Barcelona

So, last Thursday my allergies were extremely horrible, so I stopped into a Farmacia to get some Mucinex...yea not that simple. Spain does not have Mucinex, it ended up with Melissa and I playing charades with the people at the counter trying to describe our symptoms. It worked, my senora said that I got the right things...but im sure it was hilarious for anyone that was watching! :) Yesterday I arrived back to Madrid from my weekend trip to Barcelona, Spain. I didn't realize how draining weekend trips could be! Although, we had some downfalls to our trip, we all left loving Barcelona. We left last Thursday on a night bus that left at 11pm and we got in at 7 am. This is a good idea theoretically...but the bus was freezing and cramped=no sleep. When we all arrived in Barcelona, we immediately went to our hostel "Barcelona Dreams" which was pretty amazing. Bianca, Josie and I had no idea what to expect for the hostel bc none of us had ever been in one. The hostel was big, with a full breakfast and electronic locks. We had roommates of German, French, Danish, Canadian, and Turkish background. It was a pretty cool experience! We got through a majority of sightseeing that Friday, by the end of the day, we were dragging and sleepy. We had seen the famous street known as "Las Ramblas" which was beautiful! It consisted of a long street with vendors, restraunts, people dressed up, a boqueteria( a market full of fruits, candy, and meat). It was a wonderful experience! From there, we headed to la Sagrada Familia which is a historic church in Spain. It was beautiful on the outside, and although it was a little overpriced we decided to go in, the inside wasn't what we expected because of the construction going on, but still beautiful, including the view at the top of the 400 steps (we took elevator up, stairs down). From there we went to parc de guell, which combined with las ramblas was my favorite place of Barcelona. This is a park dedicated to the art of Gaudi. The views are spectacular from the park, there were little vendors and musicians along the park. My favorite part of the park was actually underneath it, where there are huge columns that hold up the main landing. There, some musicians played classical music and with the sun setting in the distance, it was certainly a memorable event! That night Bianca, Josie, Melody (girl from Turkey, who is studying in Paris) and I went to view the free concerts around the city, because there was a festival this weekend in Spain. There were tons of people out and about and the music was fabulous! However, before we went out, we had a bit of junk food party, where there was oreo licking contests. Random fact, none of our roommates had ever had oreos! Lol but they loved them! Then, on Saturday we took a lazy approach to seeing Barcelona, by going to the beach and dipping our toes into the Mediterranean Sea! It was cold, but Josie and Bianca still went swimming in it, I settled for getting seashells and just playing in the sand :). We all were shocked to realize that this was a topless beach! Not everyone was topless, but there were quite a few that were, young, old, middle aged...you name it they were. After a few hours, I actually got some color, we ate at a restraunt by the beach. Then we ventured on to what we thought was the "Olympic Stadium"...Turns out it was a venue for different sports. So, completely exhausted we headed back to our hostel, to wait until dinner, then get back to the bus station for yet another night bus. When we got back we saw Kristin (from Denmark) and started talking with him and then met another Danish person, Michael. We compared stereotypes, cultures and traditions. It's funny that I had never met any Danish people, and in one day I met 2! We all decided to go to dinner close to the bus station...a Chinese Buffet, and talked over some Sangria. Btw the Chinese Buffet was amazing! They even had Mongolian Beef with Mushrooms... Anywho, we all said our goodbyes and the 3 girls got on the late night bus. I don't know if it was better the second time or if I was just so exhausted that I passed out, but I slept the entire time and arrived in Madrid at 7 am. I'm still pretty tired from the weekend, but wouldnt take back a second of it! This coming weekend I'm heading off to Brussels, Belgium with Lynn, Ally, and Bianca. I have to admit Madrid is starting to feel more like home...i missed my senora Esperanza and her yummy cooking and by the end of Barcelona I was ready to come back...So for now back to homework...o and the pictures should be uploaded on the slideshow below....

Ciao!

La Noche en blanco and Salamanca

So, things have been going well here in Madrid, Spain thus far, as I approach the beginning of week 3. Classes are still going well, we are now learning salsa and tango...including dips and similar moves as seen on dancing with the stars :). We have our first discoteca night on thursday to go out and practice the moves we have learned in a real latin discoteca. This week has been extremely cold compared to the previous ones, it has not only been chilly but rainy. I'm starting to realize maybe I should have packed more sweaters. But, ironically enough it's warming up again in the 70's and 80's next week. I went to my first discoteca this past Thursday which was a lot of fun! :) Then on Friday, Alba, Rosanna and I went to try the chocolateria de san gines (a popular chocolate and churros place in madrid, noted in all of our tourist books as a must see) and it was pretty good. Churros, in case you were wondering, are basically baked dough sometimes with sugar or cinnamon, at this particular place we think it was just baked dough. Their version of hot chocolate was more like dark chocolate pudding...a contrast from the states. But, overall if it was a good experience. Then on Saturday morning Rosanna and I went to Salamanca with the school, it was a beautiful city! There was definately a lot of culture in this small city! We had a tour guide so it was cool learning all the differences in architecture. Then last night was la noche en blanco. Basically it is a cultural thing where there are bands, lots of people and all the museums were open for free until 6 am. It was crazy, but fun! Today, Rosanna, Alba and I went on our first madrid run around parque oeste :) it was pretty awesome! I can't wait to run around parque de retiro! Some more cool things that i have noticed is all the mcdonalds here are super nice! why aren't they like that in the states? hmm yes the beer at restraunts are cheaper than pop or water, and they serve beer at burger king/mcdonalds. So, yes having fun and studying hard! I have booked a couple trips so far... brussels, munich, venice and maybe barcelona. Still aiming for rome, paris and dublin :) So, yea that's what's going on here! Hasta luego!

summer is coming to an end...

I posted pictures from this weekend...they should be in the same slideshows as before...if not then they will be posted later! :) So, this past weekend Melissa, Rosanna and I went to our first day trip to Toledo, we left after breakfast and were back before dinner. Toledo was an interesting city to visit, it wasn't as crazy at Madrid, it was more historical with beautiful landscapes! Also, seeing the calle de toledo de ohio was pretty awesome too! I'm pretty sure it was known for it's medieval weapons, because they were everywhere! I tried my first paella...it was pretty good, but esperanza's was most definately better! By the way...I'm totally loving most of the spanish food. Even some foods that I thought I didn't like: green beans, peas, ect. I've been trying many different things as well that are just so different that I have to try it different times to really decide if I actually like it; an example is mango and empenadas. I've been finding myself looking forward to her dinners and what she is going to put in it that's new to me! Besides empenadas, I love lintel soup! This past sunday I saw a bullfight. It definately was an experience. I know that it's their culture and I respect that, but I thought that it was horrible, abusive and cruel. I only took limited pictures. Melissa, Walker and I only stayed until after 2 rounds(rounds as in the same thing, 2 dead bulls) when we came home to find out there are 6 rounds. I thought it was cruel and unfair for the bull. It's safe to say I will never go to another one again. Classes are going well, my favorite being dance! We are learning merengue, bachata, and tango. I'm realizing just how much I am uncoordinated.The past few days have been really chilly, it's weird how quickly fall sets in here. Although it's supposed to drop to 60 on thursday, it's supposed to go back up to 80 so who know's if this is really fall...as for now I'm trying to book a flight for Oct. 1-4 to possibly paris.

hasta luego!

Adjusting

I added all my pictures I took from saturday's day of sightseeing to the slideshow, it was a beautiful day of exploring with me and my 3 other roommates! We trucked around for about 5 hrs through the plaza de espana, la rosaleda, la templo de debod which is an Eygptian temple given as a gift to Spain for helping to perserve some artifacts during flooding/building of aswam dam. We also walked walked all the way to parque de retiro. My favorite of this particular journey was the parque de retiro, according to my guide book, it was where the royals use to go for a private retreat. It was extremely beautiful and large as you can probably tell by the pictures. The Eygptian temple was really cool to see as well, however, there wasn't much history descriptions that I saw.

Some cool things that have happened since I have arrived is that yesterday it stormed for 10 minutes! My senora rushed into my room telling me to open the windows, it's going to STORM! This was exciting news since it has been horribly hot and humid since I have gotten here. It brougt some cool air and thundered/drizzled for 10 minutes then was done. I have started classes and love all of them! My favorite is Latin Rhythms and Dance which consists of 2hrs and 15 minutes of dancing. Although there is no AC and 50 students in there it is a lot of fun! Right now we are learning merengue and bachata.

Some things that are NOT so cool about Spain...coffee and ice cream. Melissa and I are determined to find some good coffee and it would be even better if it was take out coffee. So, this past Sunday we approached our senora and asked her where was good place, her answer Burger King. Yes, there are tons of them over here, more than the mcdonalds I have seen. So we figured why not if we can get some good coffee. Yea, we failed again, they gave us a huge cup with just a little expresso. sigh, we are still trying tho. And last night my roomies and I decided to get some dessert so we went and got some ice cream, (note: I have been waiting for the perfect time for ice cream, building it up that it was going to be the most amazing ice cream ever) fail again, it was not that great. Hands down greaters, ritters and UDF are 100 times better!

All and all I am doing well in Spain and loving it. Although I am missing Skyline, Rice Rocket, PB & J and ritters among other things, and trying to get use to the super late dinners...I am loving it. Each time I see a beautiful monument, fountain or meet someone from a different country that is absolutely amazing I am reminded why I am here! So, that is all for now, I'm planning my trips for the semester and studying! Time to eat some of my senoras amazing food! aka...la cena!

Adios!

Exploring Madrid!

hola! So, I've spent a few more days here in madrid and I'm having a blast! I finally feel like I'm in Madrid, Spain now after exploring Spain today. So, here's what's been going on I started classes yesterday and they seem pretty easy...Christian Beliefs and Latin Rythms and Dance. Then last night me and some friends went out to sol...which was soo much fun! :) Then today Me, Melissa, Lynn, Ally, Michelle, and Emily all went exploring Madrid! We had a map and followed it for the most part...but saw a lot of EXTRAORDINARY things! Some of the majors were the another palacio reales...(the king/queen have 6, i have seen 2 thus far), plaza mayor, and the cript of the cathedral of madrid. We also stumbled upon other finds in the city as we veered off of the map a bit, including...plaza de Isabel II, Plaza de oriente, basilica pontificia de san miguel, and dalieda de san francisco. It was a lot of walking...just about 4 hours in the hot Madrid sun...without a cloud in the sky might i add...but it was definately worth it! I loved the fact that I had learned about a lot of these places in my spanish classes and was able to see them in person and hear the stories yet again. My favorite of the day definately had to be the palacio real #2 because of all the intricacies that were involved it was cool to think that the buildings had been there for hundreds of years, all the people who made this really cool building a reality and the royalty that once walked and lived in these rooms...it was amazing.
Apart from the exploring I have been doing, I have been adapting or at least attempting to adapt to the Spanish culture. Here is what I have learned thus far, their ambulances are yellow, I need sunscreen to walk to class and around because the sun is so strong, people wear VERY colorful pants, people are not ashamed of staring, people will stare if you are very pale, have freckles, ect, people are willing to help you if you attempt to speak spanish(no matter how choppy it might be :)), aseos=bathroom, correo=mail and that you can walk to just about any place you need. I have also learned that Spain is doing their part in conservation ,in my opinion, for the environment...they don't have AC(for the most part), they take quick showers to conserve water, they don't leave electronics plugged in or on to conserve energy, and they don't have washers and dryers for their clothes. Now I could be wrong for generalizing any of these things but this is just what I have been observing.
I love it here though it is full of history and life! My senora makes scrumchious Spanish meals, my roomies are a lot of fun and what could beat waking up to hearing music, violins, pianos, and sometimes opera! I'm planning on going sight seeing again tomorrow! I can't wait to see what else Spain has out there!
Hasta Luego!
p.s. working on getting the pictures smaller and in slideshow format! :)

1st few days!!

After what seems like forever, I'm in Madrid spain! i barely slept at all on the plane! Then it was an interesting experience taking a taxi bc we had a very curt taxi driver. But I LOVE MY SENORA! Esperanza is a total sweetie! I love my roomies too! In addition to Melissa, I have two other roomies, Alba and Roseanna. Melissa, Rosanna and I went exploring around the city and it is full of shopping! The only bad thing is that there is no AC! It is in the 90's but esperanza said that it should cool down in 15 days. Yesterday, the 4 of us went to 2 local bars and attempted to mingle with the locals. It is a lot different here because instead of football they have soccer games. But it was fun nonetheless! We all split some Sangria, which was good! Today we had orientation and explored the city some more...it doesnt seem real, I still feel like I'm going to wake up and be in Ohio in my bed just dreaming this up. My senora is a very good cook too! I'm just need to get used to the spanish food. Some of the vegetables are very scary...for instance zucchini soup cold--i tried it, lol not for me. But i also tried some peaches and they were okay! lol I still have a lot more exploring and learning to do! Classes start on thursday!

Hasta la vista!