Thursday, January 31 // Jueves, 31 de enero
ENGLISH
The last day of orientation was comfortable. Our group has been sitting in the same seats each day for orientation, so it will be interesting to see what our new classes do to these arrangements.
We had the opportunity to ask questions about culture, language, or anything today, which was a great way to open up the conversation and get some answers. Our profesora also told us about the history of La Plaza de España (Spain Square) and Parque de María Luísa because we were to visit these places later in the day.
La Plaza was created for the Ibero-American exhibition in 1929, which showcased architecture and industry of south American countries, Spain, and Portugal. Each country had a pavilion to show off its achievements, and La Plaza was the pavilion of Spain, hence its name. The architect, Aníbal González Álvarez-Ossorio, was very intentional with his design, creating a semi-circle shape with "arms" pointing towards the river, which was the route to America. This represents Spain embracing America. In addition, there are 48 small pavilions to represent each province in Spain; they all have gorgeous and intricate ceramic work and paintings representing historically significant events in that specific province.
María Luísa Park lies next to La Plaza de España and is absolutely gorgeous. I did not get to do as much exploring as I would have liked to there, but I will have plenty of time to come back. I am still shocked that there are so many orange trees and palm trees! Here is where I saw a monk parakeet perched in a tree, pictured below.
We also ventured to La Plaza de las Palomas (Pigeon Square) where we got to feed a large group of pigeons. The birds were so eager to eat the food that they flew onto us and hung out all over our arms, shoulders, and even our heads.
Later in the day, I took my first siesta of the trip! It was much needed and allowed me to recharge a bit.
This month is huge for las rebajas (sales) in the area - and they end this weekend - so naturally I had to check them out. My roommate and I found some stores with great prices and I ended up buying a few things! My best finds were slippers for two euros (for the cold apartment floor) and jeans for eight euros (from Pull & Bear - what a STEAL!).
The day came to a close with gelato - I had mango and cheesecake - under Las Setas. I'm not sure if the monument is more astounding during the day or the night. We also walked to a bar close to our house and I tried octopus for the first time! It tasted similar to bacon but it was more chewy. Scroll down my blog further to check out my videos, including one of a street guitarist playing while we sat outside drinking and munching. What a beautiful night.
Stay tuned for an early (hopefully) blog tomorrow, as I have some thoughts on my mind that must be published! :)
