La mejor universidad es viajar

This has been the fastest six weeks of my life.

Am I really sitting here tonight, June 29th, putting off reflecting on my study abroad experience?

I just got here!!!!!!!!! Didn’t I?!

I guess not. I’ve been in Spain for 43 days, and I think I’ve experienced more in the past six weeks than I have in my entire life. Okay, that was a little dramatic, but I’ve just learned so much about myself, other people, cultures, languages, traveling, and life. In the hostel in Barcelona, there was a quote written on the wall that read, “La mejor universidad es viajar” – which translates to “The best university is to travel.” I couldn’t have said it any better. You just learn so much more when you go places. Being an education major, I know that a large majority of people learn by doing. Personally, I have been able to make connections between all of the cities I’ve been to which helps me learn because things stick. For example, I’ve learned about the Moorish architecture styles because they are exactly the same in many of the palaces I have been to in cities such as Sevilla, Córdoba, and Granada. “Azulejes” are ceramic tiles of 5 simple colors: blue, green, white, yellow, and black. They all symbolize a different part of life. Now, if I were to go to a location without knowing the history, and walk in the building and see this pattern, I would know it’s Moorish. If you taught me that in school, I could care less. I’d memorize it for the test then forget it by tomorrow. That’s not learning.

I’ve noticed how much more you learn when you connect things you are learning to what is around you. I wish it was possible to take my future students on field trips everywhere, but I know it’s not. This experience has been making me think about methods to teach students so they don’t just memorize, but learn and obtain as much information as possible. I haven’t thought of a way yet, but I’m determined to think of something! I have a few years, anyway.

Speaking of students, I got an official certificate from Gota de Leche, the volunteering opportunity I participated in. It’s very official and it says that I was a volunteer. Pretty excited about that! I really enjoyed that program because I got to see what a Spanish elementary school was like. There’s not as much ethnic diversity in Spain as the United States, but I learned that minorities exist in Spain as well. Here, the minority is gypsies. I worked with gypsy children; feeding them nutritious breakfasts and packing them a mini lunch for later in the day because their parents simply don’t feed them at home. They live a nomadic lifestyle and change schools a lot – usually multiple times a year. But, these kids are normal kids of course! They thought it was interesting that I didn’t speak fluent Spanish and that I was from the United States. When I told them my name was Kate, they looked at me like I had six heads…that’s not a very common name among Spaniards. Meeting and helping these adorable kids was something I am proud to say I participated in during my study abroad experience. I would have never known any of this if it weren’t for Gota de Leche. When I said goodbye to one little boy on my last day, he said “Adios! Hasta mañana!” (Bye! See you tomorrow!), I melted because I didn’t want to tell him I wouldn’t see him tomorrow! So cute.

My señora, Gloría, has been amazing! She is soooo wise. I’ve learned so much from her. We don’t exactly hang out and chit chat during the day, but we eat lunch and dinner together. Every day during lunch, we watch the cooking channel. First, it’s the end of a program with a chef, Bruno Ortega. He always makes the most intricate, detailed, tiny, fancy meals. We don’t like him very much. She mentioned to me that it’s interesting to watch men cook because they cook with their eyes. They are always concerned about the visuals of their dishes, while women usually are concerned more about the flavor and making sure everyone is satisfied with the food. Women usually just plop down the food directly from the pan and put it on the table. Men usually “plate” it perfectly so it’s visually appealing. SO WISE! I would have never thought of that before, ever. Now I’m going to think of it every time I watch the food network back home! I mean, I’m sure it’s not accurate all the time, but it’s such an interesting thing to take notice to. Anyway, after Bruno Ortega, a very famous Spanish chef Karlos Arguiñano comes on. He’s our favorite. He cooks very home-made, authentic, Spanish meals. He’s an older man and is just the cutest thing ever. I really enjoy discussing the ingredients and what the chefs are making with Gloría. She’s an excellent chef herself. I’m difficult to please when it comes to food but she hasn’t cooked a bad dish! (Side note: I don’t think I’ll go home and eat ham, sausage, or mayonnaise, but when in Spain I’m going to eat like the Spaniards!) She also instilled in me a love for warm bread. I never just sat down and ate bread unless I was dipping it in soup. But the bread here is so fresh. The other day she made me feel even BETTER about eating it. She said “Some people think bread makes you fat. That’s not true. It’s manufactured, industrialized bread that makes you fat. Not this kind.” So I gladly took another piece of bread and enjoyed it. Oh, another thing: olive oil is a way of life here.

Other than food, Gloría has such interesting points of view on life. She says she never wants to get married because she doesn’t like to try to control people. She’s a very independent woman that doesn’t want to be controlled so why should she try to control someone else? She has great friends, so what more could she ask for? Also, for my class I had to interview her and find out her point of view on gender equality in Spain. She said she was the wrong person to ask because she doesn’t like that people stereotype genders. She said it varies person to person. I totally agree with her. The list of wise words she’s said could go on forever, but I’ll just keep them to myself for now 

I guess I’ve learned some Spanish while I was here, too, right? I can understand so much more than when I got here. I can speak with more confidence. And recently many grammar rules have clicked with me in my head. I confuse English and Spanish a lot and I don’t realize what language I’m being spoken to in, I just understand. Which is something I’m truly proud of! I think I’ve been doing okay in my classes, too. The Flamenco class during the first three weeks genuinely interested me and I think I did pretty well. This grammar class has been an unstructured mess, but I’m trying to take out of it what I can. I just hope my grades end up good, because I have worked too hard to have them mess up my GPA! I won’t find out how I did until well after the program ends though. Cross your fingers!

I’ve adapted to many cultural things! I love Spanish fashion and I can’t help but to shop a ridiculous amount. Oops. I’ve also adapted to their times of the day! I didn’t think I was going to be able to adapt to mealtimes, but I did! And also doing things at night. At home, I was a “grandma” and I got up early, did everything for the day, and then would go to bed early every night. Now I’m up late a lot because it’s cooler in temperature at night here. So you go out and hang out with friends at night rather than during the day. Fortunately and proudly, I did not pick up the ridiculously popular habit of smoking cigarettes. But I still have not kicked my habit of chewing gum (sorry, Mom! I know you wanted me to stop that haha!). You can’t win them all though ; )

Travelling helped me learn to go with the flow and be more laid back about things that really won’t matter in the long run. Of course, I’m not some chillaxed hippy. I still know where to have structure and plans. But when things go wrong or when people are late, you just have to let it slide and be less uptight about it. I think this entire abroad experience changed me. I’m still the same person, but I just know so much more than I did when I got here. It’s really hard to explain.

Well, I think that was a solid reflection of everything I’ve learned on this trip. Now, my program ends Friday, but my mom is coming Saturday and we’re going to take on Spain! I’ll continue writing in my blog when she gets here, maybe let her make a cameo, but this will probably be my last post until my program ends so I wanted it to be a good, long reflection. Thank you to everyone that read my blog over the past 6 weeks. The feedback made me actually want to write in it!

I’ll end with this. I’ve been to ten + cities on two continents in the past six weeks. I have travelled to: Madrid, Sevilla, Cadiz, Huelva (to climb a mountain), Morocco (AFRICA! That’s another continent!), Gibraltar, Extremadura, Córdoba, Granada, and Barcelona. I have met some of the best people ever from all different backgrounds. I have broken out of my shell. I have walked more than I ever walked in my entire life. I learned how to do my make up. I spent euros like it’s monopoly money. I maintained a blog. I studied. I relaxed. I siesta-ed. I had fun.

I went abroad.

barcaaaaaaa!

Barcelona!

This weekend, five other girls and myself planned a trip to Barcelona! It was an adventure, but definitely something we needed to do while in Spain. Barcelona was the original city where I wanted to study in Spain because it was on a beach. That was my only logical reason for liking Barcelona back before I picked my study abroad program. However, my adviser told me to pick Sevilla instead because they don’t speak Spanish in Barcelona, they speak Catalan. So I chose Sevilla, even though it was a whole hour and a half from the beach So, I visited Barcelona from Thursday night to Sunday morning this weekend.

On Thursday, our flight left at 6:30 PM. We took a bus to the airport. It was funny because my friend Bianca lost her phone, and we couldn’t get in contact with her so we had no idea if she was going to show up or not. Eventually she did, calm, cool and collected as usual. Thursday in Sevilla was “Corpus Christi” – that’s the name of my church back in the US! But it’s a huge holiday here and it’s a serious part of a certain religion (something Christian). All of the buildings are closed and people have off. For class, we had a “picnic” in the park. So it was a very relaxing day leading up to our flight. We left for the airport around 3:30 and had plenty of time. Everything went smoothly, with the exception of Bianca being MIA for a little bit 

When we got to Barcelona (after an hour and a half plane ride), we arrived at our hostels. My friends Cristina, Charise, and Rachel were in one hostel, and my friends Florence, Bianca, and I were in one a few minutes down the street. It worked out nicely because we stuck together all weekend. I’m thankful, because Cristina is seriously a travel agent and sooooo good at planning everything we needed to do – from where to visit to how to get there! Our hostel was really cool. It was definitely a good experience because I’ve never stayed in a hostel before. It was a youth hostel so it was a bunch of people our age in different rooms sharing a bathroom. There were three of us in a four-person room (2 sets of bunk beds), so we had a fourth random roommate. We weren’t there at the same time much, but what we learned was he was from Australia and had an adorable accent! There were also people in the hostel from Italy, Germany, etc. – all around the world.

Thursday night we explored the town. Barcelona reminds me of the Spanish version of New York City. There are people everywhere, it’s busy, and it’s diverse. There are so many languages going on at once, since the majority of the people that live there speak Catalan, but know all the other languages like Spanish, English, French…etc. I don’t know how they do it! I didn’t realize what language I was speaking in half of the time! It is also very expensive like NYC. Nothing was cheap, which made it really hard to “get by.” Our hostel was right off of “Las Ramblas” – probably the most famous street in Spain because of its shopping and reputation for always being busy! That was cool to see. However, Thursday was some sort of holiday in Barcelona (different than Corpus Christi in Sevilla, someone mentioned Barcelona’s was like our Independence Day). The people were actually crazy, I was scared! They were setting off fireworks and sparklers everywhere. It was quite an experience to deal with!

Friday morning we woke up and were ready to take on Barcelona. Barcelona is historic, beautiful, and artsy. There are many buildings and monuments inspired by Antoni Gaudi, an extremely famous Catalan artist. So we started off our Saturday by grabbing a bite to eat, and then the six of us figured out the metro station. We took the metro to La Sagrada Familia. We stood outside of it and took pictures, but we didn’t go in which is okay because the outside was cool enough. It looks like nothing I have ever seen before! It was Gaudi’s most prized design, but it did not finish before his death in 1926 – in fact, it’s still not finished. They were working on it while we were there! The construction equipment kind of ruined the effect but it was still beautiful nonetheless.

After La Sagrada Familia, we went to La Casa Mila aka “La Pedrera” which is a building Gaudi designed for La Mila Familia in 1910. The architecture is soooo cool, especially for something that was made in the early 20th century. It was made of stone and is curvy! Now there’s a Gaudi museum in La Pedrera, but, again we did not go in. We went to the gift shop!

After La Pedrera, we made our way towards Parque Güell. Before we went in the park, we stopped at a restaurant and ate a very Spanish-y lunch. We were there for at least three hours talking about everything under the sun, which is such a Spanish thing to do. It was so nice to not be in a rush and to be on our own schedules. After forever, we walked into Parque Güell. It was beautiful, again designed by Gaudi. It was free and like a “regular park” but the architecture and design was like no park I have ever seen. It had a beautiful view of all of Barcelona. Very, very cool. We spent a lot of time there, then headed back to our hostel to eat dinner and go out to Barcelona at night. You’ll never guess what I had for dinner. A Kebab. With LAMB. Ew. But not ew. I really liked it - it was delicious! It was like a pita stuffed with lamb and other stuff. It was quick and cheap so that’s why we got it haha.

Saturday we were tourists again. We went to this market “La Boqueria” off of Las Ramblas. It’s an open air market with so many different types of foods. My favorite was the fruit stands that sold a huge thing of chopped fruit for 2 euros and then smoothies for 1,50. Delicious breakfast. We also got coffee outside of the market and the man drew hearts with chocolate syrup on the foam. Awww! After La Boqueria we went to the Picasso Museum. I LOVED it because Picasso is my favorite artist. My mom and I are going to go again when she comes to visit. She’s going to be in heaven in all of Barcelona because there is so much art to be appreciated – so of all people she’s perfect to join me!

After the museum, we got tapas for lunch then did some shopping of course. We ate dinner and then went out and then next thing we knew, Florence, Bianca, and I had to get up at 6:30 to get ourselves to our 9:05 flight back to Sevilla!

Barcelona was a blast. I loved it, and I can’t wait to return with my mom in a week. I didn’t get to go to the beach so hopefully I can do that when we go again  However, everytime I leave Sevilla, I compare the city that I’m in to Sevilla. I honestly adore everything about Sevilla and it’s been my favorite place we’ve been so far. I’ve traveled a lot in the past six weeks, but no matter where I go, I get excited to come back “home” to Sevilla. I could not be happier with the choice that I made for my study abroad this summer. With only a week left in my program, I’m dreading saying goodbye to this beautiful city and all of the amazing people that I’ve met here. But I just need to keep in mind how thankful I am to have been able to have this experience and I am so happy it happened. And I’m happy I have the best family and friends to come home to after this is over. That will make leaving 10000 times more bearable.

Well, this was a long entry but hey I had a busy weekend! It’s Sunday evening now, and I have NOTHING to do. I’m enjoying it by writing a REALLY LONG BLOG POST and sorting through my pictures from the weekend. Pictures will be up on facebook tomorrow most likely.

BESOS!

Hace. Calor.

Hola VERANO! It's definitely summer here now. It's painfully hot, it turns my brain to mush! I was handling the heat fine until Monday night when I tried to sleep. It's so hot. Wow! It makes it difficult to do ANYTHING during the day. But it's fine, I'm still enjoying my time here.

I leave for Barcelona tomorrow! I'm going with a few of my friends from Thursday through Sunday. I'm excited :) It's the first time I made flight arrangements by myself, so hopefully everything goes smoothly!

Just wanted to check in and let you all know it's hot. :) Gotta jet!

Hasta luego

Granada y Corrido de Torros

June 19, 2011

Hi! Just wanted to start out by saying happy father’s day to my dad! I love and miss you so much. I hope you had a nice day, I know you were traveling but just letting you know I’m thinking of you! Xoxo!

Also – happy belated birthday Stefania! I hope your birthday was awesome! Miss you and love you ☺

Anyway, it’s Monday afternoon. This weekend we had an overnight trip to Granada. We left around 8:30 in the morning and it took three hours to get there. We ate lunch at the hotel and then had a tour of La Alhambra. It’s the former Royal Moorish Palace and it has multiple buildings and gardens that are absolutely beautiful! I really liked it a lot. That was our only visit on Saturday – we had time to explore the town and shop after. It was really nice. For dinner, we were given 10 euros to get whatever we wanted. It’s a “tradition” that if you order a drink in Granada, you get a free tapa (which is a small portion of food). So that was our dinner. It was cool to be able to explore by ourselves. On Sunday, we had a tour of la Capilla Real (royal chapel) where Los Reyes Catolicos (Catholic King & Queen Ferdinand and Isabella) are buried. It was beautiful and very decorated. We weren’t allowed to take pictures here unfortunately, but I took lots of pictures of La Alhambra!

When we got back Sunday, we were soooo tired. But since we are in Spain, we decided it was necessary to see a bullfight. Since they only take place on Sunday nights, we had to go this weeek! We are out of Sunday’s otherwise – because next weekend we’ll be in Barcelona. It started at 7:30 PM and lasted about 2 and a half hours. I thought it was worth it to go to one for the experience, but I don’t think I would ever go again. They kill 6 bulls, kind of slowly…I don’t necessarily love animals but watching them get killed in front of me was kind of difficult. I would close my eyes when it died. But, the tradition behind the bullfights is fascinating to me. People still attend this (kind of strange) event every single week, and bullfighters are like rockstars to Spaniards.

All in all, everything is going great! Just trying not to think about the little bit of time I have left in this beautiful country. Thursday through Sunday I am going to Barcelona and I am really excited ☺

That’s all! Xoxoxo

Dejar las cosas para mas tarde

Personally, I like writing blog entries instead of doing homework. Don’t you?

I thought this new class would be challenging in a good way. No. Challenging in a bad way. My teacher is a nice woman but she’s all over the place and trying to squish in sooo many things in three short weeks. Three short weeks – don’t remind me. The thought of this being over makes me so sad. But you can’t count the days, you have to make the days count. So I am. Tomorrow. I’m just really tired tonight, so I’m staying in and attempting to do homework, and it’s not working.

This morning I went to my volunteering thing, as I do every Wednesday. I talked to the kids a lot today and had a really good time. The one boy is the cutest thing ever. He’s in kindergarten and super-tiny. He came in today with a hat and starting singing and dancing. Apparently he had a fiesta in class today that he needed to wear this get-up to. It was the absolute cutest thing ever. When I left, things turned for the worse for a little bit. I went to take the bus to class, and it never showed up. After 20 minutes I got a taxi – and paid 7 euros for it. Not cool. That’s an expensive taxi ride. Whatever, I got to class on time. Not like class was fun. My job was to draw a picture of a robber that a classmate described. Image: attached (no, it’s not the photograph of me at the park….good joke though).

After class, I went home and had lunch. I can’t even remember what I ate that’s how long this day has been! She said I looked very tired and should just go take a nap…so I did and I felt 100 times better after! Went to the gym to run, then came back and got ready because at 7:30 I was to go to the Plaza de España to walk around with friends and go on a row boat! SO FUN. This place is what I referred to in another posts. I’m putting the pictures up today (Thursday) from the past week or so. I really enjoyed row boating. I thought I never had done it before, then I remembered I have been in a kayak with Lexi summer before 9th grade at Outer Banks! Good practice. Haha. Anyway, I liked this activity because CIEE workers go, and they are people our age that are from Sevilla, so I can practice Spanish. I really hope I am improving. I know for a fact my listening ability is so much better. Sometimes I don’t even realize if I’m being spoken to in English or Spanish! Code Switching. Good for my brain. Bilinguals are less likely to develop Alzheimers – right John?

Came home, ate dinner, and now I’m doing homework. It’s a little after midnight, which is still “early” here, but my eyes are so tired! So I’ll do a little more homework then go to bed. I just wanted to do an update to procrastinate!

Besos a todos ☺

Que Guay

Saturday we went to Córdoba, a city in southern Spain. It’s most famous for its cultural diversity (Jewish, Christian, and Islam) and it’s huge Mezquita (mosque). It was really pretty, but I wasn’t a fan of our tour guide so I didn’t learn very much. And my camera died about four pictures in. Grr. Either way it was beautiful (as is all of Spain!)

Last week I visited La Plaza de Espana in Seville and it was probably the most beautiful thing I’ve seen so far. It was the first place I discovered when I arrived here, but we got an official tour and learned about it on Tuesday. Wednesday I climbed a really high building and got a good view of the entire city. I took pictures of both events, but I love this place more and more each day because it is just so beautiful.

Some students from my program left today because three weeks have already passed and they were only here for one session! Three weeks is definitely not enough. Six won’t be either!

The way of life in Seville is so different. It’s nice though. Days are so long, so naps after lunch are very common. In general, I don’t like napping because I feel like I’m wasting my life. But here, I nap for a little practically every day. I personally think I’m so tired because thinking in Spanish all the time is draining.

People are also extremely laid back. They take their time and enjoy life. One thing I’ve noticed that supports this observation is the fact that you never see people eating on the go. Spaniards sit down and eat their food, whether it is breakfast, coffee, dinner, whatever. In the US everything is on the go. People eat in their cars, while walking to class, and carry coffee with them wherever they go. It’s rare to do that here because they sit down and talk at meals and enjoy it. I found that to be one of the most surprising differences because I would never really think about that.

It’s supposed to be really hot here next week. Here it comes! It gets soooo hot in the summer, it’s what everyone has been telling me. It’s literally a ghost town in August. I mean it’s been hot, but nothing too awful yet. The worst is to come.

My hair is getting so long and realllly blonde by the way. I didn’t buy a straightener so I wear it wavy every day – I braid it after a shower and then take it out when it’s dry. I call it my Spanish hair because I am far too lazy and broke to buy a straightener. The day I straighten it will be a very interesting one haha.

Sunday was my first day without any obligations whatsoever. It was awesome. I slept in for the first time in a really long time. When I got up, I decided to go look for a church because attending mass is something I’ve been wanting to do before I got here. I went to La Catedral, the third biggest cathedral in the world. I timed it great to go to a mass at noon. It was beautiful. Mass here is so much shorter, I loved it. They don’t sing, and their homily is right to the point. It was such a nice experience and I’m so happy I got to do it. After church, I came home at ate lunch with my señora. We ate with her “amigo” Luis, who I am pretty sure is her boyfriend haha. Then I went down to the river with some friends and worked on my tan. Except it was too hot so we were laid in the shade. It was such a relaxing day, and I felt like such a Sevillian 

I started my new class today (Monday). It’s Advanced Spanish Language. It’s definitely going to be harder than my flamenco class, but I think it will be really helpful too.

Well, that’s all! Hasta luego

¿Tienes Hambre?

I find it hard to think of things to write about now! Even though there are new things that happen every day! But since right now food is on my mind, I will let you know what I’ve been eating! Everyone loves food.

Breakfast: 9 AM, right after I wake up and before I leave for school (except Tuesdays, when I go to tutoring and need to be at school by 9, and Wednesdays when I get up at 6:45 for Gota de Leche). Literally every day I’ve eaten Special K Red Berries – but I swear it’s soooooo much better here. I don’t know what it is, but I’m starting to think that it’s not just dried strawberries but rather a mixture of dried strawberries and raspberries. And I put the tiniest bit of milk on it (I don’t like when my cereal is swimming haha). Many of my friends’ home stay’s don’t refrigerate their milk. It’s popular here to sell it in those cartons that you usually find broth in back at home, so it does not need to be refrigerated. But for some reason my señora refrigerates it, which is great because I like my milk cold….I also make coffee on her Italian coffee pot thing. I drink way less coffee here, only a tiny teacup, but it’s much better in quality.

Mid-day: around 11:30, I get a break in my class. I either go get a coffee and/or eat an apple I have packed. Yes, I still eat at least one apple a day. I can’t kick the habit, they’re just sooo good.

Lunch: “La Comida” around 2-2:30PM. I come home and my senora makes lunch. This is the biggest meal of the day in Spain. In fact, many stores are closed from around 2-6 because Spaniards go home to eat with their families and relax. I usually have gazpacho, some sort of meat or main course, bread and fruit.

The gazpacho that my señora makes is my new favorite food. I don’t know where it’s been all my life, but she’s giving me the recipe before I leave. Gazpacho is like a cold soup – which is a winner with me because I prefer when foods are cold, and I love soup. Double whammy. This one, salmorejo, is just tomatoes, olive oil, and some other spice pureed together. She gives me a little practically every day at lunch and dinner, because she claims the tomatoes will keep me from getting sick.

The meats that she makes are either what she calls a “hamburger” – which is kind of like a meat patty? I don’t really know how meat works haha, it’s not my favorite but whatever I eat it! Another option is meatballs, which are pretty good. Chicken has been made, which was pretty normal. Eggplant with cheese, tortilla de patatas (aka tortilla de españa, which is eggs and potatoes and so ridiculously delicious), and some type of minestrone soup have been my favorite “main courses” so far. I also discovered I still hate sausage…she’ll put it in some dishes and I just eat around it.

The “dessert” or fruit has been either watermelon or cherries lately. Mmm. And finally, the bread. I think I’ve eaten more bread here in the past 3 weeks than I have eaten in my entire life. I’m not a huge bread person, I think it’s pretty unsatisfying and a waste of carbs. But the bread here is actually the best. It’s because they have real-life bakeries everywhere! Could you believe it - bread that’s not processed at a manufacturing plant. Weird, right? So therefore, it is delicious and I eat it. I usually don’t finish the obnoxiously large chunk that my señora gives me at every meal, but it goes well with my salmorejo ;)

Dinner: Between 9 and 10 PM. Dinner is a light meal, beginning with salmorejo and something else. That something else varies: sometimes it’s leftovers from a different day’s lunch, sometimes it’s salad and a sandwich, and sometimes it’s this delicious concoction of eggs and vegetables (kind of like an omelet). That one is obviously my favorite. But actually tonight (Wednesday) she made me vegetable pasta with shrimp, which was pretty delicious and reminded me of something I’d eat back at home! Then she’ll offer me dessert but I politely decline because she gives me large portions of everything…Oh did I mention bread is served at this meal too? It is!

Well, are you hungry now?! I am, even though I just ate that delicious dinner I was talking about. Haha. I’m hoping to learn how to cook some of this stuff, but we’ll see how that goes…Also might I mention the gelato and ice cream here is fantastic. Obviously I had to try this…

Anyway, I figured I’d update with food. It’s a crowd pleaser.

Hasta luego!

extremadura!

June 5, 2011

HI!

It’s Sunday night and only 10PM but I am soooo exhausted! This weekend my CIEE program had a trip to Extremadura. My friends and I decided the name sounds like an amusement park….but it’s not. It’s a province in Spain (I think I explained this earlier). It was the oldest place I’ve ever been for sure. After four-ish hour buses ride on Saturday morning, we arrived in Mérida. We visited a Roman theater and amphitheater. It looked as if it were straight out of a history book. The ruins were authentic, and the acoustics in the theater were perfect. The theater was used for plays while the amphitheater was used for gladiator fights – where gladiators fought bears, tigers, elephants, or any other wild animal. Insane. Then we went to a museum and after that had free time for lunch. I tried my first gelati/ice cream in Spain! Mmm delicious. I got the flavor strattacchio or some complicated flavor name like that, but it was just vanilla with chocolate chips haha.

Next was Trujillo. This was my favorite town on the trip. It was hilly and so quaint. We went to Francisco Pizarro’s house. He was the conqueror of Peru! (Isn’t that ironic Erinn – you just came back from Peru and I go to the house of the guy who found it! I was telling everyone my best friend just came back with beautiful pictures of Monchupichu (can’t spell it)) His house wasn’t too exciting but after that we went to this Arab Castle and it was straight out of a fairy tale! It had a beautiful view. I took a lot of pictures, but I never feel like asking people to take pictures with me in it, or ask other people to get in them. So when I upload them they are mainly of scenery. Just a warning. But seriously, the pictures might bore you because they do not do the real thing justice at all! Anyway, after the castle we went to our hotel (which was beautiful) and had dinner. It was vegetable pasta salad with shrimp (one of the best things I’ve had here), salmon (worst thing I’ve had here because I just can’t handle fish), and something between a pudding and a flan for dessert (indifferent…). After dinner all of us students all hung out and went to a bar to watch the USA vs. España soccer game, aka Spain dominating entirely. It was cool to be watching the game in Spain though!

Sunday morning we woke up and went to Cáceres. It was a really old city and we went in a church. I had fun, but it wasn’t the most exciting city and it looked just like the last one. I did see a mini-museum of the Semana Santa (holy week) festivities and they had dummies dressed up in traditional clothing. They look like the KKK because they have pointy hats that cover their faces and long robes, but they’re colorful (kinda). I tried one on and I look absolutely ridiculous. And scary actually. That was the highlight of Cáceres. We had lunch, which was delicious, and went home.

Now I’m here. This weekend flew by…it’s starting to really scare me. I adore Spain. I love traveling throughout it even to places I wouldn’t usually pick. The bus rides amaze me every time. The highways, the scenery, the towns – everything is so beautifully different than what I’m used to. Something I’ve noticed is that there’s no traffic on the highways, and most of them run through open fields and we’ll pass rows of olive trees, cows grazing, horses, and the occasional mountains. Even though I’m asleep for most of the bus rides (I’ve always been that way – I’m no fun to be with on long car rides, right mom? I fall right to sleep!), every time I wake up in the middle of the trip I’m looking at something beautiful. I love it so much. I’ve been here for almost three weeks now, and even though I’m taking in every second, it’s going by way too quickly for my liking! Each time I look at the calendar and see the date I am in shock! I don’t know where the time goes!

I also love the friends that I’ve made. Even though only a few are actually Spaniards, I’m appreciative for everyone in CIEE that I’ve become friends with. They make it so fun, and that’s probably why the time is flying by!

Well that was my update. I feel like it was really long and somewhat dull but that was my weekend! I miss everyone at home sooooo much. I think of you guys all the time! Anything new? Remember to keep me updated on your lives

Besos!!!

Los Reales Alcazares

Buenas Dias todos!

It’s Thursday, JUNE SECOND (cannot believe it’s June…) approaching 2 PM here. Almost lunch time! But my señora is not here yet. Hmm. Anyway I just took my first exam in Spain! It was my midterm…I’ve had 7 days of class haha. But we are halfway done this class! I hope it went well. It was on the history, culture, and dances of flamenco. I’ll be upset if I didn’t do well, even though it was pretty difficult. Oh well, we’ll see!

Yesterday morning was my first day of volunteering. I am volunteering at an elementary school by preparing underprivelaged kids breakfast and then a snack/lunch for later. Most of these kids are gypsies and their families don’t have enough money to feed them dinner, so it’s so important they eat breakfast and have a lunch to take with them. The foundation is called Gota de Leche. It’s such a sweet program and the people are so nice. Anyway the downside is I had to wake up at 6:45 and take 2 buses to get to the school by 8:10. Rough…but worth it. I met the kids (sooo cute) and gave them chocolate milk and some cookie/cracker thing. I also prepared their bocadillos (sandwiches)…all those Wawa skills came in handy after all! Haha. I stayed until about 9:20/9:30 and rushed back to class (which starts at 10) but I was 15 minutes late..oops. It was fine though haha.

After class, instead of studying, as I should have been doing, I went on a tour of Los Reales Alcazares. It’s the castle that the King stays in when he comes to Sevilla. Actually, the castles. Each major king has added onto it. It was so cultural and beautiful. There’s multiple buildings and then beautiful, beautiful gardens. It’s weird, I never thought history was interesting whatsoever until I got here. I think I like tours of buildings or places because that’s when I learn the most. The three kings that my guides talked about were Carlos (the first? I forget), Fernando e Isabel (los Reyes Catolicos – the catholic kings), and Carlos (the fifth I think…) and his wife Isabel. Carlos and Isabel had a cute love story where they didn’t meet until the day of their wedding and it was love at first site, and when Isabel died, he stepped down from king and lived in the mountains for the rest of his life…awww. Anyway, the place was beautiful and I will put up pictures soon onto Facebook.

Still loving Spain. This afternoon I’m going to somewhere a little outside of the city to see what that’s like. This weekend, we’re going to Extremadura with our program. Sevilla is in Andalucia, and Andalucia is a “state” per se in Spain. Extremadura is a different “state.” It should be very interesting as usual.

My Spanish – English switching is catching up to me. I personally think I’m getting worse at both of the languages. But I’ve gotten some reassurance lately! A few strangers (side note: when you sit somewhere by yourself you will have random people, usually men, come up and start a conversation with you. I just let it happen so I can practice my Spanish haha. Two recently have asked me for directions!) have told me my Spanish is really good, as well as the woman in charge of Gota de Leche! So excited about that!

Welp, just wanted to write a real post. Plus I had nothing to do while waiting for my senora to come home. She’s home now, so I’m going to go! Adios Amigos