"Why must there be thieves?"

I love Sundays here. Even though I understand about 40% of what is being said in church it’s so interesting to listen and try to figure out what they are expressing. After the first hour there is a man who always goes around to everyone and hands out cough drops! I love it. Then our teacher for the second hour has no patience for our group – despite the fact that she’s an American as well. We have our theories about her… Other than church, there is nothing planned for the day, which makes for long siestas and skyping with the family. Glad to know they’re doing well and that they have to “rearrange they’re schedules” in order to find time to talk to me (as told by Chloe) – thanks guys, you must really miss me.

Mondays we have one class in the morning and then have time until photography that’s at 4:30. We found out that Alcala has a “market” every Monday. Of course with our talent of wandering we were able to find it – it turned out to be massive. There was stall after stall of super cheap and random things. If you’re looking for underwear, the Mercado is where it’s at – quality is questionable. They have lots of jewelry, make up (?), coats, jeans, shoes, sheets, cloth etc. Something that is definitely worthwhile are the scarves. If you dedicate some time to looking, you can find quite a steal. Ashley and I then walked into the food portion of the market; it was an entirely different world. People were crowding around tables, bargaining, trying to get the vendors attention, yelling lots and lots of Spanish words. Ashley and I bought our favorites: manzanas, platanos y alemandras tostados que estan muy, muy baratos. I bought 8 apples, 4 bananas and a fourth of a kilo of almonds for under 5 euros. We were still in the shopping mood and decided it would be fun to check out the local mall – Alcala Magna. We had no idea how to get there but after wandering some more, we hopped on a bus that seemed to go in the right direction and what do you know – we found it. The first store we saw as soon as we walked in was Haribo (shout out to Hared). But we’ve gotten good at resisting the temptations/ not even feeling temptation for the sweets, which is a great thing. We went to Sephora, this other store filled with cheap shoes (definitely going back), Blanco (in which my purchase from Sephora was STOLEN), Zara and back to Sephora to re-purchase my stolen lipstick. Unbelievable. But the rebajas are amazing and a dream come true. My first shopping experience here. A lot of the things are very trendy – almost too crazy so as long as we stay on the conservative side of things we find cute things that may be acceptable to wear in the States.

Someone asked if Ashley and I were German today. That was a new one and add that onto the list: Swedish, Italian and British. Apparently we can pull all of those off.

Salamanca and the Cathedral

AVILA

"Soo... Salamanca was pretty crazy."

Friday morning we had our first weekend travel trip. At 8am we took a 3 hour bus ride to Salamanca. On the way we stopped at Avila. Avila is a small town known for the wall that was constructed by the Romans around the city in efforts to keep out other conquering kingdoms at the time. We had a chance to climb the wall and look out onto the city! It was a quick stop so after that we had 20 minutes to walk around and Jenny needed a sandwich for the bus ride. We still haven’t fully adjusted to the meal time changes. In the U.S., no matter where you are, you can find a restaurant to sell you food. But in Spain, it is much different. If you want a decent size sandwich at 12:30pm, it’s going to be hard to find somewhere that will accommodate that. Most places (especially in smaller towns) don’t expect people until 2 or 2:30. So that was an interesting experience finding a place for Jenny to get food for the bus. We got to Salamanca about an hour later. It was rainy and a bit cold outside but the town was still beautiful. This was the type of place that tries to maintain the history of their city and not reconstruct at all. Every one of the buildings looked older and there was nothing really modern about Salamanca. It was incredible. We got a tour guide who was extremely energetic (something we all needed at that time) and took us to the Plaza Mayor (same name as in Madrid) and told us the histories. The material of the buildings in Salamanca was very different from other places we had been to. Our tour guide was explaining in Spanish that it was a material that changes colors with age to this deep, rustic beige. We headed over to the cathedral – which was my favorite that we’ve seen. There was a “new” Spanish cathedral and the more Gothic, European “old” cathedral connected to it. The differences between the two were surprising. It was incredible to me the size and detail that went into these buildings – something we definitely do not do anymore. Over time our architecture has definitely simplified in comparison to these massive cathedrals with altars which had ornate, detailed altars. Even the columns had intricate sculptures etched into the sides. An interesting fact she shared was that when the Spanish were constructing the newer cathedral they put in an incredible amount of money into the area for the choir and then as the wars took place, they ran out of money so the altar was unusually plain with no decorations whatsoever. We also visited the University of Salamanca which is the oldest university in Spain. They had crazy traditions about seeing/finding the frog etched into one of the sides of a building the the students would pass their final exams and once they had passed their exams they would mark the outside walls with this specific marking with bull’s blood. When we got free time we got to walk around and we found a Tapas place that was super cheap. In Spain when they say tortilla, it is completely different from the tortilla we typically think of. It is this thick texture made with eggs that’s very soft. They put it in sandwiches for sometimes mix vegetables or meat in it. It reminds me of quiche without the crust. We walked through some stores to check out the sales. Spain has these massive sales (“Rebajas”) until about the beginning of February because of the holiday season. I haven’t really taken advantage of it because I figure I would rather buy spring things than stuff for the winter.

Anyway, we headed back to the hotel, which was very close to the Plaza Mayor. It was one of the girls’ birthday the following day so we all wanted to go out to celebrate! We met up at 11 to have a night on the town. As I’ve spent more and more time in a group, I’ve realized that any size larger than 5 people is either unproductive, annoying or dangerous. Being a blonde American, you already attract enough attention. But multiply that by 30 and then you’ve got a problem – especially when we’re all looking to go out and dance. We ended up crowding into this one place in which we were the majority - we were obnoxious to say the least. They were playing American music that most of the girls sang loudly to. Not to mention that the style of dance we pulled out is very different. There is no doubt that we emphasized our American-ness. At first it was funny and we were all having a good time, but then the Spanish ladies started getting upset. And the tension grew. We stayed there for about 30 minutes until one of the girls in our group was aggressively pushed, flicked off and spat on. We got stared down really bad and that’s when I felt uncomfortable being in such a large group. I grabbed a couple of my friends and told them that this wasn’t a smart idea at all and we broke off from everyone else and hit up some other places. I don’t know what it is about me but I always seem to be doing that because I get so frustrated and impatient with such a large group of girls. Ashley, Jenny, Lexi and I went to these other bars and met a bunch of Spanish/Brazilian people who all spoke incredibly great English. A couple of the guys we met lived in Madrid! We went to Cum Laude, The Gatsby, and Camalot – all such intriguing names. They were all close to one another so we would hop from one to the next and maybe back again. We had a blast. We got back to our rooms around 3 and had to be up in several hours to hit the road again.

I woke up to hearing people still out on the street partying! Once we had gotten ready and went to grab breakfast there were actually people still wandering around and just heading home (granted it was pretty early, but still!) I love the culture! After breakfast, we went to the market and all bought fruit, nuts and yogurts to split throughout the day. We are so sick to our stomachs with the carbs (PAN) and pastries we have consumed since we’ve been here! I’m so glad it’s finally kicking in.

We got on the bus and headed to Toro and toured the cathedral there. It was originally constructed by the Romans but finished with the Gothic style of architecture. It was interesting to compare the difference between the two. Other things that sparked my interest were a sculpture of the impregnated Mary, which is somewhat rare. And there was a painting of Christ that had an unknown artist. We quickly got on the bus and had to head to Tordesillas for our tour of the Santa Clara monastery. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures but the paintings and different rooms were so interesting. The architecture of this monastery was different than all the other buildings we had seen because of the Arab influence. Something that amazes me is the conditions that the colors of the paintings on the walls, frescoes and sculptures and how vibrant they are.

Cynthia was right: after a while, everything begins to look the same. The initial shock of the incredible ornate detail in each building and the massive columns and high ceilings of the cathedrals begins to wear after the fourth cathedral you’ve toured. Every time you walk in appreciative of such incredible achievements of these people from centuries ago – but that can only last for so long.

After our tour of the monastery, we had about an hour to grab food before the ride home. We had our fruit and just needed something to hold us over for a while. We found a small restaurant in the Plaza Mayor (of Tordesilla) to sit down at. Once again, it was an awkward time to be asking for food. The places weren’t quite ready for customers looking for meals. Once we sat down and looked at the menu, there was nothing that we actually wanted. We kept saying how all we wanted was a nice turkey sandwich from Tony’s or Club Sandwich and how much we missed being able to go anywhere we wanted, at any time of day to get food. We noticed that culture shock was beginning to kick in as we talked more and more about how it’s been a challenge to become accustomed to the culture. Not to mention we were all slightly sleep deprived from the night prior and all a little bit on edge. Ashley and I got Castellena (?) soup, which was quite an experience. It was soup with ham, eggs and bread in it. The flavor was good but I couldn’t finish mine because it was so strange. We went to the restaurant in a larger group and the waitress was getting frustrated with us and told the girls sitting at the table who weren’t ordering anything to leave. I get really nervous that our group gives off the obnoxious American vibe sometimes. As long as we are respectful, it’s normally not a problem and if the people see we are trying to communicate with them, they generally are patient and willing to help. Having worked in a store dealing with foreigner customers frequently, I normally would be impatient with them. But now that I am the foreigner and learning the language of the country I am living in I have been so grateful to the people who have been patient enough to deal with me, my questions, mispronunciations and bad grammar.

9/11 Exhibit at the Reina

Trippy Reina Sofia!!

This past week has surprised me with the amount of fun things we are still able to find and entertain ourselves with. On Wednesday, Ashley and I went for a run on the perimeter of the park. Despite the fact it was freezing all day, the sun had come out and the trail we went on reminds me so much of Waveny. We sat on this grass patch for a while enjoying the warm sun and hurried over to Alcalingua (our school) for a flamenco class! None of us took it seriously so it was a lot of fun. It really helped me appreciate the show we went to last week and how incredibly talented the performers were! In class we started to put a routine together so maybe by the end of our stay we’ll have a performance or something!

Thursday: The missionaries came over for almuerzo which was a fun experience. It was nice to see how Nieves can connect with us through the church and how we can see that we have a lot in common. We asked how talking to people here must be and they said it was quite hard. After, Ashley, Kip and I went to the REINA SOFIA. On our way, I saw my first group of protesters in Madrid. They were gathered outside of the McDonalds and were preparing to march up the street. There were tons of Police cars around and we stood around for a bit to try and figure out who they were. Our theory is that it was the “communist” political party ironically standing outside of a capitalist business. But who knows what it actually was. After we hopped in line to go to the Sofia. I knew I wanted to see Guernica by Picasso and I heard from some other students that there was a 9/11 exhibition. We didn’t know where everything was so we figured we could start on the top floor and work our way down. The elevators were cool enough to tide us over because they were on the outside of the building so you could look out over the square as you were climbing up the building. The theme of the fourth floor was work from the end of World War II until the 1980s. These exhibitions were far from the work displayed at the Prado. Each painting was obscure and unique – you really need to have an open-mind going into the Reina Sofia. It blew me away how real an author could be – there were no limits. For example, in some of the rooms a movie would be playing on the wall and the first thing we saw was footage from a concentration camp of a bulldozer piling bodies – definitely not my initial expectation walking into the Reina Sofia.

I must admit that I am not an art major or anything but I do try my best to appreciate all the artwork displayed by taking several minutes out to analyze the paintings. I found myself asking, “What qualities does this have over my 7 year old cousins’ drawings?” Because a lot of the art was like that! But anyway, I really enjoyed that though. The fact that the artist can get you to question the meaning and origin of his work shows that it has power and it is a successful. Sometimes you can find detail in something that appears to be incredibly random at first glance. A lot of the art displayed wasn’t necessarily paintings; there were movies, collages, sculptures, newspaper clippings, photography, displays of items artists had put together. Some were colorful, others were funny and a few had political statements behind them. There was one collage comprised of newspaper clippings of Kennedy’s assassination with other drawings and colors added to it. There was another display that was a map which was adjusted so that Miami and Havana were touching. It was made in 1969 so possibly referring to the Bay of Pigs scandal etc. We worked our way downstairs which had these separate rooms with curtains where it would be completely dark and you could sit and watch a movie. If you thought some of the art was obscure, then the movie were indescribable. Kip was saying that one of the rooms literally filmed a tree for hours and the voice-over said “tree” with an echo over and over again…. There was another movie we sat down to watch that was projected onto a screen but some clips somehow projected onto all the walls of the room – it was similar to a 3D effect. Finally, we found the 9/11 exhibition. I don’t think anyone can be emotionally prepared for it. At first you look at the first several cover pages and you nod your head in an appreciative manner. But as you continue to walk and look at the cover pages throughout the world, it begins to jog your memory of that horrific day. You begin to realize what an effect it had internationally. You see different language prints but the same pictures on the cover pages. It was the most powerful art exhibition I have every been to. Although we think that the world is very divided at times, a display like this truly shows that certain crises and tragedies are things that the world can recognize, mourn and agree on the devastating nature of the event together. After that display, we were all kind of worn out (and running out of time). There is no doubt that we will be back to Reina – we didn’t even get a chance to see Guernica!

Wandering

Doyito Perrito

Doy is the dog that lives with me. It’s kind of a gross dog and not my favorite. Anyway, Doy has been coughing constantly for the past several days. Carly and I are beginning to get nervous that the dog might die – which would be incredibly sad for Nieves not to mention awkward for us to be here. I’m kind of concerned and I think Doy needs a visit to the vet. Also they had to take David (the son who lives here) to the hospital on Friday because he had a really high fever. I don’t work well when everyone surrounding me is sick

Holaaa besos besos!

Yesterday we decided to finally go see Guernica at the Reina Sofia – but of course, it was closed on Tuesdays. We figured that we should go to Madrid anyway and we could go to the Pateon de Goya (Goya’s tomb with some of his frescoes). At first we didn’t even have the address, but once we found it we knew it would take us a while to find it. It was a night full of wandering. (Note: our friend that we made on the way back from Barcelona, Benny, was correct: every McDonald’s has “Wiffi”! At least the one we tried his theory on did.) We took the metro to find Goya’s tomb and walked along this park and enjoyed the state of being carefree. Once we had realized we walked too far, we weren’t able to make it inside before it closed; but a least we know where it is now. We walked back to the train station (which was attached to a mall – pretty cool) and took the metro to Tribunal to get tapas at this fantastic place recommended by Kip’s guidebook. We wandered again for a while trying to find our way around this area of Madrid. It turns out that Kip’s guidebook is either outdated or lying. By that time we were just looking for a place to sit down. I passed a Le Pain Quotiden! I couldn’t believe they had one! Took me back to good times in New Canaan. We literally began looking in windows to see which restaurant would be most appealing and found this Cerverceria that had a lot of people in it. It turns out that it was cheap and it was renown for its “motaditos” which we assumed were the small bocadillos everyone was eating with their drinks. We ordered a sampler plate to split between the four of us and they were all good! A few were questionable as to what it was made out of but that was the fun in trying new food. We headed back to Sol to of course get some Haribo which we were sad to see had closed for the night. We found out that the famous churreria is open 24/7 which is good to know for our clubbing nights in Madrid. When back in Alcala everyone headed home after a long afternoon of wandering. I wanted to meet up with the U of A kids at American night at La Media Pinta and was able to find them! It was so much fun. I met a bunch of new people who were all really outgoing and inviting me to different things. A lot of the students were from University of Maryland. Sarah and I discovered we have the same birthday, which was really exciting for both of us at the time, and we decided that we were going to throw ourselves a combined birthday party before our programs end. The place played incredibly loud music and I was shouting my conversations literally the whole night. At one point there were so many people there and the main bartender (Javier) stood up on the counter and was pouring alcohol into people’s mouths. I thought it was hilarious and was able to snap a few pictures of it. Anyway, their plans were to stay out all night but I headed back after I decided I didn’t want a relapse of my cold from earlier this week.

MADRITH night on the town!

I was excited to have my first day to sleep in! Saturday was a very relaxed day. I woke up and met the girls at the track for an awesome work out. It has been really cold here recently but with the sun out it isn’t too bad. I came back and ad almuerzo with Carly. Then I decided that I was beginning to feel my honeymoon stage of Spain wearing off. I needed to do something American – watch Modern Family. We got together at Ashley’s house to watch a few episodes. The best is that Kip, Carly and I stopped at a pastry shop on the way over which completed the afternoon. We each tried something different this time – overall an indescribable experience. Modern Family and being with my friends was the perfect remedy for my minor spell of homesickness. After that I was ready to go out! Ashley and I ventured into Madrid in the early morning hours. It was late enough that the trains weren’t running to Madrid from Alcala. It was so frigid out and we had to walk to the bus station to figure out all the schedules. While we were waiting we got kebabs and energy drinks (they’re form of fast food. It is similar to a gyro.) Once we arrived, neither of us had money left on our phones and we tried to use he payphones to call Ashley’s friend, John. Some locals saw us struggling and were nice enough to let us borrow their cell phones. When we met up with John, we kind of wandered around aimlessly (a reoccurring theme in Spain) and happened to stroll down the road that housed KAPITAL – the best nightclub in Madrid. It was fate. At first we were tentative to go in because it was pretty expensive. We talked to a few people outside and were easily persuaded to go in. And it was worth it. Kapital has seven floors of absolute European craziness. The first floor was the main dancefloor with a stage with performers on it. They play European techno music which I have grown to absolutely love. Every once in a while this fog machine would blast full force ono the center of the dancefloor. Later in the night we positioned ourselves directly underneath it and when it turned on, you literally couldn’t see anything in this cold blast of wind/fog for 15 seconds. I couldn’t stop laughing every time it happened. As you went to different floors, here were lounges and balconies people would just hang out in. The fifth floor (plus the main floor) was our favorite because it played all the classic American songs that we knew. We were there for a long time but it didn’t even feel like it! The outgoing Spanish men were great, the music was great – everything just made for a fabulous night in Madrid!

Segovia 1/21

"I forgot what it felt like to feel circulation in my toes"

Today we had our first group trip! We went to Segovia – about an hour and a half from where we are. Segovia is known for the beautiful aqueduct that is thousands of years old. According to our tour guide (Antonio who is not a fan of me and my picture taking), it is the only evidence that remains today of Roman presence in Spain. The only upsetting thing about today is that it was absolutely frigid. Luckily I was prepared and bundled up in a Cochni sweater (of course), scarf, hat, gloves and of course the north face coat. It was -4 degrees Celsius (so high 20s I believe?) Segovia is a bit higher in altitude than Madrid so it is always colder but everywhere was cold today. We walked up from the aqueduct to the cathedral and passed lots of cute stores. (All the stores here are having huge sales because of the past holiday season – but it’s only going to last for another week or so. Tons of the girls are dying to get their shopping done. However, Antonio had us on a tight schedule). We took a tour of the castillo, which was beautiful. Every ceiling was decorated with intricate detail. The castillo had an incredible view hat looked over all of Segovia. We climbed up the tower and I was able to whip out my fish-eye lense and get some cool pictures. It’s crazy constantly visiting and seeing so many beautiful things. It’s all still so surreal to me that I am living here! I’m just trying to take it all in – as much as I can. After, we headed to the catedral and took a tour AROUND the cathedral (family joke – love you Nan.) Once we stepped inside we all starting snapping pictures immediately and found out we were allowed to inside. There were sections within the catedral – one had all of these paintings depicting various ways Christ impacts our lives. This particular painting was especially interesting with a skeleton on one side of a tree using an axe to cut it down. Standing on the other side was Christ. On top of the tree were all these mini-people sitting, eating etc. It was really obscure but I thought it was an interpretation of the after-life.
After all our tours we had some free time to walk in the streets to shop. Of course it was siesta though. In small towns like Alcala and Segovia, most all clothing stores close from around 2 until 4 or 5pm. The only stores open are cafes and restaurants. So we all found ourselves in this small pastry shop – which will be the downfall for all of us. There were countless delicious treats that I won’t even get into because I don’t want to sound obese. We planned that we’ll enjoy “Spain” (meaning food-wise) for a few weeks and when we get close to the trips where the weather will be warmer we’ll start to be more concerned and monitor our pastry intake. Anyway, the bus ride home we all fell asleep and recharged for tonight! We haven’t decided if we’re going to Madrid with the other kids from U of A or what the plan is but whatever it is, it will be fun!

"Playing the recorder for money isn't that impressive... I did that in 4th grade"

As we took the train into Madrid today (Thursday) we talked about how we could not believe it has only been 10 days since we’ve been here. We have done so much in such little time it really amazes me. But I can feel my body starting to wear out.

After classes today, Ashley and I hit up the computer labs again to start planning our trip to Paris the first weekend in February. We are setting budgets and we are limiting ourselves to under 200 euro for this excursion which includes absolutely everything – airfare, room and board, food, shopping etc. We’ve found the cheapest airfare and a nice hostel to stay at so our goal is definitely in sight. We wandered around the plaza for a bit and split a kebab three ways (I don’t know how we did it but it’s definitely possible). After coming home to do homework, eat with the host fam, I helped Andres with his English homework! It was the strangest assignment ever but I guess it was helping him get better acquainted with describing directions by counting tiles on a pathway and dictating if they go “strong” right, “strong” left or “straight on.” With a Spanish to English dictionary we were able to translate everything accurately.

A group of us met at 4pm to go to the “blind museum” (literally a museum made for blind people), National Archaeological museum and the Reina Sofia (which houses Picasso’s Guernica I’ve been dying to see.) After we did that, we planned to go to a local cerverceria to watch the Madrid game. We ended up taking a longer time walking through the parque retiro. We took pictures, wandered and got to know each other a lot better. We mixed things up and went with people we haven’t spent as much time with which was great. The archaeological exhibits were really cool – I love imagining the people you made the things displayed whether it be jewelry, intricately sculpted vases or sandals. It’s unbelievable how well things can be preserved from so long ago. We didn’t spend a lot of time walking around because there wasn’t as much on display as the Prado, but I have always found historical artifacts very interesting. We figured that we didn’t have enough time to visit the other places so we found a convenient pizzeria to sit down at before we went to go watch the game. The pizza was amazing. European pizzas are nice and thin so they’re much lighter but incredibly flavorful. They tricked us by putting the bread down and then charging us individually again for it. We found something even worse that stores charge for out here which seems absolutely insane. We went to a local Haagen Daz. The lady asked if it was to stay or to go and we all said to go. As we were waiting for everyone to finish making their orders, we sat on the benches and talked. The lady told us that if we wanted to stay we would have to pay 50 centimos more – that’s why she asked us in the first place. We all couldn’t believe it! We now had to pay for sitting down in an ice cream store? That’s unheard of I’m pretty sure.

A couple of us then headed to a recommended Irish pub to watch the Madrid rivalry game – Real against Athletico. The pub had tons of screens and we got there early enough to have a table to sit at. It was fun to be in the atmosphere and watch the game with locals. Of course I didn’t mind seeing Ronaldo on a big screen. We were able to make good time on the walk back to Atocha train station. The train ride back was hilarious for some reason: from awkwardly feeling sympathetic for the recorder-playing woman, to talking about scandalous missionary stories, engagement ring cuts, inappropriate jokes about babies, and our long-desired night at club Kapital our train ride was filled with laughter and getting know everyone better. Tomorrow we have our first group trip to Segovia, which is only an hour away from Madrid. Apparently there is an impressive aqueduct that it is well known for. It’s supposed to be really cold which I am thrilled about. The cold here is humid cold like home but without being cold enough for snow.

Flamingo or flamenco?

After classes today Jenny Lexi and I headed to Madrid to see a flamenco performance! We barely made the metro to get there before the 7 showing. We made sure to spare time to get our candy for during the performance. The theater was much smaller than what I was expecting but that didn't hinder the dancers whatsoever. I don't know much about the types of flamenco but the costumes were incredible. The long, flowing skirts were very flattering and seemed like a fun outfit to dance in. Flamenco is a style of dance that reminded me of tap dancing - it seemed like the dancers almost made their own beat and music to dance to. As Jenny, Lexi and I "quietly" ate our Haribo candy they stomped and moved at incredibly fast rates. I kept thinking to myself if the dancers got bad shin splints or anything like that. There was one guy who had longer hair and when he got sweaty and would turn his head, his hair would stick to his face - it was more distracting than you'd think. There were several duos that went on for a while and were amazing to see how long they could stomp their feet. During one, the curtain in the back of the stage became transparent and you could see the little band playing the music. There was one singer which we kind of laughed at because it sounded like he was moaning more than staying in tune. There was another performance where they had blue strobe lights which was pretty trippy. Then the best was when a retiree flamenco dancer came out (we swear she was pushing 60 years old) and whipped out a solo. It was really funny because the male dancers then brought out canes at the end of that performance.

After the flamenco, we walked along Gran Via which is the main road that has most of the brand name shops. They love Zara and H&M here. The have a store called the Mango store which had really trendy and stylish things. I'm in search for my Madrid genuine leather bolso or chaquetta so we'll see. We began wandering around to find a good place to eat and headed down this one alley-way. Jenny brought up how her Madrid guidebook warned to stay away from an alleyway close to Gran Via so we were thinking of turning around when we walked staight into el puerta del Sol which was really funny.

We found a cute restaurant on a side street. When we walked in we noticed that we were the only people under the age of 50 which was hilarious. Our Spanish was really terrible tonight so our waiter wasn't really that friendly with us and we did everything we could to get on his good side. (Side note: everywhere here they will charge you for the complimentary bread we are used to in the U.S. And always ask for a vaso de agua instead of just "agua" because they will bring out a nice bottle of mineral water and charge you for it...) When we finally paid the check we realized we had spent so much time wandering and had to make it back to the station for the last train to Alcala - that's going to be quite an obstacle this semester when everyone here stays out so late.

"Some call me Lassie"

This week I’ve finally been able to get a routine down - in Spain nonetheless! I am still not an extremely confident bus rider yet, but I am able to get from home to school or to the train station and back. On days that it is warm it has been a nice walk. I’ve changed around my Spanish classes so they’re a little bit harder – we’ll see come testing if I’m going to like that decision. We had our first religion class yesterday with Faustino Lopez who spoke in English for us. He was really interesting and has interesting stories to share with us about the church in Spain. Yesterday I also went running despite the cold weather and found this really cool path that followed along this river and reminded me a lot of Waveny. There weren’t that many people around so I awkwardly ran behind this guy and his dog for a while until he turned around. So I kept running a little bit farther and then turned around too. After our religion class a group of us went to the plaza and found a great churreria for churros y chocolate.
Today Carly and I caught the bus again and sat with Jenny and Lexi, other students who take the same bus. I went to class and the computer lab to do some research on a potential trip to Paris/ Real Madrid tickets. Then, Jenny, Lexi, Ashley and I met at the track close to my house to run and work out. It is so much better working out in a group! Ashley and Jenny are on the track team at school so I’m depending on them to help keep me in shape. Then, Carly and I are always home for almuerzo, the main meal of the day. After, we headed to the train to go to Madrid with a couple others (Nieves made us a little to-go dinner: un bocadillo). We visited the Prado Museum which was absolutely incredible!!! It turns out that from 6pm until close it’s free so we wandered around for 2 hours looking at Goya, Velazquez, El Greco etc etc. It was awesome. My favorite part was when Kip, Ashley and I played “eye spy” in front of one painting for practically 20 minutes – it was so funny. There was one painting (I forget the name of) that they mounted on the ceiling of one room and we were all in awe. We headed back to Alcala and now we’re planning to meet at La Media Pintaaaaa for international night! Should be a blast

Only in Spain...

- is it common for owners allow their dogs to poop on the sidewalk.
- is it fashionable to wear tights under jean shorts.
- (Alcala) is it legally enforced for stores to close for siesta (2-5).
- is it normal for people to call out to you and say "hola rubissima"
- you do not need to leave a tip or expect sales tax.
- are the transportation systems of trains and buses extremely efficient!
- are the workers at vodafone (Nieves and Veronica I will not forget you) extremely rude to international students.
- are they tedious about keeping the streets and sidewalks clean.
- will you hear countless soccer games on Sunday out your window.
- will the difference between chocolate caliente and caocaolate be drastic.
- school doesn't begin for everyone until 9 am ... and absolutely everything is closed until 10 am.
- people will smoke in the elevators.

mi familia

As I have briefly mentioned, I live with an older woman named Nieves. She is the sweetest lady. In the mornings I will say “Buenas dias Nieves!” And she always replies “Hola mi guapa!” She is very patient with Carly and I and she cooks for us all the time. Then there is her brother Antonio who lives here. He is a little more impatient with our Spanish but is very hospitable. He is always clearing our plates after meals when Carly and I try to cut off his way to the kitchen so we can do it. He is consistently makes sure we eat until we’re sufficiently full which is terrible for us. I like talking to him about Real and Barce soccer – he’s surprisingly a Barce fan. Then there is David, Nieves’ son. Carly and I are pretty sure he is autistic or something. He is in his later 20s and we have a harder time understanding his Spanish because he doesn’t enunciate very well. But he is really sweet to us too. Finally, there’s Andres, Nieves’ grandson, who is 8 and is always over here. So far he has come over after school everyday to eat almuerzo with us. He loves soccer and is the captain of his team. The family has been extremely accommodating to us.

Beautiful Madrid

barthelonaaa

Nuestra primera fin de semana

These past few days have been an absolute blur. I have done so much it seems impossible that it has been only 4 days. It is amazing how much time I have on my hands to do whatever I want and how productive I have actually been with that time. There is no doubt that I am experiencing the “honeymoon” stage of my study abroad – reality is on the verge of slapping me in the face.

Thursday I had my Spanish classes – grammar and conversation. Since being here, my ability to understand conversations and what people are saying definitely out weighs my speaking capabilities. I love the school we have classes at. It is right by la plaza Cervantes which is the center of Alcala. My conversation teacher, Christina, is really fun and young and literally asks us random questions about boyfriends, girlfriends, Olive Garden and Alabama. We had a group tour organized to go to Madrid and see the main sites so we would also know how to get around. I was incredibly camera-happy. Everything could be made into a beautiful picture. During the tour was when I became better acquainted with Ashley, Jared and Kip. The Fab Four. We broke off every once and a while to hang back and take pictures or just admire something the rest of the group walked by. Madrid has the real Haribo store – gummy bear brand everyone buys. We got lunch close to la puerta del Sol where Ashley and I shared our first real paella. We walked everywhere from the Opera house and back to the plaza mayor. The street vendors in Europe are pretty clever and funny too. The have headless men and floating monkeys – weird stuff. My favorite part of that day was the end of the tour when Ashley, Jared, Kip and I were just sitting in the plaza mayor watching people, taking pictures and taking our surroundings in. We ordered churros con chocolate caliente which is literally a melted chocolate bar. We ended up dipping the churros in it because it was too thick to drink - it was heaven. So for future reference if you wanted hot chocolate, order caocaolate not choclate caliente like they teach us at NCHS. Also don’t say quiero trotar when you want to say “I want to go for a jog” because they’ll laugh and call you a horse.

On the train back to Alcala, we talked about our trip to Barce. We needed to go pack and then get back to Madrid for an overnight train. While we were talking we all saw the weirdest thing – a mom holding her daughter up to pee on one of the trees along the sidewalk. We all just stared and could not believe what we saw – it was hilarious. Once we got back, packing and getting everything ready took longer than planned of course. (Side note: Carly called me when I got back saying Antonio had made her eat something that had nuts in it and she was having an allergic reaction. I sprinted back to the house and had to stab her with her Epi Pen. That was a really interesting experience.) Jared went ahead on the metro to try and get tickets on the next train or bus out of Madrid to Barthelona while Ashley, Kip and I slowly made our way. We got to Atocha (the main station in Madrid) and called Jared for the next move. We spent the next hour or so running around on the metro trying to get tickets in time and trying to find one another. The first hilarious event that happened on this spontaneous excursion was when Kip just jumped off a random stop on the metro and said he would meet up with us once he bought tickets (which was everyone’s goal at the time). You would need to get to know Kip in order to understand the hilarity of that decision of his. I also learned that Kip can not go 5 minutes without tripping on something. But anyway, Ashley and I were left roaming the metro and finally found Jared at one of the stops. It was like tag/hide-and-go seek on the metro which might actually be really fun if we didn’t have somewhere to be. Anyway, we had no luck buying tickets for the overnight train. So, if we still wanted to go to Barcelona (which we obviously did), we would all have to throw down an additional 70 euros to take the bullet train. The bullet train would leave at 5:50am from Madrid and arrive at 8:30 in Barcelona – perfect. We decided to go to a club in Madrid until we needed to get to the train. We went to the puerta del Sol to figure out which club we should go to. It turns out that people literally hand out flyers and deals to advertise for clubs that night in Sol. That’s where we met Suzie from Germany who was able to put us on “her list.” She was actually really helpful because we each had our backpack filled with things for the weekend that we didn’t want stolen. Suzie assured us our things would be safe at the coat check of the place she was advertising for. It happened to be international night at this club which is pretty well-known : club Joy. We met tons of other students studying in Madrid for the semester and they played American/techno music the whole time. Kip ended up dancing in the cage in the middle of the dance floor. Jared also convinced him it would be a good idea to try and dance with one of the professional performers there and he ended up being kicked out – unbelievably hilarious. While we were there we got thirsty and asked for Cokes that turned out to be 8 euros a piece for 200 mL (tiny). We refused to drink/pay for them and could not figure out why we were being robbed for a coke without any alcohol in it. Later we learned from a friend on the train that people bring in flasks and buy Cokes as chasers so our innocent request for a non-alcoholic beverage at any club is going to be assumed as a chaser. We knew it was time to go when the locals started coming in and they were somewhat reckless at that stage. The Spanish are much more confident and outgoing and will smile, wink at you, introduce themselves, grab your hand to dance etc. One person I talked to throughout the evening was Carlos/Javier. My favorite quote from him was: “You’re beautiful, I’m beautiful – we are perfect for each other.” Anyway, we left the club and wandered around Madrid to get to Atocha. It was really fun though to walk through the city at night. Through observation, I’ve noticed they have a lot more “civil services” here. What I mean by that is they make remarkable efforts to keep their streets and sidewalks clean by constantly power-washing everywhere! They use a ton of water but I guess it’s worth it.

We got to the train station and waited for it to open at 5. While we sat outside the office we talked to the security guard for a while. Kip and Jared are both fluent in Spanish so they make friends whereever we go. Ashley and I try to keep up but they have to translate for us sometimes. Apparently to the security guard, I look even younger than I am which is great. Out of the group of four I am the youngest. Ashley is 21 and is from San Diego. She is on the BYU track team. We hit it off great: she’s hilarious and we’re very sarcastic together. Kip is really interesting: he went to high school in Ghana, went on his mission to Argentina, goes to BYU now and enjoys dating non- U.S. citizens. Jared is from California has had tons of adventures everywhere and served in Honduras.

The bullet train was incredible. The train systems here are extremely well-developed. There was a TV which played The Blind Side and a nice enough bathroom for me to get changed, brush my teeth and everything. Once the sun rose we were in awe of the city we were rolling into. Barcelona was about 15 degrees warmer than Madrid. We hopped onto the metro to the “Old Town” portion of Barce. The first thing we did was walk down Las Ramblas which most tourists roam around in this area. There are stores, hostels, hotels, lots of vendors all along the road which leads down to the port. We dropped our things off in a hotel and leisurely walked down the remainder of las ramblas to the port. The sun was shining on the beautiful Mediterranean with tons of sail boats. We walked along this bridge and found a nice restaurant to eat outside in the beautiful weather. It turns out we sat and talked for around 3 hours – it was amazing and relaxing. This is probably my favorite part of Spain: being able to sit, watch and embrace everything around you. Every minute was relaxing and amazing. Plus I was doing my favorite thing (sitting in the sun) so practically nothing could go wrong.

We finally left the restaurant and decided to walk along the pier for a little. We kept taking pictures, pointing out interesting things, and getting to know each other really, really well. We stopped by these stone circles that were fun to stand on and look at everything. It started off as us lettering “BYU” with our arms standing on these stones. It made a cool picture with silhouettes of everyone. Jared thought it would be cool to get a picture of him doing a handstand too. It came out really well, and nothing was going wrong until Jared dismounted and landed on his leg and broke his tibula and fibia. Luckily there was a nurse nearby that witnessed him fall. A taxi was close by and we carried him into one and took him to the hospital only 5 minutes away. I didn’t know what to think at first – I didn’t want to think too much because I knew once I started thinking about the worst possible situation my thoughts would keep getting worse and worse. When we got to the hospital, the male nurses came out with a wheel chair to get him into the hospital. I know that being a lifeguard is only minimal experience compared to being a hospital nurse, but I knew as soon as they came out with a wheelchair that this was not U.S. medical care in the slightest. One nurse pushed the wheel chair while the other held the leg – Jared obviously yelled out in pain; probably because their method made no sense at all. Anyway, Ashley was able to stay by his side throughout the rest of the evening while Kip and I wandered around outside. We made some friends – Chelsea and another girl who goes to Lehigh and are studying in Barcelona. Chelsea had been feeling sick/throwing up for a week and finally decided to come to the hospital. The doctors assumed Chelsea was pregnant and took blood samples as well as ultrasounds. I ended up going back to the hotel so I never ended up finding out if she was pregnant or not…

Ashley and I went back to the hotel off of Las Ramblas while Jared and Kip were switched to another hospital in Barcelona. On the walk back we walked along the beach which was beautiful and got kebabs (Turkish type of fast food that was amazing). We were planning to meet up with her friends from high school and go to a club by the port called Opium. Once we got showered and changed, we sat down and could not get out of bed - we were absolutely exhausted. We fell asleep and didn’t wake up until Jared called us at 11:30 the next morning. Jared ended up getting surgery so we packed up everyone’s things and met them at the other hospital in Barce. It was a really nice place where he got his own room with a tv and an awesome view of the Barcelona stadium. We wanted to stay for the game which is today (Sunday) but obviously couldn’t because of the fact that one of the group members was in the hospital.

While Jared was in surgery, Ashley, Kip and I went to the grocery store and bought food for the entire day so we didn’t have to spend any more money. We then went to el parque Guel. The park was stunning – it was high up so you got a view of the entire city. There were beautiful buildings and architecture throughout the park as well. We spent several hours there shooting and talking to people. We started to head back to the hospital when the sun was setting and found out Jared had just gotten out of surgery. He was incredibly drugged up but it would good to see that he was okay. Kip was asked to stay with Jared until they spoke to a doctor to see how long it would be to recover and other details. Ashley and I booked an overnight train back to Madrid. There were actually 4 other Americans in the same car of the train as us and around the same age. The guy we talked to the most was Benny. He and his roommate were grad students at University of Miami studying physical therapy and were visiting Spain on break. They had travelled all over staying in hostels, doing “pubcrawls” and other funny things. Benny shared lots of his travelling stories and tips on how to save money in the future. We talked until pretty late and started to fall asleep in the cafeteria area. The conductor came out and asked if we wanted a new car or anything and then offered us a first class car. We gladly accepted and went to the car – the seats literally all reclined into flat beds so the four of us slept like babies the rest of the way. Once we got to the Atocha station, Ashley and I had an easy time of getting back to Alcala in time for church.

I thought I would be pretty tired for church and it would be hard to get through, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. I had enough time to shower and get ready for the first meeting at 10:30. It was incredible to me how I speak a different language yet I was able to understand and feel the emotions of the speaker. The Spirit was definitely present and it was amazing to me how I was able to take away things from the service like I would be able to at my home ward. It was tough describing to everyone in the program what had happened in Barcelona. Despite the fact that Jared is still there in the hospital, it was still an incredible experience. I have never been able to navigate this independently before especially in cities I have never visited in my life. I can already tell that my “dependency” characteristics are disappearing. Although we were very stressed for several hours on Friday, the amazing time we had before on las ramblas and by the port as well as after in el parque guel definitely outweigh the bad (at least for me… I’m not sure about Jared). Barcelona is a beautiful city, very different from Madrid. Madrid has the more traditional, classical European city feel to it while Barcelona it is very easy to find someone who speaks English, there are many younger people there and it is even more laid back than Madrid. I am counting down the days until we return with the group in several weeks. In the mean time, I have lists of places I need to scope out in Madrid on weeknights.

Today I saw the real Spain. I also got my first Spanish headache.

Carly and I woke up and enjoyed desayunar - the BEST hot chocolate I have ever had in my life. I don't know why it made such an impact on my day, but that cup of leche con cacao seriously started the day off really well. Then, Nieves was nice enough to drive us to al campo or el comercial centro so I could get a phone and a few other things we still needed to get settled.

Buying my phone almost brought me to tears. I had no idea what to say, how to explain it; I didn't want to spend an excessive amount of money. With a lot of help with Nieves, it all worked out. I felt bad having her come with us because she uses her crutches to get around and it has to be very hard. But hopefully that was the first and last time we will need her help.

We came back and had almuerzo - espaghetti and the chicken meatballs... and an orange. There is a lack of vegetables in their diet and too many carbs I'm already starting to see. Carly and I wanted to explore Alcala so we went out with our cameras. As I was taking pictures I realized how beautiful this country is! It's incredible how you don't have to make a picture look good or find something to shoot because everything is muy muy bonitaa!! Surpringly on our walk we found other people in our group and they showed us where our classes are. Then we scoped out the scene for tonight because there is "American Night" at one of the local bars. When we were coming back, Carly recognized a girl on her flight from University of Arizona! Apparently there are 12 students from there staying in Alcala which was really nice to find out. So we're all meeting at 10 en la plaza de cervantes to go to American night!

Luckily Nieves lives right by a public "sports area" so there is a track, soccer stadium, tennis and volleyboll courts etc. When we got back from walking around, I went running on he track which wasn't as sketchy as I thought it was going to be. I went at 7 so it was already dark but they had night lights and there were lots of kids soccer teams playing/running and then some adults held a practice.

Classes start mananaa! Can't wait!

Swimming in the Flood

SPAIN! I am here!

After being delayed several hours at JFK, I finally set sail last night. The plane was not the jumbo jets I remember taking to England - it was actually the same size plane I take to Salt Lake which was interesting. I sat down and my seat was damp and there was a crying baby behind me. I popped in that Advil PM, the headphones and was out.

My friend who was on the same flight with me and I barely made the group bus - apparently they were about to leave without us! Within the first few minutes I found my roommate, Carly, and we introduced ourselves and got to know one another. I felt like I had brought way too much compared to most other people. At one point I was embarrassed. But there's nothing I can do about it now!

Once we arrived in Alcala, we were dropped off at the Plaza de Cervantes - this beautiful meeting area. I swear I saw the same group of old man doing loops around the plaza. Carly and I met our hostess - Nieves! She is a wonderful older lady. She doesn't have the use of her legs so she has two crutches to get around. We got to the apartment and she has a nice living room area, bathroom, a bedroom for Carly and I. Pretty standard. At first, I was in complete shock and couldn't even put together a sentence in Spanish. I responded with either "Si si" or "muy bien." First thing we did was get situated in our room and unpack everything. Then we had comida - sopa y pollo y naranjas. We had a bowl of soup, these chicken meatballs and then an orange. It was interesting - I was so hungry I just ate whatever was put in front of me. Nieve's grandson, Andres, came over. He is eight and adorable and happens to be the captain of his futbol team. Carly and I sat down on the couch, watched some of the news with Antonio (Nieves' brother) and passed out within a few minutes. I'm not sure for how long we slept, but once we woke up we finished organizing our room and changed out of the clothes we travelled in.

We've asked Nieves what "reglas" she has for us - and she said none (awesome).

I realized that she probably wouldn't have internet (which would be devastating) but she showed me her router. We're still trying to figure out how Carly and I can get wireless access - a trial that will never go away no matter where you are in the world.

So we've had the day to get settled and everything. Tomorrow's plans have yet to be determined or discussed; probably because Carly and I don't know how to ask it in Spanish. I want to go explore the beautiful town! Alcala seems like a wonderful place and I've only seen a little bit of it so far.

Eve of Departure

Bags are pretty stuffed and the reality is beginning to hit me! My biggest worries right now are that the superficial details of contemplating whether my suitcases are under 50 pounds, if I am bringing the right type of clothes, if I will have everything I need etc. But as I begin to consider that in less than 24 hours I will be sky high heading to Madrid, I realize that no matter how much I try to do now it is inevitable that I will be unprepared in some aspect.

You can call it naive, or adventurous, that I am embarking on a journey to a place without knowing the language or the culture very well; however, I'm hoping the Julia Robert's in me from Eat, Pray, Love will come alive. At this point, I have no expectations. I figure no matter how much I try to imagine where I am going or what it will look like, it will be entirely different in reality. I know for certain that I will experience culture shock. The fact that I endured severe culture shock last year moving only across the country to Utah says enough about my abilities to adjust to new surroundings. But because I will be in one of the most beautiful places in the world, I think I will be too blinded and distracted to realize how far away I am from home.

I am excited to have this life-changing opportunity. I am hoping that over the course of these months I will grow in character, strengthen my weaknesses as well as develop and diversify my personality. Growing up, I have always been the more conservative, shy person in a group. Hopefully Spain will bring out other dimensions of my persona. So on that note, buen viaje to the sheltered Phoebe of New Canaan! In four months time, I hope to have experienced more of the world in an unforgettable way and become a more well-rounded and diversified adult.