So. I have a few things to say about the past couple of days, before I get to the utter goodness of today.
On Monday, besides going to class, I spent some time in a couple of photo exhibitions (more of PhotoEspaña) with Naomi and Dashell in the afternoon, all near the Plaza de Cibeles (with the lion-chariot fountain and the Communications Palace under construction). We saw some beautiful work by Adriana Lestido--lots of series about women (your cup of tea, Ena) and an excellent series about mothers and daughters, all from about the 1980s. We also saw a group exhibition entitled "Encubrimientos" or "Concealments," which was interesting, mostly because the work varied so much from artist to artist.
From there, Naomi and I headed off to our cooking class. The class turned out to be less hands-on than I expected it to be, but that's probably better. There were about fifteen of us (all girls, hahaha) taking the class, so it would've been really difficult to have
each of us try something. The teacher demonstrated how to prepare sangria (!) and the paella. She asked for two volunteers at one point, and I bravely went up. All I had to do was whisk some eggs to help prepare the dessert (a cake-y thing that was AMAZING oh lord, I'm making it as soon as I get home), but even that was a bit difficult, because honestly, my arm just got tired after a few minutes, and I think she was expecting some professional egg-whisking, from the way she blatantly judged me, haha. Anyway, the one thing that we all did do for ourselves was the Spanish tortilla (although we used sliced potatoes that the teachers had already cooked for us...so we didn't even fry the potatoes :P which is th
e trickiest part of the dish). It involved flipping action. Which is only ever scary in my book. But I flipped it without any insult or injury. And it was pretty tasty in the end, even though I think mine needed more potato, because it was mostly egg. I guess it's important to say at this point that earlier, when I had had two small cups of sangria, I was feeling kind of nauseous. But I felt better after having some water, so I thought nothing of it. Happily ate my tortilla and my dessert (LOVELOVE), and avoided the paella because it tasted too much like seafood (since it had prawns AND oysters AND mussels).I left the cooking class with the whole group in a GREAT mood. The dinner had been delicious, the company was excellent...and towards the end of our class, at around 8:45, we heard cheering outside the window, so we knew Spain had scored a goal. We left the class determined to get to Bernabéu Stadium (Real Madrid's stadium!) to see the second half of the game. We got to the stadium right at the beginning of the second half, and like 5 or 10 minutes later, Villa scored a second goal for Spain, and that ginormous crowd flipped out. It was awesome. There was so much cheering and jumping and hugging and whatnot. If anyone in that crowd was fee
ling at all apathetic about the game, they certainly couldn't avoid getting swept up in the excitement of knowing we would actually win this game. We watched the game on the jumbotron screen set up in front of the stadium, while a camera on a crane went around filming the crowd. It was such a great atmosphere--we all groaned and gasped and cheered together, and even though Spain didn't score again, there were so many close calls that the crowd was buzzing right up through the end, when there was a big cheer of celebration for the victory. So much red and yellow. We looked like a McDonald's ad.Unfortunately, my stomach put a big damper on all the excitement. By the time I got home, I had a stomachache all over again. Ugh. Barely slept Monday night. Felt weak and appetite-less on Tuesday (yesterday) morning. And throughout the day yesterday, I kept feeling tired and with the threat of a headache several times. I had my Lit class (....almost done) in the morning, after which I asked one of the administrators at the IES center for advice as to whether or not I should see a doctor. He said it was better if I did, so he kindly made the appointment for me, for this morning. Highly appreciated, because I didn't want to have to call myself (this is not the moment to remind me that I am twenty years old and basically an adult. It would've cost me precious minutes on that damn Spanish phone!)
I had Prado class in the afternoon, which was interesting-ish. We've started talking about Goya, so we looked at a bunch of cartoons that he made for tapestries for Spanish nobility. They were pretty cool, especially the one called The Wedding...but still, I kind of wanted to move on to other Goya paintings by the end. Today we looked at some portraits by Goya, and again, while interesting, they were not my favorite Goyas. Although there was one hand, in the portrait of a general, that was so gorgeously painted that I wanted to take that piece of the canvas home with me. Also, the paintings of the Nude Maja and Clothed Maja are beautiful, and so atrevidas, haha, I love it. However, my professor pissed me off again today, because he kept dismissing what I said, or talking over me. Blah.
After class yesterday, I went to look at a couple of photo exhibitions with Naomi again. We saw one by an artist who I'm pretty sure is Colombian, named Oscar Muñoz. His work was awesome--very simple materials, but impeccable/difficult execution, and gorgeous themes that were never too lofty or erudite. AHH, I loved it. But by the time we'd gone through the third exhibition, I was really, really tired and was starting to feel a headache coming on. I ended up having a good, relaxing night of blog updating, Gilmore Girls, a light dinner for my poor tummy, and plenty of sleep.
This morning I went to see the doctor. The student insurance we have sends us to an English-speaking clinic, so I spoke to a REALLY nice German woman who put me at ease. She said my stomach problems probably had resulted from eating bad egg products (rapelle-toi, Versailles) but that since I hadn't had a fever and was already feeling better, that the worst was probably over. So she told me what I should and shouldn't eat for the next couple of days (she told me no gassy drinks, so of course now I'm craving soda), and gave me a prescription to order on Friday if I'm still not better by then. But today I've been feeling great, so I think I'll be good to go in another day or two. The only bad part about the doctor's appointment was that I wasn't even remotely late to my stupid Lit class, even after stopping at a panadería to buy myself some hot tea (which the doctor recommended) and a croissant. But it actually wasn't so bad, because we got to see the film Un chien andalou by Buñuel a
nd Dalí, which I'd only seen parts of (it's the famous one, with the cutting the eye and the ants coming out of the hand business), so I'm actually kind of glad I got to see it. Very strange.After class, I attempted to go to the Palacio Real to see the supposed Changing of the Guard that happens from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays, but I saw nothing. Hahaha. I think I didn't look in the right place, but whatever, I took some nice pictures at the Plaza de Oriente where the Palacio Real is located. Found out admission was free today, but only for EU citizens and Ibero-American citizens...not Americans. BOO. If I'd had a Colombian passport, I would've totally gotten in for free. But it's all good, I'm planning to go next week when Nik is here anyway, and I was already hungry for lunch (a good sing! good appetite!) so I went home. Later I had Prado class, and then I went off to explore on my own, because there were certain things (still are) that I really wanted to do, and I figured it would be easier to just do it all on my own and not wait and see if anyone was up for going with me.
It was actually a great idea, because I had SUCH a good time spending some time with me. I don't really spend that much time alone, besides my evening hours, and I'm always keeping myself busy then. This was an opportunity to walk and look and not do any busywork, but just enjoy. It was perfect. I went to San Francisco El Grande, which is a famous church here. I wanted to go inside, but it was already closed when I got there. However, I found S.F.'s garden next door, and it was awesome. Lots of different kinds of flowers, and a nice view of a part of the city. And QUIET, I was virtually alone even though the street was right beside the garden. I loved it. I spent a while in there (even though it was small), looking around and taking pictures.
From there, I went up the street towards the Palacio Real to find the Campo del Moro, a huge garden complex that is located behind the Palacio. I kept having to ask for the entrance to the gardens, because I couldn't find it. The reason was that I was WAYYYY on the other side of the gardens. I ended up walking for like 15, maybe even 20 minutes, all the way around the ginormous block (ginormous because the gardens are so extensive), and fi
nally found the entrance at like 7:05. The gardens close at 8, but they start ushering people out at 7:30, so I only had a little while, but it was PERFECT. There weren't nearly as many people as there always is in Retiro, so it was really quiet, and all the pathways were solitary. It was absolutely ridiculously beautiful. There were so many different kinds of trees all clustered together. And each separate pathway had a different feel to it (and I didn't even get to go through most of the gardens!) so it was just soo nice to walk slowly amidst all the trees. They were all so tall that the sun only came in through the treetops, so it was so much cooler there than it had been during my long wa
lk, and the light was beautiful. Also, there were tons of birds scurrying around and singing and squawking and making all sort of noises, so I felt like I was out in the middle of nowhere, not surrounded by busy streets and flanked on one side by the giant Palacio Real. Ahhh, it was so great in there, I need to go back (possibly tomorrow). Pictures cannot describe the extent to which I enjoyed just being in the Campo del Moro. And I kept thinking how good it was that I was by myself, because I could just take it all in and relax and, like I said, stop whenever I wanted.Right at 7:30, a man on a scooter came zooming down the path I was on (I was having a moment with the little pinecone I'd picked up and decided to take home) and told me they were getting ready to close. As I headed out (taking my time, of course, stopping to take pictures and look around), I kept hearing him scooting around, back and forth across all the pathways, to find everyone and usher them out. It was pretty funny, because the buzzing of his scooter just kept coming from either side of me. I ended up finally leaving like at 7:50, so I definitely milked that last walk for all it was worth.
I decided to go across the street to the Principe Pio shopping center, which has a bunch of restaurants and shops right off of the Principe Pio Metro stop (an old railway station). I ended up curiously going into a couple of stores,
because it's apparently the beginning of discount season, so I was intrigued to see if I could find something really cheap to take home as my article-of-clothing-I-bought-in-Madrid. In the store called Mango, I found a cute jacket that I thought I might get, but didn't like it when I tried it on. I found two other things that I liked until I tried them on. On my way out of the store, I glanced at a shirt, looked at the price (8,95 euros) and thought, eh, might as well give it one last try. And I actually liked it! And it was reasonably priced, methinks, for being a cute top unlike things I usually find at the places where I shop. Plus, it's charcoal grey, which I really like, for some reason. Anyway, it was cute and cheap, so voila my foreign article of clothing.Finally, to end my day, I got myself a 3 euro dinner at 100 Montaditos inside the shopping center (two little sandwiches and a hot tea) and watched like 25 minutes of the Ghana v. Germany game, and at halftime, I headed home. And I feel GREAT, because I had such a wonderful day, almost entirely on my own, and because I feel like I actually saw a lot today. The long walk I had to take to Campo del Moro ended up being good because it forced me to spend time looking around as I walked down the streets of Madrid. I desperately want to soak it all in now that there's only a week and two days left!!
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