Hola, Bilbao!

This past weekend was my first travel weekend outside of Alcala. We went to Bilbao, Spain, which is a city in the north that's part of the Pais Vasco. Here people speak Spanish and Basque, which can be really confusing when you're standing at a kiosk looking for the Basque-translated to Spanish-translated to English version of some pamphlet. However, it was beautiful. We took a 5 hour train up right into the city, and (thanks to me) turned in the opposite direction of our hotel. After cursing my internal compass, we turned back around, crossed the river, and found our hotel.

One of our first stops was the famous Guggenheim with a special exhibit by Anish Kapoor (think "The Bean" in Chicago). I had never even seen pictures of the building and that was incredible, and I was even more amazed to see some of the installations inside. I'm glad they gave out audio tours, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to appreciate those artworks contain one dot on a blank canvas! Here's a photo I took of the building:

Thanks to my very organized friend Claire, we then proceeded to do a self-guided walking tour of the whole city. We went to the Fine Arts museum, which I loved-- once I trekked through the 1500s to the 1900s, I was pleased to see an amazing collection of contemporary art. I was overwhelmed by the huge canvases, bright colors, political/social/artistic statements literally written on pieces, and mixed media. We also walked through small streets with pastelerias, stores, parks, plazas, statues--you name it, we saw it!

That night we tried Basque. Though it didn't seem worth the 20E a person, I was glad to try something different. Here is my duck with apples, peppers, and mushrooms.

Another great thing about Bilbao was it's proximity to Guernica, a city that was completely bombed druing the Guerra Civil de Espana by the Germans. The deaths were especially tragic because it was the first time that the tactic of bombing civilian locations versus military ones was used. Needless to day, almost every building was ruined, except for a few and the exception of one tree. This tree is guarded by large columns, and one of its seeds was planted and its hijo now grows beside it. After a great day in Guernica, we headed back for ice cream, siesta, more walking, dinner (I had a crab/pickle/tomato sandwich thing) and a hookah bar where we met some locals who were teaching us slang and how to say things in Basque.

That evening, we traveled up one of the higest points along the city's edge on the funacular. The trolley took us high above all the buildings and onto the side of a mountain (I forgot to mention that--the city sits between gorgeous mountains and is a short ride away from the coast!) where we could get off and take pictures.

Finally, the next morning before we took the train back to Alcala, we stopped by the coast to see the Bay of Biscay. It was surrounded by cliffs and green hills which we hiked up a bit to get some photos in. It was an amazing day so people were out and about with surfboards and picnics, and it was definitely worth the half hour train ride!

Well, that about sums it up. I have a meeting in about four minutes to practice my spanish with a local. Another great thing about Espana--being late is okay ;)

More later. Bye!

Another reason why I love this place...

*Good evening! I should really be in bed right now, but I made the mistake of drinking a cup of coffee about an hour ago. The coffee isn't anything really special compared to American coffee, but one thing that's noticeably different is the sugar packets. Imagine a dinky, tiny, American sugar packet. Double the size (no exaggeration) and fill the entire thing up with sugar. The US is definitely holding out on us when it comes to condiments; all the stuff here is stuffed to the brim. I guess it's one thing I should've realized before pouring in the whole sugar packet.


*This is not the reason why I love this place. Keep reading.


*Secondly, I'm going on my first weekend getaway tomorrow! Kyle, Claire and I are going to Bilbao, a city in the north of Spain known for the Guggenheim. For more information, click here. Also, our professor from Butler (aka the woman that I want to grow up to be) is from there and she gave us a whole list of things to do. I'm excited, but it doesn't feel like I'm going on vacation since this whole semester feels like vacation.


*Also not the reason why I love this place. Keep reading.


Finally, another reason why I love, love, love Spain is going to be told to you in story-form:
One day (ie, today) a really smart, creative girl (ie, me) limped to class to learn about the history of Madrid from the 1700s to about the 1800s. She wasn't overly-enthusiastic, but she was sure she was going to learn something interesting.


She was listening to a lecture about "El dos de mayo de 1808" (the one-day battle where Napoleon took over the whole of Madrid in a suprise attack) when all of a sudden, the powerpoint referenced The Plaza del Dos de Mayo (I know you're not excited yet, but trust me). Now, in 1808 this was called the Parque de Artillería de Monteleón. It was here where about 70 Spanish soldiers bravely stood up to the French in a brutal battle before being conquered. These men were heroes.


As she listened to this lecture, her mind began to wander. Where do I know this Plaza? And then it occurred to her (with a little guidance from her professor): During La Noche en Blanco, when the Butler group was all jumping around hitting hundreds of beach balls in this gigantic game of childish craziness, they were standing on the one and only Plaza del Dos de Mayo. TELL ME WHERE THIS WOULD HAPPEN IN THE STATES.


Moral of the story: I'm not a huge history buff, and I'm pretty awful at chronology and dates, but it's unreal to be standing on a huge piece of history almost everywhere you go. I love it.


Well, I should get some sleep--I have a 5am wakeup tomorrow (I'll be ready Claire, I promise!) but when I'm home from the weekend I'll have plenty of great pictures to share.


Adi :)

Las Fotos!

Here's a few pictures from around Alcala:

These HUGE nests belong to ciguenas (storks) and I think they're so beautiful!

A lot of the puertas (doors) around Alcala look like this

My madre's great-nephew...i think!

Mural, painted on the Calle (street) Mayor

Just a building--with a lot of nests on it :)

This was taken at the Plaza de Cervantes (Cervantes wrote Don Quijote)

Sorry it's so small, but this is the seal for my university!

The vista (view) from my window

Ventana (window) #2

Oh no!

Hi everyone! Bad news--I know for sure my foot is sprained. Walking really hurts, but don't worry mom, I'm taking care of myself! It just happens that the only First Aid I know is the "RICE" formula for sprains...go figure.

But even though I'm uncomfortable, it's been a great learning experience. Here's some new vocab:
esguince: sprain
presion sobre mi pie: pressure on my foot
venda elastica: elastic bandage
compresion: compression
tirar de: to pull down

There's other good news: I've officially booked flights to Paris, Rome, and Lisbon! I'm very excited to start making plans for those weekends (but homework, unfortunately, comes first).

Sorry it's such a short entry; I have class now! More later :)

M

Feliz Cumpleanos, Lope de Vega, y La Noche en Blanco!

Thursday was Jordan's 21st--she's one of the Butler students on this trip. To celebrate, the whole group got together and went to a Mexican restaurant, a bar called La Paloma (owned by Kyle's host padre here in Spain) and a discoteca called CanCan. Here we are at the Plaza de Cervantes before walking to get dinner!

It was a lot of fun, but somewhere along the way I sprained something in my foot and it REALLY hurts. I need to find a place that has hielo (ice) because it's not common to have ice machines in households here.

The next morning, we (almost) all woke up bright an early for our first class 'field trip' for Professor Willem's Culture in Madrid class. We met at the estacion del tren to go into Madrid. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted and looked like this:

Our first stop was La Casa de Lope de Vega, who was famous for his plays. He was as influential as Shakespeare; however, no one really knows why he was never as widely known. We couldn't take photos inside his house, but it was really neat to see a recreation of what it looked like hundreds of years ago. It's so interesting to see tours like this because we don't have the same kind of rich history in the States! After the tour, we all went to see "Lope," a new movie that just came out about his life before he wrote plays. I think 90% of us slept through the whole thing, but we were exhausted from walking all day!
The next day (yesterday) we all went to La Noche en Blanco. A lot of major cities in Europe participate in this "white night" where the whole city opens up with free events all night long! It can be overwhelming if you don't have a plan, but we mapped out a few places we wanted to see and as a fairly large group we hopped the train and went exploring. We saw this African techno music performance at this beautiful palacio and a GIANT group of people hitting around hundreds of beach balls! There was great people watching and everything was so colorful. Here are a few pictures of what we saw:

This was part of the African techno concert we saw

This doesn't give it any justice, but here was the gigantic beach-ball crowd!

Men and women were getting painted inside a shop window

More later!
M

Por que? Estamos en Espana!

Living here doesn't just mean adjusting to the language, it means adjusting to everything cultural. Here are some things I've learned so far:

1. Restuarants are very different. First of all, beer and wine are like water, and a lot of times are included as part of a meal. We've been to a restaurant where you only pay for a drink and get free tapas (one small plate of food; nice when you want to try a few different things!). Also, people don't tip here like they do in the States. If someone does an outstanding job, I guess you'd give them a little something, but it's not expected or required.

2. Planning is good, but don't expect a schedule here! If you're going to buy a pair of shoes right before their 'official' hours are over, be careful- I've noticed that if business is slow and people just don't feel like keeping their stores open, they'll just close up and head home early. Also, "siesta" (the hours between 2 and 4:30 where people close shops, nap, and eat lunch) is great...but everything does close! Many restaurants won't even be open during that time.

3. Face to face communication is the only way to get things done. People don't use email like we do. If I have a question for school, I'll be hunting down the professor before opening up my laptop because even if he/she reads it, receiving a response isn't supposed to be expected.

4. Personal space is very different. When greeting a Spaniard (or even meeting them for the first time) you kiss them on both cheeks. Also, when talking to people, it's common to stand close to them. I'm an '18-inches-of-personal-space, please' kind of gal and it was difficult at first to be comfortable with my face RIGHT NEXT to someone else's! I love the people, though; everyone wants to talk to you or help you if you approach them. It's going to be a great way to practice the language.

5. Clothing styles are very different here. Picture MChammer pants with crotches to the knees and elastic at the ankles. I bought some (porque estoy en Espana!) but they're nothing like I've seen at home. Also, Spaniards can tell we're foreigners by our shoes. Everyone wears heels or strappy flat sandles, and we're in gym shoes and flip flops.

Now for some vocabulary practice:
"Vale" means "okay" and is used A LOT.
Yo no lo sabia (I didn't know that)...used a lot by me
Dime (pronounced dee-may) or digame (deega-may): Talk to me...used when answering the phone

I'm loving it here. I love the food (2pm lunch time, 10pm dinnertime), the nightlife (everyone is out between 3 and 6am), the exercise I get (there is a fantastic transportation system here and I'm walking everywhere), the people, the language, my classes...everything! So far I'm understanding strangers when I talk to them. Also, miraculously, I can take notes in Spanish while listening to the professor say supplimentary things in Spanish (which takes a ton of brain power) but I don't think my classes will be harder than average.

I haven't taken a ton of photos here yet because I've been too distracted, but hopefully I'll post more soon!

M

Day four (or five?) catch-up!

So much to tell already! Two days ago we had our orientation of Madrid. We took the train down with all of us (including our professor and her husband) in these awful matching touristy-looking shirts and spent the whole day taking everything in. Honestly, I don't remember too many details because I was overwhelmed, but it was gorgeous! I don't know much about European architecture, but the style of close buildings, iron, and old/antique neutral colors that I found in Alcala I just found on a BIGGER scale in the big city. Needless to say, the trip was almost TOO informative--our professor and Esteban are wonderful, but a bit detail oriented. By the end of the day, we all looked like this:

However, today I'm going into the city with a few friends, so we'll see how that goes!

Yesterday I was invited to go with my madre to meet her extended family. It was a LOT of spanish to take in! I couldn't follow the conversation quickly enough to say much, but it was so exciting to just take in all the customs and traditions of such a close-knit family. It's not like the states--people tend to stick around by their families. It's not uncommon for an unmarried son/daugter at 30 to still live with his/her parents! Here's a picture of my madre and her niece (I think...I was starting to get confused as more people came over.) We ate soup con pepinos (pickles in this case) and big chunks of cebolla (onion). Then we had chickpeas and potatoes, carrots, meat, bread, and melon. I was stuffed! I also learned some new words: caracoles (snails--the three year old had caught about ten and he was throwing them around and smushing their bodies on top of things), tripa (stomach), sudor (sweat), and estoy pegado (in this case, I'm stuck, I can't get up, I'm hit-- Miguel was also complaining he was stuck on the ground so I would have to save him). Overall, it was a great day.

But it's not over! Last night I met up with Kyle and Claire to go shopping (I looked TOO MUCH like a foreigner! I bought a dress and two pairs of 'diaper pants' as I'm now calling them.. they are very European) to wear out. Then we met up with our friend Rebecca who is doing a teach/study program to get her Master's in Alcala as well. We met her roommates and 8 of us went bar-hopping and to a discoteca. (Don't worry mom, I just ordered coca-cola!) It was a lot of fun, but I didn't get in until about 4am! The night life starts a lot later out here. People weren't dancing until about two! I'm glad I got to see so much my first weekend here..it already feels like I've learned so much about Spanish culture. Looking forward to Madrid today--more later!

La Orientacion

Hey there! It's about 9pm and my mama is cooking dinner, so I thought I'd post.

Today was our first day inside the university. It was like kindergarten all over again--my madre fixed me a merienda (snack) and walked me to school!

We began our orientation around 9am by taking a placement exam (easy!) and learning about how insurance covers death but not stolen items. We also got a tour of the university. Even though we are a part of Instituto Franklin, we have access to everything on campus--including excursions to castles, museums, events...all for free! I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of some of those opportunities :)

After the tour of Alcala and the University, orientation was over and we were on our own! As adultos, we have the freedom to explore the city without a chaperone. And as 8 of us broke off from the group and decided where to go, there was one place on everyone's mind: CELL PHONES.

I can't even begin to explain how confusing, frustrating, fun, and rewarding it was to walk in to a store and figure out which phones/plans to buy. After writing this it seems SO easy, but trust me--it was a MESS. First of all, the dependiente that was helping us spoke zero english. Secondly, the plans aren't like American plans. The promotional minutes are different, you pay by Euros and not by Minutes (even with a pay-as-you-go), and on top of it, their definition of pay-as-you-go is DIFFERENT than ours! It took eight minds, one dependiente, and one stranger (who has a daughter in Kentucky and knows how we feel) to get everyone on the same page. Needless to say, we passed our first test! Here's a photo of the result (note how we are sitting...speaking is tiring!):

Afterward, we met up with ALL the Butler guys and gals (with our handy-dandy cell phones) to try our first tapas bar. The tapas were free-as long as we paid for the drinks! So we all had cervezas or sangria (que sabrosa!) and tried different tapas. Everone was brave and tried new foods, except for las gulas. When the waiter brought it to us, I asked what it was. His answer? Like meat, but the part of a fish. In other words, stringy, worm-looking, fishy-tasting, grossness. I chickened out. I could smell it from the other side of the table and couldn't even do it. My madre said later that when it's good and authentic, it can be really expensive. And it's not as strong as it smells!

Here's a photo so you get the idea:

                                                                      

Tonight a group of us are checking out Alcala nightlife and tomorrow we have a day trip to Madrid to learn the public transit. More later!

M

Day One!

Hello everyone!

I'm officially here safe and sound. Surprisingly, there weren't any crazy mishaps--most of the Butler students sat by each other on the plane (everyone was jealous; I was the only one who slept almost the whole trip...Tylenol PM is magic) and we all got our luggage right when we landed. Professor Willem met us at the airport and we took a bus to Alcala where we met our mamas.

Everyone here eats lunch around 2pm, so after I got settles my mama made me and Danielle, another Butler student, a TON of food- we ate salad, eggplant (berenjena), potatoes, chicken, bread, soup, AND peaches (melocotones). I definitely won't starve out here. We also watched Spanish Wheel of Fortune and immediately thought of my mama (my real mama, not my spanish mama)...this is probably the ONLY time I'll ever be able to beat her at this game!

I got a chance to walk through the city a bit with Danielle. It's rainy and overcast today, but in the next day or two it should be 95 and sunny! Here's a picture of part of La Universidad that we saw:

Hopefully that worked. Well, I'm going to see if my mama needs any help cooking dinner (we'll eat at about 9 or 10) and I'll try to put more photos on facebook in the next few days. Adios!