La Ciudad de La Luz (y El Amor)

Paris, Francia

Well, I should be working on the four or five papers I have to write over the next two weeks, but I thought that I haven’t updated in quite some time and this might be more fun. Last weekend we went to Paris and to say the least I was hugely impressed. We stayed in the outskirts of the city (our stop was nearly off the metro map, so that should give you some indication of where we were hah) but we used the metro to get everywhere and it was pretty convenient. We saw all the big things of course:  the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Moulin Rouge, and the Sacred Heart. The Louvre was amazing, although by far the hugest museum I’ve ever been in. We spent about 3 hours roaming around, seeing the Mona Lisa and sculptures by Michelangelo until my feet were burning they hurt so bad, but it was definitely worth it. I wish I could have spent a week there. The museum was originally a palace so there were hundreds and hundreds of rooms to roam through with artwork all over––paintings, sculptures, Egyptian relics, everything. We also visited the Eiffel Tower first by day and then again by night. I definitely loved it at night it was incredible. There’s a park right beneath the tower and after the long walk there we just sat and talked and rested and every now and then you’d look up and there would be the tower, it was so surreal. At night, every hour on the hour for about five minutes the tower sparkles and when it happened everyone in the park started to cheer and clap; it was so amazing to be there and see that.

There were all the little things that we did too, like eat crepes on the side of the street after watching them make them (they filled them with massive amounts of nutella!), and eating French onion soup in France, so it was just called onion soup (and was delicious). The city was beautiful; I’m beginning to find that every time I go somewhere new I seem to suddenly have a new favorite place. On the last day we got to go to the district where all the famous painters and writers used to live––like Picasso and Degas––when they were in France. It’s actually the seedier part of the city where Moulin Rouge is (somewhat like the Red Light District of Amsterdam, although not nearly as explicit). I know three days wasn’t nearly enough time there, but if anything it was a glimpse of the city and after seeing it I know I’m definitely going to go back. My visit seemed to break all stereotypes that I’d heard – it was clean, or just as clean as any American city, and the people were very nice, in fact they were pretty wonderful. I have less than two weeks until Las Vacciones in Italy, which I’m super excited for (I already have my ticket for the Vatican bought!) In the mean time, I’ll be writing papers and reading all the Spanish books that I’ve put off for long enough seeing as we only have about two weeks of classes left until finals, craziness!

fotos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030323&id=1572900598&l=cf405abdc7

Madrid, photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030248&id=1572900598&l=7711615bd1

Bonita Andalucía

After spending nearly 8 weeks here (!) and having visited North Eastern and a bit of central Spain, I have to say that Southern Spain––the province known as Andalucía––was the most stunning to me. We traveled first to Granada where we visited a church that was specifically built as the resting place for the two most prominent rulers of Spain:  Fernando and Isabel. There we actually got to see their caskets as well as the edifice built specifically for them.

The city of Granada may have been my favorite. There were white stucco buildings everywhere stacked up on each other with open courtyards and stairwells leading up to open rooftop terraces. They had orange trees lining the streets and each building was painted a light pastel color of yellow and pink. Also, in the distance you could see the mountains and they had snow on them, even though it was like 60º walking around the streets, crazy!

In Granada, we also saw La Alhambra, which I’m actually learning about in my Spanish Art class; it was really neat to see it in person. It’s a structure that was actually originally built by the Arabs when they occupied Spain so there’s a ton of Arab architectural influence (as well as throughout the entire city). However, the Spanish added on to it when they occupied Spain years later so it’s a mix of cultures. There were beautiful gardens there too. On our first night in Granada we went to dinner in a cueva (cave) and after dinner there was Flamenco dancing, which was incredible. The dancers were literally three feet away from me on the stage and when they stomped the ground with their heels little woodchips were chipping off the stage (that’s how intense the dancing was!) It was definitely a cultural experience.

Next we traveled about two hours to Córdoba, which was a smaller city but was home to one of the greatest Cathedrals. Similar to La Alhambra, the Cathedral at Córdoba was actually first a Mosque built by the Arabs and then turned into a Cathedral by the Spanish. I think this was my favorite Cathedral I’ve seen (and I’m sure I’ve seen nearly ten by now haha) because inside there were hundreds of arches that resembled an aqueduct. There were over a hundred columns and it was hugely impressive.

Sevilla was next, which definitely rivaled Granada for my favorite place in Spain. As in Granada, these beautiful orange trees lined the streets and were pretty much everywhere you went. We actually thought about picking one but when we asked Jesús what the protocol was on that he said that no one touched them because they were apparently super bitter. In any case, Sevilla (known as the capital of Andalucía) was filled with horse drawn carriages in the streets and palm trees everywhere. We saw the Cathedral, which is the third largest in the entire world (after The Vatican and St. Paul in London) and we also got to climb the huge tower that looked out over the city. In the Cathedral there were original paintings by Goya, which were also amazing to see. Afterwards a group of us explored the city a little and we found this huge park right in the middle of the city. The coolest thing about it was how overgrown it was so once you walked a few feet in you felt like you were suddenly lost in a forest. Also, we didn’t actually find the park until dusk so it gave it an entire new look in the darkness (and brought out the bats too, but they were kind of neat to see). Lastly, we traveled to Mérida, which is a small city, which is home to roman theatre ruins. While these ruins were awesome and extremely old, I still think that the cities of Granada and Sevilla were more appealing to me.

This weekend is our last weekend home and then we travel every weekend for the rest of the semester, which is super exciting. Only a week until the Canary Islands!

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029938&id=1572900598&l=17f7ab467c

Sintra, Portugal (and a little of Lisboa)

Last weekend we travelled to Portugal and stayed in Lisboa. On Friday night, we went out and celebrated my 21^st birthday, which was super fun. Apparently when people party in Lisboa they pretty much just spill out onto the streets. Our beers were in plastic cups and everything, just like a block party and it was really warm! On Saturday we travelled to Sintra, a small town about 30min outside the city, and it was amazingly beautiful. The Portuguese apparently love the color yellow because they painted all of their buildings a light pastel yellow color, which looked beautiful against the greenery and the 60º weather.

First, we visited a park, Quinta de Regaleira, that was beautiful. It was huge and I’m sure we hardly made a dent in everything it had to offer in our two hours of exploring it. There were underground caves, a lake, various towers and mini castles that you could climb up and see out over the entire town. Afterwards, we visited a Moorish castle that took about 30min of driving up a steep hill just to reach. Then we had to work our way up the castle steps into the sky to reach the top, but it was well worth it! The castle was incredible, and although I almost didn’t make it to the top (the stairs were so tiny and it literally felt like you were climbing into the sky without anything to keep you from falling off the edge!). At the top, we could look out and see the Atlantic Ocean, which was really cool––I had never been on the opposite side of it before!

Sunday was spent in Lisboa, which was an interesting experience. I didn’t realize how spoiled I was by living in España until I went to Portugal. There, hardly anyone spoke English and they didn’t speak Spanish, so we were more than a little frustrated in trying to communicate. I guess I should have expected it, but for some reason I have such an easy time in España that I never thought I’d have trouble anywhere else. In any case, we did a little sightseeing at a tower on the Tagus River and then visited a Flea market that had some cool stuff. It was beautiful weather so we spent a fair amount of time just sitting outside and taking in the sun. As far as the city goes, I don’t think that I have any desire to go back. It was incredibly dirty (rats/mice in the street!) and the people were not friendly (at one restaurant we didn’t even get a waiter). However, the little town, Sintra, was wonderful, so I suppose the Portuguese countryside is where I would like to visit should I find myself in the country again. More to come after more adventures : )

Portugal, photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029504&id=1572900598&l=942818b9ad

BARCELONA

Last weekend we spent four days (or actually only two, if you count Friday and Monday as two days of traveling for twelve hours on the bus!) in Barcelona and it was amazing! So far I think it is my favorite city, architecturally. We spent the first day seeing the sights, one of which was the Parc Guell, which was designed by Guadi. I can’t really explain it, but it was full of colorful ceramic tiles, rooftops decorated in all sorts of pastel cracked ceramic, and architecture made out of the existing nature. Gaudi was apparently convinced that nature should not be disturbed, but should be built around; therefore, so much of the park is molded out of the stone that already existed there. The park is situated on a high point in the city, so standing at the highest point we were able to see the sun setting over the palm trees of downtown Barcelona, which was insanely beautiful.

On day two, we visited Gaudi’s famous cathedral situated in the center of the city, La Sagrada Familia. My friend Hunter and I decided that the outside of the cathedral sort of resembles one of those drip castles that you make at the beach (although I doubt that Gaudi meant it to look like that haha). The most interesting thing about La Sagrada Famillia is that it actually isn’t that old, compared to so many of the others built in Europe. Gaudi designed and built it in the late 1800s-early 1900s, so the inside of the Cathedral looks very new.
We also went to the Picasso museum and saw authentic Picasso paintings that were incredible to see. I can't say that I'm much a fan of his cubism, but it was amazing to see the wall-sized paintings that he painted at the mere age of 15. Both the Blue and Rose period were lovely, as well.

Later on, a small group of us roamed the inner streets of Barcelona and found the Cathedral of Barcelona, which was much older; I actually liked this second one better because it seemed as though it had weathered so many storms and had lasted through so much history.

At night we walked down Las Ramblas, a walking street that stretches from the pier inward. Along this street are tons of bars, restaurants and street performers, which were fun to see. We ended up in a tiny bar off the beaten track that had the theme of a rainforest (but was actually really cool, nothing like the cheesy rainforest café that used to be in the mall). We ordered a couple rounds of Sangria (which was the best that I’ve had since I’ve been here) and practiced speaking in Spanish to each other, I think we’re starting to get really good!

We leave for Lisbon, Portugal in less than 24 hours, so more to come after that! ¡Ciao!

Barcelona

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029410&id=1572900598&l=ade7e3e0a8

Photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029273&id=1572900598&l=df34f6ede6

El Fin de Semana

La Ciudad:

I’ve been exploring the city and it’s so much to take in I can’t even describe it. The Plaza Mayor was the first place we met this morning with Tomás, our guide. La Plaza is a huge square that’s wrapped in carvings and beautiful engravings. One of the coolest parts about la plaza is that each ruler of España has his face engraved on the walls encircling the entire square. Tomás pointed out Franco, el dictador, and there was actually purple paint on the stone that someone had thrown where his face was carved. I have no idea how long it’s been there, but it was really interesting to see.

Siesta here is pretty standard to what you imagine it to be. We eat lunch (which is the size of a multi-course American dinner) and then usually retreat to our rooms to descansar (rest). I’ve finally gotten on the Spanish schedule of sleeping only about 5 hours at night but then getting another 2 hours of sleep during siesta. Yesterday the entire group had dinner out together at a restaurant around the corner from La Plaza Mayor. The food was very good, although a bit American for some reason – I think they’re trying to acclimate us slowly to the Spanish cuisine. But, I tried the Flan just for you, Meg! Then, some of us went to this bar for drinks called The Irish Rover (apparently JMU students are pretty well known there). The nights in Spain don’t end until super late…actually I really don’t even know when the bars close. La discoteca, Gatsby, was still super crowded when we left late last night.

This morning I got café and checked out las cathedrals for Sunday mass. We went to this one that was enormous (called the New Cathedral) and they did a traditional Catholic mass in Spanish. Although I had trouble understanding some of it, it was still really awesome to hear, and when the priest spoke his voice reverberated throughout the entire cathedral, which was pretty incredible.

Tomorrow we start a two-week long class, called Intensivo. It’s only for our group and it’s meant to get us up to speed with our grammar. In four days we’re headed to Barcelona for our first excursion, which is super exciting; I can’t wait to see the architecture and the Mediterranean! Look for photos, they should be up soon : )

Flight & Arrival

¡Hola!

 Primero:  The Flight

So, the flight was pretty standard.  I watched the Social Network (which I was kind of disappointed in) and tried to sleep (which didn’t happen).  But the best thing was that I had a whole row to myself, three empty seats next to me in the center isle and the plane was pretty much empty everywhere else. Then halfway through the flight, a woman came up and asked me a question in Spanish and after much pointing and an awkward English-Spanish combo conversation later I had gotten it across to her that the seats were empty and she could sit. Before I knew it, she was making a little bed for herself, sprawling out over the 2.5 seats and using my coat and shoulder bag as a pillow, which I thought was just awkward but apparently she thought was comfortable. I guess it was my first encounter with personal space being a bit different here than in America…if anything it gave me a reason to laugh as I sat there and watched her toss and turn trying to get comfortable. (She proceeded to ask me a few more questions throughout the flight, which I’m pretty sure only one of which I was able to give a solid answer to––and that question was:  “tienes el tiempo?”

Segundo:  España

Then I sat in the airport for 5 hours, took an almost 3 hour bus ride and finally found myself in Salamanca. My host mom’s name is Escoli and she’s really great. She doesn’t speak any English––and doesn’t really even try if you’re stuck. But she’s really helpful with Spanish and is willing to repeat anything we don’t understand or hear on the first time. I was pretty astounded when she asked us if we were hungry and said she would prepare a little something. A little while later we sat down to an amazing meal:  we had soup, then chicken with these potato things (which were great), bread, salad, and fruit for desert.  Other than that, I’m all unpacked and ready to go for tomorrow––we have a walking tour of the city! I’m still trying to communicate with Escoli as best I can but I seem to forget words that I know I learned in Spanish I (like bedroom) and I even forgot my towel on the way to the shower, but she reminded me; I think I’m really going to like her. ¡Adios!