Mid-Year Report

It's been about six months to the day since I arrived here in Madrid, which means I have (only) six months to go until I'm back on a plane to California.

This is, without a doubt, the best year of my life. In the program brochure that I received last summer, it says to expect the excitement to wear off after the first couple weeks or months and to start feeling homesick, but I am happy to report that never happened. Even now, six months after arriving, there are still moments (almost daily) when I have to stop whatever I'm doing and just think to myself, "Wow, I live in Spain." And it makes me smile every time. I don't mean this in a pessimistic way, but there's a good chance the rest of my life will be downhill after this year, only because I can't even imagine how it can get better. If there are greater things awaiting me in the future, then I am one lucky human being.

Whenever someone asks, "How do you like Madrid?", I always emphatically respond, "¡Me encanta!" But when they ask why it "enchants" me so much, I can never articulate a reason, and I guess I'll try to now. For one, I really love that my life is completely in Spanish. Obviously it makes it more difficult to communicate and I still wish I was more fluent, but I'm learning more every day. It doesn't always feel like I'm improving, but when I look at all the progress I've made in six months, I'm excited to see where I'll be six months from now.

Another reason would definitely have to be the people. I have friends from all over the world, and it's completely normal to interact with several different nationalities in one day (there are four countries represented just in my apartment). I'd like to have some more close Spanish friends, but as the language barrier narrows, hopefully that number will start to grow. And even though I didn't come here to make American friends, it's hard not to when I love everyone in my program so much. The students who choose to study abroad have a penchant for other cultures, international relations, and languages. So even though we all come from different places and backgrounds, I think it's these common traits that really cement the lifelong friendships we have.

And then of course, there's la vida española. It's hard to compare lifestyles, because a lot of the biggest differences probably have more to do with living in a little city versus a big city, and less with America versus Spain. This is always the area I can't express in words, because the reasons are so abstract even in my mind. One that I've just recently noticed has to do with politics. I'm very into politics and I stay up to date on everything, and for this reason I'm usually disgusted by the system we have in America. I don't want to say the Spanish government is more functional than in the States, but since I'm not familiar with the politicians, party platforms, legislative rules, etc., it doesn't upset me as much. However, the longer I'm here, the more that starts to change as well.

Even though I'm not homesick in the debilitating way, I do miss the people. Honestly, it's really hard to be homesick when I can skype with anyone and see them live in front of me. However, I have been feeling extra nostalgic these past couple weeks about missing family and friends and my puppy, since this has now been the longest I've gone without seeing them. But, in less than a month, three of my best friends will be coming to visit me, and then only two weeks later I get to meet up with my parents in Barcelona (I have to keep waiting for my brothers and Chloe...). Time is constantly going by too fast in Spain, so being anxious for something helps slow it down.

The idea about writing a final post in only six months physically pains me, so I'm not even thinking about that. Six months left to learn, love, explore, eat, travel, grow, and enjoy. 

Apariencia = Verdad

Today, one of my professors for a class about Miguel de Cervantes was talking about appearances, and how in the time of Cervantes, how you were perceived by society was more important than your character as a human being. "Appearance is the truth," he told us.

Making a modern day connection, he claimed Spain still obsesses over appearance, at least compared to the United States. A Spanish student would never eat in class or get up to use the bathroom, because that tells the rest of his or her peers something about his or her integrity as a human being. An American student, on the other hand, would pull out a full spaghetti meal during a lecture without heed (I am more or less paraphrasing the professor's exact words). I guess in some other ways I have noticed a stronger preoccupation for appearance, although I would say it's more of a European mind frame than a Spanish one. If I go to the grocery store in my pajamas--which I do quite often, thank you very much--I always get noticeable stares, if not outright comments, from strangers. "Acabas de levantarte?!" They're always joking around, but I could do that in San Luis Obispo and not get a second glance.

I just thought it was a really interesting lecture. Maybe it is more polite to save snacks for after class, but if you are really judging a person by their appearance, that's a problem too. Then again, if appearance is the truth, it doesn't really matter how you "actually" are but just how others think you are. It's a classic dilemma: work to impress others around you? Or don't give a shit and live how you want? I try to revolve my life around the latter, but sometimes you just have to listen to what other people think. Not that I would change my personality for anybody, but it's kind of egotistical to not be open to constructive criticism. 

Al hombre se le conquista por el estómago.

Giant legs of jamón

That's a Spanish saying that definitely applies to me. Anyone who knows me also knows that my life pretty much revolves around food, so it was surprising to me also when I realized I hadn't written a blog about Spanish cuisine yet.

Everyone was raving about Spanish food before I left, and I'll admit that it's definitely not my favorite. Not because it's bad in general, but because the entire diet practically revolves around ham, and that's one of the few foods I really don't like. Plus, it's a cured ham that they literally cut off the pig's leg right in front of you and then serve it as is. And don't even bother trying to ask for a substitute, because the idea of a meal without ham is unfathomable to Spaniards.

With the rest of Spanish meals, I am definitely content. The dish most people think of as "Spanish" is paella, but that's a dish that's only famous in Valencia, a province on the eastern coast of Spain (which I will be going to in one month!). Then there are the tapas, of course, which are all kinds of different appetizers to pick on while bar-hopping before eating dinner at 10:00pm. At traditional Spanish bars, you always get a free tapa with a drink, which can be as simple as a plate of cheeses or olives, or even fried potatoes (patatas bravas), empanadas, calamari, or octopus (pulpo). A bar around the corner from my apartment is known for giving heaping plates of tapas with every drink you buy, where it's easy to fill yourself up for the price of a beer.

TAPAS

Delicious seafood plate from Córdoba in the south

A dish my landlord just taught me to make is tortilla española, which some people consider the "national dish" just because it's so common. Even though it's called a tortilla, it's nothing like the Mexican version. It's a potato omelette that originated as meal for the poor farmers on the fields because the ingredients are so simple. However, it would be difficult--or at least expensive--to make in the United States, because it requires a large amount of olive oil. You can buy a whole five liter container here for the same price as a small bottle in the US; definitely a much healthier alternative to the pandemic amount of butter used in America.

The only real complaint I have about the diet is how hard it is to find food from other cultures. I would sacrifice a lot to find a place that served authentic Mexican burritos (because Spanish food is not even remotely similar to Mexican food at all, so don't think that), and even though Madrid is very diverse city, it's still nothing like the Bay Area. Living with my a Spanish landlord, I was hoping to get to try a lot of different typical, Iberian dishes. He's definitely a good cook (and thanks to that I have a fully equipped kitchen at my disposal--minus the microwave), but he prepares soup for at least one meal every day, so there isn't a lot of variation.

So even though I wasn't initially crazy about the food, it's definitely growing on me more and more, and it'll be hard to imagine going back to America without my toast and tomato sauce for breakfast every morning, or the dish of olives that comes before every meal, or even just the splash of gaseoso in my beer to make it a clara. Although, these are all traditions I plan to continue. 

Daytrip

After finals ended, we had almost a full week off with no class. Unable to go on any significant trips due to lack of preparation and lack of money, my friends and I decided we had to at least make a daytrip somewhere, just to avoid sitting around for six days doing absolutely nothing.

My dream biblioteca

We chose to visit El Escorial, a monastery and historical palace in the mountains around Madrid. It was an hour-long train ride from the center of Madrid out to the little town, where El Escorial is the most important tourist attraction. The building is massive, and the huge basilica makes it easy to point out from far away. As with almost every other historical building I've seen in Europe, the most impressive part is the unbelievable intricacy of every little detail inside and out, and even though it wasn't as externally breathtaking as Versailles, I personally thought it was much less gaudy. Where in Versailles the beauty came from masterpieces painted onto the ceilings and gold adornments, in El Escorial it was more humble (only relative to Versailles... there is nothing humble about any palace). For example, there were these hand-carved wooden doors called Las puertas de marquetería that were just amazing, and worth €20 million each according to the security guard. They were just wood; no gold, silver, or jewels were necessary to make them beautiful. 


The best rooms were the basilica itself at the end--one of my favorite churches thus far, after Barcelona and Toledo--and the library. Being ridiculously wealthy doesn't seem that attractive to me, but if were to become the next Mark Zuckerberg I would have a library like this one; books everywhere, huge windows, the seven Liberal Arts painted on the ceiling, and a huge globe at the end of the room (the best part for a cartophile like myself). It was hard to really enjoy it all, since I was surreptitiously trying to take illegal pictures of everything while the hawkish security guards were turned away. Today, it's no longer a place of residence for the monarchy. The church is still used for mass, and obviously the building is a museum for tourists as well, but the site is also an elementary school. I can't even imagine how unbelievably awesome it would be to go to school inside of a palace. 

Recess! 

After El Escorial, we took a trip to another historical site in the same area, Valle de los Caídos, or Valley of the Fallen, a site that is much more recent and much more controversial. It was built during Franco's reign in memory of all the Spaniards who died during the Civil War, but the overwhelming Catholic references--such as the MASSIVE cross that tops the mountain--make it seem more like a homage to the right-wing Nationalists of Franco's party. Of course, the most contentious point is that Francisco Franco himself is buried there, and there is a lot of debate in Spain right now about taking the entire building down to prevent Franco-fanatics from making pilgrimages to his grave.

The cross in the background is enormous.
Pictures do not do it justice. 

I can't speak to the atrocities Franco committed, but the site itself is beautiful, and I think it should stay for that reason alone. The landscape is breathtaking (it's perched in the mountains, so you can see across miles of ranges) and the architecture is gorgeous as well. There's a solemn mien to it, which helps to stress the sad history that accompanies it. And even though many people want to tear it down, it should also stay erected for the same reason Nazi concentration camps still exist: history is history, for better or for worse. You can't demolish the building without demolishing the history along with it.