I woke up later than usual and took my sweet time this morning since I didn't have my art class in the morning. I tried to book my bus tickets to Granada and Sevilla, actually, but the internet won't take my credit card, so I need to go into the station to buy them. Then I finally left for class, and all went well. I got to the university early, as usual. I went over my notes for my presentation on my news article, and a few other USAC students came over. Most were in my class, two weren't. The topic of traveling came up and I mentioned that I was going to Granada and Sevilla, and then a few asked questions about the cost. Hopefully that means they're interested in coming with me! I told them I'd be buying the bus tickets later this week.
There were so many plants from everywhere around the world! I learned the names of a lot of flowers, trees, and brush. Of course, I didn't remember a lot of them, but that's what a camera is for, wink wink. I got so many photos too, it's borderline ridiculous. I learned I have two favorite types of flowers. I love, love, love white flowers, especially the white rose, but I also really love red orange flowers. I spent two hours in the gardens, walking around and taking photos. It wasn't busy, which I loved. It was right next to Calle Atocha (one of the busier streets here in Madrid), but it was so peaceful in the gardens I didn't even notice the sound of the cars. Inside the garden there were three really cool things (outside of the rest of the plants, of course).
One was a building, which I went into. It was a museum! Even better, a contemporary art museum! I loved the pieces, for me they're more thought provoking than the other museum works I've seen, since most of those have a theme and a set meaning. This museum had more digital images, and some really awesome digital design. I took photos, since there weren't guards everywhere. There were several I really liked. One that stood out a lot was a photo of an office building taken from the outside. From here, you can see several floors and several rooms, which house desks, computers, and conference rooms. It was interesting because it showed the mundane, day after day tasks of an office. What's even cooler, though, is that it was shot later at night, so there weren't many people in the photo. It was just the lonely, hard working employees that are married to their work. I enjoyed it a lot, though I may be reading into it a bit much.
The second thing I wasn't expecting was a bonsai exhibit. This was really interesting because I don't know that I've ever seen them before in person, and certainly not so many different types! There were at least fifteen unique ones, spread out across two patios, separated by stairs. It was awesome. Since it was so much higher up than the rest of the gardens, it was a pretty decent view. However, there was the museum building blocking most of the gardens. On the second and also the third level of the patio areas were ponds! It was really cool, I love how they made all the parks here so pretty! (Probably because the majority of them were for royalty).
The last cool thing was a greenhouse building. It was weird when I entered, the jar was ajar, so I peeked in to see what it was and if I was allowed in. As I looked into the doorway, a draft caught the door, so it opened for me. It was creepy, but really amazing. I kept expecting to see snakes or other slimy creatures since it was so moist and humid, it was like a real jungle! I didn't though, which I was glad for. The only thing I saw was fish. I saw a lot of cool plants in here, and tried to get photos of the mist on the leaves, but I'm not sure how they turned out yet. I was pretty glad to leave there, it was so hot! The breeze outside was heavenly. I then slowly made my way back to the entrance, as I had class in a half an hour at the Prado museum, which was literally only a three minute walk from the gardens, since it's right next door. I arrived a half an hour early.
My timing here in Spain is really ironic. When I'm early, everyone else is late, like today, our professor wasn't there for like ten minutes (it turns out she just didn't know where most of our class was at), or for classes on campus, also like today, when my conversation professor was twenty minutes late for class! This was okay, because it gave me time to talk to people in my class, other USACers about my Granada and Sevilla trip. However, when I'm late, as has only happened about three or four times here in Spain, everyone else is actually on time for once. Last session, I was late to my culture class once, which was one of the only times it got started on time. But oh well, at least I'm early most of the time.
Class went well today again. The museum was awesome, but a bit more boring today because all the paintings we saw we had listened to her lecture about in class, so this time it was all repeated information. However, there was one painting that I really enjoyed. I don't remember the name, but it's a painting of a noble woman seated in a chair at a feast. What I enjoyed was the necklace she was wearing. It was a jeweled necklace, and the way that it was painted made it seem like it was catching the light and shining, like real jewels. It was absolutely magical, which makes me feel like an enthusiastic art teacher whose students roll their eyes at, but it's totally true. It made me feel incredibly lucky to be able to see all these works of art in person, because I never would have gotten that feeling or sight from a photograph.
After class, I stayed longer again. Patricia announced that class was over and started leading us to the exit. When we got to the stairs, I asked her where the Black Paintings by Goya were. She took me back into the hallway and pointed, and gave me directions. I then went on my way. I don't know if anyone else stayed this time. I got to see my chosen painting, "Saturn Devouring a Son". It was incredible in person, very simple, but with a lot of emotional feelings that I can talk about. Plus I can talk about the mythological story behind it, which is pretty interesting in itself. Then I can talk about how Goya painted these on the walls of his own home, never intended for others to see, as he was suffering from paranoid dementia. Then I can talk about the techniques used in the painting. I think I'll do just fine.
Patricia knew I was going to do this one, and took us by a painting that may have inspired Goya's creation by a different artist. One of the girls in our group said "gross", and turned away, unable to look at it. I chuckled inside, because Goya's version is a lot more twisted, meaning it's much more dark, and much, much more haunting, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to do it over others. I enjoy the dark, twisted subject matter, which makes the Black Paintings some of my favorite in the museum.
After I left, I headed home. I stopped into McDonald's just before the metro stop to buy a McFlurry, because I wanted ice cream and hadn't passed any shops that had it. It turned out to be pretty cost effective; it was the same price as a tiny cup in the average ice cream store, and with double the quantity. They don't have Reeses here though, so I got Oreo. I was also asked "chocolate or caramel". Apparently they put fudge or caramel on their McFlurries here. I got fudge. I saw four of the girls from my class and the other museum class here too, so either they stayed in the Prado longer or they walk really, really slowly.
I didn't want to eat my McFlurry on the metro, because that just seemed depressing. So I walked. I enjoyed the tang of my delicious frozen yogurt with crunchy Oreo chunks and warm chocolate fudge sauce as I walked in the sunlight. I was in a pretty good mood. I finished my cold treat just before el Museo de Antropología (Anthropology Museum), so I decided to go in. It turns out it's free for students, which isn't what their website says. So I got myself a ticket and went in. It was pretty interesting. The first floor was artifacts and information about the Philippines, the second held artifacts from Africa, a lot of pots, and the third held artifacts from the Americas. Most seemed to be from South America, and a bit from Canada even!
The first floor had a room that was by far the most interesting to me. It had a shelf of skulls, a mummy, and a skeleton from a "giant". The mummy was pretty creepy, since it wasn't wrapped like the Egyptian ones. You could see the browned, decayed skin hanging off the bones, and the hollow eye sockets. The skeleton was from a guy named Agustín Luengo Capilla, who was 7.7 feet tall! He joined the circus in his time, which I found interesting. The second floor was interesting too, and from the artifacts there, I have decided I will go to Africa. I don't know when, but I will go before I die. It was incredible to see all the items and cultural history there. I loved it! The third floor was interesting, and it had a Mexican altar for the Day of the Dead! After doing numerous activities in school, I finally got to see a "real one". There were sugar skulls there too, which I enjoyed, having decorated (and made) some myself.
Then I took the metro home for the last two stations, and walked back to the apartment from the Pacífico station. Then I transferred the photos from today onto my computer and went through them. There were so many! Then I uploaded them to Facebook, but only about half of what I had taken, since they're all beautiful, I'm aware that flower after flower gets a bit boring. So those on Facebook are some of my favorites.
After all that tedious work, I was called to dinner. It was late again today, but I didn't mind because I wasn't too hungry. That Oreo McFlurry sure did the trick haha. It was the string beans, potato, hard-boiled eggs again today. I'll admit, when I saw it, I was pretty excited. It's one of my favorites here, and it's so good! Pilar was in the kitchen today, and we talked a little bit. I told her I went to the Prado for class today and she spoke a bit about that, saying how it's one of the best and most well-known in the world and that she loves it. I also said I went to the botanical gardens. Then we talked about my classes, if they were hard, if I had exams tomorrow, that sort of stuff. It was a pretty boring conversation, but it counts!
Now I'm going to go shower, do my emails, and then go to bed!
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