final stretch

What is crazy is looking up the directions to the airbnb in Barcelona and finding that I get on the bus in the direction of Metro Zona Universitaria and get off at Calle Aribau. Touché, Miz Laforet, you already know I'm on a working holiday, what else do you want from me this weekend...


I have my usual procrastination problems again. Which, to be fair, has not be completely unpleasant and has gotten me some shopping done (chores in Spain, man) including the time I went to CASA HERNANZ, a really beautiful old-school espadrille shop near the Plaza Mayor. I am wearing a pair of flat ones that I bought for 11.75€ from the lady who is probably still grumpy about having to search high and low for dark red for Miss Bigfoot. Considering my suede fetish, I might go back and clear them out. SUEDE NOW, DAMELO.

A bittersweet last art history class this morning. I love this professor. She's quite known for her work on feminist art. But what I loved most about this class was how she made contemporary art less flakey and I think it deserves more respect from popular culture. It suffers from being too self-referential most of the time, which is a shame. I am still in a bad mood from missing two literature classes in a row this week (a very frustrating thing for me is to run into MTA Syndrome wherever I go), but that's another good one too. Despite what I usually say I might mention that the Autonoma is in fact a great university and I would recommend it to anyone thinking about Spain for whatever reason.

I'm really dead from study abroad. I even sound dead. I'm down in a valley. WAKE UP.

Get Free (Bonde do Role remix)

Good. Now that everyone's awake, I'll leave you for some well-deserved beach time and dream of the summer and senioor yeaaar. And you!

And Diplo!

芝麻糊

源記糖水 

每次來到源記媽媽都會考考我個中文. 讀來讀去不如叫個芝麻糊送蛋糕! 而家唔駛講源記芝麻糊了(上次大概兩年前), 我有三個月沒去飲茶, 感覺有點怪怪的...

我帶來西班牙的連續劇原來是無用的, 因為我該死的電腦已經不與我合作了.

親愛的香港市民, 千祈唔好來西班牙住. 呢度的老土傻佬會當你死窮鬼,當你無到. 玩幾日就算了...

"To Build a Home" (Cinematic Orchestra, 2007)


Hmm there's a rumor going around (i.e. I read this in the course catalog) about 
Intro to Cantonese being offered in the Spring. Every cool person's gonna take it!

mas que hortera

...y peor que perezosa.

not to do

J. Crew don't do this to me! Don't introduce free world-wide duty-free shipping around the world. Christ, just don't do it. I have my Art History presentation on Nam June Paik and so many little essays due Monday. And it's not just my workload. NJP is a cool dude.

It's just that I've gone a bit far with on the shopping front. It is All Quiet on the Western Front indeed, mostly because of my losing battles against instant gratification. For $ conservation purposes I've even given up da Williams juice. See you at the Herring x

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Or Positano. Who am I kidding.

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And yet I still feel deprived. My favorite things to shop for are dresses (surprising, yes) and more than graduation--or anything really--I look forward to Senior Week. I can't wait to bust out the dresses I've accumulated over the years and rarely worn (it's Williams...) and see the fellas in shirts and ties and jackets. And I don't want to graduate anyway, I don't know why I even mentioned that...

Oh right, I didn't explain why I feel deprived. It's because in Spain the leather and suede is very nice but I'm not looking for a leather dress or anything. I'm also not trying to look like an Urban Outfitters / Anthropologie catalog, which is the scene here in Madrid. It is all about the cult of different. And I did just make that term up, and I hope you understand what I want to say. The cult of different is what Urban Outfitters sells, except in Spain UO is replaced by Stradivarius, Bershka, Esfera, etc. Zara I can tolerate on some days because it can get quite nice.

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"Common People" (Pulp, 1995)

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Today I woke up at 1:30pm because it is a Friday and that means it's the weekend already. So much fun. I'm going to another flamenco show tonight! 

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Since coming back to Madrid I think my Spanish has sprouted a bit. Hey, the long absence from "vale" was a little sad! Plus, experiments in French and Italian have given me the extra motivation to just go for it while I'm in Spain.

Speaking of France and Italy (but I'm really just looking at you, Italy), I already feel less disgusting from my Semana Santa! The end to the food coma is near, I think, if only barely...

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Yesterday I found out the one of the porteros is a Jehovah's Witness! He is the nice one who actually looks Spanish. I didn't know JWs existed in Spain. The other chubby portero is not nice. I think my host brother and his friends bullied one of them and got in trouble on Wednesday. Regardless of eleven-year-old politics/parenting, I hope it was the chubby.

Dazey Miller

After my lovely time in Paris I spent a delicious week in Rome. City of pasta and pizza and gelato. Favorite restaurant: Alfredo e Ada! Favorite gelateria: San Crispino! My artichoke lasagna at AeA was just the best meal I've had in a long long time, probably since I've been in Europe. And oh man! I would say everything is amazing at S.Crispino, but I've honestly only tried Honey, Basil, Whiskey, and Ginger Cinnamon...Oh my fatty boom boom suffers from the trip to Engorgement City.

Roma is muy muy distinta. Ademas de ser la capital de comida barata y buena, es famosa por el Coloseo y varias ruinas antiguas. I felt every minute very bad for my ignorance of Italian history, or even frankly any working knowledge of Rome. Atop the Musei Capitolini and again at the Parco Gianicolo, I saw breathtaking views of the city. But without knowing how to place myself or my surroundings, I felt only superficially engaged with its character.Then again, I could always give myself a second try after some research!

Gull visit at the Musei Capitolini

At times I was definitely also guilty of taking advantage of the city: the tram/bus system only nominally costs money (or as Em puts it, "works on the honor system") and the museums cost me almost nothing because of my Art History papers. That sure was one week where I was very very glad to be a student at the UAM's Facultad de Filosofia y Letras.

Detail of the Sistine Chapel

Going to Easter Mass at St. Peter's Square was ridiculously fun and crazy. I was extremely lucky to come by a ticket at the last minute on Sunday morning and the Mass really made me feel thankful for my super friends and good fortune. I know nothing about churches and Jesus and Catholicism, but it was nice to be at a rite that reminds the people to be good to one another and celebrate life. Maybe someone might later confirm this for me, but that's what I always blindly assume religion is about. Seeing the Pope was also muy loco and I am still in awe that I had really gone on a world-famous pilgrimage of sorts and saw with my own eyes such a grand figure of authority. Like Jaliz says, this should be on everyone's bucket list.

Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square

Happy Sunday crowd

Nevermind not waiting two hours in line to see the inside of St. Peter's Basilica (which is still a shame), I am more content having seen the ultimate Pascua.

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Well now that I'm back to the same old in Madrid, I figure I should get more actual work done. I realized today that I have an "exam" tomorrow in my internship class. This is the class where Miss Cristina tells us that Italian olive oil is Spanish olive oil with an Italian sticker and that the Spanish are more hardworking than the Americans. While I leave this debate to other more qualified ladies and gentlemen, enjoy my favorite animal video of the week. I won't hammer on about my work tonight because I really don't know what my assignments are. x

BONE PUGZ from Bone Pugz on Vimeo.

Gene Kelly

Today I'm back in Madrid after Semana Santa! It's great to be "home" after 11 days of constant planning and street navigation. I have also apparently come back to Spain with some color! (red.)

Montmartre

Paris was beautiful! I could see myself coming back over and over again. It might be a combination of things. Great museums. Fashion everywhere. It's like a switch went off in my brain the moment Jwow and I stepped off the bus. Oddly enough, I feel comfortable and welcome in Paris, despite what everyone's told me of French people. One girl saw that I didn't understand her directions to the Catacombes and went out of her way to walk us over and point to the right building! The people I met were very smiley and helpful and not snobbish at all when I revealed my nonexistent French skills. Every moment of every day was just right in Paris, from wandering up and down the labyrinthine streets to window shopping to eating Vietnamese food (!). Paris and I said our bittersweet au revoirs with a surprise upgrade on my Easyjet flight out. A very smooth trip indeed.

There's also the question of race. In Paris I didn't expect to feel so normal, but this became my break from the perpetual stares I get everywhere in Spain. I was one in a million wonky Asians walking around and nobody interrogated me about where I come from for once! It felt like New York. A real city. Paris is another New York City. It just feels like home.

The Pantheon

But of course I wouldn't know Paris as a home, seeing as I was only there for four days. Jaliz and I plowed RIGHT through my babycity. We were supertourists. And good girls (Laduree only once; favorites are vanilla, caramel, and pistachio). More updates on Semana Santa later, I am le tired.