Crear, Crecer, Creer: Dancing, More Parque del Retiro, and Shopping!

A week and a half left in the intensive month. And I am READY to go into my real classes (we have one really fantastic teacher, and one nice but boring teacher right now...just want to do something that's NOT grammar, please!). I am signed up for a comp & conversation class, a grammar class, a cinema class, a theatre class, and a contemporary Spanish society class...and I emailed my Spanish advisor, and everything should go through smoothly! It equals out to 15 credits, so I'm really glad it worked out and I should still be getting my major provided I pass everything. I only have to take 6 credits of Flen or 400-level Spanish when I get back, although either of those would be a decent amount of work (and two will be quite a bit, so I'm in talks with my theatre professors about just focusing on my recital and maybe doing a smaller, student directed one act instead of the mainstage shows. Plus, it would be nice to be able to actually work decent hours again...)

An update on what I've been up to:
My brand new jeans I bought the weekend before getting here do not fit anymore. I have quite easily dropped 5-7 pounds walking everywhere, eating better, and drinking less. It's funny cuz we have massive amounts of carbs at every meal (lots of pasta, pizza, rice, bread, potatoes) but lots of salads as well...they put olive oil on everything, and lots of veggies and fish. Not so much fruit, so I bought some orange juice to get some vitamin C in...the fruit here just looks not so great, we get amazing quality fruit in the US.

I bought my tickets to Italy!!!!! Cost me more than I initially anticipated (dang it me and my fear of committing financially to things! All in all, after conversion, cost about $230...but since I don't have to pay for housing or transportation to and from the airport, TOTALLY worth it. And look at these pictures!!! Google Image Search: Porto Cesareo) Figured since it was the weekend before my 23rd birthday, I could also justify it by calling it my birthday present to myself. And I'm glad I'll get to hang out with a friendly face!

On October 8, I plan on heading up to Bilbao to check out Northern Spain. My theatre friend Austin is living up there for the year, so he'll meet me at the bus station and we will explore together. The Guggenheim is up there, plus it looks like a lot of cool modern and old buildings. Should be a lot of fun, and another friendly face I'm looking forward to seeing!!!

So let's see...on Friday, I did a little shopping. Got two new pairs of flats, a skirt, and some rings (remembered why I don't wear rings...the cheap ones turn my fingers green!! Boooo.)

I like my new flower shoes:

Then that night we went out to a club called Kapital:

(I didn't bring my camera that night, so I got a picture of it yesterday in the daytime)
And I got these free glasses that say "Schweppes"...yes, as in the tonic water...they are up for grabs, anyone that would like them when I get back. I mean, I know I look awesome in them, but I thought someone else might appreciate them more, you know... ;-)

Now, about my club experience...let me tell you, it was an interesting one.
First off, it was expensive. But everyone said, you have to go to Kapital at least once to experience it. It's 7 floors (?) of dancing, drinking, karaoke, smoking, all that...too many people for me by the time we left at 3:30am, but that's when the night was just getting started for the Spaniards. Paid 18E to get in, which included a drink (a gin & tonic, made with schweppes, of course...also had a rose petal in it, which I thought was really weird, but whatev), about $24 US. I know that's about what clubs cost in NYC, but still a little shocking for someone from a small town. But glad I went and had the experience.
Now, I must talk about the male Spaniards. Really, I've only heard cat calls a couple times when I've been out with friends, and I've never really been approached by anyone looking to buy me a drink or whatever, which has been nice considering what I'd been prepared for. And what's really interesting, compared to the US: PDA is AWFUL here! Everyone is constantly making out in public, even in like the daytime! It's so weird to me, and a little uncomfortable when you have to stand right next to these people lol (but a lot more hand-holding couples of all ages, which I think is really sweet). BUT, I also think the men here are a lot more gentlemenly. They open doors, they go shopping with their girlfriends and hold their bags, they carry their books...just interesting, and kind of nice I think. Just something you don't expect from guys in the US, which is fine, it's a different culture.
But going to the club...HOLINESS. First off, I went with a group of prolly 10-15 Americans...some from my program, and then a bunch of the Denver kids had some friends in town that came to visit this weekend, which was the reason we went to Kapital. And the guys were extremely friendly. They were striking up conversations, whether it was asking me how I was doing, where I was from, just to tell me I looked nice...generally they would talk to me in English and I would talk back in Spanish, which was funny, but it was easier to understand. But Spanish guys are very touchy...it was never inappropriate, I never had to get mean (although I know a few other girls that had issues with butt-grabbing), but they would just grab our hands and get us to dance, or like a couple guys tried to get my attention by tugging on my hair or petting my arm, and I was annoyed by that so I refused to turn around. And I didn't have a problem talking with these guys or dancing, but I always kept at least a foot between me and the them. There were girls I was with that were grinding up on these Spanish guys, and then they didn't understand why the guy was being creepy after. All I had to do was say no or back away, and the guy would back off. But it still made me a little uncomfortable...I swear, in big crowds, my personal bubble gets bigger. And I also did not want to give any of these guys the idea that I was interested, and I was very upfront about the fact that I had a boyfriend, which actually they were all pretty respectful of (they'd ask me where he was, and I'd say in the States, and they would say, oh that's pretty far, and I would say I know, but I love him, and they'd leave me alone...another thing that was nice considering what I'd been expecting).
So an interesting club experience in Madrid...won't go back there unless there's a special occasion or something, but glad I did it.

The next day, I took a walk to Parque del Retiro just to get out of the house, be by myself, and journal, and remembered my camera this time. It was a lot of fun to people watch and just be in a green area for three hours.

This was on my way there...it's a building with a garden growing on the side:

Paseo del Prado in the daytime...it's like a 6 lane street with a green walkway down the middle, very pretty.

Entrance to Retiro:

A couple pictures of the lake:

This is a man, not a statue...these people statues are ALL over madrid, it's crazy!

Palacio de Velazquez...now a museum in the middle of the park run by Museo Reina Sofia:

This is the Crystal Palace, also running an exhibit from Museo Reina Sofia:

There are a lot of cats in Parque del Retiro...I tried to figure out why, but I could not. It was hilarious watching them stalk birds, but they don't let people approach them, they're not friendly.

Cat in a bush.

This is where I sat for an hour and journaled and people (and cat) watched. I got asked three times for directions in Spanish, and got into a couple of conversations, one with a guy from Columbia, and another with a guy who wanted to learn English and asked if I would meet up with him later and talk (I lied and said I needed to study...he was very nice, but I didn't want to put myself in a bad situation just in case). It was really entertaining though, and good for me to practice my Spanish. Pretty sure I gave wrong directions to all three people though. Whoops.
Here's what I saw from where I was sitting...I think it's called the Bosque de Recuerdo, but i am not 100% sure...