Let's Taco Bout A Sweet Museum Trip!

Since the last mega-adventure of blog posts, I haven't traveled outside of Madrid, but I've been busy exploring everything the city has to offer! But before we get into that, let's get classes out of the way. Last time, we had just finished up with our first set of midterm exams. Since the second set of midterms aren't until the end of November, I've had time outside of class to explore Madrid. For class, we haven't had too much work, and we don't normally have homework for class. For now, we've just been continuing with our march through the curriculum. We've also been getting exam grades back. I did well in all my exams except for Biomechanics, which most people in the class failed. For our next set of midterms, I definitely need to spend more time on this.

In Systems and Signals, we've been working with Fourier transforms and are moving onto sampling soon. We had a second lab this week that dealt with using the definition of Fourier transforms to work with signals in Matlab. Matlab also has a Fast Fourier Transform function but we instead used the integral definition. In Transport Phenomena, we've been working to derive Bernoulli's Equation and soon we will be starting an in-depth look at diffusion. However, we also have presentations coming up next week on our project. Our project involves a 50 minute teaching session with paper about the heart. I'm finishing up my section for this project now. Biomechanics has been pretty calm too; we've been discussing elasticity and problems involving isotropic materials. In fact, we have a week without class coming up! However, we still have lab, where we need to work on creating a finite element model of a tooth. In our last class, Instrumentation, I've been having more fun. We're now learning about analog to digital and digital conversions and soon we will be working with microprocessors and micro-controllers like Arduino. It's super exciting and I'm looking forward to that!

Now, onto the fun part - adventuring! This weekend, I wanted to visit one of the many museums in Madrid. I still hadn't explored the two famous museums - Museo Nacional del Prado and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. It's surprising that I hadn't been considering Reina Sofía is across the street and Prado is a 10 minute walk away. On Saturday, I was determined to visit Reina Sofía so I asked a couple friends if they wanted to come with me. Megan wanted to go too so we made plans to go that afternoon. However, 3 pm came around and Zaida hadn't finished making lunch yet so she told me to invite Megan over for lunch. Megan had already eaten but came over anyway so she wouldn't need to wait in the cold. But when lunch was ready, Zaida gave Megan food too, so she ended up eating two lunches! After lunch, around 4:30, we ended up leaving the house to go to Reina Sofía. We soon realized that the museum was actually closed because it was a holiday. Instead of wasting our day, we decided to go to Prado instead. Photos inside of Prado were prohibited so I can't show you any of the works there, but I have some photos from outside and my walk back! We knew the museum was giant but we thought we could get through it all; after all, we had 3 hours that afternoon/evening. We couldn't have been more wrong. Halfway through, we were exhausted. Prado had over 100 rooms of artwork and two special exhibits. There was no way we were going to finish. So we made plans to come back early Sunday morning to finish it. Together, over those two days, we spent over five hours going through all the exhibits (and that was at a pretty quick pace)!

Seeing all the artwork was super neat! The museum featured lots of Spanish artwork, but also had other artists too! The overall themes included lots of biblical imagery, portraits, sculptures, mythology, social realism, and professions. We also were able to see works by famous artists, including Raphael, Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Caravaggio, Ribera, Velázquez, Rembrandt, and Goya! I learned that I while I enjoy classical art, I only like certain subsets and themes within it. I was a huge fan of landscapes and more realistic styles. Since I don't have a great background in Christianity, I didn't understand many of the Biblical scenes. However, it was still cool to see the artists' style and work. I also preferred artwork that had bright, vibrant colors over some of the darker works. This style of more darkness in a piece of art is more common in Spanish work so there was a lot of paintings that didn't interest me too much. Some of the masterpieces I was able to see included: Angelico's The Annunciation, Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych, Raphael's The Cardinal, El Greco's The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest, Velázquez's Las Meninas, and Goya's The Third of May 1808 in Madrid ("The Executions"). My favorite pieces from the classical works were definitely those by Raphael, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Pieter Bruegel the Younger. I also really loved the sculpture section of the museum. Seeing the work that goes behind some of those pieces of art is incredible!

The first day, we saw the first and second floors of Prado. The second day, we saw the ground floor and the special exhibits. The two special exhibits currently are "A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana" and "The Master of Paper: Drawing Books from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries." "A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana" featured the works of those two painters, some of the most notable women painters of the late 16th century. Most of these works were portraits. My favorite exhibit overall, though, was "The Master of Paper: Drawing Books from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries," which displayed the sketchbooks of various artists to show the importance of sketchbooks as teaching instruments. The detail in the practice was simply amazing. Some of those sketchbook pages could be their own pieces of art. Overall, the museum was a fantastic experience and I'm definitely glad I spent the time to visit it.

After the first day at Prado, we left the museum as it was closing. When I got back home, we were deciding what to eat, when I suggested breakfast burritos! Zaida and David had never had them, so I decided to make breakfast burritos and fries from scratch! It was super fun, and relatively quick and easy. It only took me an hour from starting to prep the ingredients to finish eating. First, I cut up the potatoes into fries and dried them out so they would crisp up when being fried. As the potatoes fried in olive oil, I cut the peppers and onions. When the fries were done, I sautéed the peppers and onions and scrambled eggs. Lastly, I assembled the breakfast burritos by adding the eggs, veggies, cheese, salsa, and guac to a tortilla! Here are some pictures:

After Prado the second day, it was about lunch time and Megan and I were super hungry! We decided to go to Takos al Pastor for lunch. Takos al Pastor is really small restaurant near Plaza Mayor that sells Mexican-style tacos for 1 euro each and quesadillas for 2 euros each! The only issue is that its super popular and there are always long lines. We thought we were going to be early and not have to wait too long. We were early, but we still had to wait. We got there at 1:15 pm, about 15 minutes before Takos al Pastor opened, but we still had to wait over 30 minutes to order. But the food was definitely worth the wait! I ordered two tacos and a quesadilla. One taco was cactus and cheese, while the second was mushrooms and cheese. My quesadilla had cactus, mushrooms, cheese, peppers, onions, and lime. I cannot wait to go back (this time 30 minutes before it opens).

After that, since Megan had not been to Chocolatería San Ginés, we decided to get dessert! On the way, we walked through Puerta del Sol, which was being decorated for Christmas with a giant Christmas tree! I've been to Chocolatería San Ginés once before, and it was amazing. It has the best churros y chocolate ever! I can't go back to any other churros now. We sat outside, which was the perfect complement to the warm and crispy churros and burning hot chocolate.

All in all, it was one of the most fun weekends I've had so far. The trips are definitely fun, but staying in Madrid and eating delicious food is unlike anything else! I'm looking forward to going to other must see places in Madrid in the future. I am going to the Real Jardín Botánico (the royal botanical gardens) this coming week and hopefully Reina Sofía next weekend! Stay tuned next week to get my updates on those adventures.