Monday, August 13, 2012

Going home! Week 6, Friday and Saturday

Our class and teachers after our graduation

Friday: Today we got to sleep in. We went to the school at 12:30 for our little graduation. The teachers told us how nice it was having us there, said their goodbyes, and gave us each a diploma. We then took group pictures and got free t-shirts. We said goodbye to some of the students that we wouldn't see later that night, and went home for lunch.

Lunch: Eggs on rice

After lunch we got everything packed, which didn't take very long. Since there wasn't anything else to do (we didn't want to go out because it was 100 degrees out, hottest day of the whole six weeks) we both tried to take naps but it didn't work. Finally, after pacing around and telling each other how bored we were, we decided to go out and brave the heat. We walked to El Corte Inglés (the big department store, w/ A/C) and browsed around in there until it was time to meet the other students for ice cream.

We met Alex, Emily, Jon, Zou, Clémence, and Breanna at Smöoy to have frozen yogurt and to hang out for the last time. We ate it at Plaza Mayor, then walked around for awhile until we decided it was time to say goodbye and head home for supper.

Supper: tortilla de patatas

When we got home, Mercedes told us we should take the last city bus (10:00) from the nearby Plaza San Pablo to the bus station. Even though the last city bus was over 2 hours before our bus to Madrid would leave, it seemed like a way better idea than walking 75 pounds of luggage 1.6 miles in 100 degree weather. Before we left, we took some pictures with Mercedes and Reyes, and we gave Mercedes a picture of the two of us. She was so excited to get it; it was very cute and she said now she could always see us :) She also gave us some of her old jewelry. She said she does that with all her students. Bailey got a watch and I got some earrings.
Waiting at the bus station

Mercedes and Reyes walked us to the bus stop and we said our goodbyes. We then took the bus (the driver said “Did you bring your whole house?” when she saw my luggage) to the bus station and waited there for two hours.

Saturday: We took the 12:30 AM bus from Valladolid to the Madrid airport. We got there at 3 AM, checked in, and went through security. We waited at the gate for a couple more hours, then took our first flight from Madrid to Paris.

Can you find the Eiffel Tower? (click to enlarge)
All of the announcements were in French, Spanish, and English. When we were just about to land, the plane suddenly lurched back up into the air. They announced that a plane hadn't cleared the runway that we were about to land on and it would be another 6-8 minutes before we could land. Although it was inconvenient and a little unsettling, something cool came out of it: we flew over Paris while we were killing time, which we wouldn't have done otherwise, and I saw the Eiffel tower outside of my window and took a picture (although a not very good one) with my iPod!

We finally landed, and Bailey and I frantically tried to figure out where to go next. The Paris airport is incredibly confusing. We had to ask for help. We went through a passport check, then had to go through security again. We were really concerned about making the flight, but we got there as it was boarding. We also were asked a series of questions about the contents of our luggage before we boarded.

The flight to Minneapolis was a little over eight hours. It seemed to go by pretty fast though because I watched three movies (The Adjustment Bureau, M:I 4, and This Means War). They also handed out customs forms that we had to turn in when we landed. Our meals were salad, pasta, crackers, cheese, a roll, and a cookie when we took off and a panini and ice cream before we landed.

Minneapolis to Omaha (I'm in the back row)



Our Minneapolis layover was three hours, so it was more relaxing because we weren't worried about time. We turned in our customs forms, did a passport check, claimed our luggage, answered a couple questions about it, rechecked our luggage, went through security AGAIN (a receipt in my pocket set off the scanner), found our gate, and waited there for awhile. Finally, we took our last flight (in a tiny plane) to Omaha and we were home!

This was my last blog post. Spain was an amazing experience; I got to see lots of awesome places and I learned so much! I would definitely recommend the program to anyone considering it in the future. To see all my pictures from my trip, go to  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3553695803896.2132207.1317690207&type=3&l=6a42a74eb4  and  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3658125574575.2134912.1317690207&type=3&l=ab1113a4a3  (there's two albums). Thanks for reading!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Studying and tests: Week 6, Wednesday and Thursday


Wednesday:

Today was our last day of regular classes. Tomorrow we just have tests in everything, so today was a big study day.

Lunch: Chicken and rice

I studied in the afternoon, then we went to the school movie, then I Skyped my brother and sister-in-law for awhile.

Supper: Fish (can't remember what kind she said it was), it was fried, but we still had to pull the meat off the spine and rib bones.

Later in the evening, we met José, Brandyn, Blanca, Nathaniel, Alex, and Clémence at the beach to play sand volleyball for awhile. Then I stayed up pretty late studying.

Before I post all this on the blog, I write it in a journal every night. I have now written 100 pages in it.
With our host mom, Mercedes!


Thursday:

Today we had our final tests. For conversation we just had to talk for five minutes straight about our experience in Valladolid. It was pretty easy. After that I had my had my history and literature tests and now I'm done with classes!

In the afternoon we slept awhile and were actually pretty bored because we didn't have any homework to do. We went over to the school and used the internet for awhile.

After supper (I can't remember what we ate, I'm writing this a little late) we met all the other students at La Negra Flor (a bar) and hung out for awhile. We didn't stay out very long though because we were all tired from staying up the night before studying.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Cortés y Franco: Week 6, Monday and Tuesday


Monday:

For our history class today, we had to ask our host families their opinions of Franco, the dictator that ruled in Spain from 1939-1975. Our host mom was pretty neutral about him. She said her family never had any problems, but she knew that people who opposed him were arrested or killed. She also said he helped the poor and large families, improved infrastructure, and there was less crime back then because everyone was too afraid to do anything. She said they couldn't talk about politics outside of their houses. In class, Alex, whose host mom is older like ours, said that Franco should return to get Spain out of its financial crisis! Conversely, Clémence's host parents, who are younger, only had bad things to say about him. Sergio said that this is typical of Spaniards. Younger generations, who have only learned about him and didn't experience it, only view him as negative for all the terrible things he did. On the other hand, older people that lived during Franco's regime are more neutral, or even supported him. Although repressed and censored, as long as nothing negative happened to their families, they had a sense of security and believed in his propaganda. There's even an expression, I can't remember the exact words, but it involves saying that if Franco were here, he would solve the problem. It's quite surprising to learn what he got away with during his reign, especially in regards to the suppression of women.

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but Mercedes is 63. Last week, she wanted us to guess how old she was. I refused to say a word. Bailey politely guessed somewhere in the 50s. She bragged that people in her shop think her and her daughter are sisters :)

Lunch: Empanadillas de atún (tuna), pasta, watermelon

I had to finish my history paper, a biography of Cortés, today, so I worked almost nonstop (except for supper) from 4-12. Now it's done though and actually a page longer than it had to be.

Supper: pasta, sunny side up eggs, sweet croissant type bread that was filled with ham and cheese, watermelon

It's the last week already! I feel like six weeks is the perfect length of time. It was long enough to have sufficient classes and see what we wanted to see, but I'm also definitely ready to go home this weekend.


Tuesday: This morning on my class break I turned in my history paper. Since I don't have any more Spanish classes after this program, that was the last college paper I'll ever have to write in Spanish! After school we returned our books at the library.

Lunch: Beef stew with potatoes, peaches

This afternoon I finished a literature assignment and posted my Barcelona pictures and blog.

Supper: Tortilla de patatas, salad, peaches

We shot hoops at the beach for awhile after supper.

Tomorrow is studying, Thursday is our tests then going out that night, Friday we have a little graduation, and then we go home!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Barcelona! Week 5: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday


Friday:

Casa Batlló
After school today Bailey and I went to Plaza Poniente to get on the Linecar bus to go to the airport and then to Barcelona! Two other girls from our school were going too and had the same flights as us, but were meeting other people there. Our flight was an hour long and with Ryan Air. Emily, one of the other girls flying there, said people on Ryan Air flights always scream on the flight, then clap at the end. Sure enough, whenever we hit some turbulence or dropped a little, the people in the back screamed as if we were on a roller coaster and then when we landed everybody clapped. Also, the entire time, the flight attendants were trying to sell food, drinks, newspapers, lottery tickets, sunglasses, perfume, etc.




After we landed, we took a train and the metro to get to our hostel. Between switching from the train to the metro, we saw Casa Batlló, some apartments designed by the famous Antoni Gaudí. They were so strangely designed that no one wanted to live in them and now it's a museum and restaurant.

La Boquería market
Our hostel wasn't quite as nice as our hostel in Madrid, but it was still fine. There were ten beds (5 bunk beds) to a room and the whole floor shared a bathroom. After checking in, we got some maps and then walked to La Rambla, an incredibly busy street that's lined with stores and restaurants. Barcelona is in Cataluña, which is one of the autonomous communities of Spain, meaning it's a section kind of like a state that has its own government, has immense pride in its own history, and, in the case of many people, wants independence from the rest of Spain. They speak Catalán, which is very similar to French. Most of the signs were in Catalán, Spanish, and English. It's such a major tourist city that everyone seemed to speak English as well. Other Spaniards that aren't from Cataluña can't understand Catalán, and when someone from Cataluña is speaking on the news, they have Spanish subtitles.

On La Rambla, there's a market called La Boquería. We went inside, and there were stalls selling fresh fruit, candy, raw fish (that were still whole and looking at me), other meat (baby pigs, legs), cheese, and cooked foods as well. Bailey and I bought calzones there to eat for supper. At the end of La Rambla is a really tall Christopher Columbus (Cristobol Colón, in Spanish) statue, and beyond that is the Mediterranean Sea.
At fountain show at Montjuïc

From there we went to the Font Mágica (magic fountain) de Montjuïc, where there's a cool music and light show at the fountain. A lot of people were there to watch it. In that area, near that fountain were the Olympic buildings and stadium where they held the '92 summer Olympics, but we didn't see them.


After the fountain show, we started walking back to the hostel. Now in Cataluña bullfighting is illegal, because of animal cruelty and other political reasons. Barcelona had three plazas de toros (bullrings). One is being torn down, one is now a museum, and the other (which we walked by tonight) has been turned into a shopping mall. They also raised up the entire structure and put another floor underneath it and a restaurant on top with an elevator going up the outside.

Las arenas, mall that was once a bullring
We got back to our hostel and went to bed. I calculated that we walked 6.8 miles today.


Saturday:

The population of Barcelona is 1.6 million and right now the highs are in the 80s and the lows are in the 70s. Our hostel didn't provide breakfast but there was a little grocery store just across the street so we got some cheap donuts and water there. We walked back down La Rambla, went back to La Boquería and got fruit, and walked to the beach.

The beach was really nice, but crowded. It was really fun to feel the waves and swim in the sea. It wasn't like the beach in Valladolid. We may have gotten a little sunburned...
Beach

Palau de la Música Catalana





La Sagrada Familia
Next we went to Plaza Jaume for a bike tour. It was called Fat Tire Bike Tours (it's also in Paris, Berlin, and London); we were provided bikes, and a guide led us around the city. Our guide was Australian (the tour was in English) and he said he came to Barcelona for the world cup and decided to stay and live there. There were fourteen people in our biking group, from the U.S., Australia, Scotland, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Barcelona is a really biker friendly city. There's bike lanes everywhere and lots of bikes in every plaza available to rent. Still, we all almost got hit by taxis a couple times, but it was still fun :) We would stop at different places to take pictures and for the guide to talk about each one. We stopped at the cathedral, Palau de la Música Catalana (a theater also designed by Gaudí), the Arc de Triomf, a fountain in the Parc de la Ciutadella, the bullring that's now a museum, and Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia is a church designed by Gaudí that was unfinished when he died in 1926, and is still unfinished. It is under construction, and although Gaudí's original designs were destroyed in a fire, they are trying to build it according to what they think his plans for it were. When it is finished, which is projected to be in 2026 (the hundredth anniversary of his death), it will be twice as tall as it is now.
My paella!

Our last stop on the tour was a restaurant on the beach. Bailey and I had nachos and we sat there for a little bit and watched people play soccer in the sand. After that, we went back to the bike place and the tour was over. It was four hours long.

We went back to the hostel for a little bit, then went out in search of a restaurant that had paella, a popular Spanish dish. We stopped at the first restaurant that had it (we didn't want to walk any farther). We were the only people in the restaurant and we watched handball in the Olympics on the TV (which actually seems to be a popular sport here). Paella is a rice dish that is yellow (because of saffron) with some kind of meat, depending on what kind you order. We got a mixture, so ours had chicken, spareribs, mussels, prawn, and squid. I had Bailey's squid and she had my mussels, and she had to rip the head off my prawn for me because I was too afraid to (it was good though, it tastes like shrimp). After the paella, we called it an early night because we weren't feeling great: a mixture of sunburn and dehydration, I think.


Sunday: 

In Park Güell
 After checking out of the hostel we went to Park Güell, a gigantic park designed by Gaudí that was originally supposed to be a housing development filled with mansions, but once again no one wanted to live in his houses, so it was turned into a park instead. It's filled with strange structures, houses, and mosaics. To see all my pictures from Barcelona, go to: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3658125574575.2134912.1317690207&type=1&l=ab1113a4a3 . After the park, we took the metro and the train back to the airport. We were afraid we were going to miss our flight because of several delays, but we got there as it was boarding. We then taxied the runways for forty minutes before taking off and arrived at least twenty minutes late. Ironically, they didn't play their usual message at the end of the flight talking about how 90% of Ryan Air flights are on time. After we got back to Valladolid, I Skyped with my parents, grandma, and sister, but otherwise didn't do much of anything the rest of the night.   

Monday, August 6, 2012

Type type type...Week 5: Wednesday and Thursday


Wednesday:

Lunch: Soup with rice, beef, and carrots; pears

We went to school at five to work on homework and had our Wednesday night movie at six. It was Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside), starring Javier Bardem, a true story about a man in Spain who was a quadriplegic and campaigning for legal euthanasia. I followed it pretty well even though I was working on my literature paper at the same time.

Supper: Tortilla de patata, watermelon

Tonight on the Olympics Spain won their first medal of these games when a woman got a silver in one of the swimming events. Evidently, she's only the second woman in history to win a medal for Spain.


Thursday:

6:00 run: 2.31 miles

Last night Mercedes was out really late, later than when we went to bed. We both woke up hearing her come in at 2:00. Evidently one of Mercedes' friends, María, came from out of town, they went out, then she slept over. We met her this morning at breakfast, when we had just got back from our run and were gross and dripping sweat; great first impression, I'm sure. She was really nice and has lived in Barcelona before, and told us places we should see when we go this weekend.

In both history and literature, we've reached the twentieth century. I'm very curious to find out more about Franco's dictatorship because I feel like it's a time in Spain I should know more about, so I'm glad we're getting there.

Lunch: Soup with veal, potatoes, carrots


Worked on our papers at school from 5-8, ugh


Supper: Ham and cheese fillets, french fries, watermelon


We watched a little bit of the Spain-Great Britain basketball game. It looked like Spain was going to win.


Tomorrow we're going to Barcelona!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Birthdays and Basketball, Week 5: Monday and Tuesday


Monday:

Lunch: Garbanzo beans with potatoes, salad, watermelon

I got nine hours of sleep last night so I skipped my siesta and worked on homework and typing my blog, then we went to school and worked a little more in the lab.

My classmates, some of the party guests
After classes this morning, Blanca (one of our classmates) told us she was having a birthday party tonight for Nathaniel (her son, who she brought to Spain with her) in one of the classrooms at the school. Today was his fifth birthday. She said normally he has parties at home with his friends and we're his friends here. We all said yes and were really excited to go. The party was also partly for José, another one of our classmates, whose birthday was also today. The party was really nice. They had balloons, noisemakers, two cakes, and ice cream. There were eleven of us students there, and a couple teachers made appearances as well. Nathaniel opened presents also. Since the party was on such short notice, we just got Nathaniel candy from the grocery store next door, but he did get some cool toys, and he really seemed to have fun.

Supper: “Candied?” apples, roasted chicken, soup

We watched Olympic highlights, swimming, and some news. Hopefully Bailey and I will get up early and run tomorrow.



Tuesday:

Birthday boys
We got up at 6:00 this morning and went for a run. It was a lot easier than all my other runs, I think because it was so cool outside and I hadn't just eaten a huge supper. 2.25 miles

Lunch: Beef stew with potatoes and carrots

Today we went to the computer lab from 5-8. I have two papers (history and literature) due on Friday so this week we'll be mostly at school.

Supper: Hard boiled eggs, pickles, potatoes, watermelon

We shot hoops at the beach for a half hour tonight.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Salamanca and Iscar: Week 4: Saturday and Sunday


Saturday:

New cathedral of Salamanca
For our school trip to Salamanca, our bus left at 8:00 A.M. from the bus station, which is a half hour walk away from our place, so I got up at 6 A.M. The bus ride was about an hour and a half. Salamanca is in western Spain, near Portugal. Ruth, my conversation class teacher, was our guide this time.

We saw the Plaza Mayor, lots and lots and lots of souvenir shops, two cathedrals, the university, and a medieval bridge. Normally Spanish cities only have one cathedral, but Salamanca has two. We went in the “new” cathedral, but considering it was built between 1513 and 1733, it feels wrong to call it new. During restorations on the cathedral in the 90s, an astronaut and a devil with an ice cream cone were added to the facade of the building to represent the 20th century (I have pictures). The inside of the cathedral was huge and gorgeous.  The university of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain. In the facade of the main building, there is a small skull with a frog on its head. Supposedly, if you can find it on the building you will have good luck. Also, because of this strange image on an ancient building, the frog is the symbol of Salamanca. All of the souvenir shops had different kinds of frogs that said Salamanca on them.
The astronaut and the devil on the cathedral

After we finished our tour, we were given free time. All of us ate our packed lunches in Plaza Mayor. I think some of the Spaniards were amused at the large group of Americans (and French) kids sitting on the ground eating sandwiches. Next we all kind of split up and went souvenir shopping.

On our way back to Valladolid I was actually awake and saw that most of the land between Salamanca and Valladolid is fields of sunflowers. They were very pretty and I didn't realize sunflowers were such a big crop here.

We took a nap and then went out for tapas with Alberto, his friend Lucía (practicing her English), Jon, Zou, Clemens, Alex, and Emily. I didn't try anything new (just had croquetas, which are still delicious) but it was fun going out with the group.


 Sunday:

Inside the new cathedral
Today Jon, Bailey, and I went to a little town called Iscar because Mercedes said they would have a running of the bulls and “mucha fiesta.” Unfortunately, the only return bus to Valladolid was at 5:00 P.M., but we still went anyway thinking there might be something going on before that. We were very wrong. As seems to be the case in most small towns, siesta is ghost town time. All the places were closed and no one was around. We did hike up to the castle above town and walked around the walls. We also looked at the plaza de toros and played in a park. Apart from that, we spent the next couple hours walking around and looking for a bathroom (which we did eventually find, but it's really difficult when every place is closed). We took the bus back to Valladolid, which was wild and nauseating; Spain has some crazy drivers.







The skull (left one, looking down) with the frog
Mercedes and Reyes had gone out but left us supper. We had large salads and what we thought we some kind of dessert potato until we realized they were pears (except Monday she told us they were apples, oops). They might have been what you'd call “candied” but I'm not really sure; they were good though. Bailey and I watched the Olympics while eating supper. Spain beat China at basketball and we also watched some gymnastics. We were very tired and went to bed at 9:00.

To see a lot more pictures of Salamanca, and some of Iscar, maybe not immediately but a couple hours after this post, go to: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3658125574575.2134912.1317690207&type=1&l=ab1113a4a3

Monday, July 30, 2012

Rain! and Olympics: Week 4, Thursday and Friday


Thursday:

Cathedral of Valladolid
I had a literature test this morning. It was fine, pretty similar to the last one. We're in school every day from 8-2. I haven't had this kind of a school schedule since high school, and yet it doesn't seem too difficult. I definitely feel like I'm learning a lot in a short amount of time though.

Lunch: Pasta with tomato sauce, ham and cheese fillet things, ice cream sandwiches :)

We met Jon, Zou, and Alex at the cathedral at five and went inside and took pictures. It was impressive but kind of dark. After the cathedral we went in a couple stores and then it began to storm, with pouring rain! We tried to stay on the streets that had the overhangs over the sidewalks and went in those stores, then waited for the rain to die down. Then Alex, Bailey, and I went back to school to study for our history test tomorrow.
Rain!

The last pen I had left (the fifth one) just ran out of ink. I may have to buy more; I don't like using pencils.

Supper: More pasta with tomato sauce, hot dog things, fries, and mini ice cream sandwiches.

After supper, Bailey and I studied more together then I studied a lot on my own.


Friday:

This morning in conversation we played “Tabú” (Taboo). It was a little difficult because sometimes we'd have to go through several cards before we found a word we recognized, but it was fun. Our history test went fine, although we all complained afterward that we didn't know (or care) how many times King Felipe III was married (it turned out once, which was rare because their wives died so much back then).

Lunch: Poached egg on rice with tomato sauce, ice cream sandwiches

We went to the computer lab from 5-8 to work on homework.

Supper: Tortilla de patatas, yogurt

More rain!
 The opening ceremony of the Olympics started at 10 P.M. I always love watching those. It was especially entertaining watching them with Mercedes and Reyes (her daughter). When Rowan Atkinson appeared we all said “Mr. Bean!” at the same time :) Also, when Reyes wasn't in the room, the scene started with James Bond going to the palace to get the queen, and we heard Mercedes go in the kitchen and say to Reyes, “Está James Bond y la reina!” (It's James Bond and the queen). Bailey and I both giggled at that. We talked with Mercedes a couple days ago about how much she likes James Bond. We went to bed before all the countries had finished walking in. We're going to Salamanca tomorrow!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Simplicity and Mayonnaise: Week 4, Tuesday and Wednesday


Tuesday:

Lunch: Chicken noodle soup and a separate bowl full of garbanzo beans and potatoes, watermelon

Beach in the afternoon.

Homework in the computer lab.

Early supper: Red peppers (pimientos), tortilla de patata, watermelon

Every night during supper we watch a game show called Pasapalabra. I think we've finally figured out how all the rounds work and we even got a couple trivia questions right.

Run: 2 miles


Wednesday:

A church in Valladolid (Santa María) at night
I always eat everything Mercedes puts on the table whether I like it or not. Today was the most difficult. We had “ensalada rusa,” or Russian salad, which we had been previously warned about in a conversation class; it's a popular dish here. It's a large bowl full of mayonnaise with peppers, pickles, olives, eggs, peas, and potatoes mixed in. I wouldn't mind it so much if we just had a spoonful, but this was an entire meal of mayonnaise. I'm sure we each ate a small jar's worth, no joke. Mercedes always gives herself less food than us. She also told us today that she's fattening us up (it's a good thing to her) and that she brags to her friends about how much food she gives us :) We should run more...

When I was taking my nap this afternoon, I thought I heard thunder, but I couldn't decide if it was trucks or not. When we walked to school for our Wednesday movie, there was definitely thunder and it was sprinkling too! This is the first time we've had precipitation since we got here. We might get some rain this weekend too.

We watched “Tesis” (Thesis), a thriller from the 90s in which a graduate student doing a thesis paper on violent films stumbles upon a real murder mystery involving the people at her university. It was very interesting.

After the movie I Skyped with my brother and sister-in-law (hi guys!) and then we went home for supper. Supper involved, uh oh, more mayonnaise. I suppose she was trying to run out of her supply. We had hard boiled eggs on toothpicks that had been dipped in mayonnaise. I tried to wipe most of it off on my plate. We also had olives, which I passed to Bailey when Mercedes wasn't in the room :) Also: salad and watermelon

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Museum and Batman, Week 3 & 4: Sunday and Monday


Sunday:

This was the first day that Bailey and I got to sleep in and didn't have to wake up for anything. We slept until about 11:00. We had something different for breakfast today: leche frita, or fried milk. It tasted all right but had a weird texture. We then went to the Museum of Valladolid. It's free on Sundays and it was really interesting. It had a bunch of artifacts that had been excavated in this area of Spain, like pots, tools, and weapons from as early as the 5th century B.C. The most interesting, to me, were the Roman artifacts like mosaics, sculptures, and coins. There were two floors and we only saw one before we had to go home for lunch, but we might go back next Sunday.

Lunch: Mussels and empanadillas. Also, I was peeling my peach (which I normally don't do in the U.S., but it actually seems like a good idea here because they seem to have an extra layer of fuzz) when it slipped out of my hand, rolled across the table, and onto the floor. Mercedes acted like nothing out of the ordinary happened, picked it up, wiped it off with my napkin, and handed it back to me :)

This was the first day we've stayed inside all day until supper. I finished reading the Hunger Games series and did some homework.

Supper: Tortillas de atún (tuna), tortillas de patata, pollo, salad, and another peach

We went to the school plaza right after supper and Skyped our families. I talked to my parents, grandparents, sister, and nephew all at once :) Next was basketball at the beach for a half hour then back home to bed.


Monday:

Four of the students from Texas are no longer in our class because they were only with us for three weeks. However, we now have a new student with us. She's from France, and her name is Clemence. I think she's making us look bad because she's only sixteen and speaks French, English, and Spanish (and maybe more, I don't know) but it's really great to have someone from a different culture join us.

Lunch: Chicken and rice, a peach

Today Bailey, Alex, Zou, and I went to see The Dark Knight Rises because the theaters are cheaper on Mondays. Here they pronounce Batman “Baht-mahn” and Spiderman “Spee-dair-mahn.” It was strange seeing the actors mouthing English words but hearing Spanish, but for the most part we understood what was going on. It was pretty good, and I'm excited to see it in English when I get back to the U.S. because it'll be like seeing it for the first time.  There's probably a lot I didn't catch. Since the movie was almost three hours long it took up our whole afternoon.

Supper: Pork chops, french fries, salad, watermelon

Monday, July 23, 2012

Sushi and Peñafiel, Week 3: Friday and Saturday


Friday:

Our conversation “test” went fine this morning. Our topic was food and drink, and there were a few moments with awkward silence when we were trying to rapidly think of something to say, but I think it was all right overall. I went to a bank with Bailey where she had exchanged dollars into euros before, but this time they told her they couldn't do it. Fortunately, she asked the professors where to go and found another bank that did it.

Lunch: Ensalada con huevos, tomates, atún, y patatas, y mejillones y melocotones al lado: a salad with eggs, tomatoes, tuna, and potatoes in it, and mussels and a peach on the side

After a super short siesta we laid on the beach for awhile. There's a herd of ducks that travel around the beach quacking and honking. They're not afraid of people at all and will gather around people's towels if they don't shoo them away.

Castle in Peñafiel, the hill we climbed
Later, we went to the school to book a hostel for Barcelona, and also tried to figure out what would would be the best way to get to Madrid for our flight home. Since our first flight on our last day leaves at 7 in the morning, there's no train from Valladolid that morning that would get us to Madrid early enough to check in at 5. We originally thought we'd have to take a train to Madrid the day before and spend a night there ($), but then I thought to look into a bus. So, on our last day we're taking a bus that will take us straight to the Madrid airport from 12:30-3:00 AM before taking three flights home. We'll probably be grumpy and exhausted, but we'll definitely save money that way.

We met Zou for supper. We were really hoping to get either pizza or Chinese food, but although we had a general idea of where the places were, we couldn't find them, so instead we stopped at a Japanese place called Nippón that Sergio had recommended. It was right next to the cathedral and we sat outside. We shared a couple different dishes, and I tried sushi for the first time ever. I've always been afraid to eat it because it looks weird, but I liked it a lot. Also, I think it's really cool I've eaten sushi next to a Spanish cathedral :)

Tomorrow: Peñafiel!


Saturday:

Bailey and I went for a run when we got up: 1.75 miles

We met Jon, Zou, and Alex at the bus station at 10:15 to catch the 11:00 bus to Peñafiel, a little town about an hour away from Valladolid. Another student, José, joined us as well.

Wine tasting in Peñafiel
In Peñafiel, we knew we wanted to go to the castle, and we could see it above the city so we made our way toward it. Once we got to the bottom of the hill that the castle was on, we hiked up the steep side instead of following the long switchback road. It was a little difficult considering most of us didn't anticipate a hike and weren't wearing appropriate shoes, but it definitely shortened the walk.

We took a guided tour of the castle, and then attended a wine tasting, which was free provided we already bought a tour of the castle. The tasting was interesting, and the white wine tasted better than the reds, but I still think wine is gross in general.



My pizza at La Romana
After the tasting, we walked down the hill to a park just below the castle and ate our lunches there. Most of the students from our school went to Peñafiel today, just on different buses, so we also met up with Blanca, Nathaniel, Brandon, Dede, and Regina at different times. We explored a couple shops in town then took the bus back to Valladolid.

For supper, Bailey and I went to a pizza place Sergio suggested, La Romana. We had a lot of trouble finding it. He said it was in front of the cathedral on a corner, and it really was, but we must have walked past it four times because it was a small place and its name wasn't on the building above the door. I even used my maps app on my iPod and asked a man in a kiosk before we finally found it. It was very good pizza though. They put it all together in front of us and cooked it in a brick oven. My pizza had shrimp, tomato sauce, garlic, and oregano on it. It was definitely worth the delay.

After eating we just sat on a bench outside the cathedral, surfed the internet, and people watched before going home to bed.

Friday, July 20, 2012

A long walk, Week 3: Wednesday and Thursday


Wednesday:

Today Bailey and I went, once again, to the library to get books for our history papers. My paper is a biography of Hernán Cortés.

Lunch: Chicken and rice, it tasted like home :)

The computer lab at school
Most of the kids in our class are going to Peñafiel, a little town with a castle, this weekend. Bailey and I walked to the bus station today to buy our tickets ahead of time and to find out how much they were for everyone else. The walk was about 1.7 miles one way, and it was 100 degrees. 100 degrees here is not as bad as home because there's no humidity (it was 11%) but it was still a long walk for that weather. When we got there, the ticket seller told us that we can't buy the tickets ahead of time and we have to get them on Saturday. Although it was a good walk, it was still frustrating. We didn't even remember to ask how much they would cost. We went back to the school for movie night right after our walk.

Supper: Tortillas de patatas



Thursday:

Lunch: Fried ham and cheese things, pasta, yogurt

We took a long siesta today, then went to the school and worked on homework in the computer lab for a couple hours. For our conversation “test” tomorrow, we'll be given a topic, and we just have to talk to each other (in pairs) in front of the professor for ten minutes. Bailey and I went over the possible topics and practiced conversing for awhile. We won't find out which topic we'll have until tomorrow. The possible topics are: my life in Spain, cultural stereotypes of Spaniards and Americans, food and drink, and cultural differences between Spain and the U.S.

Supper: Salad, eggs, french fries, and peaches (melocotones). I think they peel their peaches here too.

Run: 1.5 miles, then workout stations on beach

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Shopping and Basketball: Week 3, Monday and Tuesday


Monday

I woke up at 7:40 this morning, so getting ready was a little frantic. I was actually thankful for having a really small breakfast so I could consume it in about 30 seconds. I still made it to class on time.



Plaza de toros in Valladolid
My history presentation went fine. We got to do them from our seats again, and for some reason that makes them SO much better. At the start of every class, Sergio asks us if we have questions about anything. In literature, evidently a group planned ahead, because they asked Sergio as many questions as they could about what to see in Valladolid, castles near here, what to do in Barcelona, methods of transportation, and good things for kids to do here (because one of the girls brought her son). Sergio played along and answered all the questions and gave us lots of information. By the time the class was half over, he was encouraging us to ask more questions so we didn't have to start our literature topic. He said we're not allowed to ask any questions in class tomorrow :) I must be taking a lot of notes in my classes or all my pens are reaching their end at the same time, because I've thrown away four already. I think I only have one left.
Plaza de toros in Valladolid

After school, Bailey and I went to the library and got library cards. We didn't have time to check out anything because we had to go home for lunch, but I might go back tomorrow during my school break.

Lunch: Garbanzo beans with potatoes and hot dogs with yogurt on the side

El Corte Inglés
We had plans to see Spiderman, but when we got to the theater we found out they were only playing it in 3D, which we didn't want. Instead, we took a city bus to the plaza de toros and El Corte Inglés. We've been to the other El Corte Inglés in Valladolid, but this one is much, much bigger. It's the biggest department store I've ever been in. I believe it had six floors, and every floor is massive. All the products ranged from generic and cheap to name brand and really expensive. For example, some purses were in separate rooms for certain designers. We went in the Carolina Herrera section, and Bailey saw that a tiny wallet was 70 euro. We left the are before I checked the price of a big purse though because the clerk was giving us a look that said: “You're not going to buy anything so why are you in here?” I bought a dress (yes, that's right, I said dress) and a shirt for 30 euro. No more clothes shopping for me.

Supper: Ham omelets and yogurt

Run: 2.5 miles


Tuesday:

Today on my school break I went back to the library, got myself acquainted with the layout, and checked out a book for my literature paper.

Lunch: Stew with veal and potatoes

Today was a pretty hot day, in the mid 90s. Tomorrow's supposed to be in the upper 90s as well, but then I think it's supposed to cool down again after that. Bailey and I went to the beach for a little while, then to the school for homework. We also bought tickets to go to Barcelona August 3-5.

Supper: Hot dog type sausages, french fries (always homemade!), salad, and watermelon

Bailey bought a basketball last week so tonight we went to the beach and played 2 on 2 with the guys. I was no good but it was still fun.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Segovia and Sculptures: Week 2, Saturday and Sunday


Saturday:

Gardens at La Granja
This morning we met the rest of our class at Plaza San Pablo for our trip to Segovia. We hadn't been to Plaza San Pablo yet even though it's just down the street from our apartment. It also has an amazing church, la iglesia de San Pablo, that was built in the 16th century. We took the bus for a little over an hour and first we stopped at La Granja, which is a little town just outside of Segovia. There was a palace there and enormous gardens that we explored for a little while.

Cathedral in Segovia
When we got to Segovia, we got off the bus at the aqueducts, a two thousand year old Roman structure that they used to transport water through the city.  What is amazing about them is that the Romans didn't use anything to bond the stones together. They're just held together by gravity and the tension in the arches.

Sergio led us down the main street of Segovia, past shops and restaurants, and we stopped to look at the the cathedral of Segovia.  It was one of my favorite buildings so far because I love Gothic architecture.






El Alcázar in Segovia
We continued walking until we reached El Alcázar, a mix between a castle and a palace built in the sixteenth century. The tour of the Alcázar was amazing. It was full of suits of armor, furniture, tapestries, paintings, murals, stain glass windows, weapons, and had different ceilings in every room. We could also go outside on the walls. We climbed up a narrow spiral staircase of 152 steep stairs to the top of the tower, where we had a great view of Segovia. I have a lot more photos, mainly of the Alcázar and the aqueducts, on Facebook. To see them go to:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3553695803896.2132207.1317690207&type=3&l=6a42a74eb4 . We used the rest of our free time to go shopping before we got back on the bus.

Back in Valladolid, Alberto showed us more of his favorite places to go for tapas. They were delicious and very inexpensive.

Sculptures, Week 2: Sunday
Aqueducts in Segovia

Today we had a class trip to the sculpture museum in Valladolid. The pieces were really awesome, but I kind of wish we could have gone through on our own rather than had a guided tour. The guide talked for a long time about some pieces then sped us past others. Otherwise we just did homework for the rest of the day because I have a presentation about the conquest of the Aztecs tomorrow.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Food is Looking at Me, Week 2: Wed, Thurs, Fri


Here Comes the Sun, Week 2: Wednesday

Medieval bridge in Simancas
Lunch: Sunny side up egg on rice with bread and a dessert called “natillas,” which is a kind of eggy pudding with cinnamon on top.

We went to the beach for an hour to lay out and read, then went to school for movie night, which was “El hijo de la novia,” or The Son of the Bride.

Supper: Chicken noodle soup, bread, watermelon, and “empanadillas de jamón y atún,” or small fried pockets of ham and tuna, which were amazing.

Mercedes' daughter is here and she was talking about how picky of an eater she is (she says she'll only eat four things). She said all the students she has eat and like everything she makes, but her own daughter barely eats anything!

Run: 2.25 miles


The Food is Looking at Me, Week 2: Thursday

In literature I had my first test today. I didn't do perfect, but it went fine.

Lunch: Chicken cooked in white wine with french fries

In Spain, if you're walking towards someone on the sidewalk or street, they don't move out of the way. If you play chicken with a Spaniard, you will always move first or just run into them. I wonder what happens when two Spaniards are walking towards each other, because I don't think anyone ever moves.

Medieval bridge in Simancas
In the afternoon, we met the guys at the beach and laid out for a long time and waded a bit in the river. After, Bailey and I went shopping. We both bought one shirt each.

The one fear I had before coming here was eating a fish or some type of food that was whole on the table in front of me, that still had eyes and all its parts. Well, tonight we had shrimp, which I LOVE to eat. However, tonight on the table in front of us were shrimp that still had their eyes, heads, tails, leg things, and feeler things. Bailey took the first one, and Mercedes showed us how to eat them: rip off the head, the tail, the leg things, and peel off the harder skin on the outside. We took it really well and ate a couple as I tried to avoid looking at them, but as soon as Mercedes went to the kitchen to get something, we looked at each other in horror! I was a little traumatized. They tasted great, but it was difficult for me to take them apart. I now appreciate what has to be done to shrimp to eat them, and I still love the taste, but I will never look at them the same way again.





Simancas, Week 2: Friday

This morning I had a history test and it went really well.

Lunch: Potatoes, scalloped, and pork chops

Castle in Simancas
We met Alex, another girl from the school, at Plaza Zorilla and took a city bus to Simancas, a little town just outside of Valladolid. To get into town, we crossed a medieval bridge from the middle ages. The town is built on the side of a hill and has incredibly steep streets. We walked up them to the castle, which was impressive on the outside. The inside was a little disappointing though because it had been turned into an archive, they made the interior look modern, and we only got to go in two rooms. We also walked to the cathedral and took a few pictures, and met an older couple from France there that took a picture of us. We walked back down to the edge of town to check out a cemetery that looked impressive from above, but it was already closed for the day.

Cathedral in Simancas
We took the bus back to Valladolid and got frozen yogurt at Smöoy again. Just yesterday, we read in the newspaper that Spain is raising its taxes from 18% to 21%. Mercedes said it has never been like this before. We saw on the news that there are protests all over Spain. At a plaza near the frozen yogurt place, a large group of people was forming, including the police, and people were protesting over megaphones. We avoided the crowd and went home.

Supper: salad, eggs, watermelon, bread

I can't believe we've already been here two weeks. It has gone so fast. Tomorrow we're taking a school trip to Segovia!

To see more pictures, go to: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3553695803896.2132207.1317690207&type=3&l=6a42a74eb4

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Homework and Jungle Gyms! Week 2, Monday and Tueday


Monday:
Cúpula del Milenio

Today Bailey and I were both struggling to stay awake in our classes. Although we got a decent amount of sleep last night, our lack of sleep from the night before must have carried over.

When we got back for lunch, Mercedes' daughter and son-in-law were eating lunch before us. They talked to us a little bit and were really nice. For lunch we had a plate of garbanzo beans, potatoes, carrots, and hard boiled eggs.

We both have presentations in history tomorrow, so after our siestas we went back to school and used the internet for four hours. My presentation is about the wedding of Isabel, the oldest daughter of the Spanish king and queen Ferdinand and Isabella (back in the 1400s).

Supper consisted of sunny-side-up eggs, french fries, and watermelon (strange combination, right?).

After we watched the news, Bailey and I ran for two miles along the river.


Awesome jungle gym!

Tuesday:

Today, for our “presentations” in history, we got to do them from our seats, so it was laid back and easy.

It still hasn't rained once and it doesn't look like it will. The temperature is perfect, we don't have and don't need air conditioning.

Lunch: pasta, bread, watermelon, and what we think was pork chops, but I'm not sure if she ever said what they were called.



Baby peacock!
After siesta and homework, we met the guys near the beach and walked north along the river until the trail ended (the north edge of Valladolid), then crossed the river to the west and checked out the Cúpula del Milenio, a big building shaped like a soccer ball that lights up at night and hosts concerts and events. Outside was an awesome jungle gym that didn't have any kids on it, so we climbed on it and hung out. We also sat by a fountain on the river and went to El Campo Grande to check out the peacocks again.

Supper: bread, salad, apple, tortillas patatas

To bed early!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Madrid! Week 1: Saturday and Sunday

Our hostel


Saturday morning we slept in, then walked to the train station and met Jon and Zou to go to Madrid.  It was a high speed train, and got up to 300 km/hr (186 MPH), but when we were looking out the windows it didn't seem like it was going that fast.  It took about 50 minutes to get to Madrid.  From the train station we took the metro to get to our hostel.

Banco de Madrid
Our hostel was very nice, much better than I imagined a hostel to be.  It was just like a hotel except that the rooms had three bunk beds each.  There were two other Spanish speakers in the room with us.  They seemed nice but didn't say much.  The hostel also had a computer lab, a billiards room, and included breakfast in the morning.  To see more pictures than I have, go to the website ajmadrid.es.  All of the other people staying there seemed to be our age.  When we were waiting to check in, another couple there said they were from Vancouver and had been backpacking for the last three months (WOW!)  The people working there were all very nice, gave directions and maps, and also spoke English.

Palacio del Cristal
After checking in at the hostel and leaving some things in the lockers there, we walked down a main street in Madrid that had huge, beautiful buildings until we reached El Parque del Retiro, a massive park that included a lake that people could rent paddle boats on.  In the park, we went in el Palacio de Velásquez and el Palacio del Cristal, which both had art inside.

Next we made our way to El Prado, a world famous art museum that contained the works of Goya, Velásquez, Rembrandt, and many, many more.  It was really exciting to see paintings that I had learned about back home at UNK.

El Palacio Real
Next we walked (and walked, and walked, I calculated we walked 7-10 miles in Madrid) to Puerta del Sol, a famous, super crowded plaza that includes kilometer 0, the point from which all the major roads in Spain originate.  Nearby was La Plaza Mayor, and we found a couple tapas places for supper.

Templo de Debod
After eating, we went to El Palacio Real (the royal palace), and then a park where an Egyptian temple had been reconstructed, called Templo de Debod.  We went back to the hostel to change, and Jon, Bailey, and I went to a nearby club.  We wanted to check out the seven story club, but it was a long way from our hostel and we didn't want to walk that far.  The one we found was really awesome though.  It was kind of small, but the music was good and some people were dancing, so we hung out there.

Sunday morning, after we checked out of the hostel, we took the metro to la Plaza de Toros de las Ventas, where the bullfights are.  We couldn't see a bullfight (and I'm still not sure I'd want to) but we went in the bullfighting museum there.  Afterward, we went back to the train station and returned to Valladolid.

To see more pictures, go to: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3553695803896.2132207.1317690207&type=1&l=6a42a74eb4
Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas