HI PEOPLE

I just wanna put these thoughts down so that they’re somewhere in the world before I forget them.

I WENT TO MADRID WITH ALINA FROM THE CLASS OF 2010 she’s studying abroad in Scotland and we went back to our respective home-institutions today.

Pictures are forthcoming, I finished rotating them before realizing FRIG, HOMEWORK
And small amounts of sleep also mean FRIG, GOTTA WORK
And Morocco on Thursday Morning.

ANYWAYS, some minor thoughts:

1) Madrid is pretty, but it’s hella modernized and commercialized. The majority of it is not true old timey Spain, and Seville isn’t quite oldtimey either (I count the white houses with red ceramic curvy-tile roofs as old timey), but it’s far more of an authentic classic Spain than Madrid is.
As a result, I am glad I am in Seville which is less tainted by commercial tourism, and that Williamson convinced me early on not to apply to Madrid.
HOWEVER, It’s interesting. Granada or Salamanca would offer a purer Spain-experience while maintaining some commercialism, yet being difficult to get to other cities through because of location. Seville’s kind of in between, and it’s more expensive than those two commercially, but it offers a lot more variety and such.

2) Madrillians are SUPER NICE. And they understand me better than Sevillians. That might be because the Salvadoran dialect tends to throw in a bit more Castillian emphasis, and so despite my fast-talk people understood me? Because Sevillians are the fastest speakers in Spain, but they make me repeat my words whenever I open my mouth. >|
Sevillians are also super nice but I felt much more at home talking in Spanish in Madrid.

3) I tried the very typical Fried Calamari Bocadillos
(Subway/french-bread sandwiches, whereas white bread sandwiches are Sanwich(es) :P)
in two places, a bar in the Royal Plaza and a shop next to the Queen Sofia art museum. Art Museum’s little hole in the wall place had fresher bread, larger portion (but thus larger price, but fair), more flavor, and yet it still is missing a sauce. IF YOU GET IT, ASK FOR A LEMON WEDGE, IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE TO HAVE SOME CITRUSY JUICE. But they are SO. FRICKEN. DELICIOUS.    NOM

4) Parks. BEAUTIFUL. Running around catching leaves (what few still fell) was fun. And if we had more time we’d totally have done leisurely strolls as opposed to our powerwalking WE HAVE AGENDAS LET’S SEE EVERYTHING AS MUCH AS WE CAN But hell it was fun

5) I find myself lamenting that I am this bus/plane/train I am taking is not taking me to California. Even if the end will be awesome, I’m still getting anxious-excited to have SALVADORAN FOOD. AND NOT-VEAL BEEF. AND YARDS AND GARDENS AND PARKS AND SANTANA ROW AND SAN FRANCISCO’S FERRY MARKET AND SOURDOUGH BREAD AND yea. I think the biggest motivator is food. And people but you can’t eat people

6) Picasso’s Guernica is kind of amazing.
Alright, I need to finish a work, then look up some addresses, Dinner in about an hour, and hopefully I can start uploading pictures to photobucket to start another screencap adventure before too long.
And then after that, I’ll go through my 252 pictures of Madrid (lots of repeats) and distill it into about 180 pictures, hopefully, across three facebook albums.

Now, to progress into the work!
Take care~
Eban