Do You Know What It Feels Like?

Things that were great about attending an Enrique Iglesias concert in Madrid:

1. This song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DO8GsIYfhQ
2. The fact that Enrique went for some throwbacks like "Bailamos" and "The Ping Pong Song" (COMPLETE with a background video projecting the original computer game, Pong)
3. Enrique pulling a 25 year old man out of the crowd, who had come with his mom.
4. Enrique then pulling the hyperventilating Mom on stage.
5. Enrique then taking shots with mom and son on stage.
6. Enrique singing "Hero" while slow dancing with a rando girl.

AWESOME.

Los chiquititos

I'M A FAIL BLOGGER! Sorry guys. I know I really need to get on here to blog my heart out about the Spring Break Adventures of Bekah and other exciting things, but for right now I just need to show you the card that my preschool class just made me because it's my last day!! It was so cute. And sad. That's the really strange thing about being abroad. You meet all of these people, and spend four months getting to know them, and then you realize that you will probably never see them again. It's WEIRD.

Right now I'm running off to see my beautiful and talented classmates do some acting and flamenco dancing. I just know it's going to be a riot. More soon!!!

To All My Niñ@s Bonit@s

First things first, everyone should appreciate this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe1fRwgGu5E

AND on the subject of Spanish music, I am going to an Enrique Iglesias concert here. I KNOW. I'm thrilled. Not on the subject of Spanish music, I will hopefully be obtaining tickets to a Real Madrid game in three weeks!!

In other news, I just got back from a weekend trip to Extremadura--a region of Spain with lots of fauna and pigs and cows and bulls. Highlights: The fact that I got to eat lunch in TWO different castles. The fact that I saw some pretty serious Roman ruins. The fact that there are cloistered nuns there who sell sweets. (Literally, there is a door. It has a sign that says "Hay dulces" which means "There are sweets." You go up to the door to order something and the nun passes you your sweet through the bars on the door. Obviously I got cookies.)

Other hilarious fun fact: I learned in my grammar class last week that there are a MULTITUDE of spanish phrases that involved food without really having anything to do with food. For example, "No me importa un pimiento" translates to "I don't care one pepper" which means "I don't care at all." Or the phrase "dar calabazas" which literally means "to give pumpkins" but which actually means "to reject someone." LOL, Spain, you WOULD. Spain in general has an interesting food philosophy. Things that are recognized as "healthy" and non-fattening by Spaniards: olive oil, bread, and the fat of pigs raised for Iberic Ham. To the country at large: wishful thinking!!

Anyways, now I'm getting ready to run off again! This time I'm headed to London, Brussels, and the Hague, and I am absolutely stoked to reunite with some of my favorite people ever.

Sometimes I want to be a European princess: El Escorial (Spain) and Parissss

Thissss is a fantastic palace outside of Madrid called El Escorial.

It is perched in a lovely mountainous countryside...

Which we proceeded to hike around!

And then we went to Paris last weekend!!

The first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower!

ANdddd it was Fashion Week! (those are BARBIES)

Oh heyyy Paris, you are stunning!

Classic Louvre shot.

The Mona Lisa!!!

Arc d'Triumph

Nothing like finding MATH references in Versailles!

The Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

"The Love Bridge"

Ok this has been so brief, which is unfortunate because I have SO many stories, but I'm about to go ride boats and have a picnic in the park!! LOVE YOU ALL xoxoxoxo

Portugal, La Mancha, and What Happens When I Don't Have Airborne

First thing's first. Two weekends ago I went to Portugal!! What a great time. We flounced around and saw things like....

Really pretty cathedrals!

Beautiful parks... (who can spot me in this picture? HAHA oops)

Some ducks in said parks... (This one goes out to my mom, obviously)

The Riverfront!!

A beautiful tower!

The view FROM the tower

Generally charming street scenes...

Our hostel! Only the coolest place ever, inside the train station!!

So then LAST weekend I went with my Don Quijote class, of course, to La Mancha:

THIS is in a little museum there. It is, in fact, a German copy of Don Quijote signed by Hitler. So scary.

"Speak with respect, Sancho" --Don Quijote

 ^The supposed house of Dulcinea del Toboso!

WINDMILL.

Fighting the windmill, duh.

The day after La Mancha was the Carnaval parade in Madrid:

Waiting in the crowd of people to see the floats!

So, basically, adventures all around. But now, as it turns out, I'm a little bit sick. A LITTLE bit. For my part, I'm quite convinced that loading my system with vitamins and slapping on some Vicks VapoRub cures all, but my host mom does not agree. "Estás FATAL," she tells me.

...I am not "fatal." I just have a bit of a cough.

But after enough prodding, I agreed to go see a doctor.

Dear everyone, I'm ALREADY a known hypochondriac, and this behavior should not be encouraged!!

So I head to the doctor, to whom I explain (in Spanish), what seems to be ailing me, and she definitely thinks I'm overreacting. Which is obviously true but for once not my fault.

Long story short, I have a bit of medicine and I will absolutely be fine--just in time to head to Paris in two weeks!! 

Búscame (C St. C)

Have you guys ever seen that movie "Charlie St. Cloud"? It's really creepy and involves the one and only Zefron falling in love with this girl's half dead ghost? My personal favorite scene is when ghost girl leaves Zefron a note that says "Come find me" and then they rendezvous in a cemetery?

My day today was nothing like C St. C.

INSTEAD, it involved going to my second art museum of the weekend: El Museo de las Bellas Artes. However, like Zefron, I had someone I needed to hunt down--Francisco de Goya. For my art history class, I need to find and write about a painting of my own choosing by Goya. Conveniently, like creepy ghost girl, the museum provided a large sign for me that pointed me in the right direction, and read "Búscame"--almost literally, "Come find me."

I picked a painting of this sassy looking actress, posing with one hand on her hip. (Do you think my professor will give me extra credit for taking a picture of myself doing the same pose?)

Anyways, what I want to talk about more is the museum I went to yesterday--El Museo Sorolla. The museum is actually Sorolla's house, which is beautiful and charming and has delightful gardens. Also, it is full of gorgeous paintings of the beach, with women dressed in flowing white gowns. And paintings of La Alhambra, which as I've already stated, is a marvel. In short, the museum was a huge win--probably my favorite so far.

Question of the day: Am I turning into an art snob?

Blah Blah So Much To Say!

This post is going to be a smorgasbord of miscellaneous things that I need to "put right out there on front street."

Like, for example,

1. Besides the phrase "Bueno, pues nada" which basically doesn't mean anything but is used as a conversation filler, my new favorite Spain-ism is "Vale." Which basically means EVERYTHING. It's actually the response to virtually any statement, because it functions like "Ok," or "Understood," or "Word."

2. As many of you are aware, I was really gung-ho about taking a flamenco class while in Spain. No one was more gung-ho than me. Butttttt as fate would have it, no flamenco for me. (In fact, not to sound BITTER, I ended up being the only student on the waitlist for flamenco who didn't make it into the class.) Hahahahahaha no but it's actually totally ok, because instead I'm taking a super cool art history class. Guess who's having wine at her professor's house next week? This kid. Needless to say, the professors are wonderful and we do cool things like watch tapestries being handmade (that was today, and in all seriousness, it was fascinating).

3. I'm doing an "aprendizaje," or, internship! I'm working at a preschool, and the kids are ADORABLE. Now I can officially say I have Madridian friends, even if they are 3 years old. 

4. DON QUIJOTE. Not only is this class taught by an odd elderly gentleman with an extraordinarily large mustache, but it also involves reading a book totaling 1,312 pages of semi-archaic Spanish. It is an adventure all day erry day, literally. 

5. Learned the term for "sassy"--a favorite English word of mine. To be sassy can be translated into Spanish as "Ser caradura." (Other options include "picante," which is literally "spicy.") I probably use these terms more frequently than is appropriate.

6. While this city is no Clinton, NY, it's COLD here this weekend. I guess we're getting the cold front from the Sierra Nevadas or something?? Plus side: Pilar made me a hot water bottle type thing to heat up my bed (for those of you who know my passion for my sack of "hot corn" which serves the same purpose, you will understand how thrilled I was).