Rachel and I had an adventure today! We are in different history of art classes, but we both need to get the annual museum pass (the abono). It gets us in to the Prado and lots of other museums for free once we have it, and since it is part of the class- the school is paying for it!
There is a whole list of museums and we were told that we could get it at any of them, so I found the closest one and we walked there after my one class. It took about 20 minutes to get there, and when we asked for it, the lady had no idea what we were talking about and thought it might be the Madrid Card, but that is only valid for a few days. So she told us we should go to the Ministry of Culture and we should be able to get it there.
The next thing we had to do was find the closest subway which was further than we expected, and turns out is the one in the university the stop before I get off at the school. Post one metro train, we decided to walk a little extra instead of take another train, so got to see even more of the city on our way to the Ministry. We even stopped in to another museum that we thought was on the list and they didn’t have it either.
The building was very official, and we first got pointed to information by security who then told us to go to the fourth floor. But to get to the fourth floor we had to show our passports to the security officers, get visitors passes and then go through security just like at the airport. We asked the secretary who went to ask someone else then came back to say that they don’t do those there, but she called some museums to see who did.
She gave us the addressed of the Prado and another museum that I don’t remember now. So we walked on! Madrid is a large city and stuff can seem very close on a map, but not so much in real life. We still hadn’t figured out where the street was, even though we knew we were almost there by 1:30 and we both had to return home for lunch so our host families wouldn’t be waiting for us. So then we met again at 4:30 after lunch to find the museum and finally get our passes, found the museum, and it was closed. Three museum and one ministry later, we still didn’t have what we needed.
Finally we headed over to the Prado, which we had originally avoided because it was farther away and seemed like it would have long lines, but the whole process was very quick. There was one person in front of us just buying an entrance ticket, and then we just had to fill out a short form, give him a copy of our passports and 2 photos, and we can pick it up tomorrow! All that hassle and just a little card tomorrow to show for it. But we got to explore a lot more of the city this way so at least that is a good part!
I also had my second flamenco class today. There are 12 girls in the class and only one guy, but it seems like he is having a lot of fun even though he has never done any dance before. On Tuesday for the first class we talked briefly about the syllabus and then she handed out skirts and shoes to all the girls, with heels with metal tap pieces on them, and shoes and a hat to the one guy. We were all very excited for all of this.
The teacher is tons of fun and I really enjoy it. For some things, especially as we just warm up she does some moves and steps and we all just copy her, but later in the class we sequences of steps and moves that we have to write down after class and remember for the next time. On Tuesday we just did an individual step and footwork sequence, but today we added more to that along with learning a dance with partners.
I was worried that I would get dropped from the class because I was just auditing in rather than taking it for credit and it is pretty full, but I think that I’ll be allowed to stay. At the very end of the semester we put on a big show and all of our host families and professors are invited to it, along with anyone else we know who we want to invite. I really hope they videotape it so I can show it to everyone back home!
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