Hey everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while - sorry about that. I had this really cute idea about posting my last post on the train ride home (since I did my first post on the train ride to NJ), but I felt sick and dead on the train so that never happened.
The last few days in Madrid were amazing. I miss it, but it's nice to be back and see my family. The farewell dinner was AMAZING. Carmela put together a dinner at a restaurant in Atocha (the train station). We had a private room to ourselves. We had some champagne to start, followed by dinner (duck confit) - all of which was to die for. Afterwards, there was some dancing (and an open bar). Enough said, we headed home around 3am.
By the time I got home, I decided it wasn't worth sleeping. I stayed up late talking to some people then slept from 6am-7am. I met Sydney at 8:15, and we caught our shuttle to the airport. The flight was far too long - 8.5 hours. The first thing I bought in America was a peppermint mocha though - oh how I've missed those.
Anyways, I haven't felt good the past few days. I felt sick on the train ride home from NJ, and I haven't been to work since Monday. It feels like it might be the flu, but I was able to eat something today. Can't wait for Christmas!
I've uploaded the last of my photos into my general album. You can find the link on the right side of the page. Thanks to everyone who has been reading this!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Last Two Weeks!
Hey everybody! Nothing much to post, but I just realized I hadn't updated this in a while. Thanksgiving was...special. We had "Spanish" Thanksgiving, which was hardly the same as Gradma's stuffing. It started with salmorejo (a thick gazpacho) and croquettes, which were good. Then we had these small vegetable wanton things...not really sure why, but they were also good. Then came the "pavo" - hardly what any American would call a stuffed turkey. I think what they interpret "stuffed" turkey to be is that we stuff garlic into the turkey. Anyways, that plus the gravy they concocted combined to make a really interesting meal. Instead of tasting like turkey, it tasted more like terikyaki. Also, the sides were just some vegetables, and for sauces we had raspberry instead of cranberry sauce and a few sauces that tasted like caramel. For dessert we had apple tart with green apple (note - jolly rancher) ice cream, and pumpkin pie. The pumpkin pie was normal. Although I couldn't be with my family on Thanksgiving, this was by far the 2nd best thing that I could have done. We had a great night afterwards.
On Saturday morning we all went to the Escorial. I haven't put the pictures up yet, but I'm going to add them to my main album at the end of the semester with everything else. El Escorial is a large palace about 1 hour from Madrid by train. It was somewhat different than what you expect, but it was constructed while the Austrians were in power. It had a very "cold" feeling to it. It was cool to see though, and I'm glad I made the trip out there.
The past week (and this week) I'm mostly planning to prepare my exams. It hasn't been too much work, since the classes are pretty light, but I'm glad I didn't travel this past weekend.
This coming Saturday we have a "farewell" dinner, and then on Sunday I'm off to America! I have to say it's all pretty bittersweet. I miss all my friends and a lot of things about the US, but I'm having such a wonderful carefree semester. After a very relaxing weekend, the beginning of the end is about to commence!
On Saturday morning we all went to the Escorial. I haven't put the pictures up yet, but I'm going to add them to my main album at the end of the semester with everything else. El Escorial is a large palace about 1 hour from Madrid by train. It was somewhat different than what you expect, but it was constructed while the Austrians were in power. It had a very "cold" feeling to it. It was cool to see though, and I'm glad I made the trip out there.
The past week (and this week) I'm mostly planning to prepare my exams. It hasn't been too much work, since the classes are pretty light, but I'm glad I didn't travel this past weekend.
This coming Saturday we have a "farewell" dinner, and then on Sunday I'm off to America! I have to say it's all pretty bittersweet. I miss all my friends and a lot of things about the US, but I'm having such a wonderful carefree semester. After a very relaxing weekend, the beginning of the end is about to commence!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Hope everyone is enjoying their day and thinking of what they're thankful for. I'm thankful for the fact that I've had the opportunity to experience all of the wonderful things I've seen this semester (and most of that thanks is due to my Dad and S-Mom)! I have to say being away from home for the holidays has actually made me homesick! I'm starting to get excited to come back to the US in a few weeks. Three weeks from Sunday!
GW is taking us out for a "Thanksgiving" dinner tonight, which should include some dancing and be a lot of fun! On Saturday, we're going to El Escorial, which is a large palace just outside of Madrid (and where all the Spanish Kings are buried).
I'll try to update again in the next few days, but in the meantime stuff your bellies for me and enjoy your turkey!
GW is taking us out for a "Thanksgiving" dinner tonight, which should include some dancing and be a lot of fun! On Saturday, we're going to El Escorial, which is a large palace just outside of Madrid (and where all the Spanish Kings are buried).
I'll try to update again in the next few days, but in the meantime stuff your bellies for me and enjoy your turkey!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Andalusia
Sorry I never got a chance to blog about Andalusia! I had already visited Cordoba, Seville, & Granada, but here are my pictures. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing!
Paris pictures coming in a few.
Paris: the First Non-Monarchical Society of the Semester!
As the title suggests, France was the only non-monarchical society I've visited - crazy how those kings are still around right?
Anyways - Paris was by far the most magnificent of the trips I was able to do, but unfortunately it was my last :(. Friday was my birthday (and now I'm finally 21!), and I arrived in Paris around 5:30, but not until after having had to fly RYAN AIR one more time.
Let's start with Ryan Air. Sure - the airline is cheap - I paid €20 to get to Paris...only I didn't go to Paris...I went to Beauvais, an airport about an hour and a half north of Paris. To get to Paris, you have to take a bus...that costs more than your flight. Also, the service is terrible, and I doubted the pilot's abilities on more than one occasion. But - what can you do when you pay €20 right? Enough about that miserable experience.
After arriving to Paris, we went to a small bistro, and I had some quiche that was out of this world. I stayed with my friend who is living literally blocks from the Eiffel Tower, and it was so beautiful. After that Richard and I met up with Derek and Ryan (and some of Derek's friends) to go out for my 21st birthday, which was awesome. Unfortunately, the metro closes somewhat early in Paris, so Richard, Ryan, and I walked back to the apartment, which was somewhat of a trek. Richard went to bed, but Ryan and I really wanted to eat. After wandering through Paris we finally found a cafe that was open at 6am. We had orange juice, hot chocolate, bread and croissants - SO AMAZING. By the time we finished it was almost 7am, so we decided sleep was overrated.
At 9am - same day (although it felt like a different day) - we went to the Louvre. The only thing I can say is that the Mona Lisa is the most underwhelming painting ever in person. You expect it to be this really awesome big painting, and it's really tiny and heavily guarded. The actually building was magnificent though. It's an old, grandiose palace that is just as magnificent as all the art in it! Ryan and I spent about an hour and a half there before we decided to go through Paris to see some things.
First we went to the Bastille. FYI - it's not there anymore, it's an opera house. If you're interested, no need to go see. Then we went up and saw where Moulin Rouge was, which was pretty cool. After Moulin Rouge we went down to the Eiffel Tower to see it by day which was pretty cool. Since we were starting to crash from lack of sleep, we just sat on a bench and watched people for a while. Always a fun activity. After a souvenir salesman on the street wouldn't stop accosting us to buy mini-Eiffel Towers, we went to grab some coffee and relocated to another part of the river. We people watched for most of the afternoon, which was tons of fun, then took two hour naps (amazing).
For dinner we all met up with Derek's friends and went to a place near the apartment. I had a croque-monsieur, which is basically a ham and cheese sandwich grilled with cheese on top. The food in Paris is absolutely amazing though - I miss it already. For dessert we got some little snacks on the Champs Elysées and hot cocoa. Since Derek and his friends had an early flight in the morning we all headed home, and I went to bed around midnight.
Sunday was my last day :(, but we still explored a little more. Unfortunately when I woke up it had started to rain. At 9:30 we headed over to Notre Dame cathedral. Since I didn't visit Westminster Abbey (very expensive to even get in) I can't compare the two, but Notre Dame was fabulous. The stained glass windows, the high gothic arches, and the giant organ made it by far the most beautiful church I've ever seen in my life. Ryan and I stayed for a mass for about 20 minutes (which was interesting) and then left. The people there were so disrespectful to the mass (since you can visit at the same time), but I guess some people are just rude. Between the rain and the 40 degree weather, we wanted hot cocoa/coffee by the time we left. We crossed the bridge (since Notre Dame is on an island in the Seine) and went to this cafe.
Best story of Paris. While we were sitting enjoying our warm drinks, I noticed a cat in the cafe. In America, I'd be disgusted - but this is Paris. The cat came over and jumped up on the bench with Ryan. It proceeded to sit there in his lap while we had our drinks! It was so precious, so we named him Pierre. If only he had a cigarette and a baret - then he would have been a true Parisian cat.
With some time to kill, we went to the Luxembourg Gardens and saw the ORIGINAL STATUE OF LIBERTY (¡VIVA AMERICA!). So cool. Then we met up with Richard for lunch in the Jewish quarter - the falafel was amazing. After lunch we wandered around Paris for a bit, until I had to make the trek back to Beauvais and then Madrid. The pilot on Ryan Air was a little less skilled than other pilots I've had, and the landing was certainly not my favorite part of the flight. Nonetheless, I'm back in Madrid and alive!
Pictures will be coming soon, but I'm done traveling now! Aside from some day trips around Madrid, I will be spending the last 4 weeks I have in Madrid. I'm somewhat excited though since I actually don't know Madrid that well yet. This weekend some friends and I are going to El Escorial, a palace about an hour outside Madrid (similar to Versailles and Paris) that is supposed to be magnificent.
¡Hasta la Próxima!
Anyways - Paris was by far the most magnificent of the trips I was able to do, but unfortunately it was my last :(. Friday was my birthday (and now I'm finally 21!), and I arrived in Paris around 5:30, but not until after having had to fly RYAN AIR one more time.
Let's start with Ryan Air. Sure - the airline is cheap - I paid €20 to get to Paris...only I didn't go to Paris...I went to Beauvais, an airport about an hour and a half north of Paris. To get to Paris, you have to take a bus...that costs more than your flight. Also, the service is terrible, and I doubted the pilot's abilities on more than one occasion. But - what can you do when you pay €20 right? Enough about that miserable experience.
After arriving to Paris, we went to a small bistro, and I had some quiche that was out of this world. I stayed with my friend who is living literally blocks from the Eiffel Tower, and it was so beautiful. After that Richard and I met up with Derek and Ryan (and some of Derek's friends) to go out for my 21st birthday, which was awesome. Unfortunately, the metro closes somewhat early in Paris, so Richard, Ryan, and I walked back to the apartment, which was somewhat of a trek. Richard went to bed, but Ryan and I really wanted to eat. After wandering through Paris we finally found a cafe that was open at 6am. We had orange juice, hot chocolate, bread and croissants - SO AMAZING. By the time we finished it was almost 7am, so we decided sleep was overrated.
At 9am - same day (although it felt like a different day) - we went to the Louvre. The only thing I can say is that the Mona Lisa is the most underwhelming painting ever in person. You expect it to be this really awesome big painting, and it's really tiny and heavily guarded. The actually building was magnificent though. It's an old, grandiose palace that is just as magnificent as all the art in it! Ryan and I spent about an hour and a half there before we decided to go through Paris to see some things.
First we went to the Bastille. FYI - it's not there anymore, it's an opera house. If you're interested, no need to go see. Then we went up and saw where Moulin Rouge was, which was pretty cool. After Moulin Rouge we went down to the Eiffel Tower to see it by day which was pretty cool. Since we were starting to crash from lack of sleep, we just sat on a bench and watched people for a while. Always a fun activity. After a souvenir salesman on the street wouldn't stop accosting us to buy mini-Eiffel Towers, we went to grab some coffee and relocated to another part of the river. We people watched for most of the afternoon, which was tons of fun, then took two hour naps (amazing).
For dinner we all met up with Derek's friends and went to a place near the apartment. I had a croque-monsieur, which is basically a ham and cheese sandwich grilled with cheese on top. The food in Paris is absolutely amazing though - I miss it already. For dessert we got some little snacks on the Champs Elysées and hot cocoa. Since Derek and his friends had an early flight in the morning we all headed home, and I went to bed around midnight.
Sunday was my last day :(, but we still explored a little more. Unfortunately when I woke up it had started to rain. At 9:30 we headed over to Notre Dame cathedral. Since I didn't visit Westminster Abbey (very expensive to even get in) I can't compare the two, but Notre Dame was fabulous. The stained glass windows, the high gothic arches, and the giant organ made it by far the most beautiful church I've ever seen in my life. Ryan and I stayed for a mass for about 20 minutes (which was interesting) and then left. The people there were so disrespectful to the mass (since you can visit at the same time), but I guess some people are just rude. Between the rain and the 40 degree weather, we wanted hot cocoa/coffee by the time we left. We crossed the bridge (since Notre Dame is on an island in the Seine) and went to this cafe.
Best story of Paris. While we were sitting enjoying our warm drinks, I noticed a cat in the cafe. In America, I'd be disgusted - but this is Paris. The cat came over and jumped up on the bench with Ryan. It proceeded to sit there in his lap while we had our drinks! It was so precious, so we named him Pierre. If only he had a cigarette and a baret - then he would have been a true Parisian cat.
With some time to kill, we went to the Luxembourg Gardens and saw the ORIGINAL STATUE OF LIBERTY (¡VIVA AMERICA!). So cool. Then we met up with Richard for lunch in the Jewish quarter - the falafel was amazing. After lunch we wandered around Paris for a bit, until I had to make the trek back to Beauvais and then Madrid. The pilot on Ryan Air was a little less skilled than other pilots I've had, and the landing was certainly not my favorite part of the flight. Nonetheless, I'm back in Madrid and alive!
Pictures will be coming soon, but I'm done traveling now! Aside from some day trips around Madrid, I will be spending the last 4 weeks I have in Madrid. I'm somewhat excited though since I actually don't know Madrid that well yet. This weekend some friends and I are going to El Escorial, a palace about an hour outside Madrid (similar to Versailles and Paris) that is supposed to be magnificent.
¡Hasta la Próxima!
Monday, November 8, 2010
London: The Proper way to Mind the Gap
Had such an amazing weekend in London with Ryan and Eve! We did SO many things and saw so much!
Last week was somewhat meh since I got back on Monday afternoon and had to leave again on Thursday night. In the meantime I had to write two papers. Somewhat stressful, but I got through it.
First, let's have a small chat about Ryan Air. WORST AIRLINE EVER. I will never use them again after my flight to Paris (that I already booked...and only paid €20 for). You're only allowed to bring ONE carry one bag (not even a purse or backpack or anything). On top of that, you have to walk out onto the tarmac to get to the plane, and then it's a complete free-for-all. All of this would be worth it if you got to your destination on time and at a really cheap rate. But to be honest, they only use the airports that are really far from the city, so you end up paying another €30 just to get to and from the airport.
I went to the bank and took out some money (since they don't use the euro). My favorite thing about London: Adam Smith is on their £20 note! How exciting no?! Once we got into London though, it was wonderful...except all the restaurants close...at 11. After finding some sandwiches at a convenience shop, we went to bed, since it was going to be a long day on Friday.
After waking up, Eve and I registered for classes (woo class registration day), and then we set out for a fun-filled afternoon at the British Museum. The British Museum was definitely one of my favorite things in London, since it's one of the few places you can see things from Ancient Egypt, Greece & Rome. The funny thing - all of it is stolen. British Empire 1, Rest of the World 0. While we were in the museum, a very nice gentleman offered to take a picture, and we noticed a small poppy on his coat. He then explained to us how it has to do with remembering the fallen from World War I (and veterans in general), and you can buy them at restaurants etc! Of course, we set on a mission to find them, but not until after we ate lunch!
The British are famous for many things; food is not one of them. Eve and I grabbed some steak and ale pie with cider for lunch (of course, much later than British lunch, since we were still on Spanish time) and headed over to the National Gallery. Boyko met up with us there, and we spent maybe half an hour in total in the museum. We saw the famous stuff but didn't want to waste the afternoon. Outside, it was starting to rain, but we walked by Parliament and Buckingham Palace. London is meant to be seen in the rain anyways. The pubs are somewhat of an interesting experience and very different than Madrid. Since British food isn't necessarily...good...we decided Indian food would be a better option (since London is supposed to have awesome Indian). This is where the day got interesting.
While waiting for our food a nice, older man asks us to watch something (I'm still not sure what it was) while he went to have a cigarette. He sounded Scottish maybe. He was also properly intoxicated (as they would most likely say in Britain). When he came back he realized from our accents we were American. He then began to thank us, to thank us for all that America did for the UK during the war (yes...he was referring to World War II). For the next twenty minutes, he went on about how much he loved America, how great the special relationship is for Britain & the US, and continued to repeatedly thank us. All in all, I laughed quite a bit. We talked about Presidents and Prime Ministers and all sorts of interesting stuff. Then he fell off his chair and almost knocked our table over. The first thing he says: "I'm not drunk! I'm not drunk! I was just off-balance." Yes. That was the quote of the weekend. For sure. On his way out he decided to do a round of "God Bless America." I had no clue what he was singing, but it was not "God Bless America." We did a quick shout of "God Save the Queen," and off they went!
We went down to Soho to explore a little bit and then headed home for the night. Such a cool neighborhood! Afterwards, we headed home for the evening and met some of the kids staying in our room, and they were from Holland. We chatted about Amsterdam and then went to bed!
Saturday was much nicer weather - NO RAIN! Such luck for London! We went to the Science Museum, Kensington Gardens, and saw Buckingham Palace by day before lunch. At lunch we got bangers and mash - since it was necessary to try SOME British foods while we were there. After lunch, we went down to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, both of which were absolutely beautiful. The city is so interesting in the contrast between the modern, new buildings of the financial districts and the old, English architecture.
The one thing I wanted to do was go to Harrods - just to see it. After we got our coats from the hostel, we found our way over to Harrods by walking through some back streets in Kensington, very pretty. Harrods was cool to see, but I didn't buy anything obviously (since I'm not rolling in it).
Ryan knew a good place to get Fish and Chips (since that's what we all agreed we wanted for dinner) near his apartment, which is north of the central city. On the way, we got off the tube and stopped at Abbey Road to take a picture. It'll be on my London photo album, but it didn't come out very good. Oh well! The place we went for dinner was in Hampstead, which is a really cute old neighborhood - reminded me a lot of Massachusetts. After Fish and Chips we said our goodbyes.
Our flight left at 10:10am, so we had to leave the hostel around 7am to get to the airport on time. The train ride was beautiful through the English countryside. London was my favorite city that I've visited so far, but I still have Paris coming up in two weeks! The traveling is starting to get exhausting, but it is so worth every minute of it! I'll post my pictures a little later on (some are up on Facebook already).
*Explanation of the title: Proper is an adjective that English people use more often than Americans. When I was getting out of the tube Friday morning, it was raining harder than before. The woman behind me said "It's raining properly." Pret also sells "Pret's Proper Porridge." "Mind the Gap" is what the tube says every time you get to a station. They are essentially telling you to be careful of the gap between the train and the platform, but it is somewhat of a signature phrase.
Last week was somewhat meh since I got back on Monday afternoon and had to leave again on Thursday night. In the meantime I had to write two papers. Somewhat stressful, but I got through it.
First, let's have a small chat about Ryan Air. WORST AIRLINE EVER. I will never use them again after my flight to Paris (that I already booked...and only paid €20 for). You're only allowed to bring ONE carry one bag (not even a purse or backpack or anything). On top of that, you have to walk out onto the tarmac to get to the plane, and then it's a complete free-for-all. All of this would be worth it if you got to your destination on time and at a really cheap rate. But to be honest, they only use the airports that are really far from the city, so you end up paying another €30 just to get to and from the airport.
I went to the bank and took out some money (since they don't use the euro). My favorite thing about London: Adam Smith is on their £20 note! How exciting no?! Once we got into London though, it was wonderful...except all the restaurants close...at 11. After finding some sandwiches at a convenience shop, we went to bed, since it was going to be a long day on Friday.
After waking up, Eve and I registered for classes (woo class registration day), and then we set out for a fun-filled afternoon at the British Museum. The British Museum was definitely one of my favorite things in London, since it's one of the few places you can see things from Ancient Egypt, Greece & Rome. The funny thing - all of it is stolen. British Empire 1, Rest of the World 0. While we were in the museum, a very nice gentleman offered to take a picture, and we noticed a small poppy on his coat. He then explained to us how it has to do with remembering the fallen from World War I (and veterans in general), and you can buy them at restaurants etc! Of course, we set on a mission to find them, but not until after we ate lunch!
The British are famous for many things; food is not one of them. Eve and I grabbed some steak and ale pie with cider for lunch (of course, much later than British lunch, since we were still on Spanish time) and headed over to the National Gallery. Boyko met up with us there, and we spent maybe half an hour in total in the museum. We saw the famous stuff but didn't want to waste the afternoon. Outside, it was starting to rain, but we walked by Parliament and Buckingham Palace. London is meant to be seen in the rain anyways. The pubs are somewhat of an interesting experience and very different than Madrid. Since British food isn't necessarily...good...we decided Indian food would be a better option (since London is supposed to have awesome Indian). This is where the day got interesting.
While waiting for our food a nice, older man asks us to watch something (I'm still not sure what it was) while he went to have a cigarette. He sounded Scottish maybe. He was also properly intoxicated (as they would most likely say in Britain). When he came back he realized from our accents we were American. He then began to thank us, to thank us for all that America did for the UK during the war (yes...he was referring to World War II). For the next twenty minutes, he went on about how much he loved America, how great the special relationship is for Britain & the US, and continued to repeatedly thank us. All in all, I laughed quite a bit. We talked about Presidents and Prime Ministers and all sorts of interesting stuff. Then he fell off his chair and almost knocked our table over. The first thing he says: "I'm not drunk! I'm not drunk! I was just off-balance." Yes. That was the quote of the weekend. For sure. On his way out he decided to do a round of "God Bless America." I had no clue what he was singing, but it was not "God Bless America." We did a quick shout of "God Save the Queen," and off they went!
We went down to Soho to explore a little bit and then headed home for the night. Such a cool neighborhood! Afterwards, we headed home for the evening and met some of the kids staying in our room, and they were from Holland. We chatted about Amsterdam and then went to bed!
Saturday was much nicer weather - NO RAIN! Such luck for London! We went to the Science Museum, Kensington Gardens, and saw Buckingham Palace by day before lunch. At lunch we got bangers and mash - since it was necessary to try SOME British foods while we were there. After lunch, we went down to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, both of which were absolutely beautiful. The city is so interesting in the contrast between the modern, new buildings of the financial districts and the old, English architecture.
The one thing I wanted to do was go to Harrods - just to see it. After we got our coats from the hostel, we found our way over to Harrods by walking through some back streets in Kensington, very pretty. Harrods was cool to see, but I didn't buy anything obviously (since I'm not rolling in it).
Ryan knew a good place to get Fish and Chips (since that's what we all agreed we wanted for dinner) near his apartment, which is north of the central city. On the way, we got off the tube and stopped at Abbey Road to take a picture. It'll be on my London photo album, but it didn't come out very good. Oh well! The place we went for dinner was in Hampstead, which is a really cute old neighborhood - reminded me a lot of Massachusetts. After Fish and Chips we said our goodbyes.
Our flight left at 10:10am, so we had to leave the hostel around 7am to get to the airport on time. The train ride was beautiful through the English countryside. London was my favorite city that I've visited so far, but I still have Paris coming up in two weeks! The traveling is starting to get exhausting, but it is so worth every minute of it! I'll post my pictures a little later on (some are up on Facebook already).
*Explanation of the title: Proper is an adjective that English people use more often than Americans. When I was getting out of the tube Friday morning, it was raining harder than before. The woman behind me said "It's raining properly." Pret also sells "Pret's Proper Porridge." "Mind the Gap" is what the tube says every time you get to a station. They are essentially telling you to be careful of the gap between the train and the platform, but it is somewhat of a signature phrase.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Amsterdam and Brussels
Here is my photo album. The pictures from both cities are beautiful (and the map should label which pictures are in which cities). I decided to post my photos from trips in different pictures than my other album.
Enjoy!!
Brussels: Chocolate, Waffles, and Mussels
And the saga continues. We got to Brussels around 6pm. What a difference 3 and a half hours south makes.
Driving into Brussels we drove through a beautiful park filled with colorful trees. It was so exciting getting to enjoy some Autumn color since I wasn't able to be in New England (or the Northeast) this year. The drive in was beautiful after stops in Utrecht and Antwerp. After navigating through the metro we got off on Avenue Louise to walk to our hotel. Avenue Louise is essentially the 5th Avenue of Brussels and a neighborhood that's popular with expatriates. This time we were staying at a budget hotel for the three of us meaning we had real beds and a real bathroom! It was pretty awesome for the price. We decided that after the long bus ride we wanted to get a really nice dinner. We ended up in the Grand Place, which is the main square of Brussels. The architecture was awe-inspiring although drastically different than Amsterdam. Everything had a very grand, French style to it. Yet again, I fell in love.
The next morning we went down to the central part of the city and found a cute shop to get waffles. Let me just say, these were some of the best waffles I've ever had. Our plan was to do the "European walk" which leads you through the European district and by all of the important EU buildings. Across the street from where we ate waffles was a macaroon shop. We bought a small box of macaroons and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate tasted like heaven in a cup, especially against the cold weather of Brussels. As we began our walk we saw lots of things such as the Grand Palace of Brussels and the Park across the street. The city is entirely bilingual (Dutch & French) so all the signs are in both languages, although French was more prevalent.
The walk took us through a really unique area of the city; we saw the European Parliament and the European Commission. There were even more parks on this walk; I felt like Brussels was a city of parks (with beautifully colored trees!). At the end of the walk was the Belgian military museum. At the top was an arch and you could see a panorama of the city, so of course we went. On our way back towards the hotel we looked up some NY Times reviews of Brussels to find a good restaurant for dinner. We found a place called Au Vieux Bruxelles, which was recommended for their mussels. We got them in a curry sauce, and they were to die for. We also had a pork dish with (something) pickled on top and a creamy sauce. The final dish was called waterzooi. Since the menu was in French we had no idea what anything was, and we guessed. The waterzooi was my choice, and we were baffled by what it was. When I finally googled what it was after dinner, we found that it was basically just a stew with chicken in it (although in the past it was fish). After much speculation about the type of meat in it, we agreed it must have been chicken. I was a big fan. For dessert we had a crepe and some chocolate ice cream.
Brussels was yet another beautiful city, in a very different way. I'm glad I was able to see two cities on my long weekend. They both were such opposite ends of the spectrum, but it made the weekend that much more enjoyable. This morning Sydney and I parted Mia at the train station (since her airport was south of the city). It was a great weekend, but London is in three days, and I'm so excited to see Boyko and London!
Driving into Brussels we drove through a beautiful park filled with colorful trees. It was so exciting getting to enjoy some Autumn color since I wasn't able to be in New England (or the Northeast) this year. The drive in was beautiful after stops in Utrecht and Antwerp. After navigating through the metro we got off on Avenue Louise to walk to our hotel. Avenue Louise is essentially the 5th Avenue of Brussels and a neighborhood that's popular with expatriates. This time we were staying at a budget hotel for the three of us meaning we had real beds and a real bathroom! It was pretty awesome for the price. We decided that after the long bus ride we wanted to get a really nice dinner. We ended up in the Grand Place, which is the main square of Brussels. The architecture was awe-inspiring although drastically different than Amsterdam. Everything had a very grand, French style to it. Yet again, I fell in love.
The next morning we went down to the central part of the city and found a cute shop to get waffles. Let me just say, these were some of the best waffles I've ever had. Our plan was to do the "European walk" which leads you through the European district and by all of the important EU buildings. Across the street from where we ate waffles was a macaroon shop. We bought a small box of macaroons and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate tasted like heaven in a cup, especially against the cold weather of Brussels. As we began our walk we saw lots of things such as the Grand Palace of Brussels and the Park across the street. The city is entirely bilingual (Dutch & French) so all the signs are in both languages, although French was more prevalent.
The walk took us through a really unique area of the city; we saw the European Parliament and the European Commission. There were even more parks on this walk; I felt like Brussels was a city of parks (with beautifully colored trees!). At the end of the walk was the Belgian military museum. At the top was an arch and you could see a panorama of the city, so of course we went. On our way back towards the hotel we looked up some NY Times reviews of Brussels to find a good restaurant for dinner. We found a place called Au Vieux Bruxelles, which was recommended for their mussels. We got them in a curry sauce, and they were to die for. We also had a pork dish with (something) pickled on top and a creamy sauce. The final dish was called waterzooi. Since the menu was in French we had no idea what anything was, and we guessed. The waterzooi was my choice, and we were baffled by what it was. When I finally googled what it was after dinner, we found that it was basically just a stew with chicken in it (although in the past it was fish). After much speculation about the type of meat in it, we agreed it must have been chicken. I was a big fan. For dessert we had a crepe and some chocolate ice cream.
Brussels was yet another beautiful city, in a very different way. I'm glad I was able to see two cities on my long weekend. They both were such opposite ends of the spectrum, but it made the weekend that much more enjoyable. This morning Sydney and I parted Mia at the train station (since her airport was south of the city). It was a great weekend, but London is in three days, and I'm so excited to see Boyko and London!
Amsterdam: Apparently I'm Dutch!
What a weekend! We just got back from Brussels around 3PM today, and I have to say I loved every minute of my weekend.
We arrived to Amsterdam around 9:30 on Thursday night and took the train into the city. Our hostel was above an Irish Pub called Durty Nelly's (yes, that is the actual name of it). Hostels are such an interesting experience, but it's worth the money you save. After dropping our things off and settling in, we headed out into Amsterdam mostly just to see the city for a little bit. We walked around and ate waffles covered in chocolate. The city is so, SO beautiful. The streets are small and old; there are canals running through the entire old city (almost like Venice, but with streets too); and the city is very, very bike friendly. During our walk around the city, we may or may not have accidentally strolled into the red light district. After saying we weren't going to go there, we looked down a side street and saw red lights. On the other side of the canal: prostitutes in the window. As we continued we realized we were in the heart of the red light district. Oops! Thankfully the city is small, and we quickly found our way back to a main path.
The next morning we woke up early to make sure we took advantage of our only full day in Amsterdam. We got muffins (they had amazing banana muffins :D), and afterwards we headed to the museums. We got the Van Gogh museum, which was by far one of the best museums I've ever seen! We spent nearly two hours in the museum and finally left to make sure we had some time to do some other stuff.
As you may or may not be aware, Dutch cuisine isn't necessarily the most "world-renowned" cuisine you can find in Europe. Instead, they really recommend you try the Asian foods since most of Indonesia was a Dutch colony. We went out for Thai food (since most of the Indonesian places were pricey), which was delicious. We then meandered over to Anne Frank's house since I've heard it's a must-see if you're ever in Amsterdam for a weekend. It was so interesting and very emotional to see the house she lived in.
We slept in a little bit on Saturday since we were so tired from all the walking and exploring on Friday. Once we got up we went for a short walk, picked up our bags from the hostel, and grabbed some breakfast at a cute little café. I had an olive and feta quiche and English breakfast tea, in case you were concerned. Afterwards we went to the Centraal rail station to get the metro towards Amstel station so we could catch our bus to Brussels!
The ride to Brussels was perfect, and I was able to sleep for most of it. Thankfully, I did get to see some of the Dutch countryside (including a windmill!). The Netherlands is really a beautiful country, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved it. If someone asked me to move there for work, I'd consider it in a heartbeat. The culture and lifestyle were much quicker paced than Spain, and I loved the architecture and size of the city. I have to say, one of my favorite things was the old homes surrounding the canals! They had these beautiful homes with navy blue bricks and white trim (and red shutters on the top window). Absolutely loved it. On a more funny note, I apparently look Dutch. Although just about everyone in the Netherlands speaks English (in fact the signs at the airport had NO Dutch on them), people kept speaking to me in Dutch! I'm proud to appear local, but I'm very obviously a tourist no?
I'm going to put Brussels in a separate post so that it's easier for me to organize my thoughts. Until the next post :)
We arrived to Amsterdam around 9:30 on Thursday night and took the train into the city. Our hostel was above an Irish Pub called Durty Nelly's (yes, that is the actual name of it). Hostels are such an interesting experience, but it's worth the money you save. After dropping our things off and settling in, we headed out into Amsterdam mostly just to see the city for a little bit. We walked around and ate waffles covered in chocolate. The city is so, SO beautiful. The streets are small and old; there are canals running through the entire old city (almost like Venice, but with streets too); and the city is very, very bike friendly. During our walk around the city, we may or may not have accidentally strolled into the red light district. After saying we weren't going to go there, we looked down a side street and saw red lights. On the other side of the canal: prostitutes in the window. As we continued we realized we were in the heart of the red light district. Oops! Thankfully the city is small, and we quickly found our way back to a main path.
The next morning we woke up early to make sure we took advantage of our only full day in Amsterdam. We got muffins (they had amazing banana muffins :D), and afterwards we headed to the museums. We got the Van Gogh museum, which was by far one of the best museums I've ever seen! We spent nearly two hours in the museum and finally left to make sure we had some time to do some other stuff.
As you may or may not be aware, Dutch cuisine isn't necessarily the most "world-renowned" cuisine you can find in Europe. Instead, they really recommend you try the Asian foods since most of Indonesia was a Dutch colony. We went out for Thai food (since most of the Indonesian places were pricey), which was delicious. We then meandered over to Anne Frank's house since I've heard it's a must-see if you're ever in Amsterdam for a weekend. It was so interesting and very emotional to see the house she lived in.
We slept in a little bit on Saturday since we were so tired from all the walking and exploring on Friday. Once we got up we went for a short walk, picked up our bags from the hostel, and grabbed some breakfast at a cute little café. I had an olive and feta quiche and English breakfast tea, in case you were concerned. Afterwards we went to the Centraal rail station to get the metro towards Amstel station so we could catch our bus to Brussels!
The ride to Brussels was perfect, and I was able to sleep for most of it. Thankfully, I did get to see some of the Dutch countryside (including a windmill!). The Netherlands is really a beautiful country, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved it. If someone asked me to move there for work, I'd consider it in a heartbeat. The culture and lifestyle were much quicker paced than Spain, and I loved the architecture and size of the city. I have to say, one of my favorite things was the old homes surrounding the canals! They had these beautiful homes with navy blue bricks and white trim (and red shutters on the top window). Absolutely loved it. On a more funny note, I apparently look Dutch. Although just about everyone in the Netherlands speaks English (in fact the signs at the airport had NO Dutch on them), people kept speaking to me in Dutch! I'm proud to appear local, but I'm very obviously a tourist no?
I'm going to put Brussels in a separate post so that it's easier for me to organize my thoughts. Until the next post :)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Exams
Exams are just about finished! I just have one more paper to write for art history class next week! The big weekend to Amsterdam and Brussels beings in about 24 hours, and I'm so excited :).
I won't be posting again until next week so I just thought I'd let you all know I've been busy with exams. One thing I have to say - it is impossible to do work here. There is no place like Starbucks where you can go and study for hours with unlimited amounts of wifi, and it's very stressful for trying to be productive. I've been finishing up some of the things I need to do to get ready for this weekend, so it's been kinda a crazy week.
Anyways! I'll have lots and lots of pictures to show you when I get back.
I won't be posting again until next week so I just thought I'd let you all know I've been busy with exams. One thing I have to say - it is impossible to do work here. There is no place like Starbucks where you can go and study for hours with unlimited amounts of wifi, and it's very stressful for trying to be productive. I've been finishing up some of the things I need to do to get ready for this weekend, so it's been kinda a crazy week.
Anyways! I'll have lots and lots of pictures to show you when I get back.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Classes and Donkeys
Can't say it's been a very exciting week - mostly just working on homework after my whirlwind tour of Spain. I've finally booked all my hostels for my weekends of traveling coming up, and I'm so excited!
Today we went on a "Burro Excursion" (burro means donkey). Basically we rode donkeys for an hour and a half through the mountains. There's some pictures in my Picasa album if anyone wants to take a look. It was a beautiful day, and the site was absolutely precious. It was technically in La Comunidad de Madrid (basically the "state"), but was an hour from the city. You would never have guessed you were so close to Europe's third largest city based on the amount of space and open land. There were cows grazing, donkeys carrying us, and nothing but mountains and fields as far as you could see. Such a great way to spend a Friday.
After the burros carried us back, we had a barbeque at the "camp." It started off with this potato dish (that you could essentially add bacon too), and it was AMAZING. I ate so much food, and then they brought out the meat dishes. Two types of sausage, pork, and steak. I don't think I've eaten that much protein in one meal since arriving here. It was amazing, but all I wanted to do afterwards was sleep from my food coma. When I got back to Madrid, I talked to Katie for an hour, which was awesome since we hadn't talked in a few weeks!
The rest of the weekend doesn't look to be super exciting. I think I want to try and rest since I have four weeks of travel coming up. Next weekend I'm going to Amsterdam & Brussels with Sydney and Mia. Mia's birthday is Thursday, so that should be a lot of fun (since that's when we arrive in Amsterdam). I'm so excited - expect good stories and pictures after next week!
Today we went on a "Burro Excursion" (burro means donkey). Basically we rode donkeys for an hour and a half through the mountains. There's some pictures in my Picasa album if anyone wants to take a look. It was a beautiful day, and the site was absolutely precious. It was technically in La Comunidad de Madrid (basically the "state"), but was an hour from the city. You would never have guessed you were so close to Europe's third largest city based on the amount of space and open land. There were cows grazing, donkeys carrying us, and nothing but mountains and fields as far as you could see. Such a great way to spend a Friday.
After the burros carried us back, we had a barbeque at the "camp." It started off with this potato dish (that you could essentially add bacon too), and it was AMAZING. I ate so much food, and then they brought out the meat dishes. Two types of sausage, pork, and steak. I don't think I've eaten that much protein in one meal since arriving here. It was amazing, but all I wanted to do afterwards was sleep from my food coma. When I got back to Madrid, I talked to Katie for an hour, which was awesome since we hadn't talked in a few weeks!
The rest of the weekend doesn't look to be super exciting. I think I want to try and rest since I have four weeks of travel coming up. Next weekend I'm going to Amsterdam & Brussels with Sydney and Mia. Mia's birthday is Thursday, so that should be a lot of fun (since that's when we arrive in Amsterdam). I'm so excited - expect good stories and pictures after next week!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Valencia, Barcelona, and Salamanca
Well - it has certainly been a long week of traveling! I'm finally back in my bed in Madrid, and it feels wonderful!
After I arrived in Valencia, we decided to just grab some drinks and dinner at the hotel restaurant. Their hotel was located RIGHT on the beach, and the beach in Valencia is absolutely beautiful! We had paella, and I ate snails for the first time - can't say too much, not bad/not good. Unfortunately, they had been in Valencia for a few days, so we ended up leaving somewhat early in the morning.
The ride to Barcelona was beautiful (and expensive). The highway runs more or less on the coast, and we stopped a few times to look along the way. Apparently toll roads here aren't cheap though; it cost almost 40€ to go from Valencia to Barcelona, a distance of about 200 miles. Getting to the hotel in Barcelona was a another story. We had the car, so we were going to pull up by the hotel, but the street the GPS was telling us to use was closed. Instead, we drove around for 40 minutes and decided to go get lunch by the beach. We had Italian food, and I got an asparagus risotto with crispy ham. Everyone's food was amazing, and we decided to retry getting to the hotel, but this time we asked the cop running the detour how to get there. His response: "you can't, so just go park somewhere else." That was easy.
The hotel was a beautiful and located in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. It felt like a truly European experience, but the neighborhood wasn't as exciting as other parts of Barcelona. After a two hour siesta, we wanted to go out and explore the city. We asked the bartender at the hotel bar where we should go, and she suggested a street near the cathedral that had lots of restaurants to get tapas. After dinner though, we were exhausted and went to bed.
Friday was my (and their) last day in Barcelona! We walked around in the morning, and my Dad really wanted to go to the central market. Afterwards, we took some pictures in Montjuic (the large park over the city) and rode the funicular from the top of the park back down. Then we took a cab to La Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately, the line was somewhat long, and we ultimately decided to just walk down to Passeig de Gracia for lunch. The food was just okay, nothing spectacular. I had an 8PM train back to Madrid, so we just went shopping for a bit, and then I got ready to leave. All in all, it was a phenomenal week with my parents. I took the AVE train, which goes from Barcelona to Madrid in 2hrs and 40mins. We were going through the Spanish countryside at 185mph. It was pretty awesome, and it's unfortunate that we don't have infrastructure like that in the US.
I got back to my apartment around midnight, and I was just plain exhausted. I watched a little bit of TV and went back to bed. Saturday, we met the bus to go to Avila and Salamanca at 9am. Avila was a precious, medieval city to the northwest of Madrid, but it was very quiet. The population is about 50K people, but the old city wall is one of the most well-preserved in Europe. We spent about 4 hours there walking around, and we even got to go up to the wall and walk around part of the city. I'll put some pictures up on the Picasa album later tonight.
Salamanca is basically the "Oxford of Spain." The University there is the oldest in the country and was founded in 1218! Almost 1900 years! The city is basically just a college town with bars and restaurants etc, but we had a great time. We all walked around the city and took in some of the sights, and I took some pictures; it was so, so beautiful! It was a quintessential, 11th century European city. I'll put some photos up later, but I don't think it can truly do it justice.
Anyways, I'm back in Madrid now, and I'm exhausted from my Spanish adventures. I only have one more trip left in Spain. GW is taking us to Cordoba, Granada, and Seville in November, but I've already visited these cities before. I'm excited to have a few relaxing weeks, but November is going to be crazy with travel. October 28-30 I'm in Amsterdam, the 30-November 1 I'll be in Brussels; November 4-7 I'm going to London; November 12-15, GW is taking us to Andalusia; November 19-21 I'll be visiting Paris. That's four solid weekends of traveling! It should be awesome, but it should be a somewhat stressful weekend.
Time to go do some homework!
After I arrived in Valencia, we decided to just grab some drinks and dinner at the hotel restaurant. Their hotel was located RIGHT on the beach, and the beach in Valencia is absolutely beautiful! We had paella, and I ate snails for the first time - can't say too much, not bad/not good. Unfortunately, they had been in Valencia for a few days, so we ended up leaving somewhat early in the morning.
The ride to Barcelona was beautiful (and expensive). The highway runs more or less on the coast, and we stopped a few times to look along the way. Apparently toll roads here aren't cheap though; it cost almost 40€ to go from Valencia to Barcelona, a distance of about 200 miles. Getting to the hotel in Barcelona was a another story. We had the car, so we were going to pull up by the hotel, but the street the GPS was telling us to use was closed. Instead, we drove around for 40 minutes and decided to go get lunch by the beach. We had Italian food, and I got an asparagus risotto with crispy ham. Everyone's food was amazing, and we decided to retry getting to the hotel, but this time we asked the cop running the detour how to get there. His response: "you can't, so just go park somewhere else." That was easy.
The hotel was a beautiful and located in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. It felt like a truly European experience, but the neighborhood wasn't as exciting as other parts of Barcelona. After a two hour siesta, we wanted to go out and explore the city. We asked the bartender at the hotel bar where we should go, and she suggested a street near the cathedral that had lots of restaurants to get tapas. After dinner though, we were exhausted and went to bed.
Friday was my (and their) last day in Barcelona! We walked around in the morning, and my Dad really wanted to go to the central market. Afterwards, we took some pictures in Montjuic (the large park over the city) and rode the funicular from the top of the park back down. Then we took a cab to La Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately, the line was somewhat long, and we ultimately decided to just walk down to Passeig de Gracia for lunch. The food was just okay, nothing spectacular. I had an 8PM train back to Madrid, so we just went shopping for a bit, and then I got ready to leave. All in all, it was a phenomenal week with my parents. I took the AVE train, which goes from Barcelona to Madrid in 2hrs and 40mins. We were going through the Spanish countryside at 185mph. It was pretty awesome, and it's unfortunate that we don't have infrastructure like that in the US.
I got back to my apartment around midnight, and I was just plain exhausted. I watched a little bit of TV and went back to bed. Saturday, we met the bus to go to Avila and Salamanca at 9am. Avila was a precious, medieval city to the northwest of Madrid, but it was very quiet. The population is about 50K people, but the old city wall is one of the most well-preserved in Europe. We spent about 4 hours there walking around, and we even got to go up to the wall and walk around part of the city. I'll put some pictures up on the Picasa album later tonight.
Salamanca is basically the "Oxford of Spain." The University there is the oldest in the country and was founded in 1218! Almost 1900 years! The city is basically just a college town with bars and restaurants etc, but we had a great time. We all walked around the city and took in some of the sights, and I took some pictures; it was so, so beautiful! It was a quintessential, 11th century European city. I'll put some photos up later, but I don't think it can truly do it justice.
Anyways, I'm back in Madrid now, and I'm exhausted from my Spanish adventures. I only have one more trip left in Spain. GW is taking us to Cordoba, Granada, and Seville in November, but I've already visited these cities before. I'm excited to have a few relaxing weeks, but November is going to be crazy with travel. October 28-30 I'm in Amsterdam, the 30-November 1 I'll be in Brussels; November 4-7 I'm going to London; November 12-15, GW is taking us to Andalusia; November 19-21 I'll be visiting Paris. That's four solid weekends of traveling! It should be awesome, but it should be a somewhat stressful weekend.
Time to go do some homework!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
El Gran Viajero
This ought to be a long post! What a wonderful weekend I had! I’m currently writing this on a train on my way to Valencia (but it was posted later since there isn’t wifi on trains here.
My friend Sydney’s parents were visiting Madrid this weekend too. On Friday we went out to tapas and drinks at night. Afterwards, I decided to hang out with a few other GW Madrid kids since I wasn’t going to see them most of the weekend.
Dad, Louisa & Jon arrived (very) early on Saturday morning. I met them at their hotel around 11, and it was great to see them. That afternoon it was pouring, so we decided to go for a walk through Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. We also visited the Mercado de San Miguel – which is a wonderful market near the center that sells wine and some higher end foods. Unfortunately it was so crowded that we decided to get some food down in the Plaza Mayor. We later visited in the Prado (in one hour) and then returned to our respective beds for a siesta. For dinner, we went to La Gabinoteca, which I actually went to with two friends a few weeks ago. The food was yet again phenomenal.
Sunday we started at La Reina Sofia, which is a more modern art museum. It was my first time visiting on this trip to Spain, and it did not disappoint.
Funny story: while walking through an exhibit of Spanish Civil War photography, a VERY CLEARLY American girl, with a men’s baseball schedule t-shirt from a college I will refrain from naming said “Wow, living in Spain during World War II looked like it must have been really hard.” That is a direct quote.
After about two hours in the museum we decided it was time to go for a walk. The weather was significantly warmer and sunnier than the previous day. We walked through (and rested for a while in) el Parque Retiro, which is essentially the Central Park of Madrid. The leaves are starting to change, and it was so wonderful to finally see some color on the trees! On the other hand, there’s no comparison with a New England Autumn. We proceeded directly from our rest by the pond to Alboraya, my favorite spot for ice cream! While looking for lunch we stumbled upon a restaurant (Mediterráneo), which I had read was a great place to get paella! Of course, the food ended up being out of this world, and we retreated yet again for the siesta.
That night we decided to go to Plaza Santa Ana, which is a really hot spot to “tapear.” The food was amazing, and I definitely plan to go back down there more on my own. All of us went home somewhat early that night, since our train for Granada was leaving at 9AM!
My first European train ride was significantly better than the Acela ride that began this trip. Not that I could complain much about the Acela that day, this train was just as nice and had better service. We were given a breakfast, coffee, etc. while we rode through the Spanish countryside at about 125mph (although they do have faster train than this).
Granada is a beautiful, quaint city. Since we couldn’t pick up the rental car at the train station when we arrived, we decided to just take a cab to the hotel and walk back later. The hotel was beautiful! There was a spa, and the entire building had somewhat of a “zen” feel to it. Our rooms were beautifully decorated, and there were small balconies off of each room. After getting lunch at a small restaurant (and having Gazpacho in the traditional region of that dish), we walked to pick up the car. Ironically, it’s the exact same car that my Dad drives in the US!
With the car, we wanted to go explore Granada, and the area a little bit. Driving in Granada was a little bit scary, but the outskirts of the city were so beautiful. We drove around to the south, and then tried to sneak a peek of La Alhambra (since I was unable to get us tickets). We weren’t able to enter the parking lot without tickets, but we continued to drive up the mountain. We ended up taking the car up this dirt road for a while. We stopped a few times to take pictures of the (somewhat excessive) number of olive trees and finally found a place to take some photos near the top. I can’t even express in words how beautiful the view was, but hopefully I can show some pictures later. We had dinner at a small restaurant down the street from our hotel, grabbed some drinks at this other place near the hotel, and went to bed relatively early.
My train home left Granada at 9:45, and I met a sweet, older couple from Perth, Australia who has been travelling all around Spain and Portugal for six weeks! Imagine how amazing that must be! Once back at my home-stay, I enjoyed some wonderful Paella and discussed my trip with my host mother. On my way to siesta, I realized that I only had one class Thursday and no class on Friday. After hearing from my Dad how beautiful Valencia was, I chose to make a last minute (and very spontaneous) trip! After thinking about it for a while, I finally bought my tickets at 11:30pm after a rather confusing conversation with the train company, since my card wouldn’t work online. I’m on my way to Valencia right now, and tomorrow we’re going to be driving between Valencia and Barcelona. Then, I’ll be returning to Madrid on Friday night. Saturday morning, GW is taking us to Salamanca and Avila (old, medieval cities to the West of Madrid). Essentially, I won’t be in Madrid for more than 8 hours at a time until Monday. I feel like a world traveler finally!
Last night, Sydney’s parents were back in town for their flight back to New York. We got dinner at a wonderful Galician restaurant. We got a few appetizers: octopus in a little oil with some paprika, Galician pie (scallops, peppers, onions, all wrapped in dough), and some shrimp cooked in olive oil with garlic. For dinner, I had a hake fish “Galician-style.” This meant that it came with potatoes, peppers, and onions, while being cooked in a delicious sauce.
Classes today were somewhat of a drag (since my post-class plans were significantly more exciting), but I’m now on my way! I’ll be away most of the weekend, but I’ll try to keep things updated with my adventures!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Españoles y Los Padres
Yet another wonderful week of the Spanish lifestyle! Classes this week were pretty bland, and I'm starting to get a cold :(. Yesterday I got my flu shot, so let's hope I don't start getting the gripe!
Tonight my friend was going out with this guy she met at an ice cream shot, and she asked me to join her. We went out to hookah (which apparently means cocaine here, use shisha if you ever come to Spain), and drank tea. It was great, and then afterwards I found out that we were out of water in my house! The water heater broke, and she had to turn off the main pipe leading into the house, so I don't know if I'll be able to take a shower in the morning :(. Afterwards, I went to a bar with a friend, and we had a few glasses of wine. The bartender was fun, and we chatted with him for a while. He's really familiar with the US etc. Basically just another normal night in Spain.
Tomorrow I'm planning everything for the weekend. My Dad, Louisa (step mom), and Jonnie are visiting this weekend! They're in Madrid Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday we're going to Granada. It'll be a lot of fun, but I have so much to plan tomorrow so that we can have a good weekend. I think we'll be doing the big museums, and I'm going to try to find us some cute restaurants/bars to go to. I'm super excited, but there's so much to do before they get here Saturday morning!
Anyways - you probably won't hear from me until Tuesday when I get back from Granada. I sent some postcards out today - maybe you'll be getting one! ¡Hasta Luego!
Tonight my friend was going out with this guy she met at an ice cream shot, and she asked me to join her. We went out to hookah (which apparently means cocaine here, use shisha if you ever come to Spain), and drank tea. It was great, and then afterwards I found out that we were out of water in my house! The water heater broke, and she had to turn off the main pipe leading into the house, so I don't know if I'll be able to take a shower in the morning :(. Afterwards, I went to a bar with a friend, and we had a few glasses of wine. The bartender was fun, and we chatted with him for a while. He's really familiar with the US etc. Basically just another normal night in Spain.
Tomorrow I'm planning everything for the weekend. My Dad, Louisa (step mom), and Jonnie are visiting this weekend! They're in Madrid Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday we're going to Granada. It'll be a lot of fun, but I have so much to plan tomorrow so that we can have a good weekend. I think we'll be doing the big museums, and I'm going to try to find us some cute restaurants/bars to go to. I'm super excited, but there's so much to do before they get here Saturday morning!
Anyways - you probably won't hear from me until Tuesday when I get back from Granada. I sent some postcards out today - maybe you'll be getting one! ¡Hasta Luego!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Vino & Toros
What a weekend! I went to a bull fight today, and I really needed to share my details about the day with everyone!
Last night our program director had a wine tasting with tons of food and tons of wine. The night was out of this world amazing! We had a few dry whites and many different red wines - all of which were just absolutely wonderful. Then she taught us how to Flamenco dance and showed us around her house. The rest of the night was mellow. We ended up going to a hookah bar and catching the last metro train home.
Today we got some churros w/ café at this cute little shop up the street from us. Then the rest of us decided to go to a bull fight (since GW will reimburse us for the cost). I can't say I hated it, but I can't say I loved it either. I'm so glad I went to see it since it's such an important part of the culture her. On the other side, I think it was by far one of the most barbaric things I've ever seen in my life. I just talked with my host mother about it at dinner, and she really enjoys them. She thinks it's a beautiful fight between man and bull. I'm not sure I entirely agree with her, but I can respect that it's an art. I used to think it really was a piece of Spanish culture, and it shouldn't be banned. After today - I totally agree with the recent ban in Catalunya and really think it should be banned elsewhere. Anyways!! I put some pictures up on my Picasa account if anyone is interested in looking!
Last night our program director had a wine tasting with tons of food and tons of wine. The night was out of this world amazing! We had a few dry whites and many different red wines - all of which were just absolutely wonderful. Then she taught us how to Flamenco dance and showed us around her house. The rest of the night was mellow. We ended up going to a hookah bar and catching the last metro train home.
Today we got some churros w/ café at this cute little shop up the street from us. Then the rest of us decided to go to a bull fight (since GW will reimburse us for the cost). I can't say I hated it, but I can't say I loved it either. I'm so glad I went to see it since it's such an important part of the culture her. On the other side, I think it was by far one of the most barbaric things I've ever seen in my life. I just talked with my host mother about it at dinner, and she really enjoys them. She thinks it's a beautiful fight between man and bull. I'm not sure I entirely agree with her, but I can respect that it's an art. I used to think it really was a piece of Spanish culture, and it shouldn't be banned. After today - I totally agree with the recent ban in Catalunya and really think it should be banned elsewhere. Anyways!! I put some pictures up on my Picasa account if anyone is interested in looking!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Barcelona and the Strike!!
Sorry I've been on hiatus for a while! It's been so crazy this week with classes starting etc. So much to talk about, but I guess I'll start with Barcelona!
By far one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited. I really wanted to study abroad there, but I decided on Madrid because GW has a program here. Ultimately though, I'm glad I chose Madrid. Friday we did a driving tour and got lunch down by the water. It was a beautiful spot for lunch, and we tried fideuá, which is a traditional dish from Catalunya (which is the region where Barcelona is). It's a dish with noodles and seafood. I personally though it was somewhat bland, but maybe that's the restaurant's fault. We walked down the beach at night, but we all ended up in bed early because of the early flight in the morning.
Saturday was much busier. We started off at the Miró Foundation in the morning. Miró was a 20th century artist who was known for very modern art. On the completely opposite side of the spectrum we went to the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalunya) afterwards. Here we looked at much older art, especially Medieval frescos etc. I really enjoyed everything, but it was certainly exhausting. Afterwards we went back into the city and explored some of the streets/shops. This past weekend was La Merce, which is their city's huge festival every year. Everything was so busy and fun, but the nightlife had nothing on Madrid. After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, we had dinner in the hotel and went back down to the beach for a while. We got back relatively early so we could get a lot more in on Sunday.
Sunday morning we went to a "human pyramid" show, where everyone piled on top of each other. It was awesome, but we wanted to do some tourist things too. We went to the Temple of the Sagrada Familia which was designed by Gaudí, who is one of the most famous architects from Barcelona (and has influence all around the city). The style is so ahead of its time, and the temple still isn't finished. It should be done by 2030(ish), but I'm sure the recession has complicated these things as well. Then we went to one of Gaudí's houses. It really shows where 1950s "modern" architecture comes form. It was definitely not my thing, but I can appreciate how ahead of its time it was. Then we had to fly back to Madrid. Note - one weekend is certainly not enough time to see Barcelona.
We started classes this week, which has been nothing but chaotic. Monday/Wednesday I have Spanish Grammar, Spanish Literature, and Art History. I'm not very interested in my Art History class, but we have class in the Prado, so I supposed if you're going to take art history this is the place to do it. Tuesday/Thursday I only have one class - International Business. The professor is really awesome and does lots of consulting work all around Europe. He's really awesome though - but extremely busy.
Stikes - OMG. So today there was a strike in Spain (see NY Times Article). Absolute ridiculous-ness. The metro was working pretty well this morning, but we take the commuter trains to school. Getting there wasn't a problem, but we waited exactly ONE HOUR for the train on the way back (note - they usually come every 8 minutes). I'm not really sure that it accomplished much, but things were certainly more laid back around the city today. It was kind of entertaining how few people showed up on campus today, but I suppose that's the Spanish lifestyle. My host mother was going off about the Unions etc, but she is pretty conservative so it was expected.
I finally started planning my trips last night! I'm going to London November 4-7, and the weekend before I'll be in Amsterdam/Brussels. I'm so excited for both trips, and I'm hoping to go to Istanbul or Berlin (not sure which yet).
I'm posting more pictures on Picasa - so check out the link on the right side of my blog!
By far one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited. I really wanted to study abroad there, but I decided on Madrid because GW has a program here. Ultimately though, I'm glad I chose Madrid. Friday we did a driving tour and got lunch down by the water. It was a beautiful spot for lunch, and we tried fideuá, which is a traditional dish from Catalunya (which is the region where Barcelona is). It's a dish with noodles and seafood. I personally though it was somewhat bland, but maybe that's the restaurant's fault. We walked down the beach at night, but we all ended up in bed early because of the early flight in the morning.
Saturday was much busier. We started off at the Miró Foundation in the morning. Miró was a 20th century artist who was known for very modern art. On the completely opposite side of the spectrum we went to the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalunya) afterwards. Here we looked at much older art, especially Medieval frescos etc. I really enjoyed everything, but it was certainly exhausting. Afterwards we went back into the city and explored some of the streets/shops. This past weekend was La Merce, which is their city's huge festival every year. Everything was so busy and fun, but the nightlife had nothing on Madrid. After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, we had dinner in the hotel and went back down to the beach for a while. We got back relatively early so we could get a lot more in on Sunday.
Sunday morning we went to a "human pyramid" show, where everyone piled on top of each other. It was awesome, but we wanted to do some tourist things too. We went to the Temple of the Sagrada Familia which was designed by Gaudí, who is one of the most famous architects from Barcelona (and has influence all around the city). The style is so ahead of its time, and the temple still isn't finished. It should be done by 2030(ish), but I'm sure the recession has complicated these things as well. Then we went to one of Gaudí's houses. It really shows where 1950s "modern" architecture comes form. It was definitely not my thing, but I can appreciate how ahead of its time it was. Then we had to fly back to Madrid. Note - one weekend is certainly not enough time to see Barcelona.
We started classes this week, which has been nothing but chaotic. Monday/Wednesday I have Spanish Grammar, Spanish Literature, and Art History. I'm not very interested in my Art History class, but we have class in the Prado, so I supposed if you're going to take art history this is the place to do it. Tuesday/Thursday I only have one class - International Business. The professor is really awesome and does lots of consulting work all around Europe. He's really awesome though - but extremely busy.
Stikes - OMG. So today there was a strike in Spain (see NY Times Article). Absolute ridiculous-ness. The metro was working pretty well this morning, but we take the commuter trains to school. Getting there wasn't a problem, but we waited exactly ONE HOUR for the train on the way back (note - they usually come every 8 minutes). I'm not really sure that it accomplished much, but things were certainly more laid back around the city today. It was kind of entertaining how few people showed up on campus today, but I suppose that's the Spanish lifestyle. My host mother was going off about the Unions etc, but she is pretty conservative so it was expected.
I finally started planning my trips last night! I'm going to London November 4-7, and the weekend before I'll be in Amsterdam/Brussels. I'm so excited for both trips, and I'm hoping to go to Istanbul or Berlin (not sure which yet).
I'm posting more pictures on Picasa - so check out the link on the right side of my blog!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Charting the City
First off, sorry I haven't posted in a while! What a week this has been!
We had our first mid-terms (in a three week class, it comes up quickly), and I finally got to explore Madrid on a more intimate level. I wish I could express in words truly how wonderful everything has been thus far.
The beginning of the week was relatively mellow. Thursday was the day of our mid-term exams, so nothing too exciting happened on Tuesday/Wednesday. We did do our studying Madrid-style however and studied in the Retiro Park. The Retiro is basically Madrid's central park, located within walking distance from my apartment. The park is gorgeous with some of the most magnificent gardens and architecture/sculptures you can find anywhere. There was nothing better than reviewing Spanish culture while laying in the grass of Madrid's most outstanding park.
Thursday brought us back to the theatre to see a play called "Brokers." It was supposed to be a satirical critique of American capitalism. There were certainly some very entertaining parts, but I didn't love it. The style of humor was less satirical and more "slap-stick," and I honestly didn't see the type of critique that I thought they could have done a better job with. I think my expectations were too high going into it though. Overall, it wasn't terrible, but it could have been significantly better.
Friday, 8 of the girls in our group of 17 people left for Valencia for the weekend. I thought about going on the trip, but ultimately decided to save the money. It sounds like they had a wonderful time, and I wish I had been able to enjoy it!
The rest of us went to Chueca, which is somewhat like Dupont Circle in DC. There's a big gay population, lots of bars, lots of clubs, lots of shopping, very artistic etc. It was tons of fun! Five of us spent the night exploring and even met some Spanish people! The "nightlife" here makes the US look like a convent. Normally in Spain, you don't leave your house until 11/12. Because people don't even go out until then, it isn't abnormal to stay out past 6AM. Obviously this is mostly unheard of in the US, but most of our host mothers find it strange if we come home by 4:30AM!
Saturday my friends and I went to a restaurant that Anthony Bourdain went to on his trip to Madrid (Thanks Dad!). The food was some of the best I've had in a while. The restaurant was modern and creative, but not too expensive. After dinner, we ended up back in the Gran Vía/Chueca area for the evening again. It was another fun night, but this time we met up with all the students who stayed behind from Valencia. The one thing I'm finding it hard to adjust to is the excessive proliferation of smokers. Every night you go out, anything you were wearing WREAKS of cigarette smoke. Hard to get used to, but hardly a deal breaker.
Sunday I worked on a cool project for my culture class! We were each assigned a different neighborhood in the city to explore and do a presentation on (for tomorrow). I was assigned to Vallecas, so I went for a walk through my neighborhood and took the metro there. The neighborhood is a stark contrast to where I'm living now. I live in Salamanca, which is more or less the "Uptown" of Madrid. The buildings are old and grandiose, and the people are certainly upper-middle to upper class. Vallecas is more or less the opposite. The neighborhood was built in the 50s/60s as a worker's enclave. The buildings were much more modern than what I had encountered in Salamanca, and the shops were less expensive/high-end. All in all it was a great experience, and it was fun to see more of the city!
Today was monumental. I finally started exercising. I've had such a hard time adjusting to the diet since (although it's much healthier) the servings are so large! My host mother cooks wonderfully, but I truly can't eat this way without ballooning up (to 100 lbs - VeryMaryKate fans?)! I went for a nice half hour run through my neighborhood and the Retiro. It was beautiful! Since I love exploring the city and running, I'm excited to finally have some time to do this. I really think it is the best way to learn a city and see it first hand!
I'll be going to Barcelona this weekend! I can't wait to see it, since I've heard it's absolutely awesome! I have some more fun culture notes, but unfortunately it's well past my bed time! I've posted some more pictures to the Picasa album (link on the right side of the page), and I'll certainly post at least one more update before Barcelona!
I also started to feel slightly home sick on Sunday! I'm really missing everyone back at GW, and it's hard to not just be able to pick up the phone and call! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful semester so far, and don't forget to keep in touch!
We had our first mid-terms (in a three week class, it comes up quickly), and I finally got to explore Madrid on a more intimate level. I wish I could express in words truly how wonderful everything has been thus far.
The beginning of the week was relatively mellow. Thursday was the day of our mid-term exams, so nothing too exciting happened on Tuesday/Wednesday. We did do our studying Madrid-style however and studied in the Retiro Park. The Retiro is basically Madrid's central park, located within walking distance from my apartment. The park is gorgeous with some of the most magnificent gardens and architecture/sculptures you can find anywhere. There was nothing better than reviewing Spanish culture while laying in the grass of Madrid's most outstanding park.
Thursday brought us back to the theatre to see a play called "Brokers." It was supposed to be a satirical critique of American capitalism. There were certainly some very entertaining parts, but I didn't love it. The style of humor was less satirical and more "slap-stick," and I honestly didn't see the type of critique that I thought they could have done a better job with. I think my expectations were too high going into it though. Overall, it wasn't terrible, but it could have been significantly better.
Friday, 8 of the girls in our group of 17 people left for Valencia for the weekend. I thought about going on the trip, but ultimately decided to save the money. It sounds like they had a wonderful time, and I wish I had been able to enjoy it!
The rest of us went to Chueca, which is somewhat like Dupont Circle in DC. There's a big gay population, lots of bars, lots of clubs, lots of shopping, very artistic etc. It was tons of fun! Five of us spent the night exploring and even met some Spanish people! The "nightlife" here makes the US look like a convent. Normally in Spain, you don't leave your house until 11/12. Because people don't even go out until then, it isn't abnormal to stay out past 6AM. Obviously this is mostly unheard of in the US, but most of our host mothers find it strange if we come home by 4:30AM!
Saturday my friends and I went to a restaurant that Anthony Bourdain went to on his trip to Madrid (Thanks Dad!). The food was some of the best I've had in a while. The restaurant was modern and creative, but not too expensive. After dinner, we ended up back in the Gran Vía/Chueca area for the evening again. It was another fun night, but this time we met up with all the students who stayed behind from Valencia. The one thing I'm finding it hard to adjust to is the excessive proliferation of smokers. Every night you go out, anything you were wearing WREAKS of cigarette smoke. Hard to get used to, but hardly a deal breaker.
Sunday I worked on a cool project for my culture class! We were each assigned a different neighborhood in the city to explore and do a presentation on (for tomorrow). I was assigned to Vallecas, so I went for a walk through my neighborhood and took the metro there. The neighborhood is a stark contrast to where I'm living now. I live in Salamanca, which is more or less the "Uptown" of Madrid. The buildings are old and grandiose, and the people are certainly upper-middle to upper class. Vallecas is more or less the opposite. The neighborhood was built in the 50s/60s as a worker's enclave. The buildings were much more modern than what I had encountered in Salamanca, and the shops were less expensive/high-end. All in all it was a great experience, and it was fun to see more of the city!
Today was monumental. I finally started exercising. I've had such a hard time adjusting to the diet since (although it's much healthier) the servings are so large! My host mother cooks wonderfully, but I truly can't eat this way without ballooning up (to 100 lbs - VeryMaryKate fans?)! I went for a nice half hour run through my neighborhood and the Retiro. It was beautiful! Since I love exploring the city and running, I'm excited to finally have some time to do this. I really think it is the best way to learn a city and see it first hand!
I'll be going to Barcelona this weekend! I can't wait to see it, since I've heard it's absolutely awesome! I have some more fun culture notes, but unfortunately it's well past my bed time! I've posted some more pictures to the Picasa album (link on the right side of the page), and I'll certainly post at least one more update before Barcelona!
I also started to feel slightly home sick on Sunday! I'm really missing everyone back at GW, and it's hard to not just be able to pick up the phone and call! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful semester so far, and don't forget to keep in touch!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Geoff's Iberian Adventure
Here is a Picasa Album I've made for my trip! I'm going to continually post photos on here!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
A Very Spanish Weekend
Sorry the posts have been somewhat few and far between. It takes some time to write these, so I usually wait until a night when I have some time to kill.
On Friday we went out in small groups with our "monitors." They're students at the university who show us around and take us out. We met up down near the center of the city, and our monitor (Pilar) took us out for tapas and drinks. I tried rebujitos - which are white wine and 7up - and they were wonderful! After a few hours of walking around the city and stopping in at shops, bars, etc. Pilar went home, and we went out. We found a small bar near La Plaza de España and got some Sangria, which was better than some of the other ones I've tried here.
Saturday we went on a trip to Toledo which was absolutely marvelous. I had visited many of the places we went the last time I came to Spain, but the city was just as beautiful as the last time we visited. Toledo is the old capital of the Spanish Empire and has all the splendor of the old world. The streets are small cobble stone walkways there are beautiful cathedrals and a great deal of history. We visited an old Arab palace, the Cathedral, and a synagogue. Since it was built in the Middle Ages, it is situated on a hill and surrounded by the Río Tajo to provide protection. I'm going to put some pictures up on the blog later (since I actually brought my camera!)
Last night was Madrid's "La Noche en Blanco." When you spend the night "en blanco" you don't sleep, so it was "The Night without Sleep." It's a huge festival here and is apparently very typical of large European cities. Starting around 9pm last night and going until about 7am this morning there were numerous events: concerts, wine tastings, beach ball tosses, dance parties, and much more. The museums were free and open late, and it was really a sight to be seen. Many of the streets were closed and just full of people. We all met up at a bar around 11, and then we met up with our monitors. I ended up spending most of the night people watching. In the US 15 year old kids have secret parties when their parents aren't home; in Spain, 15 year old kids drink in the street. I've never seen such a sight before, but it truly illustrated the Spanish lifestyle. We stayed out until 5am, but there were still thousands of people in the street when we were leaving. When we visited Gran Vía (one of the main avenues in Madrid) this morning, it looked like nothing happened even though there were broken bottles and people scattered through the streets until well into the morning. A truly once in a lifetime experience.
Today was obviously much quieter. Most of us slept until late morning/early afternoon. We had Paella for lunch again (which I don't think I can become tired of). At 6pm, we went and saw a play called Zoo. It was a "slap stick" style comedy, somewhat like a Disney movie. The play had no speaking in it and was obviously designed for kids - but there were many jokes that only an adult could understand. This Thursday, we're going to see Brokers which is a satirical play (at the same theatre) about American Capitalism - CAN'T WAIT!
Most of the other students in my program are going to Valencia this weekend, but I'm going to stay in Madrid with a few others and explore some more. I think I don't know Madrid well enough to go away just yet. I also want to save my money for some other trips. We're planning a trip to Fes, Morocco for the day because flights cost €10 ROUND TRIP. You could spend more money than that on coffee in a week (trust me). I'm also planning a trip to London to visit a friend, and I really want to go to Germany. Since the program pays for a lot of traveling in Spain, I'm hoping to use my money for trips out of the country.
On more personal notes, I'm loving the country and the culture here. I'm adjusting really well, and it's really nice having another GW student staying with me. My host mother is wonderful! She cooks awesome food for us and is really a joy to talk to. My Spanish has improved immensely in the past week. I can't believe we've only been here for one week - it seems like a year already. Unfortunately, I know it's going to go by far too quickly. Other than that classes are going well - since we're only taking one 3 hour class per day right now. It's slightly hard to get used to the European lifestyle because I can't control the chaos in my life just yet, but I'm getting used to it. I'm really trying to take this semester and learn how to relax - something I usually struggle with.
More pictures later tonight! Until the next time!
On Friday we went out in small groups with our "monitors." They're students at the university who show us around and take us out. We met up down near the center of the city, and our monitor (Pilar) took us out for tapas and drinks. I tried rebujitos - which are white wine and 7up - and they were wonderful! After a few hours of walking around the city and stopping in at shops, bars, etc. Pilar went home, and we went out. We found a small bar near La Plaza de España and got some Sangria, which was better than some of the other ones I've tried here.
Saturday we went on a trip to Toledo which was absolutely marvelous. I had visited many of the places we went the last time I came to Spain, but the city was just as beautiful as the last time we visited. Toledo is the old capital of the Spanish Empire and has all the splendor of the old world. The streets are small cobble stone walkways there are beautiful cathedrals and a great deal of history. We visited an old Arab palace, the Cathedral, and a synagogue. Since it was built in the Middle Ages, it is situated on a hill and surrounded by the Río Tajo to provide protection. I'm going to put some pictures up on the blog later (since I actually brought my camera!)
Last night was Madrid's "La Noche en Blanco." When you spend the night "en blanco" you don't sleep, so it was "The Night without Sleep." It's a huge festival here and is apparently very typical of large European cities. Starting around 9pm last night and going until about 7am this morning there were numerous events: concerts, wine tastings, beach ball tosses, dance parties, and much more. The museums were free and open late, and it was really a sight to be seen. Many of the streets were closed and just full of people. We all met up at a bar around 11, and then we met up with our monitors. I ended up spending most of the night people watching. In the US 15 year old kids have secret parties when their parents aren't home; in Spain, 15 year old kids drink in the street. I've never seen such a sight before, but it truly illustrated the Spanish lifestyle. We stayed out until 5am, but there were still thousands of people in the street when we were leaving. When we visited Gran Vía (one of the main avenues in Madrid) this morning, it looked like nothing happened even though there were broken bottles and people scattered through the streets until well into the morning. A truly once in a lifetime experience.
Today was obviously much quieter. Most of us slept until late morning/early afternoon. We had Paella for lunch again (which I don't think I can become tired of). At 6pm, we went and saw a play called Zoo. It was a "slap stick" style comedy, somewhat like a Disney movie. The play had no speaking in it and was obviously designed for kids - but there were many jokes that only an adult could understand. This Thursday, we're going to see Brokers which is a satirical play (at the same theatre) about American Capitalism - CAN'T WAIT!
Most of the other students in my program are going to Valencia this weekend, but I'm going to stay in Madrid with a few others and explore some more. I think I don't know Madrid well enough to go away just yet. I also want to save my money for some other trips. We're planning a trip to Fes, Morocco for the day because flights cost €10 ROUND TRIP. You could spend more money than that on coffee in a week (trust me). I'm also planning a trip to London to visit a friend, and I really want to go to Germany. Since the program pays for a lot of traveling in Spain, I'm hoping to use my money for trips out of the country.
On more personal notes, I'm loving the country and the culture here. I'm adjusting really well, and it's really nice having another GW student staying with me. My host mother is wonderful! She cooks awesome food for us and is really a joy to talk to. My Spanish has improved immensely in the past week. I can't believe we've only been here for one week - it seems like a year already. Unfortunately, I know it's going to go by far too quickly. Other than that classes are going well - since we're only taking one 3 hour class per day right now. It's slightly hard to get used to the European lifestyle because I can't control the chaos in my life just yet, but I'm getting used to it. I'm really trying to take this semester and learn how to relax - something I usually struggle with.
More pictures later tonight! Until the next time!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Oh right - there's classes!
We started classes this week, and it has been a much harder adjustment than I was expecting. My Spanish has already gotten infinitely better, and we've been here for less than one week! Getting accustomed to the eating schedule and the class schedule has been difficult though.
Classes start at 10AM, but since we have a 45+ minute commute to school, this entails getting up by 8:30. We're taking one class that is language/grammar intensive and another class that is about the culture of Spain. I really like our culture professor; he has a great sense of humor and is really easy to listen to for an hour.
We've had events every night this week pretty much. Monday a bunch of us went down to Sol (Madrid's version of Times Square) and explored for a while. We visited the Plaza Mayor, the Mercado de San Cristobal, and the magnificent Palacio Real. It was a wonderful walk, but unfortunately I yet again forgot my camera. Tuesday we made plans for a similar "paseo" in another neighborhood, but we ended up in the area around Sol again. It has been wonderful to have some time to explore the different areas of the city. Since we only have 3 hours of class per day for the next two weeks, I'm going to try and explore while I still can.
Last night we went and saw Carmen, which is a play about how Flamenco dancing developed. In brief, it was a combination of the different countercultures (Jewish, Muslim, etc.) in Southern Spain. Most of it was during the Spanish inquisition and sought to assimilate themselves into the Catholic culture. Ironically, ham's popularity in Spain is a byproduct of this era as well. In order to prove that you had converted to Catholicism many Muslims and Jewish people would eat ham.
This afternoon, I wasn't able to take my daily 30 minute siesta because we had a visit to the Prado Museum. It was wonderful to hear about the history and the symbolism in the marvelous paintings that were there. I'm very excited for my art history class, which is going to be two days per week: one day at the Prado and one day at the Reina Sofia.
That's about it for this week. Things have been winding down a little bit from the weekend since we're back into classes. Hopefully this weekend will bring some good times (and certainly some pictures).
Classes start at 10AM, but since we have a 45+ minute commute to school, this entails getting up by 8:30. We're taking one class that is language/grammar intensive and another class that is about the culture of Spain. I really like our culture professor; he has a great sense of humor and is really easy to listen to for an hour.
We've had events every night this week pretty much. Monday a bunch of us went down to Sol (Madrid's version of Times Square) and explored for a while. We visited the Plaza Mayor, the Mercado de San Cristobal, and the magnificent Palacio Real. It was a wonderful walk, but unfortunately I yet again forgot my camera. Tuesday we made plans for a similar "paseo" in another neighborhood, but we ended up in the area around Sol again. It has been wonderful to have some time to explore the different areas of the city. Since we only have 3 hours of class per day for the next two weeks, I'm going to try and explore while I still can.
Last night we went and saw Carmen, which is a play about how Flamenco dancing developed. In brief, it was a combination of the different countercultures (Jewish, Muslim, etc.) in Southern Spain. Most of it was during the Spanish inquisition and sought to assimilate themselves into the Catholic culture. Ironically, ham's popularity in Spain is a byproduct of this era as well. In order to prove that you had converted to Catholicism many Muslims and Jewish people would eat ham.
This afternoon, I wasn't able to take my daily 30 minute siesta because we had a visit to the Prado Museum. It was wonderful to hear about the history and the symbolism in the marvelous paintings that were there. I'm very excited for my art history class, which is going to be two days per week: one day at the Prado and one day at the Reina Sofia.
That's about it for this week. Things have been winding down a little bit from the weekend since we're back into classes. Hopefully this weekend will bring some good times (and certainly some pictures).
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Homestay!
¡Buenas Tardes!
I apologize for the lack of blogging the last few days, but it has been a little bit crazy. I'll recap for everyone.
On Friday, we arrived in Madrid around 11:30am. Surprisingly both Sydney and I slept a little bit on the flight. When we arrived at the hotel, we found out that we had most of the afternoon free. Sydney and I explored the city for a little while and got some coffee, which was some of the best coffee I've ever had. That night, one of the directors took us for a walk through el Retiro which is the large park in the center of the city. Then we went to a brief meet and greet thing followed by a Tapas which were WONDERFUL. We had una tortilla española, manchego and bleu cheese, gambas (small shrimp) cooked in oil with garlic, calamari, and a salad with tuna on top. I thought it was amazing, but the directors told us that the food is horrible there compared to our homestays.
Saturday morning began with another cup of coffee and a brief orientation program to help us learn how to use the metro, obtain a cell phone etc. We also learned some of the Spanish customs that might be confusing for someone coming from the US. Most of it was pretty straightforward - don't be rude. However, apparently in Europe there are some table manners that we don't have in the US. Here, when they eat fruit, they use a fork and knife. You take the knife and peel it, and then you're supposed to cut the fruit with your knife and eat it with your fork. Also, you're supposed to always keep your hands above the table. It seems somewhat strange to sit at the table when you're not eating with your hands there, but it is completely the norm here. We had the afternoon off and got cell phones, a quick lunch, and our metro passes.
For dinner last night we went to a place called El Espejo (the Mirror). The building was beautiful and made of all glass. It was located in the middle of a large boulevard called El Paseo de la Castellana. We had salad, sangria, fish with a garlic oil on top, and flan. After dinner we wanted to find a bar to go have a drink, but it was difficult to find a place with 17 people. So we headed back towards the hotel for the evening.
This morning was a little rough waking up. I think the jet lag is starting to hit me again. Last night we went to bed a little bit later than the night before, and it was a lot of work to get out of bed. At noon, my señora picked me and Trey (my house mate) up. The elevator in her building is not approved for use by the Ministry of Industry, so she had someone who works in her building pick up our bags with a van and bring them upstairs for us. We walked from the hotel to her apartment, which was a short walk. She lives in Goya, which is a part of the old city. Her apartment is very old but very beautiful and ornate. The building is at least 150 years old from what I can tell. Right next door to her apartment is the large department store which is very convenient. There is also a "supermercado" there. My spanish has definitely improved even in the less than 12 hours since we've moved in. She made us paella for lunch with chicken and chorizo, and it was delicious. For dessert, she gave us fruit, and I ate a peach (with a fork and knife obviously). After lunch was a siesta, which was very much needed today! Then Margot (my señora) took us on a trip on the metro to show us how to get to school tomorrow. It could take up to an hour, since the school isn't in the central city. The metro here is so clean and much more functional than in the US. It covers nearly every portion of the city, and even on a Sunday you only have to wait 5 minutes at most.
Life here is so much slower, and it is definitely a lot to get used to. One of the first things I noticed was that it is impossible to get a coffee to go. Obviously they have Starbucks here, but no local café offers anything like that. It just illustrates how quickly we rush through life in the US. For me it's been difficult to try and slow down to appreciate these things, but I'm certainly trying to so I can get the most out of this experience.
If anyone wants to call me I have a Spanish mobile now, and you can contact me on that. I can receive calls for free - so if you come across a calling card - gimmie a call!
Tomorrow is our first "class" day. For the next three weeks we are taking an intensives Spanish class to improve our language skills. In the morning, we have a placement exam, which will determine the class we take until GW classes start on September 26th.
I could write another entire page, but I'll spare you the details for now. I promise before the end of the week I'll upload some photos. I haven't really been taking too many pictures yet, but I'm going to try and do better this week.
¡Until next time mis amigos!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Almost There!
Within 24 hours I'll be in Spain! I'm on the Acela train headed for New Jersey where I'll be meeting up with my friend. From there I'm taking the 10:10pm flight from Newark to Madrid! This is really the first time I've ever done a blog, so we'll see how well it goes. I'll be sure to post pictures for everyone once I get there.
Once we arrive, we'll be staying in a hotel until Sunday when we move in with our host families. It's hard to believe this is all happening so soon, but here it is.
¡Hasta Luego!
Once we arrive, we'll be staying in a hotel until Sunday when we move in with our host families. It's hard to believe this is all happening so soon, but here it is.
¡Hasta Luego!
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