I ate octopus on Sunday.

my life is average

I went to the zoo today, and it was really tight.

I wish I could put up samples of all of the cool photos I took, but that would be a memory overload. We saw a dolphin show, as well as some sea lions balancing basketballs on their noses and birds of prey flying real fast.

The aquarium was pretty sweet too. I know know, definitively, how to distinguish between a male and a female shark (tiburon en espanol) and I am so excited about that right now.

Life is good; Spain is beautiful; spring is blossoming; what more could a young lad ask for?

I love my life.

-Walter

Soccer Game last night

So,

I am not sure if all Americans have a great idea about what soccer (futbol) means to Europeans, and especially Spaniards, but last night I found out.

A bunch of Stanford peeps went to an Irish Pub to watch "el clasico", which is essentially the biggest futbol match of the year-- yep, you guessed it... Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona.

So much beer, so many tears... Barcelona destroyed Madrid.

And that basically ruined the social aspect of our Saturday night. Had Madrid won, the plaza del dos de mayo would have been hopping, seeing as yesterday was the Madrid Community Day w/ tons of festivals, concerts, etc.

But last night everyone was just sad b/c Madrid lost the game to Barcelona. BUT I did buy a sweet jersey, so I feel slightly better about that.

-Walter

way overdue post

yo,

i can attest to the fact that i have found a rhythm in madrid because i can never find time to keep up with this blog!

anyway, i'll try to fill you in on stuff that's happened recently. first things first, i am writing this blog post from a Starbucks close to my senora's house... this reflects the fact that fortune 500 companies really do have worldwide influence.

i will be going for churros and chocolate later tonight, which is one of the infamous treats of madrid.

also getting excited for the release of x-men (here called hombres equis), seeing as hugh jackman is my man crush. but seriously, as a big fan of x-men in general, i can't wait to see this film in spanish w/o subtitles.

i am finally starting to feel the quarter coming down on me, and i say that lightly because we still don't have that much work at all and it still feels like an all-expenses-paid vacation. no complaints!

ok that's all for now, i will write more frequently from here on out!

paz,
Retlaw (Walter backwards)

Vamos a Segovia este domingo!

Hello all,

So I just bought a ticket to Segovia for this upcoming weekend. Pretty excited about that, and here is an informative excerpt about Segovia:

"Segovia is the perfect day trip from Madrid. Only 45 miles northeast of Madrid, it is full of history and interesting architecture. Its 2000 year old Roman aqueduct, its fairytale castle, and its 14th century cathedral make it one of the must-see cities in Spain."

http://www.tripadvisor.com/GoListDetail-i143-Segovia_Perfect_Day_Trip_from_Madrid.html

Today has been a pretty good day. I found out that Snickers in Spain is way different from Snickers in the U.S., which is really too bad, because I like it in the states. Here it just tastes a little bit too peanutty.

Also the weather sucks today-- we were going to go to the Retiro for some futbol (soccer in Spanish), but it's overcast and chilly. BUT it's never too cloudy for coffee, so yeah...

I'll try to have at least one other post before we head out to Segovia this Sunday.

Be easy,
Walter

AND THIS IS WHY I WENT TO SPAIN...

El Dia antes de la Pascua

So..........

That last post was a huge joke. I'm sure that there are some of you out there who are now scared shitless that the rest of my blog will be in Spanish. Lucky for you, that is not the case...

I was just in a "Spanish frame-of-mind." Bahahahahahahaaaaaa.

As mom would have wanted me to do, this morning I went to the local library and acquired a library card. It is ~ 2 metro stops away, so not too far for a mid-afternoon study sesh. I did have a good time looking over at the other Spanish students desks and noted that one of them was doing some form of Calculus (looked like u du substitutions). Another was studying fundamental economic principles. I am still happy I went to school in America ;)

Going to hit up the gym today, went to Toledo yesterday, life is a whirlwind.

But isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

Vaya con Dios!

La Procesion

Hola otra vez,

Hoy fue un dia muy emocionado. Fui al gimnasio por la manana por la primera vez. Es decir, acabo de unirme con los gimnasios municipales de Madrid, y hoy tuve la oportunidad de levantar pesas.

Tambien un grupo de nosotros que quedamos en Madrid fuimos al Retiro un rato, para jugar al volibol y comer meriendas. Que preciosa con los barcos en el estanque!

Ademas, por ser Semana Santa, fuimos a una procesion cerca del Plaza Mayor. Habia demasiada gente aqui, al punto de que casi no pudimos respirar. Al fin y al cabo, volvimos vivos a nuestras casas respetadas.

Vamos a ver... el plan para manana es ir a Toledo en el Renfe. Espero que todo vaya bien!

Nos vemos.

Miercoles

Hola chicos,

Just another update. Yesterday I went with Christine Platt (a good friend of mine for a long time) to the main park in Madrid, known affectionately as El Parque Retiro. Long story short, it was tight.

There is a sweet lake in the middle of the Retiro, where tourists as well as native madrileños have been known to take out rowboats for boatrides across the lake.

I´m about to go to the Prado, one of the (if not the) biggest art museums in the city. Should be excellent...

More updates to come after that. And last thing, I found a gym today that I´m going to start swimming and lifting weights at. Should be comparable to the Iron Gym, but we´ll see...

Peace!

El Domingo!

Hello beautiful people of the Earth; I welcome you to join me as I journey through the bowels of the magical city that is Madrid, ES.

Let's go! Today is my first day with this blog. I am super excited, because it has taken a lot of energy for me to get off my lazy butt and get this thing up and running. But I am excited to finally have a place to vent my ideas to the rest of the world.

Well I'll get right into it. Today marks about the 1st cumulative week we have been in Spain with the Stanford Program. I LOVE IT. My host family is tight (consists of Pilar, Belen, & Javier), the peeps here are sweet, the food is incredible, so yeah life is pretty good for the average Spaniard.

We woke up this morning and went shopping in El Rastro, which is a huge shopping bazaar that opens every 1st Sunday of the month, hence today. Didn't buy anything, but I did get to sit down at a local cafe with some Stanford peeps to have some coffee. We had fun "people-watching."

I also took the Metro into Sol today and tried to go get my flamenco shoes -- so that was an epic failure. But it's okay, b/c i already have an indiana jones hat. NBD.

Okay that's all for now peeps. Stay tuned for more in the near future. Peace!