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.

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!

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!