It's Good to be King

Here I am in front of the Palacio Real near Madrid. I toured the reception areas and salons, the armory, and the Farmacia Real. The King had his own pharmacist, not surprising but it was cool to see the glassware since I know quite a bit about glassware for chemical reactions from college. NO, I majored I chemistry, I don't do that other stuff!

The pharmacy reminded me of something else from college. There was a tradition of passing down items with names and class years to the next years group with the names of the all the people that guarded the item engraved on it. The list of Royal Pharmacists dated back over 200 years. Far more impressive than a bunch college kids scratching names on a block of wood for the last 20 years.

I liked the armory the most there was plenty of suits of armor, swords, and small cannons. I couldn't help but compare it to the military museum just outside Vienna (Wien). The Spanish version was considerably smaller and not as impressive. To be fair, it's difficult to compete with the Austrian collection that took 3 hours and over 100 photos and was still not fully covered. Not only that, the actual car that Archbishop Franz Ferdinand (that started WWI) was shot in was in the musuem. There was nothing on that level in Spanish collection, and the Spanish monarchy was subordinate to the Holy Roman monarchs. (Correct me if I'm wrong, please!)

At any rate, I fully enjoyed the visit. The sheer size of the place was by itself worth the trip. As you can see from the picture the plaza can accomodate a large assembly. Also, it occupies a strategic position in relation to the city with views to the north and the south completely unobstructed.

On an unrelated note, yes, I cut my hair rather short but not purpose. I really did tell the barber, in Spanish, what I wanted but I didn't realize how short my request really was. This happens to me at least once a year, I don't know why.

Out on the Town, Again.

Well, this was the first time we had classes besides our Spanish class at 1630. All the people in the picture were in the Financial Accounting precourse at Instituto de Empresa. We are now grizzled veterans of the financial statement production process... yeah right! Although having the class at 1000 was quite a shock for most of us acclimated to the breezy daily ritual of cruising to the school around 1600 to chat with classmates before heading to Spanish class.

Anyway, we were all in Jazzanova on Castellana in the picture here. A very nice place to have a drink and people watch. There was even a camera crew in the place. I think all of us are in some documentary or indie film being produced somewhere. The only short fall of this bar was the price of the drinks, €8.50 each! Well, needless to say, we had a few and moved on to a discoteca nearby, the name of which escapes me.

Speaking of prices, the standard practice of the "pre-game" needs to come back soon. What's "pre-game?" That's when you have a few at your flat before leaving for the bar or discoteca to cut down on the amount of alcohol you have to pay for. I mean we are students on a budget after all!

I also have to give credit to the photographer, Marie, thank you. She framed this shot very well, but unfortunately she is not in the picture, but next time I'll have to make sure she's in there.

Marie said something great that night, too. In reference to going to other cities in Spain on weekends and what not, the crux of it was she wanted to feel grounded in Madrid rather than feeling like a permanent tourist going all over the place. There were a bunch of trips to Segovia, Salamanca, Sevilla, or Toledo that various people had organized. I was thinking the same as Marie but I just couldn't vocalize my reluctance. So to all the people that invited me to those places, thank you so much, but that will have to wait until I get over this feeling of "I can't believe I live here in Madrid."

r_m

Those were the days!

Oh, the days of leisure are almost over! This week is the start of my pre-courses before the start of the madness that is the MBA.

This is a picture of my two friends in the program, Denis and Shefali, during a day in El Retiro.

It was a nice summer day, warm, sitting around talking about... POLITICS. No, it was more light-hearted, just what we thought was coming in the next few months, who we were to meet...

And drinking a few beers, of course, what else do you do on a summer in Retiro?

A more serious discussion would be what are the best beers and which country produces the greatest number of the best beers. Anyone want to wiegh in?? Of course, if you're asking Denis, it's Germany and that the end of the discussion.

For me, I like Sam Adams, but I haven't been able to find it here in Madrid. Perhaps I'm not searching diligently enough. Another long time favorite is Harpoon IPA, although this was a regional New England beer and is probably not available in Europe at all.

So here's a suggestion, let's have a beer tasting. Find a place with a wide selection and get to "tasting." Takers??

r_m

Día de la Hispanidad

Parades are usually pretty cool. I have been in quite a few with my high school and college bands, but the parade on the Paseo de Castellana in Madrid was a beautiful sight indeed.

As you can see in the picture, there were many people and plenty of pomp and circumstance. This is the Royal Guard surrounding the King of Spain and the Prince and Princess. The influence of Roman heritage on military tradition is very clear. Notice the headgear and plummage of the horsemen, very traditional indeed.

Before the procession started, there was an entire military review. I participated in a few of these myself, and it's basically standing around for 2 hours to perform 2 minutes of action. It was still interesting to see it happen in another country.

This holiday has different meanings throughout Spain according to my Spanish roommate from Valencia. Spain is not homogenous throughout the country, there's the Basques, Catalans, and Galicians working for more or total autonomy (in the case of the Basques and Catalans) from Madrid. So the 12 October festival represents different things in those respective areas. I'll leave it at that as I can't claim any significant understanding of the history of all this. I do know that under Franco, use of non-Spanish languages and regional autonomy was suppressed very strongly.

At any rate, people seemed very supportive of the military and especially the King. I can't say I saw the same for Mr. Zapatero, the Prime Minister.

Stay tuned and keep checking back. There's plenty more to come.

r_m

The Beauty of Madrid

One of the nice things about Madrid is despite the highly concentrated urban enviornment there is still plenty of natural beauty in the city. This is a picture of the Estanque in Retiro. By my understanding, the land was a gift from Conde-Duque de Olivares to King Felipe IV as a place for recreation for the court. It's good to be King! For the full story click here.

So I took this picture in late September on a Sunday afternoon. It really gives a great feel for the size of the pond and the park itself.

For the athletic types the park is perfect. I have gone running there several times now, and despite my lack of enthusiasm for running, rather enjoyed the experience. Besides, trying to run through the streets of Madrid is not the easiest thing in the world with old people, children, and dogs leaving "landmines" everywhere; it's best to walk to the park as a warm-up and get right into the run.

On a technical note: this photo was taken with my phone. It has a 2MP camera, among other things. Pretty good picture, huh?

Madrid Nightlife

One thing about the Madrid nightlife: it goes on all night, literally. I was having a few with the people in the picture, my flatmate and I didn't get there until 2345 and I didn't take this picture until 0200. Then we went out en masse to a couple of bars and clubs.

All little about the people: they are in the MBA program at Instituto de Empresa. It's a Spanish language program, and they are required to pass an English proficieny exam at the end. So that means the only time they speak English is when they speak to someone like me. The MBA is almost exclusively populated with people from Spanish-speaking countries. The people here are from Mexico, Dominican Republic, and various parts of Spain (Andalucia, Valencia, Galicia, and Mallorca).

As I get to know the people at school I'll add more commentary. More to come....

Those crazy Americans!

So here I am, the one on the right, with my classmate Susan. She's from Atlanta, or should I say Phatlanta. We're two of a handful of Americans at the school in the International MBA program.

We all make a real effort to speak Spanish and not let the world know we're Americans (or at least not act like guiris), although I think it's unavoidable in the end.

Another side-note: The Instituto de Empresa is located on Calle Serrano and Calle María de Molina in central Madrid. Turns out the school is in one of the most expensive and exclusive areas of Madrid. There's a word in Spanish, pijo, and anyone who lives in or near where our school is located is immediately labelled pijo. Basically, we're considered children of priviledge, but not all of us grew up that way, but it's nice to pretend though!

More to come!!

You're from where?

Just to give you an idea of the diversity of my classmates, this picture includes an Armenian, a Turk, an Indian, a Colombian, a Brazilian, and a Spaniard. It's a little strange because we all intermingle in English, Spanish, and whatever other language two people may share. Dinner conversation can get interesting though.

What's the World Coming to ?

Alright, this blog is to describe the adventures, misadventures, and development of (hopefully) leaders of the future... Watch out!