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
Saturday, May 29, 2010
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
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