Ticket to Madrid

Dirty European Charm

2009-05-07T03:29:00.001-07:00

Upon my arrival in Granada and subsequent discussion with my traveling companion Claire, we came to the conclusion that dirty European charm was exactly what our hostel had to offer. Perhaps it was the stained bathtub which kept up a rythmic dripping or the dirt in the sheets or the vending machine that sold old stale beer. Despite rooming locations being somewhat less than ideal the location proved perfect to make our tour debut at the Alahambra the massive castle city. We wandered the town a bit while waiting for our ticket time, we were amused by a family in a bocadillo shop attempting to order in english after watching them struggle for a minute we were kind and intervened earning a quiet "gracias" from the girl working for translating napkin and knife.
The Alahambra was incredible, the architecture, the layout, the gardens, I did wonder about how they found people within the vastness since I'm fairly certain that they forgot to install the intercom system. After four hours of intense walking amongst the turrets and gardens we looked feebly towards General Life the last stop on our ticket and bid it adieu, choosing instead to make a stop at the gelateria, a place that would become very happy for us over the next three days.
After a month of laying on the beach I found that I had lost the tourist shape that I had aquired in Madrid and our next day we were forced to meander much more slowly enjoying people watching and long European meals. Overall the experience of traveling independently finding our own transportation, housing, food etc. was very rewarding for me and it allowed me to explore yet another location in Spain!!!

Into Africa

2009-04-27T03:59:00.000-07:00

My pictures of camels and deserts were shattered after I landed in Tanger. The hustle of the streets, the even more terrifying driving than in Spain were all an entirely different picture than what I had imagined. As we journeyed in an incredibly packed bus to Chaouen the landscape continued to suprise me, instead of flat sandy terrain it was mountainous, lush, with an abundance of vegetation. I was very excited to see cactus, a novelty that I haven't seen since I moved from Arizona. Chaouen was my favorite city that I got to see, it was set into a mountainside with very narrow winding streets and absolutely no markings or street signs. The walls were white and the doors were blue giving it a very picturesque look. I am glad that I went with a group because the men there were very big fans of the blonde and white look, they would come up to the girls and offer them camels to come out with them. Over the next few days we also visited Fes and Algeciras. Fes was very interesting because we had a guided tour and got to hear a lot about the culture of Islam and the history behind it. My favorite part of the trip was probably the food, couscous, kebabs, and excellent soup, and I the non-eater of vegetables ate vegetables because the seasoning was so delicious.

Semana Santa

2009-04-13T04:18:00.000-07:00

Here Semana Santa, fondly known as Jesus week among the exchange students is a very big deal. The entire week is filled with the Proseciones which are compiled of the marchers, the cross carriers, the candle carriers, the insence carriers, the band, and the Pasos. The Pasos are large wooden structures with life like statues on top usually in three signifying the death and resurrection of Jesus and then one of Mary. The marchers bear an uncanny resemblance to the Ku Klux Klan and the first time that I saw the Proseciones I was a little bit concerned. The marching was most atmospheric at night when the candles were lit although also a bit more solemn. As always holidays have to include traditional food which tends to be my favorite part, here there is a traditional sweet that is a sweet bread with a type of pudding in the middle drizzled with honey, despite an odd appearance they are utterly delicious.
After experiencing the culture and art of Spain for my first two months in Madrid it has come the time to see the other side of Spain which is the nightlife. During Semana Santa it was entirely normal to meet up with friends at eleven and not get home until five or six in the morning. Being the early to bedder that I am the first couple days were very difficult although now my internal clock has been re-set, I combatted my sleep deprivation with copious amounts of Red Bull which my host brother informs me is in fact from Austria. All in all discotecas, dancing, and the beach my holiday week was a successful one!!!

Cambiar de locaciones

2009-03-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

After some troubles with my first host family I have been translated into the sunny south of Spain, Cadiz. I'm not sure if its true for all countries but like the U.S. it appears that here as you move South the people become more relaxed. Cadiz being the oldest city in Europe lies beautifully preserved on the Peninsula giving beautiful ocean views as well as narrow winding cobbled roads, here I feel Europe in it's very essence. My new host mother, Maru (short for Maria) is a grandmotherly type and also an excellent cook, I don't know if I've ever eaten this well this often and this much I am going to have to take advantage of the good weather and sunny beaches to go for ten mile runs every single day. I'm also living with another exchange student Max, from Austria. I haven't started attending school yet but I will probably begin on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to these classes a little more, not only will I be taking history but also art history, music history, art history of andalucia, and history of andalucia. At least that was how I rated them, what I will actually end up with will, most likely be mysterious. For take two I actually had a map of the city after making a mandatory trip to the tourism office but I found that I preferred just walking around a bit and exploring. So far my favorite place is the beach although we also went out dancing for the first time and on Friday this week we are going to a legitimate discotec so I feel like here I am going to expand on my well rounded Spanish experience.

Going Green

2009-03-24T07:42:00.001-07:00

I'm starting to understand how Europe leaves a smaller carbon footprint, everything here is efficient, and space effective. Whilst meandering through IKEA they're version of Home Depot, I was amazed by their replicas of houses, they had them as small as 35 Meters which I'm not sure what translates into as far as U.S. goes but trust me it's really really small but somehow managed to fit everything perfectly in for one maybe two people if you really like eachother. They have double paned glass to rpoperly kep the heat in and the curtains are always put up to let light in efficiently. When it's during daylight hours lights are always turned off. During night if there is no one in a room you can bet that that light is turned off, turn of your light was one of the first commands I learned in Spanish. Some of the rooms that are used with more frequency have double sided lights so you can decide what level of light you require. The toilets are also double flush. Showers are also kept to five minutes top, I to have mastered this talent which I was quite impressed with. While driving to Alicante we passed a large windmill farm which are apparently quite common in Espana. Overall I'm impressed by the the energy efficiency and it definetly makes me want to be more energy efficient in the future!

How to Tell a Tourist

2009-03-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

For my first couple of trips into Madrid I gave off blatant tourist vibes. First of all there was the metro map, the constant checking back and forth to assure that I was in fact still on line A. I also made the mistake of bringing an english book with me, a sure giveaway. In the cafes when I ordered in Spanish they spoke back to me in English, appreciative of my meager attempts but not willing to waste their time repeating themselves. The last couple of excursions that I've gone on have been met with much more success. Although I have still been unable to locate the tourist office, I do now have a map which occasionally helps me find things although I have the tendency, to A) get lost do to my awful sense of direction and B) wander in the opposite direction because I have a short attention span. However, while I might still appear touristy I at least do not appear touristy and American! I have now officially been adressed in German, and asked directions for in Spanish on the subway. Today I even took a guided tour of the Iglesia (Church) de San Nicholas, in Spanish. In addition the people at the cafes now answer back in Spanish and the people on the streets give me coupons. While coupons may not seem like a big deal, the coupon people only give coupons to people who look like they might have a chance of coming back (backpackers are strictly avoided). Also, for those of you wondering what shoes you should wear to blend in; girls, boots, absolutely no Uggs but mid calf to knee length leather boots, any color with a small to medium size heel, or a classy flat in more muted tones. Leave tennis shoes at home especially typically American brands like Nike or New Balance if you must wear tennis shoes they favor brands like Puma or Convers here. As for men, sorry your shoes are not as interesting and I didn't pay attention! A final note, if in Europe dress respectably, just because it is sevety degrees doens't mean you should wear soffee shorts to guided tours.

El Museo del Prado

2009-03-04T06:44:00.000-08:00

I've gotten the hang of the metro so now I don't have to whip out my map and look like a total tourist, also this time I brought a Spanish book with me so I fooled people into thinking I was Spanish, HA!!! Apparently I do look blatantly American though because even when I order or ask for things in Spanish the people respond to me in English. I'm not sure whether its my accent or my shoes, because what I have discovered is that you can always tell Americans by their shoes. Here the museums are extremely reasonably priced, only 3 euros with a student ID! I spent eight hours in the museum and still did not come close to seeing everything, it is absolutely enormous and has a really amazing collection of art. Ever since my trip to Italy I've been partial to Rafael whom they have an entire room for I got to see his painting, "The Cardinal" which while not my personal favorite, it is always fun to see something that was in one of your text books. Goya was also very interesting to see especially since they had two separate rooms for him, one for early works and one of his later works which made comparing and contrasting interesting. At the entrance of the museum they have maps of the museum, I just grabbed one and when I actually looked at it realized it was in French! Although I am taking French currently I still am far from adept. It was interesting though because I could tell where everyone one was from depending on their map. Nearly all of the informational plaques were solely in Spanish, so it's a good thing I waited a while to go, I should have however, brushed up on my biblical vocabularly in Spanish! If anyone has any specific questions please comment or e-mail me I would love to hear from you!

School

2009-02-26T05:51:00.000-08:00

School here appears to be rather optional. On any given day the amount of students can range from four to twenty five depending on the class, the teacher, the day of the week, and any given students mood. I'm fairly certain that I am the only student that has attended every day and for entire weeks students will disappear without the teachers batting an eyelash. Fridays and Mondays tend to be lighter especially during first and last periods. The Spanish literature class alslo tends to be less well attended because the teacher is not one of the favorites. In fact that teacher and I have less than mutual respect for one another since I have already been yelled at by her twice! Once for stretching and once for asking one of my classmates a question.
In general the attitude towards school is rather laid back although if students arrive late they are locked out, interestingly, the locks are on the inside of the doors and they're deadbolts which I found to be rather odd. However, depending on the teacher when the students knock to be let in they either will or will ignore them and let the student remain outside. Despite this glimmer of harshness in general the teachers don't care about attendance or about grades, in addition every day is casual friday and every teacher wears exactly what they want. My geography teacher is partial to sweater vests while my philosophy professor prefers blue jeans and graphic t-shirts. The teaching style here is lecture only, very few teachers ask for any student input, although I did have to give a philosophy presentation today on Kant, incidentally the philosophy makes just about as much sense in Spanish as it does in English!

Into the City

2009-02-15T11:38:00.000-08:00

I have always been a fan of people watching but in Madrid it was fabulous. The city is incredibly diverse, people from all over the world speaking all sorts of different languages. To get into the city I took the metro and had to change trains twice before arriving at my destination. I did it all without getting lost and only pulling out my metro map and giving myself away as a blatant tourist twice! Needless to say I was extremely proud especially given my extraordinarily poor sense of direction. As soon as I stepped onto the city streets I was greeted by these amazing buildings, the architecture here is absolutely stunning. Since I didn't have a map I wandered aimlessly for a while stopping for coffee and a muffin and watching the world go by. Mostly I ambled aimlessly passed several churches the Museo del Prado and into a huge park. In the park people rollerbladed, skateboarded, bicycled, walked, ran, and laid in the sun to read. I partook in a little sun reading while eating a bocadillo (sandwhich), currently I am reading Harry Potter in Spanish and it has been incredibly educational. Madrid is very into fountains and in every rotunda (roundabout) you can be sure that there will be a fountain as well. Also in the middle of the streets there are little mini parks with a path and trees and grass and benches. I also discovered a half mile stretch of open air market which sold nothing but books! I was strongly tempted to buy many but then realized at this point I probably wouldn't understand very well!!!

Transportation

2009-02-08T02:41:00.000-08:00

The driving here is a bit, well, terrifying. Everyone drives teeny tiny stick shifts and when their not looking they nearly rear end whoevers in front of them. There is an abundance of roundabouts and there's no lines so where there should be one car two are smashed in there is a lot of honking, especially when parallel parking. Parallel parking is the only way to go and the cars are parked in spots that are really much too small, in the absence of parking the curb is used, even the corners. Since both sides are full of cars often when driving down the street I get the feeling that we are headed straight into oncoming traffic. When walking the motto here appears to be walk first look later and hope that the car stops. Although there are not traffic lights there are speed bumps where the crosswalks should be, clearly in the hope that the cars will slow down, they don't. The public transportation is excellent, there are buses, trains, and the metro. So far I've only taken the train, the company is called renfe, for short trips it appears more like a subway but for long trips its quite roomy and they show movies. On my trip from Barcelona to Madrid the train ride was excellent and the countryside was really beautiful.

La Vida

2009-02-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

Despite my original glee at no having to take math I was sorely disappointed when in my first class I was greeted by a matrix. Apparently the teachers were not alerted about my imminent arrival so mostly they stared at me blankly and the French teacher asked me why on earth I wanted to take French when I had never taken it before. The class that I understand the best is philosophy, not the concepts, just the language, which is because no one else understandss the concepts either so he repeats himself quite a bit. One of the boys, Alex, speaks english well and humors my very bad Spanish and then explains it to other people. The school here is seven buildings that open to the outside and they are all two stories. Its only seven minutes away so Zoe and I walk to our classes. As much as I enjoy eating it is nothing compared to what they do here. The day consists of five meals, breakfast, lunch, comida (big lunch around 2:00), merienda (snack), and then dinner late. Today we had a field trip to a University in Madrid, we had to take the train and then walk back to the class, one of the girls had to accompany me to the instituto because my sense of direcion is so bad!

2009-02-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

I have no problem with sharing a bathroom, however, when you put eight girls and sixteen suitcases with one bathroom in a teeny tiny hostel, there are bound to be problems. Despite close lodgings Barcelona was beautiful. The architecture was amazing particularly the building designed by Goudi. It was very interesting to see the mix of old and new next to one of Goudi's buildings there was a large poster advertising a couples website. The Sigrada Familia was incredibly impressive and after talking to three different people I received three different answers as to when it would be finished. The scaffolding on the sides of buildings is quite usual, it seems that from one project they go to the next never actually finishing the first. It was raining quite hard when we were supposed to tour so we didn't get to see much but what we did see was incredible, the view from the top of the city looking out was amazing. In the morning I was shoved in the direction of a train by myself and after looking lost and confused for a moment a conductor asked me whether I knew where I was going, fortuanetly he asked in Spanish which made me feel less foreign! My family is very very nice the ten year old is great to talk to because he tolerates my lack of ability to conjugate and we have had some in depth conversations about Star Wars. I start school tomorrow which should be interesting I am signed up for humanities which means no science or math Yay!!!!!!

2009-01-30T02:19:00.000-08:00

I have to admire the political correctness of the airlines... we apologize for any travel inconvinience but your flight is once again canceled. After flight cancellation, delays, and a lot of snow I managed to get to Boston be oriented and on my way. The international flights ran much smoother. No delays, no leg room, but the best airline food I've had and by that I mean edible. To further illustrate airline incompotence we flew to Frankfurt which is past Spain, however, they did move the baby who looked like it had the potential to cry for seven hours straight. All in all travel was smooth and we are officially in Spain, our interhispania representatives speak mas mas rapido and I'm already wishing for some subtitles.

Pre-Departure

2009-01-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

It's one of the great joys of gas prices that now airlines charge for extra bags. Now I've packed six months worth of clothing including shoes, jewelry, and hair products into one large suitcase. Sadly, I've been limited in the one area that I do splurge on and I'm only being allowed to bring five books. I'm down to only four days before departure and in order to prepare I'm watching a Spanish telenovela "Rebelde" and Die Hard with Spanish subtitles. My cursing in Spanish is improving immensely already!