Cuaresma begins

So yesterday kicked off the Lenten season, also known as Cuaresma in Spanish. I have decided that a my Lenten sacrifice I will not be speaking English, except with my family because they do not know Spanish. This is quite a challenge since my firends here are from the U.S. and we usually speak English. I did good job yesterday so I hope that I can continue with it.

There is not much else that is exciting. I have been doing a lot of work for my classes. I have a lot of reading espcially for my Economics class. I have started to put together a dictionary of important economic terms in Spanish. For example GDP, Gross Domestic Product is PIB in Spanish, Producto Interior Bruto. Also I cannot believe that I have been here for over a month already. Time just flew by me. I am finishing the third week of class out of 12 weeks... Yeah 25% completed.

Segovia- Aqueduct and Castle

I went on a day adventure on Friday to Segovia. It is about 1.5 hours outside of Madrid. The trip began with us going to the train station and finding out that the ticket price had doubled since the night before. So we decicded to take a bus instead which left from the other side of town. We got on the Renfe Cercanias (it is a mix between metro and commuter rail). The line we went on goes in a loop, but we did not know that the direction we were headed was a lot longer than the other direction so we passed through deserted areas that probably were not even in Madrid. So we arrived in Segovia and our first stop was the aqueducts. They were absolutely marvelous. These aqueducts were built by the Romans at the end of the first century and do not have mortar or braces holding them together. They reach up 11o feet off the ground... just amazing. There was a road that used to go through it, but it is closed because the air polution was harming the aqueduct. I think this is one of the oldest thing I have seen.

After we headed to the Cathedral which was built in 1525 and is in gothic style. I was not my favorite. I decided that I would like these types of cathedrals a lot more if they did not have the gates every where. It looks like a prison inside. Other than that it was similar to the one in Toledo.

Next we headed to Alcazar. It was built on a Roman temple and expanded several times. It was later used as prison for 2 centuries and then a royal artillery school, in which there was a fire that gutted the place in 1862. It was immediately reconstructed. The silhouette is believed to have been a
model for the Walt Disney logo. This castle was neat... not too extravegant. There was also a huge museum about the school with all kinds of knights and weapons and stuff. The best part was that we got to climb 159 stairs to the top of the tower. There were so many great views. I would just like to say that Spain is so diverse in its landscape. On one side of the castle there are hills with lots of pine trees and directly on the other side there are cliff and cayons and desert type of vegetation.

Segovia was our best day trip yet.

Weekend Expedition to Granada

I don't even know where to begin with this one. Well I went to Granada this past weekend. The bus left at 8:30a and it took over 6 hours to drive there. It was not too bad, I was able to see the countryside and beautiful part of Spain. Then we arrived to what we were told would be a hotel and it ended up being a 7 person room in a hostel (luckily the other 6 people are my friends). Oh forgot to mention on the bus ride there we made friends with 3 Italian students (I love when they speak Spanish because it is with an Italian accent). They thought that I looked like Zach Efron After arriving we took a little walking tour around the city and we saw some cool buildings, plazas, churches, etc. Following that we had dinner at a Moroccan restaurant that was realitively inexpensive and the food was amazing. We had a pitcher of sangria which was different because it had sticks of cinnamon in it, a little different flavor. After dinner we took a bus up small roads to a look out place on a hill. From there we were able to see the famous Alhambra at night with all the lights... so amazing. Then we went to a Flamenco dance (I think that I am bit sick of the Flamenco now). I call it an undergroud speakeasy because it was in a cellar of a neighborhood and they served us sangria or beer, it was a bit sketch. I ended up falling asleep near the end of the show and then one of the dancers took me by the hand to dance with her. I guess she has never seen a white boy try to dance.

On Saturday we headed up to the mountain where the Alhambra is located. Our tour began at 1:30. It was absolutely spectacular. The entire thing was just unbelievable. It only took 20 years to build. It shows the great influence that Moors had in Spain. I am including a link so that you can see some more pictures. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054555&id=21204555&l=bec20 There were also so many beautiful gardens and fountains (water is something that is extremely valued in Arab culture). I am so glad I was able to see it because it was the most memorable thing I have done yet. Everyone needs to see this because you will just be amazaed by it. The Alhambra is so huge. I thought that is was 2 rooms and 1 garden, but it is giant. It took us 2.5 hours to walk through it and we did not even see all of the gardens. Following the Alhambra we just went back and realxed for a while. The leaders of our group organized for us to go to a discoteca that night. We even went through the VIP entrance. It was a cool experience.

On Sunday we just realaxed. We had the entire day free to do as we pleased. However it was Sunday and nothing was open, not even the super mercado, El Corte Ingles. We did kind a few little tourist shops that were open. I got my name written in Arabic, well that's what he said he wrote, but who knows. Then in the afternoon we made our trek back to Madrid. Overall, it was a great weekend.

Classes Week 1

This week has not been all that adventerous. I just had my first week of classes which was interesting. I have been working all week on which classes I should take and after coutnless emails to my dean at CUA we finally figured it out... after 2 months, thank God. My classes consist of:

• Language and Composition
• Spanish Literature
• Latin American Literature
• History of Spain
• Economy in Europe and Spain

Some of them seem harder than others, but I will soon find out. It has been a process this week finding out the words that I have never used before (i.e. GDP or Gross Domestic Product is PIB or Producto Interno Bruto). I know that I am going to learn a great deal this semester in these classes.

I am taking a trip this week to southern Spain which is extremely different than the Madrid area. I am visiting Granada, which if look on the map above is sort of in the East, but more central in the southern region. It is in the autonomo (sort of like a state is in the US) of Andalusia. I am excited to see a place that I have previously studied... some of my professors have even talked about it this week. The South is influnced greatly by the Moors, and is supposed to be beautiful. I am going with an International Student Exchange Assocation that I joined at the university. So look for post next week about my trip. Hasta luego y Buen fin de semana.

Rastro

A nice Sunday afternoon called for a family adventure to the Rastro or weekly street flea market. The family and I headed down to the area and I was expecting a few blocks of vendors. This seriously went on forever. Oh and they have evry thing you can imagine DVD's, pants, hats, sunglasses, antiques, books, etc. The only thing they do not have is food... you know that if we had it in America there would be food... another reason why we are fat. There are also musicians and performers on the streets. This happens every week and it is always crowded with people shopping. I did not find anything that I wanted/ needed to buy, but Alba sure did. I had a good time, and I made sure I watched my pockets... Rastro is the number one place in Madrid for pic-pocketers.

Teatro de Madrid

On Friday our program had a special outing to the Teatro de Madrid. We arrived 2 minutes late so the usher just sat our group in the back, but during intermission we moved to our real seats which were in the 2nd row. We were entertained with the Ballet Folclorico. The group performed traditional dances from different regions in Spain including the most famous... the Flamenco. It was intersting to see the variety of dances. My favorite was the bagpipes, which I did not know that the Spanish played. The show lasted a bit longer than we anticipated... 3 hours. However it was an enjoyable experience of the culture.

Safe from the explosion

A bomb went off on today on the outskirts of Madrid. Good news...I am safe as well as everyone I konw. Fortunately no one was injured by this bomb. The bomb was put in place by the famous ETA Terrorist group because yesterday the supreme court banned two political parties, associated with the group, from particpating in the upcoming elections. The U.S. Embassy here in Madrid sent me, and all other Americans in Spain, an email to be vigilant and avoid protest or demonstrations. I plan to do all of the above. Plus good news is that it will be over after the elections on March 1.

Avila is in the MOUNTAINS!!!

Thursday began the next chapter of this crazy story. It started with us going to school to pay for trip to Granada next weekend. From there we headed to the bus station and got on a bus about 2pm to Avila. Now Avila is a bit further out than we have ever been before, about 70 miles from Madrid. It is worthwhile to mention that there are three of us that embarked on this journey (Jeannie, Jill, and I). It had been a semi-nice day in Madrid so I was wearing a light wind breaker while the girls were wearing thick coats. As we are driving, we were getting closer and closer to snowed covered mountains. Realizing that it is most likely going to be quite cold, I lean across the aisle and say "Jeannie, why didn't you tell me that Avila was in the mountains?" (hence the name of this entry). The reality is that none of us had a clue. However when we arrived it was not too cold. We started to walk without any idea of where we needed to go. Jeannie finally asked a man on the street and we were almost there.


Finally we arrived at El Convento de la Encarnacion, the convent where St. Teresa of Avila took her first vows and spent more than 30 years. The girls were taking picture of the outside when a woman with keys asked us if we wanted to see the church. We said sure and so we got a private tour of the chaples of the convent. They were absolutely beautiful. It was so awesome to pray where a saint prayed, lived, and worked. In the private chapel where she took her vows, they opened the wall so that her old living quarters are exposed. Then we went into museum part. Some of the articles have practically remained untouched since the 16th century. There is a part of a wooden post that St. Teresa used as a pillow, supposedly. It was extremely interesting. It was a bit strange though because we were the only people in there at the time and the lady locked us in and told us to ring the bell when we were finished. Jill was really creaped out and could not stay in there long.

Next we were off to the famous walls, or Murallas, that surround the old part of the town. The walls were built in 1090 after the town was reconquered from the Moors. They are a wonderful work of history. We tried to find the entrance so we could walk on the walls. The entrance closed at 6 and we arrived at 5:30 pm and they would not let us go up. They were still neat to see from the ground.

Our last stop was to try to find the church with the relics of St. Teresa. (They have her finger on display.) So we are asking people on the streets, "Donde esta el dedo de Santa Teresa?" We tried to ask people, but we could not find this church and decided to give up since we figured it was probably closed as well.

So we walked around and explored the town. At this time I was getting cold becaus ethe sun was beinging to set so I bought a scarf and a hat. After walking for a while I was getting hungry, but nothing sounded good...except a healthy American meal of McDonalds or Burger King. I saw a sign that with an arrow that said 3 minutes. We decided to follow it. After about 10 minutes of walking we accidently came across our bus station (thank God). We asked person on the street if he knew where it was and he said atleast another 15 minute walk. We decided not to go. I went and found a pizza place. The adventure ended with a bus ride with only 8 people, 3 of which were us.

University Orientation

Well this week started off on the wrong foot. Us Catholic University students were informed that we were required to take a grammar course and that we had a placement exam on Monday and Tuesday. A special thanks to the CUAbroad office for leaving out some more important details. Also this week were presentations by the professors about their courses.

So all week I have been in exams and the most boring presentations of life. The only semi-good thing was a they welcomed us with an open bar cocktail party. Oh, there was a negative to this too. This was our only chance for lunch (the biggest meal of the day in Spain) which they were providing. Lunch happend to be what I would call h'orderves... I would not have even considered them tapas.

In closing I have been welcomed to la Univeridad Carlos III!

Typical Weekend

I know that some people look at this blog every day so I am sorry that I have not posted anything in the past few days.

Anyways, my life the past few days has been boring. Well Friday was an epic adventure. My friends and I went to our favorite tapas bar, Malaspina, located near Puerta del Sol. Then we had a friend of a friend who is a Madrileno, a person from Madrid, show us to a good club. After we got in we could not even move because it was packed wall to wall. We had a few drinks and danced the night away Madrid style. They mostly played songs in English so we knew all of them. Before any of us realized it, it was already 5am (where did the night go). We left the club, but we still had an hour to kill before the metro opened up again. So we went to have Churros con chocolate. In Spain you dunk your churro in hot chocolate, but the hot chocolate is basically a melted Hershey's bar in a cup (so thick that the spoon stays on top of it).

I slept most of Saturday, but when I woke up, my host Father was cooking Paella (a traditonal Spanish dish made of rice and either shellfish, rabbit, chicken, or a mixture). If you know me, then you know I am not too fond of shellfish, but I did ok with this dish; it was not bad.

Sunday brought an entire new set of adventures. The family and I were planning on going down to the street market. However when we woke up it was snowing like crazy (the biggest snow flakes I have ever seen, almost like snow balls falling). We decided to stay in even though the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground.