Madrid

La Condesa de Chinchon

Three Graces

The flight has landed and we are here. I am an American girl in a foreign land. Pero no hablo Espanol. However, I am strangely comfortable here. Madrid helps, of course, because it seems so much like a more beautiful NYC. Life in Spain takes getting used to, mostly the food. I foresee a lot of bread and cheese. The two words I have to remember not to forget. Pan y queso. This is how I will survive the month with maybe a little adventure mixed in. Despite the fact that I don't love big cities Madrid contains what I think will be one of my favorite stops, Museo del Prado. Art has always fascinated me, but the painting in this one museum simply took my breath away. I was captured by so many things. My favorite painting by far was the La Condesa de Chinchon. Andreas (our tour guide) said that this was like the Spanish Mona Lisa. I appreciate this painting as much or more than the actual Mona Lisa. The details are AMAZING to see in person. Especially the technique that Goya (the artist) used to show how her dress reflected the light. He painted her as he saw her. A helpless pregnant 19 year old girl who did not really love the man she was married to. You can see it in her eyes, posture, but most of all her smile. Attempting to peak through, but barely existing at all. He even included small details like wheat in her head dress to symbolize fertility. Every detail seems to have been covered by Goya (both psychological and physical). My next favorite painting was the Three Graces by Rubens. What captured me about this painting was not so much the detail of why it was painted but rather how. These women represented beauty when this was painted in 1636. Yet when most girls look at this painting they see the fat and cellulite. Instead of embracing those things as beautiful people feel the need to state how imperfect their bodies were. Although nude paintings aren't exactly my favorite I LOVE seeing how different beauty was then and now. Girls struggle their whole life to feel beautiful...mostly because of weight...and here are 3 of the most beautiful women in the history of art....baring all their imperfections. I have to appreciate that. 

But art is not the only thing that Madrid held. I was so thankful that time was allotted to just get to know everyone. Food may have not been my favorite part, but french fries are available in nearly every country. So thank God for that. I was thankful for the hot showers in the hotel, something I was not expecting at all during this month long trip :) The hardest thing to get used to is all the smoke. Next time I come to Spain I am bringing a gas mask.

Street Performer. Actual human!

The street performers are amazing as well. I can't really believe some of them. The craziest to me are the people that freeze in place for HOURS. I can't balance for more than 5 seconds on one foot. Much less for 6 hours on one foot, leaning forward and to the side. They are crazy. But so talented. As I wondered about the city the first couple of nights I was captured by how alive EVERYTHING was even at midnight. Musicians play beautiful Spanish melodies on the street, people are everywhere, and the discotecha’s hadn’t even opened yet. When they did we ventured to the discotecha Joy. We were advised to avoid “clubs”…it apparently isn’t the same thing as it is in America. I can only imagine what it must have looked like to all the Spaniards. Twenty American students going crazy and dancing like idiots because we can. Random people were just taking pictures of us.  But it was an amazing time and I even got to have some conversations with people about their lives, who knew things like that happened in discotecha’s over booming bases. I have missed dancing all night and I feel like there will be a lot more of that going on. 

Inside of Joy the Discotecha

                                                   

But now on to more cultural experiences....

Spain has a celebration called Three Kings Day. It is meant to celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men coming and delivering presents to Christ. It ends with a huge celebrations all over Spain, but there was a huge one in Madrid with hundreds of thousands of people. Some how our group managed to get right to the front of the huge crowd! They had a parade that concluded with beautiful songs, an acrobat doing flips with a huge balloon and rope, and fireworks. I am really starting to love this country.

I am so unbelievably thankful for getting the chance to be here. Yes, there are things I miss about America, but getting to spend a month in another country will never happened again. Unless I am doing a missions trip, which won’t exactly be the same thing. I am here to learn both the language and the culture, and I cannot imagine a better trip or better people. As far as random strangers go, I think we have a pretty great group of college students. I have to admit I was a little afraid coming to Spain. After all, I am a Christian who doesn’t drink, curse, or do most things that people don’t think twice about. I was afraid people would think I was boring or stuck up. But, praise God that is not the situation. People are so great here. They even ask about my beliefs and why I chose what I did. I love talking about it and I am so grateful that people here are interested in getting to know ME and don’t want me to be something I am not. It’s just like Psalm 34:4 says,

“ I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

Thank you to all the people that are praying for me.  Thank you for all of your encouraging emails and facebook messages, they have helped me so much. I love you all dearly and I miss you so much.

Palacio Real