Now that I have come back from my last excursion and I’m done with my second round of tests, the end of the semester is in sight. This week, then two more, and then I am back in the states, which is slightly scary to think about. My life is about to be turned upside down yet again, but thankfully, there are a couple things to look up to until then. Firstly, my parents are coming this Wednesday!! So they will see where I have been living for the past 4 months as well as explore Europe for the first time themselves! So lets get into it!
School
So, since tests are done, now I have to finish the lab portions of the class for all my classes. For Biomechanics, that means finishing a report, and for Biotransport, that means finishing two lab reports. However, since Panth didn’t listen and basically finished the simulations for the Biomechanics lab, we thought of an interesting way to finish the lab reports. I basically did the same thing with the Biotransport lab, so he does the Biomechanics lab and I do the Biotransport labs, and we call it even. This worked out amazingly since he really knew about the simulations for Biomechanics and I knew about the simulations for Biotransport, and neither of us wanted to do the other one since we didn’t know that much about it, so it worked out. But we were able to get it done way faster and finish it before my parents came, so I could spend the most time with them and not worry about school. They were coming on Wednesday, so I would have to go to the airport before class then, but I didn’t mind.
Other than that, classes were normal. Except, since technically this was the last week of school, all of my classes were moving into review, except for Biomechanics. We were still learning new material, which really annoyed me, since I knew he wanted to keep going with new material the following week, but our final is 4 days after our last class. So, being as mad as I am about the class and feeling hopeless that I would even receive a C in the class, I send him a very elaborate email asking him for more time per question. He responds the next morning to my elaborate email saying “Your concerns have been noted.” So basically, I am screwed when it comes to passing this class, despite busting my butt to even get this far. Here is my streak on Snapchat that I left the same morning I got the response.
Hopefully, he says that and actually changes, but I’m doubtful of that.
Parents Come to Madrid!!
Light at the end of the tunnel this week was the fact that my parents were coming! I was excited to show them where I have been living for the past 4 months because this is also their first time seeing Europe. So I had a list of things for us to do for the week they were here, and we did a decent amount of it! But lets go in chronological order of what we did, cause it helps me make this flow better.
So Wednesday morning comes and I get up with eagerness but also with exhaustion. These past couple of days, from Monday back through Friday, have been non-stop go go go, and I am still trying to catch up. So spending one of my rest days, when I don’t need to get up as early, going to the airport when I don’t even have a flight to catch is a little weird, but in this case, totally worth it. I get there a little early and make a cute sign for my parents in my rocketbook, and then wait. Their flight got delayed a little bit, but after a little extra waiting, they come through the terminal doors. They finally landed!!
We take the metro, and when we were buying their temporary metro card, I had the chance to demonstrate my new Spanish knowledge. I love being able to understand and communicate in a totally new language. I always thought that being bilingual was something I could never become, and after 4 short months here, I am pretty much conversational in it, so it feels good to be able to show my parents something I have learned. So we go drop their bags off at the hotel, and then basically after that, it was time for me to go to school!! So while I was at school, my parents found a cafe, got some money, and explored the local area. Did I mention that their hotel is also two streets down from me?? Cause yea, that is also a thing. I didn’t see them much Wednesday and Thursday due to school and cause after school I was too dead to do much of anything, so we talked and chilled, and it felt good just to feel a little of home while I’m stressing my ass out over Biomechanics.
However, once Friday came around, we were all ready to explore!! Friday I don’t normally have classes, but it had the added benefit of also being a holiday. We started the day off with introducing my parents to Zaida and David, which was super fun! We exchanged gifts, I showed my parents all the things I bought on my travels, and had very nice banter. After about 2 hours of that, we finally left the house to explore the city some more.
We started with the Reina Sofia, the huge contemporary art museum literally 2 minutes from my house (like why havent i gone before this, it confuses me). Super cool museum, and it was free that day!! I get in free anyway because I’m a student, but now my parents didn’t have to pay for anything, and that was super nice. Lots of cool art pieces, including pieces from Salvador Dali and Picasso’s Guernica, which I saw first in middle school Spanish class, and now I was seeing it for real. Super cool experience. Sadly, I couldn’t take pictures of Guernica, but here is a painting by Salvador Dali.
After the Reina Sofia, we made our way down to Sol, however that was the wrong move to take, as apparently everyone in Madrid had the same idea of going to Sol on this Friday holiday. It was packed shoulder to shoulder, and it took us about 20 minutes to cross Sol in all that madness. But at least the lights were really beautiful!!
We eat at a tapas bar for dinner since my plan to eat at the roof of Corte Ingles didn’t go according to plan and all of us were just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people present. So after looking for a decent place to eat that wasn’t overly expensive, we found a tapas bar and ate some stuff there. After that, we went to a cafe and enjoyed some coffee and croissants, then went separate ways to prepare for the big event tomorrow: a Real Madrid Futbol Game!!
It was 5 of us going: me, Panth, David, and my parents. Each ticket was 85 Euros, and of course those were in the top of the top of the stadium, but even in those seats, I could see everything clearly. After seeing all their games on the television, it was super cool to see them in person and to see a game in person! This was my first professional sports game live, so I was just in awe every second I was there.
During the game, I tried really hard to catch a goal on camera, however the two times Real Madrid made a goal, of COURSE I wasn’t recording. But I got some other videos, but of course those don’t matter cause they aren’t goals!! But whatever, I’m over it.
After the game and the good purchase of a beautiful scarf (i am now a real madrid fan and will be watching all of their games), we returned home for a well deserved meal of paella cooked from scratch. Now, if I haven’t said it in any of my past blog posts, Zaida is the best cook in the world, so to have my parents experience authentic, homemade Spanish paella was super cool. And super delicious. All of us were stuffed afterwards, and went back to our respective places to sleep off our food coma. That night, Gines, being the nice and wonderful man that he is, took my parents and I on a car tour of the city (but not until after Zaida went full businesswomen and tried to sell my parents vitamins, of course). Super beautiful with all the lights, and I even saw some parts of the city I hadn’t seen before as well.
After the tour, we got pancakes that were more cake than any other pancakes I had ever tasted. But still very good. After that, no one had anymore energy, so we made our way to bed.
The next day was Sunday, which meant Rastro. After mass, we made our way directly there to be sure to give my mom enough time to explore and buy what she wants. It was like every other Rastro market, and of course I bought what I thought was cool. I bought some cool art for my room and for gifts, among other things, as did my parents. After that, we came back to the house, had a nice (and quite late) lunch of chicken and salad. After that, we had wanted to go to San Gines with Panth to get some nice churros con chocolate, but Gines wanted to get us a coffee before we went. So, of course, with Gines being the way he is, takes my parents to a club for a cup of coffee!! There is a little cafeteria in the Reina Sofia, but the music was on full blast with heavy bass and dimmed lights. It felt just like a club, and with Gines’s notion of me needing a Spanish girlfriend, I knew that this was gonna get worse. So after some jokes from Panth and Gines for me to go dance with some girls, we left and made our way to Sol (yet again).
San Gines churros were just as good as last time. After that, we did some more shopping. Since I am now an authentic Real Madrid fan, my parents said as a birthday present, they would get me an authentic jersey. We did a little shopping, and I wasn’t too keen and getting one due to their outrageous prices, but we eventually got one, and so now I will have to make it worth the money by watching more games and wearing it!! So first the scarf, and now the jersey, I have all I need. After that, we went back to apartments to get ready for their last day here.
The next day was Monday, and my parent’s flight back to the US was early Tuesday. So this was their last day here (so fast)!! This day was another exploring day, including popular destinations like Retiro Park, chocoleterias, and shopping in Gran Via. It was an amazing day full of wonderful exploring and last minute shopping for gifts, and I was soaking up these last hours with my parents until I would see them again in 2 weeks. But eventually, the day came to a close, and it was time to say goodbye. We said goodbye, and then parted ways. I wasn’t that sad since I knew I would see them again very soon, but before that, I would have to truck through finals first. So not looking forward to that, but as is life.
All in all…
It was super fun to have my parents visit! Writing these blogs and reading them are not the same as actually experiencing it, and I could see it in their faces that they really enjoyed themselves. Madrid, and all of Europe for that, has a very different feel than the US, and its interesting to see that difference when you have only lived in the states for all your life.
Now that that experience is done, it is time to get down and grind for finals. This is the scariest part of the semester because these final exams are worth always at least 50% of our final grade (60% in the case of Biomechanics), so a majority of our grade rides on 2 hours of make-or-break time. My first exam is the 11th, followed by one on the 16th and the other two on the 18th. The one on the 11th and the two on the 18th are not going to be bad, but the one on the 16th, Biomechanics, is going to kick my ass, so lets get ready for that. Wish me luck!!
Brennan's Semester in Spain 