Photos!

Here are the links to some photos from the last few weeks I was in Spain. I promise I will write a more detailed post summing everything up in the coming days!

Mom and April visit!

Toros!

P.S. My flight back was great and all of my luggage made it home!

Segovia

Numbers:
8 days until finals start
20 days until my mom visits
26 days until my friend April visits
38 days until I return to the U.S.

Those numbers look so small compared to the numbers that I started out with...

Yesterday, as one last hurrah before the last week of real school (and thus having to study the next two weekends for finals) my friend Caitlin and I took a little day-and-a-half trip to Segovia. It's only an hour and 15 minutes outside of Madrid, but it was nice to get away because I've been stressed out lately with the papers I've had to write and the tests that I've had to start studying for. You know, it was great to not really have to do anything other than attend class all semester, but now...now, I don't remember how to do work! It's ridiculous.

Segovia was the perfect cure for my anxiety though. It was a really joyful little city. There were multiple puppet shows in the streets, carousels, lots of small children running around and gorgeous views of the landscapes surrounding the city. There were times where I would just look out towards the mountains and I would think, "Wow, this is what I used to picture when I would think about Spain." Picturesque--that's the word I'm looking for. The city was picturesque without being overly precious (for comparison, Salamanca was overly precious). And of course we saw the aqueduct, which is what Segovia is known for. The aqueduct was built by the Romans almost 2000 years ago! It's just an amazing feat of engineering especially when you consider that it was made with no mortar--the bricks are cut so that they just fit. It was really stunning.

The aqueduct is at the top of the post and the Alcázar (this kind of cool-looking castle) is the other picture. Right by the Alcázar we found a good spot to take pictures and we were doing that when this guy gets out of a van parked near-by and says (in English), "Hi...umm, just to let you know i am going to make pee pee over here, so you might want to stand somewhere else." We moved and after a few seconds he was like, "Oh okay, I'm done now. You can come back." Caitlin politely thanked him for the information (I was too busy holding back fits of giggles), but we didn't go back over there.

Click here for more pictures.

Salamanca

A lot of people who study abroad in Spain from UWO go to Salamanca (especially the people who go in the summer) and I had the option of going there for the semester. I love Madrid, but I've heard great things about Salamanca and have occasionally wondered if I should have studied there instead. However, after spending the weekend there, I know I made the right choice to come to Madrid. Salamanca was quaint and pretty with a fair bit of history, but also too small. Had I not gone along on the guided tours I probably could have seen every point of interest in the city in under three hours by myself. I enjoyed visiting it, and the trip was great because I got to hang out from some ISA kids who go to the other school that I like but never see, but by Sunday morning all of us were ready to get back to Madrid.

So anyway, check out the photos and my travel tip is: if you are in Spain visit Salamanca, but don't bother spending more than one night there. (But you should spend at least one night there so you can see the Plaza Mayor at night because it's absolutely stunning!)

P.S. The first few pictures in the album are from Ávila because we stopped there for a few hours before getting to Salamanca.

P.P.S. My mom comes to Spain in 31 days and I'm super excited!

Barcelona!

This past week has been Semana Santa which essentially means spring break! Because a general rule of studying abroad is that if you have more than three days in a row off of school you have to go somewhere, my roommate Kathleen (and her dad and brother for the first two days) and I went to Barcelona. For the record, I think that's a good rule :-).

Barcelona was a really exciting city. It's on the Mediterranean Sea, so it's kind of a beach town, and yet if you traveled just up the main thoroughfare, Las Ramblas, and then went down one of the little streets you found yourself in an old Gothic neighborhood. If you went up the street from that you felt like you were on Michigan Ave. in Chicago. I guess to me Barcelona felt like it was a lot of different places all rolled into one. But as Kathleen's guidebook said, when you're in Barcelona "you're not in Spain, you're in Catalunya." And that sentiment was very true; Barcelona felt significantly "less Spanish" than a lot of the other places I've been...and it makes sense concerning the history of the region--Catalan culture and language were so repressed under the Franco dictatorship that now the differences between the region and the rest of Spain are highlighted a bit more as a matter of pride I guess. Honestly, I wish I knew more about Barcelona's history in general because I think I would have appreciated the city even more if I knew more about it, but also, by the end of the trip I missed the "Spanish-ness" of Madrid. However, I would definitely visit Barcelona again and again because there is so much to do there!

Anyway, the highlights of the trip were seeing the buildings and the park designed by Gaudí. I had seen pictures of his work before and I knew it was trippy, but just looking at these buildings that seemed to have no angles and this park that, as Kathleen's brother said, looked like Willy Wonka designed it really makes you reexamine your own perspective. Other highlights of the trip included hunting for beach glass on the shoreline (I grew up on Lake Michigan and never had seen beach glass like that before! I pretended I was finding emeralds instead of worn down pieces of beer bottles). I saw an amazing (free!) art exhibit about an abandoned prison and the grafitti found on the walls there and also these letters written by a woman to her lover, a political prisoner. I also enjoyed going to the Olympic stadium because I have memories of watching the '92 games with my mom when I was four and I think that was when I first learned about Spain. Perhaps the funniest thing on the trip was that the best meal I had was at an Irish pub--I don't know, it's just funny when I think that I was in Spain, but really in Catalunya (with the Sagrada Familia behind me--it's the most famous Gaudí building and is the picture at the top of this post) eating Irish food with a traditional Irish band playing in the background but hearing American pop music blasted over the speakers.

For some reason, it's really hard for me to come up with words right now to describe any more about Barcelona, so I'm just going to let you check out the pictures:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar is not just my favorite Spanish film director, but is probably my favorite overall film director (yes, he beats David Lynch and Wes Anderson). The trailer above is for his newest movie Los abrazos rotos. (If you've never seen anything by him go out and rent/add to your Netflix queue either Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Todo sobre mi madre, or Volver--you won't regret it.) This past weekend I saw Los abrazos rotos and while it doesn't come close to breaking into my top three or four favorite Almodóvar movies, it was such and enjoyable experience because I am in Madrid! It is completely different watching an Almodóvar movie in Spain than it is in the U.S. I've seen a lot of the places that were shown in the film, I was watching it in Spanish without subtitles, and I was laughing along with my friend (and about half of the other people in the theater) to the references to Women on the Verge... I don't know--I guess this was just one of those little things that will end up being really memorable someday. (Also I am glad that I got to see it now because it doesn't get to theaters in the U.S. until October or something.)

Last week I also toured the Palacio Real and it was gorgeous, but disappointing because I could not take pictures inside.

Speaking of photos, here are some from my wanderings last week.

Oh and I'm going to Barcelona next week for Semana Santa, so expect a big update with lots of photos after that!

Long Weekend

I found out on Monday that we didn't have to go to school this past Thursday and Friday because it was Father's Day on Thursday (which apparently is a national holiday--things were closed!) and then they just gave us off on Friday because they probably figured no one would show up anyway. Thus I had a long four day weekend in the city because I was too lazy to try to throw together a last minute trip somewhere.

I'm glad I stayed in the city though because my care package from my friend April finally arrived with my new camera in it! However, the arrival of this new package meant that I had to deal with the Correos again. I had the package sent to the ISA office and they emailed me saying that they had a slip to give me to go pick up the package at the post office in El Corte Inglés. This slip informed me that I had to pay 44 euros to pick up the package because of import taxes or something. While I was not pleased that I had to pay this, I was still excited to pick up the package. I got to the post office and then the lady told me that getting the slip actually meant that the package was in the district...but the package wouldn't actually get to the post office until the next day, so I would have to come back and pick it up then. Dumb--I'm just not sure why they would give you a slip saying "come pick up your package!" only to tell you that it doesn't mean you can actually pick up your package. But the good news is that it was there the next day and it contained my camera and other wonderful things.

The arrival of the package was not the highlight of my weekend though. No, the best part of the weekend was going to the Madrid Zoo/Aquarium with my roommate Kathleen! We saw pandas, koalas, sea turtles, chimpanzees, and lots of other animals. It was a beautiful day and the zoo is in this huge park called the Casa de Campo so it was fun walking around there a bit as well. The only sad thing was that my camera battery died, so I did not get any pictures of the lions, zebras and giraffes, but I'll add those to the post when Kathleen puts her pictures up.

Click here for zoo photos.

Spring is blooming in the city!

Click here for more photos.

O Valencia!

This past weekend Rachel, Sonya and I went to Valencia and it was amazing. The city is on the Mediterranean coast and strikes a nice balance between being a beach town, a historic city, and a cutting edge cultural center. I really enjoyed it there and I think that if I lived in Spain permanently I would vacation there at least once a year. We visited at a good time because Valencia is gearing up for Las Fallas. Fallas is a celebration of Saint Joseph, which sounds a bit unexciting but it's not because it involves lots of fire and lots of noise. The different neighborhoods build these elaborate sculptures called ninots and then on March 19 they burn them! So we didn't actually get to see any burning, but we saw lots of other things.

Some highlights from the trip included:

La Mascletá: At two in the afternoon everyone gathered in the main plaza and there was a fireworks show! Now it may seem a bit foolish to set off fireworks when it's not dark out, but in this case the Valencians don't care about the pretty colors and whatever. No, the Valencians care about the noise. I seriously thought my eardrums might burst during the mascletá because it was so loud. Imagine packing over 100 fireworks in an area less than the size of a football field, surrounded by buildings and then setting them all off in less than 15 minutes...that's what the noise of the mascletá was like. It was so exhilarating though--everyone was there and the crowd just gave off this palpable energy that climaxed when the last rocket had sounded and we all broke through the barriers. It was amazing. (Later on we witnessed other fun things in the main plaza that you can see in the photos.)

The Beach: Valencia is right on the Mediterranean and even though the sea was cold, it was beautiful. Along the shore Valencia feels just like a little beach town and that is a vibe that I have not felt in a long time. I liked it.

The Aquarium: Honestly, all I can say about this is that it was everything I had hoped it would be. You have to check out the pictures! The architecture alone was beautiful! I got to see all sorts of fish, sharks, sting rays, beluga whales, walruses, penguins, sea lions, etc. etc. (no turtles though...sad). The best part was the dolphin show. I've always loved dolphins and they always amaze me with their intelligence. Going to the aquarium was by far the best part of the trip. (The aquarium was part of the Cuidad de las Artes y las Ciencias, which included the Museo de las Ciencias as well and that was pretty awesome too.)

We did so much in the two and a half days we were there, but those are the best parts. The only bad part of the trip was the Valencia Metro. In Madrid the metro is very easy to use, very efficient, and very quick (in other words, it is very un-Spanish hahaha). In Valencia the metro made no sense. Trains from two different lines would run on the same set of tracks, a line would just randomly split in two without changing numbers or colors, and if you missed the train you wanted it was like a 10 minute wait for the next one (in the middle of the day in Madrid the wait is never more than 4 minutes). So this is a warning--if you go to Valencia make sure you pay attention to what the particular train says about its destination; don't trust what you think the signs in the station are telling you.

Photos!
Day 1
Days 2 and 3
Oceanográfico

Valencia fun that has nothing to do with the trip I went on (well, that's not entirely true because I sang this song to myself almost all weekend):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbsHwuyfnnw

Granada!

(Katie, me, and Kathleen)



(My new friend Katie and me at the Alhambra)

Wow. I just have to say right away that I had so much fun in Granada. It was an excellent weekend and I met some really fun people from ISA that go to the other university.

On Friday we left Madrid at 8:30 and then had a six hour bus ride to Granada (it's in Andalucía--in the south of Spain). I slept most of the way there. When we got there we settled into our hotel and then had some free time to explore the city. We all met together later that night and went on this crazy, twisty walk through the Albayzín which is a very old neighborhood in Granada. We saw this beautiful view of the Alhambra all lit up at night. But the best part was when we finally (after getting lost or something--I don't know, the directors did not seem very sure about where they were going) got to the espactáculo de flamenco. The flamenco show was amazing. It involved dancing, singing, clapping, guitar playing...It was just incredible to see how the whole body was used as an instrument and how each element of the show added something to the overall energy of the performance. The show was probably one of my favorite "cultural experiences" that I've had on my trip so far. After the show we went out for tapas and I had the yummiest pork and garlic sauce sandwich. Mmmmm. (If you haven't noticed I love eating and then talking about the deliciousness of the food later.)

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel (and they had real bacon! not Canadian bacon like they serve everywhere else--alas they did not have pancakes.) Then we saw the Alhambra. I've seen pictures of it before and I read about it before, but those could not compare to actually seeing it in person. The Alhambra is this fortress/palace/town that was built near the end of the Muslim rule in Spain. It is the perfect example of Islamic architecture. Granada was the last city to be re-conquered by the Christians, so when that happened the Reyes Católicos moved in. We were in the room in which Columbus asked for money to fund his trip to find his voyage to the Indies. (Usually I'm rather indifferent to the whole Columbus tale, but the history of the room felt pretty overwhelming--until my friends started cracking jokes about what Columbus would have said to the queen: "Yooooooo quierooooooo dineeeeeeerrrrrooo." Hahahaha--it was funny at the time.) Overall, the gardens and palace were gorgeous. If you only look at one set of pictures look at the set for the Alhambra.

In the afternoon Katie, Kathleen and I walked through the city until we found the Parque de Ciencias. Because I sometimes have the maturity level of a five year old I had so much fun. It was a hands-on museum and we saw this huge exhibit about the human body (I found out how much water weight I have--a lot). We saw an exhibit on Antarctica. We went though some butterfly gardens. I hyperventilated though the exhibit about venomous animals and saw like 20 (live) poisonous snakes, like cobras, vipers, mambas, etc., in tanks (I'm terrified of snakes; they are my biggest fear--I guess I watched Indiana Jones too many times when I was little). We did a lot of other things there too; it was well worth the five euro admission. If you're ever in Granada, whether you have kids or not, go there--it will bring out the small child inside of you.

Sunday morning we went on a walking tour around the city center and such. We went inside the gorgeous cathedral. We also went to the Royal Chapel and saw the tomb of the Reyes Católicos. After that we had a bit of free time before having to get on the bus, so we got some diet cokes and sat out in the sun in the plaza and watched the musicians and Pooh Bear, Pikachu, and the red Teletubby entertain people. It was the perfect lazy Sunday afternoon. Later we hopped on the bus and I did not sleep (well maybe for a half hour). Instead I took in the scenery and read. It was a very relaxing bus ride. Yet, after everything, when we got back to Madrid I was happy. I liked Granada a lot, but it was very small compared to Madrid and it just felt good to be back in the big-city vibe that Madrid gives off.

Photos:
Friday
La Alhambra (Saturday morning)
Saturday Afternoon
Sunday

Weekend Fun!

I cannot believe that it is only February. I don't mean that in a bad way; time is flying by. But the weather here has fooled me into thinking that it's April already. I'm pretty sure the temperatures yesterday hovered around 60 and the sky was so blue. Today feels a little cooler, but it's warm enough that I have my balcony doors cracked open a bit to let some fresh air in.

This weekend I didn't go on any sorts of excursions, but like I said in my last post, I love Madrid so I had a really good time just staying in the city. Friday night my friends and I went to this cute restaurant called El Jardín Secreto for dinner and then saw Revolutionary Road. The acting and directing were really good, but it's kind of a downer of a movie. It's definitely not a first date sort of movie.

Yesterday we went to the park and had a picnic lunch and people-watched. I wanted to take a boat out in the estanque, but there was a line to rent them! I'll have to do that next time I guess. At night we went to a birthday party for our Italian friend. The picture with this post is of my roommates (Kathleen left; Kendra center) and me at the party. I stole this picture from Kathleen's facebook and her caption that goes with it is awesome: "Roommates! When you live three four metro stops from everywhere, never underestimate the wonder of having someone to split cab fare home with." While that is true (the cab ride home was really cheap!), Kathleen and Kendra are so sweet and I'm just so glad that they moved in for reasons other than cheap cab fare.

Click here for park photos!

Toledo!

Hi everyone,

Yesterday ISA took us to Toledo and it was a lot of fun. For one thing Carlos and Carmen led the trip and they're the funniest ISA directors. (Carlos loves to get on the bus microphone and talk about absolutely nothing. It's funny.) We also had this entertaining, passionate tour guide, Marcos.

Toledo is beautiful. It's on top of a hill (we actually took this outdoor escalator to get up the hill) and surrounded on three sides by the Río Tajo. We went on a walking tour of the city and explored the Monestario de San Juan de los Reyes and the Sinagoga de Santa María la Blanca. The synagogue was so interesting because it was a Jewish synagogue, but the architecture was very Moorish. Later on Christians converted it into a church. During the Middle Ages all of these cultures coexisted in Toledo (before the unification of Spain under the Reyes Católicos and the subsequent expulsion of Jewish and Muslim people) and it was interesting to see all of the cultures leave their own marks on one building.

We walked around some more and stopped for a quick bathroom/snack break. I bought a Coca Cola Light at this one taberna so I could use its bathroom and they gave me this little plate of chorizo and potatoes in this delicious tomato based sauce. It was amazing and I don't know what it was called because I didn't ask for it; the woman behind the counter just gave it to me. I'm seriously craving it right now. Then we went to the Iglesia de Santo Tomé and saw one of El Greco's masterpieces, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. I really enjoyed seeing the painting because we studied it for almost two days in my art history class this past week. I've really come to like El Greco's work. We also walked past the cathedral and on to the Plaza de Zocodover.

After that we had some free time. My new roommates (the other ones moved out because they wanted to have someone cook for them) and I went to lunch at this cute little restaurant. We ate and then sat and talked for a while and really got to know each other. I love Spain because you can just sit forever after you're done with your meal and they don't try to hurry you out of the restaurant and they don't annoy you by asking you if you want dessert 50 billion times. Eating meals is really relaxing here. Anyway, I really like my new roommates a lot and we went shopping a bit after we left the restaurant. I had kind of wanted to go to the Alcázar, but it was okay. It was nice exploring more of the winding streets. And after all that, we got on the bus and I took an hour siesta until I arrived back in Madrid.

Click here to see my photos!

Zaragoza

(At the Palacio de la Aljafería--l to r: Sonya, Kate, Rachel, me, Christina)

So I had a fantastic weekend in Zaragoza, which is northeast of Madrid. Zaragoza is the capital of the autonomía (kind of like a state/province) of Aragón and it's located on the Río Ebro. It took us about four hours by bus to get there. I have to say, I was really impressed with the bus service we took. The bus was fairly comfortable. We watched a James Bond movie on the way to Zaragoza and on the way there and back we stopped halfway through for a 20 minute break to eat, go to the bathroom, etc (and there was a bathroom on the bus too!). Best of all the ticket was only 26 euros round trip and we were able to buy the ticket the day of the trip (and we also kept our departure date open so we were free to come back when we wanted). We just went to the bus station and bought it--it's so simple! I have travelled by Greyhound in the U.S. and I just have to say that my experience with this bus company, ALSA, was 100x better.

Then we got to Zaragoza and after a city bus ride that took us in the wrong direction and a little bit of a walk in the right direction we found our hostel. It was the only actual hostel in Zaragosa and it was really nice. There were five of us and we were in an eight person room, but we had it all to ourselves the first night and only one roommate the second night. Actually we had only planned on staying one night, but liked it so much and it was so cheap that we decided to stay for a second night. After getting settled we ate and wandered around a bit. We found the river (it wasn't hard to find because it was only about half a block away) and the beautiful basilica there. The basilica was immense and I liked it because Goya had painted some of the vaulted ceilings. There was a mass going on while we were there and it was interesting to watch. But over all the architecture and decorum of the church was just amazing. Then we walked around a lot more and went to the grocery store because the hostel had a kitchen and settled in for the night. We were all really tired, so it was nice to go to bed early.

The next day it rained and that put a damper on our plans to bike around the city. We went to this cafe for a late breakfast, but spent two hours there and ended up ordering lunch as well. I had the best hamburger of my life there. It was just the hamburger--no bun or anything like that--served with a fried egg. It was just so good...I'm totally craving it now. Then we walked around the city and found the Palacio de la Aljafería which was built in the 11th century. We also saw the Plaza de Toros. After our siesta we walked around the city and night and Zaragoza is a city that was made to be lit up. There are floodlights everywhere. The basilica and river were just so amazing all lit up at night. We were so glad it had stopped raining, so that we could enjoy the time out.

By Sunday morning though, I was ready to go back to Madrid. Zaragoza was a really nice small-ish city, but I just feel more at home in Madrid now. I know that it may not sound like we did anything super exciting while we were in Zaragoza, but I think what made the trip so much fun was that the five of us really got to know each other. I mean, I've only known Sonya, Kate and Rachel for two weeks (and met Christina the morning of the trip!) but all of us just get along so well that I'm pretty sure we're going to stay friends even after this semester ends. Also this trip showed me how easy and relatively inexpensive it can be to travel. Now I just want to stop going to school and wander around Spain for the rest of the semester!

So here are the photos from my journey. I'm sorry but I didn't have a guide book for this trip, so my captions aren't super informative. Anyway, click on any/all of these links to see Zaragoza:
The Road to Zaragoza
Around Zaragoza: Day 1
Around Zaragoza: Days 2 and 3
Zaragoza at Night
Zaragoza Graffiti/Wall Art

Pictures of my room

As you all can probably tell I have a very small room, but it is really comfortable and it just kind of feels like it was meant for me. I have a really nice view of the street, so this morning I just sat and people watched. I discovered a lot of people own big dogs (even though they live in these relatively tiny apartments).

I still have not gotten my luggage and I need to go to a meeting tomorrow with the study abroad company, so I bought some laundry detergent and did my laundry in the sink tonight. So yes, I went to the grocery store and bought my first groceries today--apples, granola bars, Golden Grahams (yes they have them in Spain), Coca-Cola Light, orange juice, almonds, some microwavable meals (with beans and chorizo so they're different than what we have in the US) and laundry detergent. All of the stuff cost me 20 euros (to get a feel for how much stuff is in Madrid). I kinda freaked out while I was checking out because I do not know what coins are what and I really didn't even know if I was handing the cashier the right ones or not.

Also today a friend and I went around Madrid and I figured out how to get downtown (to the Puerta del Sol y la Plaza Mayor and the ISA office) and I also figured out how to get to school on the bus and the metro. I'm going back downtown tomorrow, so I'll put up some pictures then. We were kind of in a hurry today, so I didn't want to stop and take pictures of everything. But I just have to say that I live in a beautiful city and today was a great day.