This past Saturday, my program at ICADE was welcomed to an outing sponsored by American University's "Madrid and the Mediterranean Program" (students that take classes in English and in an enclave program), to the beautiful city of Toledo, which is about an hour from Madrid.
Toledo is famous for many things, including being a "Warrior City". You can walk up and down the streets and most stores will sell handmade knives and swords. All very cool. It's also home to Catedral Primada Santa Maria de Toledo, which was made by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel back in the 13th century. It was supposed to be their final resting ground, but once they conquered Grenada, they switched their plans. Many of their offspring are buried in the tombs of the cathedral however, along with many bishops of the time. Over the buried bishops, the church flies their hat, which is really weird to see a bunch of red hats hanging around. The cathedral couldn't really fit into the frame of my camera, but this is the best I have to offer!
And the bullfight. I knew I wasn't going to "enjoy" it but that I would at least appreciate going. I don't regret going. It's a big part of Spanish and Latin American culture. But I really don't think it's as pretty an art as people describe. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if the bull had more of a chance, let's say, just him and the matador. But the bull starts out already with something pinned into his neck, to weaken his neck muscles. And the banderilleros continue to poke at least 6 more little spears into the back of his neck. This is so that when the bull charges, his neck hangs down (I was told?).
Then, there's this guy called the picador. He comes in on a big armored horse with armored shoes and a giant ass spear. Here's a pic of the picador so you have a better idea. That's my friend R's head in the picture too.
The horse's eyes are covered so that he doesn't get spooked and toss the picador off, but what happens next is pretty intense. The bull charges and rams into the side of the horse, although the only thing the horse feels is that its getting shoved. Sometimes the bull is strong enough to lift the horse and the man off the ground, but in this case it didn't happen. The picador then viciously stabs the bull more with that spear he's got in his hand. It's very sad and kind of gross because I'm pretty sure this is what weakens the bull the most. He'll have this dark red stain down his front shoulders because of this attack.
Finally the matador comes in and does a lot of fancy cape work and with his sword, aims to strike the bull through his heart. If he's done it correctly, the bull dies instantly. Unfortunately I don't think any of the matadors I saw were that good, and therefore the bull walked around for a few minutes until a guy in all black comes out and strikes at his throat to put him out of his misery. The bull will generally sit down before that point, but even after the last strike from the man in black, he tries goring the matadors.
The entire stadium then rises to cheer on the matador, but really I just stood to honor the poor bull. I've read that in Latin America, the audience tends to cheer on the bull as opposed to the matador. I like this way a lot better.
Here's a relatively cool video where the bull is charging the matador's footmen, not the actual matador, and when the bull is still kicking it, no worries, no dead bull in this one, promise!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ixvX9xS_c
I´m not going to say I can see why the Spanish like the bull fights. I imagine back in the day, it was a big deal and something to take pride in that you could take on a bull. Also because the sacrifice of the bull to the gods was common. But now it is a bloody sport that I don't appreciate and I can easily say that I've seen it once and I have no desire to go back.
But on a cheerier note! Today was my first day at ICADE, the business school of La Universidad Pontificia Comillas. I've met this one girl through a friend, and apparently all the really prestigious and "preppy" kids go to UPC. I can already see why. The first day there were so many polo ralph lauren shirts, it was like a convention. Needless to say it felt like the Kogod Business School at American University, so no problems there. Unfortunately my first class, Analisis del Consumidor, was canceled due to the professor's illness. My second class actually took place at the American University Enclave site, called Mosaic. It was my regular spanish class and it went along fairly decently.
On the spot we were told to pick random numbers that describe us and the others were to guess, through asking us questions in Spanish. Here were my numbers (numbered in the European version)
10.6 My birthday
23.5 Alyssa's birth, a day I will never get over.
5.5 Cinco de Mayo. Important day to Mexicans, although it is NOT their independence day. My teacher didn't actually know about it until we told her how even americans celebrate it too.
13.8 My quince años. Ugh. Surprisingly neither of the puerto rican girls had quinceaños. Thanks a lot mom.
716 Buffalo area code.
That was a LOT but that's all for now! I'll try to update more frequently but less so! Me and a classmate are headed to Parque Retiro tomorrow since we don't have class and after a week in Spain we have YET to see it!
Besos,
GG
No comments:
Post a Comment