Hello there…so, it has been nearly a month since I arrived home to my sunny Southern California! Toward the end of my stay in beautiful Salamanca I was very busy with school, traveling, and fully enjoying my last taste of paradise. Consequently, my blog was put on the back-burner. However, I have decided to return to it now to enter in my last few posts detailing my study abroad while it is still fresh in my memory. I left off with my unforgettable trip to Lisbon, Portugal.
I arrived back to Salamanca very late from Lisbon before going back to school the next day. That week, I simply tried to get back into school mode and catch up on some much-needed sleep. On Saturday, API took us on a day excursion to the pretty little city of Segovia, which is about a two hour bus ride from Salamanca. We were led on a guided tour around the town and visited the cathedral, Alcazar, and famous aqueduct. The cathedral was beautiful but it is extremely similar to the one in Salamanca, as they were both built during the Renaissance. It seems incredible to admit, but many of the students and I have agreed that we are “cathedraled-out.” We have now visited a ridiculous number of impressive churches and cathedrals in Spain, and I never thought I would say this, but after a while, they all sort of blend together! But seeing the Alcazar was really neat; it is a very historic castle and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel I ruled the Kingdom of Spain from there. The royal palace looks a great deal like Sleeping Beauty’s romantic castle at Disneyland, complete with an original moat and gilded turrets. I loved the ornate ceilings, paintings, furniture, and armor that adorned the Alcazar, but seeing the view of the cathedral and city from the roof was by far my favorite! The Segovia aqueduct was built in Roman times and is in incredibly good condition…the absolutely amazing thing about it is that it was made of 20,000 granite stones WITHOUT MORTAR, and can still carry a stream of water! I mean, how can it even stay standing? – the answer – the perfect fit of the stones and the balance of the keystone located in the middle of each arch - truly mind-boggling!
Because of our API excursion, all the kids in the group stayed in the city for the weekend, which was quite rare with all the traveling everyone was doing. So with everyone together, we had such a fun time out and about in Salamanca that night! I always had a wonderful time with the group, bar-hopping and dancing to my heart’s content. Everyone knew I had had a few drinks when most of what I was said was something like “I just wanna dance” or “I don’t care where we go, as long as I can just dance” haha. I think I most definitely got the dancing bug from my parents, who can never resist the opportunity to get out on the dance floor, no matter if they’re exhausted or the only ones. We went to some of our favorite bars and clubs, such as Kandhavia, Irish Rover, Bisou, El Savor, Gatsby, Camelot, La Chupiteria, Molly Malone’s, Jacko’s, Ciao, People, Daniel’s, Peter’s, Medievo, Cum Laude, Cubic, Paniagua and La Perla Negra, just to name a few! Surprisingly, the music was mostly American or in English, with a few Spanish songs occasionally. I loved that they really didn’t play much rap and hip hop, but a lot of club music, classic rock, and some oldies once in a while, depending on the bar/club. Salamanca is such an amazing city to go out in because it’s very small but has a high concentration of fun places to go, and you constantly run into people you know. Additionally, there are no cover charges, drinks are pretty cheap, and no one has to worry about being the designated driver, driving home afterward, or getting an expensive taxi ride home because everything is within walking distance. It’s a pretty incredible place to enjoy Spain’s infamous nightlife, and I was so lucky to experience it while I’m young and with such nice new friends : )
The next weekend I stayed in the city again and had a few more great nights out. My friend, Cara, had met this bartender and planned to meet up with him and his friends one night, so I went along as her “wingwoman.” The friends turned out to be quite a bit older than we had thought, but they took us to this really neat bar/club that we had never heard of, bought us drinks, and were very nice. It was more of a local place off the main street, and was called La Posada de las Almas. We ended up having an awesome time, highlighted by our praise-worthy rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” if I do say so myself. It was pretty funny, and oh, how I wish that I had videotaped!
The following school week I could barely concentrate because I was so anxious to go to Barcelona that weekend with the API group. It was also my birthday weekend, and I was super excited to be turning 21 in such a vibrant, cosmopolitan city! The first day we arrived, my friends and I enjoyed walking down Las Ramblas (Barcelona’s famous, lively pedestrian street and the most likely place in Europe to be pickpocketed). The street has many touristy stores, restaurants, cafes, outdoor vendors, an exotic bird store, and street performers. To me, it’s a less fashionable version of Paris’ Champs Elysees and an exhilarating place just to wander about. We also walked around the Old City of Barcelona, known as the Barri Gotic, and visited the cathedral. At the cathedral, I saw the tomb of Barcelona’s patron saint, Eulalia, who was a local girl tortured 13 times by the Romans for her faith before she was ultimately crucified. In memory of each of her tortures, 13 geese have been maintained for hundreds of years in the adjoining cloister as a kind of alarm system. Later, we had wine and tapas at an Art Deco-inspired café, and I worked up the nerve to try something totally new: Galician-style octopus. I’ve had calamari plenty of times, but this was simple boiled octopus tentacles-all purple with big suckers and just a splash of vinegar oil for taste. I was quite proud of myself for actually eating it, and it was so yummy! Traveling and living in Europe has also taught me to “decapitate” my fish platters without any hesitation whatsoever. I used to say that “I will eat anything, as long as it’s not looking at me.” Now I say “I will eat anything, as long as it’s not moving on my plate!” : )
API took us on a guided bus tour of the city, and we visited Montjuic (“Mount of the Jews”) viewpoint, Casa Mila (the famous Gaudi building that looks like melting ice cream), Parc Guell (beautiful Candyland-esque Gaudi park overlooking the city), and the grounds of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Afterward, I saw the incredible Gaudi Catholic church known as La Sagrada Familia (“Holy Family”), and marveled in quiet bewilderment at the height and almost psychedelic architecture of the interior. The recent visit from the pope prompted many locals who had never seen the inside of the building to visit, and consequently, the queue took forever! (In Europe, people really don’t say the “line;” for some reason, they say “queue” and well, do what the Romans do, right?) Because the building is still under construction and the original architect died decades ago, other architects have left their individual marks on the church. One architect added a sculpture of a crucified Jesus without loincloth, sparking great controversy among conservatives. Some of the girls and I later went to this innovative buffet-style Japanese restaurant, where the food was prepared and sent around on a conveyor belt. We could take all we wanted, and after a full day of sight-seeing, we sure did!
Later on, my friends and I walked down Las Ramblas to La Boqueria, which is the MOST SPECTACULAR, COLORFUL OUTDOOR MARKET I HAVE EVER SEEN! What a feast for the senses! There was every kind of herb, cheese, fruit, vegetable, meat, seafood, nut, chocolate, and candy imaginable. I loved trying the fresh mixed fruit juices, sampling dark chocolates and rich cheeses, and savoring every bite of the fresh seafood. To be in Barcelona, Spain and visiting an outdoor market featuring huge octopus tentacles, pig heads, enormous pieces of meat, seafood such as lobsters, crabs, squid, open mouthed and with large teeth - it was probably one of the most foreign, cultural experiences I have had in my travels….and I absolutely, positively relished every minute of it. In fact, we went twice because it was so incredible! I also picked up one of my new favorite sayings there: “Save water, drink wine.” ; )
Afterward, we went on a wild goose chase trying to find El Museo Picasso in the Barri Gotic neightborhood. Once we found it, it was time to relax, breathe slowly, and enjoy the masterpieces around us. I don’t particularly care for modern art, but as I have learned more about the art itself and renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, I have developed an appreciation for it. I so enjoyed seeing some of the pieces we had discussed in my Arte Espanola class and learning about Picasso’s life. He was born in Malaga, Spain, but lived his early life in Madrid and Barcelona before settling in the artist’s haven of Montmartre in Paris shortly after the Spanish Civil War. He was very anti-Franco and openly criticized his dictatorship, vowing not to return to Spain while Franco was in power. Picasso died in 1973 and Franco outlived him by just two years, so he was not able to return to his beloved homeland before death – what a sad tragedy….
The last day in Barcelona was my birthday, and low and behold, the sun came shining through! It was a lovely day and our last few hours in Barcelona were the best. Some of us went back to Parc Guell, feeling that we didn’t truly get to enjoy it the first time. We ended up getting wonderful photos of the city and of the amazing architecture in the park, and thus, ended our time in Barcelona on a sunny note : )
Overall, I enjoyed being in Barcelona, but it wasn’t my favorite city; actually, it reminded me of a Spanish Los Angeles. Sounds weird I know, but both cities are open to the ocean on one side and to the snow-capped mountains on the other, with the city sprawled out in between. They are also very modern, cosmopolitan, big cities that are popular with tourists. I would really love to return to Barcelona someday when the city is at its best, during the spring or summertime. I felt that the rain and gloomy fog over the city, as well as our lack of time there, definitely put a bit of a damper on what Barcelona is best known for: its beaches, vibrancy, and many sights. So it simply gives me another reason to come back someday and explore more of what I didn’t get to see!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Lisboa, Portugal!
As promised in my last blog, I will tell you about the bliss that was my time in Lisbon, Portugal! I went for four days over Halloween weekend with my good friends, Marly, Eli (short for Elizabeth), and Rachel (everyone calls her Raquel Nueva or “New Rachel” because everyone met her after they met me; so that means that they call me Raquel Vieja or “Old Rachel” lol). From the beginning of my time here I knew that I wanted to visit Portugal because it is next to Spain, and I wanted to see the city of Porto (or Oporto in Portuguese). Porto is closer to Salamanca, and I figured it would be easier to get there. But as we started planning the trip, we realized that there is no train to Porto and that the bus ride was quite long as well, so the girls persuaded me to go to the capital, Lisbon, instead.
We departed from Salamanca at 4:30am on Friday morning and took a seven hour train ride to Lisbon (Lisboa in Portuguese). When we arrived in the city, we were welcomed by what looked like a hurricane!!! We had read that it would be raining during our time there, but we literally didn’t even want to walk out of the train station because everything was so crazy outside. We braced ourselves and found a taxi to our hostel, and although we were using our umbrellas, we still got drenched in the process. We could barely see anything out the window, only fog and rain, and after a few minutes, we all noticed that the taxi was literally driving through a flood. The water had risen way too high to be comfortable, and for a moment, I had this horrible feeling that we were in a very unsafe situation. As my friends and I started getting pretty worried, the taxi driver stopped the car. He didn’t speak English or Spanish and we had only just learned a few words of Portuguese, so when he tried to explain something to us, we just assumed that he was dropping us off near our hostel but that we would need to walk further to find it. Unfortunately, we had a general city map, but not one with all the streets on it, so as we walked through a good foot of rapidly flowing water, we tried to find our hostel (which was located in the touristy Baixa neighborhood). It was nearly impossible to walk, and Eli even took off her shoes! We couldn’t see a thing and had no idea where we were going, so we tried to enter a restaurant to wait out the storm, but they told us that they were closed because the water had started to flood the restaurant. A few doors down, a waiter ushered us in to another empty restaurant and sat us at a table, where we sat soaking wet and laughing at our pathetic selves. As we ate a delicious lunch of rice and seafood, the restaurant started to flood and the water just kept rising around us. The waiters even had mops and small pans that they were trying to get the water up with; it was ridiculous, and what was so funny is that everyone always raves about how amazing the weather is in Lisbon! Definitely not so for us!!! But in order to travel well, we have learned to simply take everything in stride, even when it means that the clothes in our bags were soaked too! Finally, the rain stopped, the flood ended, and we were able to leave to find our hostel. Ironically, it was only ten feet away from the restaurant, and we had quite a laugh over how stressed we had been trying to find it.
Although it did rain a lot during the rest of our stay in Portugal, we still managed to have a wonderful time. Even if we were soaked for a good part of the trip, broke a few umbrellas, had to take quite a few coffee breaks, constantly had to put on wet clothing, and my hair was a mess, we didn’t let that stop us from fully enjoying ourselves and the beautiful sights we visited! The city of Lisbon was so much more than I had ever expected, and I thought it was such a lovely city. We toured the Monastery of San Jeronimo and the Torre de Belem (tower), where I was extremely impressed by the stunning, fanciful architecture that literally looked like something out of the game, “Candyland.” We saw the Monument to the Discoveries and several other statues of famous explorers like Vasco da Gama and Magellan; all this brought back what we had learned in grade school of Portugal’s glory days of exploration, discovery, and of course, looting from the New World. The four of us ate the famous pastel de Belem pastries, which were spectacular. My mouth is watering just thinking about them! In the old Alfama neighborhood, we went to the Lisbon Cathedral and the Castel de Sao Jorge, which sits on a hill overlooking Lisbon and the ocean. Although it was raining and misty, the views of the city were still stunning, and I loved seeing the ocean again! Lisbon is a bright and colorful city, and feels so fresh and invigorating with the ocean running right through the port. I also loved all the pretty pastel colors of the city, as well as the adorable little antique shops that I haven’t been able to find in Salamanca! The girls and I had a great time drinking real Portuguese port wine, listening to live Fado music at dinner, meeting some nice Portuguese guys (they even took us out with them!), and going to a few clubs in the Barrio Alto neighborhood for Halloween. A highlight of the trip was taking a daytrip to Sintra, a city with unbelievably beautiful castles and palaces only 45 min. away from Lisbon. We met a very sweet French girl traveling alone, and together, we visited the lovely Palacio Nacional da Pena (circa 1840), the Castelo dos Mouros (circa 8th century!), and the Palacio e Quinta da Regaleira (circa 1900)(the incredible pics are on Facebook, so check them out!). Basically, we decided that we were all Portuguese princesses for the day, what with all the splendor around us, anyone would feel that way! The views from the castles and palaces atop these mountains were the best I have ever seen: truly, ridiculously, mind-blowing!
The girls and I were so sad to leave Lisbon, especially right as the weather started improving. Our last day was totally clear, and we took advantage of it to walk along the boardwalk and admire the lovely scenery. We said goodbye to the city and our new friends and hesitantly got on the train back home. I hoped that I would enjoy Portugal, but my expectations were completely surpassed. It is an exciting place, full of vitality, good wine, and amazing people, and I can’t wait to go back someday : )
I will probably be posting my next blog sometime next week and tell you about my API daytrip to Segovia, as well as about my upcoming trip this weekend to Barcelona, where I will celebrate my 21st birthday with my friends there! It should be awesome, and I hope to have many good things to tell in my next update. But for now, adeus and boa noite (goodbye and goodnight in Portuguese)!
We departed from Salamanca at 4:30am on Friday morning and took a seven hour train ride to Lisbon (Lisboa in Portuguese). When we arrived in the city, we were welcomed by what looked like a hurricane!!! We had read that it would be raining during our time there, but we literally didn’t even want to walk out of the train station because everything was so crazy outside. We braced ourselves and found a taxi to our hostel, and although we were using our umbrellas, we still got drenched in the process. We could barely see anything out the window, only fog and rain, and after a few minutes, we all noticed that the taxi was literally driving through a flood. The water had risen way too high to be comfortable, and for a moment, I had this horrible feeling that we were in a very unsafe situation. As my friends and I started getting pretty worried, the taxi driver stopped the car. He didn’t speak English or Spanish and we had only just learned a few words of Portuguese, so when he tried to explain something to us, we just assumed that he was dropping us off near our hostel but that we would need to walk further to find it. Unfortunately, we had a general city map, but not one with all the streets on it, so as we walked through a good foot of rapidly flowing water, we tried to find our hostel (which was located in the touristy Baixa neighborhood). It was nearly impossible to walk, and Eli even took off her shoes! We couldn’t see a thing and had no idea where we were going, so we tried to enter a restaurant to wait out the storm, but they told us that they were closed because the water had started to flood the restaurant. A few doors down, a waiter ushered us in to another empty restaurant and sat us at a table, where we sat soaking wet and laughing at our pathetic selves. As we ate a delicious lunch of rice and seafood, the restaurant started to flood and the water just kept rising around us. The waiters even had mops and small pans that they were trying to get the water up with; it was ridiculous, and what was so funny is that everyone always raves about how amazing the weather is in Lisbon! Definitely not so for us!!! But in order to travel well, we have learned to simply take everything in stride, even when it means that the clothes in our bags were soaked too! Finally, the rain stopped, the flood ended, and we were able to leave to find our hostel. Ironically, it was only ten feet away from the restaurant, and we had quite a laugh over how stressed we had been trying to find it.
Although it did rain a lot during the rest of our stay in Portugal, we still managed to have a wonderful time. Even if we were soaked for a good part of the trip, broke a few umbrellas, had to take quite a few coffee breaks, constantly had to put on wet clothing, and my hair was a mess, we didn’t let that stop us from fully enjoying ourselves and the beautiful sights we visited! The city of Lisbon was so much more than I had ever expected, and I thought it was such a lovely city. We toured the Monastery of San Jeronimo and the Torre de Belem (tower), where I was extremely impressed by the stunning, fanciful architecture that literally looked like something out of the game, “Candyland.” We saw the Monument to the Discoveries and several other statues of famous explorers like Vasco da Gama and Magellan; all this brought back what we had learned in grade school of Portugal’s glory days of exploration, discovery, and of course, looting from the New World. The four of us ate the famous pastel de Belem pastries, which were spectacular. My mouth is watering just thinking about them! In the old Alfama neighborhood, we went to the Lisbon Cathedral and the Castel de Sao Jorge, which sits on a hill overlooking Lisbon and the ocean. Although it was raining and misty, the views of the city were still stunning, and I loved seeing the ocean again! Lisbon is a bright and colorful city, and feels so fresh and invigorating with the ocean running right through the port. I also loved all the pretty pastel colors of the city, as well as the adorable little antique shops that I haven’t been able to find in Salamanca! The girls and I had a great time drinking real Portuguese port wine, listening to live Fado music at dinner, meeting some nice Portuguese guys (they even took us out with them!), and going to a few clubs in the Barrio Alto neighborhood for Halloween. A highlight of the trip was taking a daytrip to Sintra, a city with unbelievably beautiful castles and palaces only 45 min. away from Lisbon. We met a very sweet French girl traveling alone, and together, we visited the lovely Palacio Nacional da Pena (circa 1840), the Castelo dos Mouros (circa 8th century!), and the Palacio e Quinta da Regaleira (circa 1900)(the incredible pics are on Facebook, so check them out!). Basically, we decided that we were all Portuguese princesses for the day, what with all the splendor around us, anyone would feel that way! The views from the castles and palaces atop these mountains were the best I have ever seen: truly, ridiculously, mind-blowing!
The girls and I were so sad to leave Lisbon, especially right as the weather started improving. Our last day was totally clear, and we took advantage of it to walk along the boardwalk and admire the lovely scenery. We said goodbye to the city and our new friends and hesitantly got on the train back home. I hoped that I would enjoy Portugal, but my expectations were completely surpassed. It is an exciting place, full of vitality, good wine, and amazing people, and I can’t wait to go back someday : )
I will probably be posting my next blog sometime next week and tell you about my API daytrip to Segovia, as well as about my upcoming trip this weekend to Barcelona, where I will celebrate my 21st birthday with my friends there! It should be awesome, and I hope to have many good things to tell in my next update. But for now, adeus and boa noite (goodbye and goodnight in Portuguese)!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Paris Je t'aime
Oh, how time flies when you’re having fun!!! Never were truer words spoken. It’s been nearly a month since I’ve posted a blog, so I feel that an update is way past due. And so much has happened! As I drink my green tea and listen to the Nutcracker soundtrack (it gets me so excited for Christmas that I don’t even let myself listen to it before November), I will recount some highlights for you…
In mid-October, API took us on a day-excursion to the Sierra de Francia Mountains, located in the Salamanca region, for a day of hiking and beautiful scenery. Although I was still a little under the weather from the cold/cough that I had gotten after I returned from my trip to Florence, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. We hiked up to a peak on a mountain overlooking the colorful terrain, and it was so pretty. The city of Salamanca looks very much like the middle of California: it’s very dry and there is barely any greenery so we all agreed that it was lovely to actually be in nature! We even ate berries and figs from the plants along the way (people really don’t wash their fruit here, so it didn’t bother us too much lol). Many of us had recently come back from traveling all across Europe, so we had a great time getting caught up on everyone’s adventures. Inclusive of the whole group, we have traveled as far north as Copenhagen, Denmark, as far south as Marrakesh, Morocco, west as Dublin, Ireland, east as Vienna, Austria, and everywhere else in between! And the next weekend was our impending API trip to Paris!
Throughout that whole week, everyone was getting more and more excited to take our flight to Paris, especially because I was one of about only four of us that had been there before. Given the recent terrorist alert warnings for Europe (and particularly France), my parents were extremely apprehensive to even have me go. I started worrying about it as well, but in the end, we decided that I couldn’t live in fear of something like that. I am only here for four months, the trip was included in the cost of the program, and I just needed to go, keep my wits about me, and stay as safe as possible.
And I am oh so glad that I went! Our few days in Paris were completely unforgettable, and in many ways, a very different experience than the one I had had prior. When Joseph and I arrived in Paris in late June, it was after a 15 HOUR BUS RIDE FROM VENICE (if you recall, our train had been cancelled due to strikes in France, and the train company had arranged an overnight bus for us). But with no bathroom on the bus, uncomfortable clothes, and simply a seat to sleep in, we arrived in Paris quite dazed and confused. Also, after the quaint, small feel of Italian cities, it took me a day or two to warm up to beautiful, but very large and metropolitan, Paris. Once I got accustomed to the city, I loved it, and so I was excited to experience it again, in a different way and in a different season. When I had gone before, Paris was very warm, and my brother and I really couldn’t enjoy being outside very much. But Paris in the fall was absolutely perfect – some felt that it was too cold and rained too much, but I thought the temperature was invigorating and the rain made everything glow with a certain brilliance…the changing colors of the leaves in shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown were incredible to see, and I saw Paris in a whole new light…as a place not as overwhelming, but quite charming and feminine. During our stay in Paris, we had some amazing, authentic French food (including duck, crepes, croissants, and special cheeses) and also enjoyed some wonderful sweets (I would be embarrassed to admit how many hot chocolates and macaroons I had).
With the API group, we took a private tour around the city to see the highlights, and once again I loved visiting the Eiffel Tower and my favorite cathedral, Notre Dame. While the rest of the kids saw some of the really major sights that I did in June, I ventured off by myself once or twice to visit some lesser-known museums that I wanted to see. I went to the Musee Jacquemart-Andre, which is a beautiful old mansion that has been converted into a small museum featuring period furniture and numerous paintings. But by far, my favorite new thing that I did in Paris during this trip was going to the Musee Rodin! The sculptures by Auguste Rodin were unbelievable, and as is usual for me in art museums, I explored it by myself and was in complete bliss. To add to my repertoire of favorite art works that I have seen in person, I finally saw the famous sculptures, “The Kiss” and “The Thinker” (look up my pics on facebook!). “The Kiss” was beautiful to behold, and the embrace depicted in the sculpture is so loving and tender…it’s incredible to me that you can feel the passion of the man and woman through that piece of marble. “The Thinker” was amazing as well and called to mind the bookends of the sculpture that I convinced my mom to buy my brother for his 8th grade graduation; it was fitting because Joseph has endless curiosity and really takes the time to contemplate what he encounters. It made me miss him even more than I already do : (
Now comes the embarrassing part of my time in Paris and real evidence of my occasional stupidity….The night before I went to the Rodin Museum, I went out with some of my friends to a few bars/clubs and we stayed out very, very late. If I had never been to Paris before and my main concern was making full use of the day to see the sights, I wouldn’t have gone out late. But given that I didn’t need to have as much energy for the few big sights I was seeing, I thought it was okay to enjoy a taste of Paris’ nightlife. Let’s just say that I had barely slept, and I was pretty sleepy that day. After my somewhat delusional bliss at the Rodin, I left and started walking in the direction of the Luxembourg Gardens, where I had intended to meet up with some of my friends. As I started my walk, I had heard a kind of siren-like sound that wouldn’t stop, and I assumed it was just a broken siren on a police or ambulance car. With map in hand, I disregarded the noise because I was having such an enjoyable walk, admiring the buildings, the trees and flowers, and lovely Paris itself. After about 25 minutes of walking (through a light rain, I might add), I decided to take a break from walking and sit down to have a nice cup of hot chocolate. I walked into a quaint little café, sat down at a table, and quickly ordered my drink. The couple sitting next to me started giving me strange looks, which I just dismissed as Parisian haughtiness. After a moment, the man said, “you are making a noise,” and I responded, “what?”…I was so confused and had no idea what he was talking about until he pointed to my chest, and I realized that I had left the museum without returning their audio guide! It was my audio guide that had been making the siren-like noise once it left the perimeters of the museum, and I had been too tired and distracted to notice during my long walk. Tragically, the siren noise was actually kind of loud and there was no way whatsoever to turn it off; I couldn’t even remove the battery! I had no idea what to do because I was causing attention to myself now, it was beginning to rain hard, and I had just walked all that way and was exhausted. I asked them to stop making my drink and hurried outside. My first thought was to call my parents and ask their advice, but considering it was the middle of the night for them in California, I resisted the urge and instead called my program director, Maria. Quite flustered, I explained the situation to her, and she told me I could do one of two things: either I could be a good Samaritan and bring it back, or I could just get rid of it fast. So, as tempting as it was to simply toss it in the trash and run, I decided to do my good deed for the day and took a 6 euro taxi ride back to the museum to return the damn thing. No longer guilt ridden, but feeling quite sheepish, I quietly handed the audio guide to the security guy at the entrance and got out of there! That one will definitely go down in the book as another of my unending blonde moments haha…..
Except for that little mishap, Paris was ridiculously beautiful, and my friends and I had a great time together there. Once we arrived back in Salamanca, we were utterly exhausted, but nevertheless, three of my friends and I got back to planning our trip for the next weekend.......to Lisbon, Portugal! More on that later………
In mid-October, API took us on a day-excursion to the Sierra de Francia Mountains, located in the Salamanca region, for a day of hiking and beautiful scenery. Although I was still a little under the weather from the cold/cough that I had gotten after I returned from my trip to Florence, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. We hiked up to a peak on a mountain overlooking the colorful terrain, and it was so pretty. The city of Salamanca looks very much like the middle of California: it’s very dry and there is barely any greenery so we all agreed that it was lovely to actually be in nature! We even ate berries and figs from the plants along the way (people really don’t wash their fruit here, so it didn’t bother us too much lol). Many of us had recently come back from traveling all across Europe, so we had a great time getting caught up on everyone’s adventures. Inclusive of the whole group, we have traveled as far north as Copenhagen, Denmark, as far south as Marrakesh, Morocco, west as Dublin, Ireland, east as Vienna, Austria, and everywhere else in between! And the next weekend was our impending API trip to Paris!
Throughout that whole week, everyone was getting more and more excited to take our flight to Paris, especially because I was one of about only four of us that had been there before. Given the recent terrorist alert warnings for Europe (and particularly France), my parents were extremely apprehensive to even have me go. I started worrying about it as well, but in the end, we decided that I couldn’t live in fear of something like that. I am only here for four months, the trip was included in the cost of the program, and I just needed to go, keep my wits about me, and stay as safe as possible.
And I am oh so glad that I went! Our few days in Paris were completely unforgettable, and in many ways, a very different experience than the one I had had prior. When Joseph and I arrived in Paris in late June, it was after a 15 HOUR BUS RIDE FROM VENICE (if you recall, our train had been cancelled due to strikes in France, and the train company had arranged an overnight bus for us). But with no bathroom on the bus, uncomfortable clothes, and simply a seat to sleep in, we arrived in Paris quite dazed and confused. Also, after the quaint, small feel of Italian cities, it took me a day or two to warm up to beautiful, but very large and metropolitan, Paris. Once I got accustomed to the city, I loved it, and so I was excited to experience it again, in a different way and in a different season. When I had gone before, Paris was very warm, and my brother and I really couldn’t enjoy being outside very much. But Paris in the fall was absolutely perfect – some felt that it was too cold and rained too much, but I thought the temperature was invigorating and the rain made everything glow with a certain brilliance…the changing colors of the leaves in shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown were incredible to see, and I saw Paris in a whole new light…as a place not as overwhelming, but quite charming and feminine. During our stay in Paris, we had some amazing, authentic French food (including duck, crepes, croissants, and special cheeses) and also enjoyed some wonderful sweets (I would be embarrassed to admit how many hot chocolates and macaroons I had).
With the API group, we took a private tour around the city to see the highlights, and once again I loved visiting the Eiffel Tower and my favorite cathedral, Notre Dame. While the rest of the kids saw some of the really major sights that I did in June, I ventured off by myself once or twice to visit some lesser-known museums that I wanted to see. I went to the Musee Jacquemart-Andre, which is a beautiful old mansion that has been converted into a small museum featuring period furniture and numerous paintings. But by far, my favorite new thing that I did in Paris during this trip was going to the Musee Rodin! The sculptures by Auguste Rodin were unbelievable, and as is usual for me in art museums, I explored it by myself and was in complete bliss. To add to my repertoire of favorite art works that I have seen in person, I finally saw the famous sculptures, “The Kiss” and “The Thinker” (look up my pics on facebook!). “The Kiss” was beautiful to behold, and the embrace depicted in the sculpture is so loving and tender…it’s incredible to me that you can feel the passion of the man and woman through that piece of marble. “The Thinker” was amazing as well and called to mind the bookends of the sculpture that I convinced my mom to buy my brother for his 8th grade graduation; it was fitting because Joseph has endless curiosity and really takes the time to contemplate what he encounters. It made me miss him even more than I already do : (
Now comes the embarrassing part of my time in Paris and real evidence of my occasional stupidity….The night before I went to the Rodin Museum, I went out with some of my friends to a few bars/clubs and we stayed out very, very late. If I had never been to Paris before and my main concern was making full use of the day to see the sights, I wouldn’t have gone out late. But given that I didn’t need to have as much energy for the few big sights I was seeing, I thought it was okay to enjoy a taste of Paris’ nightlife. Let’s just say that I had barely slept, and I was pretty sleepy that day. After my somewhat delusional bliss at the Rodin, I left and started walking in the direction of the Luxembourg Gardens, where I had intended to meet up with some of my friends. As I started my walk, I had heard a kind of siren-like sound that wouldn’t stop, and I assumed it was just a broken siren on a police or ambulance car. With map in hand, I disregarded the noise because I was having such an enjoyable walk, admiring the buildings, the trees and flowers, and lovely Paris itself. After about 25 minutes of walking (through a light rain, I might add), I decided to take a break from walking and sit down to have a nice cup of hot chocolate. I walked into a quaint little café, sat down at a table, and quickly ordered my drink. The couple sitting next to me started giving me strange looks, which I just dismissed as Parisian haughtiness. After a moment, the man said, “you are making a noise,” and I responded, “what?”…I was so confused and had no idea what he was talking about until he pointed to my chest, and I realized that I had left the museum without returning their audio guide! It was my audio guide that had been making the siren-like noise once it left the perimeters of the museum, and I had been too tired and distracted to notice during my long walk. Tragically, the siren noise was actually kind of loud and there was no way whatsoever to turn it off; I couldn’t even remove the battery! I had no idea what to do because I was causing attention to myself now, it was beginning to rain hard, and I had just walked all that way and was exhausted. I asked them to stop making my drink and hurried outside. My first thought was to call my parents and ask their advice, but considering it was the middle of the night for them in California, I resisted the urge and instead called my program director, Maria. Quite flustered, I explained the situation to her, and she told me I could do one of two things: either I could be a good Samaritan and bring it back, or I could just get rid of it fast. So, as tempting as it was to simply toss it in the trash and run, I decided to do my good deed for the day and took a 6 euro taxi ride back to the museum to return the damn thing. No longer guilt ridden, but feeling quite sheepish, I quietly handed the audio guide to the security guy at the entrance and got out of there! That one will definitely go down in the book as another of my unending blonde moments haha…..
Except for that little mishap, Paris was ridiculously beautiful, and my friends and I had a great time together there. Once we arrived back in Salamanca, we were utterly exhausted, but nevertheless, three of my friends and I got back to planning our trip for the next weekend.......to Lisbon, Portugal! More on that later………
Friday, October 15, 2010
La Dolce Vita
So with sleepy eyes, no makeup, and a tremendous amount of anticipation to see Bri and Florence, I left my hostel the next morning and made my way to the metro. Although I hadn’t needed to use the metro in Madrid before, I didn’t exactly relish the idea of a 30 euro taxi-ride to the airport. So with map in hand, I mustered all my courage to tackle the metro line. And what do you know? Even before I got into the metro I had a problem buying my ticket! First, I couldn’t figure out how to work the machine, and then once I got my tickets, the machine ate them and then stopped working! But God was looking out for me because just then he sent me an angel in the form of an unbelievably sweet and helpful twenty-something year old Spanish guy! Between his broken English and my broken Spanish, he understood what the problem was and used the metro phone to call the desk and ask for assistance. He waited with me and explained it all to the metro worker when she showed up, saying that he didn’t have anywhere important to be. So, whoever you are out there, thank you sooo much for your kindness!
Thank goodness I have some experience with metro maps and taking various lines because the journey to the airport was a little confusing, and I had to ask for help a couple of times along the way. But everyone was so helpful and went out of their way to assist me, so I was very grateful when I finally made it to the airport with the perfect amount of time before my flight. Overall, from the time I had left Salamanca, I had had a good time in Madrid but had also experienced great stress, so my reward was waiting for me on my flight…..as luck would have it, I sat next to a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL young Italian man named Emiliano….it was the most blissful flight of my entire life! I had planned to take a nap, but that plan went right out the window as soon as I saw that lovely white smile, those chocolate brown eyes, and tan skin. He was probably in his mid-20s, lived in a small town outside of Florence, was extremely attentive and funny, and had been in Spain on business with his colleague. We talked throughout the entire two and a half hour flight, and I was terribly smitten. If it was socially appropriate, I really would have leaned over and kissed him right there in the plane! I was devastated when the plane landed and we said goodbye as he and his colleague went to pick up their bags.
After taking a taxi to my hostel, I called Bri to let her know that I was finally in Florence, and the first thing she said to me is “I hate you!” (in response to me telling her about my Italian man lol). That’s love, alright! : ) She said, “Why couldn’t that happen to me!?” Brianna my love, you have over two months left in Florence to have a real Italian love affair, but I only had five days so I had to make it quick! When I met up with Bri that night, we screamed with enthusiasm when we saw each other…it was so wonderful and comforting to see someone I’ve known for so long and missed so much.
Before I go into Florence, I must talk about something that was pretty upsetting for me during my trip. When I had been in Madrid, my mom had gone to the dentist with major pain in her mouth and teeth. They obviously didn’t really understand the severity of her pain because the dentist said she would probably need surgery and that she should come back a few days later to look into it further. It was while she was waiting to go back that the pain became unbearable and my dad took her to the emergency room, where she ended up having surgery in her mouth. I’m still a little confused on the details of the surgery but after my parents returned home, my mom had major complications following. Her entire jaw was abnormally swollen and an abscess was growing in her throat, making it difficult for her to breathe and eat. She was put on a breathing tube and stayed in intensive care at the hospital for four days. Physically, she said it was the hardest thing she had ever endured in her life. It has been two weeks now, and she hasn’t completely healed by any means, but she’s no longer in danger. Most of this occurred while I was in Florence, and it made me sick that something so scary would happen when I am not only absent, but halfway around the world and completely unable to be there. To make matters worse, my dad was so sleep-deprived and distraught that he wasn’t communicating with me as well as he normally would. He also didn’t want to worry me too much so he wasn’t telling me much. But this worried me even more! I was sick with concern, so I finally took matters into my own hands and called my Nana, figuring that she would know everything. She set me straight on some details, and I asked her to please talk to my dad for me. It worked wonders because the next time I talked to him he was much better and could talk to me honestly and logically. I needed this very badly because I was starting to get the feeling that I needed to fly home. The truth is that it did almost get to that point, but thank God everything turned out okay.
Although I was very concerned about my mom, my five days with Brianna in Florence were still unforgettable. The city is just stunning, and once again, I was reminded of the reasons why I love Italy and why I feel such a joie de vivre there: the friendly people, ridiculously incredible art and architecture, brightly colored buildings, and flowers in every window. I saw some things I had dreamt about for years. I went to the Galleria dell’ Accademia and admired Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the David; I literally gasped when I turned the corner and beheld him, in all of his muscular glory. Just as my Nana had said, he was simply beautiful, and I walked around him three times before I felt satisfied! I saw the Gates of Paradise doors and the Rape of the Sabine Woman sculpture, both of which I learned extensively about in my AP art history class senior year (thank you Dr. Steeber!). I drank the most amazing hot chocolate of my life in the Piazza della Signoria, visited the Boboli Gardens, and admired breathtaking views of Florence with Brianna at Piazzale Michelangelo, while drinking Bellinis (my favorite drink and one that you can’t find in Spain, believe me, I’ve asked plenty of times!).
Additionally, I spent some of the best hours of my life at the Galleria degli Uffizi and saw Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (I can die happy now); visited San Giovanni, which is the famous Baptistery, Santa Maria dei Fiore (more widely known as the Duomo!), and Ponte Vecchio (the gorgeous old bridge). Some irreplaceable memories I have include enjoying a wonderful, authentic Italian meal with Brianna at the invitation of her host mom; getting a good taste of Florence’s nightlife and singing Italian karoake with new friends from Quebec, Canada and Sydney, Australia, as well as other states in the US; watching proudly as Brianna impressed me with her Italian; and spending way too much time in this amazing stationary store, where we were instructed by a very friendly Italian man on how to make marbled paper by hand! The only bad part of it all was saying goodbye to Bri…I’m not going to lie; it was pretty hard on me. She is the only person I have seen in Europe that I know and will be the only one I see for the entire four months. How bittersweet it was to kiss on both cheeks European-style, and simply say “See you at Christmas!” I will miss her tremendously, so thank God we have skype!
Although Madrid and Florence were amazing, I was extremely happy to come home to Salamanca and see my friends here. For the time being, they are my family and I missed being with them, so it was blissful to see the cathedral spires come into view once again as my bus entered the city. After all of the experiences I had had during the past week, it felt like an eternity had passed, and I got all teary-eyed to be back in the city, back in my bed, and home…..
I got back to Salamanca a week and a half ago, and nothing too exciting has happened since. I was exhausted when I got back from my week-long trip, and I got sick immediately after. So, I’ve gone out a few times with friends, but have tried to lay low and get over this lovely cough I get pretty much every fall/winter. I started my new classes for the semester, and I am thoroughly enjoying my conversation and Spanish art classes. Now that I’ve been to the Prado, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen in Madrid and seen an abundance of Spanish art, it’s great fun to recognize the works of art that we discuss in class. I’ve also spent a good deal of time the past week writing and getting this blog updated, and a new load of pictures on Facebook will follow, so watch out for those!
I’m not going away this weekend, but on Sunday, I’m going on a day trip to the Sierra de Francia mountains located in the Salamanca region with my API group to do some hiking. I’m really looking forward to seeing the beautiful scenery, as well as visiting a traditional Salmantinian village on the way. And next Thursday, API is taking us to Paris for the weekend! I was there in June with my brother and fell in love with it, so I’m filled with anticipation to further explore “the city of lights.” So for now, I must go do some shopping for warmer clothes, but goodbye, adios, au revoir, arrivederci, sayonara, and vaya con Dios!
Thank goodness I have some experience with metro maps and taking various lines because the journey to the airport was a little confusing, and I had to ask for help a couple of times along the way. But everyone was so helpful and went out of their way to assist me, so I was very grateful when I finally made it to the airport with the perfect amount of time before my flight. Overall, from the time I had left Salamanca, I had had a good time in Madrid but had also experienced great stress, so my reward was waiting for me on my flight…..as luck would have it, I sat next to a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL young Italian man named Emiliano….it was the most blissful flight of my entire life! I had planned to take a nap, but that plan went right out the window as soon as I saw that lovely white smile, those chocolate brown eyes, and tan skin. He was probably in his mid-20s, lived in a small town outside of Florence, was extremely attentive and funny, and had been in Spain on business with his colleague. We talked throughout the entire two and a half hour flight, and I was terribly smitten. If it was socially appropriate, I really would have leaned over and kissed him right there in the plane! I was devastated when the plane landed and we said goodbye as he and his colleague went to pick up their bags.
After taking a taxi to my hostel, I called Bri to let her know that I was finally in Florence, and the first thing she said to me is “I hate you!” (in response to me telling her about my Italian man lol). That’s love, alright! : ) She said, “Why couldn’t that happen to me!?” Brianna my love, you have over two months left in Florence to have a real Italian love affair, but I only had five days so I had to make it quick! When I met up with Bri that night, we screamed with enthusiasm when we saw each other…it was so wonderful and comforting to see someone I’ve known for so long and missed so much.
Before I go into Florence, I must talk about something that was pretty upsetting for me during my trip. When I had been in Madrid, my mom had gone to the dentist with major pain in her mouth and teeth. They obviously didn’t really understand the severity of her pain because the dentist said she would probably need surgery and that she should come back a few days later to look into it further. It was while she was waiting to go back that the pain became unbearable and my dad took her to the emergency room, where she ended up having surgery in her mouth. I’m still a little confused on the details of the surgery but after my parents returned home, my mom had major complications following. Her entire jaw was abnormally swollen and an abscess was growing in her throat, making it difficult for her to breathe and eat. She was put on a breathing tube and stayed in intensive care at the hospital for four days. Physically, she said it was the hardest thing she had ever endured in her life. It has been two weeks now, and she hasn’t completely healed by any means, but she’s no longer in danger. Most of this occurred while I was in Florence, and it made me sick that something so scary would happen when I am not only absent, but halfway around the world and completely unable to be there. To make matters worse, my dad was so sleep-deprived and distraught that he wasn’t communicating with me as well as he normally would. He also didn’t want to worry me too much so he wasn’t telling me much. But this worried me even more! I was sick with concern, so I finally took matters into my own hands and called my Nana, figuring that she would know everything. She set me straight on some details, and I asked her to please talk to my dad for me. It worked wonders because the next time I talked to him he was much better and could talk to me honestly and logically. I needed this very badly because I was starting to get the feeling that I needed to fly home. The truth is that it did almost get to that point, but thank God everything turned out okay.
Although I was very concerned about my mom, my five days with Brianna in Florence were still unforgettable. The city is just stunning, and once again, I was reminded of the reasons why I love Italy and why I feel such a joie de vivre there: the friendly people, ridiculously incredible art and architecture, brightly colored buildings, and flowers in every window. I saw some things I had dreamt about for years. I went to the Galleria dell’ Accademia and admired Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the David; I literally gasped when I turned the corner and beheld him, in all of his muscular glory. Just as my Nana had said, he was simply beautiful, and I walked around him three times before I felt satisfied! I saw the Gates of Paradise doors and the Rape of the Sabine Woman sculpture, both of which I learned extensively about in my AP art history class senior year (thank you Dr. Steeber!). I drank the most amazing hot chocolate of my life in the Piazza della Signoria, visited the Boboli Gardens, and admired breathtaking views of Florence with Brianna at Piazzale Michelangelo, while drinking Bellinis (my favorite drink and one that you can’t find in Spain, believe me, I’ve asked plenty of times!).
Additionally, I spent some of the best hours of my life at the Galleria degli Uffizi and saw Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (I can die happy now); visited San Giovanni, which is the famous Baptistery, Santa Maria dei Fiore (more widely known as the Duomo!), and Ponte Vecchio (the gorgeous old bridge). Some irreplaceable memories I have include enjoying a wonderful, authentic Italian meal with Brianna at the invitation of her host mom; getting a good taste of Florence’s nightlife and singing Italian karoake with new friends from Quebec, Canada and Sydney, Australia, as well as other states in the US; watching proudly as Brianna impressed me with her Italian; and spending way too much time in this amazing stationary store, where we were instructed by a very friendly Italian man on how to make marbled paper by hand! The only bad part of it all was saying goodbye to Bri…I’m not going to lie; it was pretty hard on me. She is the only person I have seen in Europe that I know and will be the only one I see for the entire four months. How bittersweet it was to kiss on both cheeks European-style, and simply say “See you at Christmas!” I will miss her tremendously, so thank God we have skype!
Although Madrid and Florence were amazing, I was extremely happy to come home to Salamanca and see my friends here. For the time being, they are my family and I missed being with them, so it was blissful to see the cathedral spires come into view once again as my bus entered the city. After all of the experiences I had had during the past week, it felt like an eternity had passed, and I got all teary-eyed to be back in the city, back in my bed, and home…..
I got back to Salamanca a week and a half ago, and nothing too exciting has happened since. I was exhausted when I got back from my week-long trip, and I got sick immediately after. So, I’ve gone out a few times with friends, but have tried to lay low and get over this lovely cough I get pretty much every fall/winter. I started my new classes for the semester, and I am thoroughly enjoying my conversation and Spanish art classes. Now that I’ve been to the Prado, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen in Madrid and seen an abundance of Spanish art, it’s great fun to recognize the works of art that we discuss in class. I’ve also spent a good deal of time the past week writing and getting this blog updated, and a new load of pictures on Facebook will follow, so watch out for those!
I’m not going away this weekend, but on Sunday, I’m going on a day trip to the Sierra de Francia mountains located in the Salamanca region with my API group to do some hiking. I’m really looking forward to seeing the beautiful scenery, as well as visiting a traditional Salmantinian village on the way. And next Thursday, API is taking us to Paris for the weekend! I was there in June with my brother and fell in love with it, so I’m filled with anticipation to further explore “the city of lights.” So for now, I must go do some shopping for warmer clothes, but goodbye, adios, au revoir, arrivederci, sayonara, and vaya con Dios!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Chaos, Art, and of course, Sangria
It’s been a little while since I’ve written, but I’ve been quite the busy bee! About three weeks ago, I took my finals for my first intensive month. Two of them weren’t that bad, but the grammar final was ridiculously difficult! It was as if my professor felt the need to remind us of how little we know and how much we still have to learn about Spanish! My only consolation was that the other students didn’t do great either, so I didn’t feel too horrible about it. I think I ended up doing pretty well in my classes, although I haven’t gotten my official grades back yet.
Once my finals were over, I had a long weekend before starting my regular classes for the semester. For this break, I planned to visit one of my best friends, Brianna, in Florence, Italy, where she is studying abroad this semester. We have known each other since we were six, and it was such a comforting thought that I was going to see someone who actually knows me back home. Unfortunately, it was not a very easy trip to plan! As with many things in Spain, traveling is complicated, often involving quite a bit of research in order for everything to run smoothly. And I had been informed by my resident directors, as well as by the numerous signs posted all around Salamanca, that there was a general strike (all over Spain) planned for Wednesday, September 29, which of course was the day I was planning to leave! To get to Florence, I knew that I needed to take a bus to Madrid from Salamanca and then a flight from Madrid to Florence. However, if I left Salamanca on the 29th I would run the risk of having my bus to Madrid cancelled. So, with the assumption that my flight on the 29th would still go, I decided to skip my last day of classes on Wednesday and instead leave on Tuesday after school. My parents were a little apprehensive about my going to Madrid and staying overnight in a hostel alone, so I was excited when I found out that some of the other kids in my program were planning on doing the same thing before their flight to Dublin. So we all planned to go together and stay in a hostel overnight before I separated from the group for my flight to Florence.
Tuesday arrived, and I rushed home from school to finish my last bit of packing before grabbing a taxi to the bus station. I was very pressed for time and was just kind of throwing clothes into my bag, trying not to go over the carry-on weight limit (but I had no way to check because I don’t have a scale, so it was kind of a guessing game). Right before I needed to leave, I checked my email, and much to my dismay, my flight for the following day had been cancelled! I was so upset that I called my poor parents at 3:30 in the morning California time! Regardless, I was completely determined to make it to Florence to see Bri, so my mom and I decided that I should still make that bus to Madrid and try to figure out an alternative when I arrived.
After the two and a half hour bus ride to Madrid, the other API kids ended up deciding to stay in a hostel closer to the airport because the woman at the information desk said that it would be very difficult to get to the airport from the city center the next day due to the strike. My mom ended up making some phone calls to the Italian airline for me, and rescheduled my flight for Thursday afternoon, which meant that I would be staying by myself in Madrid for two nights before leaving for Florence. So this flight change had many consequences: I had to be by myself for much longer than I had anticipated, change my booking for the hostel in Madrid, as well as the one in Florence, change the date of the bus ride back to Salamanca, and inform my teachers that I would not be there for the first day of school (due to the fact that my trip got pushed back a day, I stayed a day later in Florence because I wanted to get all I could out of the expensive flight). And all this I needed to do without access to the internet or a printer!!!
Our bus from Salamanca took us straight to the airport in Madrid, where I separated from the rest of the group – they went to their hostel, and I began a two hour long wild goose chase all over the airport trying to get my flight changed (this was before I handed the problem over to my mom, who handled it all beautifully : ). Exhausted, hungry, and a tad nervous about being completely alone in the big city, I took a very expensive taxi ride to my hostel in the city center. All I kept thinking was “thank God that Joseph and I went to Europe this summer;” with all the planning and navigating I did before and during that three week trip, I really learned how to travel and handle difficult situations like these. I arrived at my hostel, settled into the room that I shared with five other people (very comfy cozy if you know what I mean lol), and went to sleep early.
Halfway through the night, I awoke with such a shock, unaware of where I was for a moment. This gorgeous boy from Belgium was telling me that he was sorry to wake me up, but I was in his bed! I was so dazed and enamored at the same time that I didn’t respond right away. Finally, I remembered that the guy at the front desk who showed me which bed was mine had seemed a little absent-minded and had probably booked one too many people in the room. I explained this to the boy, and after a few minutes of confusion and insisting to the new guy on the night shift at the hostel that I had definitely been assigned to that bed, the Belgian boy was given the bed next to me ( which someone may have paid for, but wasn’t there to use it). Once I sat up in bed, introduced myself, and talked to him a bit, he was very sweet about the whole thing and I was so distracted that I almost couldn’t concentrate on getting back to bed!
The next morning, I was determined to make the best of my full day alone in Madrid, so I did some sight-seeing that I had missed out on while I was there for orientation. I’m becoming pretty independent and I can definitely enjoy the sights on my own, so I actually had a lovely day. I went to a modern art museum called the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, specifically to see one of the most important paintings of all time, Picasso’s “Guernica.” The painting is moving, but when you know the story behind it, it becomes infinitely more powerful. Before World War II and during the Spanish Civil War, Franco gave Hitler permission to use the Basque town of Guernica (which is located in northern Spain) as a practice saturation-bombing site; the town was nearly obliterated and many, many civilians died. In an abstract, Cubist style, Picasso depicts the victims of the bombing: a woman looks up at the sky in despair, horses scream, a man falls from his horse and dies, and most horrible to me, a sobbing woman holds her dead child in her arms. I had read a good deal about this painting before I saw it, but nothing prepared me for how I felt when I approached it. First, I gasped in amazement, thrilled to see something so impressive…then, as I took it all in, I began to cry, harder and harder. It was just so terribly sad – the horror of war and of the innocent lives lost...
After spending a good deal of time with the painting, I explored the rest of the museum. I would definitely not consider myself a “fan” of modern art, but I thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed contemplating the works of such famous Spanish artists as Joan Miro, Juan Gris, Francisco Goya, and of course, Salvador Dali. I went at my own pace and loved every single delicious minute of it. After leaving the museum, I took a nice little break in the Royal Botanical Gardens, where I spent a lazy hour or so listening to the birds and admiring the lovely, exotic flowers. Needing some energy, I grabbed a frappuccino at Starbucks (the only one I have seen in Spain) and headed over to the Thyssen –Bornemisza art museum, which basically houses major works by minor artists and minor works by major artists. This was a wonderful place to slowly end my art-filled day, and although it came with some major hassles, it was so nice to have that time in the city in which to finish my Madrid sight-seeing agenda.
Knowing that I was leaving straight for the airport the next morning, I walked to the Plaza Mayor (not as awe-inspiring as the one in Salamanca, but still lovely and beautiful in its own way) and had an AMAZING Middle Eastern dinner, complete with lamb, pita bread, and hummus. I don’t know if I was really hungry or just super excited to be eating something other than ham (pretty much the staple food of Salamanca), but I practically scarfed down the entire plate!
Feeling very satisfied with myself, I started to make my way back to my hostel, when I was confronted with the strike. Thousands of people were marching and biking through the streets of Madrid, blocking off streets everywhere so that people couldn’t get to work. As they walked through the main streets, they held large banners listing their protests; they wore red T-shirts, and chanted along with the crowd. “La huelga general,” or general strike, was much bigger than I had anticipated. Most domestic and international flights were cancelled, almost everything was closed, and “cerrado” (meaning “closed”) stickers had been put on literally every single store, building, and lamppost. Understandably, my parents were extremely nervous for me to be completely alone in the capital city on the day of this strike. Although I did not feel unsafe and the strike was in no way violent, the large, boisterous crowd was a little overwhelming to me. But I had to essentially join the strike to get back to my hostel, as they had blocked off the main street it was located off of.
Because I had been alone all day, I was definitely in the mood to do some mingling, and that night I decided to go on a pub crawl with the other kids in my hostel. I met four guys from San Jose, California, a girl from Quebec and two other girls from Toronto who were going to school in England. I had a marvelous time (with a little help from sangria haha), and let’s just say that maybe I didn’t come in as early as I should have!
I think I’ve written enough for now, so in a day or two I will post my next blog about my journey to Florence and my time there! Adios!
Once my finals were over, I had a long weekend before starting my regular classes for the semester. For this break, I planned to visit one of my best friends, Brianna, in Florence, Italy, where she is studying abroad this semester. We have known each other since we were six, and it was such a comforting thought that I was going to see someone who actually knows me back home. Unfortunately, it was not a very easy trip to plan! As with many things in Spain, traveling is complicated, often involving quite a bit of research in order for everything to run smoothly. And I had been informed by my resident directors, as well as by the numerous signs posted all around Salamanca, that there was a general strike (all over Spain) planned for Wednesday, September 29, which of course was the day I was planning to leave! To get to Florence, I knew that I needed to take a bus to Madrid from Salamanca and then a flight from Madrid to Florence. However, if I left Salamanca on the 29th I would run the risk of having my bus to Madrid cancelled. So, with the assumption that my flight on the 29th would still go, I decided to skip my last day of classes on Wednesday and instead leave on Tuesday after school. My parents were a little apprehensive about my going to Madrid and staying overnight in a hostel alone, so I was excited when I found out that some of the other kids in my program were planning on doing the same thing before their flight to Dublin. So we all planned to go together and stay in a hostel overnight before I separated from the group for my flight to Florence.
Tuesday arrived, and I rushed home from school to finish my last bit of packing before grabbing a taxi to the bus station. I was very pressed for time and was just kind of throwing clothes into my bag, trying not to go over the carry-on weight limit (but I had no way to check because I don’t have a scale, so it was kind of a guessing game). Right before I needed to leave, I checked my email, and much to my dismay, my flight for the following day had been cancelled! I was so upset that I called my poor parents at 3:30 in the morning California time! Regardless, I was completely determined to make it to Florence to see Bri, so my mom and I decided that I should still make that bus to Madrid and try to figure out an alternative when I arrived.
After the two and a half hour bus ride to Madrid, the other API kids ended up deciding to stay in a hostel closer to the airport because the woman at the information desk said that it would be very difficult to get to the airport from the city center the next day due to the strike. My mom ended up making some phone calls to the Italian airline for me, and rescheduled my flight for Thursday afternoon, which meant that I would be staying by myself in Madrid for two nights before leaving for Florence. So this flight change had many consequences: I had to be by myself for much longer than I had anticipated, change my booking for the hostel in Madrid, as well as the one in Florence, change the date of the bus ride back to Salamanca, and inform my teachers that I would not be there for the first day of school (due to the fact that my trip got pushed back a day, I stayed a day later in Florence because I wanted to get all I could out of the expensive flight). And all this I needed to do without access to the internet or a printer!!!
Our bus from Salamanca took us straight to the airport in Madrid, where I separated from the rest of the group – they went to their hostel, and I began a two hour long wild goose chase all over the airport trying to get my flight changed (this was before I handed the problem over to my mom, who handled it all beautifully : ). Exhausted, hungry, and a tad nervous about being completely alone in the big city, I took a very expensive taxi ride to my hostel in the city center. All I kept thinking was “thank God that Joseph and I went to Europe this summer;” with all the planning and navigating I did before and during that three week trip, I really learned how to travel and handle difficult situations like these. I arrived at my hostel, settled into the room that I shared with five other people (very comfy cozy if you know what I mean lol), and went to sleep early.
Halfway through the night, I awoke with such a shock, unaware of where I was for a moment. This gorgeous boy from Belgium was telling me that he was sorry to wake me up, but I was in his bed! I was so dazed and enamored at the same time that I didn’t respond right away. Finally, I remembered that the guy at the front desk who showed me which bed was mine had seemed a little absent-minded and had probably booked one too many people in the room. I explained this to the boy, and after a few minutes of confusion and insisting to the new guy on the night shift at the hostel that I had definitely been assigned to that bed, the Belgian boy was given the bed next to me ( which someone may have paid for, but wasn’t there to use it). Once I sat up in bed, introduced myself, and talked to him a bit, he was very sweet about the whole thing and I was so distracted that I almost couldn’t concentrate on getting back to bed!
The next morning, I was determined to make the best of my full day alone in Madrid, so I did some sight-seeing that I had missed out on while I was there for orientation. I’m becoming pretty independent and I can definitely enjoy the sights on my own, so I actually had a lovely day. I went to a modern art museum called the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, specifically to see one of the most important paintings of all time, Picasso’s “Guernica.” The painting is moving, but when you know the story behind it, it becomes infinitely more powerful. Before World War II and during the Spanish Civil War, Franco gave Hitler permission to use the Basque town of Guernica (which is located in northern Spain) as a practice saturation-bombing site; the town was nearly obliterated and many, many civilians died. In an abstract, Cubist style, Picasso depicts the victims of the bombing: a woman looks up at the sky in despair, horses scream, a man falls from his horse and dies, and most horrible to me, a sobbing woman holds her dead child in her arms. I had read a good deal about this painting before I saw it, but nothing prepared me for how I felt when I approached it. First, I gasped in amazement, thrilled to see something so impressive…then, as I took it all in, I began to cry, harder and harder. It was just so terribly sad – the horror of war and of the innocent lives lost...
After spending a good deal of time with the painting, I explored the rest of the museum. I would definitely not consider myself a “fan” of modern art, but I thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed contemplating the works of such famous Spanish artists as Joan Miro, Juan Gris, Francisco Goya, and of course, Salvador Dali. I went at my own pace and loved every single delicious minute of it. After leaving the museum, I took a nice little break in the Royal Botanical Gardens, where I spent a lazy hour or so listening to the birds and admiring the lovely, exotic flowers. Needing some energy, I grabbed a frappuccino at Starbucks (the only one I have seen in Spain) and headed over to the Thyssen –Bornemisza art museum, which basically houses major works by minor artists and minor works by major artists. This was a wonderful place to slowly end my art-filled day, and although it came with some major hassles, it was so nice to have that time in the city in which to finish my Madrid sight-seeing agenda.
Knowing that I was leaving straight for the airport the next morning, I walked to the Plaza Mayor (not as awe-inspiring as the one in Salamanca, but still lovely and beautiful in its own way) and had an AMAZING Middle Eastern dinner, complete with lamb, pita bread, and hummus. I don’t know if I was really hungry or just super excited to be eating something other than ham (pretty much the staple food of Salamanca), but I practically scarfed down the entire plate!
Feeling very satisfied with myself, I started to make my way back to my hostel, when I was confronted with the strike. Thousands of people were marching and biking through the streets of Madrid, blocking off streets everywhere so that people couldn’t get to work. As they walked through the main streets, they held large banners listing their protests; they wore red T-shirts, and chanted along with the crowd. “La huelga general,” or general strike, was much bigger than I had anticipated. Most domestic and international flights were cancelled, almost everything was closed, and “cerrado” (meaning “closed”) stickers had been put on literally every single store, building, and lamppost. Understandably, my parents were extremely nervous for me to be completely alone in the capital city on the day of this strike. Although I did not feel unsafe and the strike was in no way violent, the large, boisterous crowd was a little overwhelming to me. But I had to essentially join the strike to get back to my hostel, as they had blocked off the main street it was located off of.
Because I had been alone all day, I was definitely in the mood to do some mingling, and that night I decided to go on a pub crawl with the other kids in my hostel. I met four guys from San Jose, California, a girl from Quebec and two other girls from Toronto who were going to school in England. I had a marvelous time (with a little help from sangria haha), and let’s just say that maybe I didn’t come in as early as I should have!
I think I’ve written enough for now, so in a day or two I will post my next blog about my journey to Florence and my time there! Adios!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Home Is Where the Heart Is
So, first of all I must express how extremely happy I am to have someone I know in my same time zone!!! Brianna has been in Florence for about two weeks now, and it has been so nice to skype with her. Spain is a full nine hours ahead of California, so it has been very difficult to talk to you all because you’re never online when I am! As I told my mom last night, I am convinced that you should all simply adjust to my time zone for the next three and a half months so that I can talk to you more lol. But I did anticipate this, I suppose, and thank goodness I’m blogging so you can keep up with me and the craziness that is Spain!
This last week has been quite eventful. My roommate, Hanna, was having trouble sleeping in the bunk bed that we shared, and she requested to have a single room. Because of the housing arrangements at my residencia, there was not a single room available for her, so she ended up moving out and into the other residencia. This was a little hard on me because I was basically alone, with one other girl in the residencia, but I have gotten used to having the nice, big room all to myself. The other Spanish students (six in all) moved in on Saturday, and so far they seem pretty friendly. However, I can’t tell you how intimidating it is to sit down to lunch with eight other students all speaking to one another in Spanish at the same time, and attempting to talk a little without sounding like a complete idiot! For now, I’m primarily listening and trying to understand what they’re saying; they speak very quickly and with multiple accents, so it will definitely be a work in progress. The other API students will arrive on Friday, and I believe three or four of them will be living in my residencia, so it will be nice to have some English-speaking companions.
Over this last weekend, seven of the other API students and I went on a little trip to Caceres and Merida, located in the region called Extremadura. Salamanca is in the region of Castilla y Leon, so Extremadura is just south of us. We took a three hour bus from Salamanca to Caceres, and were appalled at what we found when we arrived. Caceres had experienced a major storm just the day before, complete with massive flooding and extremely large hail that wreaked havoc on the city. We walked out of the bus station and on our way to the hostel, I probably saw about fifty dead birds lying on the ground, which was pretty upsetting for me. After about 20 minutes of walking, I realized that the kids didn’t even have a real map of the city, and we didn’t really know where we were going. We stopped a middle-aged Spanish man and asked for directions, but all he could tell us is that we were definitely going in the wrong direction. The other kids just didn’t want to pay the few euros for the taxi, but when you arrive for the first time in a new city and don’t know exactly where your accommodations are, it really is best to pay just for the convenience and security. So I decided that I was going to pay for the taxi and go myself. Everyone else walked the distance totally unsure of where they were going. Let’s just say that I’m sooo glad that I did that trip with my brother in the summer and learned how and how not to travel because I got to the hostel a good half hour before everyone else, picked the bed that I wanted, and watched out the window while it started to pour outside. Everyone was just a little upset, tired, and very wet by the time they showed up. But at least we made it!
It was my first experience in a hostel, and it actually went surprisingly well. The hostel cost 20 euros per person per night, including breakfast, and six of us were able to share one large room together. It was centrally located, clean, and perfectly adequate for our group, and as long as I’m careful, I think hostels will be a viable, inexpensive option for my other traveling excursions. In the hostel, we met a guy from New Zealand who was traveling the Camino de Santiago on foot with two family members. The Camino de Santiago or the “Way of Saint James” is an approximately five week long pilgrimage. Originating in the Middle Ages, pilgrims would walk hundreds of miles from southern France and across northern Spain to pay homage to the remains of Saint James in his namesake city. Today, people still take the journey, some on foot and others on bikes. Some take the journey for religious reasons, others are trying to change their situation by getting away and reflecting on the direction that their life is headed. He told us that he had gotten into some “alternative lifestyle habits,” and although he was a little on the strange side, I thought it was wonderful that he was pursuing such an admirable goal to turn his life around.
The modern city of Caceres is not impressive, but the real treasures lie within the city. There have been settlements in Caceres since prehistoric times, but the city itself was founded by the Romans in 25 BC. The historical center is a completely preserved medieval town with meandering, cobblestone streets, lovely churches, medieval palaces (mostly owned by wealthy conquistadors that returned to Spain), and a stone wall encircling it all. We spent Friday night and most of Saturday walking this area and sight-seeing. And most exciting of all, we bought sweets from the nuns, just like I had read about in my Spain travel book! Convents all over Spain are famous for different sweets and pastries that the cloistered nuns make and sell through little turntables in the wall. We walked into this small room off the street, looked in their display window to pick out what we wanted, and then approached the turntable where a nun peaked out the side to ask for our order. I paid the nun two euros, and after a moment, the table turned and there was a large bag of seven “tortas de hojaldras,” which are a kind of crispy, sugary pastry. It was such a fun, cultural experience, and we took lots of pictures because we were all so excited! Later in the day, we went to a little Middle Eastern restaurant/hookah bar (most people weren’t there for the hookah) called Arabia, and had cold drinks in the vine-covered terrace in the back. It was so quaint, with a Moroccan style fountain, plush, brightly-colored cushions, and mood music. It really inspired me to try and make it to Morocco while I’m here! We had an amazing time just relaxing and talking about how fantastic and lucky we are to be having this experience in Spain together…
That evening we took a train ride to Merida, formerly known as Lusitania, which was the capital of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula. We found the Plaza Mayor and did some exploring, but came back to our hostel early (for Spain, that is) because we were all pretty tired. This second hostel was not as nice as the first, but for 15 euros a piece, it was perfectly fine. The mattress was a little shabby looking but I wasn’t worried because I used my handy-dandy sleep sack that Jo gave me before I left. In this hostel, we were divided up and two girls needed to share a double bed, and since I’m pretty easygoing, I volunteered. Elisa was my roommate, and she and I had quite a laugh because after a little while, it became very apparent that there was some passionate, LOUD, how shall I say it?…canoodling going on in the room next to us! The next morning, as the rooster crowed (literally) it happened again, and we just laughed it off, but it was kind of weird. Sunday we had a full day visiting the Museo Nacional de Romano and exploring the Roman ruins, which included an amphitheater, another theater, and a large aqueduct. After going to Rome and Pompeii this summer, I knew I would think these were interesting, but I was pleasantly surprised at how impressive the ruins and the giant, reconstructed mosaics in the museum were. We also went to a Muslim fortress, with an amazing passageway that leads to an underground reservoir.
So after a very busy but totally enjoyable weekend, we got on our five hour bus back to Salamanca. As the cathedral spires came into view, I became so elated to be back home in my beautiful little city. But what a funny word “home” is….I’ve only been here for three weeks and yet, this has become my second home, a place where I feel happy, comfortable, and cared for. It’s a lovely feeling, the same kind that I get when I drink a cup of hot chocolate, put on my fuzzy pink socks, and cozy up on the couch for a marathon of old movies. I will always, always be happy to come home to California, but in the meantime, I have learned that home is where your heart is, and right now, my heart is here in this lovely Spanish city.
This last week has been quite eventful. My roommate, Hanna, was having trouble sleeping in the bunk bed that we shared, and she requested to have a single room. Because of the housing arrangements at my residencia, there was not a single room available for her, so she ended up moving out and into the other residencia. This was a little hard on me because I was basically alone, with one other girl in the residencia, but I have gotten used to having the nice, big room all to myself. The other Spanish students (six in all) moved in on Saturday, and so far they seem pretty friendly. However, I can’t tell you how intimidating it is to sit down to lunch with eight other students all speaking to one another in Spanish at the same time, and attempting to talk a little without sounding like a complete idiot! For now, I’m primarily listening and trying to understand what they’re saying; they speak very quickly and with multiple accents, so it will definitely be a work in progress. The other API students will arrive on Friday, and I believe three or four of them will be living in my residencia, so it will be nice to have some English-speaking companions.
Over this last weekend, seven of the other API students and I went on a little trip to Caceres and Merida, located in the region called Extremadura. Salamanca is in the region of Castilla y Leon, so Extremadura is just south of us. We took a three hour bus from Salamanca to Caceres, and were appalled at what we found when we arrived. Caceres had experienced a major storm just the day before, complete with massive flooding and extremely large hail that wreaked havoc on the city. We walked out of the bus station and on our way to the hostel, I probably saw about fifty dead birds lying on the ground, which was pretty upsetting for me. After about 20 minutes of walking, I realized that the kids didn’t even have a real map of the city, and we didn’t really know where we were going. We stopped a middle-aged Spanish man and asked for directions, but all he could tell us is that we were definitely going in the wrong direction. The other kids just didn’t want to pay the few euros for the taxi, but when you arrive for the first time in a new city and don’t know exactly where your accommodations are, it really is best to pay just for the convenience and security. So I decided that I was going to pay for the taxi and go myself. Everyone else walked the distance totally unsure of where they were going. Let’s just say that I’m sooo glad that I did that trip with my brother in the summer and learned how and how not to travel because I got to the hostel a good half hour before everyone else, picked the bed that I wanted, and watched out the window while it started to pour outside. Everyone was just a little upset, tired, and very wet by the time they showed up. But at least we made it!
It was my first experience in a hostel, and it actually went surprisingly well. The hostel cost 20 euros per person per night, including breakfast, and six of us were able to share one large room together. It was centrally located, clean, and perfectly adequate for our group, and as long as I’m careful, I think hostels will be a viable, inexpensive option for my other traveling excursions. In the hostel, we met a guy from New Zealand who was traveling the Camino de Santiago on foot with two family members. The Camino de Santiago or the “Way of Saint James” is an approximately five week long pilgrimage. Originating in the Middle Ages, pilgrims would walk hundreds of miles from southern France and across northern Spain to pay homage to the remains of Saint James in his namesake city. Today, people still take the journey, some on foot and others on bikes. Some take the journey for religious reasons, others are trying to change their situation by getting away and reflecting on the direction that their life is headed. He told us that he had gotten into some “alternative lifestyle habits,” and although he was a little on the strange side, I thought it was wonderful that he was pursuing such an admirable goal to turn his life around.
The modern city of Caceres is not impressive, but the real treasures lie within the city. There have been settlements in Caceres since prehistoric times, but the city itself was founded by the Romans in 25 BC. The historical center is a completely preserved medieval town with meandering, cobblestone streets, lovely churches, medieval palaces (mostly owned by wealthy conquistadors that returned to Spain), and a stone wall encircling it all. We spent Friday night and most of Saturday walking this area and sight-seeing. And most exciting of all, we bought sweets from the nuns, just like I had read about in my Spain travel book! Convents all over Spain are famous for different sweets and pastries that the cloistered nuns make and sell through little turntables in the wall. We walked into this small room off the street, looked in their display window to pick out what we wanted, and then approached the turntable where a nun peaked out the side to ask for our order. I paid the nun two euros, and after a moment, the table turned and there was a large bag of seven “tortas de hojaldras,” which are a kind of crispy, sugary pastry. It was such a fun, cultural experience, and we took lots of pictures because we were all so excited! Later in the day, we went to a little Middle Eastern restaurant/hookah bar (most people weren’t there for the hookah) called Arabia, and had cold drinks in the vine-covered terrace in the back. It was so quaint, with a Moroccan style fountain, plush, brightly-colored cushions, and mood music. It really inspired me to try and make it to Morocco while I’m here! We had an amazing time just relaxing and talking about how fantastic and lucky we are to be having this experience in Spain together…
That evening we took a train ride to Merida, formerly known as Lusitania, which was the capital of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula. We found the Plaza Mayor and did some exploring, but came back to our hostel early (for Spain, that is) because we were all pretty tired. This second hostel was not as nice as the first, but for 15 euros a piece, it was perfectly fine. The mattress was a little shabby looking but I wasn’t worried because I used my handy-dandy sleep sack that Jo gave me before I left. In this hostel, we were divided up and two girls needed to share a double bed, and since I’m pretty easygoing, I volunteered. Elisa was my roommate, and she and I had quite a laugh because after a little while, it became very apparent that there was some passionate, LOUD, how shall I say it?…canoodling going on in the room next to us! The next morning, as the rooster crowed (literally) it happened again, and we just laughed it off, but it was kind of weird. Sunday we had a full day visiting the Museo Nacional de Romano and exploring the Roman ruins, which included an amphitheater, another theater, and a large aqueduct. After going to Rome and Pompeii this summer, I knew I would think these were interesting, but I was pleasantly surprised at how impressive the ruins and the giant, reconstructed mosaics in the museum were. We also went to a Muslim fortress, with an amazing passageway that leads to an underground reservoir.
So after a very busy but totally enjoyable weekend, we got on our five hour bus back to Salamanca. As the cathedral spires came into view, I became so elated to be back home in my beautiful little city. But what a funny word “home” is….I’ve only been here for three weeks and yet, this has become my second home, a place where I feel happy, comfortable, and cared for. It’s a lovely feeling, the same kind that I get when I drink a cup of hot chocolate, put on my fuzzy pink socks, and cozy up on the couch for a marathon of old movies. I will always, always be happy to come home to California, but in the meantime, I have learned that home is where your heart is, and right now, my heart is here in this lovely Spanish city.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Living a Dream
I've been in Spain for two and a half weeks now, and I cannot express how in love I am with this city! My dad asked me the other day if I still believe I made the right choice to come here. I said without hesitation that, yes, this was the perfect place for me. There are many beautiful things to experience here – the gorgeous cathedrals, the narrow, winding streets, the way the city looks candlelit at night, and the lovely people. I've done some exploring on my own recently and have seen a whole new side of the city. When I’m with my group of friends here, the city is still amazing but I’ve appreciated its beauty on a whole new level in solitude. I went alone to the Art Nouveau museum a few days ago, and had a lovely time looking at the elegant sculptures housed in the very 1920s style building. They really create an experience there – the building has stunning views of the city, the windows are all stained glass in intricate patterns, they play only 1920s style music, and the little café inside is decorated in a plush red color with furniture from the same period. I’ve seen most of the “tourist attractions” in the city, but my next stops will be the Convento de las Duenas, and I also want to rent a rowboat and enjoy the river with a few friends.
Let’s see, what else? School is going very well. Currently, I am in an intensive month session, taking classes Monday through Friday, four hours a day. My classes are Advanced Spanish Grammar, Spanish Culture, and the History of Spain; my teachers are really experts in the field, but there is one professor I have a little trouble understanding. She is from the Basque country up north, has a very thick accent, speaks quickly, and has a raspy voice, but my understanding has gotten better so I should be ok. Oh, and something else that is interesting about my classes. My professors don’t even attempt to call me “Rachel” or ask if that is what I would prefer to go by. They simply call me “Raquel Sanchez,” no questions asked. It’s fine with me though because I’m used to it, and it’s kind of fun : ). But I did make sure with my API director that on my official transcripts it says “Rachel Sanchez” because I didn’t want to have trouble bringing my units back home!
Miscellaneous things of importance: there were two cockroaches in our residencia today. I am most definitely not a fan, and thank God we have Andrea (from Mexico) who doesn’t mind killing them for Hanna and I. Another exciting thing, I got kissed by a real, authentic Spanish boy! This boy had been flirting with me through the evening at a club and was very sweet. Of course, it wasn’t any big deal, but what’s an American girl to do when a cute Spanish boy is speaking in that beautiful accent and acting all romantic!? But my friends here were very protective of me (and rightly so), and although he really REALLY wanted to walk me home, they told him that it was a nice offer but I was most definitely going to leave with them. It was a fun night, and who knows, maybe I’ll bump into him again…
On Saturday, six of us went to the small town of Avila, which is about an hour and a half train ride from Salamanca. It is a very quaint medieval, fortified city, with the best preserved city walls in Spain. It is popular with pilgrims, as it was Saint Teresa’s hometown and houses the convent she instituted (the Carmelite Order). In the convent, there is even a room with some of Saint Teresa’s personal belongings and relics, including a shoe sole, her Bible, and most shocking, HER FINGER! It’s actually very well preserved and a bit on the creepy side but really cool, with a large diamond and emerald ring still on it. We also visited an impressive cathedral in Avila, had a very authentic lunch, and visited the Monastery of Saint Thomas. In the monastery, they have a room of exotic dead animals that were found on religious missionary trips during the age of exploration, brought back, and stuffed. It really gave me the spooks (I got some major chills) but we took some great pictures! I was fine until I saw some giant stuffed and very ugly bats, and then I pretty much ran out of the room, to everyone’s great amusement. I think it was literally just a little too close to home for me right now! In Avila, we also tried the sweet town-specialty called "yemas," which are made by the local Carmelite nuns. They are egg yolks that have been cooled and sugared; I know they don't sound good but they're actually delicious and everyone has been craving them since we got back.
The festival is still going on in the city, and there is something fun to do at nearly every hour of the day and night. We have been enjoying ourselves immensely, and are starting to plan some more excursions out of the city for the next few weeks. We’re hoping to take a trip to Porto, Portugal in the near future, if we can get our transportation route down (it’s a lot more complicated than you would think). And personally, I am planning my trip to Florence to visit my beautiful, sweet friend Brianna, who I miss like crazy! I’m positive we’re going to have an amazing time together at the end of the month, and I can’t wait to have all the arrangements in order. Right now, I am writing in my usual spot with wonderful views of the city, and I’m looking forward to every new day in Spain as an adventure waiting just for me!
Let’s see, what else? School is going very well. Currently, I am in an intensive month session, taking classes Monday through Friday, four hours a day. My classes are Advanced Spanish Grammar, Spanish Culture, and the History of Spain; my teachers are really experts in the field, but there is one professor I have a little trouble understanding. She is from the Basque country up north, has a very thick accent, speaks quickly, and has a raspy voice, but my understanding has gotten better so I should be ok. Oh, and something else that is interesting about my classes. My professors don’t even attempt to call me “Rachel” or ask if that is what I would prefer to go by. They simply call me “Raquel Sanchez,” no questions asked. It’s fine with me though because I’m used to it, and it’s kind of fun : ). But I did make sure with my API director that on my official transcripts it says “Rachel Sanchez” because I didn’t want to have trouble bringing my units back home!
Miscellaneous things of importance: there were two cockroaches in our residencia today. I am most definitely not a fan, and thank God we have Andrea (from Mexico) who doesn’t mind killing them for Hanna and I. Another exciting thing, I got kissed by a real, authentic Spanish boy! This boy had been flirting with me through the evening at a club and was very sweet. Of course, it wasn’t any big deal, but what’s an American girl to do when a cute Spanish boy is speaking in that beautiful accent and acting all romantic!? But my friends here were very protective of me (and rightly so), and although he really REALLY wanted to walk me home, they told him that it was a nice offer but I was most definitely going to leave with them. It was a fun night, and who knows, maybe I’ll bump into him again…
On Saturday, six of us went to the small town of Avila, which is about an hour and a half train ride from Salamanca. It is a very quaint medieval, fortified city, with the best preserved city walls in Spain. It is popular with pilgrims, as it was Saint Teresa’s hometown and houses the convent she instituted (the Carmelite Order). In the convent, there is even a room with some of Saint Teresa’s personal belongings and relics, including a shoe sole, her Bible, and most shocking, HER FINGER! It’s actually very well preserved and a bit on the creepy side but really cool, with a large diamond and emerald ring still on it. We also visited an impressive cathedral in Avila, had a very authentic lunch, and visited the Monastery of Saint Thomas. In the monastery, they have a room of exotic dead animals that were found on religious missionary trips during the age of exploration, brought back, and stuffed. It really gave me the spooks (I got some major chills) but we took some great pictures! I was fine until I saw some giant stuffed and very ugly bats, and then I pretty much ran out of the room, to everyone’s great amusement. I think it was literally just a little too close to home for me right now! In Avila, we also tried the sweet town-specialty called "yemas," which are made by the local Carmelite nuns. They are egg yolks that have been cooled and sugared; I know they don't sound good but they're actually delicious and everyone has been craving them since we got back.
The festival is still going on in the city, and there is something fun to do at nearly every hour of the day and night. We have been enjoying ourselves immensely, and are starting to plan some more excursions out of the city for the next few weeks. We’re hoping to take a trip to Porto, Portugal in the near future, if we can get our transportation route down (it’s a lot more complicated than you would think). And personally, I am planning my trip to Florence to visit my beautiful, sweet friend Brianna, who I miss like crazy! I’m positive we’re going to have an amazing time together at the end of the month, and I can’t wait to have all the arrangements in order. Right now, I am writing in my usual spot with wonderful views of the city, and I’m looking forward to every new day in Spain as an adventure waiting just for me!
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