I'm done with classes and exams!! YAY!! My finals were really hard and I studied like crazy for both of them. I kept track with tallies and I studied for thermo for something like 55 hours. Jeeeeez. Still not sure how I did that. But now I'm done and I can relax!...sort of.
I guess I should explain myself: I leaving for a crazy Eurotrip on Wednesday and I have to prepare everything tomorrow!! I'm starting off in Barcelona, then going straight to Paris for Disneyland Paris (!!), then taking the chunnel into London, then flying off to Venice to go hang out with my mom in Italy for a week. I finally got almost everything figured out tonight.
It's actually 1:30 am so I should probably go to bed, but I'm gonna try to blog as I go on this trip to keep everyone updated. (Also, I hope I don't laugh out loud too much at random intervals in London because their accents amuse me a lot more than a normal person. PS, Gail, I will be thinking of you!! :D)
Anyway, it's good to be done, but sad to be saying goodbye, but I'll technically have 1.5 more days in Madrid after I come back from Rome. It cost too much to change my ticket so eh I'm just going back from Spain. Plus I need to say goodbye to Madrid properly! Keep an eye out for updates on Barcelona, Paris, London, and Italy!
See you all soon! (Really)
Ariel
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Paris FranceFranceFrance!
Earlier this month, I went to Paris for the weekend to visit my friend Krista, and oh my gosh, it turned out to be one of the most magical weekends I have ever had. It was even more magical than Disney World, if you can even imagine that! I'm already planning another trip :)
I flew out of Madrid on a Thursday afternoon to get into Paris that night. We actually cut across the Atlantic instead of going over the mountains, which really surprised me when I looked out the window and saw...the ocean?! (Haven't seen that in awhile...) But it was really cool to fly over the French Basque Country and to see the coastline.
Krista met up with me at the airport and there was much hugging and excited yelling :D It was so cool to hang out with a friend from U of I, in Europe! Very surreal but very awesome. So, while we took the RER train into Paris, we decided to get dinner and then catch the Eiffel Tower as it lit up instead of checking into my hotel first...definitely a good decision! French cuisine is so delicious and healthy too, and the portions were smaller than the Spanish Menu del Dia so I was excited about being able to finish almost everything. And my main dish had FRENCH FRIES! I ordered this nice steak and was confused about why it had French fries on the side until it finally dawned on me the next day when I was eating breakfast, because holy crap that means I ate french fries, in France! (This obviously amused me much more than a normal person would be amused.)
And wow, the Eiffel Tower, where do I start!?!
First of all, it's absolutely gorgeous, even more at night when it's all lit up. It was so weird to actually see it with my own eyes because I've seen it in pictures and movies so much. And as I was sitting there, gushing at it, the clock hit 11 and...IT SPARKLED!! Every hour, on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles, and it's so pretty! I could have stared at it for ages.
The next day, I went around exploring Paris while Krista had class, and oh man I crammed so much sight-seeing into one day! I ate a crêpe with chocolate for breakfast (delicious,) hung out around the Eiffel Tower some more, got lost and saw some beautiful buildings, visited the Louvre, and saw Notre Dame inside and out, including its bell tower! After Krista was done with
class, we met up and walked along the Champs-Élysées, saw the Arc de Triomphe, got some Haagen Dasz, walked around to Les Invalides, and then finally watched the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower...bliss.
Oh, and the Louvre! The Louvre is ginormous, and I'm not even kidding you. If you took the Museum of Science and Industry and multiplied it by like, 12, you'd get the Louvre. I explored it for two hours and saw so many different, amazing things, and in those 2 hours, I didn't even see half of it. They had Napoleon's living quarters, Les Esclaves by Michaelangelo, the Venus de Milo, and oh, guess what else I
saw...
YES! I mean, how do you even react when you are staring right at the Mona Lisa?! It was the coolest thing ever! She was behind so many walls of glass and security barriers, but gosh, it was the most awesome thing. There's another thing to cross off my bucket list!
Seeing Notre Dame was surreal as well. The inside was really beautiful, except they were having mass and didn't close the church, which I found odd (in Spain, they always close the church during mass and only let people in who are really there to sit through the entire thing.) And, of course, after I saw the inside, I had to climb up to see the belltower! That was very cool. You could see all of Paris, and ahhh, it was beautiful. I even went all the way up to the very top of the rightmost belltower...what a view! I kind of couldn't stop thinking of the Hunchback of Notre Dame but hey I grew up on Disney, so I'm allowed to be a Disney nerd.
After the belltower, I met up with Krista since her classes were done, and we decided to get some ice cream and stroll along the Champs-Élysées. After we finished our delicious ice cream, we sat on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower and watched the sun set. It was definitely a postcard moment! I swear, it's almost impossible to stop looking at it, it's so pretty.
The next day, we ate breakfast at Angelina's, which is famous for its scrumptious hot chocolate. (AND I ATE A CROISSANT!! A real one!) Tuileries garden was right across the street, so we hung around there for a bit and then checked out the Louvre really quick before we went to the train station to head to Giverny. We saw the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa again, but then this alarm started going off and they closed off all the exits in our wing of the museum so we were kind of trapped (?!) Krista asked a guard in French how we could leave, and all I understood of what he said was "Oh, you can't. haha" But then he was kidding and showed us the way out. I have to say, though, I didn't mind being trapped in the Louvre. That place is awesome.
Then we were on our way to Giverny and I was on my second train ride in Europe! Giverny is famous for being the town where Monet lived and built his gardens. It's been a dream of mine since childhood to see it. (After Mr. Corsello showed us pictures of it in 1st grade art class, I knew I just had to go!) It was so, so amazing to see THE waterlily pond and THE Japanese bridge with my own eyes. And the gardens were absolutely beautiful. Monet's house was really cute, too; it was painted in pastel colors inside, just like his paintings :)
We ran around Paris so much that night! We got some delicious pizza and I finally had red wine. Krista showed me Place de la Bastille, and we saw Tour Montparnasse change colors, it was too cool! By the time we were thinking of heading back, it was already almost 1 am, which is about when the Eiffel Tower turns off, so we decided to head over so I could say au revoir and take a few more pictures. So, as expected, all of the tower lights turned off, but then the entire thing sparkled with a million lights, way more then before!!! It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Well, I had too many pictures to post and too many things to say in this blog (if you can't tell!) This weekend seriously took the cake. This week and next week are my engineering final exams, and today I took my circuits exam so I just have termodinamica left. After that, though, I'm traveling to Barcelona, London, Paris, Venica, Naples, and Rome. (And when I go back to Paris, I'm seeing Disneyland Paris too!!!!!!!!!! ...Don't judge me, please?)
Anyway, I'm off to study for my last exam some more! I already have something like 40 hours of studying down but it never hurts to study termodinamica if your final is going to be in Spanish. I'll put up another blog later since this is my last weekend in Madrid (I can hardly believe it!)
Luegooooo!
Ariel
I flew out of Madrid on a Thursday afternoon to get into Paris that night. We actually cut across the Atlantic instead of going over the mountains, which really surprised me when I looked out the window and saw...the ocean?! (Haven't seen that in awhile...) But it was really cool to fly over the French Basque Country and to see the coastline.Krista met up with me at the airport and there was much hugging and excited yelling :D It was so cool to hang out with a friend from U of I, in Europe! Very surreal but very awesome. So, while we took the RER train into Paris, we decided to get dinner and then catch the Eiffel Tower as it lit up instead of checking into my hotel first...definitely a good decision! French cuisine is so delicious and healthy too, and the portions were smaller than the Spanish Menu del Dia so I was excited about being able to finish almost everything. And my main dish had FRENCH FRIES! I ordered this nice steak and was confused about why it had French fries on the side until it finally dawned on me the next day when I was eating breakfast, because holy crap that means I ate french fries, in France! (This obviously amused me much more than a normal person would be amused.)
And wow, the Eiffel Tower, where do I start!?!
First of all, it's absolutely gorgeous, even more at night when it's all lit up. It was so weird to actually see it with my own eyes because I've seen it in pictures and movies so much. And as I was sitting there, gushing at it, the clock hit 11 and...IT SPARKLED!! Every hour, on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles, and it's so pretty! I could have stared at it for ages.The next day, I went around exploring Paris while Krista had class, and oh man I crammed so much sight-seeing into one day! I ate a crêpe with chocolate for breakfast (delicious,) hung out around the Eiffel Tower some more, got lost and saw some beautiful buildings, visited the Louvre, and saw Notre Dame inside and out, including its bell tower! After Krista was done with
class, we met up and walked along the Champs-Élysées, saw the Arc de Triomphe, got some Haagen Dasz, walked around to Les Invalides, and then finally watched the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower...bliss.Oh, and the Louvre! The Louvre is ginormous, and I'm not even kidding you. If you took the Museum of Science and Industry and multiplied it by like, 12, you'd get the Louvre. I explored it for two hours and saw so many different, amazing things, and in those 2 hours, I didn't even see half of it. They had Napoleon's living quarters, Les Esclaves by Michaelangelo, the Venus de Milo, and oh, guess what else I
saw...YES! I mean, how do you even react when you are staring right at the Mona Lisa?! It was the coolest thing ever! She was behind so many walls of glass and security barriers, but gosh, it was the most awesome thing. There's another thing to cross off my bucket list!
Seeing Notre Dame was surreal as well. The inside was really beautiful, except they were having mass and didn't close the church, which I found odd (in Spain, they always close the church during mass and only let people in who are really there to sit through the entire thing.) And, of course, after I saw the inside, I had to climb up to see the belltower! That was very cool. You could see all of Paris, and ahhh, it was beautiful. I even went all the way up to the very top of the rightmost belltower...what a view! I kind of couldn't stop thinking of the Hunchback of Notre Dame but hey I grew up on Disney, so I'm allowed to be a Disney nerd.
After the belltower, I met up with Krista since her classes were done, and we decided to get some ice cream and stroll along the Champs-Élysées. After we finished our delicious ice cream, we sat on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower and watched the sun set. It was definitely a postcard moment! I swear, it's almost impossible to stop looking at it, it's so pretty.
The next day, we ate breakfast at Angelina's, which is famous for its scrumptious hot chocolate. (AND I ATE A CROISSANT!! A real one!) Tuileries garden was right across the street, so we hung around there for a bit and then checked out the Louvre really quick before we went to the train station to head to Giverny. We saw the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa again, but then this alarm started going off and they closed off all the exits in our wing of the museum so we were kind of trapped (?!) Krista asked a guard in French how we could leave, and all I understood of what he said was "Oh, you can't. haha" But then he was kidding and showed us the way out. I have to say, though, I didn't mind being trapped in the Louvre. That place is awesome.
Then we were on our way to Giverny and I was on my second train ride in Europe! Giverny is famous for being the town where Monet lived and built his gardens. It's been a dream of mine since childhood to see it. (After Mr. Corsello showed us pictures of it in 1st grade art class, I knew I just had to go!) It was so, so amazing to see THE waterlily pond and THE Japanese bridge with my own eyes. And the gardens were absolutely beautiful. Monet's house was really cute, too; it was painted in pastel colors inside, just like his paintings :)We ran around Paris so much that night! We got some delicious pizza and I finally had red wine. Krista showed me Place de la Bastille, and we saw Tour Montparnasse change colors, it was too cool! By the time we were thinking of heading back, it was already almost 1 am, which is about when the Eiffel Tower turns off, so we decided to head over so I could say au revoir and take a few more pictures. So, as expected, all of the tower lights turned off, but then the entire thing sparkled with a million lights, way more then before!!! It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Well, I had too many pictures to post and too many things to say in this blog (if you can't tell!) This weekend seriously took the cake. This week and next week are my engineering final exams, and today I took my circuits exam so I just have termodinamica left. After that, though, I'm traveling to Barcelona, London, Paris, Venica, Naples, and Rome. (And when I go back to Paris, I'm seeing Disneyland Paris too!!!!!!!!!! ...Don't judge me, please?)Anyway, I'm off to study for my last exam some more! I already have something like 40 hours of studying down but it never hurts to study termodinamica if your final is going to be in Spanish. I'll put up another blog later since this is my last weekend in Madrid (I can hardly believe it!)
Luegooooo!
Ariel
Saturday, May 29, 2010
A Sticky Subject
A few days ago, I was sitting upstairs at Starbucks, studying Thermodynamics. I noticed this guy going around asking people something; he looked kinda lost. He asked each table and finally came to me and said "please, will you buy me a meal? I'm starving."
There are a lot of homeless people in Madrid, and apparently the number is increasing due to the 20% rate of unemployment in Spain. They are everywhere, and sometimes have a regular location to beg. Lately, I've had 3 people ask me in one day if I would buy them a meal. For some reason, this has never happened to me in Spain until now, but as the seasons change, I've been seeing more and more homeless people.
But then: what do you do? You can never tell if someone begging is being honest or not. I've noticed one "beggar" by my school peeking at his blackberry when he thought no one was looking. And then others wear expensive clothing from name brands, but then you wonder, was it a gift from someone who pitied them?
At least it's almost better if someone asks you to buy them a meal, because if you give them money, they might just gamble it away in one of Madrid's thousands of gambling parlors. I can't give to everyone, but it just breaks my heart when I have to say no.
My school here runs a program where students make sandwiches and then go out together and distribute them after 9:00. I wanted to do it, but they wouldn't let me because I'm an exchange student. So, I've decided that I really want to do something other than St. Vincent's table when I get back to the United States. If anyone knows about a SRO at U of I that does things like this, let me know!
Ariel
There are a lot of homeless people in Madrid, and apparently the number is increasing due to the 20% rate of unemployment in Spain. They are everywhere, and sometimes have a regular location to beg. Lately, I've had 3 people ask me in one day if I would buy them a meal. For some reason, this has never happened to me in Spain until now, but as the seasons change, I've been seeing more and more homeless people.
But then: what do you do? You can never tell if someone begging is being honest or not. I've noticed one "beggar" by my school peeking at his blackberry when he thought no one was looking. And then others wear expensive clothing from name brands, but then you wonder, was it a gift from someone who pitied them?
At least it's almost better if someone asks you to buy them a meal, because if you give them money, they might just gamble it away in one of Madrid's thousands of gambling parlors. I can't give to everyone, but it just breaks my heart when I have to say no.
My school here runs a program where students make sandwiches and then go out together and distribute them after 9:00. I wanted to do it, but they wouldn't let me because I'm an exchange student. So, I've decided that I really want to do something other than St. Vincent's table when I get back to the United States. If anyone knows about a SRO at U of I that does things like this, let me know!
Ariel
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Slightly Concerned about My Sense of Fashion for When I Come Back
I was window-shopping a few days ago when the thought suddenly occurred to me that I have adopted European style. I mean, I don't look at things here and go "what would I wear with that?" Now it's like, "oh yeah, textured tights, ballet flats, 2 gold rings, and white jacket all would go with that dress." God, this is going to be such a girly blog, sorry guys!
What I'm worried about is... is any of this in style in the United States? I'm pretty sure if I wore some of the things I wore here, I would stick out like a sore thumb in the USA. I'm wearing stuff here that I'd be like "naw, too intense" in the US. It's kind of like dressing like the pictures in the fashion catalogs. Leggings with shorts, scarves, oxfords (YAY,) and floral print are all really in style here right now, but I dunno. I'm just going to have to hope I don't look like a tard when I go back.
Speaking of going back home, I have 48 days left!!? I have this really strange mix of emotions when I see that. It's going to be terrible and tragic to leave Spain, but awesome to come back and see all the people I've missed so much. And then eat Buffalo Wild Wings. Really though, it's such a short amount of time, and I'm going to be spending at least 3 weeks of it traveling, which is definitely cool beans. So I have to hurry around Madrid, crossing various things off my European bucket list and trying to study for finals all at the same time!
By the way, I've got plans to visit Krista in Paris next weekend! :) I'm so excited! I'll end up in the city of lights on Thursday night and will spend Friday and Saturday in France. We might even go see Monet's gardens, which have always been a childhood dream of mine to see. I remember learning about them in Mr. Corsello's art class a long time ago, and I was just awed, so seeing them in real life will literally be a dream come true. There's one to cross off my LIFE bucket list!
That's all I've got for now! I've been studying a lot lately, which is pretty boring to blog about, so I'll work on doing some interesting things this weekend :) See you all later!
Ariel
What I'm worried about is... is any of this in style in the United States? I'm pretty sure if I wore some of the things I wore here, I would stick out like a sore thumb in the USA. I'm wearing stuff here that I'd be like "naw, too intense" in the US. It's kind of like dressing like the pictures in the fashion catalogs. Leggings with shorts, scarves, oxfords (YAY,) and floral print are all really in style here right now, but I dunno. I'm just going to have to hope I don't look like a tard when I go back.
Speaking of going back home, I have 48 days left!!? I have this really strange mix of emotions when I see that. It's going to be terrible and tragic to leave Spain, but awesome to come back and see all the people I've missed so much. And then eat Buffalo Wild Wings. Really though, it's such a short amount of time, and I'm going to be spending at least 3 weeks of it traveling, which is definitely cool beans. So I have to hurry around Madrid, crossing various things off my European bucket list and trying to study for finals all at the same time!
By the way, I've got plans to visit Krista in Paris next weekend! :) I'm so excited! I'll end up in the city of lights on Thursday night and will spend Friday and Saturday in France. We might even go see Monet's gardens, which have always been a childhood dream of mine to see. I remember learning about them in Mr. Corsello's art class a long time ago, and I was just awed, so seeing them in real life will literally be a dream come true. There's one to cross off my LIFE bucket list!
That's all I've got for now! I've been studying a lot lately, which is pretty boring to blog about, so I'll work on doing some interesting things this weekend :) See you all later!
Ariel
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh
Ok,
first off, I'm sorry for the terrible reference in the title of this post...!!! I just had to fit it in here somewhere :) Which means that last weekend, I went to Granada!
Granada is, like everything else in Spain, absolutely beautiful. But Granada has its own unique characteristics that make it very different from anything else I've seen. First of all, it's situated in this little valley in between all these awesome mountains, but it's actually warm there. It was a little strange to see snow-capped mountains but only need to wear a light jacket, but hey, I'm not complaining!! And, the entire town is built around this giant hill. The hill was sort of like a giant nature reserve/forest, which is really refreshing since I've been living in the concrete jungle for 4-ish months.
The things everyone's GOTTA see at Granada are the Alhambra and the Catedral/Capilla Real. We saw those and went shopping in the Arab quarter, and got tea too! :) But I'm getting ahead of myself, I have to talk about the Alhambra first!!
The Alhambra was built in the 14th century by the Moors and conquered by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492 (yep, the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue!) So, not only is this place gorgeous, but it's rich with history, too. This was the place were Isabel told Columbus she would fund his expedition across the ocean...awesome. The level of detail in the palace is just insane, it's like almost every surface has intricately carved stone. Even the elaborate wooden ceilings are still intact, so that was really impressive too.
The gardens were even more impressive (although Sevilla is still my favorite, don't tell anyone.) There were hedges and so many roses, and amazing fountains and pools...I was in heaven. I mean, sitting under the shade on an ancient Moorish terrace, looking at the snow-capped mountains in the distance is probably as close as you can get to paradise for me.
By the way, if you were wondering, I haven't changed at all:
OH MY GOSH AND DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE BEST PART? THERE WAS A BABY KITTEN THERE!! A BABY KITTEN!!!!! I'm sorry for shouting but IT WAS SO ADORABLE!!!!! IT MEOWED THE CUTEST LITTLE MEOW AND IT WAS SMALLER THAN THE PALM OF MY HAND and oh I have pictures of it:
So yes, my day was made, the Alhambra was amazing, and OH nerd alert! The fort at the Alhambra really seriously reminded me of this fortress in one of the Zelda games, and I felt really weird thinking that at the time. Actually that happens a lot here in Spain, like in Sevilla, I was in this garden and almost laughed out loud to myself because it reminded me so much of the castle gardens in Zelda 64. And yeah don't even get me started on the castles/churches! Ok nerd alert over, I promise.
The next day we visited the Cathedral and Royal Chapel, aka the place where THE Ferdinand and Isabel are buried. I even got to see their caskets...uhh yeah, that was a little weird. But the cathedral is just beautiful! For example:
Yeah, geez, they don't mess around when they build churches over here. The picture on the bottom is almost all solid gold, too.
I don't know if I can cram any more pictures into this post, oh man. I wish I could put all of them here because Granada was so beautiful and photogenic! I'm working on finding a website where I can just put all of my photos (I need to back them up anyway) so I'll put it on here when I figure that out, for anyone who's interested.
Anyway, I'm off to bed, and stay tuned for more! This week is the Festival of San Isidro, Madrid's patron saint, and it's pretty much a huge deal here. There's stuff going on all week, including the Madrid Symphony Orchestra playing a free concert in the park. Oh heck yes I'm in!
Besitos, miss you all!!
Ariel
(PS besito = little kisses :] )
first off, I'm sorry for the terrible reference in the title of this post...!!! I just had to fit it in here somewhere :) Which means that last weekend, I went to Granada!Granada is, like everything else in Spain, absolutely beautiful. But Granada has its own unique characteristics that make it very different from anything else I've seen. First of all, it's situated in this little valley in between all these awesome mountains, but it's actually warm there. It was a little strange to see snow-capped mountains but only need to wear a light jacket, but hey, I'm not complaining!! And, the entire town is built around this giant hill. The hill was sort of like a giant nature reserve/forest, which is really refreshing since I've been living in the concrete jungle for 4-ish months.
The things everyone's GOTTA see at Granada are the Alhambra and the Catedral/Capilla Real. We saw those and went shopping in the Arab quarter, and got tea too! :) But I'm getting ahead of myself, I have to talk about the Alhambra first!!
The Alhambra was built in the 14th century by the Moors and conquered by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492 (yep, the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue!) So, not only is this place gorgeous, but it's rich with history, too. This was the place were Isabel told Columbus she would fund his expedition across the ocean...awesome. The level of detail in the palace is just insane, it's like almost every surface has intricately carved stone. Even the elaborate wooden ceilings are still intact, so that was really impressive too.
The gardens were even more impressive (although Sevilla is still my favorite, don't tell anyone.) There were hedges and so many roses, and amazing fountains and pools...I was in heaven. I mean, sitting under the shade on an ancient Moorish terrace, looking at the snow-capped mountains in the distance is probably as close as you can get to paradise for me.By the way, if you were wondering, I haven't changed at all:
OH MY GOSH AND DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE BEST PART? THERE WAS A BABY KITTEN THERE!! A BABY KITTEN!!!!! I'm sorry for shouting but IT WAS SO ADORABLE!!!!! IT MEOWED THE CUTEST LITTLE MEOW AND IT WAS SMALLER THAN THE PALM OF MY HAND and oh I have pictures of it:
So yes, my day was made, the Alhambra was amazing, and OH nerd alert! The fort at the Alhambra really seriously reminded me of this fortress in one of the Zelda games, and I felt really weird thinking that at the time. Actually that happens a lot here in Spain, like in Sevilla, I was in this garden and almost laughed out loud to myself because it reminded me so much of the castle gardens in Zelda 64. And yeah don't even get me started on the castles/churches! Ok nerd alert over, I promise.The next day we visited the Cathedral and Royal Chapel, aka the place where THE Ferdinand and Isabel are buried. I even got to see their caskets...uhh yeah, that was a little weird. But the cathedral is just beautiful! For example:
Yeah, geez, they don't mess around when they build churches over here. The picture on the bottom is almost all solid gold, too.I don't know if I can cram any more pictures into this post, oh man. I wish I could put all of them here because Granada was so beautiful and photogenic! I'm working on finding a website where I can just put all of my photos (I need to back them up anyway) so I'll put it on here when I figure that out, for anyone who's interested.
Anyway, I'm off to bed, and stay tuned for more! This week is the Festival of San Isidro, Madrid's patron saint, and it's pretty much a huge deal here. There's stuff going on all week, including the Madrid Symphony Orchestra playing a free concert in the park. Oh heck yes I'm in!
Besitos, miss you all!!
Ariel
(PS besito = little kisses :] )
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Pancakes!! And Other Randoms
I ATE PANCAKES TODAY!!! I know it's retarded to get excited about something as silly as pancakes, but oh man, it definitely made my day!! I just had to share that right away because I am so excited!! Today started off good because of the pancakes (of course) and also because I got an answer correct on my Thermodynamics quiz this morning. To put that into perspective, Thermo is really hard here and like 15% of the class passed the exam and a 40% was the average score. So getting 1/3 on a quiz is really awesome!
I have some more randomness to talk about, actually. The first random thing is...it's allergy season! Hooray! Haha, I have not been able to stop sneezing in rapid-fire succession. This morning I sneezed 24 times in a span of like 3 minutes before I finally gave up and got a kleenex out of my bag. I thought I would be safe in the heart of Madrid since there's not so many trees, but I forgot about wind, so there you go. It's more annoying than anything, don't worry. So, today I get to go on an adventure to the pharmacy because I'm a little tired of having to buy a new box of kleenex every 5 days!
More randomness: I saw the musical Chicago the other week! It's playing on Madrid's "Broadway" more or less, and I thought it was too funny to pass up. Of course, it was all in Spanish, but I actually understood a lot of it. I would just sometimes get lost with the song lyrics. The set was great, and the tickets were really cheap too. The weird thing was, you had to pay 1 euro for a program, so I ended up not buying one...I always lose them anyway!
Finally, last Friday I went to Toledo again with Kruse! We explored the Cathedral, lots of old chapels, and some very old synagogues. The whole city feels really traditional: narrow cobblestone streets, cute little shops selling things from pincushions to swords, and really nice architecture. And the building interiors were even better. The cathedral is absolutely beautiful, and the ceilings in the synagogues were just incredible. My camera died after a few photos, but I did manage to take a few.
OH my gosh! I forgot, the best part of the day was when Kruse and I went and stood on this old bridge from the 14th century and looked over to the Tajo River. There was this little waterfall down there, and I was looking at it, and all of a sudden THERE WAS A FISH JUMPING UP THE WATERFALL!! So Kruse and I started watching and there were all these fish, attempting to jump up this little mini waterfall, and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen! I know I'm easily amused, but it seriously made my day. Unfortunately I don't have evidence of this because my camera had died an hour earlier, but it really happened, I swear!!
Random synagogue ceiling picture:
Aw man, I always unintentionally make these so long. Anyway, I'm off to go visit the pharmacy and read some articles for my Spanish Culture class. Hasta luego!
Ariel
I have some more randomness to talk about, actually. The first random thing is...it's allergy season! Hooray! Haha, I have not been able to stop sneezing in rapid-fire succession. This morning I sneezed 24 times in a span of like 3 minutes before I finally gave up and got a kleenex out of my bag. I thought I would be safe in the heart of Madrid since there's not so many trees, but I forgot about wind, so there you go. It's more annoying than anything, don't worry. So, today I get to go on an adventure to the pharmacy because I'm a little tired of having to buy a new box of kleenex every 5 days!
More randomness: I saw the musical Chicago the other week! It's playing on Madrid's "Broadway" more or less, and I thought it was too funny to pass up. Of course, it was all in Spanish, but I actually understood a lot of it. I would just sometimes get lost with the song lyrics. The set was great, and the tickets were really cheap too. The weird thing was, you had to pay 1 euro for a program, so I ended up not buying one...I always lose them anyway!
Finally, last Friday I went to Toledo again with Kruse! We explored the Cathedral, lots of old chapels, and some very old synagogues. The whole city feels really traditional: narrow cobblestone streets, cute little shops selling things from pincushions to swords, and really nice architecture. And the building interiors were even better. The cathedral is absolutely beautiful, and the ceilings in the synagogues were just incredible. My camera died after a few photos, but I did manage to take a few.OH my gosh! I forgot, the best part of the day was when Kruse and I went and stood on this old bridge from the 14th century and looked over to the Tajo River. There was this little waterfall down there, and I was looking at it, and all of a sudden THERE WAS A FISH JUMPING UP THE WATERFALL!! So Kruse and I started watching and there were all these fish, attempting to jump up this little mini waterfall, and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen! I know I'm easily amused, but it seriously made my day. Unfortunately I don't have evidence of this because my camera had died an hour earlier, but it really happened, I swear!!
Random synagogue ceiling picture:
Aw man, I always unintentionally make these so long. Anyway, I'm off to go visit the pharmacy and read some articles for my Spanish Culture class. Hasta luego!Ariel
Friday, April 30, 2010
Catcalls...in Spain!?
Spanish men have a notorious stereotype for being really...um, flirtatious. And it's kind of true. I can't really be completely sure because I'm mostly around engineers all day, and that drastically changes the stereotype. But, for the most part, if a guy wants you, you'll know! That being said, catcalls are sort of normal here. And now that I'm wearing sundresses, skirts, and cute, summer-y outfits, they've pretty much multiplied.
Wolf whistles happen a lot. The first time it happened I was confused and was like, "what? Me??" But then I realized I was the only girl around, so yes, it was for me. After that, you just learn to ignore the various types of whistles. Still weird, though. I thought this stuff only happened in movies or cartoons!
Another common word has been "guapa," which translates to "beautiful," "good-looking," or "sexy." The first time I heard that, I almost laughed out loud to myself because it was so amusingly similar to catcalls in English. Like, the most common phrase that uses "guapa" translates to "hey, sexy!"
The weird part is, these are directed at me, and it is SO BIZARRE. I dress pretty conservatively too, so it's like, "what the heck dude, I'm wearing a turtleneck today!!" It sure makes you feel awful sometimes, though. I haven't gotten anything really dirty yet. But still, some of the looks they give you make you just want to go home and take a shower because you could practically SEE their thoughts! Ugh...
Either way, the best way to avoid it is to button your cardigan up all the way and ignore any "anda guapa" 's til you get to school. I can't let it bug me too much because it's just the way things are here! ...And, actually, it's one of the only things I won't miss about Spain.
More to come later about Kruse's and my trip to Toledo! We got gelato and saw fish jumping up a waterfall, so that tells you about how epic it was. Miss you all!
Ariel
Wolf whistles happen a lot. The first time it happened I was confused and was like, "what? Me??" But then I realized I was the only girl around, so yes, it was for me. After that, you just learn to ignore the various types of whistles. Still weird, though. I thought this stuff only happened in movies or cartoons!
Another common word has been "guapa," which translates to "beautiful," "good-looking," or "sexy." The first time I heard that, I almost laughed out loud to myself because it was so amusingly similar to catcalls in English. Like, the most common phrase that uses "guapa" translates to "hey, sexy!"
The weird part is, these are directed at me, and it is SO BIZARRE. I dress pretty conservatively too, so it's like, "what the heck dude, I'm wearing a turtleneck today!!" It sure makes you feel awful sometimes, though. I haven't gotten anything really dirty yet. But still, some of the looks they give you make you just want to go home and take a shower because you could practically SEE their thoughts! Ugh...
Either way, the best way to avoid it is to button your cardigan up all the way and ignore any "anda guapa" 's til you get to school. I can't let it bug me too much because it's just the way things are here! ...And, actually, it's one of the only things I won't miss about Spain.
More to come later about Kruse's and my trip to Toledo! We got gelato and saw fish jumping up a waterfall, so that tells you about how epic it was. Miss you all!
Ariel
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Life Lessons, Learned in Spain
I've been thinking lately about what I've gained from studying abroad and choosing Spain. I used to worry because studying here is putting me back another semester at U of I, so I'll graduate in 4.5, if not 5 semesters (depending on how the Aerospace classes work.) But I figured out that what I've changed in ways that would not have changed if I had stayed in the USA. So, I came up with this list of ways I've grown.
The first thing is independence! Ohhhh my gosh, independence. If I thought I was independent at U of I, oh man was I wrong! I don't know if I can describe it correctly but, to me, Madrid, Spain is the real world. Not that college in the states isn't the real world, it's just so pre-structured for us. Right now, everything is up to me. I have to figure out which metro tickets I need, pay my bills, book my own hostels, figure out how to get to other cities I want to visit, and the list goes on and on. It's so hard to explain it, but I have so many more responsibilities here, and I'm okay with that :)
Courage. I didn't have a lot of courage when I came here. Actually, I was kind of scared of everything and I just didn't realize it until later. Two months ago, if I had seen a crowded Spanish bar with no free tables and only standing room at the bar, I wouldn't have gone in. But I've learned to just go stand up at the bar and order something. Some of the most delicious tapas I've ever had were at bars like that! I don't have to muster up the courage anymore; I just do it. And, it was really intimidating and scary at first to ask a store clerk something in Spanish, but now I've learned to swallow my pride and just ask in the best way I can. If I get confused about what they say, I can just ask and there's nothing lost. Overall I've just become a braver person. Haha, well, that's not to say I would go bungee-jumping off a bridge or something, (not exactly my cup of tea,) but I know I'm much, much more courageous.
Strength. Somedays, it feels like the world is out to get me, and it would be easy to just sit down and cry and whine. It's okay to cry sometimes, but then you wipe your tears and move on. Like, there will always be mean people that make me feel sad that I have to talk to on a daily basis, but I've grown to be a lot more resilient to the things they say. Now I'm a lot stronger when it comes to the things those people say, and I don't take it seriously or let it affect me anymore. I will just say very generally that this was a hard lesson to learn for me, and if we've been talking, you'll know what I mean. But, now that I'm getting stronger, it's so much easier to get over the sad, frustrating moments in life, and that makes me a lot happier.
The most important lesson I've learned is to be positive all the time. If something bad happens here, it's easy to let it ruin my day, but come on, I'm studying abroad in Europe! Nothing should be able to ruin my experience. So, I always think of something positive about the situation, no matter how bad it is. Actually, doing that always makes me feel a lot better, and then I forget about the bad things before I even know it! I'm definitely going to keep it up when I come back to U of I. It makes me feel like a whole new person sometimes.
So, those are the biggest lessons I've learned here! Sorry this was such a sappy self-discovery blog, but I mean, I hope someone reads this and reconsiders studying abroad if they weren't going to before. Like, not only have I had the coolest experience living, studying, and partying in Europe, but I've learned some really awesome life lessons too. I'm coming back a different person!
The first thing is independence! Ohhhh my gosh, independence. If I thought I was independent at U of I, oh man was I wrong! I don't know if I can describe it correctly but, to me, Madrid, Spain is the real world. Not that college in the states isn't the real world, it's just so pre-structured for us. Right now, everything is up to me. I have to figure out which metro tickets I need, pay my bills, book my own hostels, figure out how to get to other cities I want to visit, and the list goes on and on. It's so hard to explain it, but I have so many more responsibilities here, and I'm okay with that :)
Courage. I didn't have a lot of courage when I came here. Actually, I was kind of scared of everything and I just didn't realize it until later. Two months ago, if I had seen a crowded Spanish bar with no free tables and only standing room at the bar, I wouldn't have gone in. But I've learned to just go stand up at the bar and order something. Some of the most delicious tapas I've ever had were at bars like that! I don't have to muster up the courage anymore; I just do it. And, it was really intimidating and scary at first to ask a store clerk something in Spanish, but now I've learned to swallow my pride and just ask in the best way I can. If I get confused about what they say, I can just ask and there's nothing lost. Overall I've just become a braver person. Haha, well, that's not to say I would go bungee-jumping off a bridge or something, (not exactly my cup of tea,) but I know I'm much, much more courageous.
Strength. Somedays, it feels like the world is out to get me, and it would be easy to just sit down and cry and whine. It's okay to cry sometimes, but then you wipe your tears and move on. Like, there will always be mean people that make me feel sad that I have to talk to on a daily basis, but I've grown to be a lot more resilient to the things they say. Now I'm a lot stronger when it comes to the things those people say, and I don't take it seriously or let it affect me anymore. I will just say very generally that this was a hard lesson to learn for me, and if we've been talking, you'll know what I mean. But, now that I'm getting stronger, it's so much easier to get over the sad, frustrating moments in life, and that makes me a lot happier.
The most important lesson I've learned is to be positive all the time. If something bad happens here, it's easy to let it ruin my day, but come on, I'm studying abroad in Europe! Nothing should be able to ruin my experience. So, I always think of something positive about the situation, no matter how bad it is. Actually, doing that always makes me feel a lot better, and then I forget about the bad things before I even know it! I'm definitely going to keep it up when I come back to U of I. It makes me feel like a whole new person sometimes.
So, those are the biggest lessons I've learned here! Sorry this was such a sappy self-discovery blog, but I mean, I hope someone reads this and reconsiders studying abroad if they weren't going to before. Like, not only have I had the coolest experience living, studying, and partying in Europe, but I've learned some really awesome life lessons too. I'm coming back a different person!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Semana Santa
So many things to update on!! I've been so busy for the last few weeks studying for exams like a nut. I mean, if you think Thermodynamics and Circuits would be hard to understand in English, try it in Spanish!! Yikes! I had my last exam Wednesday morning so now I can finally relax, thank goodness.I still haven't explained my Semana Santa ("Holy Week,") even though it was forever ago; it was amazing and memorable. I went with my aunt and uncle to Sevilla, which is famous for its processions during Holy Week. We also took a day trip to Cordoba and visited Italica on the way out of Sevilla, finally ending the trip in Toledo.
First of all, I think Sevilla has got to be my favorite out of all the Spanish cities I've visited. It was just beautiful, quaint, and just so perfect all around! Since it's further south in Spain, it was warmer there, and there were orange trees everywhere, especially planted along the street. During Holy Week, the orange blossoms were finally blooming, and oh my gosh, I have never smelled a prettier smell. It's hard to describe, but it definitely didn't smell like an orange. It was more like this gorgeous, sweet floral scent, the kind that gets carried on the breeze so you smell it everywhere you go. So the city smelled beautiful, and it looked beautiful too. All the buildings and narrow streets were so authentically awesome; definitely something you don't see in Madrid.
Altogether, I explored the cathedral (3rd largest by volume in the world,) the Alcazar, the Alcazar Gardens, the riverwalk, and all kinds of little streets and places. I even saw a flamenco show. Kruse was there for a few days so we met up and went to the cathedral and belltower together, and wow, those were amazing. I even went to Palm Sunday mass in the cathedral and I understood everything!! The cathedral is home to all kinds of incredible things, like the tombs of Cervantes (author of Don Quijote) and Christopher Columbus, yes THAT Christopher Columbus!!!! It was amazing, but now I go around comparing other incredible churches to it...woops.
The best part, which I've already kind of talked about a little, were the gardens of the Alcazar. I could have spent days there, and I'm not even kidding about that. If you know me, you know I love flowers and gardens, and this was just heaven. Right now I'm holding myself back from putting like 100 pictures here on my blog, because I really want to! On Tuesday, I had the siesta time free to go wherever I wanted, so I explored the entire garden and got to sit on a bench on this beautiful terrace and just think. There is no better feeling than that, let m
e tell you.
Cordoba was amazing too. Their Mezquita, an old old old cathedral, has been there for at least a thousand years! I got to try Gazpacho there (a cold soup) and it was really good.
One of the coolest parts of the trip was Italica, or the old Roman ruins outside of Sevilla. The Romans founded it in about 206 BC while they were conquering various other Iberian cities, and the modern Spanish city close to it, Santiponce, has been excavating it for the past 230 years. We got to see the amphitheater, incredible mosaic floors, the old public baths, and so many more incredible things. I am absolutely in love with archeology so you can imagine how cool I thought this was!
Overall, it was an awesome break. I'm leaving out so many details because I feel like I write novels for every blog! Keep an eye out for pictures on facebook and another blog this week. See you all later!
Ariel
PS, Today is April 25th, the perfect date! It's not too hot, and it's not too cold, all you need is a light jacket! ;)
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Adventures in El Escorial
I'm still in Sevilla, but I found some internet again to update you guys! I have a lot to add since I missed 2 weeks of updates.
Let's see, where did I leave off?
I got back from Las Fallas on a Saturday night, so my Sunday was free. Luckily, I'd heard that Matt the Mellophone was in town for the weekend! Matt is studying abroad in Sweden, but he decided to come visit Madrid and stay with Colin, yay! It was really great to see someone else from U of I in Spain. So we all decided to explore El Escorial, an old monastery/palace in another part of town.
I got a lot of pictures of the outside and a few of the gardens from afar, since pictures weren't really allowed inside. Ahem, but I did manage to get a few, ahem. Anyway, this place was huge! The Cathedral was the most impressive part. I've only seen churches that big in movies or video games, never real life.
The rest of El Escorial was filled with paintings, antique furniture, and different exhibits about the construction. Oh yeah, and...a mausoleum?! I couldn't believe the kings of Spain lived here with all the former kings of Spain just resting in peace in the basement, more or less!! There were a heck of a lot of tombs and corridors to other tombs. We found one room with a huge circular tomb with 60 different spaces for people to be buried, and I believe 47 of them were...ummm, occupied. (This is so weird to talk about...) The sad part was, it was in a room that was entirely dedicated to the burials of the royal children who never made it past puberty :( It was really interesting, but really morbid at the same time. Jesus H, if I could barely handle this, how am I gonna handle the crypts in Palermo!?!
Um, let's move away from the crypts... The rest of El Escorial was beautiful. We found a
gorgeous painted ceiling in one part and snuck some pictures :o)
It took a long time to tour the whole place because it was so big. My favorite part was at the end when we saw the library!!! The books were all handwritten in latin, in calligraphy!! If you know me well, you know I love books and I love writing in calligraphy so this was pretty much heaven on earth for me :) They even had one book of hymnals, and all the scores were handwritten in calligraphy; it was just the coolest thing. The books were all hand-bound too, and all the illustrations were drawn one-by-one. They were just beautiful. I really didn't want to leave, but we had missed lunch and it was already 4, so we left after that.
I'll be back one day to explore the gardens since we didn't get to. Recently, I've been finding out that I'm kind of in love with European gardens. Kruse and I explored this garden in Sevilla the other day and I just would not shut up about how cool it was...woops. The picture here is of the gardens in Sevilla because they are so gorgeous and I just had to share a picture! I've been there twice and am considering visiting again, if I have time. Entrance is free for me because I'm a student so I can just visit whenever I want.
Anyway, I'm making a shopping list of gardens I want to see before I go back to the US, and I'm gonna try to work on being a little less awed when I visit, but we'll see how that goes ;)
See you all later!
Ariel
Let's see, where did I leave off?
I got back from Las Fallas on a Saturday night, so my Sunday was free. Luckily, I'd heard that Matt the Mellophone was in town for the weekend! Matt is studying abroad in Sweden, but he decided to come visit Madrid and stay with Colin, yay! It was really great to see someone else from U of I in Spain. So we all decided to explore El Escorial, an old monastery/palace in another part of town.I got a lot of pictures of the outside and a few of the gardens from afar, since pictures weren't really allowed inside. Ahem, but I did manage to get a few, ahem. Anyway, this place was huge! The Cathedral was the most impressive part. I've only seen churches that big in movies or video games, never real life.
The rest of El Escorial was filled with paintings, antique furniture, and different exhibits about the construction. Oh yeah, and...a mausoleum?! I couldn't believe the kings of Spain lived here with all the former kings of Spain just resting in peace in the basement, more or less!! There were a heck of a lot of tombs and corridors to other tombs. We found one room with a huge circular tomb with 60 different spaces for people to be buried, and I believe 47 of them were...ummm, occupied. (This is so weird to talk about...) The sad part was, it was in a room that was entirely dedicated to the burials of the royal children who never made it past puberty :( It was really interesting, but really morbid at the same time. Jesus H, if I could barely handle this, how am I gonna handle the crypts in Palermo!?!
Um, let's move away from the crypts... The rest of El Escorial was beautiful. We found a
gorgeous painted ceiling in one part and snuck some pictures :o)It took a long time to tour the whole place because it was so big. My favorite part was at the end when we saw the library!!! The books were all handwritten in latin, in calligraphy!! If you know me well, you know I love books and I love writing in calligraphy so this was pretty much heaven on earth for me :) They even had one book of hymnals, and all the scores were handwritten in calligraphy; it was just the coolest thing. The books were all hand-bound too, and all the illustrations were drawn one-by-one. They were just beautiful. I really didn't want to leave, but we had missed lunch and it was already 4, so we left after that.
I'll be back one day to explore the gardens since we didn't get to. Recently, I've been finding out that I'm kind of in love with European gardens. Kruse and I explored this garden in Sevilla the other day and I just would not shut up about how cool it was...woops. The picture here is of the gardens in Sevilla because they are so gorgeous and I just had to share a picture! I've been there twice and am considering visiting again, if I have time. Entrance is free for me because I'm a student so I can just visit whenever I want.Anyway, I'm making a shopping list of gardens I want to see before I go back to the US, and I'm gonna try to work on being a little less awed when I visit, but we'll see how that goes ;)
See you all later!
Ariel
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Long Time No See?
So, it's been awhile since I've last posted here. A few weeks ago, some things changed in my life, and honestly, I was a little depressed (to say the least.) Basically, I didn't want to be writing a blog with all this depressing stuff in it! So I didn't, and it was a good choice, because now I'm back to my old self! :)
I should explain where I'm at now: I'm in Sevilla, a town in the southwestern part of Spain, in Andalucia, to be specific. Internet was a little hard to come by, but I was able to snag some to post this!
Oh, I should do a quick recap over the last few weeks before I explain Sevilla. Let's see... three weeks ago, I was busy finishing up some things for school. I found out I have to take my engineering classes for a grade, so yikes! I had to start studying really hard for those. Circuits is going okay, and so is Thermodynamics, but of course, they're harder in Spanish. The week after that, I went to visit my friend Jesus in Valencia for the festival Las Fallas.
Actually, holy cow, Las Fallas, where do I even begin?! It was amazing!!! I'm talking fireworks at ALL hours of the day, and not the little wimpy baby kinds, they were like the kinds that are so loud, they sound like bombs going off!! Actually, the streets did sort of look like a warzone with the firework remnants littered everywhere and the booming sounds in the background.
I was there for Thursday night, which apparently was the most insane night of them all. There were at least 100,000 people out on the street at 3 am. Jesus said this was definitely the craziest he'd seen it all month. We bought some fireworks and lit them off in the street (and off the balcony) too, so that was really cool. I don't know if I'd do that in the USA though, haha. Here the cops really didn't care if you were lighting off fireworks or drinking in the street; it was the most bizarre thing. At one point I saw a group of people sitting on cop cars, drinking, and the cops were just chilling nearby.
They had a street that was decorated entirely in lights. Every street had a few light decorations, but Calle Sueca was the most decorated of them all! I took about a million pictures of it; here's one of them. You can kind of see how far back it goes. It was definitely really awe-inspiring. And it sort of reminded me of Disney World or something.
Friday is when all the neighborhoods light off las Mascletas, or their own sets of extremely loud fireworks. Jesus and I went and watched the fireworks for the biggest falla. By the way, a falla is a GIANT paper/cardboard sculpture (but trust me, they don't look like paper or cardboard!) I'm putting a picture here to show you guys...
That's one of the smaller ones, too. Every neighborhood has a falla, and a ninot, or a little falla. Some of these fallas can take up to a year to make and cost hundreds of thousands of euros. And, at the end of the festival...
They burn them!!!!! I watched 3 burn and they were all really impressive. It was a pyromaniac's dream. They also had a huge falla of the Virgin Mary, consecrated with row upon row of roses.
A lot more happened at Las Fallas, but I'd better stop for now since this blog is getting kind of long. The week after, my aunt and uncle came to visit and I took them around Madrid! Finally, this week we're in Sevilla for Semana Santa, or Holy Week. More to come on that, later.
Luego!
Ariel
I should explain where I'm at now: I'm in Sevilla, a town in the southwestern part of Spain, in Andalucia, to be specific. Internet was a little hard to come by, but I was able to snag some to post this!
Oh, I should do a quick recap over the last few weeks before I explain Sevilla. Let's see... three weeks ago, I was busy finishing up some things for school. I found out I have to take my engineering classes for a grade, so yikes! I had to start studying really hard for those. Circuits is going okay, and so is Thermodynamics, but of course, they're harder in Spanish. The week after that, I went to visit my friend Jesus in Valencia for the festival Las Fallas.
Actually, holy cow, Las Fallas, where do I even begin?! It was amazing!!! I'm talking fireworks at ALL hours of the day, and not the little wimpy baby kinds, they were like the kinds that are so loud, they sound like bombs going off!! Actually, the streets did sort of look like a warzone with the firework remnants littered everywhere and the booming sounds in the background.
I was there for Thursday night, which apparently was the most insane night of them all. There were at least 100,000 people out on the street at 3 am. Jesus said this was definitely the craziest he'd seen it all month. We bought some fireworks and lit them off in the street (and off the balcony) too, so that was really cool. I don't know if I'd do that in the USA though, haha. Here the cops really didn't care if you were lighting off fireworks or drinking in the street; it was the most bizarre thing. At one point I saw a group of people sitting on cop cars, drinking, and the cops were just chilling nearby.
They had a street that was decorated entirely in lights. Every street had a few light decorations, but Calle Sueca was the most decorated of them all! I took about a million pictures of it; here's one of them. You can kind of see how far back it goes. It was definitely really awe-inspiring. And it sort of reminded me of Disney World or something.Friday is when all the neighborhoods light off las Mascletas, or their own sets of extremely loud fireworks. Jesus and I went and watched the fireworks for the biggest falla. By the way, a falla is a GIANT paper/cardboard sculpture (but trust me, they don't look like paper or cardboard!) I'm putting a picture here to show you guys...
That's one of the smaller ones, too. Every neighborhood has a falla, and a ninot, or a little falla. Some of these fallas can take up to a year to make and cost hundreds of thousands of euros. And, at the end of the festival...
They burn them!!!!! I watched 3 burn and they were all really impressive. It was a pyromaniac's dream. They also had a huge falla of the Virgin Mary, consecrated with row upon row of roses.
A lot more happened at Las Fallas, but I'd better stop for now since this blog is getting kind of long. The week after, my aunt and uncle came to visit and I took them around Madrid! Finally, this week we're in Sevilla for Semana Santa, or Holy Week. More to come on that, later.
Luego!
Ariel
Monday, March 8, 2010
Cookies!
Hi everyone! I figured I'd update everyone on how things are going since I have a little time.
School has been going great, except last week on Thursday, they announced that my Thermodynamics class has changed hours...again. It's like they have ESP about when my other classes are, because both times this class has moved, it's been conflicting with another class. So, I just have to drop my fun Spanish History Through Cinema class and start taking Spanish Culture Postmodernity, which is equally cool, but I haven't attended class at all because I wasn't supposed to be taking it. Even worse, if I miss a certain number of classes, I can't sit for the final exam, so I have to go talk to some more people because this whole thing isn't my fault. This may sound really stressful, and it was at first, but I think my stress tolerance is increasing or something just by being in Spain. Yay?
The good news is, that's the worst thing that's happened recently :) I visited the Prado again this Sunday with Kruse, who has infinite wisdom over the subjects of the religious paintings because he's studying Theology and knows all these different languages. It's really cool! Both of us talked about how awkward church is here. Both in Germany and the United States, people sing in Catholic masses, but here, it's like a CD playing music for one song, and people just kind of mumble along to the mass. So at least I know I'm not weird for thinking Spanish church is weird.
On Sunday morning, I visited El Rastro (fleat market) again and bought a leather schoolbag! Now I really look like a European...just kidding 8) It's real leather, though, so it actually smells like leather, and lemme tell you, it's a REALLY strong scent. Right now it's airing out on the porch because my room was starting to smell like a tannery, yuck.
Oh yeah, I bought chocolate chip cookies today!! This may not sound that exciting, but cookies aren't really that big here, and I was kinda starting to miss them. (I'm not a big cookie fan in the first place so that's saying a lot.) And I bought different types of tea so now hopefully I can stay awake for my 8 am's. One of these days, I'm going to find somewhere that sells brownies. I miss those too.
Lately, there's been a lot of protests going on in Madrid. Parliament recently approved a law allowing abortion, which is somewhat unusual given the number of Catholics in Spain (it's like 76%.) I've seen a few protests from far away and MAN they're scary!! It's like 20x the GEO protests at U of I; there's so many people, it almost sounds like you're at a football game or something. It's just weird because I haven't seen many protests in my life.
One more thing: it's c-c-c-cold here this week!! The weather was great for the last couple of weeks, but it dipped down again for this week. This morning it was 34F when I was walking to school :S It stinks because I have a lot of early classes, so I have to walk to school when it's really cold. I end up wearing like 4 sweaters and a jacket and looking like a weirdo. Hopefully it gets warmer soon! I'm ready to start wearing dresses!!
I'm gonna make some Manzanilla (Chamomile) tea con anise and get to studying! :) Hasta luego, amigos!
School has been going great, except last week on Thursday, they announced that my Thermodynamics class has changed hours...again. It's like they have ESP about when my other classes are, because both times this class has moved, it's been conflicting with another class. So, I just have to drop my fun Spanish History Through Cinema class and start taking Spanish Culture Postmodernity, which is equally cool, but I haven't attended class at all because I wasn't supposed to be taking it. Even worse, if I miss a certain number of classes, I can't sit for the final exam, so I have to go talk to some more people because this whole thing isn't my fault. This may sound really stressful, and it was at first, but I think my stress tolerance is increasing or something just by being in Spain. Yay?
The good news is, that's the worst thing that's happened recently :) I visited the Prado again this Sunday with Kruse, who has infinite wisdom over the subjects of the religious paintings because he's studying Theology and knows all these different languages. It's really cool! Both of us talked about how awkward church is here. Both in Germany and the United States, people sing in Catholic masses, but here, it's like a CD playing music for one song, and people just kind of mumble along to the mass. So at least I know I'm not weird for thinking Spanish church is weird.
On Sunday morning, I visited El Rastro (fleat market) again and bought a leather schoolbag! Now I really look like a European...just kidding 8) It's real leather, though, so it actually smells like leather, and lemme tell you, it's a REALLY strong scent. Right now it's airing out on the porch because my room was starting to smell like a tannery, yuck.
Oh yeah, I bought chocolate chip cookies today!! This may not sound that exciting, but cookies aren't really that big here, and I was kinda starting to miss them. (I'm not a big cookie fan in the first place so that's saying a lot.) And I bought different types of tea so now hopefully I can stay awake for my 8 am's. One of these days, I'm going to find somewhere that sells brownies. I miss those too.
Lately, there's been a lot of protests going on in Madrid. Parliament recently approved a law allowing abortion, which is somewhat unusual given the number of Catholics in Spain (it's like 76%.) I've seen a few protests from far away and MAN they're scary!! It's like 20x the GEO protests at U of I; there's so many people, it almost sounds like you're at a football game or something. It's just weird because I haven't seen many protests in my life.
One more thing: it's c-c-c-cold here this week!! The weather was great for the last couple of weeks, but it dipped down again for this week. This morning it was 34F when I was walking to school :S It stinks because I have a lot of early classes, so I have to walk to school when it's really cold. I end up wearing like 4 sweaters and a jacket and looking like a weirdo. Hopefully it gets warmer soon! I'm ready to start wearing dresses!!
I'm gonna make some Manzanilla (Chamomile) tea con anise and get to studying! :) Hasta luego, amigos!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Really? Cool! :)
The other day, the club for exchange students here organized a party at a bar, and I decided to go. It was a lot fun because I got to talk to so many other exchange students. I met people from France, China, Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, and I can't even remember the rest, there were so many countries!
Every exchange student that wants a "buddy" is partnered with one, or a Spaniard that they can talk to for fun. I have a buddy, and we never actually found each other that night (it was REALLY crowded!!) But, in the process of trying to find him, I talked to a lot of other Spaniards.
The cool part was, they all said something at one point about how good my Spanish was! I couldn't believe it; at first I thought they were talking about someone else. I asked, "me??" and they were like "yep!" I guess that means I'm not nearly as terrible at Spanish as I think I am! :) I still have to work on rolling my R's, though. That always gets me.
Overall it was just a nice boost of confidence. Also, it's the weekend, woooooo!! I have a job interview today through Skype. Wish me luck!!
Luego!
Every exchange student that wants a "buddy" is partnered with one, or a Spaniard that they can talk to for fun. I have a buddy, and we never actually found each other that night (it was REALLY crowded!!) But, in the process of trying to find him, I talked to a lot of other Spaniards.
The cool part was, they all said something at one point about how good my Spanish was! I couldn't believe it; at first I thought they were talking about someone else. I asked, "me??" and they were like "yep!" I guess that means I'm not nearly as terrible at Spanish as I think I am! :) I still have to work on rolling my R's, though. That always gets me.
Overall it was just a nice boost of confidence. Also, it's the weekend, woooooo!! I have a job interview today through Skype. Wish me luck!!
Luego!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Going for a Walk, and El Rastro
Today, I was going to try to go shopping to catch some of the sales as they start lowering prices ridiculously, but I found out I had to be back for dinner at 7:30. So, I decided to walk around my neighborhood instead, and it was definitely a good decision.
I walked up and down a few streets, made zig-zags across the blocks, and did a whole lot of window shopping. I found out there's lots of cool restaurants right around the corner, some cute little boutiques, a flower shop, and a whole lot of old-lady-clothing stores! (At least I know I won't be shopping around here very much.) And for some reason, walking around for an hour and a half gave me this really cool feeling of inner peace. Haha...not to sound like a hippie or anything, it was just very nice.
Up until now, I've been really nervous walking around, even if I have no reason to be on my guard. Our neighborhood is relatively safe; ie, you won't find a lot of pickpockets here, or so I've heard. But I just could not get myself to relax and stop to smell the roses. Finally today I got to, and it was the best feeling ever!
In other news, I went to Starbucks today because I was really craving coffee. It was like being in America for 2 minutes, except for when I was ordering. Oh yeah, and their Starbucks is HUGE!! It still manages to be packed every time I walk past it, though. I went early in the morning so almost nobody was there, but at any given time during the day, there's gotta be at least 40-50 students crowded around the tiny tables.
Oh, and I went to El Rastro on Sunday! El Rastro is a gigantic flea market that happens on Sundays. It was packed! There were so many people, it was hard to get to the booths sometimes. There were a few tourist-trap-like booths, but there were so many more cool ones. I didn't buy anything this week, but I'll definitely be returning next week to go on the hunt for a leather schoolbag! There were some antiques sections too, and they were selling a lot of cool stuff.
As a side note, almost every furniture salesman had a pocket trumpet for sale. They like to leave them out on tables for decoration, I think, although that is definitely not my type of decoration since I would most likely want to pick it up and play it instead of leaving it out. I think I saw at least 4 that day.
Today I started my Circuits Theory class and started talking to this Spanish girl named Maria. I told her I was from the United States, and she went, "oh! I lived in Kansas for awhile. It sucks..."I lol'd for real. Morris, Illinois probably isn't that different from Kansas, so I would have to agree with her observation.
We're having dinner soon, so that's all for now! I always seem to write these before meals, hmmm.
Tata for now!
I walked up and down a few streets, made zig-zags across the blocks, and did a whole lot of window shopping. I found out there's lots of cool restaurants right around the corner, some cute little boutiques, a flower shop, and a whole lot of old-lady-clothing stores! (At least I know I won't be shopping around here very much.) And for some reason, walking around for an hour and a half gave me this really cool feeling of inner peace. Haha...not to sound like a hippie or anything, it was just very nice.
Up until now, I've been really nervous walking around, even if I have no reason to be on my guard. Our neighborhood is relatively safe; ie, you won't find a lot of pickpockets here, or so I've heard. But I just could not get myself to relax and stop to smell the roses. Finally today I got to, and it was the best feeling ever!
In other news, I went to Starbucks today because I was really craving coffee. It was like being in America for 2 minutes, except for when I was ordering. Oh yeah, and their Starbucks is HUGE!! It still manages to be packed every time I walk past it, though. I went early in the morning so almost nobody was there, but at any given time during the day, there's gotta be at least 40-50 students crowded around the tiny tables.
Oh, and I went to El Rastro on Sunday! El Rastro is a gigantic flea market that happens on Sundays. It was packed! There were so many people, it was hard to get to the booths sometimes. There were a few tourist-trap-like booths, but there were so many more cool ones. I didn't buy anything this week, but I'll definitely be returning next week to go on the hunt for a leather schoolbag! There were some antiques sections too, and they were selling a lot of cool stuff.
As a side note, almost every furniture salesman had a pocket trumpet for sale. They like to leave them out on tables for decoration, I think, although that is definitely not my type of decoration since I would most likely want to pick it up and play it instead of leaving it out. I think I saw at least 4 that day.
Today I started my Circuits Theory class and started talking to this Spanish girl named Maria. I told her I was from the United States, and she went, "oh! I lived in Kansas for awhile. It sucks..."I lol'd for real. Morris, Illinois probably isn't that different from Kansas, so I would have to agree with her observation.
We're having dinner soon, so that's all for now! I always seem to write these before meals, hmmm.
Tata for now!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
I Miss My Trumpet!
Spain is awesome, but I definitely miss a few things from the good ol' USA. Here are some things I miss, in the order I miss them:
Andy: being 4270 miles apart isn't fun.
Friends and Family: same. 4270 miles sucks.
Music: my host family has a piano, but it's so out of tune that playing it is actually painful. I miss being in band a lot, probably because I've never gone this long without playing. The other day I saw a trumpet in a shop window and I seriously stood there staring at it for about 5 minutes before I snapped out of it. The university doesn't really have a concert band; they have an orchestra, but it conflicts with a lot of my classes. Man, I miss music.
Milk: the milk here is so weird. It's called UHT, which means Ultra-high-temperature processing. It also means that you don't have to refrigerate the milk before you open it. It always tastes really sweet and creamy, sort of like I'm drinking a creamer, but not. I miss my American pasteurized skim milk!
Buffalo Wild Wings: they don't exist in Spain and ohmygodIwishtheydid.
Pizza Hut: they don't really exist here either. They have pizza, but it's weird.
Pancakes: ohhh God, pancakes. They don't eat pancakes for breakfast, or in fact at all here. However, I have heard of a few restaurants in other parts of Madrid that sell pancakes...I'm gonna have to stop by.
Pets: oh yeah, plenty of people around here have pets. The thing is, I just can't touch them. It's the worst. If you see the fluffiest, cutest group of 3 Pomeranians on a walk, you just can't coo at them and pet them and hug and kiss them, because that's not what normal people do, ever.
Walmart: I just miss the convenience of it. You go in, you get everything you need, you leave. Here, everything is separated. The medicine is only sold in the pharmacies, the hair supplies are only sold in specialty stores or el Corte Ingles (too expensive,) and snacks are pretty much only sold in liquor shops.
That may actually be everything I miss, in a nutshell, at least. At the same time, though, there is so much of Spain that I love and will miss when I leave! Here's what I will miss from Spain, not necessarily in any order:
Lunch meat: I hate ham, but the ham here is delicious. The turkey is really good too.
Bread: people have bread with every meal here. I never have too much, but it's really good, and it's so charming to see people walking down the street with a long baguette tucked under an arm! :o)
Architecture: oh man, do I love the way things look here. Balconies, lofty windows, pretty facades...I wish buildings looked like this in the US!
The Metro: the subway here is really clean, fast, convenient, and affordable. What I will NOT miss is the pickpockets in the metro.
People: the people are so nice here. The other day, I ran into an elderly lady in the elevator who just struck up a friendly conversation with me! Even if my Spanish is terribly awkward, people are still so nice to me.
European friends: of course!
Sangria: enough said. Actually, I'm going to miss the drinking age here as well...it's going to be weird heading back to the USA and not being able to drink for like 6 months til I turn 21.
There's more of that too, but I'm not heading back yet! I've got about 4 months left here, and I intend to make the best of them!! :)
Luego!
Andy: being 4270 miles apart isn't fun.
Friends and Family: same. 4270 miles sucks.
Music: my host family has a piano, but it's so out of tune that playing it is actually painful. I miss being in band a lot, probably because I've never gone this long without playing. The other day I saw a trumpet in a shop window and I seriously stood there staring at it for about 5 minutes before I snapped out of it. The university doesn't really have a concert band; they have an orchestra, but it conflicts with a lot of my classes. Man, I miss music.
Milk: the milk here is so weird. It's called UHT, which means Ultra-high-temperature processing. It also means that you don't have to refrigerate the milk before you open it. It always tastes really sweet and creamy, sort of like I'm drinking a creamer, but not. I miss my American pasteurized skim milk!
Buffalo Wild Wings: they don't exist in Spain and ohmygodIwishtheydid.
Pizza Hut: they don't really exist here either. They have pizza, but it's weird.
Pancakes: ohhh God, pancakes. They don't eat pancakes for breakfast, or in fact at all here. However, I have heard of a few restaurants in other parts of Madrid that sell pancakes...I'm gonna have to stop by.
Pets: oh yeah, plenty of people around here have pets. The thing is, I just can't touch them. It's the worst. If you see the fluffiest, cutest group of 3 Pomeranians on a walk, you just can't coo at them and pet them and hug and kiss them, because that's not what normal people do, ever.
Walmart: I just miss the convenience of it. You go in, you get everything you need, you leave. Here, everything is separated. The medicine is only sold in the pharmacies, the hair supplies are only sold in specialty stores or el Corte Ingles (too expensive,) and snacks are pretty much only sold in liquor shops.
That may actually be everything I miss, in a nutshell, at least. At the same time, though, there is so much of Spain that I love and will miss when I leave! Here's what I will miss from Spain, not necessarily in any order:
Lunch meat: I hate ham, but the ham here is delicious. The turkey is really good too.
Bread: people have bread with every meal here. I never have too much, but it's really good, and it's so charming to see people walking down the street with a long baguette tucked under an arm! :o)
Architecture: oh man, do I love the way things look here. Balconies, lofty windows, pretty facades...I wish buildings looked like this in the US!
The Metro: the subway here is really clean, fast, convenient, and affordable. What I will NOT miss is the pickpockets in the metro.
People: the people are so nice here. The other day, I ran into an elderly lady in the elevator who just struck up a friendly conversation with me! Even if my Spanish is terribly awkward, people are still so nice to me.
European friends: of course!
Sangria: enough said. Actually, I'm going to miss the drinking age here as well...it's going to be weird heading back to the USA and not being able to drink for like 6 months til I turn 21.
There's more of that too, but I'm not heading back yet! I've got about 4 months left here, and I intend to make the best of them!! :)
Luego!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Gran Via!
Wow, I've got a lot to update on! So much has happened in the last couple of days but I've been so busy since I've started classes.
Last Saturday was Madrid's Carnaval celebration. We went to Plaza Mayor on Friday to see if there was a parade, but it was just a little event. The cool part was that I got to see Plaza Mayor for the first time at night. It was beautiful! If you haven't read much about Spain before, Plaza Mayor is an old old olllddd plaza, like 1589-old. They used to hold bullfights, soccer games, markets, trials, and even public executions there. Rumor has it that you can still see the blood on the walls from the bullfights...ahhh I don't think I'm about to go looking for it, though!
Speaking of gross, Carrie and I went to lunch at school the other day and she ordered something at random, Callos de Madrileño. What is a callo, you might ask? Well, it's tripe. And if you don't know what tripe is, it's animal stomach :S Oh my lord that was gross! I was just eating a ham sandwich but I felt so sorry for her. She braved through it for about half of the plate, then gave up. Actually, she deserves a medal for that.
I don't mean to make the food sound gross here, because the food here has been delicious otherwise! On Friday at Plaza Mayor, we went to our first real tapas bar, and it was delicious! I got to try sangria too, which is definitely my new favorite drink. The Manchego cheese here is delicious, and so is the paella. They also served olives (with pits!) when we sat down, just as a standard.
Woops, I got kinda off-track there. Anyway, on Saturday Carrie and I went shopping on Gran Via and then came back for the parade. Gran Via is basically the equivalent of Broadway or Michigan Avenue. There were so many stores! I bought a few Spanish things too, so now I don't stick out quite as much as I used to. Finally, Saturday night, we got to watch the parade, and it was beyond amazing!! There were people walking on stilts, people doing backflips on bouncy stilts, so many old cars, crazy awesome floats, and movie characters too!
This week, I finished up my intensive-Spanish class. The whole class meets for 45 hours and this intensive part met for 15 out of the 45 hours in just 5 days, so that was a bit of work. My Spanish is getting a lot better, though. I can at least communicate what I want to say, although it's really difficult to express myself. I'm almost a different person in Spanish than I am in English, which is really weird.
I found out a few days ago that I don't have enough hours and have to add another class, so everyone, cross your fingers for me and hope I get into another one! They really hate schedule changes here, and it's all done by hand because they hate computers for some reason. It's like the dark ages here...just kidding! But yeah, hopefully this all works out.
Oh yeah, yesterday I went to the Reina Sofia art museum with a friend from Spanish class, Kruse, and it was awesome! We saw Guernica by Picasso, which was definitely very cool in real life. I could look at that for ages; there was so much detail. A lot of other parts of the museum were modern art, most of which Kruse and I did not understand. They did have a cool exhibit on 1970's mod furniture. That I can understand!
Today, I was planning on getting up early and going to this huge outdoor flea market, El Rastro, but when I woke up, it was pouring rain. Personally, I'm not a fan of getting wet, so I decided to just stay in for the day and work on homework and summer job applications. We're about to start lunch soon, I think, and they have guests over, so I get to practice my Spanish even more, albeit in a really intimidating setting. But, at the same time, having guests over means she serves really delicious/rare/expensive food...kind of a reward for all my hard work, right? :)
Looks like we're eating! Hasta luego, amigos!
Last Saturday was Madrid's Carnaval celebration. We went to Plaza Mayor on Friday to see if there was a parade, but it was just a little event. The cool part was that I got to see Plaza Mayor for the first time at night. It was beautiful! If you haven't read much about Spain before, Plaza Mayor is an old old olllddd plaza, like 1589-old. They used to hold bullfights, soccer games, markets, trials, and even public executions there. Rumor has it that you can still see the blood on the walls from the bullfights...ahhh I don't think I'm about to go looking for it, though!
Speaking of gross, Carrie and I went to lunch at school the other day and she ordered something at random, Callos de Madrileño. What is a callo, you might ask? Well, it's tripe. And if you don't know what tripe is, it's animal stomach :S Oh my lord that was gross! I was just eating a ham sandwich but I felt so sorry for her. She braved through it for about half of the plate, then gave up. Actually, she deserves a medal for that.
I don't mean to make the food sound gross here, because the food here has been delicious otherwise! On Friday at Plaza Mayor, we went to our first real tapas bar, and it was delicious! I got to try sangria too, which is definitely my new favorite drink. The Manchego cheese here is delicious, and so is the paella. They also served olives (with pits!) when we sat down, just as a standard.
Woops, I got kinda off-track there. Anyway, on Saturday Carrie and I went shopping on Gran Via and then came back for the parade. Gran Via is basically the equivalent of Broadway or Michigan Avenue. There were so many stores! I bought a few Spanish things too, so now I don't stick out quite as much as I used to. Finally, Saturday night, we got to watch the parade, and it was beyond amazing!! There were people walking on stilts, people doing backflips on bouncy stilts, so many old cars, crazy awesome floats, and movie characters too!
This week, I finished up my intensive-Spanish class. The whole class meets for 45 hours and this intensive part met for 15 out of the 45 hours in just 5 days, so that was a bit of work. My Spanish is getting a lot better, though. I can at least communicate what I want to say, although it's really difficult to express myself. I'm almost a different person in Spanish than I am in English, which is really weird.
I found out a few days ago that I don't have enough hours and have to add another class, so everyone, cross your fingers for me and hope I get into another one! They really hate schedule changes here, and it's all done by hand because they hate computers for some reason. It's like the dark ages here...just kidding! But yeah, hopefully this all works out.
Oh yeah, yesterday I went to the Reina Sofia art museum with a friend from Spanish class, Kruse, and it was awesome! We saw Guernica by Picasso, which was definitely very cool in real life. I could look at that for ages; there was so much detail. A lot of other parts of the museum were modern art, most of which Kruse and I did not understand. They did have a cool exhibit on 1970's mod furniture. That I can understand!
Today, I was planning on getting up early and going to this huge outdoor flea market, El Rastro, but when I woke up, it was pouring rain. Personally, I'm not a fan of getting wet, so I decided to just stay in for the day and work on homework and summer job applications. We're about to start lunch soon, I think, and they have guests over, so I get to practice my Spanish even more, albeit in a really intimidating setting. But, at the same time, having guests over means she serves really delicious/rare/expensive food...kind of a reward for all my hard work, right? :)
Looks like we're eating! Hasta luego, amigos!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Class, Culture, and Fashion!
Woo, I have a little time to write!!
The last few days have been absolutely crazy! Carrie, the other girl living with my host family, got here on Monday at 2 and I've pretty much been busy since then! The first night she was here, we explored the neighborhood a little more and got to see Parque del Oeste. Nieves emphasizes that you can jog there (she pretends to jog and be out of breath whenever she reminds me of this hahah.) Anyway, Carrie and I are 99% alike, and it's super cool :D
My orientation was crazy too, but at least that went by really fast. Everyone was stressed when we started talking about changing your schedule!! I get stressed from other people being stressed, so by the end of the day, I was stressed too, and I don’t even have to change my schedule.
My first class started yesterday, my Spanish class for exchange students. It’s great because we’re mostly all the same level of Spanish, so if we struggle, it’s okay, because most of the time we know what the other person means. And the professor is so nice! This is really weird to say but she reminds me a lot of Miss Grotke from the TV show Recess. Ahahah, nerd alert! Anyway, the class is easy so far, but we have to go through a week of “intensive” Spanish, which means class is every day for 3 hours straight. It can be a little boring, but I’m actually doing well.
Fashion! Oh the fashion. All the boys reading this can just skip over this paragraph since it’s girly stuff. Here’s what’s in: purple, black, scarves, tall boots, and tights. Seriously, there is so much black and purple here, it’s almost bizarre. Scarves and black tights are almost a necessity with outfits. Everyone and their mother have a pair of tall boots. And black is what outfits are based upon. This is the winter season clothing though; now that we’re coming into spring/summer season, the stores are putting up a lot of khaki, white, and lighter colors. So far I’ve bought a Spanish designer purse from Salvador Bachiller, a leather jacket from Stradivarius, a skirt from Zara, and short boots from El Corte Ingles. It’s stuff I wouldn’t normally wear in the United States, but I love it 8)
Culture! Wow, things are different here! I can’t even begin to explain all the differences. Things are similar to the United States here, but not, at the same time. The toilets flush weird. Everybody owns a washing machine in their kitchen, but nobody owns a drier: they just hang clothes to dry in the courtyard. They iron EVERYTHING because it all dries funny from hanging on a clothesline. They have blinds outside the windows in the bedrooms, which makes it really dark in the rooms, if the blinds are shut. I can’t even tell if the sun is up yet when I get up in the morning, even if it’s already 10:00.
Oh, and sometimes, the water shuts off. (I’ve only seen it once, but it was really bizarre. I went to turn on a faucet and all that came out was an airy, creepy sound.) The city is supplied from aquifers in all of the parks, and there’s a monitor of the water there. Sometimes, if people are too wasteful with water, the city shuts the water off for a little while to scare the crap out of everyone. Generally this works, but it creates some other odd customs. Nieves always keeps two giant bottles of water in the refrigerator, because if the water turns off and you’re thirsty…well…
Man, I’m tired! I went to Carnaval today (that’s the Spanish way of spelling it,) and it was so awesome. But I’ll write about that later since I’m about to pass out. Hasta luego!
The last few days have been absolutely crazy! Carrie, the other girl living with my host family, got here on Monday at 2 and I've pretty much been busy since then! The first night she was here, we explored the neighborhood a little more and got to see Parque del Oeste. Nieves emphasizes that you can jog there (she pretends to jog and be out of breath whenever she reminds me of this hahah.) Anyway, Carrie and I are 99% alike, and it's super cool :D
My orientation was crazy too, but at least that went by really fast. Everyone was stressed when we started talking about changing your schedule!! I get stressed from other people being stressed, so by the end of the day, I was stressed too, and I don’t even have to change my schedule.
My first class started yesterday, my Spanish class for exchange students. It’s great because we’re mostly all the same level of Spanish, so if we struggle, it’s okay, because most of the time we know what the other person means. And the professor is so nice! This is really weird to say but she reminds me a lot of Miss Grotke from the TV show Recess. Ahahah, nerd alert! Anyway, the class is easy so far, but we have to go through a week of “intensive” Spanish, which means class is every day for 3 hours straight. It can be a little boring, but I’m actually doing well.
Fashion! Oh the fashion. All the boys reading this can just skip over this paragraph since it’s girly stuff. Here’s what’s in: purple, black, scarves, tall boots, and tights. Seriously, there is so much black and purple here, it’s almost bizarre. Scarves and black tights are almost a necessity with outfits. Everyone and their mother have a pair of tall boots. And black is what outfits are based upon. This is the winter season clothing though; now that we’re coming into spring/summer season, the stores are putting up a lot of khaki, white, and lighter colors. So far I’ve bought a Spanish designer purse from Salvador Bachiller, a leather jacket from Stradivarius, a skirt from Zara, and short boots from El Corte Ingles. It’s stuff I wouldn’t normally wear in the United States, but I love it 8)
Culture! Wow, things are different here! I can’t even begin to explain all the differences. Things are similar to the United States here, but not, at the same time. The toilets flush weird. Everybody owns a washing machine in their kitchen, but nobody owns a drier: they just hang clothes to dry in the courtyard. They iron EVERYTHING because it all dries funny from hanging on a clothesline. They have blinds outside the windows in the bedrooms, which makes it really dark in the rooms, if the blinds are shut. I can’t even tell if the sun is up yet when I get up in the morning, even if it’s already 10:00.
Oh, and sometimes, the water shuts off. (I’ve only seen it once, but it was really bizarre. I went to turn on a faucet and all that came out was an airy, creepy sound.) The city is supplied from aquifers in all of the parks, and there’s a monitor of the water there. Sometimes, if people are too wasteful with water, the city shuts the water off for a little while to scare the crap out of everyone. Generally this works, but it creates some other odd customs. Nieves always keeps two giant bottles of water in the refrigerator, because if the water turns off and you’re thirsty…well…
Man, I’m tired! I went to Carnaval today (that’s the Spanish way of spelling it,) and it was so awesome. But I’ll write about that later since I’m about to pass out. Hasta luego!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
I Made It!
I’m finally in Spain!! It felt like I would never get here.
I flew in on Thursday. The plane ride didn’t feel that long, and the flight was really empty to so I ended up having 2 seats to myself, awesome! It was a Spanish airline, so they did all of the instructions in Spanish first, then English. I guess I looked Spanish because all the flight attendants talked to me in Spanish but talked to the guy behind me in English!
It was a little sad leaving Chicago because they had all this horribly slow, sappy piano music playing in the background while we took off. Fortunately they shut that off after we were in the air, but then they showed a really strange Iberia-sponsored “news show.” It all worked out in the end because I just listened to my iPod for most of the way and watched The Hangover.
The best part was when we finally reached the coast of Portugal. We flew over Porto, Portugal and its lights looked so pretty at night. The clouds kind of made it look like it was sparkling too, so my first glimpse of Europe was absolutely beautiful.
We landed in Madrid at 7 am their time. No snow here; it’s been in the 50s all week, so that’s totally awesome. Their airport was really new but sooooo long. I went through 7 or 8 moving walkways before we got to the middle of the terminal where the exit was. It was early, so nobody was really there except the people that had just gotten off my flight.
Nobody was in the line for customs either, so I got to go straight up to the guy. He took my passport, stamped it, and said, “Bienvenida a España!” and I said, “Gracias!” Oh man that was absolutely my first conversation on Spanish soil.
Later that morning, I met my host mother. She’s really nice and definitely very motherly! After she made me a traditional Spanish breakfast, she showed me the university and then took me shopping for a bottle of coke after I said I was tired. Her husband works at the bar down the street from the apartment, so apparently I can head over there whenever I want for something free. Today she gave me a glass of sherry from the 1920s; it was really good.
Spain is so different from the United States! People are really friendly and nice to each other; it’s rare to find a stranger who’s grouchy or who won’t respond when you speak to them. Everybody, and I mean everybody, is nice. The architecture of everyday buildings is gorgeous. And they only buy furniture that fits perfectly into the space it occupies, so it’s like every room has feng shui or whatever it’s called. They listen to a lot of music in English too, even if they don’t understand it. Rihanna is really popular here, and so are a couple of bands that are obscure in the US.
Woops, this is getting long. I’ll update later because now I need to buy a new jacket! I look kind of conspicuous with my big red coat haha.
Hasta luego, amigos!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Oh hey, Ariel has a blog!
Hey, everyone! As you may know, I'm going to be studying in Madrid, Spain for the Spring semester!
...If you didn't know, surprise!!
Anyway, I figured this is the best way to update you guys, since international calls are insanely expensive and I can't skype with 200 people. I'll update a lot with interesting stuff, so don't worry, I'm not going to be telling you the thrilling details of how my thermodynamics class is going. Oh yeah, and this is going to be written a little differently than if I were to post something on facebook...I just suddenly feel like I have to pay attention to punctuation and capitalization more since I'm not just typing some lame facebook status.
I bought my plane ticket today, and it was only $700! Ahaha, I'm gonna be broke by the time I get there. Buying transatlantic plane tickets is the absolute worst. I actually found a really good deal, because most of the flights are over $1000 (in general.)
So, I'm leaving February 4th at 4:45 pm. Luckily I got a non-stop flight, so I don't have to transfer in London, Rome, Frankfurt, or Newark in New Jersey (I know, New Jersey, what the heck?!) I just get on at Ohare, wait awhile, and then plunk down at the airport in Madrid.
Wanna know how long the flight is? It's about 10 hours. God, I have never sat in one place for that long!! Suggestions on what to bring? So far, I'm bringing my iPod, a book, and some sudoku. My carry-on can only weigh 20 lbs, but that's not a problem because that's pretty much all I can carry anyway.
Well, this is getting a little long, so that's all for now! I'll update later on my host family.
...If you didn't know, surprise!!
Anyway, I figured this is the best way to update you guys, since international calls are insanely expensive and I can't skype with 200 people. I'll update a lot with interesting stuff, so don't worry, I'm not going to be telling you the thrilling details of how my thermodynamics class is going. Oh yeah, and this is going to be written a little differently than if I were to post something on facebook...I just suddenly feel like I have to pay attention to punctuation and capitalization more since I'm not just typing some lame facebook status.
I bought my plane ticket today, and it was only $700! Ahaha, I'm gonna be broke by the time I get there. Buying transatlantic plane tickets is the absolute worst. I actually found a really good deal, because most of the flights are over $1000 (in general.)
So, I'm leaving February 4th at 4:45 pm. Luckily I got a non-stop flight, so I don't have to transfer in London, Rome, Frankfurt, or Newark in New Jersey (I know, New Jersey, what the heck?!) I just get on at Ohare, wait awhile, and then plunk down at the airport in Madrid.
Wanna know how long the flight is? It's about 10 hours. God, I have never sat in one place for that long!! Suggestions on what to bring? So far, I'm bringing my iPod, a book, and some sudoku. My carry-on can only weigh 20 lbs, but that's not a problem because that's pretty much all I can carry anyway.
Well, this is getting a little long, so that's all for now! I'll update later on my host family.
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