El Museo Sorolla

I know that we were all able to experience this small, unique museum together on Wednesday, but I thought I would just share some reflections about it because I really enjoyed this cultural activity.  The Sorolla museum had a completely different feel than the other museums I’ve been to so far in Madrid, namely the Prado and the Thyssen.  The atmosphere was quaint and private, and was evident immediately in the picturesque courtyard that preceded the entrance.  While the Prado and the Thyssen were both simply breathtaking, they are both daunting in size and crowd, especially the Prado.  So I thought it was particularly interesting to experience a museum that is much less well known in comparison.  

Even though we were rushed through some of the rooms, I had enough time to appreciate Sorolla’s technique and beautiful works.  Personally, I have always been attracted to paintings of the sea- something about water I guess- so naturally I fell in love with Sorolla’s many works pertaining to the Mediterranean, which is notable for it’s crystal clear light blue water.  I also really enjoyed how his technique differed from most of the art we’ve studied so far, in that it shifted away from realism as a result of the invention of fotography around the same time.  I thought this shift and the addition of abundant light was beautiful and made his paintings look like a fantasy or dream world with an air of vibrant joy.  The museum was  incredible and the uplifting quality of the paintings may have even assuaged some of the anxiety we were feeling about the test the next day-maybe.    

Julie 

Mayfaire

One of my favorite things about my time in Madrid so far has been my 17 year old host sister.  It’s been really interesting getting to know her and learning about her school system and her friends and her interests.  It’s also been a great way to speak more in spanish, because I talk with her every day about tv, school, food, makeup, and everything else.

Last Saturday my host family took me to an annual event at my host sister’s school, called Mayfaire.  It took a half an hour to drive there, with my most mom, la abuela, my sister, her friend and me all crammed into a tiny sedan.  The school is out in the country, and it’s an English school, where almost all classes are taught in English from first grade on.  This fair was a food and crafts festival, with different stands set up representing different countries.  After having a Mexican lunch, I met my sister’s girlfriends and we started to walk around and chat.  They immediately started talking to me in English, because they knew I was an exchange student and were surprised when they later found out I spoke Spanish.  After spending their whole lives learning English, I expected to hear an American accent and was surprised to hear a mix of spanish-british sounding English.  My sister says there’s a lot of British influence in the school, and it showed. 

One of the weirdest moments of the day was when a British looking 10 year old boy came up to me and asked me, “would you like a cup of cider?” in English and I responded, “no, gracias,” en espanol.  I guess my brain has been trained to automatically respond in spanish whenever I’m not around our group of Duke students…

Overall it was an entertaining day, and it was interesting chatting with a group of girls in spanish and english who were around my age. 

Alison Lane

El Parque de Buen Retiro

Among the many things I love about Spain (the food, the history, the culture), I think I am most enfatuated with Retiro. Yesterday my roommate and I decided to take a trip to Retiro to study for an upcoming exam and after spending two hours there we accomplished very little. Most of our trip was spent taking pictures of the ridiculously beautiful fountains and sculptures. While sitting at a little cafe sipping on refreshments, I remember thinking “this is the life” We sat there, and enjoyed the scenery without a care in the world. It was extremely relaxing and refreshing.

 It was also very refreshing to see all of the couples in Retiro, holding hands, kissing, rolling in the grass, unaware of their surroundings and solely concerned with themselves and their lovers as soft sounds of an accordian resonated throughout the park. The ambiance was great!

When thinking about the history of the park, I fell in love with it even more. The most fascinating thing about being in Spain is its rich history. America’s history is so young and in thinking of what came before us, little is conserved in the way that history is preserved in Spain.  I plan to visit Retiro 100x more before I leave!

 

Arielle

The Bodies Exhibit

Not too long ago on a beautiful Saturday afternoon I visited the Bodies Exhibit in La Plaza de Colon.  Althought it is a well known exhibit in the states. I never took the time to check it out, however I am very glad that I waited.  The exhibit is extremely interesting in itself but what was even better and indeed more educational is that the entire exhibit was in Spanish, which helped me expand my vocabulary as well as learn about the human body. If you have some time, whether you are in Spain or America, if the exhibit is still open definitely go see it. 

La Plaza de Colon is home to a number of Museums as well such as the wax museum and the National Archeological Museum. I’ve yet to visit them but they are definitely on my to-do list

-Arielle

El Rastro

Today, I (along with some of the other girls form the Duke in Spain program) went to the Rastro in Madrid.  This is a huge flea market that is held every Sunday morning.  I was excited to go (due to my never-ending urge to shop and my curiosity about the Spanish culture).  Tons of people were navigating the streets with us, but this gave us a chance to see how Spaniards act in an informal setting.  I only bought a pair of pants, but I enjoyed walking up and down the endless streets lined with vendors.  Our excursion was cut short by bad weather, but I’d highly recommend a visit to the Rastro to anyone who visits Spain.

Allison Jordan

Time Stands Still…At Least from Some Vantage Points

Ávila, a medieval walled city with the most number of churches compared to population in Spain, is on of the most magnificent places I’ve ever been too. To get there today Rachel, Carlon, our friend Deena, and I boarded a train in Nuevos Ministerios at 8:38 am. From what I hear the two-hour train ride was complemented by exquisite scenery, however I was too busy napping to notice! We arrived in Ávila around 10:45 and spend the next 15 minutes standing around the station freezing and trying to decide whether or not we should ask one of the employees where we should go. Little did we know that the minute we walked outside to even colder weather we would also find the tourism office! Eventually we made it to the office, where a young lady, who spoke faster then anyone I’ve ever met, handed us a map of the city and pointed us in the right direction. After about 15 minutes of walking we reached the Plaza de Santa Teresa and got our first glimpse of the magnificent walls that surrounded medieval Ávila.

Now anyone that has been to a museum or walked around Madrid with me knows that I have a huge weak spot for beautiful art and historic architecture. Typically upon witnessing one of these moving works, I will proceed to reach for my camera and quickly snap a ridiculous number of pictures. The walls surrounding Ávila were one such target. While the walls may not be the Taj Mahal, I still got the same feeling walking up to the entrance as I did walking through the gates of the Taj, pure awe or at least until I noticed the Burger King in a building surrounding the square.

For me there is something so amazing about standing in front of an ancient structure, knowing that it has been there through war, weather, dynasties, and simply every day life for hundreds of years. What I don’t understand is why someone would mar such a beautiful picture with a piece of modernity. Actually I take that back, there can be something about completely beautiful about and old building standing next to a modern one. The real problem is when you take something lacking any sort of architectural integrity or morals and place it next to an important piece of history. Sure I understand, people want to eat and Burger King seems to be a great option: it’s quick, cheap, and from what I hear mildly tasty. Growing up in the United States I’ve given up trying to fight the idea of fast food restaurants and have learned to deal with the fact that there seems to be one on every street corner in South Florida. But in my head Spain is supposed to be different, as Rachel and I commented the previous day in El Escorial, Spain in supposed to be more or les stagnant. The little towns we’ve idolized in out heads appear the way they did in the 18th and 19th centuries, lacking the touches of commercialization. While I will gladly make concessions for electricity and running water, I can’t forgive the burger king. I don’t mean to say the Spanish people can’t eat the McDonalds and Burger King that the vast majority of Americans do, I just ask that they please please don’t do it next to medieval wonders.

-Laura Pierce

Something I’ve noticed…

Something that I have noticed throughout our short time here in Madrid, and which I commented on to my fellow travelers to El Escorial (Rachel, Laura, and our friend Deena from UNC), is the way in which we seem to attract the attention or advice of super-friendly grandfatherly-type Spaniards. Our first encounter with this was while riding on the Metro, when a bunch of us girls from the Duke-in-Spain program were sitting there exhausted after much trekking up and down the Gran Via on a shopping excursion. This grandfather was all smiles and spoke very little English, but was super excited to use some of it with us and kept asking his daughter for some help. He also wanted to make sure we were not sad, because apparently that is how we appeared, and we assured him we were just tired. He asked how old we were and commented that he is still young too, because if you reverse his age he’s 28! Haha! Our latest encounter happened on today’s trip to El Escorial, when the four of us who went were standing at a bus stop by the train station as we waited for the bus up to the palace and monastery. Another little old man came up to us and animatedly told us how we could get there for much cheaper and much more quickly if we took one of the cabs that was waiting there, and then furtively assured us that he had no association with the cabbies (in other words, he was not doing this for personal motives)! We, amidst much laughter, thanked him and headed towards our cab and out of the freezing cold, and were very pleased with the cheap fare and quick service! Hooray for another grandfatherly Spaniard!

~Carlon

Real Madrid

Last Sunday, May 18^th, I went to the last Real Madrid soccer game of the regular season with Ryan, Andrew, Hannah and Jessica.  The game started at 9 pm at Santiago-Bernabeu Stadium, and although it was a chilly, rainy night, the Spaniard fans were out in full force.  Just being inside the stadium was an incredible experience in it of itself.  I’ve never been to a sporting event with as many people in attendance, even pro football games back home.  The energy level in the stadium was spectacular, and was propelled by an easy 5-2 Madrid victory over Levante.  The fans, although very enthusiastic, were also very courteous, and I was surprised to see that they applauded sincerely when Levante scored.  The game went by quickly, mostly due to Madrid’s explosive offense that kept the game entertaining, even though it was not close.  Following the game, there was a grand in-stadium celebration of Real Madrid’s 31^st championship.  The players paraded around the field holding the cup while massive amounts of confetti were spewed into the air.  Then, there was a show focused on the success of Real Madrid as a franchise, complete with light display, music, and acrobats.  Nearly all of the fans stayed to be a part of this celebration.  It was a very unique experience, and I’m very glad to have been a part of it.

 

Julie  

El Escorial and San Lorenzo

Today I went (with Carlon and Laura) to El Escorial.  This was a very exciting trip for me because when I was 7/8 years old I lived in El Escorial.  I got to Nuevos Ministerios at 8:20 and boarded the 8:38 train to El Escorial, it was so early that only the garbage men in my neighborhood were awake!  After a really great train ride, the Spanish countryside is very idyllic, I arrived at El Escorial.  I had planned on taking the bus from the train station to the Monasterio de San Lorenzo, but while I was waiting this very sweet old man came up to me an explained that taking a cab would be easier, faster, and cheaper.  So Carlon, Laura, and I split the cab fare.  The Monasterio was very ornate on the outside, and the inside was impressively large; however, it, while impressive, was not one of my favorite sights on the trip.

After seeing the Monasterio and eating lunch I went to the Hotel Suiza, which is where my parents and I used to go to get hot chocolate and churros.  I was really excited that I was able to find it on my own (without asking for help or using a map).  I guess my memory is pretty good!  The chocolate was amazing, but unfortunately the restaurant did not have any churros. 

I then walked down the park that connects San Lorenzo and El Escorial and walked to my old neighborhood.  I was able to find my apartment building and took numerous pictures of the street, the building, and the street sign.  The door of the building was actually open so I was able to go in and look briefly around.  I didn’t go farther than the lobby because I did not want to scare people by taking random pictures of the stairwell.  I also saw my old school, Colegio Felipe II.  It was really neat, but they have added numerous buildings so it was quite different than what I remembered.

All in all it was a great trip!

-Rachel Seidman

Exploring

In the United States, I love to go on walks (especially when I’m at school).  As a result, the urge to explore has overpowered my in Spain as well.  Lately, I’ve been going on walks close to my host family’s home just because I can.  In my experience, the Spaniards have been much more friendly than the people I encounter in the United States.  

Today I decided to keep walking.  In the end, my curiosity was rewarded because I found an area where I can go shopping (close to the Metro stop called Cuatro Caminos).  I wax ridiculously happy!  I neded up buying a new purse.  I’m hoping to go back there in the near future to browse some more.  (It was raining today so my shopping spree had to end quickly.)

Allison Jordan

PS:  One man asked me (in Spanish of course) where his destination was, but I had to tell him that I’m not from Madrid.  I’ll take that as a sign that I’m blending in with the Europeans.