"Javier Hernandez?" "Aquí." "Ariana Flores?" "Aquí." " Uhh Ryan Rahha?" " ..yea i think that's me."

Well after a considerably long hiatus I'm back on this thing. You can thank Lauren Molinaro and her public facebook pestering for forcing me back into the blogosphere. Ah but in all seriousness, it was probably time I wrote another entry. So since my last post I haven't done much in terms of traveling ( a day trip to segovia, spain) but that doesn't necessarily mean that new experiences have been lacking. I'm finally beginning to actually settle into a routine, well as much of a routine as staying out well past 4 am up to four nights a week will permit. Regardless, I've forced myself to start running again, start cooking all my meals and budget my weekly spending. One might say that the vacation phase of my trip has ended, but I don't necessarily view that as a negative thing. I've found the cheapest grocery stores in my area, the places I can get the best fruits and vegetables and the restaurants and bars that are really worth going to. I guess I could say it just keeps getting better, getting better all the time.
As I stated above, I've finally returned to a running routine. I figured I needed to do some exercise and since I would never be able to bring myself to pay for a gym membership, I needed to force myself to run outside. I couldn't be more happy with the decision not to buy a membership. Not only do I avoid the fees and the whole dude sweat scene, it allows me to get out and see more of the city than the metro or mere walking could. I try and take different routes frequently, so as to maximize sightseeing, but there are certain places I always return to. One of those places is Parque del Oeste. The park is one of many. Madrid is blanketed in green space. It's strange to think of a city of this size being in the middle of no where but it certainly feels that Madrid is. In most U.S cities, the area that is considered to be a thriving metropolis is surrounded by what seems like 10x the square mileage in surrounding suburbs. That doesn't really seem to be the case in Madrid. Most of the cities inhabitants live in apartments in the actual city and aren't forced to lie every time someone asks them where theyre from like most suburbanites are. Anyway, back to the parks. Madrid has several very large parks ( Parque del Retiro, Parque del Oeste, and Casa de Campo). One could easily get lost in all of these parks. It's strange to think that such parks exist in such a big city but then again if Spain has showed the world one thing it's that they know how to spend government bills (zing). Parque del Retiro was originally a park reserved just for royalty but as the world came into an era of increased social justice they started letting poor schlubs like me in. It's evident when you enter this park that it was the one reserved for the privileged. It's teeming with elegant statues and ornate fountains. In the heart of the park there is a lake surrounded with columns where patrons can rent rowboats. The landscaping is outstanding. The trees are cut in to forms I would have never believed possible. Its a very well maintained and beautiful park, but it draws large crowds, and that can make it become more of a circus than a park. Parque del Oeste is on the other end of the spectrum. It is also very clean and well maintained but I believe it's the result of lack of use more than anything. Regardless, it's a wonderful park. The scale of it allows one to feel as though he/she were standing in a forest, not the middle of a city. The wildlife is also interesting. The park is home to many different species of beautiful trees, bizarre squirrels, and even parrots. I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I saw one but apparently they are quite comfortable in Madrid's climate. According to an article I read a while back, the birds, originally from Argentina, were kept as house pets but annoyed their owners so much with their loud squawking that they were turned loose and are now multiplying in the parks. Their origins aside, I think theyre pretty cool.
As I said, I haven't really started the whole traveling phase of my time here yet (which will start March 25th when I head to London to see Schuf and Keegs) but I have done one day trip to Segovia with the Marquette Complutense crew. If anything, Segovia really opened my eyes to how much traveling there is to do in Spain alone. Segovia is a small mountain town about 45 minutes from Madrid. When we got off the bus the fact that there had been a change in elevation was immediately evident. It was freezing. And we were just starting essentially a day long walking tour. Awesome. I really wish I'd worn more appropriate clothing so I could have paid attention to the copious amount of fun facts our tour guide was giving us, but the frigid weather limited my attention so I could only focus on my survival (and of course the vast variety of facial expressions beth is capable of). We saw the Aqueduct in the center of the city ( stolen roman idea) and the cathedral, which has an extraordinarily ornate exterior and a hallowing interior, before lunch. Lunch is where the trip took a turn for the best. Fed up with the freezing cold, several of us decided that the only way we were going to be comfortable for the remainder of the tour was to do some serious beer drinking at lunch. So we negotiated with the guy at the doner kebab into giving us pitchers of beer for 5 euro apiece, a deal he didnt stick to, but we werent to keen on arguing with him after we'd finished our 6th pitcher. So we happily paid 7,50 a pitcher and all declared that it was easily the best lunch we ever had (except for nora, who was held up at the side of the store for a reason I can't recall). Needless to say the tour of the castle was a much better experience than the morning tours, even though it was frequently interrupted by bathroom breaks. After we finished the castle, we all got back in the bus and headed to Madrid. Despite only being a day trip, the Segovia trip got me excited about my future travels. Tomorrow, I'm heading to Toledo, Spain with a group from my program, so stay tuned for that.
Well, thats my second blog post. Happy, Lauren? Alright, well i suppose I'll be back on here when I have more interesting stories/observations. Until then, Adios

Viva Hosteles!

So at long last I've finally mustered up the will power to start a blog. My general disposition on these things would lead one to believe that I'd never start one, but I've enjoyed Schufreider's accounts and I figure at least it's one way to avoid being asked over and over again how my trip is going, have you found a place to live, how's the food, how's my Spanish, etc. So i suppose I'll start by answering that first question: How's my trip going? So far I have virtually no complaints about the Spanish lifestyle. The tapas phenomenon should be adopted globally. There really is nothing better than ordering a drink and watching the bartender fix up a plate of chorizo, tortilla espanola, or shrimp to go along with your cerveza. Naps here are not only acceptable, theyre nationally revered. Nearly every shop is closed from 2-5 Pm. My class schedule skips from 2 to 4, clearly implying it would be ludicrous to even think of scheduling a class during siesta. 22% unemployment? I wonder why. Public transportation is very good. The Metro is incredibly user friendly and very clean, though i guess I'll always prefer the El for the nostalgia and ridiculous stories. A combination of walking and public transportation is how most Spaniards get around. The traffic system doesn't make much sense. It's an orgy of roundabouts and poorly placed fountains and gardens. Needless to say I've had more than my fair share of close encounters with the front bumpers of smart cars. All in all, I'm pretty excited I'll be spending the next four months in this city.

Have I found a place to live? In short, yes. In long, o sweet Jesus I finally have an apartment. Im living in a pretty decent apartment with a great location and reasonable rent, but my voyage to this point has been rocky to say the least. After hopping off the plane and lugging my bags onto the Metro, I though the hard part was over. Sure, staying in a hostel a few days and finding a place to live would be no problem. That said, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell everyone in the States to appreciate the coherent system of addresses that you take for granted everyday. In Madrid, the two different sides of the street are numerically independent of one another (i.e 4 Monteleon and 104 Monteleon could be right across the street from one other). Also, business may or may not have addresses. So between 18 and 19 on a street there may be four or five places you think should have addresses that don't. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is I got horribly lost with my 50 odd pounds of luggage in the heart of the city. So naturally I began to complain loudly, cursing the EU and emphasizing my desire for a cheeseburger. Julie, who helped me through most of the airport confusion, is a saint for putting up with my adolescent tirade. Well finally I found it and moved my things in. The place was 12 euro a night and with good reason. The average prison cell is bigger than the rooms there and the rooms were shared between four. O well, I'd only be there for a couple days. Ha. I was there for six without seeing anything that looked remotely like an appealing apartment. And six was the limit. So I had to pack up all my stuff and move to a hostel that was quite a hike from my first one. This hostel was definitely cooler than the last for several reasons. The first being the area. It's located on one of those cliche European streets, where the buildings hug the edges of the street and you can't discern the sidewalk from the road (pictures of them are all over facebook, particularly in the albums of people who consider themselves rogue spirits). There was a nice little seafood market next door and a fruit market across the street. They also offered wifi, which saved me from the internet cafe and those terrible European keyboards. This hostel was alot more fun. Most nights one group of foreigners or another would make sangria and we'd hang out and watch soccer, after which I'd go and meet with the Marquette kids from Complutense University. After spending a grand total of nine days at this hostel I finally found a place to rent with a little more permanence and although I'm glad I lived the hostel life for a while, it's nice not to have to lock my stuff when i leave the room.

So I suppose this was my first blog post, very general and probably uninteresting, but I hope to start writing with a little more frequency and start updating it with more specific exploits. Stay tuned. Adios