BenDerico.com

Hey hey hey!

Let me start by saying, i took roughly 700 photos. So, those are gonna be up in due time, but to get this post up, i will not have them on here. Click the photo of me to view them all free of my banter. Bueno.

I cannot believe it, but the epic trip to Paris has come to its inevitable, albeit epic, close. From sleeping on the floor of Charles de Gaulle in the Freezing cold to standing in front of the Eiffel tower armed with nothing more than a Beret and Cigarette, (unlit, relax) I think we did it all. So, in an effort to recreate what was easily one of the greatest experiences of my and presumably your lifetime, I’ll start from the beginning. Bueno, empezamos.

Let’s just say that after 3 weeks of an intensive grammar course/orientation to my new school, i was ready to get out of Dodge (in this example i am using Dodge as a placeholder for Madrid through a common expression, I am not in Missouri…Missouri, right? I think. Maybe Kansas. Maybe Nebraska? I have no idea where Dodge is, but i do know that i was getting outta there.) Vale?

A group of 9 of us headed to the Aeropuerto at about midnight, 1am, the night before our flight, which left at 730am because the Metro would not be open early enough in the morning to get us there on time. So, after a long commute through Madrid, we arrived at Barajas, the old terminal, and found our beds for the night. I tried really hard to find a comfortable position, but as you can see, failed  miserably.

Finally, we boarded the flight on the fine aircarrier easyJet. Let me get you a quick synopsis of easyJet. Let’s imagine for a second that we are in a perfect world. In this world there are, i don’t know, sane human beings, who upon boarding an aircraft at 7am know that most of the people, or as the spanish would say “la gente”, are pretty damn tired. Now let’s also say in this world that the airline is also aware of said fact. So in this prefect world you would not have screaming teens, who, I will give it to them were screaming in Spanish so i was a little curious, are searching rampantly for an open row of seats, which by the way, no longer exists because they are late. Bueno. Now, also, on top of that, think of a tune in your head. Go ahead. By the way, make sure it is obnoxiously repetitive and a bit mind numbing. Great, email me the file. I’m gonna call you around 4am and play it for about 30 minutes on loop. This is the strategy that the fine people at easyJet have adopted to welcome their passengers aboard one of their cattle-car-like jetliners. (p.s. that is actually how they spell it. Who is incharge of graphic design at easyJet?) Look, i understand that I only paid 30 Euro each way to go to Paris, a steal, and i too know that yes i declined to pay an extra 16 euro for travelers’ insurance (does that make me not die if the plane crashes?) and yes, i opted to only take a carry-on bag, again, to save money, but does all that really make me worthy of this inquisition-like torture? Perhaps due to location it’s appropriate. Whatever. After being more-or-less screamed at by the flight attendant in English, Spanish, and French, we took off and i, finally, fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was met by this. Pretty cool. French countryside.

We rolled through the airport and onto the commuter train into the city. Aside from the normal peddling of the most fashionable beggar i have ever seen and a French train singer, all was normal. After working our way through the Metro we found our “hotel” and settled in. For lack of a better term, this man was an Ass. I don’t want to get to into it, but we ended up spending more money on a room we didn’t even use. But, the adventure began. While a few of my amigos went to take a well deserved nap, Luis, a friend from Loyola, and I went to explore the city. Our first stop, the Moulin Rouge. So, uh. It’s Paris, pretty classy city. Yeah, lots of….stores of adults around the Moulin Rouge. But, it was really cool. only 125Euro for a dinner and a burlesque show. What a deal! As one would assume, our next destination was Paris’ largest and oldest Basillica, Sacre Coeur. Even with the less-than-picturesque weather of the day, sacre coeur was still amazing. With one of the most incredible views of Paris in the whole city, Sacre Coeur was one of my favorite places.

Day one came to a close with a quaint little walk around the city, slowly approaching our final destination, the Eiffel Tower. Incredible. I can’t really explain how much i geeked out for seeing this thing, but if you are reading this i’m assuming that you know me well enough to just figure it out. Congrats?

Great. So day two consisted of mainly rain, rain, and rain. I think fortunately for you (is it cocky if i say “you all” or that too much of an assumption?) that my Spanish is having an off day, So English it shall remain. The following will be a list of things that occured on day two for the sake of time and your sanity. You’re welcome:

I Ate: 1 Ham/Mozzarella/Tomato/Panini from street vendor, Cafe au Lait, Croissant, 1 delicious Kebap, and 1 overpriced beer.

I Saw: Notre Dame, Lourve (Venus di Milo, Mona Lisa), Panthenon, Place de Concorde, Arc du Triumph

Day three led to more of the same, but to be honest. I’m gonna let the pictures do that talking. You’ve been great, i’ll be here all….of 3.5 months more.

Bueno.

Hasta luego,

Benja

HERE ARE THE PHOTOS!!

Yo, what it do? Que tal? BIEN!

So, in yet another experimental venture, deep from within the depths of benderico.com (aka my brain/incredibly unstable psyche), i have decided to make another attempt at a unique post.

Let’s go over what we have seen before. The following are a list of previously appropriated/previously visualized media:

A. The written word. Ex. WORDS

B. Visual Communicative Strategies Ex. Para VER

C. Photos, scattered amongst text. (refer to link A)

Now, i bring thee a revolution.

A photo essay.
No this is not the Atlantic nor The New Yorker. Pues, mira. Vamos a probarlo.

To see the whole set of Photos, click here

Also, to see the photo in it’s full size, click on it.

Vaya bien!

Benja

P.S. Don’t forget to comment!

¡Buenos días!

So, I decided that I need to get more of those photos i´ve been taking uploaded onto the site here. I can post a few into the post itself and i´ll just list the rest in the gallery once i figure out how to do that…

Well, it´s been quite an interesting past few days.

Commencement of interesting material.

Saturday ended our first week here in Madrid, and after seeing how that first week had turned out, i was surprisingly happy it was over. So, to celebrate a few amigos y yo fuimos al barro to watch the FCBarcelona v. Sevilla FC match. I could not believe how hard it was to find this game. Granted, this is like trying to find a bar showing the world series in New York if Boston were playing, so i guess not that strange. Oddly enough, we stumbled into 3 separate bars showing American Football before we finally found one showing the Barca game. Once we settled in it was just about half time. Barca had a 1-0 lead and i was surrounded by friends, so all was good. We watched the rest of the game, headed back to the hostel, and enjoyed some delicious sangria.

Once morning came, the day had finally come to make the move from large group of loud, boisterous, obnoxious Americans, to divided, but equally load and obnoxious, Americans across the city. I packed my bags, headed to Puerta del Sol, and grabbed a cab to my new home. (P.S. he totally took me the long way, no tip for him).

Upon arrival I was greeted by Omar, my new little brother. He is 4 years old and quite a handful, but absolutely adorable. If you think its hard to deal with a small child, try dealing with one who speaks a language you don´t. Omar showed me to my room and helped me unpack. It´s great. Nice bed and a desk, all i´ll need for the next 4 months.

Important Information. So, i have yet to divulge the absolute immenseness of my current homestay family. Let´s break it down. Upon arrival to Madrid, I was paired into my homestay with a single woman Ofelia. This wasn´t really what i was looking for so i contacted the housing director, asking for a change to something a bit more homey, family-like if you will. Well, she busted out the big guns. There are 7 people in this 4 bedroom piso, one of which is mine. There is my Señora, Carmen, her mother, her aunt, her husband, her daughter, Nadia, and Nadia´s son, Omar. O yeah, and me. I´m the only one with my own room, so it´s a nice retreat when the family gets, well, like every family.

It´s great here, but a bit overwhelming at first.

I´m only on my second day here. List of daily activities: Woke up for class this morning, began my first 45 minute commute across the Spanish capitol city, enjoyed not one but two delicious chocolate Napoitano pastries for breakfast, entered class 1, break, class 2, lunch, walk downtown, and finally returned home to get caught up on Colbert and Daily Show (I miss them so). It will take a bit to get used to all of this, but i think it will get easier soon.

Other than that, i gots some fotos de viernes that i have yet to post online. So, until we meet again.

Benjamín

So it’s taken me almost a week to get the ole’ Benderico.com running again to begin the Spain updates. It’s been quite the first week, so we got a bit of catching up to do.

Precursory note: To be frank, I my opinion, my exploits as a student mumbling words in Spanish and attempting to acclimate to a different culture is about as interesting as, well…. something along the lines of paint drying. However, if you so choose to spend your time reading this then there is nothing more i can do than merely oblige you.

Let’s take a look back…

Iberia Flight 6278 ORD to MAD departed our fair Chicago, Illinois at 4:45PM Central Standard Time on Friday, January 8th 2010. One would think this would be the starting point, but of course one would also be grossly mistaken for assuming something so simple to be the truth. In a fashion only suited for escaped convicts, and apparently myself, I found myself blazing around the highways surrounding the great Chicago. Instead of checking a map to find out i needed to take I-290, the highway which leads all of Chicago to its place of aerial debarkation, I decided that I knew the airport was off I-94 and proceeded to drive north, looking for any airplane shaped signage. As time flew by and the Chicago skyline was quickly replaced by suburban driveways and minivans, I began to think “might be time to get out the GPS,” it was 2:45PM.

T-Minus 2 hours to flight. After a stop on the side of the road and a quick meeting with Ms. Garmin, we were back on our way. Doing the speedlimit, of course, i bobbed and weaved through traffic like a seamstress’ needle passes through…i dunno, like a pillow or something. Point in case: I drove fast. We found the exit for the airport and as the clock ticked to 3:25 I was on the curb, bags in hand, bursting through the automatic doors (so more like walking rapidly towards the self opening doors)  preparing to check in. Dad parked the car and acompanied me to security. We handed off my bags and i was off. Arrival at 1 Hour to flight may not seem that bad, but you’re wrong. It is. Ok? I went through security in a breeze and began my dead sprint through O’Hare to the international terminal. P.S. I ran through that one part of the airport where the Mom runs in Home Alone, remember? Awesome. Anyways, I made it to the terminal with like 15 minutes before boarding, placed so final phone calls and hit the road…err, air.

Once on the plane it all began. Iberia is a Spanish airline, entonces todo está en Español. A Flight Attendant asked me if I spoke Spanish as i began to take my seat, to which i hesitantly responded “si?” From here all i can remember is darkness and noise kinda like the teacher on Charlie Brown, a few moments later i found myself in a new seat a few rows back. Did she ask me to move seats? I hope so. Hey, guess what’s really cute? Hmmm? Don’t know? Well i do. Babies! Babies are so cute, espeically when their are two adorable Crying Spanish niños. It wasn’t great. 8 hour flight ladies and gents. We had some food, watched some films (All of which were pretty awful: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 1/2 of All About Steve , and District 9. Honestly, what was the hype about?)

Anyways, the flight was pretty cool. We landed at about 8am local time and I headed for baggage claim . Luckily, both bags arrived without and any major complications. I began to get to know some of the other students as we waited for our bus into Madrid and i watched the sun rise in the Bajaras (one of the coolest airports ever built). The bus was loaded and filled with excited students, so we headed towards the city. The view was incredible. The sun rose up over the mountains on the horizon and cast an amazing gold sheet of light across all of Madrid’s red roofs. Really a sight to see. Unfortunately, I was a bit too caught up to snap a photo. Lame, i know.

Once we arrived to the Hostal right near the center of Madrid, off of the Puerta del Sol, we all headed to the streets to explore.

More or less the next two days were just this. We woke up and spent the days walking around the tiny, winding streets, and the nights at tapas bars and out in those same tiny, winding, now darkened streets. It was pretty cool.

However, once the third day rolled around something bad was in store for me. We woke up around 9am, headed down to cafe across the street and started the morning with some pan, cafe con leche, y zuma de naranja. Deliciso. Then we were off to our bus tour of the city. It was really cool. One of the professors of art history from the school came along and told us about all the different building we passed by and plazas we passed through. We even got off the bus to take a closer look at Madrid’s statue dedicated to Cervantes and his famous character Don Quijote, even cooler because it was the first place I revisited since my first trip to Spain in 2007.

We went to lunch at Museo del Jamon, a grave mistake, and walked up the Gran Vía to the hostal. My stomach was hurting a bit, so i decided a nap would be me good. When i woke up….bad news. A whole day in bed and a few trips to…well….purge. I was back to myself, but i had missed the first day of class and our first trip to the campus of my new university La Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Since then, we have had 3 days of class. My proficiency test placed me in the upper group, so i joined up with them. It’s been a lot fun and just the right amount of work. I finally feel like i can dedicate the amount of time necessary to learn some of these concepts and actually retain the information.

Other than class, it has been quite an adventure. The adjustments thus far are pretty basic. Time, eating habits (small break fast of bread and coffee, huge 3 course lunch at about 1 or 2, soup and 1 course for dinner around 9pm), siestas, smaller spaces, and of course the language.

It’s been a pretty interesting week, defiantly not what i was expecting. Kinda hoping things turn their tides a bit next week, but for now a siesta will do.

Entonces, hasta luego.

Benja!