Long time no blog!!! Lo Siento!! (I'm sorry)

Sorry but I had to put up this picture of Becca and I at the US Open in front of the Lexus…which was “the official car of the open” making it really sweet when we didn’t have to pay for parking because we were driving Becca’s mom’s car…a Lexus.

Back to the Madrid news…. We went to Segovia three weeks ago and it was really sweet. The town is about an hour bus ride outside of Madrid and it was a crazy mix of a Gothic church, Roman aqueducts and a Disneyland like Castle. The whole city is shaped like a boat and has a wall around it like a fortress city. There was also a church outside of the city that was round…odd for it’s period.

The girl stealing from a Madrileno was done to prove that not just Americans are susceptible to pick pockets.

We also went to a palace in a town outside of Segovia which we didn’t go into but walked around the different themed gardens for a little while. I know it’s odd, gross and random but when I went to the bathroom there was writing on the stall door and it had my name on it…it was cool for me because not many people have my name….you usually see “Sarah was here” written on walls not “Iris y Lili”.

This is a picture of a girl and a guy…Chelsea and Miguel….he is a Madrileno and we did a club/bar crawl which usually lasts until 6am here when the subways open up again. The first time I did it I thought I was going to die. I have figured out that if you leave earlier you can stay out later!! I know I’m a genius. Also, don’t be scared anyone I only had the one GIGANTIC pitcher of beer that night. It was kind of a dare thing and I couldn’t resist.

The picture with the Italian guys (the ones who have dark hair and dark eyes) are my roommates…speaking of roommates things have changed a little since my last post. The guy who I thought was British is actually from Texas and studied in Boston at a music school and plays the cello. He joined an international band here and they play crazy indy/rock/classical stuff and we’re going to see them in two weeks. The Peruvian couple was basically kicked out of the apartment because the manager decided that they couldn’t live here for free in exchange for cleaning anymore…very sad.... I really liked them and they were kind of like our pseudo-parents here. Now a French guy lives in the room…he speaks English very well but I still don’t know which he prefers to speak with me…when I speak I Spanish he answers in English and when I speak in English he answers in Spanish…. I like the international vibe in my house but there are definitely communication issues.

The picture with the other two guys is from "La noche en blanco” (the night in white). It is a festival thing in Europe that is really huge in Madrid. All the art galleries & museums are open, there are concerts and performances in the streets etc. The first thing starts at about 7pm and the last thing was supposed to start at 6am but they had some technical difficulties and that didn’t happen. The guys are friends of Miranda my new closest friend here from Middlebury they are FABULOUS and a lot of fun to hang out with and swap liberal arts college stories with.

The next pictures are of Palacio Real, the palace here in Madrid. It is unbelievably HUGE!!!! The pictures of random statues are from the sculptor garden outside of the palace. I really like the one of the currency symbols which happen to spell out “YES”…yes to what? I have no clue?!?!?

We went on a crazy crazy adventure called the “Steps of Quijote”. It was a very long day going from place to place that Quijote went in the extra long apparently national book of Spain. I didn’t know that one country could have so much pride over one book. So much so that they have whole towns basically dedicated to him. I wish on some nerdy level that I had actually read the book before we went on this adventure and it would have been a lot more exciting. Anyway, it was cool to see some old buildings with cool architecture. The bust is the quintessential image of Quijote looking ever so crazed. I thought this was hilarious…we stopped in one town that had a “jail” thing that we went down into and we also looked at a “Grand Canal”??? I guess the whole irony thing works in all languages... but this was a little ridiculous but an interesting story….I guess.

Then we went to this castle/fort thing that looked like no one had been in in about 100 years and you may not want to go into. It was next to a beautiful lake though and we took a moment to be touristy here!! The girl in the picture with me is another good friend I’ve made here, Sarah. She is from Ashland, Oregon…where my parents went to College and where my cousins live/lived. She goes to Whitman in Walawala, Washington.

The last two places we went were a waterfall which was supposedly the biggest you can see here in Spain…which is just depressing. I pretty sure us Colorandans would call it a spring at most and it is revered here as a great waterfall…most likely because of it’s association with Quijote. The other place was a cave that had something to do with the book that was a little dangerous to venture into but cool in temperature unlike the weather we had been having a couple of weeks ago.

Also, I do other things besides go to bars until early in the morning…for my theatre class which is not my favorite in the world…I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t this and I am just not liking reading things that were meant to be seen. Anyway, I went to see Hamlet in Spanish at this tiny alternative theatre and it was actually really good. It was more about presenting a spectacle than about having really good actors which they also had. They used space and sound and colors really well and it was really cool even though I could really only understand like half the words. We didn’t read Hamlet in Spanish thank goodness we just had to go see it!!

Finally, the other picture is of the central plaza of Madrid…called Sol. Tio Pepe a seemingly….because it is…..out of place .....Mexican-inspired neon sign. I was really admiring the moon!!!! The next picture is of Miranda and I the other night when we went on yet another bar crawl with Erasmus (European students) who go to school with my Italian roommates.

I love you all and I miss you!! I hope that everything is going well with everyone…send me mail either the 21^st century version (e-mail) or the 18^th century version (snail mail) my address is on the left of the blog. Speaking of any type of mail….THANKS so much to anyone who has sent me either and to those who have written comments on the blog I really love it and it makes me feel special hearing from you all!!

Dos besos,

Iris

SPAIN.......FINALLY!!

After a very long trip over the ocean blue I arrived in the Frankfurt airport where I had to wait in a very long line and go through security again. I'm not really sure what I could have received 30,000 ft. I arrived in Madrid at my apartment in late afternoon. It is about 20 either way on the metro to school. It has 8 inhabitants including me. I know this sounds like a lot because it is... there hasn't been too much drama yet though. There are two Italians who were friends before, a French guy, a Peruvian couple and a guy and girl who are friends and I think they're both from England. There is a grocery store next door downstairs and little shops down the street that have specialty stuff like bread and fruit and Churros and Chocolate (freakin' amazing). My room has a terrace and the picture of the tall buildings is what my view is. There is a 'plaza' at the end of the block which has a fountain (see picture). The other picture is of me and two people from Pomona, Gaby and Gladys, who used to live here but now don't!!

Over all things a fantastic!!! I can't eat anything they serve here so I'll probably be a stick when I come back although I may give up trying to avoid pork because it's like the national freakin' animal and it's in everything or is everything they eat really!! I haven't really gotten used to the euro and how ridiculously expensive it is to get your own money!!!

I was seriously missing sweet things that did not involve me gaining like a million pounds/kilos. I was craving nutella and could not for the life of me find it then one day while I was taking a gander at the register I saw it and wanted to jump up and down and hug someone but I couldn't because I already got weird looks for wandering around the store without a purpose. Anyway, the nutella definitely hit the spot and made me super happy.

Orientation is over now but it was a really good intro to the city and to the history of Spain in general. Before it started I walked 40 minutes (should've been shorter but I may have gotten a little lost because the street signs are on the buildings not on poles what is up with that?) to the "Central Park" called Parque del Retiro. It is gorgeous and there were tons of families there and street vendors and performers. There is a lake (see picture) and other fountains and stuff scattered throughout the park. After I walked there I went to find my school but forgot the number of the building....anyway. I then took the metro back because 2 hours of walking a being lost was getting a little old.

The lion is one of two in front of the building the houses congress. That was a walking 'tour' we did with our ayudantes (helpers). The poster was in the Circulo de Bellas Artes exhibit about the rise and decline of Franco (the last dictator of Spain). The guy in the middle was one of the first presidents and I just liked the propaganda of the poster....reaching out to all types of people. The other picture is in the same building and we really aren't looking at anything we were just a little bored. Oh, the last picture is of the entrance into the exhibit and we are all pretending to ride bikes....I know it's really convincing.

New York Part II

Then I was with Becca next and it was a little less touristy than the stuff I did with Leah but just as fun! We went to the US Open and saw Venus play in Arthur Ashe Stadium see above and we saw the number one woman in the tournament/world (I think?) play in a smaller stadium and she was really good (see other picture). We also saw the number 11 or 12 guy, Henman, play in his last Open ever but he won the game we saw him play against a guy he had never beaten so that was cool. The other picture of the sunset over NY after we left the games and went to meet Kat C-Chip, another friend from Pomona, in the city. I promise that the next post will actually be of Spain, which I am enjoying very very much even though I haven't adjusted to the food yet and can't eat like anything they serve here in restaurants. BUT I'm speaking soooo much Spanish that I can't believe people come here and don't speak Spanish when they leave.

New York Part I

This is of me and Leah's/my friend, Gerry who also goes to Pratt. And as he would say...."he's wicked cool"....he's from Boston and believe it or not I adopted his accent while I was with him for four days...it was a little scary....no worries though I will only come back with a lisp from the Spanish. The other picture is from the Magnolia Bakery, I'm telling you we took being touristy to heart ...the cupcakes were worth the line around the corner. Oh....and no I didn't eat all 5 cupcakes.





























In New York we walked across the Brooklyn bridge and went to Coney Island. And we even got a little nerdy and went to the Museum of Natural History displayed here is 'the squid and the whale'. Mostly recently featured in the weird indy film called ''The Squid & the Whale". Oh, the people in the picture are Leah and her friend, my new friend Mike from Pratt. Man I love New York.

Leaving Home

So, I know this is supposed to be about Spain but I couldn't help putting pictures up with me and my family especially those of me and the newest addition to our family....Beckett, my nephew. I also can't resist putting up pictures of my time in New York because it was awesome! I spent the first part doing touristy stuff with Leah, my best friend from Denver. Then I spent the other part with my old "prospie" (prospective student), Becca who goes to Pomona. Becca: sorry for calling you my porspie I just can't help it!