Puente de Mayo en Salamanca!

Yesderday was Labor Day here in Spain, so it's a three day weekend, the famous puente de mayo! I didn't want to take a big trip because EVERYONE in Madrid is traveling this weekend, so I thought a daytrip somewhere close to Madrid would be nice. Hannah, Sondee and I took a train to Salmanca, the great university city, in the comunidad autónoma of Castilla & León. Our train left at 11 am, so we got to Salamanca around 2pm...it was a lot farther than I was expecting!

Once we got there we headed for the Plaza Mayor, one of Spain's largest and grandest! All around the Plaza are arches with faces of kings, authors, and other famous people, and the Royal Pavillion on the east side is decorated with a bust of Felipe V, who built the square. We found the head of Cervantes! I really liked the Plaza Mayor because it really was a central meeting poing and the heart of Salamanca. There were tons of people sitting on the ground, eating lunch, talking, sun bathing, kids playing, it was so alive!

After Plaza Mayor, we were getting hungry, so we walked and found a little restaurant with tables on the sidewalk. Sondee and I ordered the plato tipico de Salamanca, huevos con farinato (two fried eggs, spicy beans and a breaded meat). It was pretty good, but so much food! After lunch, we headed to the Catedral Vieja and the Catedral Nueva. During a restoration of the catedral in 1993, one of the "creative" workers decided to put an astronaut along with a few other interesting characters on the side of the puerta principal. At the time, a lot of the citizens of Salamanca were not happy, but now it's funny.

After the Catedrals, we walked past the Casa de las Conchas, "House of Shells", a mansion of the knight Rodrigo Arias Maldonado. The golden stone scallop shells that cover the walls are a symbol of the Order of Santiago.

After the Casa de las Conchas, we took a tour of the Universidad Pontificia, the private university that we thought was the University of Salamanca...so 4 euros and thirty minutes later, we left and found the real University, which was "en obras" and closed! But we saw the elaborate facade and the . This university was founded by Alfonso XI, of León in 1218, making it the oldest in Spain. Miguel de Unamuno studied there as well as Miguel de Cervantes, so it was really neat to see it, even if it was only the door! The building's façade is decorated with numerous figures, one of them being the famous ¨frog on a skull¨, which isn't easy to find as there are numerous small figures, but according to local tradition academic success is guaranteed if found, so I guess I will have luck for my finals in a few weeks! :)

After the University, as we were walking down to the Puente Romano, the Roman bridge across the Rio Tormes, built in the 1st century AD, we saw a wedding! It was absolutely gorgeous! I took a few pictures sneakily and decided that I want to have a wedding like this! :)

After the Puente Romano, we had to get back to catch the train! It was a short time, but I'm glad we went! We finally got to see the famous University and the Plaza Mayor!

Córdoba y Sevilla

This past weekend I went to Córdoba y Sevilla in Andalucía with my AYA program. Saturday morning we took the AVE from Madrid to Córdoba, where we saw the Mezquita, a great Mosque dating back to the 12th centuries. However, during the 16th century, during the Reconquista, a cathedral was built in the heart of the reconsecrated mosque, part of which was destroyed. Now the Mezquita is a beautiful "mezcla" of Muslim and Christian architecture. After a few hours in Córdoba, we caught the Andalucía Express Train to Sevilla.

When we arrived in Sevilla, we checked into our hostel, Hostal Picasso, which was beautiful inside! Then Patricia gave us a brief tour because Sevilla was where she spent a year studying abroad! We saw the Alfonso XIII Hotel, the University, Plaza de España, the Torre de Oro, the Plaza de Toros, and even the street that she walked down everyday and where she lived. Sevilla is gorgeous! We did some souvenier shopping, then went tapa-hopping for dinner.

On Sunday we began with the Real Alcázar, the royal palace in Sevilla. It was absolutely beautiful, modeled after the Ahlambra in Granada, and full of beautiful Arabic architecture and charm. The gardens were my favorite part, though! Full of terraces, fountains, and pavillions...I could have spent all day in the gardens! But it was kind of rainy and cold, so afterwards we went to a little cafe for some Cola-Cao (hot cocoa)! By time we were finished with our drinks it was done raining so we headed to the Tourist office to get some maps, then we went to the Turno to get some cookies from the Convent! We ate lunch at a really neat Italian restaurant, then went to the Sevilla Cathedral and La Giralda. Sevilla's Cathedral stands on the site of a great mosque built in the late 12th century. La Giralda, its bell tower, and the patio de los Naranjos (Oranges) are the only legacy left of the Moorish structure. However, the Cathedral is the third largest in Europe, behind St. Peter's in Rome and another in Milan. We saw the supposed tomb of Christopher Columbus and climbed La Giralda. Something interesting is that the tower has ramps instead of steps because the horses used to have to climb it! But the view from the top was impressive! After the catedral, we had a few hours to finish up our souvenier shopping and then we had to catch our train back to Madrid. On the train, they showed the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, which I really liked! It was so neat to see all of the sights I visited when I was in Barcelona! :) It was a great end to a wonderful weekend!

Real Madrid Game!

Last night we went to the Real Madrid fútbol game against Getafe at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, it was probably one of the best games I have ever been to! I'm generally not a big fan of fútbol (soccer), but it's such a big part of the culture here, so we wanted to experience a game en directo (live)! The stadium was full and our seats were in the "vomiteros" section...I think that is equivalent to the English "nosebleeds" section, because we were literally one row away from being in the highest up! But it was a great experience for only 20 euros! It was a great way to practice my coloquial Spanish, learn more about the culture and the game of fútbol, and even learn a little of the fight song! An interesting thing is that during "half-time" everyone eats their bocadillo that they brought for dinner. So you see everyone with their baguette sandwich in tinfoil, eating dinner. And everyone wears scarves of their team, so of course we had to get some Real Madrid "bufandas" to show our support for the team! It was an exciting game too; lots of scoring! The score was tied, but Madrid came back to score the winning goal in the last minutes of the game and ended up beating Getafe 3-2. The stadium is also very close to my house, which is so nice! I walked there in about 15-20 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Today Patricia invited us over to her house for lunch and some cookie baking! It was so much fun! We made two different types of cookies: the normal chocolate chip cookies and then reverse, chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips...so delicious! In Spain, they don't have chocolate chips, so we had to cut bars of chocolate! I had never done that before, so it was interesting. We made tons of cookies, but I think we ate even more! For lunch we had spaghetti or pasta with pesto, bread, and salad...then we had a few bites of cookie dough here and there...and then of course we had to sample at least one of both types of cookies! What a rough life! :)

El Escorial

Today I took a bus to go visit El Escorial, Felipe II's palace, in the foothills fo the Sierra de Guadarrama to the northwest of Madrid. It was built between 1563 and 1584 as a final resting place for Felipe II's father, Carlos I of Spain. I took a tour through the gigantic building and got to see the architecture museum, the gallery of paintings, the royal apartments, the royal panthenon, the chapter rooms, the library and the gardens, but the basilica was being renovated, so I wasn't able to see it. But the palace was beautiful! I got to see Felipe's bedroom where he died in September 1598 and the views he enjoyed out his windows. It was a great little daytrip!

I couldn't take pictures inside, but here are some photos of the outside:

Semana Santa en Málaga (y Florencia...)

This past week was Semana Santa, so I headed to the beach for a few days with some friends! We stayed at a resort about an hour and a half outside of Málaga, on the Coasta del Sol, it was absolutely beautiful and a great way to relax! I took a bus (7 hours) down to Málaga on Sunday, April 5, and stayed until Thursday. On Monday, Hannah and I went into Málaga to see some of the processions. Each day, there were between six and eight different processions. We went to the Crucifixion procession. It was so incredible to see the processions so close! We've been hearing about these famous processions for so long, it was a great experience to actually see them up close! There were tons of people who came to watch these processions of people in tall, pointed hats and hundreds of men carrying a large "paso" (float). It was a great way to spend the day! Then Tuesday, we went to the beach--one of the best beaches on the Coasta del Sol! Our resort has a little mini-bus and so they came and picked us up and drove us to the beach. All of the resort staff were so nice to us because we could actually speak Spanish! Málaga is very touristy and almost everything was in English, so I'm sure they appreciated us speaking in Spanish. The wind was terrible that day, so we were covering up with our towels instead of laying on them! But we found a little spot a little more sheltered and were able to finally soak in some sunshine. Wednesday we visited Mijas, a little pueblo near our resort. Mijas is a very typical Andalucian town, with white buildings, small streets, and donkeys for taxis! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our little excursion! Thursday I left Málaga for Madrid...and 7 hours later I arrived!

I spent Thursday night and Friday morning in Madrid, then I was off to Rome! I met up with some friends, then Sunday and Monday I was in Florence! Florence was beautiful! I saw the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, The Galleria dell'Accademia (where we saw Michelangelo's David), Piazza de Michelangelo, Piazza della Signoria, Piazza Vecchio...

But now, it's back to classes! It's hard to get back to studying after such a wonderful break and when all of my friends who studied abroad this semester are now home! I am the last! But I am going to enjoy every last minute of my time abroad! :)

Tomorrow!

I am so excited because tomorrow my mom and my sister will be coming to Madrid for my sister's spring break! 8 whole days! I can't wait! :) And tomorrow is Brittany's birthday, so I can take her out on the town! What fun!

A weekend in beautiful Barcelona!

This past weekend was a holiday in Spain, so we had a four-day weekend and what better way to spend it than to go to Barcelona?! We went in the AVE (alta velocidad española) train, which was SO nice! It was just like a plane, but bigger and I didn't have to bring travel-size shampoo!

The train travels at speeds up to 300 km/hour (186 mph), so it was a nice three and a half hour trip from Madrid to Barcelona. We got there Thursday afternoon around 5:30. We checked into our hostel (the RamCat) and then walked around a bit by the mediterranean and saw the big shopping center, then went for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was an early night because we were all tired and we knew we had a big weekend ahead of us!

Friday we started the day out at the Catedral de Barcelona, which was beautiful with each of the 28 chapels was ornately decorated. After the Catedral, we went to the Museo de Picasso, which was huge and very impressive. I never realized what a range he had, and I have such a greater appreciation for his work now. The next stop was the Chocolate Museum (Xocolate Museo in Catalan)...it had sculptures made of chocolate, history of chocolate, and of course included a free bar of chocolate! It was very interesting and very tasty! Then we took the metro up to Montjuic, "Jewish Mountain", to take in a great view of the city. The gondola was closed by time we got there, but we did see the Magic Fountain of Montjuic, a display of color, light, music, motion, and water acrobatics. It was really neat!

Saturday we began our day early, at the Sagrada Familia, one of the most recognized symbols of Barcelona. It was designed by architect Antoni Gaudí, who devoted his last forty years of his life to the project. Construction began in 1882 and is still going on today...scheduled completion date: 2020! So that tells you just how elaborate it is! Gaudí was inspired tremendously by nature and you can see that in the design of the cathedral. It was beautiful and I cannot wait to return and see the completed project! After the Sagrada Familia, we went to the Park Güell, another of Gaudí's masterpieces. At the entrance to the park are two buildings that look like something out of the boardgame "Candyland." It was very whimsical and there were mosaics everywhere...there was a large salamander and a large wavy bench with mosiac designs, so beautiful! After the Park, we went to another work by Gaudí, Casa Mila, an apartment building built in 1912. So basically, I am now a big fan of Gaudí and if you haven't heard of him you should definitely check him out!

Rollin' with the Romans

This weekend Sondee and I went to Rome to visit our friend Riccardo, who we met at Carlos III. He was in Rome for a week because he had to take an exam, so we flew in for the weekend and stayed with him. It was wonderful! He picked us up from the airport (but there was a slight mix-up and Sondee and I flew into different airports, so we got a tour of all the airports in the Rome area!) and then we met a few of his friends for dinner. I had four cheese pizza--delicious! Pizza is a little different here...everyone orders their own pizza because the crust is thinner you can eat it all. It's not as heavy as pizza in the US. After dinner Riccardo and his friend Diego tried to take us to the city center, where all the night-life is, but the traffic was so bad we decided to call it a night.

Saturday was our big sight-seeing day! We started off with some Italian capuccino and a pastry at a bar near the apartment, then we went to another bar for some more pastries, then it was finally time to begin! We started off at the Basilica of Saint Paul, then the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Venencian Plaza, the Panthenon, the Plaza de Espana, and the Trevi fountain! It was a long day, but so much fun! We met up with a few of Riccardo's friends for dinner and then went out on the town!

Sunday was football day. Rome was playing another team, so we went to Riccardo's dad's house to watch the game with a few friends of his. His dad cooked us some amazing food and we watched the football game! After the game we headed to the Plaza de San Pietro, which was beautiful! The Vatican was closed, so we couldn't go inside, but it was still beautiful from the outside! I guess we'll just have to go back...

Ciao!

Tomorrow I leave for Barcelona... :)

Family time :)

Today I made a torte with my señora and my little sister! It was so simple, but delicious! And a good way to spend time together! The dough was made of melted butter, two eggs, baking powder, and flour, and then we spread nutella on top and put little shapes of dough on the nutella. It took fifteen minutes total, I think. It was muy rapida y muy rica también! :) I can't wait to bring home all my new recipes and cook! Here are a few photos from our baking session!

This weekend: Rome!

Besos!

11-M

Today is the 5-year anniversary of 11-M, the terrorist attacks in the Madrid Train Station, Atocha. 11-M consisted of a series of coordinated bombings in Atocha, the center station of the Cercanías (commuter train) system of Madrid on the morning of 11 March 2004 (three days before Spain's general elections), killing 191 people and wounding 1,400. The official investigations determined that the attacks were directed by an al-Quaeda-inspired terrorist cell, but with no direct connections to al-Quaeda.




I remember hearing about the bombings five years ago, back in the United States, but I was a junior in high school and had not even started studying Spanish, so I never dreamed I would be studying abroad in Madrid, or even Spain. And now, here I am! It was very humbling though, as I use the Cercanías every day to commute to the my university, which is in a southern suburb of Madrid. My station is one stop north of Atocha, and I go through Atocha everyday. The victims of attack are now very close to my heart.

On a lighter note...today I bought my Ave (bullet train) ticket for Barcelona next weekend! The 19th of March is a holiday, so we have a four-day weekend!

And this weekend I'm headed to Roma!

Reina Sophía, Valle de Los Caídos...y la Cocina Española!

Yesterday I visited the Reina Sophía museum with my Estudios Culturales class. The Reina Sophía is the home of Picasso's Guernica, the most famous single work of the 20th century. It was created as a Civil War protest and commissioned by the Spanish Republican government in 1937. I have seen this painting in so many textbooks, it was incredible to see it in real life. I was amazed at its size, I didn't realize how big it actually is--349 cm × 776 cm (137.4 in × 305.5 in)! Our focus was on art during the Spanish Civil War, so we also saw works by Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Horacio Ferrer, and Robert Capa. But there was so much more to see! So I'm definitely returning! :)


After the Reina Sophía, we took a bus to the Valle de Los Caídos (The Valley of the Fallen), the tomb of dictator Francisco Franco. The monument is a huge cross on the mountainside 50 stories tall (100 if you include the base!). You can see it from kilometers away! It was neat to see, but a little strange too. I don't know how to describe it, but it just had an eery feeling to it...



Today, Patricia, the directora of our program, had us all over to her house for a Spanish cooking class! And boy did we cook! For 2 hours! Tortilla española (omelet with potato--very popular here!), a spinich dish, Arroz con leche (translation: rice with milk, a dessert), and of course, sangria. It was so delicious, but so filling! I can't wait to make some of these Spanish foods when I go home!

--Christy

(SNOW) Me gusta Segovia!

Today I went on an excursion for my Environment and Society class to Segovia, a small town in the mountains northwest of Madrid. It was absolutely beautiful, but I think we had the worst weather possible! The pass that we would normally use to get to the mountains was closed because of the snow that had fallen this week. So there was snow on the ground AND it was raining. The first "parada" (stop) that we made was at the Presa de Navacerrada, near the large reservoir, which if needed could supply Madrid with water for a year and a half if there were to be a drought. Navacerrada is also known for supplying Madrid with firewood and cattle, things that cannot be grown or raised in Madrid. It was very cold here, the wind was whipping off the water and the rain was falling...The next stop was a small cafeteria to drink a cup of coffee, then to the Bosque, a forest of Scotch Pines. Here, we ate lunch and then attempted to do a 5K hike, but with the snow on the ground and the rain, it was slippery and incredibly cold! I was wearing boots, but my feet were still cold and soaking wet by the end. It was such a shame because the bosque was absolutely gorgeous! I really want to go back when it gets warmer and go hiking! Here, in this region, the altitude is greater, so the type of rock is only granite. That's why the stream was so shallow; because the water is not able to erode the granite as easily as limestone. We got back on the bus and headed to La Granja de San Ildefonso, a community created just for the royal family and their servants. The city was carefully planned and is set-up like a grid (much easier than the medieval cities, such as Toledo and Segovia to navigate!). Here we walked (in the rain) through beautiful gardens, covered in snow. Again, I would love to return during the summer when the fountains are actually on so I can see the true splendor of the gardens! The last stop was Segovia. Finally. By this time we were all exhausted, wet, cold, and ready to go home. But we found some energy! We went first to see the Roman Aqueduct--simply incredible. It was huge! And until 20 years ago, cars would drive under it, through the arches because it was a major road! But now, it's closed off to cars and only open to foot traffic. It's hard to believe they ever let cars that close to this ancient aqueduct! The aqueduct was constructed by the Romans, out of granite, which they brought down from the mountains. You can see little dimples in the stones where they used the cranes to haul the pieces into place--all without concrete. The granite stones are simply stacked one upon the other. Incredible. In Segovia, we also saw the Alcazar Castle, which started off as an Arab fort, but at the end of the 11th century it was conquered by King Alfonso VI. During the Middle Ages, the Alcazar of Segovia was the favorite residence of Kings of Castile. It was beautiful, but closed, so we could not go inside...another reason to return!

It was a long day, and I'm cold and tired...but now I can say I've been to Segovia! :)

Carnaval in Alicante

This past weekend was Carnaval in every city across Spain. Carnaval is basically a mix of Mardi Gras and Halloween. It is the weekend before Lent begins, but everyone dresses up in costumes for the entire weekend. Halloween is my favorite holiday so I was excited to have another chance to wear a costume! There was Carnaval in Madrid too, but Hannah, Sondee, and I decided to visit Lindsey and Theresa, two other girls from Ripon, who are studying in Alicante. Alicante is on the eastern coast of Spain, along the Mediterranean, so it was beautiful!

We flew Ryan Air, so we got pretty reasonably-priced tickets, we got in around 11 pm Friday night. Theresa met us at our Hostal (Hostal Milagraso) and gave us a brief tour of the barrio and the main sights of Alicante. It was an early night though, because we were all tired and wanted to rest up before all of the festivities on Saturday. Saturday we met Theresa again and did some more sightseeing. The first thing on the list: find a supermarket! Theresa took us to El Mercado, the HUGE market full of everything from fresh fish to fresh fruit! The floor with the fish and the meats smelled so bad, but once we found the fruit we were in heaven! So many fresh fruits and vegetables! We bought a kilo of strawberries (fresas) and I got three apples (manzanas). Then we continued on our way to a real supermarket to buy bread, cereal, jam, and of course sangria! After our grocery shopping we took our things back to the hostal and then went out for lunch. In Spain, they have what's called a "Menu del Dia", which is a really good deal. You get a two-course meal plus bread, dessert, and a drink all for anywhere from 7-10 euros. I love it! But you definitely cannot do the menu del dia if you are in a hurry. There is so such thing as a fast lunch here. Everything is prepared just for you, when you order it, and eating out is not about the food, but rather about spending time with friends and socializing--which I love. After lunch (which is eaten in the middle of the afternoon, around 3 pm), we went to the Castle of Santa Barbara, which looks out over the entire city. It used to be a fortress for various kings...It was gorgeous, but so windy! After the castle, it was time to head back to the hostal and get ready for Carnaval! We all had elaborate feathered masks that we wore with dresses and Theresa was an Indian. It was so much fun! Live music in the streets, dancing, street vendors, and tons of costumes! I loved it! We stayed out until almost 4 am, but the party was still going strong! The nights don't end until 6, 7, or 8 am here! Sunday morning we checked out of our hostal at noon, then headed out to see a few more of the sights of Alicante. We found Plaza del Toros, the bullfighting ring. Everything was decorated for Carnaval, even the iron bulls and bullfighter sculptures outside, so I had to take a picture with them! The bulls had fake eyelashes, scarves, and there was a thought bubble that said, "Obama, save us!" I thought that was so funny! After that, we met up with Lindsey on the beach and went for lunch, where we met Theresa. After lunch, we still had a lot of time because our flight didn't leave until 11 pm, so she showed us a few more plazas, went to an exposition on Biodiversity (Sondee's a bio major...), and roamed around. A lot of places close on Sundays, so it was pretty quiet. We caught a bus to the airport and were back in Madrid a little after midnight. It was a long weekend, but a lot of fun! I can't wait until Lindsey and Theresa visit Madrid!!

Weekend in Granada!

This past weekend I went to Granada, a city in Southern Spain, surrounded by mountains. It was beautiful! Last year, the Spanish department had a T.A. from Granada, Elena, so I told her I was in her city, but we weren't able to meet up.

We arrived Friday night and took a walking tour through the city, then later that night we went to a Flamenco Show. The Flamenco was incredible! We were in a room that was shaped like a tunnel and the dancers were less than three feet away, sometimes I had to lean back because I thought I was going to get hit with their skirts! But it was a great experience! We also got to see the Alhambra at night--beautiful. Saturday, we actually went to the Alhambra, once the residence of the Muslim rulers in Granada. The muslim architecture and designs were incredibly beautiful and intricate. It was definitely the highlight of the trip! Then Saturday night, we went to Mae West, a huge discotecta in a mall! It was fun, but very crowded! Then Sunday we had the day free to do some shopping in many of the Gypsy markets and to go for a stroll through the city.