Madrid, Carnaval, the works

So among the other things I haven't yet recorded on this thing,--I went to Madrid with the CIEE clan.

I saw the famous statue of Quijote and Sancho which holds extra special meaning for me, given my Quijote "studies."  I was cast in the show "Man of La Mancha" this summer.  (I couldn't accept the part but it sparked my interest in Don Quijote.)  And now I take a philosophy class that uses the story of Don Quijote as a base.  I know, it sounds like a stretch, but you can actually find rather profound themes that reflect Kierkegaard's theories on existence. (You can also pick a bit further to reveal the resurrection of Jesus through Quijote if you go the dogmatic Christian route as my professor has chosen.)

But in Madrid, I visited the Prado art museum.  I was too tired to listen to the tour guide and couldn't immerse in the art work as I would have liked, but a particular painting absolutely inspired me.  It was just an incredible painting--it was categorized among Greek artwork-a religious painting, but the colors, the hand gestures, something just got me--I could feel the artist--and this is absolutely not like me with respect to artwork.  Usually I just don't get it.  But I got it.

I ate yummy tapas and was served delicious almond wine for free in a restaurant with my friend Lana.  It is nice to be a woman.

The rest of the trip just wasn't that eventful--oh-oh wait--our program designed a "scavenger hunt" in a park.  My group won--because we were with the girl from Mexico (I love Connie) who could perfectly understand all of the clues.  Thanks to her, we now get a Friday off from school--the prize.

                                         Carnaval

The Spaniards know how to party.  They have a day--more like a week where they recognize all the saints.  It's a "religious" holiday--much in the same way Mardi Gras is a "sacred" holiday for the Catholics in the states.  So everybody was dressed up during these days.  On a Tuesday night--the biggest night, I was invited to go to Sitges--a beautiful city by the beach outside of Barcelona--with a group of friends at my university (Universitat Pompeu Fabra.)  It was a huge group of people and I met a number of new friends (all Spanish-speaking, no Americans here, accept for the girl Shoshana that I invited to go with me.

The hour-long bus ride out there was insane.  All of us dressed up as something different, all of us singing (or trying to act like we know the words) to traditional Carnaval songs.

Sitges was incredible, this tiny little city that was like walking through a painting, and an amazing beach.  Just before the beginnings of the sand on the beach was a huge area with palm trees and rocks.  Here, there was a huge gorgeous parade and thousands of people.  But we weren't scrunched together or anything.  There was just a vast expanse of land by the beach.  And it wasn't like a sketchy club with predators everywhere.  It was actually somewhat like a Shabbat or Purim celebration where people are drunk, but safely so.

It was a great time--but I had no intention of taking a 5am bus back to Barcelona.  So I left everybody a few hours earlier.  Fighting my way through about 100 people for 20 available seats was a chore.  But I'm fiesty--when I want something--I shove (in this case.)  So I was home at 4am--a true accomplishment--while most people, due to bus complications and such didn't make it back to Barcelona until 8am or so--some as late as 11am.  Haha suckas.