It is said that 'Going to Madrid is like going to Europe' or 'Seeing Madrid is like seeing Europe'. Madrid is a classic European city. Because Madrid has been the capital since 1560, it has enough share from whole movements so there is not much space left for postmodernism. City structure is keeping it’s classic shape while people are living a modern life. Madrid which was most effected from the civil war, after Franco dictatorship, having democracy and EU membership stages, now is one of the finance centers of Europe. Madrid which had been a settling area since thousands of years, gained it’s importance and name during Muhammed 1. He built a palace where now the royal palace exists and a city with walls around it. The city which was near the river Manzaranes had the name Al-Majrit, meaning source of water. Puerta de Europe welcomes us, indicating that Madrid is a small Europe. Puerta de Europe which was built by Philip Johnson ve John Burgee, is emulating the old city gates. We are entering the city between the twin towers with a fifteen degree of an inward slope on the main street. The city life turns around Gran Via and Calle de Alcala. There are important and governmental buildings in the city center which have the beauty of palaces. Squares which witnessed bloody events in the history, now calls natives, pedestrians in the traditional city structures of Spain and Madrid, like green areas. Plaza Mayor, Plaza de Espana, Plaza de la Oriente, Retiro Park… Plaza Mayor, is a rectangular area whose four sides are surrounded by three floor buildings. It has nine gates. It’s on the left hand side of Mayor Street when going from Puerto del Sol through the Plaza de la Oriente. Once upon a time the area was called Plaza del Arrabal and renovations took place after Madrid had become the capital city. It’s name was changed several times as Plaza Real, Plaza de la Constitucion, Republica…It witnessed football matches and bull fights. Untill the end of the 18. century, public used to watch executions from the balconies of the plaza buildings. Now upper floors are used as offices or accomodation, at the ground floors there are bars, cafes, restaurants and other stores. It’s a place of youth where they meet, in summer people fill the seats outdoors, street artists exhibit their works and there are festivals, free concerts organized. Statue of Philip 3 is in the middle of the plaza who completed the construction of the plaza in 1619. Parque del Buen Retiro, is a 120 hectars green area which was originally the garden of the palace which is used as an army museum in the park now. Then it became a park where nobles used to come during their free times. In 1868, it was opened to public. When we enter from the main gate, there is a wide long road where there are statues of Alonso, Alfonso, Louis, Philip, Charles I, II, III,…on both sides . There is also a statue of evil in the park but nobles' statues are the best. This road leads us to the pond, Estanque del Retiro where sometimes there are boats for rent. This park is a classical one including a crystal palace imitating the one in London, rose gardens, ponds, a few museums and exhibitions. Retiro Park is like the one in Istanbul Fenerbahce where natives wander, sit and read their newspaper and drive their baby carriages outdoors. It is a good weather change after Prado Museum near it. Alhough the park is a gift to the natives, it is not a touristical place. If there is no much time in Madrid, there is no need to spend time to see Park Retiro. Bir soz vard?r; ‘Madrid’i goren Avrupa’y? gormustur’. Ortacag?, reformu, ronesans?, sanayi devrimini uc y?l once, bes y?l sonra degisen siddetlerde yasayan Avrupa sehirlerinin klasigi Madrid. 1560’tan beri baskent oldugu icin butun ak?mlardan yeterince nasibini alm?s, sehir yap?s? olarak postmodernlige yer kalmam?s. Insanlar modern hayat surerken, sehir klasik dokusunu koruyor. Ic savasta en buyuk hasar? goren Madrid, Franko diktatorlugu, demokrasiye kavusma ve Ispanya’n?n AB uyeliginden sonra Avrupa’n?n onemli bir finans merkezi oluyor. Ticaret hacmi, ekonomiye saglad?g? girdiler ve ortalama hayat standard?n?n yuksekligiyle Madrid Avrupa’n?n say?l?, Iber Yar?madas?’n?n en buyuk sehri. Bizde ‘buyuk sehir’ deyince akla ‘kalabal?k sehir’ geliyor. Madrid’in nufusu bes milyon. Tarih oncesi caglardan beri bir yerlesim bolgesi olan Madrid, ilgiye ve ismine 1. Muhammed zaman?nda kavusuyor. 1. Muhammed su anda kraliyet saray?n?n oldugu yere bir saray yapt?r?yor ve etraf?nda duvarlar olan bir sehir insa ediyor. Manzanares nehrinin kenar?nda olan bu sehre ‘Su Kaynag?’ ad?n? veriyor; Al-Majrit…oluyor Madrid. Madrid’in kucuk Avrupa oldugunu gosteren ‘Avrupa Kap?s?’ -Puerta de Europe- bize hos geldiniz diyor. Philip Johnson ve John Burgee’nin yapt?klar? Avrupa Kap?s?, eski sehir kap?lar?na oykunerek ana caddenin iki taraf?nda ice dogru on bes derecelik ac?yla egik, yuz on bes metre yuksekligindeki ikiz kuleler. Halk otobuslerinin son durag?,

first day of the spring semester. all is well, I got up before my alarm (although I slept poorly), left the house early, got coffee and a croissant from starbucks, and got in a wreck. just a baby one. this is how it went down: black guy: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" me: "not driving well, obviously." black guy: "well, I'm fine but you should be careful out there." end. I've been running through it all day in my head like I do with most of my mistakes and here's how it happened, to the best of my rationality: I was making a left turn out of starbucks across two lanes with no middle turn lane. it's kind of a funky intersection and you can't see that far to the right, but you can see past the light to the left. my coffee was safely tucked between my ebrake and my passenger seat, m y croissant nestled in its to-go bag inside my bookbag, both hands were on the wheel. I looked right, I looked left, I looked right again. I make my left turn successfully, but just as I am pulling into the right lane, that's when I bumped the black guy in the corolla. the only thing I can think is that he was speeding to catch the light which is why I didn't see him when I looked originally to turn left. so he was either in my blindspot when I moved over, or his speeding was the main reason I hit him. either way, who cares, he drove off and the honda remains in stable condition now with some minor cosmetic damage on the front right of my bumper. why didn't you get his insurance? who the fuck cares. cosmetic damage is all over my car and those scratches on the bumper probably would have totaled my car. woohoo. a whole $100 from the insurance company. again, who cares. so I continued on to school, parked at the sketchy house for rent, and went to class. my first class (contemporary american art) has two grades (three if you count attendance and participation --10%), a midterm (40%) and a final (50%) which seems a little severe for a 200-level class. my classics professor's opening line was "if the word fuck makes you uncomfortable, you might as well leave now." it's the largest class I've been in since..........ever. basically. it's 40 people and she's overloading people into it but I didn't really notice. I'm the only art history major in the class and she already knows my name, plus I'm the only one who answered any of her questions even as bonehead as "why did people live near the Nile in Egyptian times?" I tried to hide my answer behind a pen I was biting, but still "rain" blurted out. aside from the wreck of a morning, I have a very good feeling about this semester. ah school. it feels so good to care and be genuinely interested. I made a fire so I could dry some more coffee-dyed pages and for some reason or coincidence it kicked up my allergies really bad. now I'm sneezing, sniffley, and my cheeks and nose are red. woohoo.