A change of pace

I am a creature of habit. I'm constantly torn between a feeling of restlessness and need to keep myself constantly entertained and the peace of mind I get with a routine. I like knowing things ahead of time and can get rather distressed when I don't know things ahead of time, with exceptions, of course. Vacations and short trips are often filled with exciting and novel impromptu experiences, and I'm not about to argue that I don't enjoy a good vacation :)

But this is probably why I haven't been able to see this trip as an actual Stanford quarter yet. Though we are now officially more than 1 week into classes and have spent approximately 14 days in Spain, our days and nights are filled with excursions around the city. My once weekly commute to and from one of Madrid's 3 world famous museums means that my art class does not feel like normal class, but rather a series of guided tours at amazing museums. (One of my classes meets once a week in one of Madrid's museums, mostly the Prado but we also visit the Thyssen and the Reina Sofia. How awesome is that? We basically spend an hour and a half each week looking at world famous art pieces and learning about thematic elements of their time.) 

We also have class with a rather small population of students in comparison to the normal school year- 29, to be exact-  but even then it's likely there are several people with whom you do not have class. This is strikingly different to Stanford where you are surrounded by hundreds of different students in your classes and residence. 

My schedule each day differs from that of the day before, and as exciting and thought-provoking each of these experiences have been, I am looking forward to settling down a bit. Not to say I won't take advantage of the Spanish night life or all the wonderful things I have yet to see, I just anticipate the day when this begins to feel more like a life in Madrid and not so much a touristy vacation.