Past Weekends

Sorry that there haven't been many posts recently- I've just been in Madrid this whole time! The weekend after Paris I devoted to working on a project for Anthropology. It is a project with a partner and I was worried at first because my partner is a lot better at Spanish than me, but I definitely made up for it and a lot more with working really hard and doing a lot more than I needed to. That project is worth 40% of our grade in that class, the final is worth 25% and then there is also a midterm and participation but I'm not sure how heavily those weigh. 

Then this past weekend (Thanksgiving weekend) River came to visit! His birthday present (in October) from his parents was a trip out to see me and he took the red eye flight after his classes on Tuesday and stayed until Sunday. Unfortunately he was feeling sick for a lot of his time here but it was still really nice to get to see him and spend time with him. We do talk on skype a lot doing video chats but it just isn't the same as in person.

Alas I still had classes while he was here and being the good student I am I went to them. We usually don't have classes on Fridays, but I had 2 different teachers who had make up classes on that day. I was thinking of not going, but River wanted to see me dance flamenco while he was here so we got up early and went to my flamenco and then art history class. Well I went to the second and he did his homework.
The class was only one class before our final performance so it was a great time for River to get to see it since it was like a dress rehearsal and he got to see all but one of the dances. And we got there early so I got him to take pictures of me spinning around in my pretty skirt.

Our big events for the long weekend were going to explore the Parque del Buen Retiro, going to the museum el Reina Sofia, and going to a soccer game.

El Parque del Buen Retiro (a giant park) is my favorite place in Madrid where I've gone running a lot and walk back through there on my way home from my internship. We stopped by the Museo de Jamon and picked up a traditional Spanish food: a bocadillo. These are sandwiches where the bread is a baguette and they can have different combinations of meats and cheeses or there are some with tortillas españolas, calamari or other types of food on them. The ones we got had ham. Then we walked to and through the park until we got to the lake where we rented a row boat and rowed around which was a lot of fun. We also had our picnic on the boat and River got to feed ducks for the first time. It was a really cold day but at least the sun was out.

While he was here we also went to the Reina Sofia which is one of the three big museums in Madrid. Well there are a lot of museums here, but one of the top three. It is the modern art museum near the park and I've walked by it many many times wanting to go in, so having River here was an excuse as good as any to go. We didn't spend a ton of time there, but it was still really interesting. The most famous piece of art there is Guernica by Picasso and there was also a bunch of other Picasso and Dali along with many other famous painters. The temporary exhibit was also quite random but a lot of fun.

Then our other big event was going to a soccer game for the Atletica de Madrid which is one of the three teams in Madrid. The most famous is Real Madrid and I don't know much about the other one. Atletica de Madrid usually looses, but their stadium is really close to where I live and they are the team my host family roots for. It is really cool when there is a game going on because all the streets are lined with parked cars (lines of cars parked in the middle of the street too) and the bars of full of people there to watch the game and running by the stadium during a game is always really cool too.

I'm really glad that I finally got to go to a soccer game here- it feels very European and is a lot different than in the States because people care a lot more about it here and get a lot more into it. The stadiums are also a lot larger with a lot more people. In the entire section behind the goal at the other end from where we were sitting, everyone there was standing for the entire game singing songs and doing cheers. A few had giant flags and hearing them the whole time was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the game itself too. I think having played soccer a lot in the past helped too with understanding everything that was going on and what they were doing.

The crowd was quite enjoyable to watch too. I've never heard so much swearing, in English or Spanish, in my life. Whenever the ref made a call or if someone was pretending to be hurt, which happened a lot, people would be yelling. There was a little tiny group of about 15 people there rooting for the other team located in a section completely empty except for them in the middle. Whenever the other team scored, which happened three times, everyone would be sitting except for them who were yelling, jumping, and waving flags.

Then one more big difference- the food. In the US they check your bags to make sure that you don't bring any food in, but here, at halftime, pretty much everyone in the stadium pulled out their bocadillo wrapped in aluminum foil and started eating it. It was very comical for us and I think we might have been some of the only people there without a shiny sandwich, since we went out for tapas right before.

They ended up loosing 3-2, but each time they scored the entire stadium would be up on their feet yelling and cheering. One of the goals took 3 tries with the goalie or someone else blocking it twice and them finally getting it in. It was such a fun and good experience to get to do while I was here. Oh and one thing that I'm extremely thankful for in the US is that people aren't allowed to smoke in stadiums, it really makes the experience so much better.

Having River come to visit was so wonderful and I'm so glad that he was able to be here.