A day of challenges...

¡Buenos días a todos!

Yesterday, Steph and I decided to go work on our research endeavors together. We were traveling to parts of the city that we weren't familiar with, and she has been helping me with my still rusty Spanish, so it seemed a safer and more beneficial solution. First, we were heading up to the north side of the city, but before we reached the metro, Steph accidentally bumped into her favorite little bakery shop from her vacation in Madrid last year. She said the pastries were to die for, so we picked up a post-breakfast snack. They had doughnuts! It was so exciting! I don't remember the last time I've even had a doughnut, because the only pastries Italians seem to make are variations on the "cornetto", which is basically a croissant. Still delicious...but not a doughnut by a long shot. Steph got a sugar one, and I got a chocolate one. They were divine!

So anyway...I've really got to stop going off on food tangents...we hopped on the metro, and went to the north side of the city. There, we visited the Museo de la Ciudad (Museum of the City). But before we went in, we stopped to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (poor students) in a cute little rose garden.

I was going to the museum with the intention of learning about the city during the Siglo de Oro (the Golden Age), when the writers' quarter was flourishing. However, I discovered that the museum was hosting a special exhibit, Madrid literario (Literary Madrid), about how the city has been characterized by its writers; it was perfect for my project!

This is basically what I'm researching, but I'm narrowing my topic down to focus on the particular writer and playwright, Lope de Vega. We were just about to enter the exhibit, when, the power went out. We moved over toward the stairwell, where there was some natural light, and heard the museum workers complaining that this had happened once already that morning. About 15 minutes later, the lights turned back on, and we were on our way. The exhibit paired quotes from books with modern-day photographs. They even had photographs of Lope de Vega's house. I was really excited to see the information presented this way, because this is exactly what my professor suggested I do as well to add another dimension to my research project. It was a good feeling that I was on the right track. At the end of the exhibit, we were looking at the special guides, dvds, and books, when, again, the power went out. Twice in one day! Steph and I were commenting on our bad luck, when one of the guards came by accounting for the visitors in the museum. The ladies on our floor said something to the effect of, "these poor girls, the lights went off twice on them already", and the guard replied, jokingly, "didn't they know? welcome to Spain, this is exactly what Spain is like!" (He said it jokingly, but a woman Steph was supposed to interview for her research project on our first day still hasn't contacted her, so I am starting to wonder...) After fumbling around for change in the dark, I bought the guide and dvd to the exhibit: the entire transaction was carried out by flashlight, too funny. After they managed to fix the lights, we headed upstairs to the next floor, which recounted the history of Madrid. There was a whole little section on Madrid's famous writers during the Siglo de Oro, and a model of the Teatro Español as well, so I was happy.

On our way back down the stairs, the lights went out, AGAIN. We decided to high-tail it out of there before something else bad happened!

Our next stop was the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). There was a huge statue of Lope de Vega out front, so of course, I had to take a picture with him.

Upon entry, we had to explain to the woman at the desk why we wanted to go in. We said we were university students working on projects for our thesis, and we wanted to study some of the materials. Well, the word for study, estudiar, was totally the wrong word to pick. She lectured us that this was not a library for "studying", but a place were you "consulted" important texts for research purposes. So we tried to explain, yes, that's exactly why were were there. She asked what we were studying, as if our entrance was determined by whether we had a worthy-enough topic or not. Well, we both got through, to security checkpoint 1. Then, we were given a list of things we were, and were not, allowed to bring into the actual library itself. The list of things we were allowed to bring in was quite short in comparison to the list of prohibited items. We were basically only allowed to bring in a small notebook, a pen, and a laptop into the library, nothing else. But as we walked to the next security checkpoint we were told to go back and put our computers away, because we weren't allowed to bring them in until we had library cards. So then, we went into the library, and got interrogated again about our intentions, and research topics, before we were allowed to get library cards. We were told we were not allowed to access some materials without official letters of introduction from our university stating that we were legitimate researchers. Finally, we got shiny, new plastic library cards with our pictures on them. Then, we had to exit the library, go back to get our stuff, and then check in with security, again, before re-entering. At this point, they stopped me because of my computer. They took it out, registered it, stuck a barcode on it, and scanned it along with my library card before I got to go in. Weird. So then we finally get in, but guess what? After all that, the library server was down, and we couldn't access the library catalog. I was out of luck, but luckily, Steph remembered the title of a documentary she wanted to see, so she managed to track it down. For the next 110 minutes, I had to find something to do, so I gave myself a tour of the library, checked out the Museum of the Library (which involved leaving the building and entering from the outside, going through security another 2 times...), and intermittently checked to see if the card catalog came back up. It never did. At least Steph got something productive done! I suppose the hardest part of the visit to the library was actually getting in, so it shouldn't be so bad to come back. Before we left, we had to go back through security: they scanned my computer and card again to check it out, and rifled through my papers and notebooks (to make sure I wasn't stealing anything?) before they would let me go. As we were walking away from the library, Steph had the sudden realization that this was the Biblioteca Nacional, the NATIONAL library. We had basically just gone to the Spanish equivalent of the Library of Congress. No wonder there were so many security precautions! If we were in the US, I'm not sure we would have even been allowed in to use the materials.

We headed home with aching heads after a long day of confusion due to language barriers. Oh España, what a crazy place!