Salamanca and Valladolid

This weekend we journeyed to a couple of university towns, Salamanca on Friday then Valladolid on Saturday. We've had a lot of tour guides so far, but our Salamanca guide was by far the best:) Sevilla was a good guide too, but this one was just so fun! And she had a mic so we could hear her...biased maybe? Mostly her title is earned of her own volition though. Salamanca has SUCH a beautiful cathedral! All cathedrals are wonderful, don't get me wrong, but they are definitely not all created equal. Stepping into the cathedral in Salamanca literally took my breath away. My favorite part of Salamanca, however, was the free time:) It was a Friday night in Salamanca, a university town, and it was great to just be able to be a part of it! We found the SICK rap battle. Spanish rap...love it. Need to become more familiar with it, for sure. From there we explored to find the river...I don't think we ever found it. But we found a skate park! That felt SOOOO American, they had American music playing, the clothes, the skateboards...excpet the park was right next to a Roman bridge. Like, an oooold Roman bridge. So that was a little less homey:) Through further exploration we found this EPIC poetry reading (not a reading of epic poetry...a poetry reading of epic proportions) at the Casa de las Conchas. There was a kind of light show on the side of the building and the readers were all in different windows and lit with spotlight...Enya was playing, which alone upped the epic factor at least 30%. We ended up in the Plaza Mayor. It was dark by now so it was great to see it all lit up and just sit and chill with the rest of the Spanish hordes and eat our gummies:) Our gummy obsession is...not diminished in any way by travel. Augmented, if anything.

So Valladolid is one of the newer cities in Spain. It wasn't Visigoth, Roman, Muslim, anything before it was founded in 1072. So it's pretty young, really. The best part about Valladolid was DEFINITELY the food:) But what else is new? We had some free time exploring the city after a quick tour of a sculpture museum and various other sites, but then we headed a few miles out of the city to a bodega where they had a FEAST prepared for us. It's good I'm blogging about this the same day, bc I still may have trouble remembering everything we ate. But we get there and we have to descend into the restaurant, it's built in a hill. We literally ate in a cave:) A cave! Man. That was so cool. It was like a hobbit house. But there was SO MUCH FOOD, far more than any hobbit could eat. We started with bread, jamón and chorizo ibérico, and queso. Ohhh such good queso. And bread. And jamón and chorizo. Then there was salad and tortilla española (holla!) and blood sausage (not nasty! Actually kinda delicious. Still not really clear on what blood sausage is...and I wanna keep it that way) and grilled vegetables and wild mushrooms and we finished off with lamb cutlets, finger style. Dessert consisted of Magnum Minis!!! Bite-sized Magnum ice cream bars! Ooooohooo man. I ate soooooo much. And I will still probably eat a ton at dinner in a few minutes. When I get home, I have got to hit that exercise bike like no other and re-learn how to eat small meals every two hours as opposed to my body weight in food twice a day. Jenessa and I are also probably hit up the Magnum bars we have in the freezer that we bought from a grocery store. We did we bring such a delicious temptation into the house? Bc we have no self-control. Do we regret it? Ha! Yeah right.

Post-dinner update:

Ate way too much at dinner (fajitas), including Pepita's infamous bizcocho (like pound cake. Amaaaazing pound cake that she only makes ONCE A WEEK. Amazing). No Magnum tonight.

A dormir:)

Family Home Evening

Family Home Evening is pretty much amazing in Spain. Monday night we had pseudo-FHE at the Jardín Botánico next to the Prado. It's so pretty! Not as cool as the jardines in the south, but it does a good job. After that I ended up going to a seminar given by a contemporary Spanish video artist. How ridiculous is that?!? I was in the Reina Sofia, watching some sweet video art with the artist RIGHT THERE. That's cool anywhere, let alone in the Reina Sofia. I did a loooot of research about video art this past semester for my internship with the Museum of Art on campus, so I was even more nerdily excited when I found out he was a video artist.

Real FHE consisted of a visit to the Prado (my fourth) with our maestra Rebeca. It was interesting to hear more about the significance of Renaissance art, but I was SO tired...I don't remember much. After the Prado we went to Retiro Park to row boats on the little lake there in the middle of the park and get a Magnum. Still the only kind I have tried is Temptation Chocolate. I figured out what's in it! Pieces of dark and white Belgian chocolate and brownie. Aaaaah-mazing. Rowing boats was so fun too:) My back is killing me today and I rowed for maybe ten minutes. Who has two thumbs and is a whimp? This girl. Pretend I'm pointing at myself with my thumbs. For dinner a group of us went to a kebab place in Alcalá. Th Turks have invaded Europe with their kebab restaurants. I'm not complaining, it was sooooo yummy! I can't believe it's taken me so long to get to a kebab place, they're everywhere.

Oh! So for breakfast every day we eat toast and Colacao, right? Well. We started with peach jam. When that was gone, we had strawberry, then back to peach. One morning we were surprised with cream al cacao, a fantastic chocolate spread similar to Nutella without the hazelnut and not shiny. For awhile that was all we had. That with Colacao is a lot of chocolate for the morning, so I drank manzanilla (chamomille tea) for a few days or ate one of my two pieces of toast with olive oil and salt. Then the peach jam came back:) Chocolate spread still isn't gone. Let me tell you. Both of them together? HEAVEN. With the perfect balance, you can't exactly taste the peach, but the sweetness of the jam combines with the rich chocolate to temper it and make it just divine. The chocolate's almost gone though...sigh. Who knows what will be next? :) Also, have I mentioned how much I miss milk? This boxed milk thing is not workin for me. Also I still want a burger. Even McDonalds burgers aren't as good. Yes, I succumbed and ate at McDonalds. The first time was for a Toblerone McFlurry tho so I thought that was pretty valid. And delicious. Yum-my.

Probably I should pay attention in class a little more now. Probably.

Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada, and Úbeda

I’ve been realizing that taking the time to sit down and blog about what’s been happening is basically impossible. We are always ALWAYS moving and if we’re not moving, we’re sleeping or eating. So! I am currently sitting in class (the “study” part of this Study Abroad) and semi-paying attention to the reconquista of Asturias en the ninth century. This final may not go so well.

This past week we had a PHENOMENAL excursion to Andalucía, a region in southern Spain. As c-c-cold and frigid as Segovia and Ávila were, Andalucía was the complete opposite. En serio, it was gloriously warm and sunny the whole four days we were there. It’s been sunny since here in Alcalá as well, but Andalucía is a few degrees warmer, there’s sand and palm trees everywhere…it’s just beautiful! I wouldn’t want to be there ANY later in the year tho because dang. It really was warm. We were in heaven:)

Man. The teacher keeps walking to the back of the room.; This may be more difficult than I thought. Don’t worry, Mom and Dad. I’m still paying attention:) I even answered a question!

So Wednesday we drove first to Córdoba to see the Mezquita de Córdoba, the most important mosque in Muslim Spain. Córdoba is unlike any of the other cities we’ve seen so far. It looked like something out of Aladdin or ancient Arabia. Yellow sand everywhere and palm trees and old buildings that matched the landscape. Oh and ice cream shops everywhere. Really authentic. We started out with some free time for food and exploring before we met up again with our guide, Antonio. We brought him with us from Madrid. The houses in Córdoba are white to reflect the sun, but the doors and even windows sometimes are outlined with a thick border of vibrant yellow. That yellow comes from a paint mixed with jojoba, a natural pesticide that keeps mosquitoes (didn’t know that was pluralized with an e) out. Isn’t that sweet? Old school insect repellent. They didn’t need no citronella tiki-torches. Also in Córdoba and Andalucía in general are beautiful patios. The streets are lined with the white walls of the houses (more like condominiums) and each door opens up to a patio filled with flowers or fountains and sunshine and cute benches… Some of them literally just have pots and pots of flowers. Everywhere. Others are more classic with a fountain, some nice shade, benches…I love fountains. Any garden is made ten times better with a fountain. And we’ve seen a lot of sweet gardens.

Oh. You know what? The white houses with the yellow door borders may have been Sevilla…yeah pretty sure that was Sevilla. Hee:) It was a VERY busy four days with not a lot of sleeping and a lot of walking, so it all blurs together. I can’t even remember what I wore very well and it was only four days. Did I mention I didn’t sleep much?

One thing I KNOW was in Córdoba was the Mezquita. Would that I were a poet, or even a good writer, to be able to capture the beauty and true awesomeness (the literal definition, not the surfer-dude definition) of that building. I’d learned about it in art history and seen pictures and such, but being there was such an incredible experience. Despite the innumerable columns and double arches, the space felt surprisingly expansive and uplifting. One element of Islamic art is “horror vacui” (trill your r’s as you say that one), which is a fear of empty space, so every inch was covered with immaculate carvings. Religious Islamic art is without figures of people or animals, so there are intricate patterns of shapes and flowers and calligraphy from the Quran. The walls are so thickly decorated that while we were touring the building, there was a woman vacuuming the wall. Literally. Vacuum. On the wall. In jest I said, “When do they bring out the toothbrush?” but sure enough, on our way out we saw here detailing with a tiny tiny brush. Was it a toothbrush? Probably not, But it was definitely a small bristled utensil. Sound like a toothbrush? I think so.

The double arches have alternating polychromatic stone with red accents. Everywhere you look there are just columns and arches everywhere. Catholic architecture is about wide open space and bringing people together to worship. Islamic architecture facilitates solitude and the individual’s worship, hence the sea of columns. Even just walking through alone as we explored after the tour was an experience.

So…you know the Catholics? After their Reconquista of Muslim Spain, they destroyed a lot of beautiful art and culture. I’m not even Muslim and it’s a sore subject. In the Mezquita, the Catholics demolished a good portion to construct a cathedral, so there in a corner of the mosque is a huge cathedral…it’s a lovely cathedral, but it’s really odd to be there where the two worlds collide. I didn’t spend much time in that corner. It just felt wrong.

Man this blog entry is forever long. Props if you’ve made it this far.

After departing from beautiful Córdoba, we drove to Sevilla to eat and sleep. Boooy did we eat. It was our only meal as a group so we went all out. It was a real Sevillian feast! Andalucía is the olive-producing capital of the world so there were plates of olives waiting for us when we got there. Such. Phenomenal. Olives. I’m not a huge black olive fan, but these green olives I could not get enough of. Pits and everything, they were so delicious. We had a typical Spanish salad of lettuce, tomato, etc. Very simple, all covered in olive oil and vinegar. Then! Some other delicious salad with tomato and tuna…oh and then some fried zucchini. Wow. SO good. Then they brough our entries. For me, pez espada:) That’s right. Sword ish. It was kinda like a fish/chicken texture and it was soooo delicious. An Andalucian specialty is huevos revualtas, or really fancy scrambled eggs. Those were good too, but I loooved my swordfish. The bacalao was also amazing, maybe even a little better than the swordfish. But I’ll get that next time. To drink I had pineapple juice. Things like that aren’t as sweet here so it was so refreshing. Oh, did I mention we didn’t eat until about 10:30? Yeah. Spain. Late meals. Luckily we stayed up waaaay too late that night (and the subsequent nights) playing Scum. I spent a lot of time as Scum that first night. But then I won BS! So…that’s cool. I had three nines. Oh also with dinner: flan. FINALLY I got my genuine Spanish flan! The dessert plate was a combination of flan-like treats, and all of it was absolutely phenomenal. Flan is my favorite dessert. Ever. Even more than chocolate. I know right? But it’s been like that since high school. And now I’m in flan heaven. Flan. HEAVEN.

The next day we spent entirely in Sevilla. We started with a walking tour of the ancient city. That’s where I learned about those white walls and yellow pesticide paints:) Sevilla is GORGEOUS, have I mentioned that? There’s a river that extends through the city that cruise ships can use and pull right up to the middle of the city. Okay, maybe not the exact middle, but they are right in there. Again: palm trees. Gorgeous! By way of crazy old buildings we toured, there was a cathedral and a palace? I honestly cannot remember…lunch was good tho! It took like an HOUR to get my food but it took me probably six minutes to down that plate of delicious spaghetti. Yeah they have good Italian food in Spain:) Also another garden…man I wish I could remember. So much beautiful Muslim architecture. Christian too, but this trip was our first real immersion in Islamic art. Looooved it. Clearly loved it enough to remember the names of the places we went:)

There was this one place with a sweet tower that had a phenomenal view of the city…man I gotta figure out where we went!!!! This is killin me.

Thursday night we had the good fortune of attending the flamenco museum there in Sevilla. First we got to go through a little exhibit of the history, the costumes, etc, then we had a rhythm class with the resident singer. It was sooo fun! We got to sit on these box/seat drums and drum away. The teacher, the singer in residence, was one of those individuals that I will remember for the rest of my life. While we would drum or clap our assigned rhythm, he would sing along and give us a taste of the flamenco flavor. We had no idea just what he could do. Mabel, the program directors wife, asked him to sing something more for us, he had a beautiful voice. When he asked what he should sing we told him to sing his favorite. His favorite song is one that he himself wrote after his mother passed away five years ago. She died of a tumor so her death was not sudden, but he is a very sensitive spirit so his family never let on just how sick she was. For him, it really was a jolt to the system. It changed how he sings. Now, he always sings with all of his soul, all of his passion, all of who he is releases when he sings. We were just in a small room so his powerful voice penetrated me to the core. His anguish was tangible. After our museum visit we went to the main floor for the espectáculo de flamenco. There was a guitarist, the singer, a rhythm guy who clapped, and a male and female dancer (both beautiful). This was one of those experiences that leaves a mark on the soul and slightly changes who you are and how you think. Each and every person on that stage had such fire and energy. I can’t imagine living with that much passion and having the talent to harness and express it so brilliantly. At the end of the show my mind was literally blown. Everyone was chattering on about how amazing it was and how incredible the dancing and the music was…for me talking about it all so soon would have cheapened it. I kind of joined in but I was still try to process what I felt, let alone why I felt that way. It was like an electric charge had coursed through my veins. Their presence was tangible and intoxicating. I wish I could better illustrate with words just how incredible it was. I kept thinking of a painting by John Singer Sargent, El Jaleo (see above). The ferocity of the dance, the shouts of olé, the cantante with his head thrown back, the energy of the spectacle. I wish I had a video recording of it to preserve the memory forever, but one thing I do know: I am SO coming back to Spain if only to eat Pepita’s tortilla española and see a flamenco show.

Friday we drove to Granada. Again: Palm trees. Here I KNOW we saw the Alhambra:) The drive to the Alhambra was sooo lovely. Brilliant white houses, green trees, terracotta roof tiles. The Alhambra was the Muslim palace, later taken over by the Christians, surprise surprise. It is an enormous complex where the king and his subjects lived. More gardens, more beautiful architecture. The Cuartos de los Leones was under some serious construction, which was a bummer, but that place is basically the 8^th Wonder of the world. We only had a couple of hours to enjoy it all in all. Reservations have to be made five or six months in advance, it’s nuts! They only let 1000 people through a day. Oh!!! Also all over Andalucia? Orange trees! They are sooo wonderful. You’re lookin around, seein some sweet trees, then all of a sudden in all that green you see a vibrant point of orange glow. It’s fantastic:) I tried one of the oranges at the Alhambra and it was soooo sour. These kinds of oranges are used more for jam. Spain is really good at jam. I’ve never eaten so much peach jam in my life. Also peach juice. Yum. Where was I? Oh. Oranges. The leaves of the orange tree smell amazing.

Before the Alhambra, we had free time for lunch and exploration. After some tortilla española, we went off to find the Frederico Garcia Lorca park. He’s a famous Spanish author with a truly great park. After lunch we went to the cathedral where Ferdinand and Isabel are buried. Yeah. I was in the same building as their skeletons. And some phenomenal Flemish art.

After the Alhambra we went back to the hotel to find dinner. A group of us ate at this phenomenal Chinese restaurant with ridiculously cheap and amazing food. I had shark fin soup, fried rice, orange duck, and flan. Yeah:) Flan in a Chinese restaurant! Brilliant. This was one of the funniest nights of my life. It loses some of its charm in the retelling, but I’ma try it anyway. The whole night we’d had a hard time understanding our waitress and the waiter and there was a lot lost in translation…it was hilarious. Luckily we were the only people in the restaurant for the most part because we were pretty loud…anyway, it comes time for dessert. The options were flan, ice cream, coffee, pineapple, and some sort of tea infusion. When we asked what kind of ice cream there was, she repeated “coffee, pineapple, and infusion”. Remember: this is a group of Americans speaking Spanish to a Chinese lady with an accent. The three that wanted ice cream ordered “piña,” or pineapple. As a joke I said “watch, they’ll all get slices of pineapple on a plate.” Surely enough, the waiter came out with three plates of pineapple. You had to be there to understand just how hilarious it was, but it was the perfect capstone to the night:) We laughed til we cried, it was brilliant.

Saturday we left Granada for home, with a stop in Úbeda along the way. Úbeda is a cute little city with a cathedral, probably a palace. We were only there for an hour to get lunch, but we parked near a lookout point from which we could see “el mar de olivos”, the Olive Sea. It’s an area of Andalucía with olive groves that extend far beyond the horizon in every direction. It was beautiful! So many olive trees. Lunch for me consisted of tortilla española, claro. Honestly, Saturday I was just excited to get home. Four days is a lot of fun at once. I’m still catching up from all those nights in a row with so few hours of sleep:)

This week we’re going to Madrid (as always), hopefully Toledo again, Salamanca, and Valladolid. Also, I’m gonna stop promising pictures. Be ready in a month tho. When I get home? Photo. City.

Oh! One last thing. I went to the Thyssen and the Palacio Real earlier this week. Also! There was this phenomenal used book fair in Madrid near the Plaza de Cibeles. Kiosk after kiosk of old Spanish books. I was in heaven. The Thyssen is a museum, one I’d never heard of until the day before we went. Tuesday was national free museum day so we definitely took advantage and visited one the most expensive ones. The Thyssen blew me away! I had no idea what to expect, but right when we walked in there were four Rodin captives with a Tintoretto painting serving as the back drop. Seeing the Rodin sculptures literally took my breath away. I had no idea! The Thyssen certainly doesn’t host many masterpieces, but the woman has a phenomenal collection of a very wide variety of art. A lot of modern American artists like Rothko, Pollock, etc. It was just a good taste of EVERYTHING and it took us three solid hours to get through it! There was a special Monet exhibit as well that was neat to see. The Palacio Real was ridiculous. So much luxury! I can’t even imagine Versailles. Same idea. Muuuuch bigger scale. Some day.

Every Sunday night there's a program we watch during dinner entitled "España en la memoria". It's a great PBS type show where they interview famous Spaniards or recount historical events all about Spain now and then. It's so great! I want the DVDs, it's such a great way to learn about the country. Check it out! Last night's was about a TV producer who had a sweet show called "Aplauso". He had guests like Abba, Kiss, the Bee Gees, big Spanish artists, everyone. It aired in the 70s. Speaking of old school music, after dinner Pepita showed us her record collection. So much New Kids! Her kids had great taste in American pop music. NKOTB (even the Christmas album), Marky Mark, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue, Vanilla Ice. Man. I am so excited to crank up their record player and give 'em a listen!

Class is over, hallelujah! A comer=D (that means to eat)

I wanna soak up the sun

So I should probably avoid Segovia and Ávila in mid-May. Honestly, there was snow on the ground. I thought I left all that in Provo but uh apparently we did not. It was FREEZING yesterday! Did we still have fun? Ohh-ho yeah. We started in this random little church in Segovia that screamed "Indiana Jones", a little Templar church from 11th or 12th century. Then we went to a sweet castle in Segovia and an even sa-WEETer cathedral. In Ávila we went to a cathedral and then walked around the top of the wall that surrounds the original city. Oh! Also in Segovia: Roman. Aqueduct. 1st century. Seriously, I was nerdily excited about that.

But! The best part about yesterday: the food. Okay, ultimate best parts: Ávila wall and the aqueduct. But! Each little town has it's own particular treat, like a dessert-type, right? Well. I have found my favorite so far: Yema of Ávila. It's is sooo rich but sooo deliciously creamy and smooth and delicious. Deliciously delicious. I can't even describe it, I've never eaten anything like it before. Then in Segovia the treat was Ponche. I didn't even know about it until we were leaving, but it's like a cinnamon roll-ish treat. Back in Toledo it's mazipan. That's right, mazipan. It's like not-nasty marzipan. I'm excited to try more indigenous treats!

This week, Jenessa and I have invaded a gummy candy store almost daily. It is so cheap here! We usually get it on the way home from the train to accompany our end-of-the-day gossip but once we got it to eat in the movie theatre in Madrid when we saw ROBIN HOOD. Holy crap, I love that movie. We were originally gonna see Iron Man 2 but when we realized that Robin Hood was playing (the day before it was released in America...?) we saw that instead. Iron Man can wait;) It was so cool seeing it in a Spanish theatre. We saw it in English but there were a few things that only our row and a few other English-speakers would laugh at because the subtitles didn't truly capture the joke or whatnot. It was awesome:) Also that movie is awesome.

Another dulce indulgence: pastries. When I leave Spain, I will simultaneously always want a pastry and never want a pastry again because the postres here are SO PHENOMENAL but when I go back to America I know they will no longer satisfy my craving. Sigh. Again, I wish I could explain. I've never been a huge pastry fan but here? You can't not be. I'm turning into a pastry elitist.

Finally: Magnum. I have never been a crazy ice cream fan, and especially not ice cream bars (unless it's a fudgsicle. I love me some fudgsicle. Fudgsicle is officially the weirdest word to type) but here? Yeah. The Magnum Temptation Chocolate...yikes. Imagine the best chocolate ice cream loaded with pieces of white chocolate and some other bits of sweet goodness I can't yet identify and then cover it in really rich, creamy, just quality milk chocolate. Hooo mama, so great.

Okay. I just got a ton of pictures from Jenessa that I need to sort through and then I may FINALLY post some pictures this weekend:)

Feliz día de San Isidro!

El Escorial

So to preface: I was totally sick this weekend. How lame is that?! Sick! In Spain! I know, totally dumb. But on Saturday we went to El Escorial! It’s this sweet monastery/palace concoction about an hour from Madrid built for Phillip II. I bet it was more than an hour from the heart of metropolitan Madrid for him, eh? Anyway, this place is AAAAmazing. So beautiful! Every Spanish king and their significant others have been buried there for centuries. Honestly, I was a leeetle disappointed until we got to the burial chamber. It was like descending into the Phantom’s lair, I tell ya. We went from a cool stone building with some bedroom and nice paintings down this gorgeous staircase with marble-lined walls to this PHENOMENAL, deliciously-Baroque tomb. Seriously. Tomb. I had to keep reminding myself we were surrounded by corpses, tho, because the room really was breathtaking. Gold, rich mahogany, marble. Such luxury for such very dead people. There’s actually a rotting room were the corpses have to decompose before they can be entombed properly, how sweet is that? They’ve got two or three bodies in there, waiting to be placed in their now blank coffins. Each coffin has the name on it when the skeleton is placed inside. From the main burial chamber we went thru at least half a dozen more, almost entirely of marble. SO MUCH MARBLE. After El Escorial, I basically wanted to die of sickness so I don’t really remember much, and life has been pretty calm since…but I bought a saWEET pair of India pants! Pictures to come, they’re amazing.

And so it begins...

Okay, before I begin: since last I blogged, I've been to the Prado TWICE. I. Love. Spain.

Classes started this week! For some they are four days a week for 2 hours and for others they are 2 days a week for 4. I have class twice a week, so on the other two days I went into Madrid:) It is so fun getting to know the city and really get familiar with it.

On Tuesday my friend Casey and I went in at probably ten in the morning and stayed literally allllll day. We started with churros con chocolate (finally! something I've wanted to try since at least tenth grade, maybe eighth...can't remember which teacher told me about it first) then did some MAJOR shopping. I heard shopping in Europe was great...I had no idea. Seriously, it was so fun! I swear, everything they produce or sell in this country is super cute AND good quality and can be found very easily at a reasonable price. I bought 3 pairs of shoes, one pair was 8 euros and the other two 3 euros each. And they're not cheap quality! This all sounds so frivolous, I know, but I was floored. Also, I bought THE greatest jacket in the entire world. One of my shopping goals was a sick European jacket...yeah, that's off the checklist:) But enough about shopping.

That evening we went to the museo del Prado!!!!! Finally:) It's free weeknights between 6 and 8 so we went on Tuesday and Thursday night. I have no words adequate for what it was like to stand in front of Las Meninas, The Second and Third of May, being surrounded by Goya's Black Paintings and works by Velázquez, Rubens, Bosch, Claude Lorraine, Caravaggio, a Dürer self-portrait...I love art. The Prado has really phenomenal art. That's really all it comes down to. I wrote a research paper on a painting by John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, specifically because I knew it would be an invited work at the Prado while I was there. Normally it's in Boston. It was hanging near Las Meninas because there are a lot of similarities between the two, Sargent adored Velázquez. Anyway, the Prado is phenomenal and I can't wait to go back and keep exploring! I've yet to see every room. Someday:)

We've been getting to know Alcalá a lot better as well. It's so great having a home-base. Getting off the train after a long day in Madrid and coming home to Alcalá is sooo nice:) But the best is just hanging out with the group, eating ice cream or tapas, and chatting til we have to go home for dinner. One afternoon we went to the church to play fútbol and ended up playing for probably 3 hours. I busted my toe by kicking a girl instead of the ball, so now I can only wear open-toe shoes. Luckily it doesn't hurt too bad, and I have a sick battle wound from the day.

Cultural observation: When they answer the phone here, they say "Dime" (dee-meh) which just means "Tell me". Also, I have heard SO much English here. In the music, on the streets in Madrid...it's awesome. Also also, dinner is at 9 or 9:30 pm. It's so weird.

Time to take full advantage of the wonder that is the siesta! My first one since last Friday...yikes. Always. Tired. In a good way.

And just as an end note: I love my group:) I can't wait til we're all friends this fall back at school!

I've died and gone to Toledo...

I honestly had no idea what I was getting into when we left for Toledo. Through the hour and a half bus ride, we played MAChaCa, our own Spanish version of MASH. Anyone that has been on a public school filed trip should know what I mean;) MASH is Mansion, Apartment, Shack, and House. MAChaCa is mansión, apartamento, chabola, and casa. That was definitely entertaining:) We only played with group members...and once included the bus driver, but there are 22 girls and 7 boys so...it gets interesting:)

Finally we got to Toledo!!! We were honestly all in shock when we saw it; cameras everywhere, exclamations. It is BEAUTIFUL. Beautiful! Super narrow, windy, cobblestone streets with the buildings of stone and the balconies workin that whole wrought-iron thing...literally breathtaking.

When we got to Toledo, we picked up our tour guide literally on some random street corner, then went to a scenic overlook to take pictures of the city. My camera batteries died that very first stop! Man. It wasn't so bad bumming photos of of the group, but I didn't want to be annoying, ya know? It worked out pretty well tho:) What a view! It is suuuuper hilly and the cathedral!!! Oh man, that cathedral es fenomenal. There were paintings from El Greco, Titian, Rubens, Velazquez...names I've known and come to love but only from the classroom. My heart rate literally increased a little seeing them in real life. But I think I'm getting ahead of myself. We toured the city with the guide for a couple of hours, so I don't remember the order in which all of this took place. Also, without pictures of my own, I'm sure I'll leave some things out. As far as the cathedral goes, it is so hard to put into words how incredible it was to be there. The artwork, whether I knew the artist or not, all of it was just gorgeous. I could go on and on, but I won't ;) It was just fenomenal. Pictures will help when I steal those from the others.

After the cathedral and probably some other stuff, we went to see the Burial of Count Orgaz, which is only THE coolest El Greco painting. Jacob, weep with jealousy. It was AMAZING. There is so much art here. So much! There's this little enclosed garden area we peeked into just before we all had to meet up to drive home and shoved away in the corner was this tiny, free "museum", like a little gallery and there were El Greco works just chillin there. One lady sitting there for protection. Free entry. I love Spain!

When we had free time after the tour, a group of us went to see this bridge we drove past. It was so fun navigating our way through the city!! But those hills...my calves are gonna look goooo-ood. It was kinda tricky getting to the bridge and then figuring out how to cross it, but once we did it was so worth it! It's from the fourteenth century. Yeah. Everything is sooo dang old here! After we crossed it, some of us went down to the water and took more more more pictures.

Por fin, we returned to the meeting spot and got some more GELLLLLLato while we waited. Caramelo. The strawberry cheesecake was really good too. The bus ride home was pretty sad...it was such a quick day! Luckily, some of us only have class twice a week, so on one of our off days we're going to go back:) Cannot wait!

Tomorrow...El Museo del Prado!!!! Olé!

Madrid!

To pick from where I left off, Jenessa and I went off through Alcalá to get passport-type pictures for our student ID cards and some ice cream...and got super lost. Luckily, we had a map and allll the time in the world to explore. It was a fun day!!! We made friends with the lady selling ice cream. Hopefully she's there a lot! Also we did some shopping just around the neighborhood, and the first full song we heard in the store: Just Dance, Lady Gaga. Subsequent songs proved to be various remixes thereof.

By the way...

Dear Nestle,

I love you, but why are you SO MUCH BETTER at being awesome in not America?

Thanks,

Kelly

Seriously. Their ice cream is phenomenal. I had the Praliné....yummmmy. Jenessa's eating a double chocolate Magnum...qué rico! Now to today's post...

Just as a head’s up, it is probable that this will be a long post…I’m not connected to the internet but I am plugged into the wall (until I find a chufe near the computer, those things are mutually exclusive). With a connection to power and a lack of schedule today, I’m free to write as much as I want. So buckle up:)

De verdad, I don’t even know where to begin. I feel like I’ve been here a month and it’s only been three days! Empiezo con Madrid.

Saturday was literally the BEST way I could ever IMAGINE to turn 21! We spent the day in Madrid:) We were all together through the morning to learn how to use the Metro and familiarize ourselves with landmarks and things we should see, and we all got gelato. Amamaaaazing gelato. Seriously. From Italy. Not in Italy, but wayyyy closer than I’ve ever been while eating gelato:) Madrid is SUCH a beautiful city. Beautiful! Beeeaaautiful and alive and full of energy and history. It was Labor Day yesterday so there were dance troops from various regions around Spain performing en la Plaza Mayor.

Regional pride is huuuge here in Spain. For lunch, a lot of us went back to our homes in Alcalá. The train ride is less than 30 minutes and we have an unlimited travel pass in and around Alcalá and Madrid, and we really love our families here, so we didn’t mind going home. For lunch…I honestly can’t remember what we had. But it was delicious! And Pepita made a cake!!! Bizcocho con chocolate. Aaaabsolutely delicious. Pepita took Jenessa and left the kitchen for about 2 minutes. I asked Miguel if he knew what was going on and he kept saying “No sé, no sé, I don’t know” but I knew he knew:) They came back into the kitchen singing Happy Birthday in English! Pepita was saying “happy baby” en vez de “happy birthday” and it was sooooo cute. It’s amazing how difficult it is to pronounce some English words, I always took it for granted. Upon returning to Madrid, we did some touristy shopping and mostly followed the path we had taken earlier that day. Oh, side note: pollen in Madrid=JUST as annoying as American pollen.

We took the bus for the first time this morning. The streets here are TINY and narrow and crooked…these busses are huge. Super huge. And there ain’t nothin’ that scares them. They come sooooo close to other cars, people…also, there is a tonnn of double parking here. And cool tiny hatchbacks everywhere. Basically, it’s amazing.

Cultural Observation: This is one I keep forgetting to include. Our host parents talked about la Guerra Civil, the Spanish Civil War, during dinner the very first night we were here. I knew the war was still …uhm… important? Relevant? De verdad, no puedo pensar en ingles. Quiero escribir en español, sería mejor, pero necesito escribir en inglés. Forgive my rant about not being able to think (or type) in English. That’s not to say my Spanish is getting any better, but my English is definitely slipping. I knew the war still had a presence here in Spain, but the fact that it came up in casual conversation with strangers was very telling I think. As much as I love Spain, everything I know about la Guerra civil I learned from watching Pan’s Labyrinth or study Guernica, Picasso’s masterpiece (which incidentally is in la Reina Sofia-one of many museums I can’t wait to go to!!!!) Also, Sandra Bullock is not as funny when dubbed, oddly enough. And Alejandro Sanz is touring again!

Church today was an amazing experience! For all but maybe 20 minutes of the three hours, I knew what was going on. Es un milagro!

Language skills: It’s getting so much easier to understand, but speaking is still difficult. I focus so much on what is being said to me that I don’t have time to think of what to say in response, let alone how to say that in Spanish. So I mostly listen. When my dad was a kid, he didn’t talk til he was like three or something but then it came out in full sentences (according to my mom=]). I think that’s what will happen with me. I hope so, anyway:)

New foods: Tortilla espinaca! My dad would love this, it’s literally a big ol’ spinach pancake. We ate it with breaded ham and the usual salad. The usual aMAzing salad. Everything we’ve eaten is amaing. Today for lunch I’m pretty sure Jenessa and I each ate half a chicken. With rice. And fruit.

I’m sure there’s so much more…but I think I’m done for now:) Hasta luego!