Madrith

Real Madrid's Stadium

Some friends from my group and I in front of Placio Royal (royal palace).

Chris, Matt, and I.


In Plaza Sol, the Bear with the tree is the symbol of Madrid. The tree is popular in Spain and you can see it in the background.
This is like the Times Square of Spain. Everyone gathers in Palza del Sol... right by Plaza Mejor and everyone has 12 grapes (not sure why but it is some tradition) And when the clock strikes 12 you eat 1 grape for every second (or bell ring) after. It is supposed to symbolize good luck.
Main building in Plaza Mejor
The oldest Resturaunt in the World "Museo de Jamon" (it has never closed even during war time since like the 1700 something)
There street signs have paintings on it... one thing that Madrid does better than Barcelona

Organs in Catherdral next to Placio Royal



Arik, Matt, John, Tyler, Me and Chris... Having some beers and food in Madrid


This week I have solidified my internship plans and schedule. Currently I have a busier schedule than I do in the states. I wake up around 8 get home around 10. It is pretty ridiculous. I start my photo internship on Thursday. I am currently working at a small Museum in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona. The museum is called MATER http://www.materfad.com/. This museum highlights materials that are state of the art in design and function. They showcase these materials to architects, designers, builders, artists, etc... to all over the world. My role as an intern is to take photographs of the new materials to highlight the design and functional aspects and post them on the website. My Boss is named Valerie. She is French and speaks Spanish or Castellano (the Spanish do not say Spanish or Espanol… they say they speak Castellano) with a horrible, horrible French accent. I cannot understand her. Nor can this other girl from my program who works at the same place but does other things. And she is very good at speaking Castellano (probably cause she actually has the requirements for this internship program). On Monday, I had my first tutoring session; we just went over all my questions that I had written down in my book of words/expressions that I need to know and any questions that arose. I went out Monday and Tuesday night; I am sick of going out again…. Haha. Although on Tuesday night there was this electric violin with these monsters running around this discoteca/bar. The violin was awesome the monsters were weird. I went out to dinner with Laura and her sister Marta to Marta’s favorite restaurant. We had calcoots, wine, and pan con tomate. Needless to say, a great dinner and I learned some Catalan. I also started to cook with Paco. It is fun and I learn how to make some dishes… including fried bananas. They are surprisingly delicious.

On Friday CIEE took us to Madrid via the AVE train. The first day we had a tour of the city which included seeing the oldest restaurant in the world (Museo de Jamon) and Plaza Mejor. It was a small tour but I liked it. We also were given 50 Euros in restaurant passes. However, the key to the passes was to just find a place that took them. On Friday night, I went to dinner with Louis Aronne’s family. They were really nice and took us to this Argentinean restaurant with really good meat and wine. At the end of dinner my friend Matt fell asleep at the table. The parents did not seem to care. We tried to play a trick on him by leaving him alone at the table and having the waiter wake him up and tell him he had to pay for everything. We all hid with our cameras ready and the waiter tried but could not wake Matt up. We had to get him a cold towel and some water for him to wake up and had to help him walk out of the restaurant into a cab. We got him back to the hotel safely. He needs to take care of himself, we will see if he does. Talk about an embarrassing moment though. Oh well. Afterwards, Louis and I met his friends at some club and they took care of us by letting us skip the line and hooking us up with bottle service.

On Saturday, we went to the Museo Del Prado. This had artists such as Velázquez and El Gecko. It was good, but we did not have enough time to really enjoy it. Then we went to the Royal Palace and toured 35 of the 2800 rooms. This place was elaborate and beautiful inside. I especially loved the ceilings, although, I still do not understand Royalty and how they get to be so privileged. After that I took a siesta and then went to the Real Madrid Game vs. Racing. This was my highlight of the trip. We sat in the Racing section because it was the cheapest, but that added to the game because they were chanting the entire game. Oh by the way alcohol is not served at the games. The reason is clear; the fans are rowdy enough without it. That night we went to a club called El Teatro Kapitol. It was seven floors. It was cool, but I am over the club scene for now. I just went there cause it is like the thing to do. On Sunday, I went to this market that was supposed to be good. I found it to suck. A huge street of the same stores over and over selling a variety of the same poorly made crap (excuse the language but it was). I tried to go to another museum but I did not have enough time. I arrived back in the evening in Barcelona and I am looking forward to having a low-key week.