Bullfights, the President and More!

After all that traveling I have a weekend in Madrid to relax! Well I wouldn’t say relax, but no traveling which is nice to get a break from when there is still so much to see in Madrid. Well this week was a pretty cool week because on Thursday we had some big company over for dinner, the president of SLU!!! Some how we lucked out and got to have dinner with President Pastello, his wife Fran, and a priest from the Madrid Campus, James O Leery! We were extremely anxious in their anticipation and we were preparing the house from the beginning of the week. Lots of cleaning and cooking but then the day had come and it was time to enjoy their company! We started the night off with lots of Tapas or Spanish appetizers of bread and authentic cheese, ham, croquets, olives and salmon. Once we had chatted a bit we went inside for the main meal. Luis and Maria went all out and we ate Paella AND tortilla. We even had chocolate cake for dessert! It was very fun to talk with the pres and all of our friends were pretty jealous. What an honor!

For the weekend it was time to get some more Spanish culture in us. We spent one day on the east side of the city and ventured toward the famous art museum El Prado. We saw works of art that dated back many years in multiple different styles. It was quite impressive seeing all of the artwork. After the morning in the art museum we went to the Botanical gardens next door. Boy was that pretty.

 

The big part of the weekend was Sunday when a group of us attended a Bull Fight. I was a little anxious about it all seeing as they do actually kill the bulls in front of you. I knew it was close to the Spanish culture and it was supposed to be more about the artistry and skill behind it all so I focused on that. After the first round my squirmish stomach dissipated and I began to get into the tactics. The point is to get the bull to pass you as close as you can while displaying your control over the bull. There are many different parts to a bullfight all meant to accomplish different things regarding the bulls. We got to see three bullfighters perform their art. One in particular was quite impressive and straight darn crazy! He risked it all and had the bull get so close it grazed him a little bit every time! He even got bucked twice but still kept going! Overall I couldn’t say whether I enjoyed it or not but I did appreciate the culture, history and skill behind it.

 

Well there’s the week for you all! Classes are going well, midterms are coming up so hopefully they go off without a hitch. You think this deserves an A???