Allí y allá

Once again, I am oh so behind. Time seems to evade me more and more. Yet the pace remains slow in general for the most part. The last few weeks are kind of mushing together, but I will illuminate some of my recent wanderings and thoughts.

1. My parents came to visit! I felt like I had a good enough handle on the city to show them around and be the translator and such. I showed them the big museos, the parques, tapas, vino(mom loved that one...), churros con chocolate etc. They met some of mis amigos, mi madre española Marcela (me as translator...divertido but tiring) and I walked them around mi barrio. Obviamente I loved having them, but it was a little rough the days following their departure. Hopefully Lani will come!

2. The last month has been a testament to the international hub that Madrid is. Virtually everyday I meet someone new, from some new part of the globe. This is probably one of the best things about my experience in Spain so far. At the Autonoma (university), where I have been attending my classes for about a month, I've met other students studying on their gap year, their "Erasmus year," on an intercambio (exchange), or convenios (like me, study abroad) from: Australia, Denmark, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Brasil, Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico (not as international, ok), Finland, Poland, Holland, China... etc. And we all speak in Spanish, for the most part. Everyone has their different skill levels, but we all understand the trials and such of communicating in a different language/culture. I've never really been an 'extranjero' (foriegner) for this prolonged period of time before, and it definitely gives me insight on what its like to be an international student anywhere. Its true, the 'natives' know who you are pretty much immediately. Even before speaking. That can be both good and bad. In any case, its quite a different experience from BU. Its quite thrilling, really.

A little sidestory: last weekend my friends Steph and Alex went to Sardinia (the itty bitty Italian island). That weekend, from various shenanigans I met Sardinians on 3 separate occasions. Nope, not just Italians. Nope, none of them were connected to each other. They are very warm people, and somehow are everywhere. Some are studying here, some were on vacation. ¿Qué locura, no?
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I am now off to see Pedro Almodóvar's latest flick, Los abrazos rotos, which is supposed to be his ode to cinema. Vamos a ver...