Hello everybody! It’s Maya. I’m still alive (shocking, I’m sure), despite not constantly updating this blog. We’ve settled into somewhat of a routine here, so while I’ve been traveling around the city and seeing new places almost daily, it never seems like enough to warrant an update. That said, I now present to you a huge montage of pictures from the past few weeks!
A few weekends ago, I discovered Mercado de San Miguel in Sol, outside of Plaza Mayor. It’s a huge food market, where you can either buy food stuffs to take home and prepare, or you can buy whatever food you want in he market and eat it there. We ended up going to this place called Museo de Jamon (literally translated, the ham museum) for lunch and doubling back here for dessert. My friend Sunghwan ended up getting these churros and chocolate…I’m not crazy about this dessert, though it is pretty good, extremely decadent, and a Spanish favorite.
…And then we went to the historic Plaza Mayor. Architect Juan de Herrera, who also designed el Escorial, turned the square from a marketplace into a gorgeous (albeit extremely touristy) destination hundreds of years ago. If you go there nowadays, you’re likely to get accosted by a bunch of mediocre street performers while taking pictures with your friends in the middle of the square.
I’m in love with the neighborhood Malasaña. It’s an older neighborhood, but it’s sort of bohemian/has the feel of a lower class, youthful area. There’s lots of coffee shops and record shops and even a cupcake store. Anyway, I found Toma Cafe with a bunch of friends on Kathryn’s birthday. The walls are adorned with odd decor, including the bikes of the baristas. Sort of feels like a cross between Recess and Mello Velo. I dig it.
The Gregorio Marañon metro stop at siesta time. Madrid’s metro system is the nicest/cleanest of any I’ve ever used (sorry, New York/Boston/Philadelphia/DC).
Visi swears this is the neighborhood cat, but it’s always standing outside our door meowing in the morning, so I’m fairly convinced otherwise.
Plaza de Toros in the neighborhood Ventas. I’m seeing a bullfight here in a couple weeks.
Went to Reina Sofia (an art museum by Atocha) and saw Guernica, my favorite work of art probably ever. It was even more impressive in person than I’d imagined. Also, all of my clothing is black.
Scarf game is on point so far.
Retiro park might be one of my favorite places in Spain so far. If I ever need a break, this is where I go.
Thought I was going to die of happiness when I found a falafel/greek place with Kathryn in Sol a few weekends ago, just after apparently narrowly missing a huge anti-austerity demonstration there. More on those later.
Chalet 12, home, house of Visi and Tito, etc. I’m really content with my living situation here. Our neighborhood is beautiful.
Our host sister Vita works for Hola magazine, and brought us home an English copy of it last week to read.
Gran Via is the Broadway of Madrid. It’s gorgeous, but it’s also a popular place for pickpocketers. If you don’t lose a bunch of money that way, you inevitably will once you hit the shopping areas there.
Crepes and chocolate shakes for cheap in Tribunal. The Tribunal/Fuencarral area is quickly becoming my favorite area here.
The spanish REALLY love don quijote and cervantes. I thought this was a stations of the cross type thing hanging on Tito and Visi’s back patio, but it’s really a retelling of the story of Quijote. They have a Quijote painting in their living room, too. I can’t think of an American literary hero that is remotely as sought after and well-known in the USA.
I work in the spanish-speaking SU Abroad office a couple days a week. Everyone who works there is super nice and I actually think it’s helping me speak better (hard to believe when I have such an outstanding American accent, right?)!
Oh yeah, and I’m seeing the Black Keys in November here. I don’t even care that it’s a reserved seat and I won’t be with my friends because I’ll be surrounded by Spanish-speaking Black Keys fans for a few hours, and that sounds okay with me.
I finally went to el Prado yesterday and saw a bunch of Goya paintings. I’m not crazy about his Rococo period but his black paintings/2nd and 3rd of may paintings are fascinating. The architecture of the museum in and of itself is gorgeous.
Went to my first Real Madrid game last night! They played a small FC called Millionarios and won 8-0. Spanish people seem to love soccer even more than Americans love football or baseball.
So, that’s about it for the picture update on my life. In more sobering news, President Rajoy just passed the 2013 budget (potentially featuring a lot more austerity cuts, which would turn the welfare state into a privatized model more similar to the US) and people here are real mad about it. I think our host families are slightly more detached from it since they’re older and more affluent, but young people (the unemployment rate for young people 18-35 is 50%. Think about that.) took to the streets on September 25th (called here and in Athens, Greece “S25”) and protested the government’s austerity measures. Here, it turned violent, with a lot of police brutality, arrests, and injuries. I walked by another protest yesterday on my way to the Prado, with people calling for the same things in front of Parliament. More Metro strikes have been happening recently, and I don’t see an end to the protests since conservative Rajoy will likely not ease off the austerity measures any time soon. It’s so, so heartbreaking to have discovered this beautiful country, only to see it be ripped to shreds by its own poor economy. History definitely repeats itself in Spain, a country that has historically bankrupted itself time and again. While it’s really hard to see people suffer here (though not as much as this rather sensationalized New York Times article makes it seem), this is also a fascinating time to be studying here, and I certainly don’t regret at all coming here to study.
Until next time, amigos!
xoxo
maya
Two Syracuse Broads Abroad 