Art, Theater, and Flea Markets

No, I didn't travel anywhere exciting this weekend, but I figured I'd make an update anyway. I did do a few interesting things. Last Wednesday we went on a class trip to the Prado Museum, which is one of the most important art museums in the world, never mind Spain. I saw paintings that I had studied in my art class, which was very cool, and some big names like Velazquez and Goya. Goya's are probably my favorites because he painted some pretty dark and twisted things, which are always more interesting to analyze in my opinion. If you want an example of one you've probably seen before by Goya, google "Saturn Devouring his Children." I would have liked to see some Dali because he's got some really cool paintings too (google "Swans Reflecting Elephants"), but oh well. Maybe next time.

On Friday I saw a play by Federico Garcia Lorca called "La Casa de Bernarda Alba." It was quite interesting, about a strict (and somewhat insane) mother and her five daughters who she won't allow to get married. It's all about the oppression of women and identities being formed by the males in their life. However, not once does a male appear in the play. It was a little difficult to understand because they were talking pretty fast, but I mostly understood what was going on. Everyone thought the ending was pretty powerful, but I found it a rather cliche because it's sort of a Romeo and Juliet -esque ending.

This morning I took a trip to Madrid to go to el Rastro, which is this huge open market they have every Sunday. It really is gigantic, and you can spend several hours walking around and never hit the same stand twice. Also, most things are quite cheap there, and you can bargain, so it's a great place to do some shopping, especially while the weather is still nice.

So it's been a pretty chill weekend for me, no running around Paris in the rain this time. Now I should probably get back to studying... next weekend I have a Friday excursion to the city of Cuenca. And I'll be done with midterms, hooray!