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18 November 2009

Espana: Day Three



Two of the four tallest towers in Madrid. They live in Plaza de Castilla and are only a few blocks from my hotel.

A street in Centro Cuidad.



The streetview from my new pals' apartment.


I've been delinquent in posting. I've been having too much fun!!! Lo siento!

Day Three was another amazing day. I slept in until 9am (!!!) and decided to blow off the "professional development" part of the day and headed directly to the Museo de Americas.

This museum is focused on the indigenous peoples of the Americas as well as the waves of immigrants that initially shaped the culture. We're not talking Irish and Slavic; we're talking slaves. The artifacts and exhibits were very amazing although it was a bit difficult trying to understand everything when I only know conversational Spanish (and even that is a stretch!). But I was able to figure things out, and I took a ton of pictures of the Mayan artifacts which then allows me to write off the cost of admission (I'm here doing "curriculum work" as well! I love my job!)

After el museo, I returned to the hotel for free lunch. There I met up with my new homeboys from NCA&T and we ventured back out. We went to Retiro first because Brian and I wanted to see it in the daylight. So spectacular. I could totally see myself living in a city like this and "retiring" to that park after a long day of work or on a Sunday afternoon.

After Retiro, we all headed to Centro Cuidad for drinks and snacks. We happened upon a Correos (post office) and I ran in to get post card stamps.
El Correos

I was actually able to ask in Spanish for what I wanted and actually had a conversation with the mail lady!! I am so impressed with me. What I am not impressed with was the cost of each stamp: .78 Euro!!! That's like $1.50 USD!! Everything here is sooooo expensive. But very well worth it.

We returned to the hotel for the Honor Wine. This is basically the closing ceremony where we all gather and socialize. To me that is the most important part on any conference. Making connections with people from around the world who have similar interests. I met a nice professor from England, a prof from Limerick, and PhD student from Australia, and some more ladies from the U.S. We all ended up paling around for the night and headed downtown to find a nice place to eat.

We found one quickly!!! The food was amazing!!! I LOVED it. We all had sangria and great food and wonderful conversation. It was a wonderful evening. After we were all sated, we broke up into two groups: the group returning to the hotel and the group going out to look for fun. Can you guess which group I was in? :)

After some bar-hopping in Old Madrid, we returned home at 2:00am. It was a good time.

I love this city!

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