I'll start out with the bad news: I slept through the Real Madrid Stadium tour I was supposed to go on on Saturday b/c I didn't hear my alarm or anyone who tried to call me. When I woke up and realized I missed it, I was sad/ angry at myself especially because those who went said it was really cool...sigh. Hopefully I am going to a Real Madrid game soon so I can see it for myself! I spoke with some of my friends on skype this weekend and almost everyone is back at school! I can already imagine how weird it is going to be when I go back to UMD for the first time. Everything is so different here...but I guess I have a while until I have to worry about that.
Some good news is I did make it to a mass in a beautiful ridiculously old church on Sunday. Alcala is a world heritage sight, in large part to the church of the plaza de los santos ninos, where apparently two young children refused to convert to Islam and were killed, and are now hailed as martyrs. The streets were filled with people after mass because it was a lovely end of winter day, and I decided to window shop a bit and enjoy the nice weather.
Monday was the usual class schedule, and our culture teacher literally tried to teach us the entire history of medieval Spain in one hour...he was about as successful as you might expect, but still very interesting. I also signed up for a clase de baile on Mondays and Tuesdays at Alcalingua, Mondays we have flamenco and Tuesdays its meringue and other latin dances. Monday I went to flamenco, and our teacher Rocio said she was planning a party for us where she would show us how a real flamenco is done at the end of the semester. She even said some of us might be able to dance with her! Its really fun even though I'm sure we look silly doing it.
Today, I walked outside and was surprised to see some snow on cars! I thought it was getting warmer?! We all scrambled to read one of Cervantes' short stories for class with Mercedes. The story is a famous one about a gypsy who falls in love, but for me it feels like someone asked a 4th grader to understand Shakespeare (I'm the fourth grader). Luckily, it didn't really matter if we read or not because Mercedes took us to the casa de Cervantes which is right by the school, and then to the church of St. Mary where Cervantes was baptized. If anything, it was definitely better than having a real class. A profesora from Maryland came with us on our little field trip and then stayed after class to talk to us about how the program was going for us. We tried to talk to her about some concerns we had, but she was not listening to us at all. We said we wanted more concrete schedules to plan trips around, and she basically called us anal retentive. I'm glad she was so concerned.
Because of our little chat with profesora whatsherface we were late to dance class but it was still fun! We learned some more complicated moves and practiced some old ones too. I hope we can try some of our new moves out this weekend on a real dancefloor!
So now I am back at the casa and just ate dinner. Huevos fritos, jamon y pan. Muy rico. Luckily I don't have too much work so I'm off to read some Dracula and maybe catch up with what is going on in the States. And for good measure here is a photo of us trying to bust some dance moves over the weekend:
This weekI realized I had absolutely nothing to be afraid of coming to Spain. Of course it is a big step to go from the average life of a college student at Maryland to living with a new family in another country, but I couldn't picture myself not being here right now. Its nice to know what to expect from my classes and from the town now. Today we ended the second week of classes at Alcalingua, which meant we moved from our Art class to a history class today. We had a test in art on Thursday to finish out the unit and it was pretty easy. I'm hoping to go to Toledo soon to see the paintings of El Greco (we learned about him) because it only takes about 30 mins on the train from Madrid! It's crazy how fast time has gone since I have been here. The new teacher seems very interesting, and hopefully I can actually learn something about the history of Spain. The weather is also improving. Its still cold, but today was so nice I just walked around a bit after lunch taking pictures like a true tourist. Tomorrow I am going into Madrid again to go on a tour of the Real Madrid Stadium! Its not a game, but I think it will be fun to learn more about the team so many people here are nuts about. Its in a really nice part of Madrid so we plan on walking around a bit after...hope it is nice out again! I'm eating a lot of good food here, the oranges here are soo good. I still have no idea how people are so skinny here, maybe because they all smoke so much? I probably eat half a loaf of bread by myself everyday. This is definitely the place for me. Here are some of the pics I took of Alcala: The famous storks that have giant nests everywhere-
Hola Amigos! On Saturday the whole group went to the Palacio Real, as documented above. The palace is the largest in Europe, and is in the middle of Madrid. I think it has over 250 bedrooms alone, and only 50 rooms are open to the public. The Royal Family doesn't actually live there, but they use it for ceremonial purposes and such. Our tour guide said Obama was coming for dinner there sometime at the end of May. Each room was so ornate and ridiculously detailed and beautiful. After the tour, some of us stuck around to get some lunch and walk around Madrid for a bit, and I bought a few souvenirs for some of my friends!
I can't believe I have already been here for 2 weeks, but at the same time the disastrous flight seems like it was so long ago (probably a good thing). Everything so far has worked out well, and I am feeling more confident with my speaking now that I know some colloquial vocabulary. Classes are going well, they are not very challenging but I'm OK with that right now. We went out on Saturday, first to a small bar that had really cheap drinks, and then do a larger one down the road where people were dancing. The first bar had a special where you could get a TRAY of 25 mixed shots for 15 euro. What?! As a cultural investigation, we ordered that and successfully drank the cheap alcohol. They actually played a bunch of Spanish music at the second bar which I enjoyed. Spaniards definitely go all out when they go out for the night. I felt under dressed compared to the high-heeled and tights ensembles the other chicas were sporting. I'll have to step it up to fit in here...well maybe when it gets warmer.
Now it is Sunday, and I slept in late and I tried to be a studious person and go to the library, but it wasn't open. I forgot the world shuts down on Sundays here. Its so different from the McKeldin library 24 hour study hours I am used to. So I studied today and walked around the town after lunch. I hope my first FULL week of classes is successful! I am going to a clase de baile tomorrow and a flamenco class on Tues. Should be fun!
It ended up snowing and raining on Monday, which was supposed to be my first day of class. So, classes were canceled because Spain shuts down when there is an inch of snow. So, I decided to go back to bed for a bit only to be awoken by little Manuel running into my room and flipping my light switch on and off. Que precioso. I decided I needed to see the light of day, so Kristin and I decided to walk around calle mayor. The snow was really pretty, and adults and kids alike were outside playing in it. I ended up finding a really cute winter hat and earmuffs in some small store we went into! Woo!
We stopped into a fabulous chocolateria and churroria where we got delicious hot chocolate and a pile of churros for 2.5 euros. Not bad. The chocolate caliente was more like a melted semi-sweet Hershey bar rather than any kind of swiss miss you get in America. (I said the post would be sweet). It was so beautiful, I wish I took a picture.
The snow turned into rain for the next few days. On Tuesday I realized my grammar teacher's way of getting us to talk is to ask us about our novios, or if we don't have one, our ideal man. Its a bit much, but the Asian girls are hysterical when they talk about their novios back home. There is either a severe language barrier, or they are just mean. My bet is on mean. A bunch of new people came to our class this week so I look forward to more awkward storytelling.
We had to buy (search for) a bunch of books for the Maryland class, and two course packets. They all sound like exciting reading. We did learn that sometime in March we will be going to Sevilla overnight which I am super excited about. There is also a flamenco class on Tuesdays I signed up for I am looking forward to!
I decided to stay in tonight and start some of the massive amounts of reading due next week, and you can probably guess how well that's going. We are going to the Palacio Real in Madrid on Saturday, and I think it will be a good time even if we can't sleep in. I plan to take more pics and buy a new memory card in Madrid, so I will post those in a few days! As for now, I'm off to go read some Cervantes! (and then reward myself by watching millionaire matchmaker online.)
Here are some pics from our first venture to Madrid. The one on the bottom is the ministry of Agriculture, and the one on the top is a building near the puerta del sol.
So Friday was the big day-- the first day of school at Alcalingua! What would I wear?! Would I get lost? Will I make friends?--are all questions I would have asked if I wasn't still super jet-lagged. Instead, I showed up unprepared (sin cuaderno) in a standard jean and tee Mare outfit. Luckily for me, I didn't get lost and everyone is super friendly. Friday was the normal first day of class icebreaking attempt. We all chatted with each other, and all of my teachers seem very nice and helpful. Besides the UMD people, there is a small group of Aussies we have gotten to know a bit and a BUNCH of Asians. A lot of them were here for the previous semester, and have mad Spanish skills. I'm not worried about the academics of it, but I am worried about the Monday-Friday long days, and my ability to stay awake/attentive in class.
After some lunch out in Alcala, I came home where my Spanish Padre insisted on taking me to Alcampo, a nearby Target-like store in a mall. He thought I could look for boots I mentioned I wanted, so I went with him and of course didn't like anything. We picked up some groceries, and got a really good cafe (coffee) I wanted. We came back, and he told me he had a son who lived a few apartments over? Why did I not know you had a son? Apparently, the groceries were for him. We brought them over to his apartment and I chatted with him and his friend. I think he was trying to make us become friends. However, I'm not very friendly and I'm sure his attempt failed.
That night, the UMD kids and I decided to meet up for our first Friday night in Spain. We met at the Cafe Continental, kind of a local joint with a lot of smoke and some great wine I sampled. After everyone got there and we all had a couple drinks, we decided to go somewhere more exciting. We didn't know where that was, but we were going to try. We walked in the general direction of "la zona" where a lot of the bars are, and asked around. We found ourselves at some sort of dance club where I was surprised they even checked IDs. We were so clearly American it was almost entertaining. For a while we were the only ones really dancing, but everyone seemed amused at the sight. It was fun, and we met up with the Aussies from Alcalingua, who were exceptionally drunk. But, fun times had by all. Except for when I went home and realized I WREAKED of cigarette smoke from the bars where EVERYONE was smoking. My lungs are taking a hit just by being in Spain.
Saturday I slept in super late, walked around Alcala to get a better feel for it, and ended the night by watching El Señor de los anillos 3 con mi familia.
Sunday, I met some of the girls on my trip in Madrid. Our objective was simple; to explore and to shop the rebajas. I would say both were successful. We walked around, took pictures, and ended up eating lunch in some really fancy place where I had delicious Sangria and raviolis. So much for authentic Spanish food! I definitely learned my way around Madrid much better, and we successfully navigated the subway. I feel so European! Well not really...but less of a tourist. Everything was going great and then it started snowing! People freak out here when it snows. Literally if there is one inch of snow on the roads no one goes to work or school. After we took the train back to Alcala, I walked to my homestay in the freezing snow where I somehow got terribly lost. I was never scared or nervous, just mad I had to be cold longer than was necessary because of the detour.
Now, I am back and just ate dinner with the padres and Esperanza's (my madre's) four year old son who goes in between his mom and dad's house. Ok so I know he is only four, but I really wish he was less annoying. He never speaks, he only yells at the top of his lungs and repeats the same things over and over. I want to tell him to shut up but that would probably be out of line.
Overall, Spain is snowy and good. I have my first full week of classes starting tomorrow, and I'm curious about the course load. I have a cuaderno now, so I think I should be alright.
Hola! It has been five days since I left the USA on the way to Spain, and what a few days it has been! My parents saw me off at Dulles airport, where I was to fly to Frankfurt and then connect on a flight to Spain. I know, the geography of it all makes zero sense but I wanted to take the group flight. After the longest flight of my life (8 hours) where I was luckily able to sleep and watch the movie Fame we landed in snowy Germany. We were delayed in DC due to strong winds, so we run off the plane when we land to connect to the next flight due to take off at 9:10 am. For a second, I thought we were going to miss the flight, but luckily it was delayed half an hour due to the snow. And then it was delayed an hour. And then it was canceled. Frick. So then we heard over the poorly translated announcements we were to go to the customer service counter to see what the airline can do to help us. The problem was, 300 other people had to do the same thing.
So, we waited in line at the Frankfurt airport. For 6 hours. For some reason beyond me, there were only four people working at the desk. We sat on the floor, slept on our bags, and made up games to pass the time. So when we finally got to talk to a real human, they put us on the next available flight, at 5:50. After asking many times, we were assured our luggage would be put on the same plan as us.
Finally, we took this silly German people-mover to the plane from the gate. By this time, almost all of the snow has melted. We finally took off and landed in Madrid around 9pm. As we waited for our luggage to come on the baggage claim belt, we realized our luggage did not follow us, and were resigned to filing claims with the airport for our bags. Somehow, I was not surprised at all by the fact they lost our bags. I was, at this point, much to tired to be angry. We greeted our Resident Director Mercedes, who had a long day at the airport waiting for us, and got on a bus to go to Alcala and have dinner. We went to a great restaurant right from the airport for dinner, even though we were all tired and just wanted to go to bed. There, we met the lucky travelers who took other flights and didn't lose their bags or have to wait in line for a quarter of a full day. From there, we went to a hotel where I have never been happier to lay in a bed.
We got up early the next day for a desayuno and a brief orientation with Mercedes. She tried to teach us the ways of the Madrid subway and bus system, but I doubt any of the info really sunk in. Around 1, we waited in the lobby to be picked up by our host family. Someone in the group described us as "puppies in a pet store waiting to be adopted". This analogy is pretty accurate to how we all felt, hoping to have a family who came on time to get us and give us a good home. Esperanza, my host mom came to get me and we drove to her apartment. The apartment is small, but centrally located and very convenient. Esperanza seems like she really knows what she is doing with hosting students, and wants to have me learn as much Spanish as possible. I then followed the popular pattern of eat/sleep/eat/sleep.
The next day the whole group of us went to Madrid. We took the train in which was about an hour ride, and met Mercedes. We took the metro with her to the puerta del sol, el corazón de Madrid. It was a beautiful day in Madrid and we walked around for hours and had a wonderful 3 course lunch (comida). We walked back to the train station, where we left hopeful our bags would be there when we got back to our casas. When I return to the casa, I learn my bag won't come until Thursday, because Wednesday is a holiday, dia de los Reyes, and no one will be working then. I definitely want to go back to Madrid as soon as possible to hit up the Rebajas (sales) after dia de los Reyes. However, no stores were open on Wednesday either, so I couldn't go out to buy some new clothes like I planned. I'm pretty sure I was seriously starting to smell from wearing the same 3 pairs of socks over again. Oh well.
Dia de los Reyes is like Christmas, where all the kids get there presents from los Reyes. Esperanza's sister and brother came over with their little kids who were all pumped to get their presents. Her brother has 5 year old twin girls who were little divas in the making but so cute. The sang and danced for me and asked me how to say everything in English. They even knew how to sing a Demi Lovato song? I also noticed on the news they use American songs in the background of the news clips. Some commercials are even in English. But most are dubbed over commercials which were clearly originally in English. I didn't think they would care so much about America.
And today, I went to my school, Alcalingua, to take a Spanish placement exam. It was pretty hard considering my last real Spanish test was last year. They they had an oral exam part where you just chatted with someone and they told you where you would most likely be placed. From there, we took a tour of Alcala in the freezing rain and snow. From there, we ran some errands and returned home...where my bags were waiting!! I was so happy to see them. They looked a little beaten up but still intact. I happily unpacked, showered and took a siesta. It is still gross and snowing out, which is what prompted me to write such an extensive blog entry. I was hoping to explore the nightlife, but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow night! I have my first day of classes tomorrow 10-2:45 (aye de mi). I'm excited to meet the other students and see what my schedule is like! I also intend to explore the town more if there is nice weather.
I will post the few pictures I took in Madrid and any others I take ASAP. Hasta Luego!
