On Tuesday Gabriel took Jess, Katie, and I to the campus for the first time. Getting to Autonoma requires switching from the metro to a more commuter-rail type of train line. The university claims to be situated in Madrid but I became skeptical as our train chugged its way through farmland and pastures with wandering horses. As we stepped out of the station upon our arrival my heart sunk even further. If there existed an award for ugliest university campus, Autonoma would be the proud recipient. My eyes darted around in a desperate search for any sign of Ionic columns or twinkle lights but there were none to be found, and in came an intense longing for Columbia's campus. In short, Autonoma looks like a poorly constructed public school from 1950. The buildings are dreary gray cubes, the signs do not match, and what perhaps at one point used to be patches of grass have turned to dirt. Painfully unfashionable students smoke in the hallways, the windows have apparently never been touched with windex, and one must constantly go up and down small staircases (initially designed so that students could not make a quick escape from police during the Francoist dictatorship). In order to choose our classes, we had to approach a bulletin board that had lists of available classes. Part of me wanted to find my way to the University President's office so that I could break the news that it is no longer 1920 and enlighten him with talk of the capability to have ::gasp:: online registration. I would elaborate more but I trust that you get the picture, and I wouldn't want you to catch my wave of nausea that has resulted simply from speaking of the demon campus. I start attending my two classes this week and will keep you updated.
Despite Autonoma's existence, my week has been a good one. On Wednesday my art history class had our first trip to the Prado in which we listened to Selma's attempt to "get us acquainted" with the museum. That night I went to the "cave bar" with my hermanas and some other people from my program. The inside looks like the inside of a cave and their signature drink, Panther Milk, includes something milky that flows out of a stalactite on the ceiling. It's yummy, I swear. I walked all over on Thursday and discovered a really neat Moroccan store that smelled like dead goats. Jess and I went to see a new Picasso exhibit at the Reina Sofia on Friday and had our first Europen gelato and afterwards I made heart shaped ginger break cookies despite some baking obstacles (lack of measuring cups, cookie sheets, and a real oven). Today I got out of bed to eat and then promptly found my way under covers again where I watched Grey's Anatomy and skyped with Robbie and Maya. My first completely lazy day in Madrid and I'm okay with it. After an busy night out last night, Jess and I are going to take it easy tonight and do dinner and a movie. Enough mindless rambling, Shamoo needs to be cuddled.
this is the oven i will attempt to bake with...please notice that i made a cookie sheet out of tin foil and pity me | gelato!
hermana love | jess sniffed out some chips hiding in the kitchen of Dubliner's
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