Week 2

Hola a todos!
This past week was a very busy week for me. At my university we had a week of orientation, where we took language placement tests and professors came in to talk about their classes. I actually start class tomorrow (Monday), and finalize my registration a few days later. On the first day of orientation week, though, we went to a reception hosted by the rectador (chancellor). They served us amazing tapas – it was fantastic…especially since they had an open bar. I’m going to bring this idea back to UCSB.
On the subject of tapas, I finally went out to a tapas bar and had an amazing experience. For those who don’t know – Madrid is famous for tapas – bite sized dishes ranging from home fried potatoes in sauce to little cured ham sandwiches to octopus. The bar I went to is called El Tigre, and of the few places I’ve been so far it offers the best deals. Tons of fun too.
I’ve been visiting a lot more places in the Madrid area including the Prado Museum (where I saw Velazquez’s famous work Las Meninas), the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Royal Palace, and el parque de reitero (a big Central Park in Madrid). Additionally, I took my first day trip outside of Madrid to the city of Toledo – the former capital of Spain.
Toledo is about a two-hour drive away from Madrid, or a 30 minute ride on the high speed AVE train, which my friends and I took. The city is famous for its religious aspect, hence the phrase “Holy Toledo”. The main cathedral there is gothic-style and the inside is incredible. They have a treasury in there that had the biggest piece of gold art you could imagine. After walking around the cathedral for an hour and a half, we decided to get lunch and went to a restaurant that served us a three-course meal with paella, ham, and flan – bread and wine included. Yum.
Toledo is also one of the few cities in Spain with a strong Jewish quarter, and the synagogue there is also quite fascinating. The Sinagoga del Transito now serves as the Museo Sefardi (Sephardic Museum) and the official Jewish Museum in Spain. Inside there are relics from Spain’s Jewish history – which I found pretty fascinating.
The shops in Toledo sold three main things: gold plated Jewish and Christian designs, marzipan, and swords. Although I really wanted to bring home a huge sword, my guess is that the airport security wouldn’t be too hot with it. However, I did buy some marzipan – for which Toledo is famous for making. Yum X 2.
Last night was a special night called Noche en Blanco, where the Madrileños stay up all night and there are performances and events throughout the city. It’s kind of like IV on Halloween – BUSY! It was a lot of fun, though. Andrew and I socialized with these two very nice older couples in a sangria bar and they let us try their tapas. Ready for this? Pigs Ears…the kosher special. Surprisingly, they weren’t too bad. Later that night we saw a performance – tons of people pouring hot wax over a model. The guy was covered in hot wax and completely trembling – it was cold outside too. Europe is one pretty weird place.
School starts tomorrow. I’m scared as all hell. I was placed in the Spanish level just under bilingual – that’s a mistake! We’ll see, though. Here goes 6.5 hours of class tomorrow. Yeesh!

PS… I promised pictures. You can see some at these two links.

For General Madrid pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2277900&l=6f3bd&id=3624742

For Toledo pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2278998&l=86699&id=3624742

Enjoy!
Michael