MADRID!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. Oops!

Well, basically last weekend I didn't do much, and last week was uneventful. The one exciting thing was that on the 14th there was a huelga general, or 'general strike' all across Spain. (I wasn't aware at the time, but apparently it was all over Europe too.) It was a general strike, which means it affected everything and every business sector and whatnot. Like, they called for people not to go to school, not to go to work, not to buy anything, not to use public transport, not to buy gas, not to use their cell phones (yeah right nobody followed that one), and everything. There were HUGE manifestations all over the country. The one in Alicante wasn't as big as the ones in Madrid or Barcelona or Valencia (clearly, Alicante is smaller), but judging by some pictures and videos my friends took (I stayed home all day, haha), it looked like there was a pretty good turnout. We didn't have class, which was nice. And it was interesting to talk to my host family about it. There was some violence and stuff in the bigger cities, but overall it was pretty peaceful. It just seems bizarre, because they're just sort of telling the government that they're not happy with all the cuts that have been made, but I'm not exactly sure if they're even sure of what they want. Everyone just wants things to be better, I guess. It's interesting to me that we don't really do strikes in the states like they do here. Hmm...

Well, Friday I was off to Madrid with Zoe and her grandma! It was such a fabulous weekend, and Madrid is SUCH a fabulous city! I absolutely loved it there. It was busy, busy, busy, and there were TONS of people, and I wouldn't want to spend toooo much time there, but it was definitely GORGEOUS and lots of fun.

We got there on Friday and just walked around a bit, saw Puerta del Sol where there were TONS of people, made our way over to Plaza Mayor where there were a bunch of street performers (well, really they were all over...), and then toured the Royal Palace of Madrid. It was so beautiful, inside and out. I decided that I wouldn't want to reside there, though. Way too many rooms. Actually, the moral of this trip was basically that I don't particularly want to be a queen. Go figure.

Palacio Real de Madrid

That night, we somehow managed to find our way to this restaurant that was FULL of Spanish people, we were definitely the only tourists, I'm not sure how we managed to find a place like that but there ya have it! We had pinchos (basically toasted bread with different things on it...like cheese and ham, or bacon and mushrooms, or shrimpies, or other things) and sangria, and it was oh so good. Ohhh so good. I was happy.

People, people everywhere!

Saturday we visited Museo del Prado which was really, really...big. Hahaha. Very impressive, but seriously huge. And there I discovered that I have rather dark and morbid taste in art. The cheery pictures didn't really do much for me, but the dark and somewhat creepy or slightly depressing ones were SO interesting to me. Would I ever want one in my house? No. Would I love to just look at them forever and wonder what in the world was going on in the painter's mind? Possibly.

After that, we walked through the botanical garden and oohed and aahed over the fall colors. Guys, it was gorgeous. I was so happy.

FALL!

Then we took a tourist bus thingy all around Madrid and really got to enjoy the scenery and the BEAUTIFUL old buildings and all of that good stuff. :) Gosh, I loved it there. We shopped for a little while (well, walked around the stores haha). For dinner, we had paella in this really awesome little place where we were like the only ones there (because there was a soccer game that night...the waitress said that usually on Saturday nights they're packed). The waitress was really nice, the paella was really good, the wine was fabulous, and the conversation was lovely. We dined for a couple of hours and it was loooooovely. Seriously. What a life I'm living here!


 Sunday we went to el Museo de la Reina Sofia which I really, really liked. It was a bit more modern stuff, which is much more interesting to me. Although some of it is dumb and I'm pretty sure I could do it. Whaaatever. We also saw Guernica by Picasso, which was pretty stinking impressive. Then we went to El Rastro, which is basically a HUGE area of flea market-y stuff. Lots of stuff. Little touristy things at a few places, bracelets, clothes of all sorts, tablecloths, pans, scarves, you name it. It was really neat and I'm really glad we went. Then after some tea, it was time to come home, how sad! I would have loved to have more time in Madrid, but it's also good to be back in Alicante. My home away from home away from home. :)

In a museum full of some of the most famous painters ever, this is what strikes me. Go figure.

On the school front...today I had a final exam in my Social and Cultural Realities class, and I have a presentation and 5ish page paper due on Wednesday that I haven't started yet. Uh, oops? And my history exam is in a month?!? I'm blown away by how quickly this is all coming down. My best friend comes in 2 weeks, I see my mom and grandparents in 23ish days, and my boy in 38 days! This weekend I'll be in Paris (yay!) and then everything is just going so fast! Some of the people in my program are leaving this week and it is making me extremely thankful that I'm here a full year. I just haven't had enough time to soak in everything and be ready to go home yet! (Although I miss you all more than I can put into words!!)

:)