Okay, so its been awhile..

I'm sorry to all (5) of my faithful followers! haha I know I'm not the best at keeping this thing up to date but heres a quick review of the past few weeks..

Visit to Salamanca: Amazing:-) Lindsay, Erin, & I took advantage of the 3-day weekend and caught the bus to Sal for a couple of days. We visited all of our favorite places.. during the day we saw the Plaza Mayor, Casa de las Conchas, our old university building, and the Catedral area. And at night did a bar crawl of all the best spots: Irish Rover (for JMU shots!), Jackos (The Michael Jackson theme bar), Gatsby and Hacienda, La Chupiteria, and had to finish up with a Sandwich Mixto from Leonardos. On Sunday I was able to visit Escoli, my host family madre from when I studied abroad.. and she was still there being her crazy teeth-covered-with-lipstick self :-) Two of our new friends tagged along too and stayed in a hostal IN the Plaza Mayor so we got some pretty cool photos from their balcony.

La Catedral

MTV's European Music Awards Concerts: Last weekend we luckily decided to check out the concerts at the Plaza de la Independencia. Its maybe 15 minutes walking from my apartment and right by Retiro Park where I love to run. On Saturday night there were some famous Spanish artists, including one called Alaska. I can only describe her as the Spanish version of Cher, and she performed with a chain saw in hand. weird. But anyway, everyone in the crowd knew all the words to her songs and when I asked about her on Monday in school one of my 1st graders piped up "Si! Me gusta Alaska, el con todo los travestis!" (Which means, basically, Yes! I love that band, the one with all the trannies!!). These kids are ridiculous. The rest of the concert was cool too and at one of the intermissions the Jackass guys decided to "Zorb" across the crowd in a huge plastic sphere. On Sunday we battled an insane crowd but finally caught a glimpse of Jared Leto in 30 Seconds to Mars, right before Kanye made his big surprise appearance! Katy Perry and Linkin Park were up next but the many thousands of people in the street were overwhelming so we left before too long.

Alaska--eek!

Mi Vida Cotidiana (My Daily Life):  Well I'm finally settling into a somewhat regular schedule with school, work, and everything else. I'm trying to get back into running but since the clocks changed its a bit too dark to brave the park. Instead I'm working out a new route down Calle Ortega y Gasset and Calle Serrano, which just so happens to be the "Golden Mile," or fanciest shopping street in Madrid. Today I discovered Jimmy Choo and Prada among others so the window shopping is great for keeping my mind off the workout. The only problem is running here is what Lindsay describes as "frogger," since you are constantly hopping back and forth across the sidewalk trying to avoid the other pedestrians.


Teaching is going pretty well so no complaints there.. and I just finished my first two master's classes so its nice to have that behind me. Okayy I think thats enough for now!

 ¡Hasta Luego!

I JUST ATE A HOOF.

Unfortunately I am useless at updating this thing but this was a newsworthy event. This weekend we enjoyed a 4-day holiday thanks to Pilar. We were hoping to go out Madrid but the weather showed a giant rain cloud on top of the entire country. And neither my roommates or I were in the mood for sightseeing in the rain. Soo change of plans and we decided to stay in Madrid. We went out on Saturday and got into Joy Slava, the oldest club in Madrid, for free Didn’t stay too long since our group wasn’t too excited about the 20 E drinks, and instead ended up hanging out with some new friends in Sol.

On Sunday morning, Erin, Lindsay and I decided to give Cocido a try. The Madrileno’s had raved about this “stew with chick peas,” and although they say no one makes it like their madre, we managed to find a great one right next door to our apartment. As per usual we sat in a quiet corner of the tiny upstairs of the restaurant surrounded by Spanish families and couples. Then a sweet old lady with too much lipstick brought us a bottle of wine and the meal began. First, we were brought a huge pot of basically chicken soup with “fideos” (little noodles). And bread, of course. Next came the platter of cabbage, chick peas, potatoes, and carrots. A little random, but good anyway. And then came the meat. Eekkkk. I’m fairly sure there was a tongue on our plate, along with 2 hairy animal hoofs (cow?pig??), straight bacon fat, morcilla (blood sausage;-/), chorizo, chicken, and some sort of beef. We played it safe at first with the chicken, chorizo, & beef, and then finally got the guts to try some feet. It actually tasted like beef jerky. Sortof.

Whats that smell like??

My roommates and I have officially been in Spain for over a week now—which is plenty of time to make a particularly interesting observation of our new world. First of all, you never know what you're going to smell, whether its a sweet yummy bakery pastry, a nasty ham leg, or the stinky old men on the metro who refuse to shower. so breathe with caution! Also, NOTHING is straight forward in Spain. Not the banking system, or mobile phones, or signing up for internet service, or apartment hunting, or the metro passes, and the list goes on. The following are a few learning lessons..


It took us 2 days of dealing with skeezy porteros, real estate agents, and wandering the city calling every “alquiler” sign we could see before we found our apartment. It is a precious 4-bedroom 1 ½ bath in the ritzy barrio Salamanca. We lucked out with the location, the place itself, and the landlord (Ana is a super successful but overworked lawyer, so her parents actually dealt with most of the showing & contract signing meetings. They’re awesome.) However, we were more than a little overwhelmed when they informed us that we would be paying 4-MONTHS of rent UP FRONT!!! Apparently Spain has this thing that sounded like an “abalbancario.” From what we could figure it’s something renters have to get from a bank so that if you stop paying your rent the bank will pay your landlord and deal with you separately. However, since we are extranjeros (foreigners) we were unable to be approved for it and had to instead pay 2 months’ rent on top of our 1st month and the security deposit. Note to self for all future relocations to foreign countries—bring more money!

Also, we have to have a Spanish bank account to do about anything. For example having the internet set up in our apartment (we still haven’t been able to do this by the way, since we’re still waiting for our bank cards to come in.) However, some banks (I tried Santander first) require a foreigner ID number that is acquired through the police station. The funny thing is though, not all banks require this, and it can take months to process! (Ex. Santander on Calle Princesa did, but the one closer to Sol let other students in our program open accounts no problems. Really??) We finally managed to open our accounts at Barclays Bank using a copy of our lease, passports, and papers saying we were enrolled in the master’s program. However, since the Spanish can’t possibly bear to be stressed we were asked to come back the following day to pick up all the final paperwork so that our banker could enter all our information “con calma.” Ridiculo.

On a positive note, Madrid has probably the best public transportation system ever. The metro/train/bus combo can get you everywhere all over the city and into the neighboring towns at just about any time. However, trying to get a month’s pass is also fun & games. First, we had to have passport pictures (can be taken in a booth located in some, but not all metro stations.) Next, we had to find a Tabaco store, which is closed for a 2 ½ hour siesta every afternoon. Also, only about 1 every 4 Tabaco stores actually carry the Metro cards to purchase. And finally, we assumed that a monthly pass could be purchased at any time and used for the next month. Wrong. The girl at the desk was quite content to sell us a month’s pass on September 8th that would expire on oct. 1st for full price. No gracias.

As far as cell phones are concerned, they’re all a pretty big rip off. You can’t enter into a monthly contract without a Spanish bank account and most contracts are for 18 months. However, the pay-as-you-go phones have lots of taxes and fees associated with them. Its not so bad though.. I think I was a little too attached to my phone back in the states (sleeping with it, googling every question that came to mind, facebooking whenever I got bored). I already feel a little freer since I can’t use my phone as much here, and on nights I don’t need the alarm I’ll even shut it off until the next day (I know! Que horror!)

Well I think I just got all my frustrations out with the Spanish way of doing things. I promise next time will be a more positive post—this place really is amazing!

Ciao,

Steph

Craigslist Madrid = NOT to be trusted!

I have decided to start a blog to help my family & friends stay updated on my life as I take on the big Spanish city, Madrid. On April 9th I found out that I was accepted to the Master in Multicultural and Bilingual Education program through the Universidad de Alcala. I'll be flying out on September 1st on a one way ticket (eek!) and returning sometime after my Master's program ends on June 30th next year. My two friends Lindsay and Erin are accompanying me on this grand adventure, and our first challenge is to locate an apartment in Madrid.

So far the apartment hunt has been a little soul crushing.. it seems like most student housing is done through vague websites or word of mouth (which is a little difficult when you're 4,000 miles away). Last week we were confident we had found at least a reasonable option through a posting on Craigslist Madrid. The apartment is located right in the city center of Madrid with utilities included, etc. for a landlord who is renting while working in London. After a series of emails it became apparent that it is pretty much a big fat scam and is just trying to have us send 1200 E in "deposits and rent" through Western Union. puhlease.

So with 23 days left before takeoff I am dealing with a strange mix of feelings. As I'm shopping, working, saying goodbye's, and doing all my "lasts" I really can't say whether the emotion of excitement, nervousness, or panic is coming out on top. The only way I can explain it is the feeling you get while riding to the top of a roller coaster.. I can't change my mind at this point about my direction, but my heart is beating in anticipation of the rush I'm about to experience. I know its about to be the best thing I've ever done, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm scared to death for the first drop. So whether I have to laugh, cry, or scream at the top of my lungs to get over the fear I'm going to do this because I know I won't regret one single second.


iHasta Luego!