoy learning about what a creep Goya was, but Velasqúez seems like a normal type of guy. If I had to pick a favorite part of the Prado I would choose the 0 floor where all the Midevil paintings are, they have the most interesting stories behind them to me, well the audioguide had the most interesting stories in the basement. I learned a lot about Fransico Goya and his early to late works, I prefer his earliest works the most because they are very jovial and consist of stories and they were created when he was working for the royal tapestry factory. His paintings were to be made into tapestries for nobles´ houses. His dark period pinturas negras are insane, some you may know might be ¨Colosus¨ or ¨Saturn devouring his children¨, this guy was insanely disturbed, but that is most likely because he was sick two times in his life and not to mention he was sordo or deaf. I found some goodies for my older brother Jameson, its going to be a surprise for his birthday I think. That is it for my weekend. I had two tests today which I hope I made good marks on because I studied 4 days in a long way without distrations for my grammar test.

Coming home in 3 days, but I´m going to miss this place!

New Granada picture

To the left is a preview of my Granada pictures. This pictures turned out suprisingly well because I was just playing around. So Mom here is a picture to put on your mantle if you like.

MY "you know you're in Spain or Alcala when..."

1.You see a Mercedez-Benz garbage truck collecting trash
2.You think the streets smell at first and then grow accustomed to it.
3. Topless women at beaches use to bother you but now it is not such a big deal to you.
4. You come home at a normal hour for example 12:00-1:00 in the morning
5. You see kids in bars with their parents until this hour
6. Kids are walking around at 12 or later either playing in the streets or a paseo with their mothers.
7. You take siestas in the afternoons
8. You to go Madrid at least 2 or 3 times a week
9. You take a bus, train, or walk everywhere.
10. You have no AC (air conditioner) in your bedroom and you therefore want to sleep naked or in your underwear
11. You see your underwear hanging from the balcony of you apartment
12. Grow accustomed to NO free refills
13. Bums pass out photcopies in color on the train saying "i'm poor....."
14. Guys or Girls pass you and call or shout at you "guapa" meaning pretty
15. You see women breast feeding publicly on trains (still have not got use to that one yet)
16. You think you speak English to your American friends and it comes out in Spanish
17. When your house mom tries to feed you squid in its own ink (other students)
18. Your clothes have not been washed in 3 weeks (other students)
19. You get excited about free refills from hard crock cafe in Madrid
20. You get SUPER excited about seeing Harry Potter and Transformers 2 in English
21. You go to McDonalds and cheat the one euro system by ordering a euro ice cream cone without the KitKat making it 80 cents
22. You plan trips at the last minute
23. you Eat tapas as meals because your house mom wants to fatten you up at lunch
24. You grow accustomed to eating at 3 and sleeping until 7.
25. You think you are going to die 10 years earlier from all the second hand smoke
26. You never grow accustomed to how some people stil smell Yuck!
27. You ride the Madrid Metro just for a cheap 1 euro thrill as one person said "it's like a roller coaster that stops"

Need a New update about school and San Sebastian

We have exams on Monday of next week and the grammar is getting so confusing. I feel like I am learning alot more with my teachers this month than last month. The Chinese kids are as cool as ever and I am ready to go home to Starkville or wherever, to start real school and let things get back into reality. This weekend I will be studying trying to made good grades even though it is only pass or fail. Last weekend we went to San Sebastian where it rained and shined. We did not want to leave at all at first we had this expensive hotel room booked, but later we canceled it so that we could stay for 34 euros in an international youth hostal. It was really fun and we all had a positive experience, not to mention we got to get a real international experience sleeping in a room with 18 girls who probably all spoke more than one language. That night we went out to see some things and walk streets and find a place to eat. We ended up at this place we call "disco burger" even though that is not even close to its name. In San Sebastian there were many English speakers which suprised me even more. I expected French to be spoken more but it really was not. John Mark and Whit ended up renting a scooter to go around town with and the winde ended up blowing it over which they had to pay 90 euros for eek, poor guys. What I enjoyed the most was kiyaking in the big blue bay, it was so much fun and there were a few islands that you could row to and get off. The beach was beautiful and the weather was not to hot, not to cold. It was warm enough to get into the water and not freeze, and it was cold enough not to sweat while walking a long distance. I have the idea of buying a sail boat and just living in the bay of San Sebastian instead of renting an expensive flat or apartment. I would definatly want to go back. The Basque region is really pretty, somewhat temporate, and the weather certainly beats Alcala. I would rather have school in San Sevastian than here in Alacala, but at least Madrid is close to us. We took the bus to San Sebastian and back, it was not as great on the way back because the AC in the bus decided to break and we were stuck at a bus stop for an hour waiting for a new one.

Granada

So I went to Granada this weekend and I took my skip day off on Thrudsday. We took a five hour train ride over and it was SO long, but the landscape was ok. So I tried to sleep most of the time. When we got there we walked around and found a great place to eat which we got a three course meal for 10 euros. I had Paella and it was the best I had so far. Granada is definatly different from what I've seen and the people aren't as in such a rush. The next day we walked up to the Alhambra in the morning at about 9 and took time seeing the sites when we got there. There was a palace to see, a fort, many gardens, and Charles the 5th's palace. It was very impressive my favorite part was the general life gardens which were really beautiful. Everything was pretty, but my favorite was the garden part. The palace was not as impressive because you had to pay to get into a museum and I wasn't going to do that when ticket in were 12 euros. The buildings were very pretty and I enjoyed staying were we did, we were close to the Alhambra which made the walk up a little more bearable. The train ride on the way back was much better because we didn't have to stop as long. The Nazarines was beautiful there were intricatly detailed walls with moorish architecture of course lots of tourist in all my pictures. We returned from Granada around Sunday and took the train to Toledo the same day to see it again.

Quick post before my quest to Granada this weekend

So, I came up here early at the school to use the computers since it is hard to use during school hours, always crowded with Americans checking their facebook... not me during school hours. We are going to Granada as in some of us to check out the Alhambra and see some other sites like the burial place of Queen Isabel and her consort, but not king Ferdinand. It should be really interesting, I hear that it is full of gypsies that live in caves, beware! Gypsies aren´t really dangerous but they will certainly rob you in a ¨New York minute¨. My watch has finally decided to come back to life after a dip in the public pool in Alcalá, which makes me happy because I don´t have to buy another one and get ripped off at some China store on the Plaza Mayor. I am leaving for Granada to take a train at about 7¨ tonight and then we will not be coming back to Alcalá until Sunday afternoon. On the way, we are going to see Toledo again because I got shut out but nuns, an archbishop, a rabbi, and last but not least the people at the art museum in Toledo, whose name I am not able to recall. Shut out as in ´Lo siento estamos cerrando´. Tough luck eh? For those who actually do read this blog without comments, what would be prefer to hear more about? I have gotten good reviews from some colleagues and of course my parents.

Hook handed guitar Player