El arte de tapear

Tuesday, May 13 was the first full day of classes at the institute.  In my culture and conversation class, we learned about tapas and discussed some of the differences between Spanish and American culture.  There is even a specific Spanish verb that describes going to get tapas--"tapear."  The custom is that if you order a drink at a bar, you also get a free tapa, so groups of 3 to 6 people usually go from place to place for a few hours enjoying their company and free tapas!   During my history class, we viewed examples of the Roman influence in Spain.

 The pond at Parque del Retiro

After class, I had lunch with Eva and Raquel.  For dessert, we had a fruit that I had never tried before: a sapodilla.  It looks like an orange plum and tasted like a mix between a pear and a peach…juicy and a bit sour.  It was delicious!  After lunch, the program travel coordinator Maribel helped me buy tickets for my trips to Seville and Paris!  I’m working on getting those trips planned…I am so excited to see more of Europe!

Around 7 pm, Eva and I explored el Parque de Retiro.  It was huge and had several fountains, statues, and gardens.  My favorite part was all of the animals.  There were probably about 20 peacocks roaming around one area.  It was so cool!  There is also a pond on which you can go row-boating.

 A peacock with a beautiful tail! 

It was surprisingly easy to get used the schedule here of eating the main meal of the day around 2:30 pm and a light dinner around 9:30 or 10 pm.  Since the sun sets so late here (around 9 pm or so) and dinnertime doesn’t break up the evening, the entire afternoon and evening are free to rest, work, and go exploring.  

A fun bed of flowers!

 

After classes on Wednesday, May 14, I had gazpacho with my lunch and it was delicious!  Later on, Eva and I went to the botanic gardens next to the Museo del Prado.  There were some flowers in bloom, and it was nice to walk around, but it pales in comparison to the Chicago botanic garden.  Luckily the weather here has been beautiful.  It is usually about 65°F in the morning then warms up into the 70's or 80's, and it's always very sunny!

At night we had a tapas dinner at a nice restaurant with the entire class and our professors.  We got to try manchego cheese, jamón, Spanish tortilla, calamari, croquettes, and many other tapas.  There were probably about 10 or 12 different ones to try…as usual, there was a lot of food!  Although it was not the true Spanish tapas experience as we had learned about the previous say, it was still quite enjoyable!

Some classmates and I at dinner