Greetings virtual friends. It’s been quite a while since my Mallorca trip but in all honesty, I haven’t done a whole lot since then. Midterms have come and gone and I survived. Homesickness has come and gone, though it still lingers and occasionally resurfaces. Exhaustion has come and gone, but a nap would be nice.
Since Mallorca I’ve been in Madrid for two weekends, each of which was exactly what I needed at the time. The first I went to a bar and met some really fun American students that go to SMU (like Melisa and Chelsi), shook hands, took shots and danced as best as well as an lame white kid from Colorado can. No joke, I actually had a girl there tell me that I was really bad at dancing: confidence killer. I went to the bar, got another drink, and tried dancing with someone else. All in all a good night and for the record- I am pretty bad at dancing (shocking, I know). The next night I went a Real Madrid game. Nate, if you have finally got down using the interwebs and computernets and found your way to this page: live soccer is a great thing, it’s not called the beautiful game for nothing, get over it. I would make the same claim on my father but unlike Nate, Pops can pull the plug on this operation at any time so I will bite my tongue. I have been to a major college football game, a big time college basketball game, a professional basketball game, and have been in a stadium immediately following winning the World Series. While the last one was is still far and away my number one, seeing 7 first half goals (6 for Real) at Santiago Bernabeu is nothing to sneeze at. 80,000 loyal Madridenos who break out into spontaneous song, cheer down the opposing team’s fan section, and erupt when a goal is scored is really something else. I forgot my camera (a disturbing trend) so I’m going to have to go back and get some photos, it really is quite a spectacle.
The next week was sprinkled with midterms and sunshine; so much of the latter, as a matter of fact, that I decided to walk home from school. It’s an enjoyable walk and I took my camera with me the next time. The weekend brought more walking. I left my apartment and followed a familiar road to an unfamiliar area. I love Spanish architecture. City buildings in Madrid are fascinating compared to American buildings, plus the Spaniards don’t work off a grid system of streets like they do in
the states; curvy roads and odd cross streets allow you to have really interesting buildings. So I walked with my camera and took some snaps of buildings that looked interesting. Eventually I got down to the Plaza de Castilla and discovered a park that will be absolutely gorgeous when Spring springs and had a churro or three. I kept walking and discovered a fascinating stretch of shops that went on for about a mile or two. All in all I probably spent 10 hours of the weekend walking around previously unknown areas of Madrid. Hardly Columbus or Vasco de Gama but a good time nonetheless. I also saw the Pink Panther 2…in Spanish. I’ve told people this and got reactions like, “I think that would be the only way I would go see it.” Fair enough, but I will say that Steve Martin is universally funny and it is a simple enough movie for a Gringo like myself to follow. Plus, I would get really excited and proud when I understood every word in a conversation (this happened twice...OK once). If the speed of the conversations had been turned down half a dozen notches or so I really would have been in business.
That’s really all the news I’ve got from here I think. I’m taking off for Italy tomorrow for spring break. The plan is fly into Milan tomorrow and fly out of Rome 9 days later. In the middle Venice, Florence, and Cinque Terra. I realize this is an ambitious undertaking but I’m an optimist. I will take lots of pictures and have lots of interesting things to write about when I get back. Until then, adios, take care all, happy spring break to my SLU compatriots. Oh, before I go I need to gloat. Mizzou basketball went undefeated at home this year with wins over KU and OU (never mind those unfortunate outings at KU and in StL against Illinois). So go Tigers, go Bills, go Real. Later,
Joel
PS If you go to picasaweb.google.com/jbahr6 you can see my complete photos from this trip. There's more than what I post on facebook and if you don't have facebook (that's you Aunt Rosa) you can see my Spanish pics.
the states; curvy roads and odd cross streets allow you to have really interesting buildings. So I walked with my camera and took some snaps of buildings that looked interesting. Eventually I got down to the Plaza de Castilla and discovered a park that will be absolutely gorgeous when Spring springs and had a churro or three. I kept walking and discovered a fascinating stretch of shops that went on for about a mile or two. All in all I probably spent 10 hours of the weekend walking around previously unknown areas of 
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