Early Conclusions

So I’ve been in Madrid for a little over a week and it’s about time to update this. I’m not sure if I want this to be a weekly thing or not a) because I may have more or less than is post worthy for just a weekly update and don’t want to be bound to a particular format and b) because I don’t want this to turn into an FDR fireside chat sort of thing on the off chance that polio is transmitted by weekly updates (just go with me on this).

Madrid is an interesting city, and very different from any place that I have ever lived. It’s a much bigger city than I anticipated, as it seems to sprawl out and keep going well beyond where you think it might end. Also, there just aren’t a lot of dead areas. I live in a quiet, residential part of town that, frankly, is a little out the way, but there is still a lot of commerce and shops line the streets. While there is a downtown in Madrid similar to American cities, economic activities are not limited to that area. If all of St. Louis were like Delmar, it would be closer to the feel you get in Madrid. If all of Springfield were like…never mind, bad example. Here are a couple of other things I have learned in the short time I have been here:

Bars/Clubs: I have made it out to explore nightlife on a couple of occasions. In my travels I have come across rowdy, sweaty discos; smoky dimly lit pubs filled with leather furniture and dark wood; and establishments that are half restaurant, half bar (very common here). I have to say the more laid back the locale, the more I enjoy drinking there. However, the place where I got both the best food and the best bottle of wine is one of those half and halfers. The den of leather and mahogany has been my favorite place to drink. It is the kind of place that I image the movers and shakers of Harvard go to devise their subversive schemes. Fortunately, this one is in Madrid and it is frequented mostly by women over 45 with an incredible amount of make up and men with tired faces, not pretentious Bostonians. Needless to say, I like it. I found an incredible place that is near my house that I would go to all the time if the drinks weren’t god-awful expensive. It is very fun and hip and I feel like I’m getting into a place that tries to be kept secret from tourists like me. There is also a place that is pretty popular with Americans that shows American sports, something that will be handy in March if the Bills and the Tigers keep up their winning ways.

Transportation: I take the metro everywhere. Not only is it incredibly efficient, but it is also pretty easy to navigate and the only time I have ended up at the wrong place was when I was too engrossed with my iPod to get off at the correct stop. It is a little unnerving how far underground you are though. I’m always stunned by the number of escalators I have to take to get back to the surface. 20,000 leagues under the pavement sounds about right, but maybe I’m confusing it with something else…My favorite part of the metro system is at the station where I change trains there is usually someone playing music. On my first day of school there was a man playing a violin. He was there the next day but I haven’t seen him since. It is incredibly pleasant to hear him play, especially when juxtaposed to the hustle and bustle of people commuting and conversing. He has recently been replaced by a man playing trumpet; I’m more than a little perturbed by this. There must be some sort of subterranean musicians guild that works out a time share because another day there was a man singing ¨No Woman, No Cry¨ by Bob Marley. I gave him a look like, ¨goddamn right my man¨ and threw a few coins in his bag. He nodded at me. I nodded back. I’m thinking about proposing this idea for the St. Louis metro system…never mind, that’s a terrible idea. The fewer potential victims of mugging the better and drawing people towards using the metro does not accomplish this. Still…

The only problem with the metro is that it stops running at 2 AM, which is interesting since the Spanish culture is that of staying out well beyond that early hour. One night I got caught feeling exhausted downtown after 2, with only a little bit of money left. I could have hailed a cab but I decided to walk. 2-3 hours and 6 miles later, I got home. The blisters on my toes the next morning were something to behold. In truth, I have been doing a ton of walking since I got here. Walk to and from the metro and then walking to campus from the metro station. Hardly the 45 foot stumble from my bed to class that I’m used to back at SLU.

Living: Brandon and I are living with a very old woman named Cristina Maria Gonzalez. She is nice, but my Spanish isn’t good enough to communicate effectively with her on a regular basis and she speaks no English. Most of the time my conversations are limited to saying good morning as I leave for school, goodnight when I go to bed, and making very small talk any other time we happen to be in the same room. She speaks French too, as she lived in France until she was 15. This is good for Brandon since he speaks no Spanish, but is fluent in French. We have established a little triangle of communication: I speak Spanish with Cristina, Brandon speaks French with her, and Brandon and I speak English to each other. It’s working out okay, except for the times when Cristina forgets who can speak what and will say things in French to me (she’s an old women, and easily confused). Stranger than the trilingual means of communication, is the relatively unknown man who lives in the house. He was not mentioned in the housing flyer. Antonio showed up one day, a 45 year old Spanish man with bad teeth and a tendency to walk in on you in while you’re in the bathroom, and Cristina’s only explanation was ¨familia.¨ He coughs up something wicked every morning and often lets his alarm go off for 3 or 4 minutes at 7:30 AM. Despite this, we are mostly on friendly terms and I don’t plan on broaching the subject with anyone from SLU. Plus, as Brandon pointed out, ¨with that cough and his smoking habits he probably has emphysema and will die before the semester is over.¨ Touché Mr. Curry, touché.

School: SLU-Madrid is tiny. There are 3 buildings all on the same block. I was surprised to find out that only 650 undergrads go here. That includes all the visiting students from schools other than SLU like Maryland, Baylor, the Catholic University of America, and a lot more. I’m still getting a feel for classes, but I don’t think I’m in anything that is too tough. I will probably be singing a different tune come midterms but what the hell, right? I’m currently enrolled in 5 classes, but I’m probably going to cut one loose, I’m going to try to treat this as much like a vacation as I can (and somewhere, many miles from here my father winces).

I think that’s all I got for now. More updates as more happens. I’m going to be out of town next weekend for sure to see my long lost roommate and friend back from the golden days in Colorado, none other than Austin Perez. He is doing a semester at sea program through CU-Boulder and will be making port in Cadiz (southern Spain). Anywho, I'll post when I can, the next one will probably be me gloating about the wonderful warm weather of Cadiz, but we shall see. Hope all of you are doing well, I miss you a lot (though some of you more than others, fight amongst yourselves to figure out whom) and seriously, I love hearing from you guys. Hit me back, just to chat. Truly yours, your biggest fan, this Stan, I mean Joel.