Two weeks ago i was in Oviedo for a whole weekend! It was the first time in a month! It was nice to relax and sleep in my bed for more then a week at one time! School is school. A lot of times its hard to get through 5-6 hrs of class everyday, all in spanish, especially since it is very different from the US. Sometimes I feel like im still in elementary school, and then i realize the level that i am at in Spanish is the level of a elementary schooler. Which is quite confusing at times because I am expected to write 5 page thesis papers in spanish yet my skills in spanish especially in communication are far less advanced! For example, we listen to songs and fill in blanks to questions that the song will say, or conjugate verbs from songs that we listen to. Also we play games that teach us grammar, phonetics, vocabulary. Dont get me wrong! I am learning a lot, but when i think about the structure of school and how i am expected to learn so much from games and songs and then have only 1-2 tests in 12 weeks its quite astonishing and confusing at times! The only class that resembles the way I would take a class in the US is my literature class. The problem is it goes SOOOOOO fast! We analyze 3-4 poems every class, and poetry is not even my forte in english, thus in spanish i struggle even more when i have to recognize metaphors and personification and much more! Anyways, i know i am learning a lot, but i am definately looking forward to returing to my comfort zone where i know what to expect in all of my classes each term. I have the library that i can retreat to anytime i want and i know when midterm weeks are and finals week!
Thanksgiving was really hard for me. I want to be home and with family. I wanted to cuddle up on the couch and watch football with my Dad and brother. Obviously i got through it, but i definately was emotional when it was midnight in spain and 3pm in the US and i knew that dinner would be ready in a few hrs yet I was thousands of miles away at a bar and no one in spain even cares or knows its Thanksgiving! My host mom thought i was just homesick, but i told her it wasnt even about being away for another month, it was about the fact that Thanksgiving is a time where we come together and share memories and its important in my family because usually im with my grandparents, aunts, cousin, uncle, etc. Anyways, my mom said she is going to do a thanksgiving redo and Hannukkah redo for me! So im excited for that! I think Thanksgiving just made me miss familiarity! I miss the little things and the comfort it brings me. I feel like i live in spain, but it still doesnt feel like home. Being in Spain has definately taught me so much about what i want and need in life though. And on Thanksgiving i felt more thankful for what i have been given in this life, more then ever. I told my mom a lot about this, but i dont think i have truly expressed it to anyone else yet. Its hard to articulate in words, but i can feel that Spain has brought on a positive change in me. We talk a lot about the experiences and openness studying abroad brings, in my intercultural prospectives class. Anyways, I learned in my class that I have 75% more then what the rest of the world has! Its astonishing! Just having the opprotunity to go on exchange and study in a foreign country is something only 5% of students experience (im not sure if thats students in the world or students in the US, but either way im lucky!)
On a lighter note....Last weekend my group went on their last program excursion. We went to Galicia which is the principality east and bit south of Austurias. I have to say I live Austurias much more! A lot of that might have to do with the days we went and the amount of time we spent at each locaton! For me, I have seen enough cathedrals! The first place we went to was this fortress defense area from 100 AC. Basically it was a bunch of old rock circles which were trenches and they were used for different types of protection and living areas. It wasnt very interesting. I could have looked at it for 5 mins and been ready to go especially since the wind chill was killing me and it started raining, but we had a tour for over 30 minutes of the area! After that we drove to La Coruna which is where we stayed for two nights. We went to see Hercules Tower which is right on the ocean. It had an amazing view! We went to the top of the tower and i enjoyed that, but the wind was so strong that i could only manage to stay up there for 10 minutes! The rest of the day we were free to do what we wanted...most of us went to dinner and retreated to hang out in our hostal rooms! Good thing i decided to relax and not check out the night life because the girls that went out had trouble getting in anywhere. Here you only have to be 18 to drink and a lot of people drink even younger, but for some reason the places people tried to go to they were carded and told they had to be 21. We dont ever bring our ID's out because you dont need them here, so no one had ID on them and they were all rejected. I dont know if you actually have to be 21 in a lot of the places in Coruna or maybe it was just because they are american! Who knows! The night life is definately not as good or the same as Oviedo, because its not a college city.
The next day was Sunday, thus everything is closed! Thats why it was frustrating because after we went to see Santiago de Camino and the cathedral we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. Yet we couldnt really do anything because everything is closed!! The highlight of my weekend was the amazing amazing italian dinner i had sunday night! ohmygosh to die for! Maybe its because i really needed change from spanish food everyday, but the pesto pasta i had hit the spot! we found this amazing rosado wine and a bunch of girls enjoyed an evening at the restruant!
Monday we departed from La Coruna and on our way home we stopped in Lugo. Completely pointless to me and the rest of the group! We were all ready to get home. We checked out the cathedral and the huge wall that wrapped around the cathedral and part of the city, then we had 2 hrs to spare, and 1 of them was during siesta time, so there was no where to go! No shops, no cafes, nothing was open. Ohwell! Such is life!
The weekend was fine, it just definately wasnt my favorite place i have traveled in spain!
This week I had class, class, and class! Oh and our guest professor from Western Oregon University is taking all of us out in small groups for tapas and vino (small apetizers accustom to spain and wine). I signed up to go this week and it was a blast! Its all on AHA, so we didnt have to pay either! I really like Claudio, the guest professor, im taking his class, and you can just tell how passionate he is! He actually wants us to understand the literature we are reading! Thats the big difference between his literature class and the one that i never understand anything in. He doesnt go so fast that you cant even take notes. We read passages over and over and talk about the meaning and we read things that are more interesting. He doesnt race through the vocab that we dont know like my other teacher does! I am doing really well in his class! I have gotten 2 solid A's on both of the tests so far!
I am enjoying my second to last weekend in Oviedo by writing a paper, doing homework, hanging out with friends, and going to the Gijon open market on sunday!
On Tuesday we are having an end of the term party at a cafe with all of the families, students, and any professors that can attend. Caitlin asked my host mom the other night if she was coming. We werent sure because her daughter and granddaughter arrived last night from Valencia (which is on the opposite coast, in the east). Maria told Caitlin she doesnt want everyone to think she is depressed so she doesnt usually go. I dont know why people would think that unless she outgoingly said she was depressed. I think she just means that she is antisocial and doesnt like talking to people, because thats the truth! i know it sounds mean, but it is! She said she didnt go to the party last year because she was tired and the year before she had to work or something. Caitlin said its okay i understand if you dont want to go because your daughter is in town and Maria said no thats not the reason at all. So whatever, i wanted everyone to meet my host mom, mostly so they could see whats she like (even though i dont think she would show her true crazy colors in public because she wouldnt have the opprotunity to clean or something !). Ohwell there is not much I can do, maybe she will change her mind!
I have to pack monday for Portugal because i have the party tuesday night after class and then my flight leaves at 9ish from the Austurias airport. I have to take a bus to the airport, which takes 30-45 minutes, with my two girlfriends. I am excited to experience a new country!
Well thats all for now! Take care. Just a little more then 3 weeks and ill be back to reamericanize myself and tell everyone about my life changing experience in much more detail!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Barcelona Continued!
Day 2!
We went to see another one of Gaudi's sites. It was very close to our hostel so we walked there. Its called Casa Batllo (accent over the o)...Gaudi was seriously crazy! All the detail and the little features he added to this apartment building were amazing. I loved how he used the roof to create a haven of abstract forms and he had a reason for it all! Check out the pics for sure! It is impossible to explain his buildings without looking at them for yourself! The pictures dont even do justice!
Next we went to explored Las Ramblas which is this long long street that leads to the ocean, but basically its the Rodeo Drive of Barcelona. It has all the designer and fashion stores, an open market in the center, and lots of resturants and cafes! We also checked out this big statue/monument of Christopher Columbus. They are crazy about him (obviously since he was spainsh)!!
We planned to go to this big fountain show at night. It was suppose to start at 830 so we waited until 915 and nothing had started. We figured it was just the usual spanish schedule where everything runs late, but a few of us went to the bathroom and asked the custodian guy. He said that in the month of november it does not run because they clean the fountains! LAME! The one month we visit Barcelona, the fountain show is not running. Our guide books never said that!
After that we headed back to the hostel and ventured out for dinner. We ended up walking around for a while a night, and didnt have the energy to go out to clubs or discotecas.
Day 3!!
The next morning we woke up early because we had to check out of the hostel and fit in a couple more sites before our train left at 10pm that night! We went to see La Pedera which was another one of Gaudis apartment buildings! I learned a lot about all of his work at this location because it had models and pictures of all of his buildings and examples of different types things that he used has inspiration for his textures and styles in the buildings. For example he used bee hives texture and style and different skulls, the shell of a turtle, and more! In addition, when you see all the pictures you will see that Gaudi had unique angels and forms in his buildings. He used chains to creates arches which offered more support and stronger structure! In La Pedera there were models of the style of apartments in his building. He made it so the occupants could take out certain walls and move them around to change the lay out of their home! He thought of everything. The whole apartment allowed a lot of light into each room except for the maids quarters!
Next we went to Parquel! It was this huge park that is up above the city that Gaudi designed! The day was beautiful so we hung out there for awhile, admired the view, checked out the interesting sculptures and arquitectural figures Gaudi designed and then found a cafe to eat lunch in.
We spent the rest of the day exploring little shops and resting until our train left! Once we were on the train back we even discovered that we had better seats! We werent in the ghetto uncomfortable seats like last time. Our train must have been nicer we had individual little rooms with 8 people in each, and all the lights turned off plus the seats reclined!!! I got a lot more sleep on the way back, even if it wasnt as comfortable as being in a bed!
All in all the weekend was great! And i think that Barcelona might be my favorite place i have visited thus far
Oh i totally forgot to include this! I had sushi twice in Barcelona and it was AMAZING! we asked where a chinese food place was because we were sick of spanish food for the time being. A lady suggest a buffet with chinese and japanese food. We were a little skeptical but we figured we would just find somewhere else if we didnt like it. The place ended up being amazing! It was like the sushi places where the food comes around on the boats, only it had tempura and other yakisoba stuff in addition to the sushi. The buffet was all you can eat and it was only 13euro which is not bad for all you can eat especially when the sushi was so fresh and delicious! We watched the chefs make it right in front of us. I figured the sushi wouldnt be too bad because Barcelona is right on the water! We loved it so much we ended up going back the next day for lunch because a good meal with enough food is hard to come by here without spending 20-30euro since Spain is so expensive and Barcelona is such a big city.
Also i am going to Portugal for the puente (my long weekend in the beginning of december!) I am so excited to go to a different country! I will be staying in Lisboa for3 days and then spend 3/4 of a day in Madrid, Spain.
Next weekend im going to Galicia on my last excursion with my whole program!!
Cant believe its only 34 days til im home!
We went to see another one of Gaudi's sites. It was very close to our hostel so we walked there. Its called Casa Batllo (accent over the o)...Gaudi was seriously crazy! All the detail and the little features he added to this apartment building were amazing. I loved how he used the roof to create a haven of abstract forms and he had a reason for it all! Check out the pics for sure! It is impossible to explain his buildings without looking at them for yourself! The pictures dont even do justice!
Next we went to explored Las Ramblas which is this long long street that leads to the ocean, but basically its the Rodeo Drive of Barcelona. It has all the designer and fashion stores, an open market in the center, and lots of resturants and cafes! We also checked out this big statue/monument of Christopher Columbus. They are crazy about him (obviously since he was spainsh)!!
We planned to go to this big fountain show at night. It was suppose to start at 830 so we waited until 915 and nothing had started. We figured it was just the usual spanish schedule where everything runs late, but a few of us went to the bathroom and asked the custodian guy. He said that in the month of november it does not run because they clean the fountains! LAME! The one month we visit Barcelona, the fountain show is not running. Our guide books never said that!
After that we headed back to the hostel and ventured out for dinner. We ended up walking around for a while a night, and didnt have the energy to go out to clubs or discotecas.
Day 3!!
The next morning we woke up early because we had to check out of the hostel and fit in a couple more sites before our train left at 10pm that night! We went to see La Pedera which was another one of Gaudis apartment buildings! I learned a lot about all of his work at this location because it had models and pictures of all of his buildings and examples of different types things that he used has inspiration for his textures and styles in the buildings. For example he used bee hives texture and style and different skulls, the shell of a turtle, and more! In addition, when you see all the pictures you will see that Gaudi had unique angels and forms in his buildings. He used chains to creates arches which offered more support and stronger structure! In La Pedera there were models of the style of apartments in his building. He made it so the occupants could take out certain walls and move them around to change the lay out of their home! He thought of everything. The whole apartment allowed a lot of light into each room except for the maids quarters!
Next we went to Parquel! It was this huge park that is up above the city that Gaudi designed! The day was beautiful so we hung out there for awhile, admired the view, checked out the interesting sculptures and arquitectural figures Gaudi designed and then found a cafe to eat lunch in.
We spent the rest of the day exploring little shops and resting until our train left! Once we were on the train back we even discovered that we had better seats! We werent in the ghetto uncomfortable seats like last time. Our train must have been nicer we had individual little rooms with 8 people in each, and all the lights turned off plus the seats reclined!!! I got a lot more sleep on the way back, even if it wasnt as comfortable as being in a bed!
All in all the weekend was great! And i think that Barcelona might be my favorite place i have visited thus far
Oh i totally forgot to include this! I had sushi twice in Barcelona and it was AMAZING! we asked where a chinese food place was because we were sick of spanish food for the time being. A lady suggest a buffet with chinese and japanese food. We were a little skeptical but we figured we would just find somewhere else if we didnt like it. The place ended up being amazing! It was like the sushi places where the food comes around on the boats, only it had tempura and other yakisoba stuff in addition to the sushi. The buffet was all you can eat and it was only 13euro which is not bad for all you can eat especially when the sushi was so fresh and delicious! We watched the chefs make it right in front of us. I figured the sushi wouldnt be too bad because Barcelona is right on the water! We loved it so much we ended up going back the next day for lunch because a good meal with enough food is hard to come by here without spending 20-30euro since Spain is so expensive and Barcelona is such a big city.
Also i am going to Portugal for the puente (my long weekend in the beginning of december!) I am so excited to go to a different country! I will be staying in Lisboa for3 days and then spend 3/4 of a day in Madrid, Spain.
Next weekend im going to Galicia on my last excursion with my whole program!!
Cant believe its only 34 days til im home!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Barcelona So many Sights so Little Time!
Well i just got back today from Barcelona! My first real experience in a HUGE city. I know i have been to Los Angeles, but im always with family and we dont really act like tourists when I visit. We stay in the valley and at the very most we go to Disney Land. Anyways, I had my first experience on a train. Going home i enjoyed it a lot more then going there, but i will explain that later! I also had my first experience taking the metro or subway. I liked it! There were several lines in Barcelona and it was the best and quickest way to get places when it was too far to walk!
The train ride was 14 hrs! However, we only took the train for 12 hrs and then we were bused from a train station outside of Barcelona to Barcelona. Apparently i dont watch the news enough here because I didnt know about this huge collapse of the tracks that lead into Barcelona. I learned from someone on the train though that they are reconsctruction a newer set of tracks in that area or maybe altogether im not sure, but they are afraid to complete it because it has to go around or under La Sagrada Familia which is the amazing building that Gaudi constructed but didnt finish (more on that later) Anyways, the construction people are afraid that another collapse or mishap will occur, so for now the tracks END and you must be bused into Oviedo. I think its just if you are coming from the North or maybe even the exact direction I came from, because going back to Oviedo we took the train the whole way because the tracks are not derailed! Sorry if that is complicated, it actually doesnt make perfect sense to me either, but everything worked out for the best.
Our train ride to Barcelona made me wish i was on a bus. And i dont even like the buses here that much, but atleast the seats reclined. Yes there was a cafe area to eat and stretch and what not, but when i was in my seat it was horrid! My seat didnt lean back and i had less room then on the bus. Thats because we were in the lowest car because its the cheapest. We made a bunch of friends in the cafe area. All of them claimed they knew little english when they knew a lot! So it was embaressing at first because they had understood all of our lame girly conversations because we knew they could understand us.
Thats one thing about this past weekend! I got frustrated a lot because I couldnt use my spanish for anything! Since barcelona is such a big city, no everyone speaks english. Spanish isnt even the language in Barcelona. Its Cattalan which has a lot of similar words but its a different language. Nonetheless, just like a big city in America where there is a lot of diversity and tourism, its the same in Spain. If someone thinks you are American they wont even give u the chance to try to speak spanish, immediately they interrupt you and use english. Thats why im happy im studying in a smaller city because no one knows english, or the percentage is a lot less, and I can practice spanish a lot more. The people we met on the train were all friendly and we spoke spanglish, english and spanish here and there. They gave us a lot of good advice about the places we were going to see and we chatted about Spain and other sorts. One of our new friends suggested that we go sleep in one of the empty sleeper cars where there were nicer seats that reclined completely to make a flat bed futon type thing. We went in there, got situated, got super excited that we were so comfortable and could possibly get five hours of good sleep, and then 10 mins later one of the train men came by and asked to see our tickets. Luckily he was really nice and didnt get mad, but we had to go back to our horrific seats! I was cranky after that. I tried to sleep until we had to get on the bus at 730am but it was so uncomfortable. Finally we got on the bus, took that for 1.5 hrs and then we arrived in Barcelona!
Literally we dropped off our stuff at our hostel and were off site seeing. We planned to see the most exciting things the first day because even if we were tired we would be extra excited and could plow through the exhaustion. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia. It is a church that Guadi constructed but never finished because he died. Construction is still going on, but who knows when or if it will ever be finished because Gaudi was so crazy and amazing that no one can really determine what his true vision was. The building is incredible, with so much detail and he had a reason for little dimension. You will have to check out the pictures, even though they dont do it any justice.
Our next stop was The Picasso Museum. It had paintings from all of his times including the blue era, pink era, Menina, and more, but Picasso lived in Barcelona during part of his teenage years so the exhibit focused on pieces from that time in his life. There are pieces dating back to when he was 12 yrs old. I learned so much about Picasso at the museum and found myself thoroughly enthralled!
That was day 1.
The hostel was nice and cheap, but there were strings attached. You got a sheet to cover the matress and a sheet to cover the pillow for free. THATS IT! i paid 2 euro for a towel which is strandard but if you wanted a blanket you had to pay 2 euro too! WHAT A RIP! i stole another set that had a sheet and pillow cover and used that as my blanket with extra clothes the first night! Somehow a few of my friends found/stole a few blankets. For the next night i stole another set of sheets so i had 2 sheets to keep me warm plus my jacket, luckily there are 10 people in a room so i think all that body heat was enough to keep me warm the second night, the first night was a different story, i was frozen!
Ok i need to go have dinner. ill write more soon! hopefully tonight!
The train ride was 14 hrs! However, we only took the train for 12 hrs and then we were bused from a train station outside of Barcelona to Barcelona. Apparently i dont watch the news enough here because I didnt know about this huge collapse of the tracks that lead into Barcelona. I learned from someone on the train though that they are reconsctruction a newer set of tracks in that area or maybe altogether im not sure, but they are afraid to complete it because it has to go around or under La Sagrada Familia which is the amazing building that Gaudi constructed but didnt finish (more on that later) Anyways, the construction people are afraid that another collapse or mishap will occur, so for now the tracks END and you must be bused into Oviedo. I think its just if you are coming from the North or maybe even the exact direction I came from, because going back to Oviedo we took the train the whole way because the tracks are not derailed! Sorry if that is complicated, it actually doesnt make perfect sense to me either, but everything worked out for the best.
Our train ride to Barcelona made me wish i was on a bus. And i dont even like the buses here that much, but atleast the seats reclined. Yes there was a cafe area to eat and stretch and what not, but when i was in my seat it was horrid! My seat didnt lean back and i had less room then on the bus. Thats because we were in the lowest car because its the cheapest. We made a bunch of friends in the cafe area. All of them claimed they knew little english when they knew a lot! So it was embaressing at first because they had understood all of our lame girly conversations because we knew they could understand us.
Thats one thing about this past weekend! I got frustrated a lot because I couldnt use my spanish for anything! Since barcelona is such a big city, no everyone speaks english. Spanish isnt even the language in Barcelona. Its Cattalan which has a lot of similar words but its a different language. Nonetheless, just like a big city in America where there is a lot of diversity and tourism, its the same in Spain. If someone thinks you are American they wont even give u the chance to try to speak spanish, immediately they interrupt you and use english. Thats why im happy im studying in a smaller city because no one knows english, or the percentage is a lot less, and I can practice spanish a lot more. The people we met on the train were all friendly and we spoke spanglish, english and spanish here and there. They gave us a lot of good advice about the places we were going to see and we chatted about Spain and other sorts. One of our new friends suggested that we go sleep in one of the empty sleeper cars where there were nicer seats that reclined completely to make a flat bed futon type thing. We went in there, got situated, got super excited that we were so comfortable and could possibly get five hours of good sleep, and then 10 mins later one of the train men came by and asked to see our tickets. Luckily he was really nice and didnt get mad, but we had to go back to our horrific seats! I was cranky after that. I tried to sleep until we had to get on the bus at 730am but it was so uncomfortable. Finally we got on the bus, took that for 1.5 hrs and then we arrived in Barcelona!
Literally we dropped off our stuff at our hostel and were off site seeing. We planned to see the most exciting things the first day because even if we were tired we would be extra excited and could plow through the exhaustion. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia. It is a church that Guadi constructed but never finished because he died. Construction is still going on, but who knows when or if it will ever be finished because Gaudi was so crazy and amazing that no one can really determine what his true vision was. The building is incredible, with so much detail and he had a reason for little dimension. You will have to check out the pictures, even though they dont do it any justice.
Our next stop was The Picasso Museum. It had paintings from all of his times including the blue era, pink era, Menina, and more, but Picasso lived in Barcelona during part of his teenage years so the exhibit focused on pieces from that time in his life. There are pieces dating back to when he was 12 yrs old. I learned so much about Picasso at the museum and found myself thoroughly enthralled!
That was day 1.
The hostel was nice and cheap, but there were strings attached. You got a sheet to cover the matress and a sheet to cover the pillow for free. THATS IT! i paid 2 euro for a towel which is strandard but if you wanted a blanket you had to pay 2 euro too! WHAT A RIP! i stole another set that had a sheet and pillow cover and used that as my blanket with extra clothes the first night! Somehow a few of my friends found/stole a few blankets. For the next night i stole another set of sheets so i had 2 sheets to keep me warm plus my jacket, luckily there are 10 people in a room so i think all that body heat was enough to keep me warm the second night, the first night was a different story, i was frozen!
Ok i need to go have dinner. ill write more soon! hopefully tonight!
FYI
my mom said that the link to the gijon pics does not work! here it is again! let me know if you have any problems seeing any of the other pics! I just got back from Barcelona! ill try to update you all on everything ASAP!
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122558&l=0e4a7&id=11510751
Gijon and San Sebastian Pics!
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122558&l=0e4a7&id=11510751
Gijon and San Sebastian Pics!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Photo Update!!
Here are some photos of Sevilla, Burgos, and If you look at the ending of the night life album there are pictures of Halloween!
Sevilla: http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2126452&l=da27d&id=11510751
Burgos: http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2128269&l=29d0d&id=11510751
Night Life: http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123182&l=334b1&id=11510751
Sevilla: http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2126452&l=da27d&id=11510751
Burgos: http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2128269&l=29d0d&id=11510751
Night Life: http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123182&l=334b1&id=11510751
Vino Galore- The Napa Valley of España
Last weekend my whole program, all 45 of us, went on our first of two weekend excursions. We traveled by bus to Rioja which is the Napa Valley of Spain and continued on to Burgos for the remainder of the weekend. Rioja was amazing! We went to a winery and i was hoping to get to stomp on some grapes or go out into the vineyard, but the tour we had was still nice! We walked through cellars with bottles of wine more then 120 yrs old! There are layers upon layers of mold on the bottles and dust everywhere, but it was still incredible to see such preservation. The guide told us the wine looses its quality after 3o yrs or so. The oldest wines are still sold, but it is more as a keepsake, not for drinking! Anyways, we learned all about the fermentation process and the different sizes of barrells, how they are stored, etc! We even got to try a tinto reserve. I dont remember what year it was, i think the early 2000's. I was going to buy some wine, but I figured you all would forgive me, because i know that no one in the family is BIG BIG on collecting wine, and bringing it back is not the easiest thing. A lot of people bought wine, but i figured it would save me some stress and more lbs in my suit case to pack other things!
I saw three monasteries this weekend! I dont know why i just wrote an exclamation mark at the end of the first sentence, because they werent THAT exciting. ha. Anyways, i was expecting in my head that i would see some monks walking around, and i had this vision of china and the monks, obviously that vision did not come true. We didnt see any monks because they dont come out in public and the monasteries were more like museums. We didnt really see where they lived and all that. We saw courtyards, and other religious areas. It was interesting, but some was repetitive, and at one of the monasteries the woman spoke way too fast in spanish! I did enjoy two of them, but i definately feel that i do not need to see anymore monasteries anytime soon. They are all relatively the same. Im starting to feel the same about cathedrals, however, some of them had unique additions, like the one in Sevilla wit the tower and 34 levels. Its nice to appreciate the cathedrals, but a lot of the little rooms inside the actual church show the same sceneces of jesus, mary, and his life/crucification. I definately enjoy the ceilings, and the equisit detail. It shocks me that they were able to accomplish such artistic beauty so long ago with out all the technology that we have today. Everything was done by hand!
At the cathedral in Burgos there was an additional Cid exhibit! I cant remember if i have written about El Cid. He is like King Arthur only way more famous in for spanish children, they learn about him from a very young age! He is a warrior and a knight. He was banished my the King because the king was pretty much jealous of him! The people love El Cid but the King told the people that if they helped El Cid in anyway by giving him food or a place to stay they might as well be dead because they would be excommunicated! Everyone was too ashamed to tell El Cid why they couldnt open the door of the city for him, only a little child had the guts to say something. The king had found to horrible men to marry his daughters. El Cid was angry about this so he challenged the two potential husbands to a tournament with his friend. Of course El Cid and his friend won and with this they wont their honor and respect back from the King!
Now that you know the story, the cathedral was having a temporary exhibit with his tomb and a few paintings.
In Burgos we had time to explore the city. I thought it was going to be a lot smaller then it was! We shopped around for gifts and I even had pizza this weekend! There is this place called Telepizza and its quite similar to PizzaHut or Dominos, but when you miss American food, it really doesnt matter! The first time i had pizza, almost a month ago I thought i was getting canadian bacon on my pizza, but instead i got pieces of hot dog! Thus, it was nice to have hawaiin pizza and have it taste like greasy america!
This is kinda backtracking but i forgot to mention that we went out for Halloween! its not celebrated here but we went out anyways, because there are enough exchange students at the university that we didnt really care about people staring! I bought a little mouse mask and dressed up in a black shirt and tights. It was a lot of fun. I didnt stay out late because we had to leave for our excursion at 9am and i didnt want to be hung over on the bus, like half of my group was...I think im going to miss thanksgiving even more! I love the food and family time. Ohwell! ill get through it. I have been here 6 weeks and i only have 6 more!!
take care everyone! Im off to Barcelona this weekend! I CANT WAIT! We have so much planned!!!!!!
I saw three monasteries this weekend! I dont know why i just wrote an exclamation mark at the end of the first sentence, because they werent THAT exciting. ha. Anyways, i was expecting in my head that i would see some monks walking around, and i had this vision of china and the monks, obviously that vision did not come true. We didnt see any monks because they dont come out in public and the monasteries were more like museums. We didnt really see where they lived and all that. We saw courtyards, and other religious areas. It was interesting, but some was repetitive, and at one of the monasteries the woman spoke way too fast in spanish! I did enjoy two of them, but i definately feel that i do not need to see anymore monasteries anytime soon. They are all relatively the same. Im starting to feel the same about cathedrals, however, some of them had unique additions, like the one in Sevilla wit the tower and 34 levels. Its nice to appreciate the cathedrals, but a lot of the little rooms inside the actual church show the same sceneces of jesus, mary, and his life/crucification. I definately enjoy the ceilings, and the equisit detail. It shocks me that they were able to accomplish such artistic beauty so long ago with out all the technology that we have today. Everything was done by hand!
At the cathedral in Burgos there was an additional Cid exhibit! I cant remember if i have written about El Cid. He is like King Arthur only way more famous in for spanish children, they learn about him from a very young age! He is a warrior and a knight. He was banished my the King because the king was pretty much jealous of him! The people love El Cid but the King told the people that if they helped El Cid in anyway by giving him food or a place to stay they might as well be dead because they would be excommunicated! Everyone was too ashamed to tell El Cid why they couldnt open the door of the city for him, only a little child had the guts to say something. The king had found to horrible men to marry his daughters. El Cid was angry about this so he challenged the two potential husbands to a tournament with his friend. Of course El Cid and his friend won and with this they wont their honor and respect back from the King!
Now that you know the story, the cathedral was having a temporary exhibit with his tomb and a few paintings.
In Burgos we had time to explore the city. I thought it was going to be a lot smaller then it was! We shopped around for gifts and I even had pizza this weekend! There is this place called Telepizza and its quite similar to PizzaHut or Dominos, but when you miss American food, it really doesnt matter! The first time i had pizza, almost a month ago I thought i was getting canadian bacon on my pizza, but instead i got pieces of hot dog! Thus, it was nice to have hawaiin pizza and have it taste like greasy america!
This is kinda backtracking but i forgot to mention that we went out for Halloween! its not celebrated here but we went out anyways, because there are enough exchange students at the university that we didnt really care about people staring! I bought a little mouse mask and dressed up in a black shirt and tights. It was a lot of fun. I didnt stay out late because we had to leave for our excursion at 9am and i didnt want to be hung over on the bus, like half of my group was...I think im going to miss thanksgiving even more! I love the food and family time. Ohwell! ill get through it. I have been here 6 weeks and i only have 6 more!!
take care everyone! Im off to Barcelona this weekend! I CANT WAIT! We have so much planned!!!!!!
Monday, November 5, 2007
Sevilla plus an extended adventure in southern spain!
Sorry this is a week or more late. I have been traveling every weekend! leaving on thursday and not getting back til sunday or monday so i have been very busy!
Anyways I traveled to Sevilla, 12 hrs on the bus! The weather was amazing and i saw all the sites i wanted to see. My hostel was completely different then the first one i stayed in. It was so nice! There were six of us, all girls, and the rooms were either 6 or 8 people, but since we booked them together we had a room all to ourselves with our own bathroom too! very nice! i think i have a few pictures i will try to link to my blog so u can see! there was a little bar in the hostel, and they had planned activities everynight. One night we went to a free flamenco show that a coordinator in the hostel led us to, along with two tapas bars (which have appetizers that are accustom to spain). The show was fun to see, but i definately think it would have been more spectacular and REAL flamenco if we had gone to a show that cost 50 euro. I just wanted to see what it was like, so free was fine for me!
In sevilla there is the 4largest cathedral in all of Europe. There is this huge tower that is 34 levels up. We went to the top and it had the most amazing view of Sevilla! The cathedral is one of the tallest, or maybe the tallest ive seen thus far. The taller they are, the more holy, because it is closer to god (higher in the sky). The altar in this cathedral is the biggest in all of europe. I expected it to be bigger, but it was still grand!
In the cathedral there was an amazing display of gold, which was the treasure room, with acient jewlery and artifacts as well!
Close by, just across the street there is Alcazar which is the palace of where one of the kings used to live. I dont recall which one, i think it was Alfonso and i dont know which roman numeral. i can try to look through my phamplets! so much info that i learn every day it is hard to keep track. Anyways, the palace is known for its amazing garden. Literally the size of a zoo. You feel like you are stepping into an oasis in hawaii in some parts with the tropical trees, flowers, fountains, etc! We walked all around for almost 2 hrs taking picture and enjoying the sites!
In addition, we toured around Sevilla which has a population of almost 1million! I met up with my friend studying in Sevilla but he was exhausted from an exursion he had been on with his program. He hung out with us a little bit one night and wrote down some places for us to go. All the touring made me tired very easily so we drank some wine in our hostel and planned to go out, but that didnt really happen.
One of the front desk workers at our hostel we made friends with. He was flamming and hilariously gay, 24 and from Belgum. He wanted to take us to his gay bar that he said straight people go to as well. He said it was a blast but in Sevilla it cost money to get into a lot of bars and discotecas so we didnt really want to spend money on a gay discoteca if we didnt know if it was going to be that much fun. We followed him to his apartment so he could change clothes and it was already two in the morning. i was definately dragging but i went along anyways. We laughed at the fact that if he was straight we would never go to his apartment, but he was so rediculously gay and funny that 5 girls could definatley beat this guy up! After being in his apartment, where he lived with another girl, we followed him to the bar. This guy had no sense of time! He told us it was only 5 minutes away and it took almost 20. When we got to the club there was a huge line and i really didnt want to spend money since i knew i was super tired and wasnt going to drink much or want to stay long enough to make the 8euros worth it. We ended up hailing 2 cabs and going home. Stan (our gay friend) went off and had the night of his life im sure!
The next evening we shopped around and went to a beautiful park that my friend who is studying here showed us. We did our homework and enjoyed the warm weather that has now vanished from Oviedo!
Our bus was scheduled to leave for 9pm so we had an early dinner and left the hostel at 730 to take a public bus to get to the bus station. Apparently that bus number didnt come on sundays so finally one of the girls went to the hostel to call us two cabs. They couldnt get ahold of the cab company so we walked to the taxi area in front of the mall but no taxis were coming. It was getting closer and closer to when our bus was suppose to leave and two of the girls were about to cry. I was keeping it together because i know that i know more spanish then some of the other girls who dont have as much experience or confidence. Although i am by no means perfect. I asked a man standing behind us for the taxi number and then we called and asked for 2 taxis immediately. One came and i let 4 girls go ahead and stayed to wait for the other taxi with one other girl, who is from Tawain. She knows english, not perfectly though, and barely any spanish, so that was a small worry!
Anyways, a few minutes later a cab came! My friend had told me the name of the bus station was Justas. So i told him el estacion de autobus, Justas. Unfortunately thats the name of the train station so i contradicted myself and he took us to the train station. We only had 15 minutes before our bus left when we got into the cab so we were already pressed for time and hoping that our friends in the other cab could get the bus driver to wait. When we arrived at the train station i didnt know we were at the wrong place because when we arrived at the bus station a few days before i was completely out of it and very tired. We went into the train station thinking it was bus station, and i went out to the platform. I had one of those surreal moments where I step out to the platform and saw trains racing by, not buses and the word renfe which is the type of trains in Spain. My mouth went dry and i panicked! Amy, my tawainese friend, was racing around as i was racing around trying to figure out what the heck to do. Finally i looked up and the time said 859pm. There was no way we could make it to the bus station. Thats when the tears came, I tried to keep it together but i was so overwhelmed.
Finally we caught a cab to the bus station after we realized taking a train would not be worth it at this point because we would have to wait til morning to even leave Sevilla. The women said we couldnt use our bus tickets and we had to buy completely new tickets. If we wanted the same route we took to sevilla we had to wait from 930pm to 6am so i tried to figure out a different way. We ended up purchasing tickets from Sevilla to Madrid on one type of bus and then Madrid to Oviedo. We would leave Sevilla t 1230am instead of 9pm like planned and then get into Oviedo at 130pm instead of 9am like planned. Not THAT bad, but it was 50euro i was not planning on spending! Definately an adventure. I missed one class, but my teacher didnt care, and it was only the class that is teaching us about cultural differences between spain and US. Its only once a week and its in english. Luckily i had a calling card for emergencies, so i called my mom in oregon and she was able to email my program director to tell her what was going on so my host mom and amy´s host mom didnt worry. We had a cell phone, but we didnt have any more minutes on the phone and the places to put minutes on were closed for the night. All we could do was recieve calls, but then our phones battery went low. We tried to plug it in but Amy´s charger was faulty. Lucky that i had my calling card and there were pain phones, however, it did take me almost 20minutes to figure out how they worked exactly!
All in all it was a good experience, and i told my friend nikki she bettet attach me to a leash next weekend when we go to barcelona on the train. Ive decided i dont want to travel in larger groups and this trip made me realize who i enjoy traveling with the most. I like flexible, good friends, that will speak up and take intiative like myself. Amy and i bonded so much in those 14 hours or so. She said she had lots of travel experience and i had Spanish so we needed to just stick together. She was very comforting!
So thats my recent adventure! take care!
Anyways I traveled to Sevilla, 12 hrs on the bus! The weather was amazing and i saw all the sites i wanted to see. My hostel was completely different then the first one i stayed in. It was so nice! There were six of us, all girls, and the rooms were either 6 or 8 people, but since we booked them together we had a room all to ourselves with our own bathroom too! very nice! i think i have a few pictures i will try to link to my blog so u can see! there was a little bar in the hostel, and they had planned activities everynight. One night we went to a free flamenco show that a coordinator in the hostel led us to, along with two tapas bars (which have appetizers that are accustom to spain). The show was fun to see, but i definately think it would have been more spectacular and REAL flamenco if we had gone to a show that cost 50 euro. I just wanted to see what it was like, so free was fine for me!
In sevilla there is the 4largest cathedral in all of Europe. There is this huge tower that is 34 levels up. We went to the top and it had the most amazing view of Sevilla! The cathedral is one of the tallest, or maybe the tallest ive seen thus far. The taller they are, the more holy, because it is closer to god (higher in the sky). The altar in this cathedral is the biggest in all of europe. I expected it to be bigger, but it was still grand!
In the cathedral there was an amazing display of gold, which was the treasure room, with acient jewlery and artifacts as well!
Close by, just across the street there is Alcazar which is the palace of where one of the kings used to live. I dont recall which one, i think it was Alfonso and i dont know which roman numeral. i can try to look through my phamplets! so much info that i learn every day it is hard to keep track. Anyways, the palace is known for its amazing garden. Literally the size of a zoo. You feel like you are stepping into an oasis in hawaii in some parts with the tropical trees, flowers, fountains, etc! We walked all around for almost 2 hrs taking picture and enjoying the sites!
In addition, we toured around Sevilla which has a population of almost 1million! I met up with my friend studying in Sevilla but he was exhausted from an exursion he had been on with his program. He hung out with us a little bit one night and wrote down some places for us to go. All the touring made me tired very easily so we drank some wine in our hostel and planned to go out, but that didnt really happen.
One of the front desk workers at our hostel we made friends with. He was flamming and hilariously gay, 24 and from Belgum. He wanted to take us to his gay bar that he said straight people go to as well. He said it was a blast but in Sevilla it cost money to get into a lot of bars and discotecas so we didnt really want to spend money on a gay discoteca if we didnt know if it was going to be that much fun. We followed him to his apartment so he could change clothes and it was already two in the morning. i was definately dragging but i went along anyways. We laughed at the fact that if he was straight we would never go to his apartment, but he was so rediculously gay and funny that 5 girls could definatley beat this guy up! After being in his apartment, where he lived with another girl, we followed him to the bar. This guy had no sense of time! He told us it was only 5 minutes away and it took almost 20. When we got to the club there was a huge line and i really didnt want to spend money since i knew i was super tired and wasnt going to drink much or want to stay long enough to make the 8euros worth it. We ended up hailing 2 cabs and going home. Stan (our gay friend) went off and had the night of his life im sure!
The next evening we shopped around and went to a beautiful park that my friend who is studying here showed us. We did our homework and enjoyed the warm weather that has now vanished from Oviedo!
Our bus was scheduled to leave for 9pm so we had an early dinner and left the hostel at 730 to take a public bus to get to the bus station. Apparently that bus number didnt come on sundays so finally one of the girls went to the hostel to call us two cabs. They couldnt get ahold of the cab company so we walked to the taxi area in front of the mall but no taxis were coming. It was getting closer and closer to when our bus was suppose to leave and two of the girls were about to cry. I was keeping it together because i know that i know more spanish then some of the other girls who dont have as much experience or confidence. Although i am by no means perfect. I asked a man standing behind us for the taxi number and then we called and asked for 2 taxis immediately. One came and i let 4 girls go ahead and stayed to wait for the other taxi with one other girl, who is from Tawain. She knows english, not perfectly though, and barely any spanish, so that was a small worry!
Anyways, a few minutes later a cab came! My friend had told me the name of the bus station was Justas. So i told him el estacion de autobus, Justas. Unfortunately thats the name of the train station so i contradicted myself and he took us to the train station. We only had 15 minutes before our bus left when we got into the cab so we were already pressed for time and hoping that our friends in the other cab could get the bus driver to wait. When we arrived at the train station i didnt know we were at the wrong place because when we arrived at the bus station a few days before i was completely out of it and very tired. We went into the train station thinking it was bus station, and i went out to the platform. I had one of those surreal moments where I step out to the platform and saw trains racing by, not buses and the word renfe which is the type of trains in Spain. My mouth went dry and i panicked! Amy, my tawainese friend, was racing around as i was racing around trying to figure out what the heck to do. Finally i looked up and the time said 859pm. There was no way we could make it to the bus station. Thats when the tears came, I tried to keep it together but i was so overwhelmed.
Finally we caught a cab to the bus station after we realized taking a train would not be worth it at this point because we would have to wait til morning to even leave Sevilla. The women said we couldnt use our bus tickets and we had to buy completely new tickets. If we wanted the same route we took to sevilla we had to wait from 930pm to 6am so i tried to figure out a different way. We ended up purchasing tickets from Sevilla to Madrid on one type of bus and then Madrid to Oviedo. We would leave Sevilla t 1230am instead of 9pm like planned and then get into Oviedo at 130pm instead of 9am like planned. Not THAT bad, but it was 50euro i was not planning on spending! Definately an adventure. I missed one class, but my teacher didnt care, and it was only the class that is teaching us about cultural differences between spain and US. Its only once a week and its in english. Luckily i had a calling card for emergencies, so i called my mom in oregon and she was able to email my program director to tell her what was going on so my host mom and amy´s host mom didnt worry. We had a cell phone, but we didnt have any more minutes on the phone and the places to put minutes on were closed for the night. All we could do was recieve calls, but then our phones battery went low. We tried to plug it in but Amy´s charger was faulty. Lucky that i had my calling card and there were pain phones, however, it did take me almost 20minutes to figure out how they worked exactly!
All in all it was a good experience, and i told my friend nikki she bettet attach me to a leash next weekend when we go to barcelona on the train. Ive decided i dont want to travel in larger groups and this trip made me realize who i enjoy traveling with the most. I like flexible, good friends, that will speak up and take intiative like myself. Amy and i bonded so much in those 14 hours or so. She said she had lots of travel experience and i had Spanish so we needed to just stick together. She was very comforting!
So thats my recent adventure! take care!
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