So it's pretty obvious that I have not been keeping up with my blog. I've been quite busy with classes, traveling, and translating. And to tell you the truth, I'm often to tired to update it and choose to take a siesta instead.
So in addition to living in Salamanca, I've traveled to Sevilla and Valencia on two separate weekends with my friend Morgan. I met her four years ago while studying for 6 weeks in Guanajuato, Mexico and we both just happened to be in Spain during the same time! I liked Sevilla. Flamenco everywhere. We went to the world's only flamenco museum there and saw a flamenco show. The museum was not very good, but the show was great with some talented flamenco dancers. One girl working at the museum was from Texas and the other girl was from Poland. I feel like everyone else in Europe lives a more exciting life than me. Sevilla has a lot of charm, but the streets were so hard to navigate since they were all small and twisting and turning. I can't remember much else about Sevilla.
Last weekend we went to Valencia. It's nice there, but I was expecting more. Also, it was cold there on Friday and Saturday it rained so no beach or tanning for us. But go figure it's hot and sunny the day we leave. There was a sweet market there that's supposedly the oldest, long-lasting market in western Europe....or something like that. We walked up a tower called Miguelete Tower. The stairs were so narrow towards the top. Thankfully I was able to come back down.... We went out to the beachfront Saturday night and there were soooo many people walking along the beach and shopping and eating. We went to several clubs along the beach that were lacking so we decided to go to the city center to a club. We arrived at 230am and the place was dead because it was too early. I'm always up for staying out late, but no one at a club at 230am is crazy to me. Oh and in the Valencia train station on the way home I saw the best mullet in my life- dreadlock mullet. I'll post the pic soon. For now I will just keep you in suspense.
I have a change in my study plans. I leave Saturday to go to Madrid for the night then I am going to Granada for 2 weeks to study! I'm excited!
I'll have to remember what else happened in the past 2 weeks....I'm nit meant to be a blogger. Or at least not while I'm in Spain following their siesta schedule.
Adios.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
You Oughta Know.....
So my classes are really hard. But I have great teachers. Now I have 2 female teachers and they are pretty funny. One looks like Alanis Morrissette, except not as unattractive haha. And the other looks like Maya Rudolph from SNL, but prettier. She talks a lot. Like a lot a lot a lot a lot. And super fast. Like so fast that I´m scared she might choke on her words. She was going on and on the other day about how she likes nectarines more than peaches beause peaches have hair/fur and she likes her fruit without hair- just how she likes her men. She was going on and on for like 2 days how she likes bald men, or men with rocker hair. Not in between- no normal hair (keep in mind this is all in Spanish). Today she was talking about hair again and how it´s dangerous to get your hair cut in Spain because they do what they want and don´t listen to what you´re asking for- even if you show them a picture of how you want your hair cut. She also rants about movies. Today she was talking about how horrible that Kevin Costner movie is--WaterWorld. We also work on grammar and not just talk about hair and movies, but it all helps with the conversation anyways...
This weekend I am going to Sevilla with my friend who is studying in Madrid. She is a girl I met last time while I was studying in Mexico back in 2007. It´s nice to get to see her again and travel and practice our Spanish, but I´m sure hers is way better than mine. We´re lucky too because Monday is some Spanish holiday so we don´t have classes. I am going to take the bus to Madrid Friday and then Friday night we are taking the high-speed train to Sevilla, which is like 4 hours faster than taking a normal train or bus.
Last night´s culture class was funny. It was a guy with his guitar singing Spanish songs with us. You better believe I belted out De Colores and Cielito Lindo since they are the only songs I know. If only we had the chance to sing La Bamba or La Cucharacha I would have volunteered to do a solo.....Tonight is another culture class. I´m unsure of the topic, but I´m still going because it´s an extra chance to be surrounded by Spanish. After that I´m going to dinner with a few friends. My friend from Ireland found a few vegetarian restaurants or restaurants that have some vegetarian options so I think we might try to find one tonight. But these streets are cooky and we might just end up finding a place with some beer and forget about food.
Until another day...
This weekend I am going to Sevilla with my friend who is studying in Madrid. She is a girl I met last time while I was studying in Mexico back in 2007. It´s nice to get to see her again and travel and practice our Spanish, but I´m sure hers is way better than mine. We´re lucky too because Monday is some Spanish holiday so we don´t have classes. I am going to take the bus to Madrid Friday and then Friday night we are taking the high-speed train to Sevilla, which is like 4 hours faster than taking a normal train or bus.
Last night´s culture class was funny. It was a guy with his guitar singing Spanish songs with us. You better believe I belted out De Colores and Cielito Lindo since they are the only songs I know. If only we had the chance to sing La Bamba or La Cucharacha I would have volunteered to do a solo.....Tonight is another culture class. I´m unsure of the topic, but I´m still going because it´s an extra chance to be surrounded by Spanish. After that I´m going to dinner with a few friends. My friend from Ireland found a few vegetarian restaurants or restaurants that have some vegetarian options so I think we might try to find one tonight. But these streets are cooky and we might just end up finding a place with some beer and forget about food.
Until another day...
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Withering Away...
So last night I attended an extra culture class on Flamenco at our school and they had a welcome- introductory dinner for us afterwards. I also met a girl who is also vegetarian like me. She was born in France, lived in Austraila and Ireland, and is now living in Switzerland....amazing. Everyone here has a story like that. Another girl in my class was born in Kenya to parents who are from Greece. She lived in France and is now living in England. How does this happen to people? My story is I am from Chicago. The end. Oh and another girl is from Ireland, but lived in Germany and England. She´s my favorite because she says the word f#ck a lot. Like ¨F#ck the Dutch. There are always so many f#ckin´Dutch.¨ My guess is that she´s indifferent about the Dutch.
So back to the vegetarian dinner story....So the lady asked us if we eat eggs and we said yes. And I thought score some tortilla espanola or something. About 45 minutes later we got our dinner, which was 4 spears of asparagus with a garlic mayo. Yes, I walk 3 hours a day and I am going to eat 4 spears of asparagus for dinner along with my beer and 4 glasses of wine. Yes, I am withering away people....haha. Not really. So afterwards we went to the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca and ordered another beer with some french fries. When I got home my host mom was cracking up about me complaining about my dinner. She is too funny and I think she enjoys my silliness as well.
I am finished with classes for the day, but there is an optional culture class at 7pm. Tonight will be some guy with a Spanish guitar. Afterwards I´m going back home to have dinner with my host mom and my housemate around 9:30pm.
It´s weird because it does not get dark here until almost 11pm. Oh and the birds are crazy here. I keep on talking about the birds and people think this girl from the States is nuts. The birds fly all crazy-like and originally I thought they were bats because of their erratic flying. But I guess they are swallows. I guess we don´t have those birds in our parts so how the hell am I supposed to know they fly all nuts?
So back to the vegetarian dinner story....So the lady asked us if we eat eggs and we said yes. And I thought score some tortilla espanola or something. About 45 minutes later we got our dinner, which was 4 spears of asparagus with a garlic mayo. Yes, I walk 3 hours a day and I am going to eat 4 spears of asparagus for dinner along with my beer and 4 glasses of wine. Yes, I am withering away people....haha. Not really. So afterwards we went to the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca and ordered another beer with some french fries. When I got home my host mom was cracking up about me complaining about my dinner. She is too funny and I think she enjoys my silliness as well.
I am finished with classes for the day, but there is an optional culture class at 7pm. Tonight will be some guy with a Spanish guitar. Afterwards I´m going back home to have dinner with my host mom and my housemate around 9:30pm.
It´s weird because it does not get dark here until almost 11pm. Oh and the birds are crazy here. I keep on talking about the birds and people think this girl from the States is nuts. The birds fly all crazy-like and originally I thought they were bats because of their erratic flying. But I guess they are swallows. I guess we don´t have those birds in our parts so how the hell am I supposed to know they fly all nuts?
Monday, July 18, 2011
Salamanca or Bust
I arrived at the train station and Madrid and of course my confirmation number on my train ticket that I purchased is not valid there so I ended up buying a second one of course.
Finally got to Salamanca yesterday and found the apartment I am living in. My house mom is so nice and so talkative, which is good because it´s helping with my comprehension. She is a cook, yet admitted she has no idea what to make me. So made creamed spinach and some weird egg- coated fried tofu. Her apartment is very small, but I have my own room to myself which is good. I also have a housemate from Indiana. She is 39 and she teaches Spanish and German at a Charter School in Indiana. This week is her last week so she´s luckily showing me the ropes now.
Today was my first day of classes. I had an assessment multiple choice test, written test, and interview. The teacher originally said that right now I was between intermediate and advanced and that a week or so in the intermediate will be a review and I might be able to move up. But once classes were assigned, I found myself in the advanced class, which is level #4 out of 6. There are not many people from the States in my class or in the school itself. Many people from England, Ireland, etc. Very interesting to meet different people from all over the world.
Tonight is another culture class then an introductory dinner with classmates and teachers from the school. I cannot get this lisp thing down and sometimes I have a hard time understanding certain vocabulary since my Spanish is basically Mexican Spanish, which people here in Spain think very poorly of....
Finally got to Salamanca yesterday and found the apartment I am living in. My house mom is so nice and so talkative, which is good because it´s helping with my comprehension. She is a cook, yet admitted she has no idea what to make me. So made creamed spinach and some weird egg- coated fried tofu. Her apartment is very small, but I have my own room to myself which is good. I also have a housemate from Indiana. She is 39 and she teaches Spanish and German at a Charter School in Indiana. This week is her last week so she´s luckily showing me the ropes now.
Today was my first day of classes. I had an assessment multiple choice test, written test, and interview. The teacher originally said that right now I was between intermediate and advanced and that a week or so in the intermediate will be a review and I might be able to move up. But once classes were assigned, I found myself in the advanced class, which is level #4 out of 6. There are not many people from the States in my class or in the school itself. Many people from England, Ireland, etc. Very interesting to meet different people from all over the world.
Tonight is another culture class then an introductory dinner with classmates and teachers from the school. I cannot get this lisp thing down and sometimes I have a hard time understanding certain vocabulary since my Spanish is basically Mexican Spanish, which people here in Spain think very poorly of....
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Day 2 of Madrid
I had such a full day and I got all of my sightseeing done today by 10:45am!
I ate breakfast at the Plaza de Independencia in front of La Puerta de Alcala. Croissant, coffee, and 2 bottles of water for $13 US dollars. Crazy.
Next stop....Salamanca! Then classes start bright and early tomorrow at 8am for an assessment of my level of Spanish proficiency.
I ate breakfast at the Plaza de Independencia in front of La Puerta de Alcala. Croissant, coffee, and 2 bottles of water for $13 US dollars. Crazy.
Next stop....Salamanca! Then classes start bright and early tomorrow at 8am for an assessment of my level of Spanish proficiency.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
First Day in Madrid
Well I made it! I was very fortunate for my cousin John hooking me up on American Airlines. I flew first class to Miami and business class to Madrid!
Of course my suitcase was placed on the wrong flight so I had to wait around for two hours. By the time I filed about the missing luggage I only had about an hour and a half to wait. Nonetheless, I have my suitcase!
I packed way too much so the beautiful 15 minute walk from the bus stop to my hotel was torture. I was about to abandon ship until I realized I need my belongings to survive 5 weeks in Spain.
My hotel is nice. Not 5-star nice, but it does the trick. I am about 4 doors down from the huge plaza, Puerta del Sol so it´s central to great shops and restaurants.
I walked around without referencing a map just to see what I come across. I found Palacio Real, the palace, and a gorgeous church. I also came across a dozen plazas that were great to walk around in. It was so hot today and I don´t think I had enough water so I felt it.
Street performers are more entertaining than I remembered them to be the last time I was here in 2005.
I found a falafel place for dinner and I enjoyed my chocolate con churros for a late night dessert! I somehow stumbled across the very chocolateria that Kathleen and I visited back in 2005!
Tomorrow morning I am going to try to wake up early to go to Retiro Park, which was my favorite thing on my last visit.
Then I am off to take a train to Salamanca and then once I get there, I´m cabbing it to my home stay where I will meet Argelina, my host mom.
Palacio Real
My average hotel room
Plaza de Oriente
Of course my suitcase was placed on the wrong flight so I had to wait around for two hours. By the time I filed about the missing luggage I only had about an hour and a half to wait. Nonetheless, I have my suitcase!
I packed way too much so the beautiful 15 minute walk from the bus stop to my hotel was torture. I was about to abandon ship until I realized I need my belongings to survive 5 weeks in Spain.
My hotel is nice. Not 5-star nice, but it does the trick. I am about 4 doors down from the huge plaza, Puerta del Sol so it´s central to great shops and restaurants.
I walked around without referencing a map just to see what I come across. I found Palacio Real, the palace, and a gorgeous church. I also came across a dozen plazas that were great to walk around in. It was so hot today and I don´t think I had enough water so I felt it.
Street performers are more entertaining than I remembered them to be the last time I was here in 2005.
I found a falafel place for dinner and I enjoyed my chocolate con churros for a late night dessert! I somehow stumbled across the very chocolateria that Kathleen and I visited back in 2005!
Tomorrow morning I am going to try to wake up early to go to Retiro Park, which was my favorite thing on my last visit.
Then I am off to take a train to Salamanca and then once I get there, I´m cabbing it to my home stay where I will meet Argelina, my host mom.
Palacio Real
Friday, July 15, 2011
T Minus 7 & 1/2 hours until takeoff to Miami International Airport
Since I cannot sleep because I'm excited and anxious about my trip, I've decided to post my first entry in my fancy new travel blog.
I am all packed and now I'm taking the time to mentally prepare myself for the culture shock that's going to hit me like a ton of bricks. It's been 4 years since I lived and studied in Guanajuato, Mexico and I really have not practiced much since then. This means I will try to study up on my Spanish as much as I can on the plane. But I did get a chance to practice my Spanish while ordering Mexican food at a Mexican restaurant on Wednesday night. So I guess I try when I can....
So as far as my plans go...I fly into Madrid where I will take the train to one of the main plazas, Plaza del Sol. My hotel in on the main street about a block or less to the Plaza. This means it's going to be loud and busy! I am just spending the night there so I will do sightseeing at places close to my hotel or close to other train stops since I'll be right off of the train stop at the Plaza del Sol. The next day, Sunday, I am going to hop a train from my hotel to go to the large train station where I will take the Rail Europe train to Salamanca, which is about a 2 hour and 40 minute train ride. From there I will hop in a cab to meet my host mom, who's name is Argelina. She's a 55 year old divorced woman who is a chef. This will be heaven for me since I love to cook so much. I'm hoping to learn how to make some authentic Spanish dishes like paella, tortilla espanola, and patatas bravas.
Oh and I'm excited that someone I know will be in Spain for a while when I'm there. Morgan is studying in Madrid at the university. She is actually someone I met when I studied last time in Guanajuato so it will be just like old times. We're hoping to travel to Sevilla and Valencia together over 2 different weekends.
Well, wish me luck...
I am all packed and now I'm taking the time to mentally prepare myself for the culture shock that's going to hit me like a ton of bricks. It's been 4 years since I lived and studied in Guanajuato, Mexico and I really have not practiced much since then. This means I will try to study up on my Spanish as much as I can on the plane. But I did get a chance to practice my Spanish while ordering Mexican food at a Mexican restaurant on Wednesday night. So I guess I try when I can....
So as far as my plans go...I fly into Madrid where I will take the train to one of the main plazas, Plaza del Sol. My hotel in on the main street about a block or less to the Plaza. This means it's going to be loud and busy! I am just spending the night there so I will do sightseeing at places close to my hotel or close to other train stops since I'll be right off of the train stop at the Plaza del Sol. The next day, Sunday, I am going to hop a train from my hotel to go to the large train station where I will take the Rail Europe train to Salamanca, which is about a 2 hour and 40 minute train ride. From there I will hop in a cab to meet my host mom, who's name is Argelina. She's a 55 year old divorced woman who is a chef. This will be heaven for me since I love to cook so much. I'm hoping to learn how to make some authentic Spanish dishes like paella, tortilla espanola, and patatas bravas.
Oh and I'm excited that someone I know will be in Spain for a while when I'm there. Morgan is studying in Madrid at the university. She is actually someone I met when I studied last time in Guanajuato so it will be just like old times. We're hoping to travel to Sevilla and Valencia together over 2 different weekends.
Well, wish me luck...
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