7 Weeks = Half way mark

I can’t believe my semester is half over already! 52 days down, 47 to go (but who’s counting?) J  I have totally fallen in love with Spain, but also never forget that I have a lot of people I love back in the States.  Leaving will be bitter-sweet for sure, but especially as it gets closer to the holidays, I am more and more excited to go home.

So readers, here I am again with a bunch of little stories for you and nothing too important. I will start with the most important thing though…my very cheap day in Madrid this past Sunday!

Jenn and I have been wanting to go to Madrid and check out the museums there (El Prado and la Reina Sofia).  We had found another friend at the Fund who was also interested so Flannery joined us on our little adventure.  These two museums are fairly well-known for some Spanish masterpieces and artists like Goya, El Greco, Velasquez, Picasso (all kind of a big deal!).  We took the high-speed train, which I love because it’s only a 20 minute train right instead of a 50 minute bus ride.  Pretty spectacular.

So we were within walking distance from the train station and got into the Reina Sofia without a problem, no lines, and it is free on Sundays from 10:30 to 2.  So we looked around, but the most important thing there is the “Guernica”.  This is a huge mural painted by Picasso during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to remember the first ever…in the history of the world…time bombs were dropped on a civilian city.  I have learned a lot about it in a lot of previous Spanish classes so it would pretty awesome to see it in real life.  We saw some other stuff too, but not nearly as cool as the Guernica.

So we had some free time before the Prado opened up for free at 5, so we grabbed some lunch and were walking past the botanical gardens, we saw that it only cost 1 euro to walk through, so we thought it’d be worth it and paid the 1 euro.  It was beautiful, I have not seen much plant life in Spain so far, so grass and flowers and trees were a very welcoming sight!  I have some pretty awesome pictures from the garden.

Then it was time to go to the Prado, but first we waited in the LONGEST line ever.  I was kind of tired already, and I’m not the kind of girl that reads every sign and analyzes every painting.  Luckily the people at the Prado understand this and created a pamphlet of all the big masterpieces and where they were located.  I recognized a few, so we checked them out.  It’s just a very cool feeling to see the original piece of art after seeing so many pictures and replications of the piece.  The highlight there was definitely “Las Meninas” by Velasquez.  There’s quite a bit of symbolism in the piece (I won’t bore you with the details), but it was very cool to see. 

Funny story for you, on the way home Jenn and I were just chatting and all of a sudden she asks me, “do you think I could be a flight attendant just in the summer?”.  Jenn and I are both education majors.  I guess it’d be pretty cool if you be a flight attendant part time, but I’m not quite sure where the idea came from?  She was pretty worried that if there was extensive training she might not have time to do it.  I guess you had to be there, but it was pretty funny and definitely made me laugh!

On Friday, Jenn and I also ventured over to la Juderia.  That is the name for the Jewish section of Toledo.  Toledo is named the city of three cultures, Jews, Christian, and Moors.  We were in search of the El Greco exhibit which is temporarily relocated, but were unsuccessful.  We found two other museums to check out...El Museo de Victorio Moncho (an artist/sculptor) and La Synagoza del Transito (a Jewish synagogue).  It seriously felt like were a whole different city, the styles of buildings were different, the atmosphere was different, and we had a great view of the Tajo river that surrounds the city.  We spent some time shopping around the city and then headed back to our own houses so I could get ready for Paula's birthday.Paula’s (my host sister) birthday was on Thursday.  To celebrate she had 12 girls sleep over at the house on Friday night.  Mind you, our house is a very nice size and fairly large for a Spanish house, but not for thirteen 10-year-old girls.  It was chaos, but a lot of fun.  I have included a video of the girls singing happy birthday.  I went to bed with a pounding headache, but it was a lot of fun.  My host mom made sure to remind me that I will have a classroom of kids someday and wondered if I was really up for the challenge! 

I also bought a pumpkin here.  Spaniards don’t really celebrate Halloween so pumpkins are hard to come by.  Jenn and I took an adventure to find some pumpkins to carve and were successful!  We haven’t had time to carve them yet, but I will post pictures as soon as I do.  If you haven’t already figured out, Jenn and I take a lot of adventures here.  Studying abroad has really made me broaden my horizons and be open to trying new things.  I am so grateful for this.

I have also included a video of my host dad doing a little dance.  He can be quite the clown, so for Paula’s birthday, he performed a little dance and song number after dinner.  It was absolutely hysterical and just another reason I love my host dad!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do J

The videos are not working right now, so I'll try uploading them again soon. Sorry you'll just have to wait! :) 

I think that should about cover my weekly update, I’m sure I missed some important things, as I always do.  I really should write down my blog stories as the week goes on so I don’t forget them!  Next weekend has Granada in store (hopefully).  I will try to post pictures this week as soon as I have some free time and a little quicker internet connect at school. 

Abrazos como siempre,

Amy

Dreaming en Espanol

Hola!

So I should first explain the reason for my title.  This week I had a major breakthrough!!!  I had my first dream completely in Spanish!  I was at a bocadillo (sandwich shop) and ordered a bocadillo de jamon cerrano (smoked ham).  This is a favorite of Spaniards here.  So to say the least I felt a little like a Spaniard in my dreams :)  

This past Friday I went to Alcala de Henares.  It's a little town outside of Madrid.  It has a VERY old University and is the home of Miguel Cervantes.  He wrote Don Quijote.  For those of you who don't know this little dorky fact about me, I love Don Quijote.  I read it my senior year with Senora Elmer in Spanish class.  So we got a free tour of Cervantes' house and there was a cute little bench in the front with a statue of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza.  I took about 5 pictures with them!  We also went to a little theater called the Corral de Comedias and it was so cool!  It was so old and had so much history behind it.  I also went to my first Starbucks here!  It was a wonderful taste of home!! 

I hate waiting....waiting for public transportation.  Waiting for emails and letters from home.  But mostly, I hate public transportation.  They never are there when you need them to be, and they're never on time.  I need to plan at least 45 minutes to get to where I need to be because I usually end up waiting 10-15 for a bus.

So I found a new love here.  PRINCIPE cookies.  Now I don't eat a lot of sweets here, so I discovered this yummy treat from other kids at the Fund because they're so cheap.  So it's my new addiction.  I'll make sure to bring a package home for you to try family!  

This entry is a lot of little things, so I'm going to change topics again.  I love my history class.  The history of Spain is so different to me and it's nice to learn about a completely different type of government.  The professor lets us ask questions at the beginning of class about current events and I really just enjoy learning.  Call me a dork, it's fine.  

I also found a new TV show that I love, Los Internados!  I hate scary movies, but this show is about kids in a boarding school and it's a big mystery.  All the people are linked somehow and all this bizarre stuff happens.  My host mom and sister are addicted and they  just started a new season so I'm all caught up already!

So I had a really interesting learning experience this past Tuesday.  In my immigration class we were discussing gitanos (gypsies) and how predominant they are in Toledo.  Later that day I was volunteering at an elementary school and met a little gitano boy.  He was in my English class I was helping with, but was sitting to the side coloring a picture.  When I asked my teacher why he wasn't participating I found out it was because he can't even read in Spanish.  He only speaks it, so normally during this English time he gets reading help, but not that day for some reason.  I tried to explain to him that I wasn't Spanish and didn't speak fluent Spanish, but he didn't understand.  He had no wordly concept of where the United States even was.  It was just really sad to see that some parents and their lifestyles don't support their children to get a proper education.  It is a law that gitano children have to go to school though, so they send them, but don't emphasize the importance of an education.

One last thing, I am getting SO sick of wearing the same clothes over and over.  It's really irritating.  Oh well, my friends here understand because we're all in the same situation!!

I have midterms this week, so wish me luck!  Continue the emails and letters, I love them!!

Abrazos,

Amy

Con Ojos Cerrados

Welcome back!!  I know it took me a while to write another update. But here it is. 

So this past Sunday Jenn and I went to Madrid.  It was Spain’s National Holiday so there was going to be a huge parade!  We had to take the high speed train at 9:30 to get to Madrid on time, so we planned an hour to get there.  The station is only on the other side of Toledo, but with the bus system, you can never be too sure.  So we waited..and waited..until 9:00.  Now we’re both pretty nervous that we’re not going to get there on time.  Luckily, there was no traffic and we were able to transfer buses without a hitch.  We walked onto the train at 9:23…that’s only 5 minutes before they close  the doors.  We got very lucky to say the least.

So we weren’t sure what kind of parade to expect, but I figured there would be bands and floats and fun things.  Not the case at all.  October 12 is the day Spain celebrates it’s military and it’s fallen soldiers.  Every troop of every branch of the military marched in the parade.  It was so cool.  I wish I would have known what each troop was and why some got applauded and others didn’t, but my host dad was able to fill me in when I got home.  Just a little sidenote: my host dad is great.  He is the person I go to with all my Spanish history and culture questions.  It always sparks a great discussion and I love learning new things! 

So after the parade we met up with some other students from the Fundacion in Toledo who were also there.  We headed to the Rastro (which is the big Sunday market).  Now most of you know I’m extremely directionally impaired.  But you would be so proud of me (DAD!)  I have now mastered not only the Toledo buses, but also the Madrid metro and airport.  I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty proud of this accomplishment.  I can do anything if I have a map!  We got to the Rastro and it was seriously chaos!  There were people everywhere and there was pushing and shoving and the browsing was not so enjoyable.  I did buy a Spain flag for 3 euro though for my dorm room next semester.  I was very excited about that!

After the Rastro, Jenn and I had ANOTHER challenge.  To go to another plaza in the huge city of Madrid and find out where we had to pick up our bullfight tickets.  We had no address for the place, all we knew was that it was in the Plaza de Carmen.  We found it without any problems!!! It was this little hole-in-the-wall ticket vendor and we got the tickets with no problems.  We went to McDonalds for lunch then.  I know what you’re all thinking, you’re in Spain, why are you eating McDonalds…well let me tell you, Spaniards love their cuerdo (pig) and I was missing some Wisconsin vaca (cow) so we enjoyed delicious cheeseburgers and french fries.  It made me so happy, even though I haven’t felt so full in my whole time abroad. 

Then we took the metro to our final destination…the Ventas…aka the bullfighting arena.  It was built in 1929 and has so much history behind it.  Spain is famous for bull fighting and let me tell you, I was not disappointed.  We had awesome seats and got to experience a great part of Spanish culture.  At the beginning of the fight, all of the matadors and their assistants parade into the ring.  They have the coolest looking costumes and are very proud of what they do.  It ALMOST made me want to be a matador (in Spanish it’s called a torero).  There are 6 total bulls to be killed and 3 toreros.  Let me explain..there are 5 stages to a bull fight.

Stage 1:  The assistants (6)  all are in the ring.  The bull is realeased and they basically take turns waving their capes at the bull.  They make the bull work a little before anything else happens.

Stage 2:  There are 2 men on horses that come out.  The assistants try to keep the bull’s attention but eventually they see the horses.  The horses are blind-folded and covered in metal armor so they’re safe.  The bull charges the horse.  While the bull is doing this, the man on the horse stabs a spear into the bull’s back to start the bleeding. 

Stage 3: The torero comes out (without a cape) and gets handed these colorful spear/bobber looking things.  The goal is to stab these things (there are 6 total) into the bulls back.  It’s very dangerous, but cool to wactch.

Stage 4:  The torero now has his red cape and again makes the bull work a little and tires him out.  He has to do this until he does such a great job at one run that the crowd cheers for him.

Stage 5: The torero has his cape and his sword.  This is when the bull dies.  It’s sad, but eventually the torero sticks his sword into the bull’s back. And then slowly the bull just sits down on the ground..and dies.  Then there are 3 horses that come in and drag the bull away. 

I have to say, it sounds gruesome, but it was so cool.  The toreros were so dramatic, it was almost like watching a theatrical performance.  I have added a video for you all to watch.  The reason I look down at the girl in front of me was because I forgot I was taking a video.  I’m such a loser.  We left after the 4^th bull and made our way back to Toledo.  This is why my host dad is so great.  When I came home I had all sorts of questions about the different military branches and about what they do with the bull after the fight and they were all answered.  The bulls are sold afterwards (all the parts) to different butchers.  The meat is very expensive, but a delicacy in Spain.  Apparently the tongue and testicles are the best. (I’m just telling you what I heard).  There is a saying that “you grow what you eat” here, so I guess it’s appropriate then.

Now for the title of my blog…”Con Ojos Cerrados (with closed eyes)” .  I still am super sketchy about eating certain foods here, especially meat.  Rabbit, bull, partridge, snails, and a lot of other things are all very common here.  This is gross to me.  So as my host dad says, “come (eat) con ojos cerrados”.  This is the best advice I could get about eating food here.  I’m much better off if I don’t know what I’m eating, but I can tell you I have successfully eaten a ridiculous amount of onions AND eggs.  Things I have never really liked before.

I also played with Photo Booth tonight with my host mom and sister.  They loved it!!!!  It was so much fun.  We just had a really great night talking.  I was so happy to be able to spend quality time with them.  It really makes me miss spending time with my family back home.  And I definitely appreciate it a lot more. 

This was a pretty long post.  So thanks for sticking through it to the end.  I’m sure I missed some things and had more stories to tell, but this will do for now.  Until next time.

Abrazos,

Amy  

Ciao Bella!

Hello wonderful readers!  It took me a few days to recover from an amazing weekend in Italy before I could make some time to blog.  I have to say that if I was not a Spanish minor, I definitely would have chosen to study abroad in Italy instead!  It was that great!

So Friday morning, Jenn, Autumn, and I left for Florence.  This wasn’t easy as it may sounds.  First we had to take the city bus to the AVE (fast rail train) station.  We took the AVE (which only takes a half hour to get to Madrid!).  We arrived in Madrid with about 2 hours to find our way to the aiport which is outside of town.  We found the metro and luckily found a sign to tell us exactly which route to take to get us there the quickest!  We arrived at the airport at about 11:30.  This gave us an hour and a half to get to our terminal.  I still can’t believe we got to the airport in one piece!! 

We had to fly for 2 hours to Rome first, then take a connecting 35 minute flight to Florence.  We got there around 7 p.m. and were greeted by two familiar faces.  Amy and Caitlin are SNC students who are studying abroad there and are very good friends with Autumn and Jenn.  It was so nice to see smiling faces waiting for us J

We took a bus and then walked a ways to get to the girls apartment.  The town was beautiful at night!  We stopped on the way for a quick dinner.  I have never had more delicious food in my whole entire life.  We ate at the Istanbul Kabob Shop.  It was absolutely to die for!  A tortilla wrap with chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, a spicy sauce, and a ranch like sauce.  It was so good I even took a picture of it!  We got to the apartment and were greeted by the girls roommates; Laurie Ann, Sara, Tracey, Morgaine, and Leah.  It was fun to just hang out for a while in a place where I wasn’t with a host family.  It felt just like being at school again, but in a foreign country instead J 

We decided we were going to go out that night to a bar/dance club called TWICE.  We got all dressed up and were super excited to go out.  In Europe people don’t typically go out until 12 or 12:30, so we showed up at TWICE at 12:30.  The music started off ok, but gradually got worse, so we called it an early night and went back to the apartment. 

Saturday we got up around 9:30 and started our day.  There was a German Fest going on in the Plaza Santa Croce.  Our breakfast consisted of delicious deep fried donut pretzels.  We walked around German Fest and made our way to the open market nearby.  There were tons of vendors selling soccer apparel, leather jackets and purses, souvenir type things, and also scarves.  I did splurge and buy a few of those for myself J  We then walked to the Duomo.  This is the largest cathedral in Florence.  I did find out that every city in Italy has a Duomo, which just means it’s the biggest cathedral there.  We didn’t go inside because the amount of tourists was ridiculous, but I got some pretty awesome pictures of the outside.  We were also going to walk to the Academia, where the sculpture “David” is but we decided we didn’t want to wait in those lines either and were perfectly content seeing the fake David which was nearby and spending time with the girls.  We had lunch at a little pizza place which was awesome.  I miss Italian food in Spain!  And for dinner we went back to German fest for a brat and french fries.  Waynizzle and Dad…my brat was definitely missing the secret sauce though J   We then went back to the apartment and were greeted with a little surprise.  Billy (another SNC study abroad student who is studying in Rome) showed up with 2 of his roommates.  We decided that we couldn’t waste a perfectly good night in Italy so we walked to the Ponte Veccio which is a bunch of cute shops on a bridge overlooking the river.  We had some gelato and hung out on the steps of the cathedral then went back to the apartment.  We played KEMPS which is the best card game ever!  I can’t wait to show you all how to play it when I get home.  Then we decided to go out to TWICE again in hopes of some better music.  We were in luck!  I had so much fun dancing with everyone that we stayed out until 3:30.  We went back to the apartment and then stayed up for another hour and a half because we had to take a taxi back to the airport at 5:15 a.m.  I will never fly out before 7:15 again. That was way too early for me!

 We had a long day of traveling back to Toledo and I was very happy to take a nap in my own bed and catch up on some homework.  I was exhausted, but already wishing I could be back in Florence with the girls having a ton of fun!!  This next weekend I will be staying in Toledo and catching up on sleep.  I’m going to do some shopping around town and then on Sunday we might go to Madrid for the open market, the Reina Sofia, and a BULL FIGHT!  I’m pretty excited. 

Thanks for the emails and letters J  I love them!

 

Ciao Bella,

Amy

How do you espell that?

Hello Friends,

I know, 2 blogs in only 4 days..crazy!  I just had a few funny stories that I wanted to share with you all. 

The weather in Spain is so goofy.  It’s always very cold on my way to school in the morning and by the time I get home late afternoon I sweat walking home from the bus stop.  Then when I go to bed I have to put an extra blanket on.  I think this is the reason I got sick L  Oh well, I figured it would happen eventually. 

I started helping teach English at a local elementary school with a high population of immigrants.  It’s part of my service learning class.  On Tuesday for three hours I help out with a second grade and fourth grade English class and then finish the day with first graders helping them with Castillian (Spanish grammar and spelling).  It’s a ton of fun, and I have to say the first graders were definitely my favorite.  They were very understanding of my Spanish abilities.  I now know that I would never be able to teach a first grade class back in the US…those are some very patient people.  It’s quite an experience to see how classrooms and schools are run in the US compared to Spain.  It’s hard to say which is better, it’s just different.  The teachers here yell and discipline a lot more verbally and publicly, which is a big no-no for us Education majors.  The kids seem like they’re getting a great education here though. 

So the fourth graders started their class with asking me “personal information” as they called it.  They asked whar I live (with a long I sound), what my favorite colour is, my favorite number, how old I am, and how tall I am.  They also asked me how to “espell” my name.  Spanish speaking people cannot say a word that begins with an “s” so they put an “e” in front of it (hence Espana).  Just hearing them ask me how to espell my name put a smile on my face J  It was very difficult to understand some of them because they are learning British English, so the vocabulary and accent are a bit different.  I hope they will be able to learn some new things from me.  I’m excited to work with that age level. 

What else?  Hmm..I’ve had a ton of homework again this week.  I feel like the papers are never ending.  They’re not difficult assignments, but when they have to be written in Spanish, I have to put in a little (ok, a lot) of extra effort. 

So yesterday I was going to a Salsa class with some of my friends.  We were all excited to learn another dance.  We were supposed to meet in the Fundacion gym, but here’s the catch.  The gym isn’t connected to the school.  It’s down about 5 different side streets and has an unmarked door, along with every other door in Toledo.  So we had no idea where it was.  We ended up just walking back to the bus stop after calling everyone we knew to see if they could help us.  How unlucky L  Oh well, there’s always next week. 

Today I  met with Yuki (the program coordinator).  She just offered me a job just a block away from my house.  I will be tutoring English for two girls (ages 12 and 14) on Mondays and Wednesdays for an hour each day.  I’m meeting with the mom on Monday to talk about what the girls need help with and how to improve their English.  This will be a great opportunity for me and they are going to pay me 10 euro/hour.  That’s 20 euro a week I didn’t have before!!  I will let you know next week how that is going J

Well I’m one paper and two classes away from a weekend in Florence, Italy.  And I can’t wait.  I will make sure to take plenty of pictures.  Jenn, Autumn, and I are going to meet up with some SNC girls studying there, so we’re in for a greet weekend and some free tour guides! 

Ciao,

Amy

P.S. Please keep commenting and sending emails and letters! I love hearing from home J