"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