Who's there?

Me: I'm going to put this on the internet and make a comment about Charles V's knockers.
Simon: These aren't knockers.
Me: You be quiet.


I think it is safe to say that my Spanish has began its decline, as I spend all day with the family and mostly use Spanish to order in restaurants. Looking back, I'm saddened I could never build a double-entendre, even a crude one, in Spanish.

Who was that mustachioed man?

Best fountain ever.

Wish you were here

I traveled very little outside of Madrid during the quarter, and I wondered if that was the right choice for me. And, yes, it definitely was.

I don't like being a tourist. A number 1, it makes me cranky.
More importantly, it is just not a good way to travel. You can do tourism many different ways, but I feel like its all about seeing things. It doesn't matter what country the things are in.

My dad photocopied some pages for me out of his book "1000 Things to See Before You Die" and there are 1000 (and obviously more) AMAZING things in the world.
I also want to see books called "1000 Ways to Celebrate", "1000 Fantastic Gastronomic Traditions to Try", "1000 Things You Take For Granted, But You Should Go Without Here", "1000 Amazing Traditions in Hospitality", "1000 Things That Are Illegal in the US, But Not Here", etc. Maybe not titled exactly like these.

For me the beauty is in different cultures and wisdoms you can learn, beyond what you can see.

Anyway, I'm glad I really chose to LIVE in Madrid and I'm glad that I'm traveling now because I get to see these cool things:(Toledo and Toledo)

(Granada, Granada, and Granada) (Love you, oxford comma)

Merry Christmas from Spain.

Likely the least Jewish picture I have ever taken.

Enjoy your today and tomorrow and the day after that etc.

You're it

I've added tags to all of my old posts now. I know it will make a big difference in your user experience.

I'm back in Madrid now, but I will still show you this picture from Barcelona:

Barcelona definitely has better graffiti than Madrid. It seemed, overall, a younger, more cosmopolitan city.

Longest Way Round Is the Shortest Way Home

I started out this blog and my trip to Spain a short (and at the same time, really long) three months ago with this in mind:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
TS Eliot

This idea is not new or anything, but I thought of my trip as a spiral staircase -- going towards a greater understanding, but maybe not really changing my position. TS Eliot said it better. Anyway, this has already proven true! Kind of. Remember this picture I posted a few weeks ago, in an end of quarter homework rush?It bears a strong resemblance to this picture I took right before I left for Spain. It is all the books that I failed to read this summer.(Beloved and the one below it are really my mother's)

Maybe this is more a sign of my habit of stacking books than of any real ascent on the staircase. But I find myself in the same places, beginning to imagine what life in Cape Town will be like, just like 3 months ago I couldn't fathom Madrid.
I can say that I think I've learned a lot about myself and my position in the world through being here, although I can't say that anything has really changed. I would say at the least that I feel older and that I can sort of understand a Spanish sort of logic, a different way of processing information. (At the very least, the idea of 9 to 5 seems disgusting now. Its all about 9-2 /4-7 (or really 9-14/16-19))

Gaudy does not come from Gaudí

Here I am in Barcelona! And I'm 21! Joy all around!

Today we went around to lots of Gaudí things and they were all amazing.

There was a book about Gaudí in Ms Messinger's room at Gunn, and ever since I looked through it in 10th grade I've been waiting to go see his stuff in person. And it did not disappoint.

Parc Güell:Rooftop at Casa Mila/Pedrera (this double name thing is unnecessarily confusing)Sagrada Familia!
Apparently they just finished the inside a couple of months ago, and it is incredible. I was thinking, "Man, this God guy must be really great to have people make all this." This picture fails entirely to capture it.
Detail on the outside (dove and stars)The family was being adorable:
Old men play bocce ball outside of the Sagrada Familia. Oh, Europe. I'm gonna miss you.
If you know any trivia about Gaudí, you know that he was killed crossing the street in Barcelona. After a couple days here I can tell you this does not surprise me.

Grotesque Shmrotesque

I was reviewing all of my pictures from Spain (because I only have 20 days left in Spain and all of that will be spent tourist-style, traveling around, which is not the same. I write this from a hotel room!).
Anyway, I noticed a trend in my pictures of strange gargoyle like creatures. So apparently I have an affinity for gargoyles. Good for me and you to know, given the whole t-1 day till my birthday thing.

Here you go:
Burgos, Comillas, Sevilla, Dominican center in Madrid.


ps. You know what frustrates me? Slow hotel internet! At this second I am only trying to download 8 podcasts, one Awl post, one tumblr, and this blog upload-y picture business. They will be limiting my internet bandwidth in Cape Town. I might die.

Special opportunities

You want to watch a fifteen minute blurry video of my flamenco class performing? Yeah, you do.

NO DO

I went to Sevilla! It is very pretty and I took almost no pictures of the pretty.

I took these from inside the Giralda (what was a minaret, but when the Catholics came they built a cathedral where the mosque had been and made it into a bell tower)

We saw lots of beautiful old buildings and a flamenco show! This was also my first real time staying in a hostel and I felt very much like a 20 year old American traveling in Europe, which is not entirely a bad thing.

My love/hate relationship with the metro continues

I'm sorry about my internet-absence. I've been busy.



I love that it discriminates against tall people. Its some sort of revenge for overhead compartments on planes and the top grocery shelf.


In the hate column, last week I was in the station late and the escalators had been turned off so I was walking up them and I tripped (as I do so often) and cut my knee on the sharp, spiky escalator steps. And then I bled profusely.


In other Madrid metro news, look at this video of one of my nightmares:



The scariest part, by far, is when everyone turns around and covers their eyes. Why is that?

Countdown

Happy December! This is a very exciting month for me:

0 days until Hannukah (Janucá in Spanish)
9 days until the end of the program
11 days until my mom and my brother come to Madrid
13 days until my I turn twenty one!
21 days until my dad comes to Madrid
23 days until Christmas
30 days until Noche Vieja (New years eve is "old night" in Spanish.)
31 days until I get on a plane for South Africa
32 days until I get to South Africa!