Oktoberfest

Well, it's been about a week or so since the last post, but I promise this one does not have the blood and gore of the bullfighting update...

This past weekend, I went with Elise, Matthew Keshian (Kesh), Robert (my roommate), Grant Guenther, and Liz Christenbury to Munich, Germany! We left on an AirBerlin flight Friday afternoon, had about a one hour layover in Palma de Mallorca (I've got to admit, we weren't going to complain if we got stranded there), then finished the trip to Munich. Upon arriving, we changed terminals to find Grant (who was flying in from his study abroad location in Glasgow, Scotland) and got on a train to head into the city. Over the summer (still too late for good hotel/hostel bookings for Oktoberfest weekends), I worked really hard to find a place for all of us to stay and ended up getting a really good deal on an apartment in a pretty quiet part of the city. It was perfect for us (big bed for the two girls, then the four guys were scattered on two cots and a pull-out sofa). We had a great little kitchen, a bathroom, and we were only about twenty minutes (via subway) from the city center!

A quick cultural update...Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival in Munich (Bavaria). Oddly enough it is held mostly in September. It was originally a celebration for a German royal wedding (in 1810). It is held on a fairgrounds (reminded me an awful lot of the NC State Fair that I'll be missing this year) called Theresienwiese. Giant tents (I mean, this suckers can hold thousands of people) are sponsored by the best local breweries and host traditional bands, traditional foods (pretzels, chicken, pork, etc.), and of course, beer.

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed to the 'Wiese for the opening of the tents at 9am. It wasn't much of a surprise to find tens of thousands of people had the same idea, but we slithered into a tent (Hofbrau) and found our own table upstairs. The rest is pretty much what we thought it would be. We ordered our giant beer steins (9 Euro a pop!), had them delivered by our beefy German waitress in her traditional dress (drindl, I believe) and enjoyed our drinks as we yelled "Prost!" (cheers!) to all of the honest men in honest leiderhosen. We were surrounded by Italians, French, Germans, and even a group of girls from Wake Forest University and had a great few hours of drinks, prost-ing, and just enjoying our surroundings.

After a few hours, we decided to find a different tent. We used the bathroom, then headed and grabbed a table outside of a nearby tent. We ordered another round and talked with a group of people from Oregon, and then a group of Germans who were about our age. It was a really great atmosphere for conversation (granted, some of these people were more friendly than they usually are) and we enjoyed learning a bit about the lives of German students.

Oktoberfest lasted just long enough for us. It was absolutely great, but we also had hopes of touring the city, so we spent a few hours, enjoyed the beer and the scenery and headed out to see Munich!

El Rastro and the Bullfight!

On Sunday morning, a group of us went to to El Rastro, a historically huge and diverse flea market in Madrid. It is only open on Sundays and puts any market I've ever seen to shame. The main drag was a street (maybe a mile long) with three rows of vendors...and it still branched off into side streets and plazas. It was full of people the whole time we were there. The scared shopper in me left me pretty overwhelmed by the options (antique vendors, knife/sword sellers, music, clothes, purses, leather, table cloths, souvenirs, etc.), but it was a great experience.

That night, we trekked over to Las Ventas for my first bullfight. What an experience! It felt so nice to be back in an arena/stadium to watch a sport, but I had no idea what I was in for. There is a great deal of pageantry as trumpets sound to welcome the matadors into the stadium. They are all presented to the president of the league/club (Las Ventas is like the Yankee Stadium of the bullfighting world), and so are the armored horses and supporting cast. The first bull runs out as 6 or 7 matadors wield bright pink capes to steer the bull into the center of the ring (right in front of us...we were about 4 rows up!) and the main matador of that fight goes and gets control of the bull. The president waves a white cloth when the matador has control and two armored horses walk out, each carrying a man with a spear. The matador then aims the bull into those horses (they ram the horses pretty hard, but the horses are protected from the horns, I think) and the man on the horse spears the bull between the shoulders. The president waves the flag again when enough damage has been done, then special matadors come out and run up to the charging bull to spear it again (in the shoulders to weaken the bull). When all six spears are in (and the bull is bleeding a lot!...sorry Mom if you're reading this), the matador comes back out for the main event. He has a red cape (along with his very traditional uniform), walks to the center, flips his hat to the sand, presents himself to the president, then goes to work.

He brings the toro (bull) close to him, but under the cape several times. I think this is to examine how that specific bull attacks and to wear the bull down a little bit. He gains control and makes sure the bull is focused on the cape. Wherever that focus is, it is amazing how the matador will brush up to the charging animal, then turn his back to it as he plays to the crowd. Then, he changes to a heavier sword, continues drawing the bull close to him, then goes for the attack where he drives the sword into the bull's back. After that, several matadors run out until the bull finally drops.

This is one of the bloodiest and most gruesome things I've ever experienced. The three of us who saw the fight (each night, there are 6 of these...one matador is crowned "torrero" and keeps the bull's ear because he was the best) were appalled at the cruelty. Still, we were amazed at the courage of these matadors to be close enough to this bull to have its blood on their uniforms (and get flipped as one matador did...took a horn to the chest!). It's a sport that I'd rather not see again and a big part of me wishes it didn't happen, but it's a big part of Spanish tradition that I think we're all glad we know more about.

Thank you for continuing to read this...leave me comments to let me know what you think...or that you're reading it at all!

La Noche en Blanco

On Saturday night of this past weekend, we (along with everyone else in Madrid) got to enjoy an annual celebration called La Noche en Blanco (the White Night). On this night, people flood the streets, museums stay open and free all night, the palace is open, restaurants are open late, there are art exhibits and concerts and dance lessons out in the streets....and all of the streets in central Madrid look like Times Square on New Year's Eve. From Plaza Mayor (where we joined in on a jazz parade that reminded me of New Orleans but led us to what we learned was a concert where they were making fun of the US) to the Prado to Gran Via to Sol, the city was packed!

Even us college students couldn't quite handle the hours as 3 am came with the party in full swing, but we were beginning to wear down. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen--people spent hours just walking through the streets, waiting in lines to get into buildings, or just enjoying the cool September night.

Very fun time and I'm glad we were able to be in Madrid to experience it.

Food Update #1 and #2

This weekend, I had the opportunity to eat at two great restaurants (on my scale, two great restaurants makes for quite a fine weekend)...

The first was Taqueria del Alamillo near the Royal Palace in Madrid. It's a little bit off the beaten path, so that was the first good sign of good food as Elise and I hunted for a place to quench our shared craving for Mexican food in Spain. It is a really unassuming restaurant, tucked in the back corner of a small plaza. We walked up, got a table outside, and asked our very friendly waiter for help with the menu. As we munched on chips and salsa (not what we expected in Spain, but sometimes you just need a change!), he recommended a big plate of their special nachos and a chicken dish with salsa verde and tortillas (that also came in a big stone bowl to keep the meal hot). In all honesty, it was one of the best meals I've ever had (top 20? top 15?) and I can't wait to go back. The service was great and the food was even better. I was so distracted with how much I liked it that I forgot to take a picture of the food!

The second was a place (the name is escaping me!) where we grabbed a good Spanish lunch. While some restaurants have the special menu del dia, others just let you order a few dishes. At this one (see the picture), we ordered fried chorizo (spicy sausage), tortilla espanola (like an omelette with potatoes and onions), mushrooms, and sangria. Great lunch!

El Escorial

Well, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Our trip to El Escorial (an old royal castle/palace near Madrid) was a major loss for me.

I'll keep this one short, but after the train ride, things just went downhill for me. Robert, Jay, and Elise decided to proceed from that town to a nearby site...which was absolutely fine with me -- it gave me some alone time and I was really excited about seeing El Escorial and it's grandeur. Right when their bus left, I walked to the palace to find dozens of surprised visitors waiting outside because it was closed because of a local festival. Great.

With no palace to see, I thought that I could at least explore the town...only to learn that on Sundays in Spain, very little is open. I got a snack and shopped for notebooks for school (at the only store that was open) and waited a few hours for my friends to get back.

Took a couple of good pictures, but other than that, I'm now determined to get back to El Escorial and have a good time!

Oh yeah...school.

All of my dreams of having a completely relaxing semester full of culture and travel were all but crushed as we started classes at NYU on Monday. That's not to say that I won't have the cultutral and travel experiences that I'm hoping for....I'll just have homework to do and papers to write as I do them!

My classes are:

Caribbean Literature (I've never taken a literature class, so this should be really good. Plus, it knocks out a Literature requirement at Duke.)

Masterpieces in the Prado (world-renowned art museum, also something I've never really had a good appreciation for. We spend Tuesdays in lecture, but then Thursdays at the museums. It's important stuff that I feel like I should know...plus, an art requirement at Duke.)

Techniques of Translation (this class is completely in Spanish. It's not exactly what I thought it was going to be, but it is definitely going to work on my Spanish vocabulary and grasp of colloquialisms as we translate English movie scripts into Spanish. Not easy at all, plus it's interesting and is helping me take another step toward fluency in Spanish!)

Economics: European Union (this class is already my favorite. The teacher is a business consultant in Madrid, decently young, and enteraining. This one counts for my Public Policy major requirements and is just fascinating to me. He said that the European Union is so complicated that people don't really know about it unless they live in it. Still, it's a huge international political and economic power, so it's a really interesting class where we'll talk about the state of the European Union and of several regions across the world as well.)

It's a really good and balanced schedule with two classes per day (one on Wednesdays) and nothing starts before 12:30, so that is definitely good news for my body! I got really lucky with all of this, so now I'm just hoping to hold up my end of the bargain and do well in them!

Thanks again for checking my blog out! Please leave comments at any and all times (especially if I have left something out)!!!!

Catching Up from Madrid

Alright so I'm about to go to bed. I'm on Skype (if you don't have it, I'd definitely consider getting it...it's free!) talking with Elise and she's selling me pretty well on why I ought to go ahead and go to sleep. It's tempting since classes start in the morning, but while I'm pleading my case with her, I thought I'd bring you up to date on a few more details about my homestay, a critical vocabulary lesson, and an embarassing yet funny story.

I mentioned some of this, but at the risk of redundancy, I'm living with a 70ish year-old widow in her apartment in Madrid. Her apartment is right at the center of town on the 5th story of a 6 story building. It's a very nice apartment and the decorations (portraits, very classy) remind me a lot of my grandmother's house in Alabama. Our senora (Carmen Moreno) fixes us breakfast and dinner each day and sits with us at dinner. The Spanish eating schedule is much different than that of the US (breakfast at 8ish, long big lunch at 2, dinner around 9:30), but I'm getting used to it, believe it or not! On my first day, I buzzed her apartment when I showed up and after she called down, I said, "Senora?? Es Graham (It's Graham)." She brought me up, shook my hand, and the semester began. She's very good to Robert and I and we're growing closer each day. She doesn't speak any English (she says she really regrets never learning it), but that helps our Spanish...forces us to speak correctly and use the vocabularies we have to compensate for the ones we don't. At meals, we talk about our families, Spanish politics (socialist government with a king...a lot to talk about!), the places we want to travel, her trips to the U.S., and whatever has happened that day or happens to be on her tv during the meal! She's great to us and knows the way to my heart...she always fixes more than enough food!

This next part is completely unrelated and I'm realizing that I have no transition to it. Is a bad transition better than none at all? Oh well, I guess I'll learn after I post this. In Spain, saying "okay" does not translate. This is not good for me. In Spain, everyone says "Vale" (prounced BAH-lay)...roughly translated, it means "go ahead" or "okay". The bad part is, I'm having trouble translation my go-to words, especially "awesome". This results in my saying "excelente" way more than any one human being should. Elise isn't letting me forget that...neither is my senora...

Last, but not least, a story. Our last morning in San Sebastian, Elise and I went to get breakfast in town. I need to post a picture of the thing I got (like a crepe, but full of bacon, sausage, and cheese...man fuel). We sat down at a cafe so we could get drinks. She ordered a cappucino and I wanted orange juice, but my memory failed me on how to say "juice" in Spanish. The one thing I could think of was "juicio"...which made a lot of sense. The waitress came by, I gave her my order, and she just stared at me. I tried again...to no avail. One more time, a little more frustrated (because I just knew I was using the right word) and a little louder, still a failure. Confused at why she didn't understand, I said "juice" and she got it! After talking with Elise for a few minutes about where I went wrong, it suddenly hit both of us. "Juicio" means "justice". Try that at a restaurant today. "Hi, sir, what can I get for you?"

"Ummm how about a little justice?"

Segovia

After a week of orientation activities (two hours of language refreshers and two hours of culture lectures) at NYU's base in Madrid, our group of about 70 or 80 students (mainly from NYU, but other schools like Duke, Davidson, Columbia, etc.) boarded coaches and headed to Segovia.

Segovia is about an hour long drive from Madrid. We were split into groups (mine was a Spanish-language tour...it's a wonder that I could understand even the walking directions!) to walk around to the Alcazar of Segovia (a fortress/castle), Sinagoga La Mayor (important part of Spain's Jewish community from the middle ages), the Cathedral of Segovia (huuuuuge), and one of the most impressive things I've ever seen, the Roman Aqueduct.

I'll highlight this aqueduct mainly (I do encourage you to wikipedia or google the rest!) for just a second. This bad boy is 2000 years old and still works! It's got 20,400 stone blocks held together not by mortar, but by perfect engineering...just using the stones' forces to keep the whole thing up! It is about 100 feet tall...much bigger than I expected. Quite a sight to see...I'll put a picture up soon!

After that, a big group of us went to a restaurant to eat lunch. Like in San Sebastian and most Spanish towns, they had the menu del dia (menu of the day) where the specials are actually good deals! It is cheaper than ordering a la carte...even if you're just ordering a sandwich. Thankfully, I was able to get my trusty salad, 1/2 of a chicken, a dessert of flan, and an ice cold beverage on that hot day! Fun time in Segovia. Little place, but a lot of cool alleys, a little shop, and their city center, Plaza Mayor, was a great place for people-watching.

Thank you again for reading! Leave a comment whenever you want!

San Sebastian, Spain

Elise and I met up in the Philadelphia airport to fly to Madrid and then on to San Sebastian for a beach trip on Spain's northern coast. We had some plane trouble on the way when the pilot announced about two hours into our trans-Atlantic flight that some of his navigation systems were down, so he was turning back. After a few hours delay, we took off again from Philly, landed in Madrid, hustled between terminals, and were the last ones on our flight to the tiny airport in San Sebastian.

I'll keep from giving most of the details, but San Sebastian is in the Basque region of Spain. It is a beach town of 184,000 (seems much smaller than that) on the Bay of Biscay in Spain's northeast corner, near France. The main beach, Playa de la Concha, is like a tiny horseshoe with Monte Urgull on one side and Monte Igualde on the other. It is an absolutely gorgeous town and is one of the best places either of us have ever been.

I had my first experience with tapas (appetizers at bars, since the Spanish eat dinner so late) on our first night. We got calimari...though we had options for sausages, seafoods, bocadillas (sandwiches), and Spain's famous ham, we were a little overwhelmed. The next day, we walked around town just exploring, ate a lunch of a baguette, ham, and some fruit, and climbed to the top of one of the mountains for a great view. Also ate at a Michelin-rated (S.S. has the highest concentration of Michelin-rated restaurants in the world) for a great price on Saturday night. The same thing the next day, but on the other mountain...then to Madrid on Sunday after we accidentally caught the Basque Festival, complete with boat races and thousands of people on the beach.

Take Two!

Well, I clearly failed at two things with this blog...1) Letting anyone know about it; 2) Updating it.

The good news is that I have a great opportunity to start this back up....I am spending the semester studying abroad in Madrid, Spain! My summer in New Orleans ended well. I finished the library that I was working on at Langston Hughes Academy Charter School and enjoyed the great music (especially Preservation Hall), food (especially the po'boys), and culture (especially the yat dialect) of New Orleans. After enjoying home for a few weeks, directing Project BUILD, and seeing friends at Duke for a few days while getting ready for an Inside Joke performance, off I went to Madrid!

This time, I'm going into this blog with a couple of goals: update frequently, include pictures of my travels, blog with anecdotes on Spanish/European culture/history/tidbits, and (one of the things I'm most excited about) include some updates on what I'm eating. Maybe this can launch a career in reviewing restaurants. Probably not, but it also gives a fun way to look at a different culture...for whoever may be reading this (Hi, Mom and Dad).

As it stands, I'm finishing my first week in Madrid. The basics include that I'm living with my friend, Robert, and a housemother (my Senora) who is a 70 year-old widow. Elise, my girlfriend, is also in Madrid. We are here through New York University's program and we're eagerly awaiting the continuation of our travels. So far, we have been to San Sebastian for a few days, are heading to Segovia in a matter of hours, and are planning on trips throughout Spain, Paris, Munich, Venice, and a few more exciting cities!

Thanks for reading this far and check back often for updates! Please leave comments!