Friday, April 25, 2008
Traveling
Ok, so here is my updated plan for traveling after the program. My last final is on Monday the 28th, Tues we leave for Nerja (a city on the south coast of Spain) and are there from Tues-Fri. We're going to take a day trip to Gibraltar which is about 2 hours away. On Saturday, May 3rd, we are going to travel to Seville and stay there until Sunday night. Then, we are going to Lisbon, Portugal and stay there the rest of the time. We'll come back to Madrid May 7, and then I leave for the states on May 8th!!!!!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Winding down
So, I am nearing the end of my semester in Spain. This is a bittersweet moment because of the one hand I am so excited to come home and to see everyone, however, on the other hand I have loved being here, traveling, hanging out, going out, etc. But, I do think that I have an amazing time and have done/cramped in many things.
The weekend before last Sean and I went to Mallorca with some of the people from the other schools. The trip to Mallorca was good because it was sooo relaxing. We chilled by the pool/on the beach, watched movies, Sean & Rene (from St. Marys) made dinner (yes! didn't have to cook), and Victoria (from Slippery Rock) & I cleaned! The weather wasn't great, sorta on the chilly side, but overall it was a good trip.
The girls lying on the beach
Sean, Rene & I
Ok, so today was probably the day that pretty much completed my stay in Spain. Today I saw the king, queen, and president of Spain in person!!! There was a ceremony thing at the university today to present some award to someone. As you can tell I'm a little iffy on the details. But, point being was the king, queen, and president were part of the ceremony so Anne and I left class (gasp!) to wait to see them all walk by. It was pretty awesome. I mean it's not everyday you see royalty or the president (esp. not even one of your own country). Ok, so here's the hilarious part. So, Zapatero (the president) is walking and Anne says to me, "I can't see him." And, so I say back, "He's next to that woman in pink." And, then they all walk by and the crowd starts to leave and Anne and I were like, "Where's everyone going? The king and queen haven't come yet!" And some person was like, "They just walked by!" Apparently the woman in pink was the QUEEN! hahahaha! Anne and I were dying laughing when we figured that out. But, it's ok because we went back to see them leave so this time we knew who they were when we saw them!
The queen in pink, the king is right next to her, and Zapatero is the second man in from the right
The weekend before last Sean and I went to Mallorca with some of the people from the other schools. The trip to Mallorca was good because it was sooo relaxing. We chilled by the pool/on the beach, watched movies, Sean & Rene (from St. Marys) made dinner (yes! didn't have to cook), and Victoria (from Slippery Rock) & I cleaned! The weather wasn't great, sorta on the chilly side, but overall it was a good trip.
The girls lying on the beach
Sean, Rene & I
Ok, so today was probably the day that pretty much completed my stay in Spain. Today I saw the king, queen, and president of Spain in person!!! There was a ceremony thing at the university today to present some award to someone. As you can tell I'm a little iffy on the details. But, point being was the king, queen, and president were part of the ceremony so Anne and I left class (gasp!) to wait to see them all walk by. It was pretty awesome. I mean it's not everyday you see royalty or the president (esp. not even one of your own country). Ok, so here's the hilarious part. So, Zapatero (the president) is walking and Anne says to me, "I can't see him." And, so I say back, "He's next to that woman in pink." And, then they all walk by and the crowd starts to leave and Anne and I were like, "Where's everyone going? The king and queen haven't come yet!" And some person was like, "They just walked by!" Apparently the woman in pink was the QUEEN! hahahaha! Anne and I were dying laughing when we figured that out. But, it's ok because we went back to see them leave so this time we knew who they were when we saw them!
The queen in pink, the king is right next to her, and Zapatero is the second man in from the right
Besos
P.S. next stop Seville once the program ends
P.S. next stop Seville once the program ends
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Let them eat cake...
Ok, so I know I said I would write about Andalucia, but I just got back from
The next day we took a walking tour of the city. This was cool for two main reason. 1. It was free! and 2. It was run my young people (our tour guide was 24) and therefore they made it a lot more fun than being stuck with some stuffy, boring tour guide. We hit up all the major sites and the tour guide would tell us stories/fun facts for each of the places. That night was everyone went out, but I had to stay in the hotel to do a lame take home test for one of my classes. And, clearly it was for the teacher that I dislike the most! So, that was pretty lame.
Anyway, so the next day (Sunday) we got up early and went to the Louvre which is free on Sundays (score!). The line wasn't even made at all. We got there a little before it opened, but once they opened we just walked right in! So, we hit up all the majors spots: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Liberty Leading the People. After the Louvre we wanted to go to D'orsay, but the line was ridiculously long so we decided not to go in. Instead, we walked along the river where they have green box things that they open up into little stores and headed towards Notre Dame. We sat outside of Notre Dame for a little bit before going in, however, here is the problem with sitting down in a touristy spot. There are gypsy all over the place in Paris that come up to you asking for money. However, their opening line is not something like do you have money or whatever. No, it's something much sneakier. They come up to you and ask you if you speak English. If you make the mistake of saying yes they had you a piece of paper with some sob story for you to read and afterwards expect you to give them money. Now, fortunately other people in our program had already been to Paris and warned us about this, so we didn't get caught up in it. But, it was pretty ridiculous because literally you can't sit for two seconds without having them come up to you. And, they say, "Do you speak English?" and we're all like,"No" even though that is clearly a lie.
Anyway, that night Sean's friend Luis (the one from Mexico studying in Paris) met up with us and we all went out to dinner and then he took us to the most breathtaking place to see the Eiffel Tower. Ok, so the coolest thing about this trip was that while we were at the Eiffel Tower watching it sparkle (b/c they turn on sparkle lights every hour on the hour) it started to SNOW! Yes, SNOW! It was like something out of a movie. It was possible one of the funnest nights of my life because it snowed the entire night. After we left the Eiffel Tower we just walked around the streets of Paris playing in the snow and having snowball fights! It was amazing!
Oh, and the other thing about Paris is that they people are some of the nicest people I've encountered in Europe. We honestly didn't met one rude person (contrary to the stereotype). Overall, the trip was awesome. And, this weekend I'm off to Mallorca in the Balearic Islands.
Besos
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Spring Break
Hey everyone! Sorry it´s taken me so long to send pictures and write posts. There has been some concern expressed about whether I am alive or not! I am here to reassure you all that yes I am in fact alive and doing well. Everything has just been super crazy with all the travelling. Recently I went to Ireland, Valencia, Ibiza, Cordoba and Granada (all in a 2 week time frame!). Let´s start with Ireland shall we?
Sean, David, Stephanie and I all went to Dublin for St. Patrick´s Day. We left the Thursday beforehand and actually returned on Monday (St. Patty´s Day) cause the flights were way cheaper, obvi! So, anyway, we arrive on Thursday night at the airport in Dublin and of course have no idea how to get to our hotel so we end up taking a taxi ride that was not cheap mind you, but fortunately between the four of us it wasn´t that bad. So, we arrive at the hotel and go to our rooms and are instantly blown away. Now the funny thing was that it was a normal, nice hotel, but we are all so used to hostels that this was like luxury to us! The best thing was that they actually provided towels in the bathroom, something which hostels do not and we learned the hard way in Italy. But, anywho, enough about the hotel. The first day in Dublin we took one of those city bus tour companies to view the sights a little. On the first day we went to both the Guinness House and the Jameson Factory. Haha, obviously that was the boys´choice. The following day was miserable because it was freezing and decided to rain the entire day so everyone´s shoes and pants were soaked. So, we decided to go see a movie (10,000 BC). It was a ridiculous movie. Granted, I slept through most of it, but still. The next day we took a bus tour of the north of Ireland which is so pretty. Our bus driver/tour guide was absolutely hilarious. The best, dry humor and I was literally cracking up the whole time. That night was the night turning into St. Patrick´s Day so we decided to go out. While in the center of the city Stephanie and I both saw horse drawn carriages and really wanted to ride one. At first the boys were hesitate, but they finally agreed and we took a carriage ride which was so much fun! The next morning we left for the airport. Now, it wouldn´t be a trip if something didn´t go wrong. While waiting for the bus to the airport, after a 40 minute ride on the tram, Sean realized that we had forgot our passports in the hotel. So, Sean and I had to run to find a taxi to take us back to the hotel and from there to the airport all before the check-in closed. We ended up making it back to the airport in time, but not before paying 70 € for the taxi!
So, the next part of this trip was to Valencia to see Las Fallas. This to me was really cool because this was the festival we learned about the first summer at Middlebury. So, it was a really neat/surreal experience to see Las Fallas in actuality. To get to Valencia we travelled by bus. Sean, Andres (his friend from Mexico studying in Salamanca), and I travelled on one bus. Stephanie and David left later in the day on a different bus, Luis (another friend of Sean´s from Mexico studying in Paris) meet up with us later that night as well, and Elliott was already in Valencia for the week. Anyway, Sean, Andres, and I arrive first and get to the hostel to check-in only to have them tell us that Sean and booked it for the wrong day. We arrived on the 19th and no he didn´t book it for like the 18th or anything like that. He booked it for the 5th of March! Why? We still can´t figure it out. So needless to say we walked around the city for a good hour looking for some place to stay. As a benefit, however, we ended up seeing a lot of the ninots (the name for the individual float thingys). However, rooming wise everything was booked and I mean everything, hostels and hotels. Fortunately, Gigi (Elliott´s roommate) had a hostel with her friends that was already paid for that night. Her friends had left that day for Barcelona so we ended talking to the hostel and were able to stay the night in their room.
Anyway, the next day was when we were suppose to catch the boat from Valencia to Ibiza (a Balearic island off of Spain). Elliott had looked online and it said they leave at 12:30 and 4:30 daily. So, we decided to walk around Valencia for a while and to catch the 4:30 boat. Now, keep in mind that I just said we were "suppose" to catch the boat that day. However, when we arrived at the port we learned that the boat had changed it schedule due to Las Fallas and the only boat for the day had left at 2. Cool that they decided not to put that on their website! So, anyway, we had to pay to stay another night in Valencia plus call the hotel in Ibiza letting them know we weren´t going to arrive that night, but still had to pay for it, cool!
So, the next leg of this journey started when we finally got on the boat to go to Ibiza. It is about a three hour boat ride in which the boat decided to rock like no other the entire time. It was rocking so badly that at one point I actually went into the bathroom thinking I was going to throw up (Luis and Andres actually did). Anyhow, Ibiza was not that exciting. The weather was pretty bad. Chilling and it rained one day. Plus, apparently it´s the off season so a lot of things were closed. So, there´s not really much to say about Ibiza except for the headache it caused trying to get off of it. So, we wanted to arrive to Ibiza on Thursday, but because of the boat we didn´t arrive until Friday. However, when we bought the boat tickets the company informed us that the only boat returning on Sunday was full and that we would have to wait until Monday at 4 pm. Alright, not perfect, but still manageable because we didn´t have class on Monday. So, Monday rolls around and Elliott gets a call from the boat company saying that the boat would be delayed due to bad weather and would leave at midnight instead of 4. However, that was a ridiculous claim because Monday´s weather was the nicest day we had had the entire time there. Plus, other companies were leaving all day long. But, whatever! So, we killed time and returned to the port around 10:30 that night only to have them tell us that the boat wasn´t going to leave at midnight, but they will be sure to let us know by midnight when it´s going to leave. Cool, thanks for your help. Anywho, the boat didn´t end up leaving until 3 am Tuesday morning. So we arrived to Valencia around 7 in the morning and from there still had to get to Madrid. The boat station and the bus station were about an hour apart so we missed the 8 am bus to Madrid and had wait for the 9 am. So, we took the four hour bus ride back to Madrid and then the 30-40 minute train ride back to Alcala where we rolled in around 2:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday, and missed class. The most ironic part about the entire thing was the fact that we had planned to come back on Sunday (a day before the end of vacation) in order to rest/do homework all day Monday. But, we are the group (out of everyone from all the schools) that ends up getting back last when we had planned on getting back first. We had been delayed not a day, no two days! How that happens, I don´t know.
But, overall, Spring Break was really enjoyable and I had a lot of fun. In my next post I will talk about Cordoba and Granada, but I am getting tired of writing now!
Besos
P.S. Paris this weekend!
Sean, David, Stephanie and I all went to Dublin for St. Patrick´s Day. We left the Thursday beforehand and actually returned on Monday (St. Patty´s Day) cause the flights were way cheaper, obvi! So, anyway, we arrive on Thursday night at the airport in Dublin and of course have no idea how to get to our hotel so we end up taking a taxi ride that was not cheap mind you, but fortunately between the four of us it wasn´t that bad. So, we arrive at the hotel and go to our rooms and are instantly blown away. Now the funny thing was that it was a normal, nice hotel, but we are all so used to hostels that this was like luxury to us! The best thing was that they actually provided towels in the bathroom, something which hostels do not and we learned the hard way in Italy. But, anywho, enough about the hotel. The first day in Dublin we took one of those city bus tour companies to view the sights a little. On the first day we went to both the Guinness House and the Jameson Factory. Haha, obviously that was the boys´choice. The following day was miserable because it was freezing and decided to rain the entire day so everyone´s shoes and pants were soaked. So, we decided to go see a movie (10,000 BC). It was a ridiculous movie. Granted, I slept through most of it, but still. The next day we took a bus tour of the north of Ireland which is so pretty. Our bus driver/tour guide was absolutely hilarious. The best, dry humor and I was literally cracking up the whole time. That night was the night turning into St. Patrick´s Day so we decided to go out. While in the center of the city Stephanie and I both saw horse drawn carriages and really wanted to ride one. At first the boys were hesitate, but they finally agreed and we took a carriage ride which was so much fun! The next morning we left for the airport. Now, it wouldn´t be a trip if something didn´t go wrong. While waiting for the bus to the airport, after a 40 minute ride on the tram, Sean realized that we had forgot our passports in the hotel. So, Sean and I had to run to find a taxi to take us back to the hotel and from there to the airport all before the check-in closed. We ended up making it back to the airport in time, but not before paying 70 € for the taxi!
So, the next part of this trip was to Valencia to see Las Fallas. This to me was really cool because this was the festival we learned about the first summer at Middlebury. So, it was a really neat/surreal experience to see Las Fallas in actuality. To get to Valencia we travelled by bus. Sean, Andres (his friend from Mexico studying in Salamanca), and I travelled on one bus. Stephanie and David left later in the day on a different bus, Luis (another friend of Sean´s from Mexico studying in Paris) meet up with us later that night as well, and Elliott was already in Valencia for the week. Anyway, Sean, Andres, and I arrive first and get to the hostel to check-in only to have them tell us that Sean and booked it for the wrong day. We arrived on the 19th and no he didn´t book it for like the 18th or anything like that. He booked it for the 5th of March! Why? We still can´t figure it out. So needless to say we walked around the city for a good hour looking for some place to stay. As a benefit, however, we ended up seeing a lot of the ninots (the name for the individual float thingys). However, rooming wise everything was booked and I mean everything, hostels and hotels. Fortunately, Gigi (Elliott´s roommate) had a hostel with her friends that was already paid for that night. Her friends had left that day for Barcelona so we ended talking to the hostel and were able to stay the night in their room.
Anyway, the next day was when we were suppose to catch the boat from Valencia to Ibiza (a Balearic island off of Spain). Elliott had looked online and it said they leave at 12:30 and 4:30 daily. So, we decided to walk around Valencia for a while and to catch the 4:30 boat. Now, keep in mind that I just said we were "suppose" to catch the boat that day. However, when we arrived at the port we learned that the boat had changed it schedule due to Las Fallas and the only boat for the day had left at 2. Cool that they decided not to put that on their website! So, anyway, we had to pay to stay another night in Valencia plus call the hotel in Ibiza letting them know we weren´t going to arrive that night, but still had to pay for it, cool!
So, the next leg of this journey started when we finally got on the boat to go to Ibiza. It is about a three hour boat ride in which the boat decided to rock like no other the entire time. It was rocking so badly that at one point I actually went into the bathroom thinking I was going to throw up (Luis and Andres actually did). Anyhow, Ibiza was not that exciting. The weather was pretty bad. Chilling and it rained one day. Plus, apparently it´s the off season so a lot of things were closed. So, there´s not really much to say about Ibiza except for the headache it caused trying to get off of it. So, we wanted to arrive to Ibiza on Thursday, but because of the boat we didn´t arrive until Friday. However, when we bought the boat tickets the company informed us that the only boat returning on Sunday was full and that we would have to wait until Monday at 4 pm. Alright, not perfect, but still manageable because we didn´t have class on Monday. So, Monday rolls around and Elliott gets a call from the boat company saying that the boat would be delayed due to bad weather and would leave at midnight instead of 4. However, that was a ridiculous claim because Monday´s weather was the nicest day we had had the entire time there. Plus, other companies were leaving all day long. But, whatever! So, we killed time and returned to the port around 10:30 that night only to have them tell us that the boat wasn´t going to leave at midnight, but they will be sure to let us know by midnight when it´s going to leave. Cool, thanks for your help. Anywho, the boat didn´t end up leaving until 3 am Tuesday morning. So we arrived to Valencia around 7 in the morning and from there still had to get to Madrid. The boat station and the bus station were about an hour apart so we missed the 8 am bus to Madrid and had wait for the 9 am. So, we took the four hour bus ride back to Madrid and then the 30-40 minute train ride back to Alcala where we rolled in around 2:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday, and missed class. The most ironic part about the entire thing was the fact that we had planned to come back on Sunday (a day before the end of vacation) in order to rest/do homework all day Monday. But, we are the group (out of everyone from all the schools) that ends up getting back last when we had planned on getting back first. We had been delayed not a day, no two days! How that happens, I don´t know.
But, overall, Spring Break was really enjoyable and I had a lot of fun. In my next post I will talk about Cordoba and Granada, but I am getting tired of writing now!
Besos
P.S. Paris this weekend!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Barcelona
Hey all! So as is obvious from the title this blog is about my trip to Barcelona the week before last. Um where to start? My weekend in Barcelona was in one word AMAZING! First of all the weather was absolutely to die for. It was sunny and in the 70s all weekend! Second of all we really got to see almost everything there is to see in Barcelona, from Las Ramblas, the Mediterranean Sea, the Olympic Park, the soccer stadium of FC Barcelona, Park Guell, architecture by Gaudi, Plaza Espanya, and El Mercado (the market).
Las Ramblas is a walkway from the center of Barcelona at Plaza Catalunya leading to the port of Barcelona at the Mediterranean Sea. Along Las Ramblas are people selling a sorts of things, pretty flowers, and those people that dress up and perform like in San Fransisco. Along the way, walking down Las Ramblas, you run into El Mercado. This is possibly the coolest thing in the world. It's a huge market of people selling fishes, meats, fruits, bread, etc. I bought a carton a fresh strawberries for 1 euro that were the most delicious strawberries ever!
After that we went to the FC Barcelona soccer stadium which Sean and Elliott were all about. However, we didn't take a tour of the stadium because it cost about 15 euros which is nonsense because it costs 4 to tour the Real Madrid stadium.
We also went to Plaza Espanya. At the plaza, up the hill, is the most impressive building which turned out to be an art museum. You can walk to the top of the hill and have a very cool view of the city. Also, on Saturday nights they but on a water show with all the fountains and light them up in all these cool colors. It was almost magical!
Also, behind the museum is the Olympic Park. So, after the water show we went over to look at it. While we were there Disney On Ice was there so we sat outside of the building under the Olympic torch talking and listening to all the Disney songs.
The other cool thing they have in Barcelona is this air taxi for lack of a better word. It's sort of an enclosed ski lift that takes you up and you get an aerial view of the entire city!
Also, Barcelona offers amazing buildings designed by Gaudi for all you architecture lovers. They are pretty much the coolest designs because they are so original. He used so many things as inspiration including sea shells, the body of a snake, coral, etc. I loved his work because it is like nothing I'd ever seen. He also designed this park called Guell. The park is surrounded by benches made out of mosaic stone. It was so peaceful just to sit there and watch all the people.
Overall, it was the best trip so far. The people (Sean, Elliott, Maribel, Vanessa, and myself) I traveled with were perfect; the perfect number of people! It was just a really great trip!
Besos
P.S. more pictures to come!
Las Ramblas is a walkway from the center of Barcelona at Plaza Catalunya leading to the port of Barcelona at the Mediterranean Sea. Along Las Ramblas are people selling a sorts of things, pretty flowers, and those people that dress up and perform like in San Fransisco. Along the way, walking down Las Ramblas, you run into El Mercado. This is possibly the coolest thing in the world. It's a huge market of people selling fishes, meats, fruits, bread, etc. I bought a carton a fresh strawberries for 1 euro that were the most delicious strawberries ever!
After that we went to the FC Barcelona soccer stadium which Sean and Elliott were all about. However, we didn't take a tour of the stadium because it cost about 15 euros which is nonsense because it costs 4 to tour the Real Madrid stadium.
We also went to Plaza Espanya. At the plaza, up the hill, is the most impressive building which turned out to be an art museum. You can walk to the top of the hill and have a very cool view of the city. Also, on Saturday nights they but on a water show with all the fountains and light them up in all these cool colors. It was almost magical!
Also, behind the museum is the Olympic Park. So, after the water show we went over to look at it. While we were there Disney On Ice was there so we sat outside of the building under the Olympic torch talking and listening to all the Disney songs.The other cool thing they have in Barcelona is this air taxi for lack of a better word. It's sort of an enclosed ski lift that takes you up and you get an aerial view of the entire city!
Also, Barcelona offers amazing buildings designed by Gaudi for all you architecture lovers. They are pretty much the coolest designs because they are so original. He used so many things as inspiration including sea shells, the body of a snake, coral, etc. I loved his work because it is like nothing I'd ever seen. He also designed this park called Guell. The park is surrounded by benches made out of mosaic stone. It was so peaceful just to sit there and watch all the people.
Overall, it was the best trip so far. The people (Sean, Elliott, Maribel, Vanessa, and myself) I traveled with were perfect; the perfect number of people! It was just a really great trip!
Besos
P.S. more pictures to come!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Just another day in the life of...
Well, it's been a little while since my last post, but that is because I've been so busy. Where to even begin? Let's see...last weekend I was taken on another trip with my class. We went to Toledo (again) and let's just say it was a less than pleasant time. Towards the end of the trip I turned to my friend, hands shaking in the air, and said, "Man he's [my teacher] has done it to us again (referring back to Segovia)". He literally gave us a 2.5 hour lunch break after which we meet back at a Cathedral. At the Cathedral he gave us a 10ish minute talk about it's significance blah blah and then preceded to tell us that we could not enter unless we each paid 7 euros. Well, obviously nobody wanted to do that. So he asked us if we wanted a break until the bus came at 6. I was like a break from what, your 10 minute talk? Jeeze Louise! So needless to say we waited another hour. So, basically I was dragged to Toledo under threat of a grade deduction to sit for 3 and a half hours. Cool.
But, anyway that Sunday (Feb. 24th) Anne and I went to Madrid to see Real Madrid play. Now, this is what I'm talking about. Enough of this cultural museum nonsense (although I admit that was not torture), I want to see a soccer game. Of course we sat in the noise bleed section, but whatever, it was still awesome. Now, the funny thing is Real Madrid was playing Getafe which basically is a team that should of rolled over. However, because we were there they obviously had to lose. But, the really funny thing was how they lost. Real Madrid had dribbled the ball down and ended up connecting off a cross to score a goal. Everyone started cheering and the players did the obligatory run over to the corner flag, dance thing. Well, apparently while they were dancing the referee had blown his whistle calling the goal back because it was offsides. However, by the time anyone (fans and players alike) realized what had happened Getafe was literally at the box of Real Madrid and yes you guessed it, they scored the only counted goal of the game and ended up winning. Crazy!
Anywho, this past weekend I went to Barcelona, however, I will save that discussion for the next blog to give it justice. I'll just say that Barcelona is amazing and the trip was beyond great!
Besos
But, anyway that Sunday (Feb. 24th) Anne and I went to Madrid to see Real Madrid play. Now, this is what I'm talking about. Enough of this cultural museum nonsense (although I admit that was not torture), I want to see a soccer game. Of course we sat in the noise bleed section, but whatever, it was still awesome. Now, the funny thing is Real Madrid was playing Getafe which basically is a team that should of rolled over. However, because we were there they obviously had to lose. But, the really funny thing was how they lost. Real Madrid had dribbled the ball down and ended up connecting off a cross to score a goal. Everyone started cheering and the players did the obligatory run over to the corner flag, dance thing. Well, apparently while they were dancing the referee had blown his whistle calling the goal back because it was offsides. However, by the time anyone (fans and players alike) realized what had happened Getafe was literally at the box of Real Madrid and yes you guessed it, they scored the only counted goal of the game and ended up winning. Crazy!
Anywho, this past weekend I went to Barcelona, however, I will save that discussion for the next blog to give it justice. I'll just say that Barcelona is amazing and the trip was beyond great!Besos
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
La vida es una locura
Man, I always sit here for like 5 minutes (that's exaggerated, but you get the point) thinking about how to start these posts. So, today I decided to start it by telling you how difficult it is to start it (I know pretty ingenious of me). But, anyway so this weekend I went to Madrid...twice! On Friday, I went to Madrid to meet up with Casey. I meet her and her friend for lunch at this place called Vips (which I originally read as very important people, but apparently that was wrong). After that we went to the Reina Sofia because Casey's friend had not been there. It was actually somewhat interesting to go again and to hear the perspectives of other people. Anyway, on Sunday I went back to Madrid. This time I meet my friend Sean at the train station and we rode in together. Then we meet his friend from Mexico and three other people in our program at the Reina Sofia (I know 3 times in a week, I'm pretty much an art rock star). Now, to my surprise I actually really ended up liking it. I saw the same paintings by Picasso and Dali that I had seen before and have come to the conclusion that Dali pretty much rocks over Picasso. I literally saw something new each time I looked at Dali's work whereas Picasso ends up all looking the same.
After the Reina Sofia Sean, his friend and I went to go eat lunch. I decided to order fish and was not prepared to receive a full fish with the tail and head still attached. Whenever we eat fish at home here they just serve it normally (just the body). So, needless to say having this fish face staring at me was not going to float my boat. So, I decided to cut the head off. Of course as I'm doing it Sean is playing the role of the fish and is saying, "No, you're hurting me. Don't decapitate me!" (He thinks he so cute). Anyway, the fish was quite good once it was decapitated and tailless.
After that we meet up with our friends Kendra and Kelsey. I have only one thing to say about that. I have never meet a girl i.e. Kendra that walks into so many souvenir shops. And, the kicker is that everything is exactly the same in all the stores, but every time we passed one she would say, "oh cool let's go in" and I'm thinking to myself, "sorry did we not just see that exactly thing in the store two feet away?" So ridiculous! It's amazing to me the extent to which people complain about not having any money and then the just buy the lamest, most useless things. It's like are you seriously telling me you would pay 20 euros for a bag with a bull on it. But, anyway...
Travel plans:
Feb. 28th-March 2nd: Barcelona
March 13th-17th: Dublin
March 19th-20th: Valencia
March 20th-23th: Ibiza (an island off of Spain)
March 28th-30th: Granada (with UA)
April 4th-7th: Paris
Things I miss:
1. Driving on the highway
2. Bagels
3. The radio
4. A glass of cold milk (I swear they don't refrigerate things here)
5. Dryers (it takes forever to get my clothes back)
6. The dollar
7. Chain restaurants
Things I like:
1. Having meals prepared when I walk in the door (it's pretty sweet)
2. Spending the evenings in the internet cafe with everyone
3. Being mistaken for a Spaniard (I guess it's the brown hair)
4. Laughing to myself in the middle of class b/c I'm thinking about something that happened the day before
5. Having basically no work and just plain hanging out &/or traveling all the time
6. Going to Madrid
Besos
After the Reina Sofia Sean, his friend and I went to go eat lunch. I decided to order fish and was not prepared to receive a full fish with the tail and head still attached. Whenever we eat fish at home here they just serve it normally (just the body). So, needless to say having this fish face staring at me was not going to float my boat. So, I decided to cut the head off. Of course as I'm doing it Sean is playing the role of the fish and is saying, "No, you're hurting me. Don't decapitate me!" (He thinks he so cute). Anyway, the fish was quite good once it was decapitated and tailless.
After that we meet up with our friends Kendra and Kelsey. I have only one thing to say about that. I have never meet a girl i.e. Kendra that walks into so many souvenir shops. And, the kicker is that everything is exactly the same in all the stores, but every time we passed one she would say, "oh cool let's go in" and I'm thinking to myself, "sorry did we not just see that exactly thing in the store two feet away?" So ridiculous! It's amazing to me the extent to which people complain about not having any money and then the just buy the lamest, most useless things. It's like are you seriously telling me you would pay 20 euros for a bag with a bull on it. But, anyway...
Travel plans:
Feb. 28th-March 2nd: Barcelona
March 13th-17th: Dublin
March 19th-20th: Valencia
March 20th-23th: Ibiza (an island off of Spain)
March 28th-30th: Granada (with UA)
April 4th-7th: Paris
Things I miss:
1. Driving on the highway
2. Bagels
3. The radio
4. A glass of cold milk (I swear they don't refrigerate things here)
5. Dryers (it takes forever to get my clothes back)
6. The dollar
7. Chain restaurants
Things I like:
1. Having meals prepared when I walk in the door (it's pretty sweet)
2. Spending the evenings in the internet cafe with everyone
3. Being mistaken for a Spaniard (I guess it's the brown hair)
4. Laughing to myself in the middle of class b/c I'm thinking about something that happened the day before
5. Having basically no work and just plain hanging out &/or traveling all the time
6. Going to Madrid
Besos
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Cultural Day
Hello again. So, yesterday I had my first full on cultural day. Anne and I decided that we needed to go to Madrid and actually do some of the cultural activities the city has to offer. So, we got up in the morning and rode the train into Madrid. Our first stop of the day was to the Palacio Real. The Palacio Real is in the middle of Madrid and is used to ceremonies and dinners. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia do not actually live there. The live in a palace about 12 km outside of Madrid. The last king to live in the palace was King Alfonso XIII. Anyway, we arrived at the palace and decided it would be best to take a tour, so we paid our 10 euros and were walked around what I would call 1/3 of the actual palace. The rest is off limits to the public. The palace was huge and impressive. Each room had a different theme with a different color scheme. Anne and I both decided that that simply added to the clashing affect. Every room was so busy that it actually began to hurt your eyes. Below are a few pictures of the outside.
Scott, Kendra, and me at the Reina Sofia
After we were done at the palace we hopped unto the metro to go the the Reina Sofia Art Museum. Also at this point Kendra and Scott and meet us in Madrid. So, we all went through the museum together. The Reina Sofia is a massive art museum that houses paintings by Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Joan Miro to name a few. Now, normally I am not one to go to the art museums and I will say that by the end I was burned out. However, it was quite interesting because Kendra is a big art person and so as we walked around she would explain the different paintings. One of the coolest paintings we saw was Picasso's Guernica.
I thought this was very cool because Kendra was explaining that it was a painting was of a bombing by Germans during the Spanish Civil War. Once she explained the scene you could really see it. Also, the museum had photos and the painting as Picasso was working on it so you could see his progression and how he changed his mind several times.
All in all it was a very successful day of cultural activities. I was glad that we decided to take the opportunity to see some of these things in Madrid.
Besos
Scott, Kendra, and me at the Reina Sofia
After we were done at the palace we hopped unto the metro to go the the Reina Sofia Art Museum. Also at this point Kendra and Scott and meet us in Madrid. So, we all went through the museum together. The Reina Sofia is a massive art museum that houses paintings by Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Joan Miro to name a few. Now, normally I am not one to go to the art museums and I will say that by the end I was burned out. However, it was quite interesting because Kendra is a big art person and so as we walked around she would explain the different paintings. One of the coolest paintings we saw was Picasso's Guernica.
I thought this was very cool because Kendra was explaining that it was a painting was of a bombing by Germans during the Spanish Civil War. Once she explained the scene you could really see it. Also, the museum had photos and the painting as Picasso was working on it so you could see his progression and how he changed his mind several times.
All in all it was a very successful day of cultural activities. I was glad that we decided to take the opportunity to see some of these things in Madrid.
Besos
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Traveling
Hello again! So, as is obviously from the title of this post I'm going to talk about traveling. In the last week I have been doing a lot of traveling and now I am exhausted! Last week a group of us went to Italy. We first flew into Milan and spent the night/next day there. Milan was actually quite surprising to me. For some reason I had this impression that Milan was a dirty city with not much to see. However, this was certainly not the case. The center of Milan is quite impressive. There is a huge square outside the cathedral of Milan. The cathedral of Milan is a massive building that took over 500 years to complete. Work started on the cathedral in the 14th century and it is the second largest church in the world (Saint Peter's Basilica is 1st). The other very cool thing about this cathedral is that the actually let you climb the outside of it to the top. Once you get to the top you have a view overlooking the entire city of Milan.
After Milan we all hopped onto a train heading for Florence. In Florence we spent 2 nights/1.5 days. Florence was also a very nice city. In Florence we also went to go see a cathedral. It was very nice, however, I felt that it could not compare to the one in Milan. The problem with this cathedral for me was that about 20 feet in front of the cathedral the decided to build another building thus blocking the entire view of the cathedral from a distance. Not a very smart design plan if you ask me. However, once again, in Florence you could climb to the top of the dome and also to the top of the bell tower. At this point Anne and myself had gotten separated from the rest of the group so we decided to go to the top of the bell tower thinking that they probably went to the top to see the view. However, once we got to the top we didn't see them, they had gone to the top of the dome! I could see the kid named David on the top of the dome because he was wearing a bright red shirt. So Anne and I started screaming their names and the funny thing was they could actually hear us from the other building. We all stayed at the top of our respective buildings for a while enjoying the view and then meet up again at the bottom.
From Florence we all went to Venice. Venice was amazing. Coincidently, the day we arrived in Venice was the day of the big city carnival so everyone was dressed in these elaborate costumes walking around in the streets. When we got to Venice everyone was starving so we found a little restaurant and sat outside watching all the people walk by in costumes while we ate. The other amazing this about Venice was the water taxi. We didn't actually stay on the island because it was a lot more expensive so we had to take a water taxi to get off the island. The amazing thing about it was we took it a night and you were able to stand out the back as the wind was blowing past you.
So, that was my traveling to Italy for our long weekend. However, this weekend I also did a lot of traveling. On Friday, I went to Segovia with my class for one of our two day trips. The trip was to be able to look a some castle around Spain. However, the trip to Segovia was not that good for several reasons. The first reason was that it was freezing. When we arrived to the first castle it was actually snowing a little! The second reason was because we didn't actually go to Segovia like they told us. First we went to a castle that I don't know where was, but was about an hour from Alcala. Then, we drove another hour to a little tiny town. This town was the saddest place every. It was literally a ghost town that as I referred to it as seems like a place where drunks go to die. In this town we first saw an old jail which was not that cool nor impressive. Then we ate lunch. Now, before we started the entire group along with the teacher agreed that we would have one our for lunch. However, after one our all the kids were ready and the two teachers were not. After, an hour and half of waiting the teachers finally came out to say they were ready. We were all so irritated that we just wanted to go home. Then they teachers started joking that it was just Spanish culture to take that long. I have to feelings regarding that topic. First, if you want 2.5 hours to eat lunch then just tell us from the beginning instead of making us rush through lunch to then sit there and wait for you. Second, on a school function it is important to stick to the schedule because a. it's incredibly rude to make people wait like that and b. as a result we were quite late arriving back in Alcala. So, anyway after lunch we walked to the back of the town to see their unimpressive castle. Then the teacher preceded to stand outside of it talking for 30 minutes about the castle while we were all freezing. And, in the end he told we couldn't actually go into the castle because it was privately owned and too expensive. So, he basically dragged us to this ghost town to wait 1.5 hours while he ate lunch and then to freeze outside a building we could not enter. I was quite annoyed to say the least and they got an ear full on my trip evaluation.
So, my final trip was yesterday to Toledo. Unlike the trip to Segovia, in which we didn't even go to Segovia, we actually went to Toledo (already an improvement). Toledo was a very cool city with much more old European feel to it than Alcala/Madrid. I enjoyed this trip a lot more and we actually saw a lot more things.
However, now after all this traveling I am very tired and have slept a great deal today. Now I am awake and must end this post now and start my homework for class on Monday.
Besos
After Milan we all hopped onto a train heading for Florence. In Florence we spent 2 nights/1.5 days. Florence was also a very nice city. In Florence we also went to go see a cathedral. It was very nice, however, I felt that it could not compare to the one in Milan. The problem with this cathedral for me was that about 20 feet in front of the cathedral the decided to build another building thus blocking the entire view of the cathedral from a distance. Not a very smart design plan if you ask me. However, once again, in Florence you could climb to the top of the dome and also to the top of the bell tower. At this point Anne and myself had gotten separated from the rest of the group so we decided to go to the top of the bell tower thinking that they probably went to the top to see the view. However, once we got to the top we didn't see them, they had gone to the top of the dome! I could see the kid named David on the top of the dome because he was wearing a bright red shirt. So Anne and I started screaming their names and the funny thing was they could actually hear us from the other building. We all stayed at the top of our respective buildings for a while enjoying the view and then meet up again at the bottom.
From Florence we all went to Venice. Venice was amazing. Coincidently, the day we arrived in Venice was the day of the big city carnival so everyone was dressed in these elaborate costumes walking around in the streets. When we got to Venice everyone was starving so we found a little restaurant and sat outside watching all the people walk by in costumes while we ate. The other amazing this about Venice was the water taxi. We didn't actually stay on the island because it was a lot more expensive so we had to take a water taxi to get off the island. The amazing thing about it was we took it a night and you were able to stand out the back as the wind was blowing past you.
So, that was my traveling to Italy for our long weekend. However, this weekend I also did a lot of traveling. On Friday, I went to Segovia with my class for one of our two day trips. The trip was to be able to look a some castle around Spain. However, the trip to Segovia was not that good for several reasons. The first reason was that it was freezing. When we arrived to the first castle it was actually snowing a little! The second reason was because we didn't actually go to Segovia like they told us. First we went to a castle that I don't know where was, but was about an hour from Alcala. Then, we drove another hour to a little tiny town. This town was the saddest place every. It was literally a ghost town that as I referred to it as seems like a place where drunks go to die. In this town we first saw an old jail which was not that cool nor impressive. Then we ate lunch. Now, before we started the entire group along with the teacher agreed that we would have one our for lunch. However, after one our all the kids were ready and the two teachers were not. After, an hour and half of waiting the teachers finally came out to say they were ready. We were all so irritated that we just wanted to go home. Then they teachers started joking that it was just Spanish culture to take that long. I have to feelings regarding that topic. First, if you want 2.5 hours to eat lunch then just tell us from the beginning instead of making us rush through lunch to then sit there and wait for you. Second, on a school function it is important to stick to the schedule because a. it's incredibly rude to make people wait like that and b. as a result we were quite late arriving back in Alcala. So, anyway after lunch we walked to the back of the town to see their unimpressive castle. Then the teacher preceded to stand outside of it talking for 30 minutes about the castle while we were all freezing. And, in the end he told we couldn't actually go into the castle because it was privately owned and too expensive. So, he basically dragged us to this ghost town to wait 1.5 hours while he ate lunch and then to freeze outside a building we could not enter. I was quite annoyed to say the least and they got an ear full on my trip evaluation.
So, my final trip was yesterday to Toledo. Unlike the trip to Segovia, in which we didn't even go to Segovia, we actually went to Toledo (already an improvement). Toledo was a very cool city with much more old European feel to it than Alcala/Madrid. I enjoyed this trip a lot more and we actually saw a lot more things.
However, now after all this traveling I am very tired and have slept a great deal today. Now I am awake and must end this post now and start my homework for class on Monday.
Besos
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Beginning
Ok, so I have officially given in and decided to create one of these blogs (but, yes I do have my journal in which I will write more personal things). However, I am not to be held responsible for boring entries. If the entries are boring then it is safe to assume that my life is boring.
I am starting my 3rd week here in Spain and to say life is crazy is an understatement. I feel as if I am going at a million miles an hour and I can't catch my breath. Casey assures me however that it will slow down.
The first week in Spain was orientation at the University. Everything was new and it's funny now to think that I could not even figure out the layout of the building. During orientation week I had a crisis because three of my classes that I needed to take where all scheduled at the same time. This was a problem considering that all three of them are required classes for my major and that I am not left with much time before I graduate. I will not bore you with all the details just that after some maneuvering I am able to have three classes count for something. However, my fourth classes does not really help me in any way towards graduation. Therefore, I will be forced to take 6 classes in the Fall. Not ideal, but doable.
So, anyway, I am now starting my second week of classes and to my surprise the one I enjoy the most is called literatura española contemporánea. I have never had a teacher that can read out loud as well as he can. He makes the poetry sound like music. I have just finished reading a short story that actually kept my attention. I actually wanted to keep reading to find out how it ended. Anyway, I could go on but I feel as if you get my point.
Also, my host family here is so nice. I completely lucked out with them. There is a mother, father, and two daughters named Laura (22) and Cristina (17). On Sunday, they invited me to a family get together and I was very touched. It was a birthday lunch for my host father's father. I meet many cousins, aunts, and uncles and everyone was super sweet and the food was very good. After the lunch Cristina and I both had to do homework. However, Cristina, being 17, can get dramatic at times and yesterday I just had to laugh at her. She was complaining about the fact that she could not possible start her homework now because the lunch made her so tired. It was quite funny and I had to rag on her a bit.
Also, last night Anne (the girl that lives with the family down the street) and I found this bakery where we sat and did our homework. We ordered café con leche and later tea. It was the absolute best tea I have ever had. It was called té de bosque (tea from the forest). We stroke up a conversation with the woman working there and she seemed to be quite amused by us. I have a feeling we will be going back there many times throughout our time here.
With regards to the Spanish I have just three words to say, "Thank you Middlebury!" I feel so comfortable using my Spanish. My host family comments about how I am such a good speaker and how much I understand. Even Anne's host family said the same thing. Yes, I do realize that I am boasting here a bit, but I feel I have worked hard enough to deserve a little self-boasting.
This weekend we do not have school on Monday so a group of us have planned a trip to Italy. We are leaving on Thursday and fly into Milan. We have 4 1/2 days in which time we are going to see Milan, Venice, and Florence. I am quite excited and can't believe my life right now. How crazy is it to go to Italy for a long weekend. I mean, even going to California for a long weekend is not something you do everyday, let alone Italy.
Anyway, I feel that this blog has gotten excessively long and therefore I will end it here.
Besos
I am starting my 3rd week here in Spain and to say life is crazy is an understatement. I feel as if I am going at a million miles an hour and I can't catch my breath. Casey assures me however that it will slow down.
The first week in Spain was orientation at the University. Everything was new and it's funny now to think that I could not even figure out the layout of the building. During orientation week I had a crisis because three of my classes that I needed to take where all scheduled at the same time. This was a problem considering that all three of them are required classes for my major and that I am not left with much time before I graduate. I will not bore you with all the details just that after some maneuvering I am able to have three classes count for something. However, my fourth classes does not really help me in any way towards graduation. Therefore, I will be forced to take 6 classes in the Fall. Not ideal, but doable.
So, anyway, I am now starting my second week of classes and to my surprise the one I enjoy the most is called literatura española contemporánea. I have never had a teacher that can read out loud as well as he can. He makes the poetry sound like music. I have just finished reading a short story that actually kept my attention. I actually wanted to keep reading to find out how it ended. Anyway, I could go on but I feel as if you get my point.
Also, my host family here is so nice. I completely lucked out with them. There is a mother, father, and two daughters named Laura (22) and Cristina (17). On Sunday, they invited me to a family get together and I was very touched. It was a birthday lunch for my host father's father. I meet many cousins, aunts, and uncles and everyone was super sweet and the food was very good. After the lunch Cristina and I both had to do homework. However, Cristina, being 17, can get dramatic at times and yesterday I just had to laugh at her. She was complaining about the fact that she could not possible start her homework now because the lunch made her so tired. It was quite funny and I had to rag on her a bit.
Also, last night Anne (the girl that lives with the family down the street) and I found this bakery where we sat and did our homework. We ordered café con leche and later tea. It was the absolute best tea I have ever had. It was called té de bosque (tea from the forest). We stroke up a conversation with the woman working there and she seemed to be quite amused by us. I have a feeling we will be going back there many times throughout our time here.
With regards to the Spanish I have just three words to say, "Thank you Middlebury!" I feel so comfortable using my Spanish. My host family comments about how I am such a good speaker and how much I understand. Even Anne's host family said the same thing. Yes, I do realize that I am boasting here a bit, but I feel I have worked hard enough to deserve a little self-boasting.
This weekend we do not have school on Monday so a group of us have planned a trip to Italy. We are leaving on Thursday and fly into Milan. We have 4 1/2 days in which time we are going to see Milan, Venice, and Florence. I am quite excited and can't believe my life right now. How crazy is it to go to Italy for a long weekend. I mean, even going to California for a long weekend is not something you do everyday, let alone Italy.
Anyway, I feel that this blog has gotten excessively long and therefore I will end it here.
Besos
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