Greetings from Madrid! I hope everyone is doing well. I finally arrived little over a week ago on Feb. 7 and am loving it so far! After staying at a hostel in the city center with some girls from Berkeley, we met at a nearby hotel for our first orientation meeting. The next morning we met our host families and moved in. Everyone in the UC program (around 60 in total, including around 20 from Berkeley) is spread out across the huge city, and some people are living in the suburb close to campus.
I am living with a really nice family near the city center in a neighborhood bordering Salamanca, close to the metro stops O´Donnell and Goya. The family is a couple in their early 40's or late 30's with 3 kids: Manuela (10), Tristan (5) and Bruno (2) and they are really cute! Right now the grandpa is also living in the house because he's recovering from surgery so it's always a full house with various aunts, cousins and grandparents visiting every few days. The family has a live-in housekeeper from Paraguay, who is around when I come home and the parents come back late from work. Most of the nights I end up eating with the kids (haha) because the parents come home pretty late and eat with the grandfather. So I haven't had too many opportunities yet for serious dinner table conversation but hopefully soon! Teresa, the señora, is a TV reporter for one of the Spanish channels and Rafa, my host dad, works on something having to do with testing wine quality and making sure its not affected by drought, though I couldn't quite understand the details..It will definitely take a while to get used to the speed of Spanish they are speaking! I can understand most of what they are saying so far, even if I can't always respond competently. We are actually living in a really nice 5 bedroom house (with a pool!) rather than an apartment, which is pretty rare in Madrid. There is a park at the end of the street with a library too, and the huge Central Park sized Parque del Retiro is also nearby for running. Yesterday I ran around the barrio and found that the Plaza de Torros, the bullfighting ring, is about 10 minutes away. I plan to see a bullfight at some point while I'm here, if only for the cultural experience. But first, I've got to go to a Real Madrid game!
The campus of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid is about a 50 minute commute by metro and suburban rail from where I live, but it's pretty common for madrileños to commute as much as an hour to school or work each day. It's a pretty new school opened in the 70's so the buildings are modern brick buildings that aren't too pretty. Today is my second day of school so far. Last week was our orientation week when we took language placement tests, had a "copa de bienvenida" with professors (beer and appetizers at the faculty club), did tours, and heard previews of our classes. All our classes will be taught in Spanish by professors here, though most of them will be with international students only. I´ll probably substitute a class with a regular university seminar with Spanish students, though it's hard to find classes that work for my major and don't conflict. So far classes have been alright, but don't seem as challenging as those in Berkeley..
From what I´ve seen so far the city is gorgeous and constantly bustling, and the night life is pretty crazy. Our first weekend we took a tour to see the Plaza Mayor, Parque Retiro, Palacio Royal, Catedral, Plaza del Sol, Opera, etc and went to one of the main museums here, the Thyssen Bornemisza, which had a cool Modigliani exhibit. The top picture is of the Plaza Mayor, one of the most famous squares in Madrid. Tuesday night for my birthday I went out with some friends to a famous drag club here called Gula Gula for some dinner and an "espectaculo" that involved a drag queen called Dolly and male dancers..need I say more? We met up with more people from the program at an Irish pub and then one of the well known dance clubs here, Joy. Since then we have tried to explore the nightlife of other, less touristy areas of the city.
Over the weekend I went with some friends from the program to the Escorial, the monastery-turned-palace of Felipe II, where all the kings and queens of Spain are buried in an impressive marble mausoleum. Apparently, after the kings and queens died their bodies were kept in a separate room next to the mausoleum for a few years until only the bones remained, because the small tombs can only hold the bones of the monarchs. The children extended family members of the royal families (Hapsburg, Bourbon dynasties) are buried in elaborate marble tombs nearby. The monastery is a huge austere building set in the hills about an hour outside of Madrid, where the air is fresh and the town quiet. My host dad said the Escorial and surrounding areas are popular for Madrileños to go for the summer to escape the heat and chaos of the city. Our guided tour led us through the simple living quarters of Felipe II, and then we visited the architectural and art museum in the complex. One of the other interesting features of the Escorial is the library, which has an impressive collection of illuminated manuscripts and various maps, and globes used for navigation and astronomy. Later in the weekend I went with my friend Annette to check out the newest museum in Madrid, opened a day before, called the Caixa Forum. It houses contemporary art, but with its winding white staircase and green wall is more impressive as a piece of cool architecture in itself. The museum was established by the Caixa (which is Catalan for Caja, or credit union) which have community service and cultural projects. In the afternoon we rented row boats at the pond in the Retiro Park, and Sunday I went to check out the Rastro flea market. Every Sunday the market takes over the barrio Latina, where people sell everything from scarves and soccer paraphernalia to electronics and antiques. This weekend we are taking a group trip to Andalucia region in the south of Spain to see Granada y Cordoba.
Well that's all for now, I'll update soon and let you know what I think about Spanish culture, people, food, etc soon!
Well that's all for now, I'll update soon and let you know what I think about Spanish culture, people, food, etc soon!
