Museums are easy. You pay someone who doesn't give a fuck, communicating via hand signal if necessary, and then everyone leaves you alone as long as you don't try to do something stupid like touch the art. Galleries are harder. Half the time they just don't exist; you go to the address and find a door chained shut or a condemned building or something. If you do find a gallery, the door is probably locked so you have to get buzzed in and then maybe you flail about a little because the door is super heavy and you can't tell whether you should be pushing or pulling. Once inside, your clothes aren't really right, no matter what you're wearing. Then if the cute gallery worker says "Let me know if you need any help" and you somehow completely misunderstand that simple Spanish phrase and think he's telling you there's more downstairs and then go charging into the broom closet, you'll really feel inadequate. But, you will get to see lots of art and it will be free and if you're me and in Bilbao, you'll even like most of it.
Speaking of epic language fails, I had my first Spanish class today. My landlord/roommate says the school is in a horrible neighborhood, full of drugs and whores. It's too close to a main street to actually be dangerous, especially in broad daylight. (Says the girl who once got violently robbed in broad daylight while surrounded by four friends. Whatever.) I did pass some people from Bilbao's underbelly on my way to school, though; one of them told me that he loves New York and that I should be careful, and another tried to give me some yogurt that he happened to have with him because he thought I might be hungry. My nonthreatening appearance generally serves me well, but do I really come off as such a lost cause that I need the town drunks to feed me? It was kind of endearing. I guess. Class itself was mostly uneventful. It will teach me things and it's not so far over my head that I want to cry, but it instantly made me realize that I'll need a lot more than a week if I really want to improve my Spanish. We'll see...
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