Seeing The Real You At Last

While in the Museo del Prado this weekend, we were asked to view Velásquez’s famous painting, “Las Meninas,” from different perspectives so that we could note how different the same piece of artwork looked from thirty feet away as compared to when we were standing right in front of it.  As I stared at the painting from one side of the room and began my slow journey towards the wall on which the painting hangs, I watched the dimensions of the painting seem to magically transform before my eyes, and I realized just how different something can look when you are seeing it from a distance.

"Las Meninas" por Diego Velázquez

My friends and I started out the week back in Foster’s Hollywood Restaurant, happily binge-eating American food and screaming over the fact that the restaurant had guacamole and spicy mustard.  We are coming down from the initial culture-shock phase of studying abroad and rounding the corner on the phase wherein we begin longing for the daily norms of the States, and our feast of nachos, chicken sandwiches and ribs definitely made us feel better as a mid-week treat.

Kelsey and I blissfully eating our chicken sandwiches

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy my American meal, but over the weekend I started thinking more about the connotations of food and eating in the United States (as I am working on a project comparing the eating habits in the States to those of Spain), and I made a list about a mile long of all the “problems” (I am hesitant to use this word, as my theatre professor at USC has all but banished it from my vocabulary, but that conversation is for another day) the United States has regarding food and nutrition.  Michelle Obama has launched a national crusade to reduce childhood obesity from 20% to 5% by 2030, while her husband is working simultaneously to end childhood hunger by 2015.  Living in Los Angeles, I see families who cannot afford anything but fast food, who live just a few blocks from Hollywood’s elite whose diet is either mostly organic and full of nutrients, or, for vanity’s sake, consisting solely of cranberry juice and maple syrup.

In Spain, food is associated with other positive activities, like relaxing for a two-hour lunch with your friends while enjoying a glass of wine.  The food is all prepared fresh, and the portion sizes fill you but do not push you into a food coma. No one skips desert here, there is no shame in eating everything you are served.  Also, there are almost no fast food joints in the area.  Despite the fact that most of the food in Bilbao makes my stomach churn, I can still see all the healthy and happy things food is associated with in Spain, and, from far away, I can start to see the disaster that is the American food system.

After our mid-week American fix, my entire program (about sixty kids) took off early on Friday morning to spend the weekend in Madrid.  After 5 hours on a bus, we arrived in Madrid and thus began the busiest three days of my life.  Being a tourist is hard work!  Fortunately, my friends and I embraced it with open arms.  With cameras in our hands and sneakers on our feet, we began our sightseeing adventures. I found Madrid to be absolutely beautiful.  In talking to my friends in the program, it sounds like I was by far the biggest fan of the city.  My friends seemed to be somewhat unimpressed with Madrid, but I could not stop smiling the whole time we were there.  It is possible that Madrid has an energy about it that is reminiscent of that of Los Angeles, and the comfort of that feeling is what was making me so happy.  Whatever it was, I had a fantastic time.

El Palacio Real

On Friday, we visited El Palacio Real as well as La Plaza Mayor and the Puerta del Sol.  El Palacio Real looked like a movie set and its decorations looked like props –I could not believe it was a real building, and that the royal family used to actually live there up until about thirty five years ago.  I also loved our free time in Madrid, because my girlfriends and I never tired of wandering through every typical tourist shop we could find.  However, the first question we asked when were released for our free time –the most important question we asked the entire weekend –and what I have been waiting to ask for three and a half weeks was: “¿¿¿¿DONDE ESTA EL STARBUCKS????”  My skinny caramel macchiato almost reduced me to tears. I actually screamed when they called my name to collect my drink.  There are some things about America that simply can’t be beat.

Jen and I in front of a cathedral in Madrid, across from El Palacio Real

One of the happiest moments of my life 

A bunch of happy girls with $6.00 lattes

On Saturday, we took a day trip to the absolutely beautiful city of Toledo, which everyone in the program agreed is one of the most gorgeous and unique places we have ever seen.  The difference between Madrid and Toledo is like night and day, with Toledo being much smaller, much older, and much more distinctively beautiful.  We visited La Catedral de Toledo, a fantastic, huge, gothic building, before eating lunch in the city and heading back to Madrid. 

Toledo

Cathedral in Toledo

Kelsey, Emily,  Jen and I in front of the Cathedral

Things I learned this weekend: I am one of the least photogenic people on Earth.

On Sunday, our last day in Madrid, we visited the Prado Museum, where we fortunately had an art professor as our guide.  She weaved in and out of the seemingly endless number of rooms, describing in detail only the most well-known masterpieces, because with over 3,000 paintings in the museum, she told us it would take months to fully explore the building, and we only had about an hour.  After the visit, my girlfriends and I sprinted to one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen to soak up our last thirty minutes in the city.  I could have spent all day in that park and been 100% happy. 

Impromptu photo-shoot in the park

I had been on such a high all weekend that I have to say I felt a little sad coming back to Bilbao.  However, being away for three days made me realize that I was calling Bilbao “home” for the first time, even if I was saying, “I don’t want to go home yet.”  From far away, Bilbao looks like  a snowglobe: it is very pretty, and everyone inside is happy, safe, and enclosed in a perfect little community.  When I am inside Bilbao, with my blonde hair and overall awkward demeanor, I do not always feel like I belong in the snowglobe, which is what I realized when I left it for a few days.  However, I also came to the realization that I am so lucky to be studying in a city that is so uniquely true to itself, so fully Basque, and so proud of its customs.  For example, Bilbao’s soccer team is the only team in the league that requires all of its players to be from Bilbao in order to play.  While most other teams draft players from all over, Bilbao’s team is made up solely of residents of Bilbao, and thus the pride of belonging to the Basque Country is that much stronger.

Even though Madrid is beautiful and I loved its energy, diversity, and openness, it is not uniquely Spanish.  I am happy to be in a community that is so tight-knit, even though I feel on the outskirts of it sometimes.  I’ll claw my way in eventually.  I don’t give up that easily.  Tomorrow, I will have been here for one month (whaaat?!), and time is starting to fly by, so I guess I have to get a move on! 

This past week was the most fun week that I have had yet.  Minor setbacks include finding myself with my two girlfriends (all three of us in mini-skirts) completely lost in the messy underground maze that is the Madrid Metro system as the clock approached midnight.  Not wanting to appear as completely lost and vulnerable as we were, we decided to “play it cool,” casually get off at a random stop, casually scrutinize the map of the Metro lines, and then casually meander over to the other side of the station and casually hop on a train going in the other direction.  We had to do that about three times, and 90 minutes later we successfully arrived at the bar that was located about 20 minutes from our starting point.  Regardless, minor victories include finally learning to use the camera that was given to me as my high school graduation present, and major victories include being fortunate enough to find myself in places worthy of photographing because they were too beautiful to ever want to forget.  I had such an amazing time exploring two new cities, and I cannot wait for my next trip!

Woopsie!

Adios, Madrid!