So I have 4 days left in Salamanca - SURREAL! I’m really looking forward to England and traveling with Kate + Mom, but I’m going to miss Salamanca, hearing Spanish everyday and thinking about adopting the Spanish lisp. Like I promised, I had final exams, I partied it up (2 bad hangovers) and I’ve started thinking about packing my stuff.
My final exams weren’t bad for IES. I think I did pretty well. There was some drama in IES because originally I was going to take my university final later than some of the other girls because they were leaving early and when IES found out, they freaked out and told me that I couldn’t, that I had to have told them months earlier even though the professor told me I could take it later. So, the DAY before the exam they tell me this, so I cry, get my shit together, finish the paper, and study till the wee hours, neglecting to study for another final I had at the SAME time. I went and took the first final as quickly as I could and rushed over to the History department to take my feminist/women in history ORAL exam. Yikes, I was kind of nervous, especially when 2 IES girls came out crying because they had failed. I talked to the talleres teacher first, turning in my paper and discussing what I liked about the conferences, what I think the main issue that Spanish women are facing today (I said smoking because I couldn’t back up my real idea which is domestic violence - I don’t know if there are more cases in Spain, but I’m guessing yes) and other opinions. Then I approached the desk of the professor after a French student just failed and cried in front of me. She asks me about women in the time of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, when and how the Catholic “feminist”/feminine movements started, all I knew about Emilia Pardo Bazan and all I knew about Josefa de Amar y Borbon. I nailed everything, although I think that I was one of her favourites for laughing at her jokes in class, having read Pardo Bazan, her favourite author, and even knowing who the last lady was. I got a sobresaliente, which is the highest grade, an A. Out of the 8 IES students, 3 failed, 3 aprobados (pass with a C) and 2 with As. I think most of the class failed in general because the other teacher told us how terrible everyone did and how she was shocked. I was excited because Mac counts these grades towards my GPA. Phew. Jenny = 3 (Am I at 3 now? I’ve lost count).
In the middle of my exams, Amanda, the girl from Indy we met in Valencia, came for a visit and we took her out at night, which was sad because exams had started and most of the places were pretty empty. We also celebrated Emily’s 21st birthday with Turkish food and no alcohol. This is because the weekend before she had friends from Madrid come, and we all went out, got smashed and seriously suffered later. They had some serious partying stamina. I also went out last weekend and got too drunk, started talking nationalist politics with a Basque who was going to get married, out partying it up in Salamanca for his bachelor party. So weird, and he was dressed up as a torero. So my partying I think has come to a close in Salamanca; I think 2 bad hangovers in 2 consecutive weekends is enough.
We had our IES goodbye party, which was pretty sad, but not really because I was thinking, “I’m here for another week” and “I don’t really care about most of these people”. Heartless, I know. But Andrea was leaving so we all hugged and said goodbye to everyone. I think there are 5 of us still left in Salamanca. It hasn’t hit me yet that I’m leaving and most likely won’t until I’m actually at home in Indy because I’ll trick myself into thinking I’m on vacation for a while until returning to Salamanca. I’ve heard some people have taken it pretty hard getting home, so I’m glad I have time to travel, see family and realize that I’m closing this chapter. I’m trying to stay positive about this summer and am super excited for this year at Mac. I am not going to be one of those dramatic students who acts like they’ve become that nationality and like they actually fit in. I am not Spanish, will never be Spanish (especially with my colouring) and will always have an accent where Spaniards say, “She speaks well (for a foreigner)”. I don’t mean to be all pessimistic - I love Spain and I especially love the language, but I will not pretend that Spain has given me permission to become one of its own. Until I become morena (dark) and stop getting picked on, I will always remain a giri (foreigner) in this country. As for some optimism, I think this experience has opened my eyes to what I love about the States (and Spain of course), how I think like my nationality, how I can adapt and fit into a new place without too much drama/maybe and how people can be so close-minded and choose to act like jerks. I am so looking forward to not being called rubia (blond)/foxy/guapa (beautiful)/my hair tugged/my head hit in public/spitballs/dirty looks in the street (I had a sweet break in Eastern Europe)/etc. I do think I have changed in the sense that I’m more independent, I kind of act like a bitch sometimes (you have to when people look at you like you’re weird/they want to rape you) and I am confident in myself enough to know that I will always have myself to depend on. I am also looking forward to going to a university that is not atrasado (stuck in the past) and will teach me to think internationally. I have learned to value Mac’s education here greatly and hope Spain adopts Bolonia as soon as it can. The students need to stop being so lazy, ahaha.
Observations: things I’ll miss/happy to leave behind:
1) A ton of Spanish girls here curl their long hair and then straighten their bangs. It is the ugliest style ever.
2) The Spanish Party Mentality!! I don’t think I will ever achieve this. I may be able to stay out late one night, but multiple nights? When Emily’s friends came for the weekend, one of their friends from Madrid called to ask them what they were doing that night. They told him that they were in Salamanca, so the guy DROVE from Madrid to Salamanca and got in around midnight to party for one night. Or another example would be when we went out with Amanda. One of my intercambios came to go out, left his notes in the library from studying, and returned to them later around 4 AM. Enough said.
3) The food is one of the things I will miss the most. Hands down. I have felt the healthiest here in my life with all the walking, all the olive oil and the lack of unnatural added things in food. I’m going to try to maintain the schedule of eating because eating a big meal at lunch and then just kind of snacking/a smaller meal for dinner makes sense to me when you’re winding down the day.
4) One boy saw us and yelled, “Giris! I love you guys!”. I don’t appreciate this. Sorry, I know he meant it nicely, but I’m sick of sticking out like a sore thumb (way to incorporate those English idiomatic expressions!).
5) I’ll miss seeing all of the old Spaniards sitting on benches, people watching. And all of the ladies shopping with little carts on wheels to carry their food home. They go shopping everyday, none of this buying food for a week/2 weeks. Everyday, they buy pan (bread).
6) I hate a trend in t-shirts here. Girls wear the I heart NY shirts, buy the N has been turned into an M, and it says I heart MY BOY. Ew, and they’re usually walking with their boy too.
7) I am so happy to leave the tourist groups that have flooded into Salamanca lately! Bwahahaha! All of them stare up at the university building, looking for the frog that gives them luck. They don’t’ realize it’s tiny and that you don’t really get luck. One Spanish student told us that she had found the frog on her own and had not gotten any sobresalientes or a boyfriend, and she’s in her 7th or last year here, ahaha.
8) I hope I can leave behind most of the smoke. I hated going out and then having my clothes ruined the next day and I had to air them out for like 3 days till they didn’t smell bad.
9) Spanish. I love the language. And not just Spanish in general, but the Spain Spanish. I can hear the rhythm and tone in my head, what the old ladies sound like, or the young guys. I’m really going to miss just how it is spoken here. I know the forma de ser of a Spaniard. I can safely say, “That is so Spanish” and not be able to explain exactly why. And I know I won’t have very much contact with Spaniards in the States. I’m going to have to watch Spanish TV or something (or marry a Spaniard, which my host-mom tells me happens more than you think).
Well, I’ll be heading to England soon. I’ll keep updating until I travel with Kate + Mom. I hope all of you are taking in your experiences. I’m sad to end this time here, but I have some friends to show for it and maybe an improvement in my Spanish (let’s hope so!).
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Portugal, Valencia & Prostitutes.
Wow, I haven’t written in a while - sorry! My schedule was pretty tightly packed these last couple of weeks, so I’ll try to recap as best as I can and tell you what I’ve been doing!
So our Portugal trip was wonderful! Well as wonderful as it can be when you’re traveling with 38 other people, but we did get some alone time. First we went to Coimbra, a university town like Salamanca. The students look like Harry Potter students or vampires because they wear long black capes!! And most students decide to wear it everyday! There’s a picture of Jen and I somewhere where we got a girl in the background wearing this standard uniform. The weather in Portugal was all rainy or misty by the way. So we walked around a bit, saw the most beautiful library of my life (I have a postcard and will show it to you later), awesome Portuguese ceramics, etc. I even talked to some people because I had to interview Portuguese about Spanish people and I was understood, but the Portuguese are also used to understanding Spaniards, so maybe not such a victory. Then we went to Batalha and saw a lovely monastery; it was huge with gardens and a tomb of an unknown soldier, where there were scary Portuguese soldiers guarding it. We make it to Lisbon to book into our hotel and have the night to ourselves. We ate and walked around a bit, but were really tired. Some people went out and even threw up on the bus the next day! Woohoo. We went to Sintra as a day trip, the place where I will be living when I grow up. It was Ireland or Wales maybe because of all the green, hills, it was BEAUTIFUL. We didn’t have much free time so I didn’t get to go into this estate that had a fancy house, lakes, caves!, labyrinths! And other stuff to see. I have to go back to this Quinta Regaleira. We visited a palace there with small doors (of course) and awesome Arabic tiling. In Lisbon we saw another monastery (not as good as the other one) and couldn’t see much of the bridge, giant Jesus statue or view from the Navegation monument. Lisbon wasn’t as modern and cool as I was thinking it would be, but then again, the rain prevented me from really exploring. I also associate Lisbon with this scary BRAZILIAN restaurant we went to with 10 different kinds of meat - I tried the first 4 I think. Ew. Leaving for Salamanca, we stopped at Fatima, the scariest catholic place ever. There was a huge scary service going on when we got there while we checked out where the Virgen Mary came down and told some kids 3 secrets. The little girl went on to be a nun. I don’t believe the stupid secrets (like predicting WWII) because obviously the kids had to reveal them after all this shit went down, so…Portugal = awesome (excluding Fatima where people crawl on their knees to beg the Virgen for help).
Lunes de Aguas (Monday of Waters) was April 20 - this is where the prostitutes come in. Back in the day, Salamanca was made up of a ton of priests/religious male students and prostitutes. And before Lent, Padre Puta (Father Whore) would give the sign that the prostitutes had to leave so as to remove temptation, and they put them on boats across the Tormes River to the other side. After Lent, Padre Puta would make the sign for them to return. So apparently people (or the guys) celebrated and ate hornazo, this disgusting 3 kind meat filled empanada. During Franco’s rule, he changed this Padre Puta name to Padre Lucas because he didn’t think the first name was appropriate. Just look at the holiday! Anyway, so IES had a picnic, it was nice out, and I tried looking for the prostitutes (never saw them).
Over the weekend I didn’t do much, relaxed, ate picnics, drank wine, put on sunscreen, etc. Emily and I went out one night hardcore, meaning me getting back at an 8:30 am - yikes! We were awesome because we went to a lot of places, some with foreigners, some with just Spaniards and danced it up. And then we hung out with some 30 yr old guys who were celebrating their friend getting married, but it wasn’t exactly a bachelor party or we wouldn’t have joined! We danced it up and impressed them with our Spanish. The next day I was DEAD and slept the whole day while Emily and Jen called me up thinking I was really in trouble. No, just in my bed, not being able to hear the vibrations of my phone.
This past week was blah because I had my talleres, or conferences/speeches for my university gender class. Themes were women and film, domestic violence, health and education. It was really boring, like super boring. The only good thing was the first day when we watched a short film by a Salmantina about a Bulgarian immigrant working as a prostitute in Spain, and the short won a Goya Award (Spain’s Oscar). Otherwise, I just got a ton of information that was basic and dumb. Smoking and lung cancer, who knew! I think Spaniards don’t get as much of an education dealing with smoking’s effects, I mean they knew, but they had some stupid questions. So now I have to write an 8 pg paper this week describing my reactions to such new and controversial information, blah.
Valencia! This past weekend Jen, Emily, Andrea and I went to the East coast to soak up some sun and see a different part of Spain. We went to the aquarium, which is the one with the most different species in the world. We were kind of cranky because of all the people and expensive food, especially after a ridiculously priced ticket. But I liked the sea lions, walruses and beluga whales. We also saw a dolphin show, which Andrea was super impressed by. The rest of us rated it as a normal dolphin show, ahaha. The architecture of the buildings are really cool, and I’ll post the pictures soon. In the science museum was an exhibit on X-MEN and Marvel heroes. I was the only one out of us who knew most of the characters there, what Sentinels were and wanted my face painted. Thanks to growing up with Mark and Andrew, I could appreciate it! Oh well. We were going to go out that night (Jen never does), but then a 40 yr old man showed up to stay in our room. We had booked an all girls room because it was Jen’s first (and only) hostel stay and she was already on edge because of the dirty, gender-blind bathrooms and not being able to sleep due to annoying French teens. So we debated about going out and decided on a drink and came back early to protect Jen. The guy came back late, slept and packed his shit up outside the room and left soon afterwards. It wasn’t bad. We also met a girl from Indy who came to the beach with us on Sunday. Sunscreen! I got burnt on my hair-part and a sliver on my left leg/ankle. Everyone else had more, and because they didn’t reapply, it was kind of splotchy in some areas. I swam in the Mediterranean Sea!! All of me, not just my legs. It was pretty cold, but I wanted to go all in. Afterwards I was super salty and my hair didn’t feel like hair. I also accidentally flashed my boobs to the world/surrounding people, but it obviously isn’t a big deal when there are young and old women topless around. Valencia was beautiful, lots of palm and exotic trees. Horchata is also big there which is strange since it’s not Spanish. We tried Agua de Valencia, a really good alcoholic drink. Overall, it was a good weekend.
So this/next week I’m writing a paper, studying, taking finals, partying it up like none other and preparing to leave Salamanca. I still have 3 weeks, but it feels really surreal that things are coming to an end.
A few observations:
1) French teens are the worst of all!! My host mom agrees actually. Groups in Salamanca are disrespectful, don’t listen, are loud, etc. Groups in hostels are loud, think they’re the shit, dry their hair at 3 in the morning and boys stare in the mirror while helping each other with their hair. My host mom says they’re smelly, dirty and really annoying to host when all they want to do is go out, ahaha.
2) Everyone is blaming Zapatero, Spain’s president, for the crisis and not doing anything to help. My host mom says you can’t just blame the government and that everyone is in crisis around the world. Poor Zapatero. People better not vote Partido Popular because of this.
3) Valenciano, a dialect of Catalan that they use in Valencia, is weird. It looks like Spanish and French mixed. I don’t think many people speak it, but the government has decided to label streets and plaques on buildings with it.
4) The bat or murcielago in Valencia is the symbol of it’s futbol team, it’s crown/corona emblem and on monuments. We asked a lot of people about it, and they were just like, “Yeah, it’s the symbol of the soccer team.” Finally someone told us that there is a park where bats fly around all the time. I wish we had had time to go see them!
So our Portugal trip was wonderful! Well as wonderful as it can be when you’re traveling with 38 other people, but we did get some alone time. First we went to Coimbra, a university town like Salamanca. The students look like Harry Potter students or vampires because they wear long black capes!! And most students decide to wear it everyday! There’s a picture of Jen and I somewhere where we got a girl in the background wearing this standard uniform. The weather in Portugal was all rainy or misty by the way. So we walked around a bit, saw the most beautiful library of my life (I have a postcard and will show it to you later), awesome Portuguese ceramics, etc. I even talked to some people because I had to interview Portuguese about Spanish people and I was understood, but the Portuguese are also used to understanding Spaniards, so maybe not such a victory. Then we went to Batalha and saw a lovely monastery; it was huge with gardens and a tomb of an unknown soldier, where there were scary Portuguese soldiers guarding it. We make it to Lisbon to book into our hotel and have the night to ourselves. We ate and walked around a bit, but were really tired. Some people went out and even threw up on the bus the next day! Woohoo. We went to Sintra as a day trip, the place where I will be living when I grow up. It was Ireland or Wales maybe because of all the green, hills, it was BEAUTIFUL. We didn’t have much free time so I didn’t get to go into this estate that had a fancy house, lakes, caves!, labyrinths! And other stuff to see. I have to go back to this Quinta Regaleira. We visited a palace there with small doors (of course) and awesome Arabic tiling. In Lisbon we saw another monastery (not as good as the other one) and couldn’t see much of the bridge, giant Jesus statue or view from the Navegation monument. Lisbon wasn’t as modern and cool as I was thinking it would be, but then again, the rain prevented me from really exploring. I also associate Lisbon with this scary BRAZILIAN restaurant we went to with 10 different kinds of meat - I tried the first 4 I think. Ew. Leaving for Salamanca, we stopped at Fatima, the scariest catholic place ever. There was a huge scary service going on when we got there while we checked out where the Virgen Mary came down and told some kids 3 secrets. The little girl went on to be a nun. I don’t believe the stupid secrets (like predicting WWII) because obviously the kids had to reveal them after all this shit went down, so…Portugal = awesome (excluding Fatima where people crawl on their knees to beg the Virgen for help).
Lunes de Aguas (Monday of Waters) was April 20 - this is where the prostitutes come in. Back in the day, Salamanca was made up of a ton of priests/religious male students and prostitutes. And before Lent, Padre Puta (Father Whore) would give the sign that the prostitutes had to leave so as to remove temptation, and they put them on boats across the Tormes River to the other side. After Lent, Padre Puta would make the sign for them to return. So apparently people (or the guys) celebrated and ate hornazo, this disgusting 3 kind meat filled empanada. During Franco’s rule, he changed this Padre Puta name to Padre Lucas because he didn’t think the first name was appropriate. Just look at the holiday! Anyway, so IES had a picnic, it was nice out, and I tried looking for the prostitutes (never saw them).
Over the weekend I didn’t do much, relaxed, ate picnics, drank wine, put on sunscreen, etc. Emily and I went out one night hardcore, meaning me getting back at an 8:30 am - yikes! We were awesome because we went to a lot of places, some with foreigners, some with just Spaniards and danced it up. And then we hung out with some 30 yr old guys who were celebrating their friend getting married, but it wasn’t exactly a bachelor party or we wouldn’t have joined! We danced it up and impressed them with our Spanish. The next day I was DEAD and slept the whole day while Emily and Jen called me up thinking I was really in trouble. No, just in my bed, not being able to hear the vibrations of my phone.
This past week was blah because I had my talleres, or conferences/speeches for my university gender class. Themes were women and film, domestic violence, health and education. It was really boring, like super boring. The only good thing was the first day when we watched a short film by a Salmantina about a Bulgarian immigrant working as a prostitute in Spain, and the short won a Goya Award (Spain’s Oscar). Otherwise, I just got a ton of information that was basic and dumb. Smoking and lung cancer, who knew! I think Spaniards don’t get as much of an education dealing with smoking’s effects, I mean they knew, but they had some stupid questions. So now I have to write an 8 pg paper this week describing my reactions to such new and controversial information, blah.
Valencia! This past weekend Jen, Emily, Andrea and I went to the East coast to soak up some sun and see a different part of Spain. We went to the aquarium, which is the one with the most different species in the world. We were kind of cranky because of all the people and expensive food, especially after a ridiculously priced ticket. But I liked the sea lions, walruses and beluga whales. We also saw a dolphin show, which Andrea was super impressed by. The rest of us rated it as a normal dolphin show, ahaha. The architecture of the buildings are really cool, and I’ll post the pictures soon. In the science museum was an exhibit on X-MEN and Marvel heroes. I was the only one out of us who knew most of the characters there, what Sentinels were and wanted my face painted. Thanks to growing up with Mark and Andrew, I could appreciate it! Oh well. We were going to go out that night (Jen never does), but then a 40 yr old man showed up to stay in our room. We had booked an all girls room because it was Jen’s first (and only) hostel stay and she was already on edge because of the dirty, gender-blind bathrooms and not being able to sleep due to annoying French teens. So we debated about going out and decided on a drink and came back early to protect Jen. The guy came back late, slept and packed his shit up outside the room and left soon afterwards. It wasn’t bad. We also met a girl from Indy who came to the beach with us on Sunday. Sunscreen! I got burnt on my hair-part and a sliver on my left leg/ankle. Everyone else had more, and because they didn’t reapply, it was kind of splotchy in some areas. I swam in the Mediterranean Sea!! All of me, not just my legs. It was pretty cold, but I wanted to go all in. Afterwards I was super salty and my hair didn’t feel like hair. I also accidentally flashed my boobs to the world/surrounding people, but it obviously isn’t a big deal when there are young and old women topless around. Valencia was beautiful, lots of palm and exotic trees. Horchata is also big there which is strange since it’s not Spanish. We tried Agua de Valencia, a really good alcoholic drink. Overall, it was a good weekend.
So this/next week I’m writing a paper, studying, taking finals, partying it up like none other and preparing to leave Salamanca. I still have 3 weeks, but it feels really surreal that things are coming to an end.
A few observations:
1) French teens are the worst of all!! My host mom agrees actually. Groups in Salamanca are disrespectful, don’t listen, are loud, etc. Groups in hostels are loud, think they’re the shit, dry their hair at 3 in the morning and boys stare in the mirror while helping each other with their hair. My host mom says they’re smelly, dirty and really annoying to host when all they want to do is go out, ahaha.
2) Everyone is blaming Zapatero, Spain’s president, for the crisis and not doing anything to help. My host mom says you can’t just blame the government and that everyone is in crisis around the world. Poor Zapatero. People better not vote Partido Popular because of this.
3) Valenciano, a dialect of Catalan that they use in Valencia, is weird. It looks like Spanish and French mixed. I don’t think many people speak it, but the government has decided to label streets and plaques on buildings with it.
4) The bat or murcielago in Valencia is the symbol of it’s futbol team, it’s crown/corona emblem and on monuments. We asked a lot of people about it, and they were just like, “Yeah, it’s the symbol of the soccer team.” Finally someone told us that there is a park where bats fly around all the time. I wish we had had time to go see them!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Semana Santa + Growing Up! Or something.
Alright blog followers, I bet you’re just dying to hear about my Easter Holiday! By the way, it was super HOT/75 degrees but with sunlight and I’m happy I brought my sunscreen. Here you are:
So I fly to Budapest and miraculously find Emily in the airport because to use our phones would have been expensive. So it’s already getting dark out, which was weird because since Spain is on the very edge of its time zone we have sunlight till 9 pm. So we exchange some money and take the bus to the metro stop. Boy was Budapest scary as hell at night. It looked so sketchy and as if communism was still alive and repressing people. A young couple helps us (the girl said, “Come here”) to the metro where we get off at the right stop! We eventually find our hostel and by this time it isn’t scary anymore. The Goat Hostel in Budapest is the best and I recommend it to everyone. It was small and cozy with lime, orange and yellow walls (even some framed goat pictures on the wall!). Emily and I wake up, cross the river and go to the Citadel, a giant hill/mountain with a military something on top with freedom statues. We also walk around the Castle a little bit where we run into a dude from our hostel. So we all go and find the labyrinth under the castle and get lost in these creepy caves like rooms - pretty sweet! We wander everywhere until our feet hurt. Later on we try going out to celebrate this guy’s birthday at some random club that took forever to find (we got lost) and it’s like someone’s house where all the rooms have different themes, but we were tired! Next day we go to Memento Park where all the communist statues from Hungary are. Emily and I stood where Stalin once did waving under his giant boots - there used to be a whole Stalin, but the people tore him down at the knees. Then we went to Heroes Park where there was some strange rally, tons of people with Hungarian flags. I asked some man and he told me about elections, and then I remembered that just recently the Prime Minister quit. Then I left for Prague the next morning and sadly left my camera with Emily, so I have no pictures to document my trip really.
Trains are awesome, and I got my fair share of them this week. I luckily run into Andrea and her sister on the street! After taking the metro and walking to my hostel, which was bigger, not as friendly, but pretty nice. There were these touristy wooden booths up for some festival with traditional Czech stuff. It actually felt like a Renaissance fair! With music and fake flowers everywhere, and crepe stands! I ate one with nutella and nearly vomited because it was huge and I’m a pig. The next day I walked to the Castle where there were tons of tour groups! The cathedral was absolutely gorgeous, as was Prague in general. I just walked around a ton, bought some food for dinner later and watched the Atomic Café with Andrea. The following day I climbed Petrin Hill! Like the mini mountain in Budapest. I’m a trekker you guys, pretty tough and energetic. At the top was a fake mini Eiffel Tower and kids eating lunch (probably took the tram to get up there - not me!). As I’m climbing down (I’ve lost my way by this time), it is the most beautiful moment ever. Blooming trees with deliciously fragrant white flowers and a tiny domed one-room church with 12 chairs and one chair behind a table covered with a white tablecloth. Someone should get married there because it was just lovely. I ate lunch at some Czech kitchen buffet with no English, so I point to some things and end up eating a lot of potatoes and like deep-fried brie cheeses (so good), while sitting next to strangers speaking a language I couldn’t identify. Then I went to the Mucha museum, a Czech artist know for his Art Nouveau prints. So much Art Nouveau things in Prague - I was so thrilled!
The next day I took a train to Vienna (by the way, I’m always sitting in 6-people cabins with beautiful views) and leave green Czech Republic. I make it to the hostel which seems super sketchy, some old building falling apart inside, and climb the stairs to find a nice woman painting and renovating the place. It was airy with white walls and a fur rug in the living room. I walk to St. Stephen’s, the cathedral, engulfed in tourists once again and make my way to eat some snack. I find a buffet of sandwiches covered in herring, tuna, eggs, peppers, tons of combinations. So I order a few with my child-sized beer and enjoy. I went to the Secession afterwards, a modern art museum that has Klimt’s 105 ft long Art Nouveau fresco inspired by Beethoven. I love Gustav Klimt (you know him, he painted the Kiss with the women melting into the man all in gold). I had a look at the modern stuff (all related to space). I went to the open market across the street, bought a snack and sat in the Karlspatz park. Later that night I treated myself to a slice of the traditional Sachertorte, a dry chocolate cake, at the original café. It felt strange saying, “yes, table for one”. I had been alone most of the time in Prague, but it really hit me in Vienna, romantic Vienna, with candlelit cafes at night when everything else is closed. The next morning I went to the Vienna museum with original stained glass from the cathedral, old clothing, paintings, etc. but the interesting thing was that there was an exhibit about New York there. Candid photographs of New Yorkers from the 40s-90s. Vienna mentioned how New York inspired them to be a city, blah blah blah. Ate some tasty sushi for lunch and headed to the Belvedere Palace! Lots of artwork, where I saw more by Klimt (that’s where the Kiss is located) and other good stuff. The Palace was beautiful. I wish I had gone into the Hapsburgs’ Palace, but didn’t get around to doing it. Later that night, I wanted to see an opera, but it was the only night the opera was closed! There had been one the previous night and I could have almost kicked myself. So I went and saw The Reader which was sad. Oh Ralph Fiennes.
I headed back to Budapest the next day, stayed with Andrea and then went to Madrid. We walked around, ate squid sandwiches and readjusted to hearing Spanish, although there were Spanish tourists in every city I visited. The hostel was nice, but I tried telling some Spanish boys to be quiet in Spanish while I was trying to sleep, weakly calling to them from my bed, to which they broke out in a fit of laughter. I guess it was funny, I don’t know. It was cold that day, but yesterday was nice and we ate lunch in the Retiro Park and took the bus home to Salamanca.
This looks pretty boring , I mean what I’ve just written here, so here are the important observations of the trip (there are many):
1) Hungarian people are wonderful. Although they have harsh faces, they are nice, willing to help you and don’t look at you with disdain like Northern Spaniards. Also, the Hungarian language is crazy! The words are ridiculous and it sounds related to nothing I’ve heard. Not Russian, not German, a little like Portuguese at times, but definitely different.
2) I didn’t come into contact with many Czechs on account of all the tourists, but I have to say that the blue jumpers construction workers wear are hot.
3) When I was at the Castle in Prague I overheard what may possibly be the most stupid conversation ever. Of course, it involves Americans. There were 2 girls behind me around my age looking at the 2 flags hanging on the castle - the Czech flag and the European Union flag. Girl 1 says, “What flag is that?” And Girl 2 responds, “The Czech flag.” Girl 1 asks, “What about the other one with all the stars?” And Girl 2 says, “The European Union” to which Girl 1 is confused and asks, “Where is that?”. I WAS CRUSHED.
4) Austrians were sweet too. The bus drivers were really nice and I had a moment with a woman on the bus. Some lady with a stroller passed by and knocked her, and the lady and I locked eyes and made fun of basically tired ladies carrying baby stuff I think (this is obviously my interpretation). Then when it was my stop to get off, I nearly fall on this women who was hit before and she bursts into Austrian German, and I pat her apologizing, nodding my head and smiling. She thought I was Austrian! So I figure she said something like small talk humans make in situations like these, “Oh I’m always getting hit” or “What luck I have today”, etc.
5) There are dependable crossing street clicking sounds for the blind in Prague and Vienna.
6) The Hofburg lawn in front of the Palace and surrounding gardens = college campus.
7) What tourist travels to a foreign country to go to all the same shops? There were 2 H&Ms and Zaras on the main drag in Vienna.
8) Trams are used in all three cities. How do cars drive on the road with them?
9) I saw Westies in all three countries. I’m officially obsessed.
10) Japanese tour groups!!
11) I saw a poster promoting a night at a club and it said, “Vodka - Connecting People”. I might agree. Babies are also connecting people. I saw some Asian lady fawning over this Austrian baby and was trying to get a picture with the little boy. The parents were probably thinking, “Yes our baby boy is adorable.”
12) You can really tell Austria is part of Western Europe. The guys are like Spaniards and are more direct and say things to you - nice Easterners! So quiet, so humble!
13) I am not American. Bwahahahaha! I do an excellent job pretending to be different nationalities. In Vienna, one girl asked me in German if I spoke English, and I understood what she was asking, so I said yes, and she asked me if I knew where the tourism office was. Ahahaha.
14) DiSCLAiMER: This is my opinion. Prague wins the most beautiful. Budapest wins most charming, intriguing for it’s past struggle with communism and its obvious process of changing, and for being cheapest. And Vienna wins most proud (international city, lots of tourism) but in an ok way with nice people.
15) Hostel cooking is very funny. Eggs and pasta are pretty common, but the random combinations are great!
16) I saw 2 unicyclists. A boy at a train station between Prague and Vienna and a man on the streets in Vienna.
17) I am a master of public transportation. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, I am very self-sufficient traveling on my own and entertaining myself for the most part.
Hope you made it to the end…oh also, please buy Cadbury Eggs for me!! I miss them.
So I fly to Budapest and miraculously find Emily in the airport because to use our phones would have been expensive. So it’s already getting dark out, which was weird because since Spain is on the very edge of its time zone we have sunlight till 9 pm. So we exchange some money and take the bus to the metro stop. Boy was Budapest scary as hell at night. It looked so sketchy and as if communism was still alive and repressing people. A young couple helps us (the girl said, “Come here”) to the metro where we get off at the right stop! We eventually find our hostel and by this time it isn’t scary anymore. The Goat Hostel in Budapest is the best and I recommend it to everyone. It was small and cozy with lime, orange and yellow walls (even some framed goat pictures on the wall!). Emily and I wake up, cross the river and go to the Citadel, a giant hill/mountain with a military something on top with freedom statues. We also walk around the Castle a little bit where we run into a dude from our hostel. So we all go and find the labyrinth under the castle and get lost in these creepy caves like rooms - pretty sweet! We wander everywhere until our feet hurt. Later on we try going out to celebrate this guy’s birthday at some random club that took forever to find (we got lost) and it’s like someone’s house where all the rooms have different themes, but we were tired! Next day we go to Memento Park where all the communist statues from Hungary are. Emily and I stood where Stalin once did waving under his giant boots - there used to be a whole Stalin, but the people tore him down at the knees. Then we went to Heroes Park where there was some strange rally, tons of people with Hungarian flags. I asked some man and he told me about elections, and then I remembered that just recently the Prime Minister quit. Then I left for Prague the next morning and sadly left my camera with Emily, so I have no pictures to document my trip really.
Trains are awesome, and I got my fair share of them this week. I luckily run into Andrea and her sister on the street! After taking the metro and walking to my hostel, which was bigger, not as friendly, but pretty nice. There were these touristy wooden booths up for some festival with traditional Czech stuff. It actually felt like a Renaissance fair! With music and fake flowers everywhere, and crepe stands! I ate one with nutella and nearly vomited because it was huge and I’m a pig. The next day I walked to the Castle where there were tons of tour groups! The cathedral was absolutely gorgeous, as was Prague in general. I just walked around a ton, bought some food for dinner later and watched the Atomic Café with Andrea. The following day I climbed Petrin Hill! Like the mini mountain in Budapest. I’m a trekker you guys, pretty tough and energetic. At the top was a fake mini Eiffel Tower and kids eating lunch (probably took the tram to get up there - not me!). As I’m climbing down (I’ve lost my way by this time), it is the most beautiful moment ever. Blooming trees with deliciously fragrant white flowers and a tiny domed one-room church with 12 chairs and one chair behind a table covered with a white tablecloth. Someone should get married there because it was just lovely. I ate lunch at some Czech kitchen buffet with no English, so I point to some things and end up eating a lot of potatoes and like deep-fried brie cheeses (so good), while sitting next to strangers speaking a language I couldn’t identify. Then I went to the Mucha museum, a Czech artist know for his Art Nouveau prints. So much Art Nouveau things in Prague - I was so thrilled!
The next day I took a train to Vienna (by the way, I’m always sitting in 6-people cabins with beautiful views) and leave green Czech Republic. I make it to the hostel which seems super sketchy, some old building falling apart inside, and climb the stairs to find a nice woman painting and renovating the place. It was airy with white walls and a fur rug in the living room. I walk to St. Stephen’s, the cathedral, engulfed in tourists once again and make my way to eat some snack. I find a buffet of sandwiches covered in herring, tuna, eggs, peppers, tons of combinations. So I order a few with my child-sized beer and enjoy. I went to the Secession afterwards, a modern art museum that has Klimt’s 105 ft long Art Nouveau fresco inspired by Beethoven. I love Gustav Klimt (you know him, he painted the Kiss with the women melting into the man all in gold). I had a look at the modern stuff (all related to space). I went to the open market across the street, bought a snack and sat in the Karlspatz park. Later that night I treated myself to a slice of the traditional Sachertorte, a dry chocolate cake, at the original café. It felt strange saying, “yes, table for one”. I had been alone most of the time in Prague, but it really hit me in Vienna, romantic Vienna, with candlelit cafes at night when everything else is closed. The next morning I went to the Vienna museum with original stained glass from the cathedral, old clothing, paintings, etc. but the interesting thing was that there was an exhibit about New York there. Candid photographs of New Yorkers from the 40s-90s. Vienna mentioned how New York inspired them to be a city, blah blah blah. Ate some tasty sushi for lunch and headed to the Belvedere Palace! Lots of artwork, where I saw more by Klimt (that’s where the Kiss is located) and other good stuff. The Palace was beautiful. I wish I had gone into the Hapsburgs’ Palace, but didn’t get around to doing it. Later that night, I wanted to see an opera, but it was the only night the opera was closed! There had been one the previous night and I could have almost kicked myself. So I went and saw The Reader which was sad. Oh Ralph Fiennes.
I headed back to Budapest the next day, stayed with Andrea and then went to Madrid. We walked around, ate squid sandwiches and readjusted to hearing Spanish, although there were Spanish tourists in every city I visited. The hostel was nice, but I tried telling some Spanish boys to be quiet in Spanish while I was trying to sleep, weakly calling to them from my bed, to which they broke out in a fit of laughter. I guess it was funny, I don’t know. It was cold that day, but yesterday was nice and we ate lunch in the Retiro Park and took the bus home to Salamanca.
This looks pretty boring , I mean what I’ve just written here, so here are the important observations of the trip (there are many):
1) Hungarian people are wonderful. Although they have harsh faces, they are nice, willing to help you and don’t look at you with disdain like Northern Spaniards. Also, the Hungarian language is crazy! The words are ridiculous and it sounds related to nothing I’ve heard. Not Russian, not German, a little like Portuguese at times, but definitely different.
2) I didn’t come into contact with many Czechs on account of all the tourists, but I have to say that the blue jumpers construction workers wear are hot.
3) When I was at the Castle in Prague I overheard what may possibly be the most stupid conversation ever. Of course, it involves Americans. There were 2 girls behind me around my age looking at the 2 flags hanging on the castle - the Czech flag and the European Union flag. Girl 1 says, “What flag is that?” And Girl 2 responds, “The Czech flag.” Girl 1 asks, “What about the other one with all the stars?” And Girl 2 says, “The European Union” to which Girl 1 is confused and asks, “Where is that?”. I WAS CRUSHED.
4) Austrians were sweet too. The bus drivers were really nice and I had a moment with a woman on the bus. Some lady with a stroller passed by and knocked her, and the lady and I locked eyes and made fun of basically tired ladies carrying baby stuff I think (this is obviously my interpretation). Then when it was my stop to get off, I nearly fall on this women who was hit before and she bursts into Austrian German, and I pat her apologizing, nodding my head and smiling. She thought I was Austrian! So I figure she said something like small talk humans make in situations like these, “Oh I’m always getting hit” or “What luck I have today”, etc.
5) There are dependable crossing street clicking sounds for the blind in Prague and Vienna.
6) The Hofburg lawn in front of the Palace and surrounding gardens = college campus.
7) What tourist travels to a foreign country to go to all the same shops? There were 2 H&Ms and Zaras on the main drag in Vienna.
8) Trams are used in all three cities. How do cars drive on the road with them?
9) I saw Westies in all three countries. I’m officially obsessed.
10) Japanese tour groups!!
11) I saw a poster promoting a night at a club and it said, “Vodka - Connecting People”. I might agree. Babies are also connecting people. I saw some Asian lady fawning over this Austrian baby and was trying to get a picture with the little boy. The parents were probably thinking, “Yes our baby boy is adorable.”
12) You can really tell Austria is part of Western Europe. The guys are like Spaniards and are more direct and say things to you - nice Easterners! So quiet, so humble!
13) I am not American. Bwahahahaha! I do an excellent job pretending to be different nationalities. In Vienna, one girl asked me in German if I spoke English, and I understood what she was asking, so I said yes, and she asked me if I knew where the tourism office was. Ahahaha.
14) DiSCLAiMER: This is my opinion. Prague wins the most beautiful. Budapest wins most charming, intriguing for it’s past struggle with communism and its obvious process of changing, and for being cheapest. And Vienna wins most proud (international city, lots of tourism) but in an ok way with nice people.
15) Hostel cooking is very funny. Eggs and pasta are pretty common, but the random combinations are great!
16) I saw 2 unicyclists. A boy at a train station between Prague and Vienna and a man on the streets in Vienna.
17) I am a master of public transportation. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, I am very self-sufficient traveling on my own and entertaining myself for the most part.
Hope you made it to the end…oh also, please buy Cadbury Eggs for me!! I miss them.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tulips in bloom - Spring Break!
Sorry, but I am really not keeping up in this blog. Let’s see, my life hasn’t been too interesting, just a lot of hanging out with friends, going out at night and trying to get myself to start writing my papers that are due in 5 days…
I’ve been trying to see Beatrice and Ana more because they are leaving me! Bea’s program ends in April, and Ana leaves to study in Italy while I’m gone on Semana Santa. Emily and I went to the “beach” with Bea, an English girl and another Spanish girl. Basically it was a patch of sand along the Tormes River. We just sat around, eating sunflower seeds (which are super popular here) and playing some card games with the weird Spanish deck of cards. Another day it was just me, a girl from Marruecos (Northern Africa), Bea (Italy) and the previously mentioned Spanish girl. I felt so international! I don’t feel like I completely belong sometimes, but I can understand the conversation and feel more comfortable in my own skin.
I’ve been going out on the weekends too. I know people who go out every night and get crazy drunk and others who don’t go out at all, so I feel like I’m at the right level. Last Thursday, Emily, Bea, Ana and I went to one of my intercambio house to have a party since his roommates were out of town. The funny thing was that no one else showed up, but it didn’t really matter. We played drinking games. I drank sangria, while the others drank calimocho (a popular drink which is a mix of red wine and coke - barf!). I drank way too much and ended up drinking a liter of sangria in addition to a few gin + fantas. It was fun since we all know English (some worse than others) and Spanish. We left to go dancing at Camelot, and I was ciega, or blind, meaning I was gone. Pretty drunk (sorry if Mom is reading this). We danced a while there, and later went to Potemkin, which was dark, dirty with an equally dark, kind of dirty crowd being all moody while 1950s American rock music played! Ahahaha. So I danced crazy since I was not self-conscious at this point. Towards the end of the night, Emily had been dancing with my intercambio and came to ask us if we were ready to leave. She asks Ana who says “Eh, whatever” (she’s Spanish - can stay out forever), asks Bea who says “Yeah I’m pretty tired” and turns to ask me, but she finds that I’m not listening in my own crazy Cousin It dancing trance (my hair is everywhere)! So I get home around 6 am, make more noise than usual and conk out for 4 hours until I have to get up to talk with my Mom on Skype. Then I go back home, sleep an hour and then try to eat comida which consists of a salad of lettuce, pasta, olives, tuna, crab and tomato, basically the worst thing someone could ask you to eat when you are hungover. I tell my host mom I can’t eat any more, and she knows I’m feeling sick, so she says fine. I then go back to bed for a while and get up around 6 pm to dar un paseo with Emily and put our two versions of the previous night together. It was pretty funny! Except for the resaca (hangover).
I’ve also been meeting with a really great intercambio!! I’m in love, but he’s expecting twins with his girlfriend. He really wants to help me improve and corrects me a lot. He buys my coffee always, so I taught him the words for chivalrous and the phrase “going dutch”. He was greatly amused and proceeded to send me an email using these news words in incorrect ways. Language truly is a humbling experience, when a 30 year old Spanish man is perfectly intelligent in Spanish, and then when he goes to speak in English, he can express himself like a child. On Thursday, we “snuck” into a seminary that used to be a military building/school, and we went into the dark basement (reminded me of the vaults in England - creepy) where Napoleon used to talk to his soldiers in the Guerra de Independencia in the early 1800s. It was really cool. I’m thinking this language partner will become a penpal maybe for the future.
Last night I went to party to celebrate an Argentinian new to Salamanca. Andrea and I show up, and it’s only boys (in the beginning)! It was funny/uncomfortable, but we chatted to a few people. At first I was discouraged because they were talking so quickly and with jokes (that fly over my head), but like one-on-one or with a few people, I do pretty well. More people showed up, and we hung out a bit. Weird thing was that this guy kept putting on old or strange music, such as the national anthem for Spain (ok, whatever), the anthem for Franco (whoa), then the anthem for the Spanish Republic (1931-1936) - weirder, and then! He put on, you will not believe this, the anthem for the Confederacy of the South during the US Civil War, and he knew the words! He asked Andrea where she was from (Virginia), and he was like, “Why don’t you know the words?” as he sang along. Andrea felt pretty offended….ahahaha.
Oh, funny story. I was in the Plaza Mayor with Emily and these two boys (like 13 or 14 years old) ride past and one of them hits me in the head on purpose! I was so pissed, and the first thing that I could think of to yell was, "pendejo!". Then 1 minute later the boys come back, and the one who hit me asks what pendejo means. So I tell him it's like hijo de puta and that it's a curse word from Mexico. The other boy is confused and asks us where we're from, and Emily and I both say Mexico. Not sure if they believed us, but the boy left by tapping my shoulder and saying "adios pendeja". I wasn't too mad anymore.
Only a few observations:
1) For those of you that are sports fans, this will probably be my only comment ever on sports here. Many of you may know that Rafa Nadal, the #1 ranked tennis player in the WORLD, is Spanish. And a nice boy from the pueblo. People obviously love him here and are thrilled with his success. Spaniards also like the Lakers since there are a couple of Spaniards on the team. Ok, that’s it.
2) Public bathrooms DO NOT exist here. You have to pay for a coffee if you want to use a bathroom, although McDonalds is an exception. But to prove this point more, I have seen 2 kids peeing in the street probably because there were no bathrooms to use (a boy and a girl). There are no bathrooms in supermarkets too. Thankfully university buildings are open during the week and I can go in there.
3) Speaking of McDonalds, the McFlurries here are amazing. Way more delicious.
4) Since it’s been pretty nice out, students have been sitting out on the lawn, and by lawn, I mean the patches of grass in a stone plaza by some university buildings. There is one juggler, some people with guitars and lots of dogs. But it doesn’t feel like a college campus at all. Weird!
So Semana Santa is next week, and I’m going to be on vacation for 10 days! Budapest, Hungary, then Prague, Czech Republic, then Vienna, Austria (by myself!) and then a night in Madrid. I’m excited and looking forward to the freedom of traveling and staying in hostels and meeting strangers and trying to find people that speak English. Then when I come back, 3 days later I go to Portugal with my program. April is a busy time! So if I don’t email you, you know why!
.
I’ve been trying to see Beatrice and Ana more because they are leaving me! Bea’s program ends in April, and Ana leaves to study in Italy while I’m gone on Semana Santa. Emily and I went to the “beach” with Bea, an English girl and another Spanish girl. Basically it was a patch of sand along the Tormes River. We just sat around, eating sunflower seeds (which are super popular here) and playing some card games with the weird Spanish deck of cards. Another day it was just me, a girl from Marruecos (Northern Africa), Bea (Italy) and the previously mentioned Spanish girl. I felt so international! I don’t feel like I completely belong sometimes, but I can understand the conversation and feel more comfortable in my own skin.
I’ve been going out on the weekends too. I know people who go out every night and get crazy drunk and others who don’t go out at all, so I feel like I’m at the right level. Last Thursday, Emily, Bea, Ana and I went to one of my intercambio house to have a party since his roommates were out of town. The funny thing was that no one else showed up, but it didn’t really matter. We played drinking games. I drank sangria, while the others drank calimocho (a popular drink which is a mix of red wine and coke - barf!). I drank way too much and ended up drinking a liter of sangria in addition to a few gin + fantas. It was fun since we all know English (some worse than others) and Spanish. We left to go dancing at Camelot, and I was ciega, or blind, meaning I was gone. Pretty drunk (sorry if Mom is reading this). We danced a while there, and later went to Potemkin, which was dark, dirty with an equally dark, kind of dirty crowd being all moody while 1950s American rock music played! Ahahaha. So I danced crazy since I was not self-conscious at this point. Towards the end of the night, Emily had been dancing with my intercambio and came to ask us if we were ready to leave. She asks Ana who says “Eh, whatever” (she’s Spanish - can stay out forever), asks Bea who says “Yeah I’m pretty tired” and turns to ask me, but she finds that I’m not listening in my own crazy Cousin It dancing trance (my hair is everywhere)! So I get home around 6 am, make more noise than usual and conk out for 4 hours until I have to get up to talk with my Mom on Skype. Then I go back home, sleep an hour and then try to eat comida which consists of a salad of lettuce, pasta, olives, tuna, crab and tomato, basically the worst thing someone could ask you to eat when you are hungover. I tell my host mom I can’t eat any more, and she knows I’m feeling sick, so she says fine. I then go back to bed for a while and get up around 6 pm to dar un paseo with Emily and put our two versions of the previous night together. It was pretty funny! Except for the resaca (hangover).
I’ve also been meeting with a really great intercambio!! I’m in love, but he’s expecting twins with his girlfriend. He really wants to help me improve and corrects me a lot. He buys my coffee always, so I taught him the words for chivalrous and the phrase “going dutch”. He was greatly amused and proceeded to send me an email using these news words in incorrect ways. Language truly is a humbling experience, when a 30 year old Spanish man is perfectly intelligent in Spanish, and then when he goes to speak in English, he can express himself like a child. On Thursday, we “snuck” into a seminary that used to be a military building/school, and we went into the dark basement (reminded me of the vaults in England - creepy) where Napoleon used to talk to his soldiers in the Guerra de Independencia in the early 1800s. It was really cool. I’m thinking this language partner will become a penpal maybe for the future.
Last night I went to party to celebrate an Argentinian new to Salamanca. Andrea and I show up, and it’s only boys (in the beginning)! It was funny/uncomfortable, but we chatted to a few people. At first I was discouraged because they were talking so quickly and with jokes (that fly over my head), but like one-on-one or with a few people, I do pretty well. More people showed up, and we hung out a bit. Weird thing was that this guy kept putting on old or strange music, such as the national anthem for Spain (ok, whatever), the anthem for Franco (whoa), then the anthem for the Spanish Republic (1931-1936) - weirder, and then! He put on, you will not believe this, the anthem for the Confederacy of the South during the US Civil War, and he knew the words! He asked Andrea where she was from (Virginia), and he was like, “Why don’t you know the words?” as he sang along. Andrea felt pretty offended….ahahaha.
Oh, funny story. I was in the Plaza Mayor with Emily and these two boys (like 13 or 14 years old) ride past and one of them hits me in the head on purpose! I was so pissed, and the first thing that I could think of to yell was, "pendejo!". Then 1 minute later the boys come back, and the one who hit me asks what pendejo means. So I tell him it's like hijo de puta and that it's a curse word from Mexico. The other boy is confused and asks us where we're from, and Emily and I both say Mexico. Not sure if they believed us, but the boy left by tapping my shoulder and saying "adios pendeja". I wasn't too mad anymore.
Only a few observations:
1) For those of you that are sports fans, this will probably be my only comment ever on sports here. Many of you may know that Rafa Nadal, the #1 ranked tennis player in the WORLD, is Spanish. And a nice boy from the pueblo. People obviously love him here and are thrilled with his success. Spaniards also like the Lakers since there are a couple of Spaniards on the team. Ok, that’s it.
2) Public bathrooms DO NOT exist here. You have to pay for a coffee if you want to use a bathroom, although McDonalds is an exception. But to prove this point more, I have seen 2 kids peeing in the street probably because there were no bathrooms to use (a boy and a girl). There are no bathrooms in supermarkets too. Thankfully university buildings are open during the week and I can go in there.
3) Speaking of McDonalds, the McFlurries here are amazing. Way more delicious.
4) Since it’s been pretty nice out, students have been sitting out on the lawn, and by lawn, I mean the patches of grass in a stone plaza by some university buildings. There is one juggler, some people with guitars and lots of dogs. But it doesn’t feel like a college campus at all. Weird!
So Semana Santa is next week, and I’m going to be on vacation for 10 days! Budapest, Hungary, then Prague, Czech Republic, then Vienna, Austria (by myself!) and then a night in Madrid. I’m excited and looking forward to the freedom of traveling and staying in hostels and meeting strangers and trying to find people that speak English. Then when I come back, 3 days later I go to Portugal with my program. April is a busy time! So if I don’t email you, you know why!
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Monday, March 9, 2009
Malentendidos, Mimes & Mexican food.
Alright, haven’t written in a while, but maybe that’s a good sign that I’m busy? More like I’ve just been soaking in the nice, sunny weather! Ok, funny things to share…
The last weekend in Feb, my program went to Madrid for the day. Slightly anticlimactic because we went to the Palacio Real (been there) and a speed tour of the Prado art museum (done that). But Jen, Emily, Andrea and I had a nice lunch in the Parque del Retiro (where the kings used to relax) and we rented one of the rowboats! You can see the pictures on Facebook, which by the way, I still haven’t put up my pictures from Valladolid + Ciudad Rodrigo, so I’ll try to do that soon. I’ve also been oddly sick for the past 10 days. I’m thinking I had a small sinus infection, but it’s going away.
So Mexican food. We (like 20 of us!) went out for Mexican food for Adriana’s b-day because she’s Mexicana/Americana and wanted to go. It was subpar, but it was nice to get out. I had a beer with my meal and complained about the lack of spicy/hot sauce. Spanish people are weak!
On Tuesday, I went to Trivia night at Holy Cross, a bar with church looking windows and confessional looking booths, ahaha. Emily, Andrea and I met with my intercambio friend Ana to go play! There were 3 rounds: 1) questions about Spain’s history, movies, sports, famous people, etc., 2) songs - Spanish pop, American songs, national anthems, movie scores and 3) pictures of famous people that have been photoshopped (in this case, all were bald!). We didn’t win, but we met Beatrice, Ana’s nice Italian friend. Afterwards they invited us to go out, but it was a school night! Psh, so Ana said she’d call me that weekend to go out to a party.
Malententido = Misunderstanding. This story is hilarious, but also upsetting. So a few of us went to “Variaciones sobre Rosa Parks”, a monologue-ish play about Rosa Parks written by a Spaniard. We were hands-down the youngest ones there by like 30 years. I felt proud because I could understand almost all of the play, and it included Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech which almost makes me cry, among other historical mentions, like the murder of Eliot, the boy from Mississippi (?) and segregation laws. Afterwards there was a chat, and some people asked stupid questions. I raised my hand and asked the director/actresses what they thought the purpose was of showing this type of play to a Spanish audience just because it included so many references to American culture and historical events. The audience all turned around to look at me, asking me to expand upon my ideas, etc. Then a bunch were all talking at the same time explaining to me about how it was about civil rights (well duh) and how that’s a universal theme. Ok, yes, I knew that, thank you Spanish women. But then! Afterwards some women crowded around us telling us about it being national women’s day soon and how racism doesn’t just exist in the US (well super DUH). I just nod my head, realizing my question has been misunderstood. Before the director had asked the audience how many of them knew the history of Rosa Parks before seeing the play - like 20 out of 40, and that included 10 American girls. So then! We get out of the theater and another group of old Spanish women are waiting for us to talk about how the play has a message about civil rights and women overcoming difficulties (DUH). I was just so mad and amused to be so misunderstood. My main concern was that the Spanish audience wouldn’t feel as connected to the play because: 1) They can’t hear the powerful way MLK delivers his speech, but read an ok translation of it, and 2) did they know the surrounding events such as Eliot’s murder or the bombings in a Birmingham church? It’s like if the US watched a play about Franco whom few really know about, and they would understand the basics (dictatorship, repression, etc.), but would they truly appreciate the jokes about Franco’s appearance, or the irony of how he employed Muslim Africans to fight for a Catholic Spain or his religious, sad upbringing? NO is the answer. I rest my case. Hope that made some sense.
Piso (apartment) party and Mimes! So Ana invited Emily and I to go to a party of her friend from England. It was great because imagine a room full of students from: Italy, Spain, France, Slovakia, Holland, Argentina, China, Ireland, England and the US. Yay! The room was full of Spanish and English, and the birthday girl and some of her friends dressing up like mimes with face paint, striped shirts, gloves and hats. We had a couple of drinks (I brought some beer, I felt so adult!) and went out to a couple of bars. But greatest thing ever! This girl from China loved me because I actually knew something of her culture and was telling her about Lexi! She was so excited when I spoke in Chinese (yeah I did). I said the words for: bus, dumpling, friend, dance, I love you and I’ll beat you to death/kill you. She was thrilled, as were the people around me. I am setting out a great name for the US - you’re welcome USA (Jenny: 2 points, US: 0). As for the 2 bars we went to, it was so funny because we danced to songs from…Grease! So weird. And we danced a crazy long time and weren’t bothered AT ALL by gross boys because there were boys with us, and I had so much fun. They were such nice people, and I’ll hopefully see a few of them at trivia tomorrow. By the end, I was wearing white mime gloves and a cowboy hat with black and white spots like a cow. I kept telling them it was incorrect since I am from the north. Anyway, great times.
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Observations:
1) There is no Spanish word for blueberries. Cranberries, blackberries, etc. yeah. But my host-mom had no idea of what I was walking about.
2) I love Spanish milk. Yes, I admit it. Before I left, I told mom I thought Spanish milk was weird. And it kind of is because you don’t have to refrigerate it. But it doesn’t taste weird and hormone-y like US milk. And it’s strange because Spanish kids tend to be malnourished of calcium and don’t’ get enough. There are even commercials for chocolate for kids to get calcium!
3) So there was an article a while ago saying that the US is #1 in Internet availability and consistency. Agreed. School buildings are closed on the weekends, so I can’t use it there and have to pay for a drink in some café to use some maybe dependable wifi.
4) Politics. I never considered myself a particularly political person, but here I say I am definitely. Spanish people don’t like to talk about politics and say all politicians are corrupt/liars, which could maybe be true. When I was at the party this weekend I was saying how my mom did door-knocking for Obama’s campaign, and this Italian guy was like, “That’s SO American!”. Really? Guess so. Proud to be politically interested.
5) I went to an Intercambio with Emily. I just have one comment. He said he couldn’t tell I was American when I spoke in Spanish (awesome!), but he said I had a Mexican accent in terms of intonation! Ahaha.
The last weekend in Feb, my program went to Madrid for the day. Slightly anticlimactic because we went to the Palacio Real (been there) and a speed tour of the Prado art museum (done that). But Jen, Emily, Andrea and I had a nice lunch in the Parque del Retiro (where the kings used to relax) and we rented one of the rowboats! You can see the pictures on Facebook, which by the way, I still haven’t put up my pictures from Valladolid + Ciudad Rodrigo, so I’ll try to do that soon. I’ve also been oddly sick for the past 10 days. I’m thinking I had a small sinus infection, but it’s going away.
So Mexican food. We (like 20 of us!) went out for Mexican food for Adriana’s b-day because she’s Mexicana/Americana and wanted to go. It was subpar, but it was nice to get out. I had a beer with my meal and complained about the lack of spicy/hot sauce. Spanish people are weak!
On Tuesday, I went to Trivia night at Holy Cross, a bar with church looking windows and confessional looking booths, ahaha. Emily, Andrea and I met with my intercambio friend Ana to go play! There were 3 rounds: 1) questions about Spain’s history, movies, sports, famous people, etc., 2) songs - Spanish pop, American songs, national anthems, movie scores and 3) pictures of famous people that have been photoshopped (in this case, all were bald!). We didn’t win, but we met Beatrice, Ana’s nice Italian friend. Afterwards they invited us to go out, but it was a school night! Psh, so Ana said she’d call me that weekend to go out to a party.
Malententido = Misunderstanding. This story is hilarious, but also upsetting. So a few of us went to “Variaciones sobre Rosa Parks”, a monologue-ish play about Rosa Parks written by a Spaniard. We were hands-down the youngest ones there by like 30 years. I felt proud because I could understand almost all of the play, and it included Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech which almost makes me cry, among other historical mentions, like the murder of Eliot, the boy from Mississippi (?) and segregation laws. Afterwards there was a chat, and some people asked stupid questions. I raised my hand and asked the director/actresses what they thought the purpose was of showing this type of play to a Spanish audience just because it included so many references to American culture and historical events. The audience all turned around to look at me, asking me to expand upon my ideas, etc. Then a bunch were all talking at the same time explaining to me about how it was about civil rights (well duh) and how that’s a universal theme. Ok, yes, I knew that, thank you Spanish women. But then! Afterwards some women crowded around us telling us about it being national women’s day soon and how racism doesn’t just exist in the US (well super DUH). I just nod my head, realizing my question has been misunderstood. Before the director had asked the audience how many of them knew the history of Rosa Parks before seeing the play - like 20 out of 40, and that included 10 American girls. So then! We get out of the theater and another group of old Spanish women are waiting for us to talk about how the play has a message about civil rights and women overcoming difficulties (DUH). I was just so mad and amused to be so misunderstood. My main concern was that the Spanish audience wouldn’t feel as connected to the play because: 1) They can’t hear the powerful way MLK delivers his speech, but read an ok translation of it, and 2) did they know the surrounding events such as Eliot’s murder or the bombings in a Birmingham church? It’s like if the US watched a play about Franco whom few really know about, and they would understand the basics (dictatorship, repression, etc.), but would they truly appreciate the jokes about Franco’s appearance, or the irony of how he employed Muslim Africans to fight for a Catholic Spain or his religious, sad upbringing? NO is the answer. I rest my case. Hope that made some sense.
Piso (apartment) party and Mimes! So Ana invited Emily and I to go to a party of her friend from England. It was great because imagine a room full of students from: Italy, Spain, France, Slovakia, Holland, Argentina, China, Ireland, England and the US. Yay! The room was full of Spanish and English, and the birthday girl and some of her friends dressing up like mimes with face paint, striped shirts, gloves and hats. We had a couple of drinks (I brought some beer, I felt so adult!) and went out to a couple of bars. But greatest thing ever! This girl from China loved me because I actually knew something of her culture and was telling her about Lexi! She was so excited when I spoke in Chinese (yeah I did). I said the words for: bus, dumpling, friend, dance, I love you and I’ll beat you to death/kill you. She was thrilled, as were the people around me. I am setting out a great name for the US - you’re welcome USA (Jenny: 2 points, US: 0). As for the 2 bars we went to, it was so funny because we danced to songs from…Grease! So weird. And we danced a crazy long time and weren’t bothered AT ALL by gross boys because there were boys with us, and I had so much fun. They were such nice people, and I’ll hopefully see a few of them at trivia tomorrow. By the end, I was wearing white mime gloves and a cowboy hat with black and white spots like a cow. I kept telling them it was incorrect since I am from the north. Anyway, great times.
.
Observations:
1) There is no Spanish word for blueberries. Cranberries, blackberries, etc. yeah. But my host-mom had no idea of what I was walking about.
2) I love Spanish milk. Yes, I admit it. Before I left, I told mom I thought Spanish milk was weird. And it kind of is because you don’t have to refrigerate it. But it doesn’t taste weird and hormone-y like US milk. And it’s strange because Spanish kids tend to be malnourished of calcium and don’t’ get enough. There are even commercials for chocolate for kids to get calcium!
3) So there was an article a while ago saying that the US is #1 in Internet availability and consistency. Agreed. School buildings are closed on the weekends, so I can’t use it there and have to pay for a drink in some café to use some maybe dependable wifi.
4) Politics. I never considered myself a particularly political person, but here I say I am definitely. Spanish people don’t like to talk about politics and say all politicians are corrupt/liars, which could maybe be true. When I was at the party this weekend I was saying how my mom did door-knocking for Obama’s campaign, and this Italian guy was like, “That’s SO American!”. Really? Guess so. Proud to be politically interested.
5) I went to an Intercambio with Emily. I just have one comment. He said he couldn’t tell I was American when I spoke in Spanish (awesome!), but he said I had a Mexican accent in terms of intonation! Ahaha.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Carnaval!
Hi friends! So Carnaval is going on right now, which is basically where people get all crazy, drunk and dress up in costumes before Lent starts and they have to give up everything (which no one really does anymore). But this past Saturday I went to Ciudad Rodrigo, about an hour south of me. There were tons of people there celebrating and wearing costumes. Kids being chased by men in horse costumes, a man dressed up as the Duquesa del Alba in a wheelchair, and groups of teens with matching sweatsuit outfits with their names printed on their pants. Strange. I really need to put up the photos, but there was a running of bulls through the streets! I was not in these said streets of course, but I was sitting in the stadium set up in the Plaza Mayor where I watched boys being macho and “brave” with the bull. They were smacking its butt and then running away or taunting it with their jacket and then running to jump up and cling to the wall. Later on, I heard one guy got gored/injured because he was being stupid. Frankly, I was cheering for the bull. It was a beautiful day. The only bad thing was that there were a ton of Americans there since Ciudad Rodrigo and Cadiz celebrate Carnaval the most. One Spanish guy teased my friends and I by saying “Oh my god, oh my god” because I guess that’s what they hear American girls saying in exaggerated voices. The other annoying part was the bus ride home in the evening because there were drunk Americans, and one guy in particular was talking loudly and obnoxiously in a terrible Spanish accent. Some girls on my program who went stayed the night and caught the 9 am bus, but they were pretty much dead the next day.
I also wanted to write about my Valentine’s weekend, but I’ve told a lot of you about what happened, so you can skip this paragraph. I just went out with Emily and Andrea to dance, and we dressed up really nicely since it was V-Day (bad idea - should have known). After bar hopping and discovering discotecas of old people, we ended up at the Irish Rover with American music. I can’t tell you how many times I was grabbed, jabbed, and touched. Disgusting. One boy asked Emily what my problem was because I didn’t want to talk to him. We left around 4 am because of the sheer sexual harassment. I didn’t think it’d be so ridiculous, but you can tell that women were inferior for a really long time in Spain during Franco repression because women are treated like shit sometimes, like pieces of meat really, and it’s no wonder my gender teacher is really passionate about the subject. Because it is blatantly relevant to this country still. Good luck to the girls in Argentina! I hope you don’t get inappropriately touched like I am. On a happier note, I gave a Valentine to my host mom and she asked me, “V-Day isn’t just for couples?” I said no, and she gave me kisses for my card and told me to start using “tu” with her (the informal you). Jenny: 1 point.
Andrea and I went out with this French dude I met one day this past weekend as well. We went salsa dancing, which was fun. And it was relaxing to just sit and chat with him. I think he wants to be more than friends and thus has not called me back after my “I’m still in love with someone” revelation, but whatever. I’m trying to be open about meeting people and dancing, but my Intercambio Sara told me that when you meet boys out, it’s only because they want to “ligar” (flirt) and pick you up. So at this point, I’m hoping on becoming good friends with my Intercambios (which are both girls) and making friends this way.
What else have I been doing? I have a lot of free time and have been walking around a lot (trying to burn off all the cookies I eat). I’m also reading a huge biography of Franco for my IES class, and it’s pretty interesting. It’s strange to think that the Dictatorship just ended like 33 years ago. Yesterday was the anniversary of an “intento de golpe de estado” or coup of the government. The (current) king wanted to transition into democracy and some of the old Franco/military cronies were not having it. So they took the Congress hostage 28 years ago (23 Feb 1981), but failed. Some military officers supported it and others no - the ones in favor kept telling other generals that this is what the king wanted for Spain, but as the confusion cleared and Rey Juan Carlos made his television appearance, things became more apparent. As I keep learning about Spain’s history, I just discover how many chances they had to develop and be progressive, but instead, chose to go backwards. Luckily, democracy has been going on for the past 27 years or so. What’s even weirder is that the newer generation (mine really) of Spaniards have no idea about the dictatorship. I’d say I know probably more than some, but maybe then they’d understand why Spain is the way it is today (at least women’s issues!). I can’t wait till the Spanish government says “Forget you!” to the Catholic church once and for all, but that won’t be for a long time I’m guessing. Maybe I’ll enlighten you with some actual factual history next time, instead of just ranting. Anyway.
Observations that you will love (maybe):
1) Waxing or “depilation” is real big here for women to do. Andrea and I are thinking that when it is warm out, we’ll go get our legs, armpits and bikini areas waxed for only 10 euro! What do you think?
2) Pets here are never on their leashes. They just obediently follow their owners. The funny thing is that it is against the law to have your pet off of its leash, but I’ve noticed many Spaniards don’t tend to follow rules. My host mom doesn’t like pets and even complained to me about how owners never clean up after their pets. A valid complaint.
3) Not that this should interest you, but I have the worst dry skin ever in my life here. Because it’s DESERT weather! It’s cold in the mornings (sun rises late) and the evenings (like see your breath cold) and then sunny and warm in the afternoon. It’s just so DRY.
4) Storks are everywhere here. You know, the baby-carrying birds. They live in trees and churches around here and make loud, clicking noises with their beaks. I love them.
5) Don’t know if you guys have heard of Bolonia, but it’s a proposal in the UE of standardizing education in Europe, making it easier for students to get jobs in other countries. Spanish students hate it because not only would it change standards for them (more school for more classes), but it’s like the US system of school in that students have homework expected of them everyday. My grammar teacher says Spanish students are lazy and like their free time. I’m thinking it would make sense to want Bolonia, but I can understand the strain it puts on students to adjust immediately. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with it. But there is graffiti in lots of buildings giving times and places for future protests against it in Salamanca.
6) The crisis (pronounced “cree-sees” in Spanish). It is everywhere, and I feel bad that Spain has such a high rate of unemployment. It has always been an issue here like I’ve maybe said before, but imagine this: In the US, a 7% unemployment rate is crazy. Well, here’s it’s about 14% and may climb to 20%. Enough said.
I also wanted to write about my Valentine’s weekend, but I’ve told a lot of you about what happened, so you can skip this paragraph. I just went out with Emily and Andrea to dance, and we dressed up really nicely since it was V-Day (bad idea - should have known). After bar hopping and discovering discotecas of old people, we ended up at the Irish Rover with American music. I can’t tell you how many times I was grabbed, jabbed, and touched. Disgusting. One boy asked Emily what my problem was because I didn’t want to talk to him. We left around 4 am because of the sheer sexual harassment. I didn’t think it’d be so ridiculous, but you can tell that women were inferior for a really long time in Spain during Franco repression because women are treated like shit sometimes, like pieces of meat really, and it’s no wonder my gender teacher is really passionate about the subject. Because it is blatantly relevant to this country still. Good luck to the girls in Argentina! I hope you don’t get inappropriately touched like I am. On a happier note, I gave a Valentine to my host mom and she asked me, “V-Day isn’t just for couples?” I said no, and she gave me kisses for my card and told me to start using “tu” with her (the informal you). Jenny: 1 point.
Andrea and I went out with this French dude I met one day this past weekend as well. We went salsa dancing, which was fun. And it was relaxing to just sit and chat with him. I think he wants to be more than friends and thus has not called me back after my “I’m still in love with someone” revelation, but whatever. I’m trying to be open about meeting people and dancing, but my Intercambio Sara told me that when you meet boys out, it’s only because they want to “ligar” (flirt) and pick you up. So at this point, I’m hoping on becoming good friends with my Intercambios (which are both girls) and making friends this way.
What else have I been doing? I have a lot of free time and have been walking around a lot (trying to burn off all the cookies I eat). I’m also reading a huge biography of Franco for my IES class, and it’s pretty interesting. It’s strange to think that the Dictatorship just ended like 33 years ago. Yesterday was the anniversary of an “intento de golpe de estado” or coup of the government. The (current) king wanted to transition into democracy and some of the old Franco/military cronies were not having it. So they took the Congress hostage 28 years ago (23 Feb 1981), but failed. Some military officers supported it and others no - the ones in favor kept telling other generals that this is what the king wanted for Spain, but as the confusion cleared and Rey Juan Carlos made his television appearance, things became more apparent. As I keep learning about Spain’s history, I just discover how many chances they had to develop and be progressive, but instead, chose to go backwards. Luckily, democracy has been going on for the past 27 years or so. What’s even weirder is that the newer generation (mine really) of Spaniards have no idea about the dictatorship. I’d say I know probably more than some, but maybe then they’d understand why Spain is the way it is today (at least women’s issues!). I can’t wait till the Spanish government says “Forget you!” to the Catholic church once and for all, but that won’t be for a long time I’m guessing. Maybe I’ll enlighten you with some actual factual history next time, instead of just ranting. Anyway.
Observations that you will love (maybe):
1) Waxing or “depilation” is real big here for women to do. Andrea and I are thinking that when it is warm out, we’ll go get our legs, armpits and bikini areas waxed for only 10 euro! What do you think?
2) Pets here are never on their leashes. They just obediently follow their owners. The funny thing is that it is against the law to have your pet off of its leash, but I’ve noticed many Spaniards don’t tend to follow rules. My host mom doesn’t like pets and even complained to me about how owners never clean up after their pets. A valid complaint.
3) Not that this should interest you, but I have the worst dry skin ever in my life here. Because it’s DESERT weather! It’s cold in the mornings (sun rises late) and the evenings (like see your breath cold) and then sunny and warm in the afternoon. It’s just so DRY.
4) Storks are everywhere here. You know, the baby-carrying birds. They live in trees and churches around here and make loud, clicking noises with their beaks. I love them.
5) Don’t know if you guys have heard of Bolonia, but it’s a proposal in the UE of standardizing education in Europe, making it easier for students to get jobs in other countries. Spanish students hate it because not only would it change standards for them (more school for more classes), but it’s like the US system of school in that students have homework expected of them everyday. My grammar teacher says Spanish students are lazy and like their free time. I’m thinking it would make sense to want Bolonia, but I can understand the strain it puts on students to adjust immediately. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with it. But there is graffiti in lots of buildings giving times and places for future protests against it in Salamanca.
6) The crisis (pronounced “cree-sees” in Spanish). It is everywhere, and I feel bad that Spain has such a high rate of unemployment. It has always been an issue here like I’ve maybe said before, but imagine this: In the US, a 7% unemployment rate is crazy. Well, here’s it’s about 14% and may climb to 20%. Enough said.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Been here for a month.
So as the title suggests, I’ve been in Salamanca for a whole month! The question is, what have I learned so far and how have I improved? Frankly, I don’t think my Spanish has improved, so that’s pretty much my fault. But I’ve been learning lots of things and realizing that it is my job to make things happen!
The funny thing about going abroad is coming face to face with your extranjero-ness, or being a foreigner. I’ve been considering the pros and cons of the US, and have been noticing that Spain is not as perfect as I would like to think. The Catholic church here is still prominent and one of my teachers implied that the US had a better, secular (laico) system of separation of church and state (which obviously depends on where you live because Indiana would have you think that you must be Christian). I think people are liberal here, but not as liberal as I would like (Kate says yes!). Although there is gay marriage, there still is a lot of controversy over the 2005 decision and a new reform of the abortion law is coming up (which is why there was a recent visit of the Catholic bishops in Spain). People here don’t really entertain in their homes because they’re usually small and people like it to be private or theirs, which makes me sad because house parties seem like the best idea ever. Women here are also much more self-conscious about the way they look, and children learn from a very young age that clothes matter here. Spaniards have also suggested to me that Americans have more national pride for their country. Pride here revolves around one’s province (like a state), but it seems Americans do have a higher capacity to be proud of their state, but more over, their country. Another interesting fact is that Spaniards have mostly been friendly when it’s revealed that I’m an American - they seem to think that it’s amazing I would come this far to learn their language. Enough of this American pride stuff - ew!
So I went to Valladolid this past Saturday, which is about an hour/hour and a half northeast of Salamanca. Andrea, Amanda and I looked at a sculpture museum with some freaky religious scenes (I’ll put some pictures on Facebook later), a museum of Valladolid with old tools and Roman money, looking at the cathedrals, etc. It was a nice day and there was a carousel in the Plaza Mayor! I wanted to ride it, but it was for kids only. I would say Valladolid is charming, but I’m so happy I’m in Salamanca because it’s much bigger and has a lot more students.
I had my first Intercambio yesterday, where I met Marta in the Plaza Mayor and then went to a smoky bar to chat in Spanish and English. We talked about everything, mostly me making silly cultural differences comments, but it was nice. I’d like to meet again with her. She’s an English major, and although her English isn’t very good (it felt so weird to have to speak slowly and not use particular words - I had to explain what nerd meant…), she’s reading Shakespeare and Chaucer (Nick!)! She even invited me to her hometown with her some weekend if I’d like to go! IES is having an Intercambio night tonight, so I hope I can meet some other people.
A bajillion observations (bear with me):
1) Chocolate, or a version of hot chocolate, is huge here! Kids have cereals with chocolate, cookies for breakfast and Cola-Cao as a hot drink. It’s pretty wild.
2) I think kids are more spoiled here. Well it depends. Not only are parents obsessed with spending ridiculous amounts of money on their kids to dress them like little adults (many little girls here look like they’re from the Victorian age - bonnets, boots, wool coats, etc.), they give them whatever they want! I’ve seen my host mom feed her grandchildren when they are perfectly old enough to feed themselves. The parents also let them have more candy and open their Kinder eggs early (chocolate eggs with prizes inside).
3) There are a ton of peluquerias (haircut places) here, and haircuts look pretty cheap.
4) Library organization does not exist here! No Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress system! How do people do research and find books? They are arbitrarily placed in themed sections. I have yet to really look around, but I’m a little frightened. What do librarians learn here?
5) PDA is perfectly acceptable here. People kiss and touch all over the street, and no one cares. One of the program directors was saying that when he went to the US he didn’t understand why someone told him to get a room when he kissed his girlfriend at a party, ahaha.
6) There is a higher prevalence of the balding gene among Spanish men. I have seen so many youngish guys starting to bald!
7) The news here is NOT censored like it is in the US in terms of graphic images. I have seen dead, bloody people in Madagascar with the recent events, some guy in a motorcycle accident, people in Gaza, etc.
8) I have huge feet here. A 40 (size 8 in US) usually is the biggest size for women that a store carries. There’s a guy on my program with big feet, and he can’t find shoes in his size anywhere!
9) Last night while walking to the Plaza Mayor, I saw a large group of gathered older women who looked like clones of each other! Fur coats is all I have to say. Older woman in Spain? You have an ankle length fur coat.
PS I had paella, and it was wonderful.
The funny thing about going abroad is coming face to face with your extranjero-ness, or being a foreigner. I’ve been considering the pros and cons of the US, and have been noticing that Spain is not as perfect as I would like to think. The Catholic church here is still prominent and one of my teachers implied that the US had a better, secular (laico) system of separation of church and state (which obviously depends on where you live because Indiana would have you think that you must be Christian). I think people are liberal here, but not as liberal as I would like (Kate says yes!). Although there is gay marriage, there still is a lot of controversy over the 2005 decision and a new reform of the abortion law is coming up (which is why there was a recent visit of the Catholic bishops in Spain). People here don’t really entertain in their homes because they’re usually small and people like it to be private or theirs, which makes me sad because house parties seem like the best idea ever. Women here are also much more self-conscious about the way they look, and children learn from a very young age that clothes matter here. Spaniards have also suggested to me that Americans have more national pride for their country. Pride here revolves around one’s province (like a state), but it seems Americans do have a higher capacity to be proud of their state, but more over, their country. Another interesting fact is that Spaniards have mostly been friendly when it’s revealed that I’m an American - they seem to think that it’s amazing I would come this far to learn their language. Enough of this American pride stuff - ew!
So I went to Valladolid this past Saturday, which is about an hour/hour and a half northeast of Salamanca. Andrea, Amanda and I looked at a sculpture museum with some freaky religious scenes (I’ll put some pictures on Facebook later), a museum of Valladolid with old tools and Roman money, looking at the cathedrals, etc. It was a nice day and there was a carousel in the Plaza Mayor! I wanted to ride it, but it was for kids only. I would say Valladolid is charming, but I’m so happy I’m in Salamanca because it’s much bigger and has a lot more students.
I had my first Intercambio yesterday, where I met Marta in the Plaza Mayor and then went to a smoky bar to chat in Spanish and English. We talked about everything, mostly me making silly cultural differences comments, but it was nice. I’d like to meet again with her. She’s an English major, and although her English isn’t very good (it felt so weird to have to speak slowly and not use particular words - I had to explain what nerd meant…), she’s reading Shakespeare and Chaucer (Nick!)! She even invited me to her hometown with her some weekend if I’d like to go! IES is having an Intercambio night tonight, so I hope I can meet some other people.
A bajillion observations (bear with me):
1) Chocolate, or a version of hot chocolate, is huge here! Kids have cereals with chocolate, cookies for breakfast and Cola-Cao as a hot drink. It’s pretty wild.
2) I think kids are more spoiled here. Well it depends. Not only are parents obsessed with spending ridiculous amounts of money on their kids to dress them like little adults (many little girls here look like they’re from the Victorian age - bonnets, boots, wool coats, etc.), they give them whatever they want! I’ve seen my host mom feed her grandchildren when they are perfectly old enough to feed themselves. The parents also let them have more candy and open their Kinder eggs early (chocolate eggs with prizes inside).
3) There are a ton of peluquerias (haircut places) here, and haircuts look pretty cheap.
4) Library organization does not exist here! No Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress system! How do people do research and find books? They are arbitrarily placed in themed sections. I have yet to really look around, but I’m a little frightened. What do librarians learn here?
5) PDA is perfectly acceptable here. People kiss and touch all over the street, and no one cares. One of the program directors was saying that when he went to the US he didn’t understand why someone told him to get a room when he kissed his girlfriend at a party, ahaha.
6) There is a higher prevalence of the balding gene among Spanish men. I have seen so many youngish guys starting to bald!
7) The news here is NOT censored like it is in the US in terms of graphic images. I have seen dead, bloody people in Madagascar with the recent events, some guy in a motorcycle accident, people in Gaza, etc.
8) I have huge feet here. A 40 (size 8 in US) usually is the biggest size for women that a store carries. There’s a guy on my program with big feet, and he can’t find shoes in his size anywhere!
9) Last night while walking to the Plaza Mayor, I saw a large group of gathered older women who looked like clones of each other! Fur coats is all I have to say. Older woman in Spain? You have an ankle length fur coat.
PS I had paella, and it was wonderful.
Monday, February 2, 2009
More rain!
Maybe you never thought of Spain as a rainy place, but it has been raining or misting off and on for the past week. Northern Spain is even flooded. So strange! I’m not looking forward to this week of colder temperatures, but I heard it was the worst winter in Minnesota this year, so I guess I feel lucky.
I have also kind of established a schedule of some sort. I’m only taking one class at USAL about Gender, but the professor didn’t even show up! So I’ll have to wait until next Thursday. The other classes are with IES and unfortunately I think I’m going to be bored out of my mind. My Lit class is covering things from Lit last semester at Mac, except we’re reading different books, and 2 History classes both dealing with Franco in some way. I do have a pretty open schedule though and am trying to set up an Intercambio, where I meet up with a Spanish student to practice their English and switch to practice my Spanish. I’m hoping I can become friends with them and meet other students. Vamos a ver!
This past Wednesday I didn’t have classes due to it being the University’s patron saint’s day. Yay San Tomas! So I went to an Art Deco/Nouveau museum with Andrea and Emily. It was wonderful! I loved it so much. Lots of stained glass within the building itself (built in 1905) and weird collections of creepy dolls, sweet glasswork, bronze and porcelain sculptures and more! I honestly fell in love and realized I wanted to live in an almost ugly over-decorated house! In the evening I went to a movie with the girls called La mujer del anarquista (The wife of the anarchist). Set in Spain’s Civil War, this woman gets separated from her husband who’s on the leftist, non-Franco side. It was ok; the only thing worth watching was the lead actor! Que guapo!
This week I also watched the program Tengo una pregunta para usted (I have a question for you), where people from all over Spain were invited to ask one question to Zapatero, the president. Whoa is all I have to say. Most of the questions were about the financial crisis, and poor Zapatero had to stand there and face these angry people talking about el paro (unemployment rate) and finding it hard to maintain hope and confidence in the country. Zapatero was like a typical politician in that he used pretty words and was a little vague, but I think he was brave to stand there and talk directly to the people.
I went out this weekend to go dancing and it turned out to be a fun night. Emily and I stayed out late and left the discoteca, where an Italian student approached us. He tried to guess where we were from: Germany? Finland? Belgium? The blonde hair must have thrown him off. So we joined him and his friends and danced at a place without a name to some pretty good Spanish rock music. It was really nice because they weren’t creepy and they danced freely and even air-guitared! I hope I can call one of them later, have them actually remember who we were and go out again! I want some friends!
Observaciones:
1) Spain fries a ton of food. Here you thought it was only in American fairs, but no! I have had fried fish, French fries, fried red peppers stuffed with fish, fried cauliflower, fried croquettes, fried chicken breasts, fried churros, etc.
2) For those of you who may not know, I don’t especially like beer; however, Spain offers girls a girly version called a clara. It’s half beer, half sparkling sweet water/tonic. It’s pretty good and would be great with spicy food, but since that doesn’t exist here, I drink it without food. Plus, it’s almost cold, which is great because cold drinks aren’t very popular here.
3) I just did laundry for the first time! I took my clothes to a man and helped him load the washing machine. He told me to come back in 2 days to pick it up. I came back, it was neatly folded, organized and clean for the bargain price of 7 euros, which is a standard price for a load of laundry. I’m going to be wearing dirty clothes definitely, but it’s hard if you ever go out, because the smell of smoke is an evil thing to try to air out.
4) Young Spaniards also have a thing with shortening words: boli (boligrafo - pen), cumple (cumpleanos - birthday), profe (profesor), bici (bicicleta - bicycle).
5) School supplies in Spain are different as well. The standard size for paper is not 8.5x11 in, but is longer. Lined paper is not very common either; it’s normally graph paper found in notebooks.
I have also kind of established a schedule of some sort. I’m only taking one class at USAL about Gender, but the professor didn’t even show up! So I’ll have to wait until next Thursday. The other classes are with IES and unfortunately I think I’m going to be bored out of my mind. My Lit class is covering things from Lit last semester at Mac, except we’re reading different books, and 2 History classes both dealing with Franco in some way. I do have a pretty open schedule though and am trying to set up an Intercambio, where I meet up with a Spanish student to practice their English and switch to practice my Spanish. I’m hoping I can become friends with them and meet other students. Vamos a ver!
This past Wednesday I didn’t have classes due to it being the University’s patron saint’s day. Yay San Tomas! So I went to an Art Deco/Nouveau museum with Andrea and Emily. It was wonderful! I loved it so much. Lots of stained glass within the building itself (built in 1905) and weird collections of creepy dolls, sweet glasswork, bronze and porcelain sculptures and more! I honestly fell in love and realized I wanted to live in an almost ugly over-decorated house! In the evening I went to a movie with the girls called La mujer del anarquista (The wife of the anarchist). Set in Spain’s Civil War, this woman gets separated from her husband who’s on the leftist, non-Franco side. It was ok; the only thing worth watching was the lead actor! Que guapo!
This week I also watched the program Tengo una pregunta para usted (I have a question for you), where people from all over Spain were invited to ask one question to Zapatero, the president. Whoa is all I have to say. Most of the questions were about the financial crisis, and poor Zapatero had to stand there and face these angry people talking about el paro (unemployment rate) and finding it hard to maintain hope and confidence in the country. Zapatero was like a typical politician in that he used pretty words and was a little vague, but I think he was brave to stand there and talk directly to the people.
I went out this weekend to go dancing and it turned out to be a fun night. Emily and I stayed out late and left the discoteca, where an Italian student approached us. He tried to guess where we were from: Germany? Finland? Belgium? The blonde hair must have thrown him off. So we joined him and his friends and danced at a place without a name to some pretty good Spanish rock music. It was really nice because they weren’t creepy and they danced freely and even air-guitared! I hope I can call one of them later, have them actually remember who we were and go out again! I want some friends!
Observaciones:
1) Spain fries a ton of food. Here you thought it was only in American fairs, but no! I have had fried fish, French fries, fried red peppers stuffed with fish, fried cauliflower, fried croquettes, fried chicken breasts, fried churros, etc.
2) For those of you who may not know, I don’t especially like beer; however, Spain offers girls a girly version called a clara. It’s half beer, half sparkling sweet water/tonic. It’s pretty good and would be great with spicy food, but since that doesn’t exist here, I drink it without food. Plus, it’s almost cold, which is great because cold drinks aren’t very popular here.
3) I just did laundry for the first time! I took my clothes to a man and helped him load the washing machine. He told me to come back in 2 days to pick it up. I came back, it was neatly folded, organized and clean for the bargain price of 7 euros, which is a standard price for a load of laundry. I’m going to be wearing dirty clothes definitely, but it’s hard if you ever go out, because the smell of smoke is an evil thing to try to air out.
4) Young Spaniards also have a thing with shortening words: boli (boligrafo - pen), cumple (cumpleanos - birthday), profe (profesor), bici (bicicleta - bicycle).
5) School supplies in Spain are different as well. The standard size for paper is not 8.5x11 in, but is longer. Lined paper is not very common either; it’s normally graph paper found in notebooks.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Where are you going after this? (It’s 4:30 am).
Where do I begin? We took a trip to Zamora and Toro on the 24th. In Toro, we got to tour a vineyard and see the process of producing wine! They had an art exhibit showing the entries for the winning bottle label and the barrels of aging wine. We also got to taste test it, and there were lots of weeny people trying the white - if I’m in Spain, I’m drinking red! In Zamora, we walked around, saw more old churches…and then we had a traditional rustic meal in a bodega (underground wine cellar turned into a restaurant). It was disgusting because Zamora is known for its meat, so there was sausage (which I tried - ok) and then bacon, but like thick slabs and you could see pig bristles on some of them and then pork ribs. Luckily, they made me a vegetarian meal like some others. I said I didn’t eat red meat and they were like, “Well, pork isn’t red…”, but I eat some meat, so it just got confusing. Anyway.
I also went out crazy Spanish style - that’s right, staying out until the morning (5 am to be exact). Andrea, Emily and I went to an Irish pub called Saint Patrick’s Museum, and this guy tried to card us at the door (basically unheard of in Spain) and said that he “didn’t see anything” as we went in. We later saw him at the discoteca! So we had a drink and randomly this guy starts talking to us about how beautiful the US is and how he just loved Las Vegas (ew?). The funniest thing though was when we were saying where we were from. Usually I just say near Chicago, since I don’t think people will know Indianapolis. But this guy did and said it was famous! He called over his friends and they were talking about the Colts and the Indy 500 and even said that there were movies, so I asked him to give me an example and his friend said…Indiana…Jones? Ahaha. We joined some other girls from the program, found another bar, and then we went to the discoteca Camelot, which is a 400 year old convent turned raunchy dance hang-out…I wonder if the owners were like, “Well, there’s this old convent we can revamp into a dance place?”. I had lots of fun dancing - I was pretty much the most hardcore one dancing, except for this French guy. Imagine a cheesy guy making weird dance pointing finger moves, wearing a plaid scarf and purple pants dancing upon a speaker. And we met lots of people, and some were creepy. And I even got a “You’re fucking unbelievable!” said to me. It’s this whole thing with blonde hair. It’s so stupid. Flirting is just so direct and obvious in Spain - where are the awkward boys that don’t make the initial moves?
The worst though was sleeping in the next morning because my mom’s son and kids spent the night. So I was awakened before 10 am by screaming playing kids! It was miserable, so I just woke up. At lunch, there was 8 of us: my mom’s two sons, one’s wife, 3 kids, my host mom and I. We ate something just like manicotti (not as good as my real mom’s) with spinach and chicken filling. Later I went to eat churros at a place called Valor. It was delicious, but I was kind of sick from lack of sleep.
And now my classes. I’m taking: IES required grammar class, 2 IES classes (Political Systems + Lit) and 2 USAL classes (Gender Relations in Spain over History + Psychology of Education which is super far away). I’ve only just been to Political Systems this morning. The teacher seems really nice and there’s only 6 of us! I’ll tell you how the other classes go later…
General observations this week:
1) Apparently eating only cold things in the morning is weird. My host mom asked why I didn’t want my cereal with warm milk? Spanish people also think that spicy food isn’t good for your health. So when something is flavorful, I think that just means it’s salty.
2) I have been taking full advantage of the siesta.
3) On Sundays, almost everything is closed except for a few cafes and bars, but everyone is out and about! Why? Families with their babies in strollers covered in plastic (for protection from the cold?) like to take walks going no where to no where. This past Sunday was empty though because it was raining and cold.
4) Have you been hearing about the strong winds along Spain’s coasts? Well, people have actually died. One woman was killed under a stone wall that was blown over, others on streets where trees have fallen and even kids I think in some building that collapsed. There’s also wild fires going on in another part.
5) I remember at the beginning trying to say “stews” to my host mom in Spanish, but I was using a word that I thought meant stews. Now I know why my mom laughed: I was saying worms! (Guiso is stew, guisano is worm).
I also went out crazy Spanish style - that’s right, staying out until the morning (5 am to be exact). Andrea, Emily and I went to an Irish pub called Saint Patrick’s Museum, and this guy tried to card us at the door (basically unheard of in Spain) and said that he “didn’t see anything” as we went in. We later saw him at the discoteca! So we had a drink and randomly this guy starts talking to us about how beautiful the US is and how he just loved Las Vegas (ew?). The funniest thing though was when we were saying where we were from. Usually I just say near Chicago, since I don’t think people will know Indianapolis. But this guy did and said it was famous! He called over his friends and they were talking about the Colts and the Indy 500 and even said that there were movies, so I asked him to give me an example and his friend said…Indiana…Jones? Ahaha. We joined some other girls from the program, found another bar, and then we went to the discoteca Camelot, which is a 400 year old convent turned raunchy dance hang-out…I wonder if the owners were like, “Well, there’s this old convent we can revamp into a dance place?”. I had lots of fun dancing - I was pretty much the most hardcore one dancing, except for this French guy. Imagine a cheesy guy making weird dance pointing finger moves, wearing a plaid scarf and purple pants dancing upon a speaker. And we met lots of people, and some were creepy. And I even got a “You’re fucking unbelievable!” said to me. It’s this whole thing with blonde hair. It’s so stupid. Flirting is just so direct and obvious in Spain - where are the awkward boys that don’t make the initial moves?
The worst though was sleeping in the next morning because my mom’s son and kids spent the night. So I was awakened before 10 am by screaming playing kids! It was miserable, so I just woke up. At lunch, there was 8 of us: my mom’s two sons, one’s wife, 3 kids, my host mom and I. We ate something just like manicotti (not as good as my real mom’s) with spinach and chicken filling. Later I went to eat churros at a place called Valor. It was delicious, but I was kind of sick from lack of sleep.
And now my classes. I’m taking: IES required grammar class, 2 IES classes (Political Systems + Lit) and 2 USAL classes (Gender Relations in Spain over History + Psychology of Education which is super far away). I’ve only just been to Political Systems this morning. The teacher seems really nice and there’s only 6 of us! I’ll tell you how the other classes go later…
General observations this week:
1) Apparently eating only cold things in the morning is weird. My host mom asked why I didn’t want my cereal with warm milk? Spanish people also think that spicy food isn’t good for your health. So when something is flavorful, I think that just means it’s salty.
2) I have been taking full advantage of the siesta.
3) On Sundays, almost everything is closed except for a few cafes and bars, but everyone is out and about! Why? Families with their babies in strollers covered in plastic (for protection from the cold?) like to take walks going no where to no where. This past Sunday was empty though because it was raining and cold.
4) Have you been hearing about the strong winds along Spain’s coasts? Well, people have actually died. One woman was killed under a stone wall that was blown over, others on streets where trees have fallen and even kids I think in some building that collapsed. There’s also wild fires going on in another part.
5) I remember at the beginning trying to say “stews” to my host mom in Spanish, but I was using a word that I thought meant stews. Now I know why my mom laughed: I was saying worms! (Guiso is stew, guisano is worm).
Monday, January 19, 2009
Luna de miel
Hi friends! So what have I been doing? Well…as for the title of this entry, a psychologist came to talk to us about culture shock and told us that the honeymoon period is first where you love everything and haven’t yet to miss people and be sad that you are looked at everywhere you go as an extranjero (stranger).
My host mom is nice and gets up every morning to make me desayuno, which usually consists of toast with butter, Cola-Cao (hot chocolate), un biscocho (sweet bread) or fruit. Midday meal is huge, often involving a soup first (vegetable, lentil, etc.), and then chicken (or spaghetti with tuna, croquettes, lengao - a fish, etc.) with a vegetable and bread and yogurt and fruit to finish. Dinner is smaller and is a variation of lunch.
This past week has been full of orientation activities for all of us (39 in all). Futbol games, karaoke coming up, shopping and chats about student life. Once I’m finished with these “intensive” Spanish classes (lots of silly role-playing), I’ll start real classes on the 26th (3 IES and 2 USAL classes most likely).
On Saturday, I went out to celebrate my birthday. My host mom was asking me if I was going to go out, por fin (Finally! she said). Four other girls and I went to a bar near the university that was packed of students. At first we had this tiny forgotten table shoved in the wall, but finally people left and we sat more in the middle. Really smoky! I had a gin + tonic (gin y tonic in spanish, ahaha). It just felt all so awkward not knowing where to go, not being familiar with student life and being obvious americans. We got a lot of comments on the street from guys about smiling and laughing too much because apparently people aren't supposed to do that. They would say things like, "Graciosas" (sillies), "Ajajajajaja" or "Funny, funny". I walked back home and got in at 2 am, AND my mom was still awake and asked me why I was home so EARLY!
Spanish/general observations:
1) The fashion here is not very different from those fashionable at Mac, like tights, boots definitely (sad I forgot mine), stylish coats, etc.
2) Spain so far has the cutest dogs ever - I’ve seen 5 westies so far all in sweaters because it is cold (not compared to MN though). Yesterday was the day of San Anton, saint to domestic animals. Tons of people waited in front of the churches to have their dogs blessed!
3) Water and electricity conservation is very important because it is so expensive. We tend to keep all of our lights off and I have to turn them off in my room when I go to the bathroom down the hall, which is funny considering the hall is pitch black and I have to feel my way. Soon I’ll be a pro (note: I am not the only one to experience this).
4) I will never use a bide (like a half size toilet lower to the ground used for rinsing your behind off, I think…).
5) I can understand my mom really well. I can understand older people pretty well, younger people tend to talk faster and use made-up words. But the streets are a little bare of students because they are taking their finals and aren’t partying. Wait for Feb!
I hope this wasn't too boring. I'll get back to you soon...and eventually I'll post some pictures from Segovia this past weekend. Other interesting news: I have been drinking cafe con leche often (not exactly like coffee), but it is delicious.
My host mom is nice and gets up every morning to make me desayuno, which usually consists of toast with butter, Cola-Cao (hot chocolate), un biscocho (sweet bread) or fruit. Midday meal is huge, often involving a soup first (vegetable, lentil, etc.), and then chicken (or spaghetti with tuna, croquettes, lengao - a fish, etc.) with a vegetable and bread and yogurt and fruit to finish. Dinner is smaller and is a variation of lunch.
This past week has been full of orientation activities for all of us (39 in all). Futbol games, karaoke coming up, shopping and chats about student life. Once I’m finished with these “intensive” Spanish classes (lots of silly role-playing), I’ll start real classes on the 26th (3 IES and 2 USAL classes most likely).
On Saturday, I went out to celebrate my birthday. My host mom was asking me if I was going to go out, por fin (Finally! she said). Four other girls and I went to a bar near the university that was packed of students. At first we had this tiny forgotten table shoved in the wall, but finally people left and we sat more in the middle. Really smoky! I had a gin + tonic (gin y tonic in spanish, ahaha). It just felt all so awkward not knowing where to go, not being familiar with student life and being obvious americans. We got a lot of comments on the street from guys about smiling and laughing too much because apparently people aren't supposed to do that. They would say things like, "Graciosas" (sillies), "Ajajajajaja" or "Funny, funny". I walked back home and got in at 2 am, AND my mom was still awake and asked me why I was home so EARLY!
Spanish/general observations:
1) The fashion here is not very different from those fashionable at Mac, like tights, boots definitely (sad I forgot mine), stylish coats, etc.
2) Spain so far has the cutest dogs ever - I’ve seen 5 westies so far all in sweaters because it is cold (not compared to MN though). Yesterday was the day of San Anton, saint to domestic animals. Tons of people waited in front of the churches to have their dogs blessed!
3) Water and electricity conservation is very important because it is so expensive. We tend to keep all of our lights off and I have to turn them off in my room when I go to the bathroom down the hall, which is funny considering the hall is pitch black and I have to feel my way. Soon I’ll be a pro (note: I am not the only one to experience this).
4) I will never use a bide (like a half size toilet lower to the ground used for rinsing your behind off, I think…).
5) I can understand my mom really well. I can understand older people pretty well, younger people tend to talk faster and use made-up words. But the streets are a little bare of students because they are taking their finals and aren’t partying. Wait for Feb!
I hope this wasn't too boring. I'll get back to you soon...and eventually I'll post some pictures from Segovia this past weekend. Other interesting news: I have been drinking cafe con leche often (not exactly like coffee), but it is delicious.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Salamanca Jitters?
so it's my first blog entry. i think blogs are gross since you assume people are interested in reading about your life all the time, but i hope you will read one every once in a while to see what i'm doing and catch up.
i leave for Salamanca, Spain in 2 days! i have pretty much everything ready - my one suitcase is pretty small (i'm so proud of myself!). i still have to find a gift to give my señora that i'm living with. she lives 10 minutes from the campus, so i will luckily be able to walk and enjoy living nearby to my classes. i am nervous about the classes at the Universidad de Salamanca, since it is known as the Oxford of the Spanish World. how intimidating! i have been reading some articles in El Pais/news in general, Spain's history and Manolito Gafotas to keep my spanish reading skills up to date. i'm nervous that i haven't spoken spanish for a while and hope that it will return to me quickly when i get there.
i really would like to make myself obey an all-spanish-all-the-time rule (except for these posts of course). i feel that this is attainable, and i hope to observe it almost all of the time. i don't think i will skype that much - just depends on wifi availability and not disturbing people around me.
i am also eager about learning about spanish opinions in general. since i've been there before, i don't think i will be shocked by the food or customs. i hope to engage with spaniards my age and develop meaningful friendships with a few. i don't want to depend on the program americans. i hope that even if i am not knowledgeable about most things, that those abroad will recognize my curiosity to listen and experience new things.
sorry that this post is about my goals abroad and lacks capitalizations...i hope to write on here at least 2 times a month? that sounds like a reasonable goal. and buena suerte to those of you going abroad and staying abroad! marina, sarah, ben, catherine + lexi - i'm sure you all will have a wonderful time!
i leave for Salamanca, Spain in 2 days! i have pretty much everything ready - my one suitcase is pretty small (i'm so proud of myself!). i still have to find a gift to give my señora that i'm living with. she lives 10 minutes from the campus, so i will luckily be able to walk and enjoy living nearby to my classes. i am nervous about the classes at the Universidad de Salamanca, since it is known as the Oxford of the Spanish World. how intimidating! i have been reading some articles in El Pais/news in general, Spain's history and Manolito Gafotas to keep my spanish reading skills up to date. i'm nervous that i haven't spoken spanish for a while and hope that it will return to me quickly when i get there.
i really would like to make myself obey an all-spanish-all-the-time rule (except for these posts of course). i feel that this is attainable, and i hope to observe it almost all of the time. i don't think i will skype that much - just depends on wifi availability and not disturbing people around me.
i am also eager about learning about spanish opinions in general. since i've been there before, i don't think i will be shocked by the food or customs. i hope to engage with spaniards my age and develop meaningful friendships with a few. i don't want to depend on the program americans. i hope that even if i am not knowledgeable about most things, that those abroad will recognize my curiosity to listen and experience new things.
sorry that this post is about my goals abroad and lacks capitalizations...i hope to write on here at least 2 times a month? that sounds like a reasonable goal. and buena suerte to those of you going abroad and staying abroad! marina, sarah, ben, catherine + lexi - i'm sure you all will have a wonderful time!
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