Short post time :)
Just loving on Spain a bit more! The weather has been absolutely beautiful. Just perfect! Yesterday night was the Spain vs. Portugal game for the World Cup (Villa Villa Villa, Villa Mara-villa!), and we went to a bar on the beach to watch it. Let me just point how much I LOVE to watch the games with the locals. They produce a very colorful vocabulary, that's for sure. But their intensity for the game is just awesome... and I'm sorta kinda sad I'll be missing the next game because I'll be in ROMA! Yeahhh baby! Okay, so Rome wins.
Today we took a group excursion to Santillana del Mar, the same town I went to with my aunt and uncle. We were only there for a couple of hours, and we went into the Roman church in the town that I didn't see when I was there earlier. Beautiful! I'm in love with the churches here, without a doubt. Berta, our teacher from Western, pointed out to us that the names of people from Santillana that died during Franco's reign were inscripted into the side of the church. Pretty cool. And inside was the tomb of St. Juliana. Also kinda cool. Berta told us that it's tradition for girls to eat a sabao (a kind of pastry) and drink a glass of milk if they want to get married... within the next year. Okay folks, I can't say as though I feel this desire whatsoever, but I decided to test tradition and had me some sabao and leche. Parents, start saving money just in case. Just kidding :)
Anyway, tomorrow's the last day of school for the weekend, and then ROMAROMAMAAA. Kind of excited, if you couldn't tell. ;) Until then/hasta luego!
Abrazos y besos,
ME
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Lo siento amigos for the delay!
A mi me encanta la vida Espanola ☺
This past week has been a good one! The weather has been GREAT, so I’m automatically happy, right? Yes indeed. Last Tuesday, Alex and I took the bus to meet up with some others at Bikini Beach for the day. First off, I’m not quite sure WHY they call it Bikini Beach, seeing as how a good portion of the women go topless. No gracias. But other than that, it was beautiful. And the best part is that the sun here stays high until about 9, so we can keep working on our tans until about 7 or 8 at night. Muyyyy bien.
Wednesday was the Fiesta of San Juan, AKA the best night EVER! This fiesta simultaneously celebrates San Juan and the summer solstice, or the longest day of sunlight of the year. Well the espanoles like to add a little more light to the mix and create the HUGEST bonfires ever on their beaches at midnight and fiesta toda la noche. I mean, the whooooole night. Did I mention that they can drink on their beaches? Or rather, no one stops them. In fact, pretty sure the policia join in. Anyway, of course we all had to participate in this. I mean, it goes without saying. We got to the beach around ten after having to wait a ridiculous amount of time to find a bus not completely filled with fellow beachgoers. But by the time we had arrived, the party had merely begun. By midnight, there was hardly a free space on the beach. And let me just say that Holland has nothing on the miles of beach in Santander. They lit the largest bonfire I have ever seen in my whole entire life, and we all had the best time ever. We left way early by Spanish standards at 2:30 am, because we had school the next morning. Poop. I wish it was the Fiesta of San Juan EVERYDAY.
Right after school on Thursday, we left for Malaga, which sits on the southern coast of Spain. Let me just begin the rest of this paragraph with this statement: Ryanair sucks. We got to the airport a little after two for our 4:30 flight. Let’s just say we didn’t get to Malaga (an hour flight) until midnight. Mmk, I’ll leave it at that. We were warned by tons of our padres that Malaga was an ugly city, but we were going for the warmer weather and beaches so that hardly mattered. This was definitely a trip planned during the rainy two weeks of Santander weather. However, I’m pretty sure that Malaga exceeded all of our expectations. If that city is ugly, I don’t even want them to come to America. Cripes.
Friday night, our group of 14 was separated into 5 different hostels. Three of us went to the hostel where most of the rest would join us the next night. The beach was just across the street from our hostel, so we had the perfect location. The next morning, we met the rest of the group at el Museo Picasso, which is full of donated pieces from Picasso’s family. Fun fact: both Picasso and Antonio Banderas were born in Malaga. We toured the Cathedral of Malaga and then ate lunch outside of it. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful, chockfull of gold ornamentation and original paintings. Oh, and the largest organ that I will probably ever see. That afternoon, everyone checked into our hostel and we hung out at the beach. We all had Spanish flag body paint on for the game, which we watched in our hostel as the hostel workers handed out free shots for each goal. After the game was won by the lovely Spain (WOOO!), we headed out for the night. Everyone on the streets was going crazy after the win, carrying the Spanish flag and waving it around or wearing it around their necks on their motorcycles. And EVERYONE honked. It was excellent. We wanted to see flamenco, and ended up in the basement of a museum of flamenco history. Here enters my favorite Malaga memory. Alright, so we didn’t technically see flamenco. What we did get instead was about 20 Spanish people sitting around a table and singing flamenco songs with a guitar. HOLYYY CRAP. Most amazing thing of my life. The passion that these people have for this tradition is unreal. One of the older men even got up for a few songs and danced. You can tell that he was the man in his prime. I was absolutely enamored the entire time, and so began my obsession with flamenco music. I even snuck some videos of this greatness on my camera, so I’ll try to post them on Facebook.
The next morning, we got up to walk 5 billion steps to the top of a castle. Hands down the best workout I’ve had since I’ve been in Spain. I loved every second of it. And the view from the top made it even more worth it. The castle was more reminiscent of a fort, or the ruins of one anyway, and it has been used for war efforts since before the 1600s. After seeing the castle, we walked to an old Roman theatre. That was sweet to see, since I feel like I’ve heard so much about them, but it was under a bunch of construction. Oh well. After that, it was time to head to the airport, where Suckair delayed us another hour. During this break, I enjoyed the best Pizza Hut ever, so Suckair is forgiven. And after the delay, we arrived home without any further problem.
All in all, escaping to Malaga was a very fun weekend with great people. And our padres were most definitely wrong… Malaga NO es fea.
This past week has been a good one! The weather has been GREAT, so I’m automatically happy, right? Yes indeed. Last Tuesday, Alex and I took the bus to meet up with some others at Bikini Beach for the day. First off, I’m not quite sure WHY they call it Bikini Beach, seeing as how a good portion of the women go topless. No gracias. But other than that, it was beautiful. And the best part is that the sun here stays high until about 9, so we can keep working on our tans until about 7 or 8 at night. Muyyyy bien.
Wednesday was the Fiesta of San Juan, AKA the best night EVER! This fiesta simultaneously celebrates San Juan and the summer solstice, or the longest day of sunlight of the year. Well the espanoles like to add a little more light to the mix and create the HUGEST bonfires ever on their beaches at midnight and fiesta toda la noche. I mean, the whooooole night. Did I mention that they can drink on their beaches? Or rather, no one stops them. In fact, pretty sure the policia join in. Anyway, of course we all had to participate in this. I mean, it goes without saying. We got to the beach around ten after having to wait a ridiculous amount of time to find a bus not completely filled with fellow beachgoers. But by the time we had arrived, the party had merely begun. By midnight, there was hardly a free space on the beach. And let me just say that Holland has nothing on the miles of beach in Santander. They lit the largest bonfire I have ever seen in my whole entire life, and we all had the best time ever. We left way early by Spanish standards at 2:30 am, because we had school the next morning. Poop. I wish it was the Fiesta of San Juan EVERYDAY.
Right after school on Thursday, we left for Malaga, which sits on the southern coast of Spain. Let me just begin the rest of this paragraph with this statement: Ryanair sucks. We got to the airport a little after two for our 4:30 flight. Let’s just say we didn’t get to Malaga (an hour flight) until midnight. Mmk, I’ll leave it at that. We were warned by tons of our padres that Malaga was an ugly city, but we were going for the warmer weather and beaches so that hardly mattered. This was definitely a trip planned during the rainy two weeks of Santander weather. However, I’m pretty sure that Malaga exceeded all of our expectations. If that city is ugly, I don’t even want them to come to America. Cripes.
Friday night, our group of 14 was separated into 5 different hostels. Three of us went to the hostel where most of the rest would join us the next night. The beach was just across the street from our hostel, so we had the perfect location. The next morning, we met the rest of the group at el Museo Picasso, which is full of donated pieces from Picasso’s family. Fun fact: both Picasso and Antonio Banderas were born in Malaga. We toured the Cathedral of Malaga and then ate lunch outside of it. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful, chockfull of gold ornamentation and original paintings. Oh, and the largest organ that I will probably ever see. That afternoon, everyone checked into our hostel and we hung out at the beach. We all had Spanish flag body paint on for the game, which we watched in our hostel as the hostel workers handed out free shots for each goal. After the game was won by the lovely Spain (WOOO!), we headed out for the night. Everyone on the streets was going crazy after the win, carrying the Spanish flag and waving it around or wearing it around their necks on their motorcycles. And EVERYONE honked. It was excellent. We wanted to see flamenco, and ended up in the basement of a museum of flamenco history. Here enters my favorite Malaga memory. Alright, so we didn’t technically see flamenco. What we did get instead was about 20 Spanish people sitting around a table and singing flamenco songs with a guitar. HOLYYY CRAP. Most amazing thing of my life. The passion that these people have for this tradition is unreal. One of the older men even got up for a few songs and danced. You can tell that he was the man in his prime. I was absolutely enamored the entire time, and so began my obsession with flamenco music. I even snuck some videos of this greatness on my camera, so I’ll try to post them on Facebook.
The next morning, we got up to walk 5 billion steps to the top of a castle. Hands down the best workout I’ve had since I’ve been in Spain. I loved every second of it. And the view from the top made it even more worth it. The castle was more reminiscent of a fort, or the ruins of one anyway, and it has been used for war efforts since before the 1600s. After seeing the castle, we walked to an old Roman theatre. That was sweet to see, since I feel like I’ve heard so much about them, but it was under a bunch of construction. Oh well. After that, it was time to head to the airport, where Suckair delayed us another hour. During this break, I enjoyed the best Pizza Hut ever, so Suckair is forgiven. And after the delay, we arrived home without any further problem.
All in all, escaping to Malaga was a very fun weekend with great people. And our padres were most definitely wrong… Malaga NO es fea.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Barca weekend
Mmk… let me just start this post out by saying I LOVE BARCELONA! Mmk, now that is confirmed, I’ll get back to it.
Last Thursday, Lauren, Jamie, and I left on a bus headed to Barca at 9 pm from the bus station here in Santander. And it was just a 9 hr 45 min ride, no biggie. Ewww. Not so lucky for me, some chica that I will dub “Afro girl” was sitting in my window seat, so I had to kick her out. I’d normally take aisle no prob, but aisle=no resting place for my head. So naturally, this was absolutely necessary. Afro girl just looked at me all innocently, and it took her a few seconds to get the picture. Afro girl, in response, was not happy. Not in an overt, I’m going to speak my mind, kinda way. Noooo… all night she opted to kick my arm off of the armrest whenever I used it, and then proceeded to replace my elbow with her own. To take it a little further, she put her elbow so far over the armrest that she elbowed me toda la noche. At one point, she completely leaned on me. As if I wasn’t smothered enough already. I not so secretly rejoiced when she got off two hours before we got to Barcelona.
Alright, well… got that out of my system. Back to the real story. We got to Barca at 6:30 the next morning. Howeverrr, we got off at the wrong bus station in Barcelona, so we took the metro to La Rambla, pretty close to our hostel. But let’s just say that we didn’t realize this and it took another hour and a half to find it. Two first impressions were as follows: a) What the flip language is this? But really, I kinda already knew, thanks to Pablo, my advanced linguistics/history of the language professor from last semester. They speak Catalan, which is a type of Spanish that has evolved over time very differently than the Spanish of most of Spain, which is Castellano. B) There is a STARBUCKS here. Needless to say, I paid 4.90 in euros to get my caffeine fix. And it was worth everyyyy penny. When we went to our hostel, we weren’t allowed to check in yet, but were able to leave some of our stuff in the locker of Jamie’s friend, who had already stayed for a night. We ate an early lunch, explored the city a bit, and walked to La Sagrada Familia aka the most beautiful church EVER. Of course, Antoni Gaudi designed it. They started constructing it in 1882, but it’s not expected to be done until 2026. Holy crap. How could it not be great? I could have stayed outside looking at it in all of its massive detail for hours. So if you check out my pictures on Facebook, I just have to say I’m sorry for the large quantity of photos from LSF. But I did you all a favor, and left some, only about 100, out. I also recommend you check out all the symbolism that this church’s architecture holds- I could write 5 pages on that alone. When we were inside, there were cranes and work crews just chipping away for another 16 years of their lives. The ceiling is massively high, and the stained glass windows are unbelievable. After checking out the ground floor, we paid an extra 2.50 euros to take an elevator to the top of one of the towers. HOLYYY MOLY. Have a mentioned I’m afraid of heights? I didn’t (hardly) even care. You could see miles and miles of Barcelona, as well as all the intricate detail of the upper parts of LSF. So freaking beautiful I cannot even do it justice with words. And my pictures may not be very good, as I was about to pee my pants. After crossing the towers on the newer part, called the Passion Façade of the church, we could see the towers of the beautiful older part, the Nativity Façade (see pics… it all makes sense.) The old and new parts blend together so magnificently, it’s such a wonder to see. So remember how I said we were at the top of the tower? Welp, you’ve got to get down somehow. Enter… 5 million steps down. Skinny steps. Spiral steps. Without a railing on one side. The side with a view ALL the way down. I’m scared of heights, right? Let’s just say I held onto my camera and that one railing for dear life. But it was SO worth it. Alllll the way down. I loved it to pieces. Let’s just say that if you ever go to Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia cannot be missed.
After LSF, we went back to our hostel to meet up with a friend of Jamie's and Lauren’s. When she got there, we headed to the beach in search of a good bar. It was a looooong walk there, but the bar we found was perfect. A little piece of paradise, for sure. It was right on the sand, and we drank yummy sangria while watching the sun set. If you couldn’t tell, I live a rough life here in Spain… ☺ Later that night, we walked the boardwalk in search of IceBarcelona, an ice bar where everything, including the shot glasses and couch, are made of ice. They give you warm gear to wear, and you go at it. When we got there, we saw it was 15 euro, or about 20 dollars, to get in. Dang it. Moving on...We kept walking down the beach, saw the casino, and headed back for the bars off of La Rambla. La Rambla is known for it’s street vendors, performers, and pickpocketing. The performers are OUTRAGEOUS… some are super funny and others keep crazily still like statues. We ended up at a bar near our hostel where we got free shots from the bartender (yay Spain!) and a wasted middle aged English guy talking our ears off. By 1 am, Jamie and I headed back early to our hostel to get some sleep, seeing as how we hadn’t slept the night before.
The next morning, we went to the Boqueria, a fresh food market on La Rambla. Such an awesome thing to see! We bought smoothies that were so goooood, and headed over to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. We then took the Metro to Parque Guell, a park designed by Gaudi. He intended for this park to be a private village for living, but it has ended up being a municipal garden for everyone to enjoy. Lucky us ☺ A tunnel inside the park is designed to look like the inside of a wave. It does! And the intricate, colorful tiling throughout the park is remarkable. Only two houses were ever built there- one that Gaudi lived in later in his life, and another that is now used as a souvenir store. Both very sweet pieces of architecture. We left the park on the hill, and headed back to the hostel before heading out again for what turned out to be a crazy, fun night in Barcelona. We headed back in the direction of the beach, with the intention of buying cheap bottles of wine and drinking on the sand. We stopped at a bar on the bay for tapas and drinks. The tapas were delicious, and we watched the cruise ships leave at night. As we continued our journey, we ran into some Germans and ended up hanging out with them for a good part of the night. They took us to another club with a 15 euro entrance fee (what the flip, Barca?) , and Lauren, Jamie, and I decided to find a bar where we could buy multiple drinks for 5 euro, leaving their two friends to hang out with the Germans for the night. We ended up at Cheers, a Irish pub with live music. GREAT choice, We met two different groups of guys from England, both in Barca for stag nights/weekends (bachelor parties). They were all so much fun, and I got tooooons to drink for free. Could the night get any better? Free drinks and great drunken convos with new friends. ☺ Perfection. We got home at 4 that morning, which is still considered early by Spanish standards. But the night was a success.
I had to wake up at 7:30 to get ready for the ride home. No fun. Our bus left Barca at 10:15 am, and we returned to Santander at 8:30 pm. I don’t want to see another bus for a long, long time. Luckily, I’m in Spain, which meant that the scenery included the mountains, ocean, and miles upon miles of vineyards. I can hardly believe you can have that many grape plants in one region. Geeeeez… wine much? ☺
I got home veryyyy hungry last night to Concha and Manola gone, but when they got home, I feasted and caught up with them, and all was good. ☺ Only three more days of school until I leave for Malaga with some great friends! Good week ahead ☺ Hope you all are doing well… thanks for keeping up with my posts!
Abrazos y besos (y mucho amor),
ME
Last Thursday, Lauren, Jamie, and I left on a bus headed to Barca at 9 pm from the bus station here in Santander. And it was just a 9 hr 45 min ride, no biggie. Ewww. Not so lucky for me, some chica that I will dub “Afro girl” was sitting in my window seat, so I had to kick her out. I’d normally take aisle no prob, but aisle=no resting place for my head. So naturally, this was absolutely necessary. Afro girl just looked at me all innocently, and it took her a few seconds to get the picture. Afro girl, in response, was not happy. Not in an overt, I’m going to speak my mind, kinda way. Noooo… all night she opted to kick my arm off of the armrest whenever I used it, and then proceeded to replace my elbow with her own. To take it a little further, she put her elbow so far over the armrest that she elbowed me toda la noche. At one point, she completely leaned on me. As if I wasn’t smothered enough already. I not so secretly rejoiced when she got off two hours before we got to Barcelona.
Alright, well… got that out of my system. Back to the real story. We got to Barca at 6:30 the next morning. Howeverrr, we got off at the wrong bus station in Barcelona, so we took the metro to La Rambla, pretty close to our hostel. But let’s just say that we didn’t realize this and it took another hour and a half to find it. Two first impressions were as follows: a) What the flip language is this? But really, I kinda already knew, thanks to Pablo, my advanced linguistics/history of the language professor from last semester. They speak Catalan, which is a type of Spanish that has evolved over time very differently than the Spanish of most of Spain, which is Castellano. B) There is a STARBUCKS here. Needless to say, I paid 4.90 in euros to get my caffeine fix. And it was worth everyyyy penny. When we went to our hostel, we weren’t allowed to check in yet, but were able to leave some of our stuff in the locker of Jamie’s friend, who had already stayed for a night. We ate an early lunch, explored the city a bit, and walked to La Sagrada Familia aka the most beautiful church EVER. Of course, Antoni Gaudi designed it. They started constructing it in 1882, but it’s not expected to be done until 2026. Holy crap. How could it not be great? I could have stayed outside looking at it in all of its massive detail for hours. So if you check out my pictures on Facebook, I just have to say I’m sorry for the large quantity of photos from LSF. But I did you all a favor, and left some, only about 100, out. I also recommend you check out all the symbolism that this church’s architecture holds- I could write 5 pages on that alone. When we were inside, there were cranes and work crews just chipping away for another 16 years of their lives. The ceiling is massively high, and the stained glass windows are unbelievable. After checking out the ground floor, we paid an extra 2.50 euros to take an elevator to the top of one of the towers. HOLYYY MOLY. Have a mentioned I’m afraid of heights? I didn’t (hardly) even care. You could see miles and miles of Barcelona, as well as all the intricate detail of the upper parts of LSF. So freaking beautiful I cannot even do it justice with words. And my pictures may not be very good, as I was about to pee my pants. After crossing the towers on the newer part, called the Passion Façade of the church, we could see the towers of the beautiful older part, the Nativity Façade (see pics… it all makes sense.) The old and new parts blend together so magnificently, it’s such a wonder to see. So remember how I said we were at the top of the tower? Welp, you’ve got to get down somehow. Enter… 5 million steps down. Skinny steps. Spiral steps. Without a railing on one side. The side with a view ALL the way down. I’m scared of heights, right? Let’s just say I held onto my camera and that one railing for dear life. But it was SO worth it. Alllll the way down. I loved it to pieces. Let’s just say that if you ever go to Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia cannot be missed.
After LSF, we went back to our hostel to meet up with a friend of Jamie's and Lauren’s. When she got there, we headed to the beach in search of a good bar. It was a looooong walk there, but the bar we found was perfect. A little piece of paradise, for sure. It was right on the sand, and we drank yummy sangria while watching the sun set. If you couldn’t tell, I live a rough life here in Spain… ☺ Later that night, we walked the boardwalk in search of IceBarcelona, an ice bar where everything, including the shot glasses and couch, are made of ice. They give you warm gear to wear, and you go at it. When we got there, we saw it was 15 euro, or about 20 dollars, to get in. Dang it. Moving on...We kept walking down the beach, saw the casino, and headed back for the bars off of La Rambla. La Rambla is known for it’s street vendors, performers, and pickpocketing. The performers are OUTRAGEOUS… some are super funny and others keep crazily still like statues. We ended up at a bar near our hostel where we got free shots from the bartender (yay Spain!) and a wasted middle aged English guy talking our ears off. By 1 am, Jamie and I headed back early to our hostel to get some sleep, seeing as how we hadn’t slept the night before.
The next morning, we went to the Boqueria, a fresh food market on La Rambla. Such an awesome thing to see! We bought smoothies that were so goooood, and headed over to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. We then took the Metro to Parque Guell, a park designed by Gaudi. He intended for this park to be a private village for living, but it has ended up being a municipal garden for everyone to enjoy. Lucky us ☺ A tunnel inside the park is designed to look like the inside of a wave. It does! And the intricate, colorful tiling throughout the park is remarkable. Only two houses were ever built there- one that Gaudi lived in later in his life, and another that is now used as a souvenir store. Both very sweet pieces of architecture. We left the park on the hill, and headed back to the hostel before heading out again for what turned out to be a crazy, fun night in Barcelona. We headed back in the direction of the beach, with the intention of buying cheap bottles of wine and drinking on the sand. We stopped at a bar on the bay for tapas and drinks. The tapas were delicious, and we watched the cruise ships leave at night. As we continued our journey, we ran into some Germans and ended up hanging out with them for a good part of the night. They took us to another club with a 15 euro entrance fee (what the flip, Barca?) , and Lauren, Jamie, and I decided to find a bar where we could buy multiple drinks for 5 euro, leaving their two friends to hang out with the Germans for the night. We ended up at Cheers, a Irish pub with live music. GREAT choice, We met two different groups of guys from England, both in Barca for stag nights/weekends (bachelor parties). They were all so much fun, and I got tooooons to drink for free. Could the night get any better? Free drinks and great drunken convos with new friends. ☺ Perfection. We got home at 4 that morning, which is still considered early by Spanish standards. But the night was a success.
I had to wake up at 7:30 to get ready for the ride home. No fun. Our bus left Barca at 10:15 am, and we returned to Santander at 8:30 pm. I don’t want to see another bus for a long, long time. Luckily, I’m in Spain, which meant that the scenery included the mountains, ocean, and miles upon miles of vineyards. I can hardly believe you can have that many grape plants in one region. Geeeeez… wine much? ☺
I got home veryyyy hungry last night to Concha and Manola gone, but when they got home, I feasted and caught up with them, and all was good. ☺ Only three more days of school until I leave for Malaga with some great friends! Good week ahead ☺ Hope you all are doing well… thanks for keeping up with my posts!
Abrazos y besos (y mucho amor),
ME
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Okay rain, you can stop now...
Mmk… so my past few days. Let’s sum them up in a word: RAIN. Two words? More rain. But I will noooot let that get me down. Yet.
Friday night everyone ended up staying in because it was so crazy and rainy and cold. Yesterday, I hung out around home to let my suck foot chill a bit, and to wait for my uncle and aunt to get into town. They arrived in the afternoon, and I walked over to their hotel right down the road from where I live. It is so coincidental that they are staying so close because I live on the outskirts of town…but no complaints here! I wanted to show them the town a bit, but that was no good considering it was POURING hardcore all night. We got some dinner, drank some vino, and relaxed for the night.
This morning, I met them at their hotel again and we headed out for Santillana del Mar and Comillas. Santillana del Mar is this quaint little town with cobblestone roads, where cars are not allowed to drive. They have lots of touristy shops and pretty little buildings. Lunch was GREAT! My aunt and uncle took me to a small restaurant filled with locals, and I got salad, ribs, chocolate ice cream cake, and vino for only 13 euros. I guess that’s the way to go! We went to Comillas after we ate, pretty much on a whim, but I’m so glad we did! We stopped to take pictures of two really cool looking churches on the way, and ended up at the beach of Comillas. The weather was no good, but we were happy for the lluvia to be holding off. Our goal was to find a little-known house of Gaudi’s in Comillas, and after a little driving and directions from a walker, we found it! It was SO great! I think I’m in love with Gaudi, and I haven’t even been to Barcelona yet J We also saw the old palace of a marquis and the ruins of an old cemetery. Such amazing architecture and coolness in such a small town! I loved being able to take that adventure with my aunt and uncle. I didn’t plan to see much this weekend, but it ended up being SO good! Don’t you love God’s little surprises? Mmm mmm. I’m loving me some Spain J
More pics soon!
Abrazos y besos,
ME
Friday, June 11, 2010
New daily routine:
I wake up at 7:25, eat the breakfast that Manolo puts together (have I mentioned that it is customary to only eat a few galletitas-cookies that are more like crackers-?) and leave for school at 8:20, meeting up with a few people for the walk there. Class is from 9 to 12:30, until we start our culture class in a couple of weeks. After class, I stay at school for about an hour to use the internet in the computer lab. Some people sympathize with my pain in not having internet in my house and join in this wondrous time. Gosh, I’m spoiled in the US! I’m home by a little after 2, and shortly thereafter, I eat lunch and watch the news with Concha. Next is siesta! Woowooo! I sleep or read until 4 or 5, and then head out for the afternoon to shop or hang out with people from the group. At nine or a little after, I come home for dinner (and my dinner is early compared to many people’s!), and then I hang out around home or go out again. Crazy schedule that the Spaniards keep! But I think it’s beginning to fit me quite well J
Newest addition to the schedule...Thursday nights...1 euro CHUPITAS, that's all I have to say. ;)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Hola amigos!
After I woke up and took my shower yesterday, my padre, Manolo, called me to the kitchen. He made me my breakfast, because my madre was still sleeping! So cute! Manolo is such a precious man and he makes me smile inside J The unfortunate part of the situation was that I fumbled my way into asking for hot milk for breakfast my first day, and I’m pretty sure they’ve established this as my daily drink of choice. Suck. When he left the kitchen, I poured it down the sink. Haha, kinda felt bad about that one! But not bad enough to not repeat the same if necessary.
I walk to school with Alex, who lives just down the road from me, and we pick up Katie on the way. When we got to school, we were placed into our classes. One of the teachers, Manolo, is great! He’s super smart and hilarious. He just published a book earlier this year, and I’ve heard that his techniques for teaching grammar work wonders for learning the language. Also, first day and he already taught us the F word. He says that it’s completely necessary because Spaniards are super aggressive people that cuss on a regular basis. Like I said, he’s freaking awesome.
Concha has started to serve me smaller meals, because I told her I don’t eat a lot. Howeverrr, her definition of small and mine don’t completely match. I’ve decided I need to compromise and stuff myself until I can’t possible eat anymore. So, if I’m huge when I get home, you know why. Blame Concha! ;) Concha’s nieta (granddaughter) stayed with her today, because there was a nationwide strike and she couldn’t go to school. Her mom, Concha’s daughter, came to pick her up at lunch and she stayed awhile to talk to Concha. I sat with them and tried to follow their conversation, but Maria talks muyyyyy rapido. Concha had to tell her to slow down so that I could understand, but that lasted about all of 30 seconds. Maria said that the people that she works with need to tell her to slow down when she talks. Concha made salad, bean soup, bread, turkey, and croquetas, which look like mini corndogs, but seem to be a mix of cream of mushroom soup and meat with the outside fried on the stove.
So what’s really great about Spain is how much I fit in. And I’m not talking about what I look like, because as much as I try to dress like them, people can immediately tell I’m an American. What I’m talking about is the SIESTA! I have my own personal nap fit into my day J Que perfecto!
Last night, I went out with friends to shop. It rained all afternoon and night, but I made the trek to meet people at el ayuntamiento. I dropped 60 euros at one store, but I’ve officially started my European wardrobe! Woowooooo! I’ve been really good about not spending any money on clothes that I can find at home, so I felt justified. ;)
Today was more warm milk for breakfast, school, a GREAT siesta, some independent exploration of some of the stores, cerveza with Nate, helado with Ashley, and the news with Concha. That’s been the mealtime ritual. She putters around the kitchen while I eat, and we both watch TV. I’m almost positive I only “watch” it to cop out of having super lengthy convos. With time, perhaps I shall step it up.
Weather calls for rain for the next 10 days… no good! I’m hoping for better weather, because the plan is to stay here this weekend. My Uncle Tom and Aunt Deb are going to be here for a few days at the end of their tour of Spain, so I want them to see Santander at its best!
Hasta luego, amigos!
Abrazos y besos,
ME
Monday, June 7, 2010
First real day in Santander :)
Yesterday, after meeting with the group, some of us went to dinner, and then to la playa (beach!) After walking through the whollllllle city, I got home at around 12:30 at night. The city is BEAUTIFUL! So gorgeous! Cool architecture, lots of beach, and all the commotion of a city. Lots of people have said that Santander is small. LIE. My feet are officially dead- blistered, red, and in severe pain. But so well worth it to be able to see the city. I love it here, and I have so much to explore over the next 8 weeks. I love walking and my independent side is 10 seconds away from taking just my camera and myself out and going picture crazy. I think I need a weekend just for that! haha... and the shopping... CRIPES! ayayayay... I don't know how I can possibly get to them all, but I've already dared myself, so it's going down. Santander vs. my debit card :) Ma, would you mind tranferring about three thou to my account? hahaha, chiste chiste.
Today was the first day of school. Not gonna lie, I was pretty excited. We had an opening presentation with just basic info and such, and then we took a placement test to determine which level of class we will be in. We then took a tour of the campus (much more walking), and then went home for lunch and siesta, when everything closes and everyone goes home. Lunch was just way too big to even comprehend. Mi madre gave me a HUGE plate of spaghetti, soup, beans, bread, fried chicken, fries, dessert cake, cheese, and on and on. I didn't eat half of it, and she said that she has to throw away what I don't eat. Howeverrrr, there is just no way. Lo siento, Concha. Conversation with her is getting better and better, and she thinks I speak really well. Her husband, Manolo, is a very nice old man, too. He doesn't talk a whole lot, but I kinda like that. :) This afternoon, some of us went and got cell phones so that all of us can talk more easily. I don't even have internet in my apartment, but I can sometimes pick up someone else's connection. We then took a bit of a tour around the city with a student from campus. He took us to buy bus cards to take to places that are further for me, like the beach (SCORE).
This afternoon, Ashley and I met up with Mr. Nate Clark and his friend for una cerveza, and then I had to go home for dinner at 9. Dinner was una tortilla espanola (made with potatoes and eggs-kind of like an omelette), noodle soup, bread, and a slice of turkey. And they call this a small meal... I watched the news and chit-chatted with Concha, and they just went to bed.
Welp, that's been my day! I'm going to try for a picture post now....yayyyy!
Abrazos y besos,
ME
Sunday, June 6, 2010
SANTANDERRR!!!
I have officially reached the final destination!
Last night, we did a little more shopping, ate at a buffet, and went back to our hostel early to get some sleep. However, that 5 hour nap from earlier in the day ensured that neither of us could fall asleep until 4 am. I got up at 7:30, and got packed up and ready to leave for Santander. We had to take the metro again to where the bus station is, and then we had the 6 hour bus trip to Santander. The Spanish landscape consists of lots of mountains, wind turbines, and really old, amazing little churches in each little town. When we got here, Ashley and I separated, because her madre picked her up, and I needed to take a taxi to my house.
So the taxi driver (verrrrry nice this time, and from Boliva-interesting) dropped me off in front of the address I was given by school. So I go to ring up to the apartment, and what do you know? There is no eighth floor at Avenida de Camilo Alonso Vega 18. Sweeeeet. So, my best thought is to wander the city with luggage to find a locutorio, a place that has internet that you can pay for. Let me point out that everything else is closed at this time because it is 4:30 in the afternoon, which falls into the time category of "siesta." I finally find a locutorio, check the address, see that it indeed says an incorrect address, and silently freak out. Then I pull myself together, find a phone to use, and call my host mom. She answers, talking a mile a minute, and she's asking where I am. I have no flipping clue where I am, because I just walked until I found the internet. She clarifies that her address is Avenida de Camilo Alonso Vega 19, not 18. Nice job, school. So I roll on over to her house, and meet her and her husband Manolo. I'm guessing them to be in their 60s or 70s. She warmed me up some spaghetti with bread and some type of custard dessert with cinnamon. This dessert was the best Spanish food yet! Anyway, I'm ever so slightly nervous (probably unnecessarily) and intimidated by my new family, so I'm currently accepting prayers on the situation. In fact, they would be greatly appreciated! :)
Anyway, I have to meet up with the group at el Ayuntamiento (the town plaza) at 8 tonight, so I'll be leaving shortly for that! And classes start tomorrow, which I am oddly excited for. I think I'm now up to date with everything that has gone on these past few days :) Yessss!
Abrazos y besos,
ME
P.S. Comments on posts are much appreciated! Anyone can leave one, just make sure you leave your name at the end if you don't have an account or it will show up as anonymous.
Okay... pretend this post was posted yesterday.
Yeahhhh Madrid! We’ve spent the last few days since we’ve gotten to Spain here. The second day here, we walked to el Prado museum and saw some artwork of artists that I’ve learned about in Spanish class like el Greco, Goya, and Velasquez, among others. Goya was definitely twisted in the head, but that makes his work ridiculously cool. From what I’ve learned about Velasquez, he did a lot of paintings of royal families, but he was always satirical and mocking of them. A lot of his paintings include dwarfs, and the like, and he usually paints himself somewhere in the painting. A tad arrogant maybe, but super funny. Anyway, we went through most of the museum, but I think that there was a littttle too much of it to keep my attention.
Today we went to el Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, where the futbol (soccer) team Real Madrid plays. It was sweet! There were like a million seats there, and we got to take a tour through the stadium, as well as their trophy room, the players’ bench, the locker room, and the press room. It was awesome to see the pride that the city of Madrid has for its team. After that, we came home and slept for… 5 hours. Yeah, about that. I think that the walking is killing us more than we think? I mean, my hips are sore, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that pain from walking before. But overall- good day J
A few observations about Madrid:
1. It smells. Like sewer. I mean baaaaad. But I’ve almost gotten over it.
2. The men=ridiiiiiculos. All men, young and old WILL stare at you. Up and down, for prolonged periods of time. Even after they’ve already walked past. Even from mere inches away. They make obscene remarks and kissy noises and chomp their teeth at you. And they give a WHOLE new meaning to butt grabbing. (Dad, please don’t freak out)
3. I can’t figure out when these people work. Everyone is ALWAYS out and about.
4. The majority of stores do not open til late afternoon.
5. Okay… so shopping. They sell the same clothes that we do here?! Odd, and somewhat sad, I’ll admit. I want a European wardrobe! But that didn’t stop me from buying a new dress. ;) And what’s awesome… no tax! YAY!
6. I’ve walked a lot. I know this is a Europe thing, and I think I’m ready to embrace it.
7. The food… meh. Thursday for dinner, we both got paella mixta, which is seasoned rice with chicken and seafood- bones and shells included. Definitely gotta watch out for those. Friday we got breakfast at a bakery. According to Rick Steves, the shop is famous for its cream-filled Napolitana pastry, so I tried one of those. Pretty good. Lunch was at a place called el Museo de Jamon. or the Museum of Ham. We got bocadillos de jamon (ham sandwiches) for a euro. The ham is definitely different than at home, but not bad. Dinner was pizza and French fries! Woops… When in Spain, do as the French? Americans? do, I guess. ;) By the way, the pizza was GREAT!
8. The music is in English- everywhere you go. In fact, the grand majority is our music. And no one here even speaks English! How much would it suck to have to sing along to music when you don’t even know what you’re singing? For cripe’s sake.
9. The architecture in Spain far surpasses that of the U.S. The buildings are flipping amazing. Seriously.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Finalmente, puedo dormir... y mejor- voy a dormir en espana :)
Hola de Espana! Finalmente!
After a long day of traveling, we’ve made it to Madrid! Right now, I’m sitting in an café that has suck internet, so this probably won’t get posted until we can get into our room at the hostel.
Right. So I’ll start at the beginning. My mom, aunt, and I left the good old BC at ten this morning (I consider it today since I haven’t been to sleep yet, even though it’s 5 am US time) and picked up Ashley, the girl from the program that I am traveling with. We then drove to Chicago, took a shuttle to the airport, and checked in with Iberia. I said goodbye to my ma and aunt for nine weeks (crazy!), and we went to our gate and waited to board our flight.
The airplane ride went well! Praise the Lord for good weather! It was longer than any flight I’ve been on, but definitely not terrible. We got two meals- dinner reminded me of Chinese food –chicken and rice- with raisin cake and shrimp salad (just a shmorgasboard apparently), and for breakfast I got a croissant with cucumber, lettuce, and tomato. Those were the entire contents of the “sandwich.” Say whattttt?? I hope that's not an indication of how this trip is going to go... hehe. But our seats were really good- third row in economy. Quality viewing of Alice and Wonderland and Valentine’s Day. I really didn’t sleep, which I didn’t expect, seeing as how I can never really get comfortable anywhere but my own bed. Hmm… perhaps a long two months ahead of me. Bring ittt J
Number one thing I was nervous for when I first arrived was to start to speak Spanish right away when I got off the plane. But I was prepared to talk to the taxi driver to get us to our hostel. What I WASN’T prepared for was the customs guy who wanted to chit chat. He’s lucky he is muy guapo. ;) We were warned to have an airport security worker direct us to a taxi so we wouln't get cheated out of our money. Welp, we did this and got majorly SCREWED anyway. Here begins the suckiest part of the day. First, he starts the meter with 2 euros on it already. I QUITE wanted to say something, but didn’t. It was just two girls, already in the car with este hombre. Bad news bears if I made him mad. So. He drops us off in a plaza and says walk there, pointing to a street. And then he charged us 8 euros more than the meter amount, and he basically kicked us out of the taxi. So out we go, completely jipped and not sure where to go. Yes- he lied to us about being in the right spot. And--- he could have driven us RIGHT where we needed to go. I gave him the address on paper and he put in his GPS. Soooo we walked around for a good 40 minutes WITH LUGGAGE, asking about 800 people where to go. We looked like gringas estupidas. We asked a couple la policia a couple of different times, and they led us in opposite directions. We finally stopped at another hostel, and they gave us a map and directions. Danggg--- so we found our hostal, which is on the fourth floor of a building, and it's super cute. We could drop our luggage off, but can’t officially get in until 1 pm here. So, now we’re just killing time until then, sitting in a “pasteleria,” drinking lemon slushes and eating a pastry. I think we’re both ready for sleep J I’ll be sure to post this right before then!
Sorryyyyy this is so long, but I know my momma will want full details ASAP!
Update: After a long day of wandering the city with heavy backpacks and old men asking us to be their lovers, we are IN our roomy room rooms J G’night!
Abrazos y besos,
ME
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
one.more.day.
Mmm... first blog post! Since the real action is yet to occur, I'll keep this short and simple. With just once more day (finally!) until departure, I'm feeling pretty good. I think at this point, I've kind of bypassed the excited stage, and I'm just so ready to go. I'm more or less completely packed, and I'll add the finishing touches by the end of the night.
Speaking of tonight, I'd like to give a shout out to my bestie, Megan, because it's her 21st birfday! Sooo, celebrations will commence on my last day in the United States. :)
Welp, I'm off to lunch with my aunt! Prayers for my flight tomorrow with Ashley, seeing as how it's supposed to rain and storm in Chicago. No good... but I'm hoping for the best!
Abrazos y besos,
ME
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