I´ve had an nice break from traveling the past two weekends, which has given me the chance to get into Madrid a lot and explore. Last weekend, I went to see Volver (the new Almodovar movie), which was amazing. I loved the movie and it was so cool to be in an actual movie theater in Spain seeing a movie by Spain´s most famous director and actually understanding it. I even laughed at some of the jokes when the Spanish people did, which was exciting. After the movie, my friends and I went and had tapas on the Plaza Mayor, which is all lit-up and filled with people at night. Sunday I went to El Rastro, which is a huge open-air market in Madrid that happens every Sunday. It was really hot out and super-crowded, but still really cool to walk around and take it all in. After the Rastro, we went to the Retiro park (basically the Central Park of Madrid) and walked around and relaxed for a while. This past week was Halloween, which is sort of catching on in Spain. Everyone goes out on Halloween because the next day is All Saint´s Day and no one has to go to work or school. It was fun to dress up (we went as pirates), but Spaniards aren´t very creative with their costumes. They mostly go as witches, vampires, zombies and things along that vein. On Friday of this week, we went to Toledo (a medieval city outside of Madrid) for a day trip. It was POURING out the entire day and walking around the city for 6 hours wasn´t exactly fun in the rain. I think I would have been able to appreciate it more if it hadn´t been so miserable out. Last night I went to my first flamenco show. A bunch of us went into Madrid to Casa Patas, a restaurant/tavern that has flamenco every night. The show was awesome -the dancers were incredible (the dancing involves a lot of intricate hand motions and foot stomping/tapping) and the music was beautiful - lots of drumming, Spanish guitar, and clapping.
Overall, things are still going really well, although I can´t believe it´s half-way over! Three of my best friends from Tufts are coming this weekend from France and Germany to stay in Madrid and visit, so I´m really excited to see them and to show them around the city. I will try to update again next week!
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
Barcelona y Andalucía
The past two weekends I’ve spent traveling to two completely different regions of Spain. Two weekends ago I went with three other girls from my program to Barcelona, the biggest city in Cataluña, a region located right next to France on the Mediterranean Sea. This past weekend I went with all of the Tufts in Madrid/Alcalá program to Baeza, Úbeda and Córdoba, three cities in Andalucía, the southern-most region of Spain. Here’s a recap of my two trips:
Barcelona
Barcelona is an absolutely beautiful city, and it was a lot of fun to have the freedom to explore it for ourselves and choose what we wanted to see. We took an overnight bus from Madrid, arriving in Barcelona early in the morning on Thursday. We left on Sunday morning, so we had three days in the city. After a little mix-up with our hostel, we ended up renting our own little apartment for the three nights. It worked out perfectly because we had our own kitchen and bathroom and could leave our stuff there without having to worry about it getting stolen. Since it was pouring the day we got there, we decided to hit up the Picasso Museum. Picasso lived in Barcelona when he was younger, so the museum has a lot of his early works. It also had a bunch of paintings from his Blue Period and Cubist period. My favorite part of the museum was a room dedicated to a technical study Picasso had done of Valazquez’s Las Meninas. There were about 40 paintings in the room, most of which were interpretations Picasso had done of the individual characters in Las Meninas. At the end, there were 4 or 5 interpretations he had done of the complete work, of course in his own abstract/cubist style. Since I had just seen the real Las Meninas in the Prado a few weeks ago, it was amazing to see it interpreted in such a different way. Needless to say, I love Picasso even more after going to that museum. Friday was dedicated completely to Gaudi, the Catalan architect who led the modernist architectural movement in Cataluña during the late 1800s/early 1900s. His style is completely different from anything I’ve seen anywhere (not just in Spain). I think the word “wacky” would best describe it. He used a lot of different materials (glass, tiles, mosaics, metal, etc.) and lots of curvy lines and shapes. Instead of using straight lines, Gaudi liked to imitate the lines that exist in nature: the curves of waves, the slant of tree trunks, etc. to create a more organic art. My favorite building we saw was the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral that Gaudi designed and was working on building when he died. It’s still being worked on to this day (a lot of people call it “the world’s most visited construction site”) and it probably won’t be finished until the middle of the century. I think the Sagrada Familia is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen…it’s absolutely HUGE and the outside is so incredibly detailed and covered with wacky touches that you could look at it for hours. The inside was not as memorable because it was covered in construction equipment, but I was in love with the outside. It was very cool to see a Catholic church built in such a crazy, progressive style – not something you see every day. The other Gaudi buildings we went to that day were La Pedrera (a former apartment building that looks like a huge rock on the outside) and La Casa Battló, which were as equally wacky and modern as La Sagrada Familia. That night we explored La Rambla, a street in the middle of the city that leads down to the ocean and has a huge pedestrian walkway in the middle and tons of markets and shops, and went down to the Port Vell to get our first glimpse of the Mediterranean. On Saturday, we went to the Parc Guell, a Gaudi-designed park with amazing views of the city. The front entrance is filled with Gaudi creations: a huge winding park bench covered in mosaics (the longest park bench in the world!), little houses that looked like sand castles, mosaic-covered lizards that served as fountains, and wave-like walkways made out of leaning columns. After exploring the park for a while, we headed to the beach (yes, the beach in the middle of October). Since Barcelona is right on the water, there are a bunch of gorgeous beaches at the bottom of the city. It was a hot day so we got to lay out on the sand in our bathing suits and wade into the gorgeous blue Mediterranean Sea (my first time!). It was a perfect ending to our weekend. Even though I LOVED Barcelona and would go back there in a heartbeat, I'm glad that I'm not studying abroad there. Not only do many people speak Catalán there instead of Castellano Spanish, but it seemed like everywhere we went there were Americans or British people speaking English. I heard way more English there than I've ever heard in Madrid.
Andalucía
Even though it was pouring when we were driving to Andalucia, it was still gorgeous. Andalucia is where Spanish olives are grown, so we were driving through these fields with miles and miles of olive trees and little towns filled with whitewashed houses with red clay roofs. The first day of the trip we went to Baeza, a small town in Andalucía and looked at some churches and the old university building there. Frankly, it was a little too gross out to appreciate Baeza, but I’m sure it's beautiful during nice days. The next day we headed to Úbeda, another small town, and visited a few old churches, walked around the palm-tree lined plazas, and had a long lunch. That afternoon, we headed to Córdoba, which is one of the big three cities in Andalucía (along with Granada and Sevilla). Our first stop in Córdoba was Medina Azahar, the ruins of an old Arab city used back in the day of the 10th century when the Arabs ruled Spain from Andalucía. We got to see a lot of examples of Muslim architecture there, especially their trademark arches and incredibly ornate wall decorations. The next day, we went to the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, a castle built after the Christians had re-conquered Córdoba and driven the Arabs out. The best part of the castle was the gardens in the back, which were actually built in a very Islamic style (lots of paths, trees, fountains, etc.). An interesting fact about the Alcázar was that it was one of the big headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition. After touring the Alcázar, we headed to La Mezquita, the most famous building in Córdoba. The Mezquita was built in the 10th century by the Arabs as an Islamic house of prayer. At one point the Mezquita was the second largest mosque in the world (after the mosque at Mecca). During the 13th century, a Catholic cathedral was built right in the middle of the Mezquita after the Christians had re-conquered Córdoba. So what you have now is a functioning cathedral in the middle of an ancient mosque. The Mezquita was my favorite part of Córdoba…the mosque part is filled with rows and rows of columns supporting yellow and red striped arches that seem to go on forever and the Muslim art is so incredibly detailed and ornate. It was gorgeous.
Even though traveling these past two weekends was a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to having this weekend to explore Madrid some more and get a lot of work done (I know, sadly there is schoolwork in Spain).
Barcelona
Barcelona is an absolutely beautiful city, and it was a lot of fun to have the freedom to explore it for ourselves and choose what we wanted to see. We took an overnight bus from Madrid, arriving in Barcelona early in the morning on Thursday. We left on Sunday morning, so we had three days in the city. After a little mix-up with our hostel, we ended up renting our own little apartment for the three nights. It worked out perfectly because we had our own kitchen and bathroom and could leave our stuff there without having to worry about it getting stolen. Since it was pouring the day we got there, we decided to hit up the Picasso Museum. Picasso lived in Barcelona when he was younger, so the museum has a lot of his early works. It also had a bunch of paintings from his Blue Period and Cubist period. My favorite part of the museum was a room dedicated to a technical study Picasso had done of Valazquez’s Las Meninas. There were about 40 paintings in the room, most of which were interpretations Picasso had done of the individual characters in Las Meninas. At the end, there were 4 or 5 interpretations he had done of the complete work, of course in his own abstract/cubist style. Since I had just seen the real Las Meninas in the Prado a few weeks ago, it was amazing to see it interpreted in such a different way. Needless to say, I love Picasso even more after going to that museum. Friday was dedicated completely to Gaudi, the Catalan architect who led the modernist architectural movement in Cataluña during the late 1800s/early 1900s. His style is completely different from anything I’ve seen anywhere (not just in Spain). I think the word “wacky” would best describe it. He used a lot of different materials (glass, tiles, mosaics, metal, etc.) and lots of curvy lines and shapes. Instead of using straight lines, Gaudi liked to imitate the lines that exist in nature: the curves of waves, the slant of tree trunks, etc. to create a more organic art. My favorite building we saw was the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral that Gaudi designed and was working on building when he died. It’s still being worked on to this day (a lot of people call it “the world’s most visited construction site”) and it probably won’t be finished until the middle of the century. I think the Sagrada Familia is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen…it’s absolutely HUGE and the outside is so incredibly detailed and covered with wacky touches that you could look at it for hours. The inside was not as memorable because it was covered in construction equipment, but I was in love with the outside. It was very cool to see a Catholic church built in such a crazy, progressive style – not something you see every day. The other Gaudi buildings we went to that day were La Pedrera (a former apartment building that looks like a huge rock on the outside) and La Casa Battló, which were as equally wacky and modern as La Sagrada Familia. That night we explored La Rambla, a street in the middle of the city that leads down to the ocean and has a huge pedestrian walkway in the middle and tons of markets and shops, and went down to the Port Vell to get our first glimpse of the Mediterranean. On Saturday, we went to the Parc Guell, a Gaudi-designed park with amazing views of the city. The front entrance is filled with Gaudi creations: a huge winding park bench covered in mosaics (the longest park bench in the world!), little houses that looked like sand castles, mosaic-covered lizards that served as fountains, and wave-like walkways made out of leaning columns. After exploring the park for a while, we headed to the beach (yes, the beach in the middle of October). Since Barcelona is right on the water, there are a bunch of gorgeous beaches at the bottom of the city. It was a hot day so we got to lay out on the sand in our bathing suits and wade into the gorgeous blue Mediterranean Sea (my first time!). It was a perfect ending to our weekend. Even though I LOVED Barcelona and would go back there in a heartbeat, I'm glad that I'm not studying abroad there. Not only do many people speak Catalán there instead of Castellano Spanish, but it seemed like everywhere we went there were Americans or British people speaking English. I heard way more English there than I've ever heard in Madrid.
Andalucía
Even though it was pouring when we were driving to Andalucia, it was still gorgeous. Andalucia is where Spanish olives are grown, so we were driving through these fields with miles and miles of olive trees and little towns filled with whitewashed houses with red clay roofs. The first day of the trip we went to Baeza, a small town in Andalucía and looked at some churches and the old university building there. Frankly, it was a little too gross out to appreciate Baeza, but I’m sure it's beautiful during nice days. The next day we headed to Úbeda, another small town, and visited a few old churches, walked around the palm-tree lined plazas, and had a long lunch. That afternoon, we headed to Córdoba, which is one of the big three cities in Andalucía (along with Granada and Sevilla). Our first stop in Córdoba was Medina Azahar, the ruins of an old Arab city used back in the day of the 10th century when the Arabs ruled Spain from Andalucía. We got to see a lot of examples of Muslim architecture there, especially their trademark arches and incredibly ornate wall decorations. The next day, we went to the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, a castle built after the Christians had re-conquered Córdoba and driven the Arabs out. The best part of the castle was the gardens in the back, which were actually built in a very Islamic style (lots of paths, trees, fountains, etc.). An interesting fact about the Alcázar was that it was one of the big headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition. After touring the Alcázar, we headed to La Mezquita, the most famous building in Córdoba. The Mezquita was built in the 10th century by the Arabs as an Islamic house of prayer. At one point the Mezquita was the second largest mosque in the world (after the mosque at Mecca). During the 13th century, a Catholic cathedral was built right in the middle of the Mezquita after the Christians had re-conquered Córdoba. So what you have now is a functioning cathedral in the middle of an ancient mosque. The Mezquita was my favorite part of Córdoba…the mosque part is filled with rows and rows of columns supporting yellow and red striped arches that seem to go on forever and the Muslim art is so incredibly detailed and ornate. It was gorgeous.
Even though traveling these past two weekends was a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to having this weekend to explore Madrid some more and get a lot of work done (I know, sadly there is schoolwork in Spain).
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
El Escorial, Semana Cervantina, Etc.
First of all thank you to everyone who is reading my blog and to those of you who are leaving me comments! It's nice to know that people like reading about my little adventure over here. Now on to the good stuff...This past weekend was incredibly busy, but also incredibly fun. On Saturday, everyone in the Tufts in Madrid/Alcalá program went to El Escorial, a small town in the mountains outside of Madrid where Felipe II built the massive Monastery/Palace/Mausoleum of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in order to commemorate a Spanish victory over the French in 1557. Felipe II's idea was to create a sanctuary where monks could live like kings and kings would live like monks (the world in reverse!). Because of this, Felipe's "palace" portion of the monastery at El Escorial was actually very simple in comparison with the church and monks' quarters. El Escorial also has a huge library which was one of the only places in Spain that could house the books banned by the Catholic Church during the Inquistion. The building is HUGE, and surrounded by plazas, gorgeous gardens and hedge mazes. We only toured a small section of the building and the tour took four hours. The best part was going down to the crypt where the majority of the Spanish kings from the past 5 centuries have been buried. Standing in a room next to the tombs of 500 years of Spanish monarchs was pretty surreal.
Another highlight of this past weekend was the Medieval Fair that was happening all weekend in Alcalá in honor of Semana Cervantina (Cervantes week) and Cervantes' birthday. Cervantes was born in Alcalá, so the city is in love with him. Because of his birthday, we had yesterday (Monday) off! I spent most of my weekend at the fair, walking around, shopping, and eating amazing food. All of the vendors were dressed in medieval garb and the entire historical center of Alcalá was decked out in Medieval decorations. The festival was packed all weekend and it was a lot of fun to see Alcalá so full of life and people.
A few random things to share about Spain:
1. Spaniards are obssessed with eating pig. The amount of ham and pork they eat is insane. In my kitchen at home, we have an entire cured pig's leg sitting next to the refridgerator (yes, the hoof is still on there, it's the first thing I see when I walk into the kitchen). Several times a week we take out the leg and my señora or her boyfriend Alfonso will get the knife out and start slicing the ham off for us to eat. The ham is amazing, but it's kind of a strange experience to be eating the meat right off of the leg.
2. They LOVE American television and movies here. Every time I turn on the TV there's some American TV show or movie playing. However, they are always dubbed over in Spanish. They love Friends here (pronounced Free-ends), Anatomía de Grey, all the CSI's, Embrujada (Charmed) y Perdidos (Lost). I've also watched Titanic, Hotel Rwanda, and Mona Lisa Smile on TV in Spanish (needless to say, it's a little strange when you're expecting Julia Robert's voice and you get some strange Spanish woman's voice instead). There are also a bunch of Spanish-produced versions of American shows which I've watched a bunch of. ¿Quién quiere ser un millonare? (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) and ¡Mirá, Quién Baile! (basically Dancing with the Stars) are very popular and HILARIOUS to watch. I've found that Spanish TV is really exaggerated, so these shows are even more ridiculous over here than they are in the US.
3. I'm finding that I'm slowly getting to know Madrid more and more. This weekend I went to the Thyssen (one of the three big art museums in Madrid), Gran Vía (which is basically the Times Square of Madrid), and the Parque del Buen Retiro, a gorgeous, huge park located close to the city center. I'm continually impressed by the city...I think my friend Laura said it best when she called it "regal". There's just nothing like that in the U.S.
Tomorrow night I'm taking an overnight bus to Barcelona for the weekend! I'm getting there on Thursday morning (there are no classes on Thursday because of a national holiday for la Día de la Hispanidad and la Día de Pilar) and I'm spending all of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday there before heading back on Sunday morning. I'm very excited to see the ocean, all of the Gaudi architecture (especially the Sagrada Familia), and the Picasso and Miró museums. Cataluña (the region where Barcelona is located) is very different from the center of Spain where I am, so it will be interesting to see the differences.
Another highlight of this past weekend was the Medieval Fair that was happening all weekend in Alcalá in honor of Semana Cervantina (Cervantes week) and Cervantes' birthday. Cervantes was born in Alcalá, so the city is in love with him. Because of his birthday, we had yesterday (Monday) off! I spent most of my weekend at the fair, walking around, shopping, and eating amazing food. All of the vendors were dressed in medieval garb and the entire historical center of Alcalá was decked out in Medieval decorations. The festival was packed all weekend and it was a lot of fun to see Alcalá so full of life and people.
A few random things to share about Spain:
1. Spaniards are obssessed with eating pig. The amount of ham and pork they eat is insane. In my kitchen at home, we have an entire cured pig's leg sitting next to the refridgerator (yes, the hoof is still on there, it's the first thing I see when I walk into the kitchen). Several times a week we take out the leg and my señora or her boyfriend Alfonso will get the knife out and start slicing the ham off for us to eat. The ham is amazing, but it's kind of a strange experience to be eating the meat right off of the leg.
2. They LOVE American television and movies here. Every time I turn on the TV there's some American TV show or movie playing. However, they are always dubbed over in Spanish. They love Friends here (pronounced Free-ends), Anatomía de Grey, all the CSI's, Embrujada (Charmed) y Perdidos (Lost). I've also watched Titanic, Hotel Rwanda, and Mona Lisa Smile on TV in Spanish (needless to say, it's a little strange when you're expecting Julia Robert's voice and you get some strange Spanish woman's voice instead). There are also a bunch of Spanish-produced versions of American shows which I've watched a bunch of. ¿Quién quiere ser un millonare? (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) and ¡Mirá, Quién Baile! (basically Dancing with the Stars) are very popular and HILARIOUS to watch. I've found that Spanish TV is really exaggerated, so these shows are even more ridiculous over here than they are in the US.
3. I'm finding that I'm slowly getting to know Madrid more and more. This weekend I went to the Thyssen (one of the three big art museums in Madrid), Gran Vía (which is basically the Times Square of Madrid), and the Parque del Buen Retiro, a gorgeous, huge park located close to the city center. I'm continually impressed by the city...I think my friend Laura said it best when she called it "regal". There's just nothing like that in the U.S.
Tomorrow night I'm taking an overnight bus to Barcelona for the weekend! I'm getting there on Thursday morning (there are no classes on Thursday because of a national holiday for la Día de la Hispanidad and la Día de Pilar) and I'm spending all of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday there before heading back on Sunday morning. I'm very excited to see the ocean, all of the Gaudi architecture (especially the Sagrada Familia), and the Picasso and Miró museums. Cataluña (the region where Barcelona is located) is very different from the center of Spain where I am, so it will be interesting to see the differences.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Asignaturas, El Prado, Toreros y Más
It's hard to believe that September is already over! Three weeks in Spain, twelve more to go. It's going by very quickly. Classes are now finally starting. I'm taking two classes through my program. One is Advanced Spanish Language, which is basically an intense Spanish grammar class that I take here in Alcalá. The other class I take in Madrid with all of the Alcalá students and the Tufts students who are living in Madrid. That class is called Spanish Theater and Civilization and is essentially a study of Spanish history, culture, and theater from the late 1800s up until the Spanish Civil War, which started in 1936. The classes I'm going to be taking at the University of Alcalá are Spanish Literature II, which studies Spanish literature from the 16th and 17th centuries, and a philosophy/law class called Conscientious Objection and Religious Beliefs. All my classes look like they'll be pretty interesting but it seems like the university classes are going to require a lot of work to keep up with the Spanish students.
This past weekend was super busy. Friday we went on a guided tour of the Prado with everyone from the program. The Prado is the most famous art museum in Spain and it's most famous for it's collection of Valezquez, Goya and El Greco paintings. It's a HUGE museum, so we only looked at the major paintings by Valezquez and Goya, but I'm planning on going back a few times so that I can see everything. Some of the best (and most famous) paintings we saw were Las Meninas by Valezquez (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas) and El Tres de Mayo by Goya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tres_de_mayo). It's pretty incredible to be standing 2 feet in front of paintings that you've seen a million times in books and on posters. After the museum we wandered around the Paseo del Prado for a bit and then headed back to Alcalá.
Friday night, we decided that we were going to get our first true taste of Madrid nightlife. Pretty much all of us in the Alcalá program took the train into the city and went to Kapital, one of the biggest discotecas in Madrid. First of all, we didn't even go to Kapital until 1 a.m., which is early by Madrid standards. Second of all, this was one of the craziest places I've ever been to. There were seven huge floors in the discoteca, each playing a different kind of music. It was so much fun and well worth the 15 euro to get in. When we finally left at 4:30 a.m. (again, early for madrileños), it was as crowded as it had been all night. Discotecas in Madrid usually stay open until 8 a.m. and tons of people definitely stay there until then. When we went walking to look for the bus back to Alcalá, the city was so alive. There was so much traffic and so many people out walking around. Looking at the streets, you would have thought it was 8 at night, not 5 in the morning. Needless to say I was a little tired after finally getting to my bed at 6 a.m., but it was a great introduction to the crazy nightlife Madrid is so famous for.
Sunday I went on a historic/architectural walking tour of Madrid with the program. I had already seen a lot of the places we went to, but we went to a bunch of new places that I was glad to see. We went to the Plaza Mayor, the Plaza de Cibeles, the Plaza de Colón, the Spanish stock exchange, the Madrid Ritz, and a bunch of Madrid/Spanish government buildings. The best part was the end of the tour, when we went to the Palacio Real (royal palace). We didn't go inside (although I'm planning on going on a tour of the inside later on), but it was still amazing wandreing around the outside. The palace is HUGE and outside is a gorgeous garden/courtyard with statues, fountains, and paths. After the tour we all sat and drank cafe con leches outside on a terazza overlooking the palace.
I stayed in Madrid after the tour was over and wandered around the city for a bit before meeting up with most of the people from my program to go to a Corrida (a bullfight) at the Plaza de las Ventas, one of the most famous bullfighting stadiums in Spain. The stadium is shaping like a giant ring, and even though we sat up high in the 7 euro seats, we had an amazing view. In a corrida, 3 toreros (bullfighters) take on 6 toros (bulls). First, the bull is let out into the ring and the toreros run it around to tire it out. Then, they stick 8 spears into the bull's back to weaken it (this is when the blood starts coming out). Finally, they go in for the kill and stab a huge sword into the bull's back. After it falls over dead, horses are strapped to it to drag the bull out of the stadium. It was pretty violent to watch (lots of blood), but it was amazing. The toreros wear gorgeous suits (called trajes de luces, suits of light) and the whole act of killing the bull is almost dance-like. It was such a cool experience. The crowd gets really into it too. There were all these old Spanish men sitting next to us who kept yelling obscenities at the toreros, which was hysterical and made me nostalgic for Fenway park and American sporting events. They explained to us that the bulls and the bullfighters were awful, but obviously we Americans had no idea and thought they were great. I was glad we got to go to a corrida, because the last ones of the year are in October and don't start again until April and because it's such a historical part of Spanish culture.
I'm continuing to do well and even though I still have those "What am I doing here?" moments, I'm really enjoying Spain. Studying abroad is really fun, but I've definitely come to realize that it's not just a 4 week vacation. There's a lot of work and it can be incredibly exhausting, epecially when you're trying to speak another language. However, it's definitely worth it. For now, I am going to go work on an essay for my grammar class, but I will update again soon. Hasta el prózimo vez.
This past weekend was super busy. Friday we went on a guided tour of the Prado with everyone from the program. The Prado is the most famous art museum in Spain and it's most famous for it's collection of Valezquez, Goya and El Greco paintings. It's a HUGE museum, so we only looked at the major paintings by Valezquez and Goya, but I'm planning on going back a few times so that I can see everything. Some of the best (and most famous) paintings we saw were Las Meninas by Valezquez (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas) and El Tres de Mayo by Goya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tres_de_mayo). It's pretty incredible to be standing 2 feet in front of paintings that you've seen a million times in books and on posters. After the museum we wandered around the Paseo del Prado for a bit and then headed back to Alcalá.
Friday night, we decided that we were going to get our first true taste of Madrid nightlife. Pretty much all of us in the Alcalá program took the train into the city and went to Kapital, one of the biggest discotecas in Madrid. First of all, we didn't even go to Kapital until 1 a.m., which is early by Madrid standards. Second of all, this was one of the craziest places I've ever been to. There were seven huge floors in the discoteca, each playing a different kind of music. It was so much fun and well worth the 15 euro to get in. When we finally left at 4:30 a.m. (again, early for madrileños), it was as crowded as it had been all night. Discotecas in Madrid usually stay open until 8 a.m. and tons of people definitely stay there until then. When we went walking to look for the bus back to Alcalá, the city was so alive. There was so much traffic and so many people out walking around. Looking at the streets, you would have thought it was 8 at night, not 5 in the morning. Needless to say I was a little tired after finally getting to my bed at 6 a.m., but it was a great introduction to the crazy nightlife Madrid is so famous for.
Sunday I went on a historic/architectural walking tour of Madrid with the program. I had already seen a lot of the places we went to, but we went to a bunch of new places that I was glad to see. We went to the Plaza Mayor, the Plaza de Cibeles, the Plaza de Colón, the Spanish stock exchange, the Madrid Ritz, and a bunch of Madrid/Spanish government buildings. The best part was the end of the tour, when we went to the Palacio Real (royal palace). We didn't go inside (although I'm planning on going on a tour of the inside later on), but it was still amazing wandreing around the outside. The palace is HUGE and outside is a gorgeous garden/courtyard with statues, fountains, and paths. After the tour we all sat and drank cafe con leches outside on a terazza overlooking the palace.
I stayed in Madrid after the tour was over and wandered around the city for a bit before meeting up with most of the people from my program to go to a Corrida (a bullfight) at the Plaza de las Ventas, one of the most famous bullfighting stadiums in Spain. The stadium is shaping like a giant ring, and even though we sat up high in the 7 euro seats, we had an amazing view. In a corrida, 3 toreros (bullfighters) take on 6 toros (bulls). First, the bull is let out into the ring and the toreros run it around to tire it out. Then, they stick 8 spears into the bull's back to weaken it (this is when the blood starts coming out). Finally, they go in for the kill and stab a huge sword into the bull's back. After it falls over dead, horses are strapped to it to drag the bull out of the stadium. It was pretty violent to watch (lots of blood), but it was amazing. The toreros wear gorgeous suits (called trajes de luces, suits of light) and the whole act of killing the bull is almost dance-like. It was such a cool experience. The crowd gets really into it too. There were all these old Spanish men sitting next to us who kept yelling obscenities at the toreros, which was hysterical and made me nostalgic for Fenway park and American sporting events. They explained to us that the bulls and the bullfighters were awful, but obviously we Americans had no idea and thought they were great. I was glad we got to go to a corrida, because the last ones of the year are in October and don't start again until April and because it's such a historical part of Spanish culture.
I'm continuing to do well and even though I still have those "What am I doing here?" moments, I'm really enjoying Spain. Studying abroad is really fun, but I've definitely come to realize that it's not just a 4 week vacation. There's a lot of work and it can be incredibly exhausting, epecially when you're trying to speak another language. However, it's definitely worth it. For now, I am going to go work on an essay for my grammar class, but I will update again soon. Hasta el prózimo vez.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Semana número dos
Sorry for the delayed post! I´m hoping to update this at the end of every week. Anyways, Spain is still going well. I got back last night from a weekend excursion to Segovia. Segovia is a medieval town built on a mountain about an hour outside of Madrid. The weekend was really fun. The first day we got there, we basically spent the entire afternoon exploring. We visited the Alcazar, which is Segovia´s castle (Alcazar is an arabic word that means "the castle" - lots of words in Spanish have roots in Arabic). The Alcazar was amazing...it´s built on a cliff, has tons of turrets, balconies, towers, and awesome views of the Spanish countryside that surrounds Segovia. After the Alcazar we went to a witchcraft museum and then wandered around the Plaza Mayor, where the gorgeous gothic Catedral in Segovia is located. The second day we went on a guided tour of churches and monastaries on the periphery of Segovia. At the end of the day, we went to see Segovia´s aqueduct. It was built in the 1st century by the Romans entirely out of stone (no mortar was used at all) and it is one of the most amazing things I´ve ever seen. It´s this huge stone structure that seems to go on forever, located right in the middle of this old city. I don´t think I´ve ever seen anything that old in real life.
This past week involved lots more orientation activities. We went on a few tours of the historical/architectural sights of Alcala. We visited the huge Catedral in the Plaza de los Santos Niños, saw the building where Ferdinand and Isabel gave Columbus permission to sail to America with their money, went to the Casa-Museo de Cervantes (the house where he was born and grew up as a child) and saw the gorgeous main building of the University of Alcala, which was built in the 1500s. We also got to go into Madrid to see our program center (where I´ll be having class once a week) and some of the sights around the area of the center. I also went into Madrid on Friday afternoon with a few people to go shopping on the Calle de Preciados, one of the main shopping streets around the Puerta del Sol (basically the center of Madrid). Another highlight of this past week was going to the theater in Alcala. Last Sunday I went with Laura and her host mom to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba, a Lorca play that I had actually read in high school. Spanish people love going to the theater, so the place was packed. The performance was awesome, and it was great to see it performed in Spanish in an actual Spanish theater with actual Spanish actors. After the play the three of us walked around the Calle Mayor de Alcala. It seemed like everyone in the city of Alcala was out walking around with their families, sitting in outdoor cafes, or chatting in the plazas. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy the beautiful night. I could really notice how affectionate and social Spanish people are with each other. Everyone seemed to be walking arm and arm with one another - couples, friends, families. People seem to really value their relationships here.
Speaking Spanish is still going pretty well. I stumble a lot and still make a lot of mistakes, but it seems like it´s getting a little easier. I was sick for all of last week (along with half of the people on my program), so I´m hoping to have a lot more energy now to really work on my speaking. I have a bunch of pictures and I will hopefully be putting them up this week. I´ll post here when I do so. For now, I´m going to go to a pasteleria to buy a pastry and and wander around Alcala for a bit. Hasta luego.
This past week involved lots more orientation activities. We went on a few tours of the historical/architectural sights of Alcala. We visited the huge Catedral in the Plaza de los Santos Niños, saw the building where Ferdinand and Isabel gave Columbus permission to sail to America with their money, went to the Casa-Museo de Cervantes (the house where he was born and grew up as a child) and saw the gorgeous main building of the University of Alcala, which was built in the 1500s. We also got to go into Madrid to see our program center (where I´ll be having class once a week) and some of the sights around the area of the center. I also went into Madrid on Friday afternoon with a few people to go shopping on the Calle de Preciados, one of the main shopping streets around the Puerta del Sol (basically the center of Madrid). Another highlight of this past week was going to the theater in Alcala. Last Sunday I went with Laura and her host mom to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba, a Lorca play that I had actually read in high school. Spanish people love going to the theater, so the place was packed. The performance was awesome, and it was great to see it performed in Spanish in an actual Spanish theater with actual Spanish actors. After the play the three of us walked around the Calle Mayor de Alcala. It seemed like everyone in the city of Alcala was out walking around with their families, sitting in outdoor cafes, or chatting in the plazas. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy the beautiful night. I could really notice how affectionate and social Spanish people are with each other. Everyone seemed to be walking arm and arm with one another - couples, friends, families. People seem to really value their relationships here.
Speaking Spanish is still going pretty well. I stumble a lot and still make a lot of mistakes, but it seems like it´s getting a little easier. I was sick for all of last week (along with half of the people on my program), so I´m hoping to have a lot more energy now to really work on my speaking. I have a bunch of pictures and I will hopefully be putting them up this week. I´ll post here when I do so. For now, I´m going to go to a pasteleria to buy a pastry and and wander around Alcala for a bit. Hasta luego.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Mi semana primera en España
Sorry for the delayed post, it has been a little tricky getting internet access here! But I am here in Spain and doing very well. I´ve been here for about a week and so far it has been wonderful, exciting, stressful, fun, and exhausting. Instead of doing a play-by-play of this past week, I´m going to just write my thoughts and observations so far.
My host family:
I love my Spanish family. I am living in an apartment close to the train station in Alcala with Reyes, who is in her fifties, and her daughter Izana, who is 22 and a violin student at the Madrid Conservatory of music. Reyes is a teacher and she works at a primary school teaching Spanish to immigrant students. Reyes also has a boyfriend, Alfonso, who is in his early sixties and is often at the apartment. I have my own room and total freedom to come and go as I please. They are all very patient with my Spanish and help me if I´m struggling to say something. However, they also get a kick out of it when I say something completely stupid, which is always funny.
Food:
So far I really like Spanish food...there´s a lot of eggs, cheese, sausage, ham, and pretty much everything is fried in olive oil. I eat breakfast at the house every day, and then one other meal, which for me is usually la comida. La comida (lunch) is the biggest meal of the day and is usually eaten at around 3ish and can last until 5. If you walk around Alcala during this time, most of the stores are closed and there is no one in the streets because everyone is at home to eat la comida and take a siesta. Since they eat lunch so late, Spaniards usually eat dinner at around 10 or 11. It´s a tough schedule to get used to, since at home or Tufts I usually am hungry for dinner at 5. The wine here is very very good, and I´ve also been drinking claras. Claras are made with beer and Sprite mixed together and they´re very popular in Spain.
The Program:
This whole week we´ve been doing a ton of orientation activities. We´ve been listening to a lot of lectures by faculty members of the UAH in order to get an idea of classes and departments at the univeristy. We´ve also been touring the different buildings at the UAH and taking tours of the historical buildings and sights in Alcala. Another highlight has been our conversation classes, which are taught by Jorge Herreros, who is hysterical and looks like a stereotypical Spanish man: macho, mullet, and walks kind of like a toreador. In our conversation classes we basically learn how to be Spanish youth. Jorge has taught us swears, slang words, how to talk on the telephone, and everything you´d need to know about drinking alcohol in Spain and what drinks we should get. Overall, the program is really great. Our coordinators take such good care of us and are there to help us with anything at any hour of the day.
Alcala:
Alcala is a really gorgeous city. There are so many old buildings, tons of cobblestone streets, and huge beautiful plazas. It´s a small city, but it´s nice because it´s not overwhelming and I think it will be easy to really get to know it by the end of my semester here.
Madrid:
A bunch of us went to Madrid yesterday for the first time just to get a taste of the city. First of all, it´s very easy to get into the city...about a half hour on the train from Alcala to the Atocha station. Plus, our program give us transportation passes so all of our transportation in Alcala and Madrid (trains, busses, subways) is paid for. The city itself is breathtaking. It´s huge and every single building is absolutely gorgeous. We only walked around the center part of the city - La Puerta del Sol and la Plaza Mayor, but that was enough to make me love it. I´m definitely going to be spending a lot of time there because I want to see everything there is to see in Madrid.
Spanish:
I can definitely tell that my comprehension is improving. I can understand people speaking in Spanish a lot better than I could before I got here. I think my speaking is coming along a little more slowly, but I´m hoping it will start improving more quickly as soon as classes start. I´m really liking speaking so much Spanish, but it´s exhausting. Thinking about every word that comes out of your mouth takes a lot out of you.
Hopefully I will be able to update this a lot more as soon as classes start and I have access to the internet at the university. But for now, I am off to eat lunch and then get ready to go the theater in Alcala to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba (which I read in high school with Sr. Gomez) with Laura and her host mom. I´m also hoping to get some pictures up soon, but I haven´t taken a lot yet so it might be a week or so. Hasta luego!
My host family:
I love my Spanish family. I am living in an apartment close to the train station in Alcala with Reyes, who is in her fifties, and her daughter Izana, who is 22 and a violin student at the Madrid Conservatory of music. Reyes is a teacher and she works at a primary school teaching Spanish to immigrant students. Reyes also has a boyfriend, Alfonso, who is in his early sixties and is often at the apartment. I have my own room and total freedom to come and go as I please. They are all very patient with my Spanish and help me if I´m struggling to say something. However, they also get a kick out of it when I say something completely stupid, which is always funny.
Food:
So far I really like Spanish food...there´s a lot of eggs, cheese, sausage, ham, and pretty much everything is fried in olive oil. I eat breakfast at the house every day, and then one other meal, which for me is usually la comida. La comida (lunch) is the biggest meal of the day and is usually eaten at around 3ish and can last until 5. If you walk around Alcala during this time, most of the stores are closed and there is no one in the streets because everyone is at home to eat la comida and take a siesta. Since they eat lunch so late, Spaniards usually eat dinner at around 10 or 11. It´s a tough schedule to get used to, since at home or Tufts I usually am hungry for dinner at 5. The wine here is very very good, and I´ve also been drinking claras. Claras are made with beer and Sprite mixed together and they´re very popular in Spain.
The Program:
This whole week we´ve been doing a ton of orientation activities. We´ve been listening to a lot of lectures by faculty members of the UAH in order to get an idea of classes and departments at the univeristy. We´ve also been touring the different buildings at the UAH and taking tours of the historical buildings and sights in Alcala. Another highlight has been our conversation classes, which are taught by Jorge Herreros, who is hysterical and looks like a stereotypical Spanish man: macho, mullet, and walks kind of like a toreador. In our conversation classes we basically learn how to be Spanish youth. Jorge has taught us swears, slang words, how to talk on the telephone, and everything you´d need to know about drinking alcohol in Spain and what drinks we should get. Overall, the program is really great. Our coordinators take such good care of us and are there to help us with anything at any hour of the day.
Alcala:
Alcala is a really gorgeous city. There are so many old buildings, tons of cobblestone streets, and huge beautiful plazas. It´s a small city, but it´s nice because it´s not overwhelming and I think it will be easy to really get to know it by the end of my semester here.
Madrid:
A bunch of us went to Madrid yesterday for the first time just to get a taste of the city. First of all, it´s very easy to get into the city...about a half hour on the train from Alcala to the Atocha station. Plus, our program give us transportation passes so all of our transportation in Alcala and Madrid (trains, busses, subways) is paid for. The city itself is breathtaking. It´s huge and every single building is absolutely gorgeous. We only walked around the center part of the city - La Puerta del Sol and la Plaza Mayor, but that was enough to make me love it. I´m definitely going to be spending a lot of time there because I want to see everything there is to see in Madrid.
Spanish:
I can definitely tell that my comprehension is improving. I can understand people speaking in Spanish a lot better than I could before I got here. I think my speaking is coming along a little more slowly, but I´m hoping it will start improving more quickly as soon as classes start. I´m really liking speaking so much Spanish, but it´s exhausting. Thinking about every word that comes out of your mouth takes a lot out of you.
Hopefully I will be able to update this a lot more as soon as classes start and I have access to the internet at the university. But for now, I am off to eat lunch and then get ready to go the theater in Alcala to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba (which I read in high school with Sr. Gomez) with Laura and her host mom. I´m also hoping to get some pictures up soon, but I haven´t taken a lot yet so it might be a week or so. Hasta luego!
Friday, September 01, 2006
El comienzo de mi blog
Sooo on September 8th my year abroad will finally begin! First up is fall semester in Spain, studying and living in Madrid and Alcalá de Henares until the end of December. Then it's off to Buenos Aires, Argentina in mid-February to study and live there until mid-July. Wish me luck!
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