By Camilla Smith-Donald ’26
Today I got lost in Madrid. Me perdí, as I’ve had to say an unjustifiable number of times in the six weeks I’ve been here, with and without Google Maps. In this particular case, I was more “lost” than really lost. I’d taken a walk from my neighborhood and wandered merely two blocks further than where I’d been previously, but preferred the adventure of not knowing to the defeat of pulling out my phone to check. I tried to simply circle the block, but pretty soon there was some kind of train station and people with suitcases everywhere and I’d forgotten my path too thoroughly to even retrace my steps. This kind of situation would usually leave me stressed and flustered, but Madrid has given me lots of opportunities to embrace the unknown because that’s what leads to discovery (also knowing, of course, that I had Google Maps in my backpack the whole time).
With my terrible sense of direction as my most dependable companion, I’m trying to take full advantage of the freedom of being in a big city with the time to explore. Madrid has some of the best places to get lost, and even in the past week, a lot of my favorite experiences have involved getting a bit disoriented, one way or another.
This Thursday my friends and I fell victim to one of the classic blunders of navigation: wrong destination. We were on our way to see a live production of Aladdin in Spanish (thanks to Carleton’s generous cultural activities fund) and somehow ended up standing in front of a dark, empty theater. A quick double-check of the theater name on our tickets left us speed-walking through the crowds of Gran Vía, the central shopping boulevard of Madrid that, as we have learned in our class Exploring Madrid, was constructed in a wave of americanización in the 1920s. Gran Vía definitely reminds me a lot of big American cities, crowded with tourists and locals alike and lined with clothing stores and skyscrapers, which makes it not one of my personal favorite spots. Still, there are some iconic views and impressive architecture that is
certainly unlike anything I’ve seen in the US.
(All the rush to the show was absolutely worth it. It was a lively and energetic production, and it was a blast hearing all the classic songs in Spanish. Also I was pretty proud of myself for mostly being able to follow the fast-paced dialogue.)
Another great place to get a little bit lost? El Museo del Prado, to which I am an almost-weekly visitor for assignments for our class Four Masters of Spanish Art. So far we have studied El Greco and Diego Velázquez, but our assignments have also led us to paintings by other big names like Caravaggio, Tiziano, and Rubens. I don’t consider myself especially into visual art, and I certainly came into the class feeling that art history wasn’t something I understood or would ever really be interested in, but nine hours in the Prado later, my classmates and I have begun pointing out things we see on the street (an especially twisty tree branch or a long-nosed greyhound) to declare them muy Greco.
Though it happens everywhere regardless of my wishes, the one place I like to get lost on purpose is El Retiro, the huge park just a half mile from my host family’s apartment. It was originally the private gardens for the Palacio de Buen Retiro. It’s been public land since 1868, but it still has a majesty fit for royalty. Weekends it’s full of absolutely everybody. Locals, tourists, kids, grandparents, roller skaters, runners, families, couples, dogs… everybody. I love a morning jog along the smaller trails between the trees or an afternoon ride on a rented bike, circling on the main path. Still on my to-do list are the rented boats you can take onto the estanque, the big pond in the middle of the park. On weekdays, when it’s a little quieter, it’s nice to find a private corner of the park to work on homework, read a book, or chat with friends.
Every week I get a little less lost – recognizing more landmarks and street names. I’m also getting less lost in my Spanish, as the pronouns and conjugations fall more and more into place in my mouth. I know today will not be my last moment of directional confusion, but there’s something exciting about that. Today I ended up discovering a bridge with a beautiful view of the city before I gave up and typed my home address into Google Maps. I look forward to losing myself in more of what Madrid has to offer!
