It is hard to believe that by this time next week we should have a president! (I don't want to jinx anything, though, because my family flew to Washington, DC for vacation on Election Day 2000 expecting to know the president by the time we landed that evening, which of course was not the case. That day was also the day of my first menstrual period.) The campaigns have gone on for almost two years! What will I do with myself once they are concluded? Barring some unpredictable change, it seems practically certain that Senator Obama will win. I'll go ahead and predict that Senator Obama will take about 53% of the popular vote, although it will be more of a landslide in the Electoral College, well over 300 electoral votes. The polls are pretty much showing every state that is "undecided" in the Obama category right now. In play the most right now seem to be Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina. I'm not sure Obama will be able to carry Indiana, which is sad because that is my neighbor state! If I went to Notre Dame or were in Illinois, I would definitely be out in force trying to help them see the light.
The Madrid chapter of Democrats Abroad is having a party on November 4 at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, which should be fun. It starts at 11 pm, which I think will be 5 pm EST (I'm still confused about the time change business...), but honestly the race should be more or less decided by the time the results come in from Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, all of which are on EST. I think one day I will be telling my grandchildren where I was on Election Day 2008 because it promises to be historic. I already have a pretty good anecdote for Election Day 2000. I really don't remember anything in particular about Election Day 2004. I guess I was in school.
The Democrats will come class but I don't think they will manage to get 60 votes in the Senate. The conviction of Senator Stevens was the nail in the coffin for his seat. The races to watch will be Minnesota and North Carolina. I'm really kind of confused about North Carolina. I've known that Virginia has been trending blue for quite a while with the explosion of the Washington "exurbs" in Northern Virginia to the point that it's no longer considered part of the "solid South," but North Carolina?????? Along with Colorado and New Mexico, welcome, welcome, welcome to the Democratic fray, North Carolina. It's good to be a Democrat right now.
Classes are ok. Being at Somosaguas until 9:30 is really miserable. Usually my host family is asleep by the time I get home. Monday my Romanian friend and I accidentally took the H bus instead of the A (I swear that it was an A on the front of the bus!), adding an additional 30 minutes to my 45-minute commute. Awesome. I had a map of the bus lines serving the university in my backpack, but the map was printed in 1998. A lot has changed since then. I took some photos of Somosaguas on Monday and the photos don't capture the miserable picture I have in my mind. Obviously, it was a trick of the light since Monday was sunny. Photos also can't capture the smell.
Yesterday it was cold and rainy, so I think that means the end of the good weather here in Madrid. We go to Sevilla in a week and a half, and it should be warmer there since it's in Southern Spain. After that begins my month of weekend travels, to Prague, Lisbon, and Vienna. I finally got my tickets for Christmas break, so I need to start planning my trip to London and Dublin with Patrick.
I have no concrete plans for housing for next year. I had a decent selection time for single selection last week (could have gotten one with a river view) but I didn't pick one because I decided to hold out for the hope of an apartment with Charlotte and Kayleigh. We need a fourth person to enter the apartment selection, which is next week, but at this point we are a bit hopeless. I just really really really don't want to be in the dorms again because I want to have my own kitchen to prepare my own meals in light of the norovirus outbreak at Leo's and having delicious dinners cooked for me here. I can't go back to cafeteria food.
Today I had my first tutorial in the Prado. We didn't actually look at any specific artworks, just talking generally about the museum. I also found out that the Prado is free every day after 6! This information would have been useful a month and a half ago. I will probably start taking advantage of this policy since the museum is within walking distance and the class only covers Spanish painting, which does not cover the entire museum. I also need to start seeing the other museums because the group visits are always cancelled due to lack of interest.
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