The first week that I skipped blogging was spent in the beautiful, and most importantly WARM city of Madrid.I went on the trip with my Positive Psychology as our "long study tour" to learn more about Positive Psychology and how it is studied and used in different countries. Positive Psych is a pretty new field, so I have a feeling there were not very many options for our educational activities. They told us that we were first trip they had sent to Madrid, which became very clear after our academic visits. There's just not a lot of research being conducted and if there is any, it's in very early stages. A lot of the things we discussed with professors at the University of Madrid had little more than correlations to back up what they were talking about, which got kind of frustrating after 2 days of lectures. I think it was also a little odd because a big part of positive psych is used in companies and businesses basically as management strategies to increase productivity, and most of my classmates are more interested clinical and developmental psychology. If I hadn't taken management and business classes this summer I would have been lost for a while.
The highlight of our academic visit fails had to be the "Positive Psychology Clinical Center." It was just absurd. From the name, I inferred that the center was some kind of therapeutic center that worked with patients in a generally traditional manner. We should have know that was wrong when we received an email telling us to wear socks and comfortable clothes to the visit. After a super awkward powerpoint presentation given by the guy in charge in Spanish, very loosely translated by the UMadrid student who accompanied us, we were instructed to take our shoes off and sit in a circle. The next hour and a half was filled with running around the room screaming waving your hands, standing in a circle with your arms around your neighbors and swaying back and forth as one, and sitting down with 3 other people in a square, closing your eyes, and feeling everyone's hands. As fun as it was to goof around for a while, everyone was pretty finished with this after the first 30 mins. It was hillarous watching our group tour leaders play along though.
The much more fun part about Madrid were all the cultural things we did and the superfun nightlife! The most crazy thing that we attended, though, was a bullfight. I don't know about you guys, but when I hear bullfight, I think matador with a red flag waving it around and then its over. Oh boy, was I wrong. I only found out an hour before the optional activity that they kill the bull. Huh? They do what?? Yeah. They kill it. And I watched this happen. Three times. Even though it is a huge and meaningful part of Spanish culture it was probably one of the most horrifying things I've seen. It was actually just banned in a different region in Spain, so I'm not sure how much longer it will be around in Madrid either. The whole thing felt kind of unfair to me. In the beginning the bull is chased around, and then stabbed with a huge stake by a man on the horse. He leaves and then the bull is stabbed with these little baby daggers by the "helpers," and its not until after THAT that the matador comes out with his red fabric and his sword. He chased the bull in circles basically until it couldn't circle anymore. My friend Sarah and I sat there in tears after the first bull was killed while the entire stadium burst into applause. It was kind of surreal, I had never seen anything die before like that. We were all kind of in shock and left after 3 bulls even though there were 6 in total that would be "fighting."
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| In the bullfighting arena--clearly before the fight started because I am still smiling. |
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| The parade of bullfighters before it started |
Other things that were awesome:
1. SEEING COURTNEY. She's studying in Madrid and just HAPPENED to be turning 21 while I was there! It was so fun seeing her and meeting her friends and then I brought her to meet all my psych friends at the club everyone was at. It was SO good to see someone so familiar and it's such an awesome coincidence that we'll get to celebrate birthdays together--hers in Madrid and mine on Christmas eve!
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| old friends in new places! |
2.The Prado Museum. One of the most beautiful art museums I've ever seen! There was SO much to see! I had never seen Botticelli or Durer or Picasso or all of these famous paintings I've studied in history in real life. It was incredible.
3. Flea Market. So much shopping and everything was SO much cheaper than Copenhagen! I got a gorgeous bracelet from a silversmith and scarves. There were so many handmade goods and lotsss of leather!
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| I spent a significant amount of time drooling over stands like these... |
4. Flamenco Dancing Lessons. We spent about an hour learning a few steps. It was hilarious to watch everyone else get into into it and tons of fun. Especially because they were taught by THIS GUY, so Spanish with his flowing brown locks haha how can you not crack up just looking at him? Also, he was wearing jeans that said Angel and Devil in rhinestones on the pockets. Priceless
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| He finished every dance step by saying PA PAA and throwing his hands in the air hahah |
5. Other Sightseeing Madrid was beautiful! The architecture was really cool and there were lots of green spaces.
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| Royal Palace |
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| Royal Cathedral |
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| some of my fransss |
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| Puerta Del Sol |
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