My last two weeks in Madrid were a whirlwind, a movie literally on fast forward at like x34 speed and I was doing my best to keep up. I had a midterm in every class that was either a test or project or both combined. So all my work and studying kept me from venturing out too late or causing a ruckus in the streets of Madrid. I did however finally make it to the Prado museum (which is free every night from 6-8) with Sonya and we spent three evenings wandering around and drooling over the incredible skill of the artists within.
The Prado has quite an extensive collection of the 13th-17th century paintings from Flemish, Italian, Spanish, German, and English styles. I never thought I would be able to determine the differences between each, but once you look at enough within a short period of time and all together in the same area the differences are clear. It is first important to note that all painters of this time were interested in depicting the life of Christ. Whether it was the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the Birth or the passion, I would guess every single painter had completed some work that was religiously inspired. To me its beautiful not only because of my Christian background but because depicting something you have never seen before is the hardest and it is a true creation of the imagination of that painter. Also, when you have 100 paintings of the Crucifixion it gives the opportunity to begin to interpret what the artist was thinking and what techniques he used.
The Flemish style of painting is very unique, because for me, it is the farthest from reality. Typically almond shaped faces with very full cheeks and tiny facial attributes seem like the comics of the time. Not to say they look ridiculous, just very different, and the second attribute is that they are very angelic like. The subjects in the paintings are all very pale and angelic whereas those attributes are typically saved for angels or other supernatural elements in other styles. Despite the different take on reality, I did enjoy Flemish painting, especially one in particular called “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. This was painted on a three-fold panel of wood and depicts the earthly temptations that man comes in contact with. There are literally hundreds of figures in this painting and creatures that I find absolutely amazing and creative. You must look it up online.
This week I also experienced when public transportation fails you are basically screwed. Sonya and I take three trains every morning to get to school, and the second train, line 6 is a joke. Well they are doing construction on it but basically it runs when it wants to and is never on time. So this particular morning we get to line 6, wait for 20 min then someone comes on over the loud speaker. All of a sudden the masses are making a frantic run for the door and out of the metro. Sonya and I are dumbstruck and have no idea what is going on because I could not understand what the heck the lady was saying. So I ask a nice lady next to me and she says the train is not coming for another 30 min…well that sucks because our class starts in 30 min. Luckily we were able to call USAC offices and they laughed that it wasn’t a big deal and they would tell our teacher. What is hysterical is that there are only 4 girls in my class, one was out that day for a hurt ankle so it was the one girl with our teacher for 45 min till Sonya and I strolled in.
Speaking of my teacher, he showed us a Spanish film called “All About My Mother” which was part of Sundance Film Festival, I think, but at any rate was really good…I suggest it to everyone who likes crazy stories especially ones that include transgender and dry humor. It was a fantastic story, but to be quite honest I was quite uncomfortable watching it with my teacher…well he is young so I guess it wasn’t a big deal, but there were many sexual references and heres the kicker…he kept translating some of these words and references into English! Hahah oh man, this teacher is so funny, first of all because every time he says something in English his voice drops as if he’s afraid to speak English, and then he saying these words it was like the funniest thing I have ever seen. Anyway, good movie nonetheless…
I took some friends of mine here to a Greek restaurant that I found a review for from the New York Times, called Delfos. Oh man it was soooooo good. To start we had hummus, feta, aubergine paste, roe paste, and three more with warm pita bread and dolmades. Then we split some chicken souvlaki and the grand finale was a huge plate completely covered of sweets. Baklava, galactobureko, rum cake, yogurht with honey and a few others. There was enough for each of us to have at least 4 pieices, it was amazing. Needless too say, my friends are hooked and want to come to Reno for the Greek festival. The waiter there also spoke Greek and it was fun to switch between Greek, Spanish and English depending on what words I knew the best. Which I have a new appreciation for people who are fluent in more than one language because I have had Spanish in my brain 24/7 for the past 3 weeks and it was sooo hard to remember the Greek words. I believe the point of fluency comes from being able to switch between languages without difficulty and without forgetting the words. Some day ill get there!
more to come!
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