Sinus Infections Stink... but today it felt like spring and I learned how to cook Spanish food!

So Sunday morning I woke up with a really bad sinus infection. Well I should say I woke up various times during my sleep and then finally got up more towards the afternoon. The pharmacies here are very helpful in helping you find what you need. I went in, told the pharmacist I had a sinus infection, he asked me the usual symptom questions and then he said, well you probably should go to the doctor and get some antibiotics prescribed. I explained to him that I was allergic to penicillin and would be happy with some nasal spray if that's all they had. Then he said, oh! well if you are allergic to penicillin and I know that, then I can give you this other antibiotic for people allergic to penicillin. And there I was, with antibiotics without a prescription. I got better rapidly taking the antibiotics so soon after discovering my sickness. Monday was pretty miserable in class, but otherwise I've been doing well.

Today was a great day though. I'm pretty close to kicking the sickness, finishing up the antibiotics (which are in a powder form that you make into a nasty orange drink). It was close to 60 degrees outside, sunny and beautiful! I opted to walk instead of take the metro to the Prado Museum where my class was being held. It was amazing to see the paintings in person that we were just discussing and analyzing in class.

Then as part of my food and culture workshop I got to go to a cooking class. It felt a little Rachel Ray the way the kitchen was set up and how most of the food was prepped and ready to go. We made sangria and some little appetizers to snack on while we watched and learned. They made a Paella (with chicken, oysters, clams, and shrimp with the heads still on), Torta de Santiago (a cake made with ground almonds instead of flour), and we all got to make our own Tortilla Espanola (a Spanish omelet made with fried potatoes). It was delicious and fun and we left learning a few new recipes and with full bellies.

I'm very excited about the trip I booked in March to visit Briana in London, roundtrip for 50 euros. Gotta love Europe!

I'm looking forward to this weekend because Sunday is my new friend Samantha's birthday and so we'll probably go out for dinner and go out Saturday night.

First Week of Classes!

It's very strange to me to be able to sleep in during the school week. I'm used to waking up at 6:45 then going to work, then school, then homework, then early to bed. Now I don't have classes until 4 pm every day and even sleeping in til noon gives me plenty of time to cook myself a nice big omelet, get some stuff done, take my time getting ready, and get to class on time. It's so nice!

My classes seem like they are going to be fantastic. I realized that I know absolutely nothing about Islam or Arab culture. My Islam and Spain class is so informative on many subjects and will give me a different angle on the culture. I've already had a film class in Spanish before, but this time I have one that will focus on films that capture Spanish culture and really teach me how to analyze a film. Funny thing is I have two movie classes, but the other one is focused on the Cuban Revolution and also includes literature. There's a lot more work for the Cuban one and there are 6 native speakers in the class... 3 of which are of Cuban heritage... yikes!

My favorite class of all is Masterpieces in the Prado. I've always loved and appreciated art, but I've never really known how to analyze a piece of art. We are learning all the tools to look at artwork and also the history in the era and life of the artist. The professor is an eccentric woman who gets so excited when she talks about art. She is very comical and is kind of all over the place, but she knows what she's talking about. We'll be visiting the Prado 8 or 9 times throughout the semester to actually see the pieces and artists we've discussed in class. She assured us that by the end of the semester we could walk into any museum and really look at and appreciate the artwork.

My return date is now officially set for July 17!

I also have a trip set for later in February to Dublin which I'm very excited about.

This whole week I've been trying to figure out a budget. The only budget I'm used to having is the "DON'T SPEND ANY MONEY" budget. I don't have to be in a super save-save-save mindset, but at the same time I can't go crazy. I'm bad at spending money, it always makes me feel guilty. I want to travel and go out and go shopping, but I just am having a hard time figuring out how much I have to spend on each. I'll figure it out soon enough.

Some Pictures of Old Madrid and Segovia

OLD MADRID:

SEGOVIA:

3000 years of history in a week

Well it's been a long week!

Orientation wasn't all a fun time like I expected. We had to get up at 8 every morning to get there on time and then had "conferences" which is a fancy word for starting classes a week early. We had a Spanish course, learning about the differences between Spain and home from food, to bars, to just life in general. It was helpful and I learned a lot of new vocabulary. Then there was the history class where they jammed in 3000 years of history in 3 days. It was such an information overload, and all of us were still trying to get over time differences and messed up sleep schedules.

They also took us on a walking tour of Old Madrid where we were split up based on Spanish level and I was on a tour in all Spanish. Our guide (an NYU professor) Angel was so much fun. He did a great job of making it interesting and factual, but relatively short and to the point. It was evident that the area around the Plaza Mayor is where he spends a lot of time and he provided us with lots of fun places to check out (like 1 euro tapas and chocolate y churros). There are so many BEAUTIFUL buildings, it's hard to describe. I had to restrain myself from taking pictures of every cute little street I saw because they are everywhere. One of the most interesting things we did was going to the nunery. There's a secret phrase you have to know to get in (some sort of prayer) and you go and buy jerez cookies (sherry cookies). The nuns have taken a vow to keep their face hidden from the outside world, so you had to use a revolving table to pay for and pick up your cookies. It was very mysterious hearing the nun's voice coming from the other side of the revolving door. Angel took us for a coffee break to enjoy the cookies and treated us to everything.

Yesterday we had a day trip to Segovia. It was a very laid-back city with many striking features. One was the Alcazar castle which many kings lived in. Then there was the Roman Aquaduct, built with absolutely no cement, and the Cathedral, one of the later Gothic churches built in the time.

Once I got home I took a nice long nap and woke up to go out and check out Madrid's nightlife that everyone has been talking so much about. Most places don't open until midnight at the earliest and no one really goes out until about 1. Then of course no one goes home until 6 in the morning but I headed home around 5 when my feet hurt til the point of walking funny. Today I've been so tired, even after waking up at 2 PM, I guess I'll have to get used to this crazy lifestyle.

My First Few Days

Hola a todos (Hello all)

Well it's been a whirlwind, traveling always seems to be. My flight went really smoothly, it felt like it went by in 3 hours. Unfortunately during those three hours I had to deal with the Indian woman next to me staring at me who didn't speak a word of English. She would lean over and try to look at my magazine and would turn herself to get a more complete view of me. She didn't do anything on the flight except eat, sleep, and stare. I guess I was more entertaining than Nights in Rodanthe.

When I finally arrived in Madrid on Saturday I had to find my airport shuttle with all my luggage which was a little tiring but it wasn't too difficult. The shuttle took me straight to my homestay for 19 euro, and the taxis charge around 30 I heard so it was a great deal.

I was thrilled to find an elevator in the building instead of having to lug my bags up the three flights of stairs. Reme greeted me with a huge smile and HOLA GUAPA!. She is an adorable little old woman. The apartment is huge for an apartment in the smack dab center of the city. She gave me a tour and I got to pick which single I wanted, and of course I went for the nicest one.
I'm living with 5 other NYU students in this apartment, which should be quite interesting.

Reme chatted with me for around 2 hours and boy does she have stories. She is full of them. After hearing all about the horrible girls who stayed here the previous semester, I went take a nap and then went grocery shopping. The prices were very reasonable and I got most of the stuff I was looking for. I even found a 4-pack of Greek Yogurt for 2 euros, that totally made my day. I'm still on a mission to find hummus in this city, I will keep you all updated on that. I live right around the corner from a Zara (which will most likely turn out to be my Forever 21 of Spain) and I'm in an area that's blocks away from some of the coolest areas of Madrid and in itself is full of places to eat and shopping. I lucked out tremendously with my apartment, talking to friends who live far away or in rooms that look like closets.

I went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at 5:30 on Sunday. I went online and was happy to finally be able to chat with friends. I'm also fortunate in that I have internet in my homestay, meeting quite a few others that don't. I made myself pasta, butter, and parmesan and because I couldn't find I container of the cheese, I had to buy a big block of it and grate it on my own (how gourmet of me). She had a pretty intense cheese grater and I ended up grating one of my knuckles...ouch!

Then my housemates started to arrive! First came Jeffrey who is a visiting student from California. We went out to explore a little and drank some cola cao (*jajaja-irene!!!) which is like hot chocolate, but better. They served it as hot milk and a packet. When we returned Greg and Nneka had arrived and were trying to figure out the internet. I went to skype with my parents, which was very fun and is going to save us lots of money on phone calls. Around 4:30 Valerie arrived, and we were supposed to be meeting everyone for a walking tour at 5 so with her getting all situated we arrived a bit late, but did the tour anyways. It was SO pretty. We went through el Parque del Oeste which is situated on a hill with great views, has a temple in it, and it was covered in an orange glow from the sunset. We wandered on, me leading the other two girls and we all know how great I am at directions, but I successfully got us back to our street. We were walking for about 3 hours and went quite a ways.

Afterwards we were just hungry and tired so we rested a bit and went out to dinner. Sundays in Madrid prove to be the wrong night to try to find a restaurant because everything is closed, but after I searched for about an hour online I found a place that served Spanish food and that would cost less than 20 euro and we went around 10 (they eat dinner We had a tough time navigating the menu but in the end I ordered some batter-fried veal stuffed with goat cheese covered in a wine sauce (not that I knew that was what it would be when I ordered it) and a glass of wine. With tax and all it ended up costing me 17 euro. My wine was less expensive than the sprite which I found quite humorous, of course is was a tiny glass, but the sprite was also a european mini-sized bottle.

Today we had orientation at 9:30 and although I got up at 8, the six of us had a tough time figuring out the showering/bathroom situation. We were a bit late, but it worked out just fine because it didn't really start until 10. They went over everything from classes, to trips, to how orientation works, and then we went for a paella lunch. It was great! I ate the vegetable one, a little hesitant to go for the fish one just yet.

Afterwards we wandered and I somehow led us to find the phone store we were looking for. I got a pay as you go phone for 19 euro (25 bucks) that had 10 euro already on it and I can call anyone with movistar for 5 cents and text for 7.5 cents. It's great!

After a trip to the Corte Ingles again (picture a multi-floor Macy's plus a Walmart Superstore put together) and bought a hair dryer and returned home with tired feet and after listening to some Reme stories about men, I am ready to cook myself dinner and maybe even go out after.

Lots-o-love
Kelsey