Top 10 Things I Will Miss From Spain

1. Cheap Wine: I used to not be a wine drinker, but I began to order it at dinner and bars in Spain because one, it is cheap and two, I wanted to fully immerse myself in the Spanish culture while I was here and I now love it.

2. Good Dining Hall Food: I may be miles and miles away, but everyone knows about the health code violations in the Denison eating areas. Sick. So, not only will I miss a dining hall sans health code violations, but the food here is about 10 times better than anything Huffman, Curtis and Slayter have to offer.

3. Free Tapas with a Drink: At most bars and some restaurants here, when you order a drink you get a free tapa with it. For those of you who don’t know what a tapa is, it’s like an appetizer. It is the perfect amount of food when you just want to enjoy your drink and nibble on something, and it tastes a lot better than a breadbasket.

4. Siesta: I fully take advantage of the 3-4 hour period in the middle of the day when the shops close and everyone is eating lunch and relaxing.

5. Easy Traveling: Yes at home I can jump in a car and drive as far or long as I want, but you can’t really book a flight or take a bus or train to another country on weekends.

6. Principe Cookies: For those of you who have not been to a Spanish speaking country, you may not know what these are, but they are like backwards Oreos where the cookie part is like a graham cracker and the inside is chocolate. They are completely addicting.

7. Skyping: Skyping has saved my life. I do it with friends abroad, friends at school and family. On Thanksgiving my brother took his computer around the kitchen and showed me not only everything they had cooked for dinner, but also our stocked fridge, with soymilk. Yum.

8. Being on TV: My internship here has gotten me recognized in public in some instances and it’s crazy. I will definitely miss getting my make-up and hair done each week.

9. Maids: Living in the dorms we have maids that come in everyday to clean the bathroom and shower and mop the floors. And once a week they change our sheets and towels. I’ll miss that when I’m living in Beaver, and have to clean my own bathroom.

10. Weather: Although I cannot wait to go home for the snow, I know that when February rolls around and it is still icy and bitter cold in Ohio I’ll wish I was back in Spain in warmer weather where it rarely snows.

Let’s Carve The Ham

Turkey Day is approaching and all I can think of is pumpkin pie. Although the mashed potatoes with gravy, the stuffing and of course the golden brown turkey make up the holiday; for me it’s the pumpkin pie I will be missing the most since not one of those things exists here in Spain. So when the school told us that they would cook us a Thanksgiving dinner on November 27th, I’ve been wondering what exactly this dinner is going to entail. I’m assuming they will serve us ham because turkey’s don’t exist in Spain and ham is so abundant here that they have legs hanging from restaurant ceilings. They’ve also served us mashed potatoes in the cafeteria before, but they definitely do not taste like the buttery, soft mashed potatoes that melt in your mouth. And the closest thing to stuffing is probably their tortilla española, which I won’t complain about because I have grown to love it, but is nowhere near anything stuffing oriented. As for dessert, they’ve tried to make flan, which tastes a lot more eggy than it should and we’ve have ice cream, where the chocolate tastes grainy, and fruit salad which I can’t complain about. I know most of this seems like a lot of complaining and pessimism towards Spain food, but I love Spain food. What I’m worried about is Spain trying to do American food. The burgers they make are basically rare and as I’ve previously mentioned about the mashed potatoes I just don’t want them to ruin Thanksgiving. In the end, I may have to pull an A Little Princess and have to use my imagination and pretend like what I am eating is my favorite turkey day food (if you don’t know what I’m talking about go watch the movie). But, aside from all the doubt on their ability to whip up an old-fashioned Thanksgiving meal, it’ll be interesting not to sit at a table with family for the first time and instead sit with other students and friends. Regardless of all the changes this year though, I will still be thankful for a lot of things. One in particular is the fact that I’ll be home for Christmas and will get my pumpkin pie then.

Truco y Trato

This was my first Halloween that I didn’t dress up and it was possibly the worst idea ever. I knew that the day would eventually come where I would be too old to dress up for this holiday, but I never thought that that would be anytime soon. The U.S. is really good at “Americanizing” countries, so although Halloween is celebrated in Spain it is not nearly as hyped up or popular as it is in America. Here, the stores don’t decorate their windows with pumpkins or witches in fact; there was only one small, hole in the wall store that sold costumes. There isn’t specially packaged candy that fills the aisles of corner and grocery stores, nor are there horror movie marathons on TV the entire month of October. It’s completely different here, and so much more commercialized in the U.S. I went to Madrid to spend Halloween there thinking that it had to be big in a large city. I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, there were people that dressed up, in fact a lot more people were wandering the streets in costume than I thought would. But this was a different kind of costume style. Gone were the superheroes and foam costumes bought in stores. Spaniards take the idea of Halloween, a night meant to scare and be scared, very literally. Everyone dressed up creepy. The girls didn’t wear skimpy clothing and don animal ears Mean Girls style. Instead, they painted their faces like skulls or with blood and the men did the same. Something clearly got lost in the translation. I think the saddest part was when I went out to the streets of Toledo to interview teens about their Halloween plans for my internship and they all said that they never went trick or treating and weren’t sure if they would even dress up for Halloween. I remember my parents taking me trick or treating in my neighborhood when I was little. Actually, I remember trick or treating until my sophomore year of high school. The best part was dumping my candy out on the table and trading with my friends and little brother. I’ll really miss buying all the Halloween candy that goes on sale after Halloween. The candy just isn’t the same here. I mean I long for Twizzlers. And as for scary movies, I have to watch them online. Next year, I am making Halloween a big deal. I’m already thinking about my costume.

The New President

Not just Americans, but the world watched Tuesday night as Obama quickly gained electoral votes to win the presidency and become America’s first African-American president. I know, I know, the elections are over and we have a new president so why keep talking about it? Well, besides the fact that history was made last Tuesday, experiencing not only a presidential election, but this presidential election in another country was fascinating, disappointing and relieving all at the same time. It was fascinating to be able to talk to non-Americans about what their views were regarding the candidates and let me tell you, everyone had an opinion. Surprisingly enough though, not everyone in Spain supports Obama. There is actually a large McCain group in Spain that held rally’s supporting him throughout the country. All in all though, the majority of people are in favor of Obama and not just in Spain. Being an American while traveling to different parts of Europe and talking with other American students who have traveled has provided us with many encounters with Europeans wishing to talk politics. It was almost intimidating how upfront some people were about their opinions both on the candidates and on the U.S. itself. However, I gained a lot of perspective on the influence America has on the rest of the world, both positive and negative. The most disappointing thing for me being in another country at this time was the time difference. Spain is six hours ahead of Ohio, so at 3 a.m. I was still waiting for polls to close. And what was worse was watching the crowd grow at Grant Park in Chicago and not be able to be there. All I could think of while watching the updates online was how much I wanted to be home in Chicago. To make matters worse, I had to watch the elections online because there was no channel at the school to watch it on TV. I have truly come to appreciate technology and the Internet so much more while abroad, it’s become my source to stay updated. Throughout this emotional rollercoaster that finally came to a finale Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning for me, I was so relieved and excited for so many reasons. Being from Chicago I am so proud to have our next president from the same place and I am so happy that this campaign is finally over and we will finally have a change that so many people are ready for. What’s more, I voted in my first presidential election and although it had to be absentee, I registered in Ohio, the swing state that ended up being Democratic. As much as I wish I could have been home for this experience, I cannot wait to go back and begin this new political adventure. Yes, we can is now yes, we did.

Would You Like A Can Of Salt With That?

So I can get used to eating lunch at 2pm and dinner at 8:30pm, and, although it pains me, I can get used to the dollar being worse than the Euro. I can even get used to the music being about five years behind. But one thing I cannot get used to is the pound of salt that comes when you buy water. You know those Aquafina commercials that stress how their water has nothing in it, and their nutritional facts label has only zeros on it? And that goes for all water whether only purified or from natural springs, it has nothing in it, just clean, crisp, refreshing water. Well not in Spain. Here, they add a lot of stuff to their water. Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium and Bicarbonate are the most common ingredients they contain. So basically I am paying to drink salt water. All of us students were so excited when we found a 1.5 liter bottle of water at the market for only .20 Euros. That is until we found out that a serving contained about 50mg of sodium per liter. Now I’m not very good at math, in fact I have yet to fulfill a science requirement at Denison, but when there is water here that has 0.8mg per liter and water in the U.S. that has nothing in it, I’m going to go with that cannot be good for you. I mean doesn’t salt make you more thirsty? And isn’t water supposed to hydrate you and quench your thirst? So essentially, isn’t adding sodium to the water going to make me more thirsty? Why would they add anything to water in the first place? There is absolutely no water here without additive ingredients. So it makes me wonder if everyone has a sodium deficiency. Last time I tasted the food though it was extremely salty. And the water labels say for those that lack sodium in their diets. I could be completely wrong but isn’t there basically sodium in everything? Aren’t people watching their sodium intake, not looking for more? And to think that I used to laugh at the Aquafina commercials thinking that it was stupid of them to advertise their water as having nothing in it. First thing I’m doing when I get back to the U.S. is buying a bottle of water and drinking it without wondering if I’m going to die of a heart attack at an early age.

Welcome to Smokerville. No Truth Commercials Here.

Living in another country and experiencing a new culture there will definitely be things that I will bring back home with me. Things like an obsession with scarves, a sophisticated taste for wine (no more Franzia for me), a reliance on napping to get me through the day and lung cancer. I am convinced that I will come home with lung cancer from all of the secondhand smoke. There is no Clean Air Act here. And worse, no interest in one either. The bars, the clubs, the streets, the restaurants are filled with cigarette smoke. Even the airports have designated smoking boxes. Everyone smokes. And the worst part of it is that the smell never leaves, it follows me everywhere. I’ve actually thought of becoming a smoker since I wreak like one all the time and since I’m inhaling everyone else’s smoke, my rationale is that my chances of getting cancer can’t be too much higher if I just smoke myself. It’s a stupid thought process but I’ll never smoke anyway because aside from the fact that I can’t stand the smell, I get an allergic reaction to the smoke, it makes my eyes dry, my throat itchy and I start coughing. When I get back to my room after a night out, the smell that the smoke leaves in my hair and clothes is as potent as the smell of the guy’s side of the hallway in the dorms at Denison. Both odors I rather not have to encounter and even try to hold my breath as long as possible to avoid. But I’ve given up on trying to hold my breath when someone’s smoking. I know it’s bad when I’ve surrendered and have even started to get used to it. The worst part is that I have to watch out where I stand or dance in the clubs and bars because people have been burned by smokers carelessly holding their cigarettes. One of the girls here has a burn mark on her arm. The sad thing is I was excited to be in a small town with cleaner air and less pollution, until I found out that the pollution has been replaced with cigarette smoke. I would take polluted air over smoky air any day. Asthma is so much better than lung cancer. Maybe I’ll start my own Truth ads here in Toledo. I bet if Spaniards ever watched a Truth commercial they would think twice about smoking. Until then though, I’ll be here filling my lungs with cancer, taking more than one shower in a day and airing my clothes out the window.

I Didn’t Realize Hostel Meant Renting Rooms out of Someone’s House

Last month I went to Granada with eight other people. We got into Granada at about 11pm and we had all booked different hostels. The four guys booked one together, three of the girls booked another, then this girl Maggie and I booked our own. We got out of our taxi and followed the street names. As we walked down the small streets we finally got to the place that the directions had told us to go. But there was no sign, no indication that it was a hostel. In fact, it was a house. We were confused, cold and terrified. This couldn’t possibly be the hostel. So when we saw a guy our age walking towards us we asked him to take us to the address on the paper. Unfortunately, he told us we were at the right place. Great, I thought. My first time being in a hostel and I’m going to be kidnapped. So we rang the doorbell and this skinny hippie-looking guy with baggy clothes opened the door. We walked in and asked him in Spanish if this was The Flophouse, and when he said yes I told him that we had reservations. The guy started to speak in clear English and it turns out he was from California. My relief of speaking with an American soon became anguish when he told us that he was going to take us to the other place because the one where we were was full. The place, he said, was only around the corner. As we walked and walked and walked my hands began to sweat and the more I spoke. My thought process was to just keep him talking. As long as he kept talking he didn’t have time to plan our kidnap because he was preoccupied answering my questions. Once we got to the other house, I was quickly looking for an escape route. What did I get myself into?! We walked up the steps and were led into this room with two bunk beds. One of them already had people sleeping in them. A Slovakian couple, probably in their 20s. We made small talk with them then went back downstairs, paid James, the hippie, for a two-night stay even though we were CLEARLY not staying there both nights. But apparently it was stated in the contract that there was a two-night minimum. Probably because people want to run the second they see what they got themselves into. Maggie and I got the key and bolted to meet up with the rest of the group. That night we drank our anxiety away, slept in the same bunk bed, woke up early and found a new place to stay where we slept soundly the next night in our own beds. From now on I’m consulting travel guides to tell me where to stay.

Don't Smile

So you know how you walk down a neighborhood street and when you pass someone you smile or say “Hi” to them? Or when you’re walking to class down that long brick walkway passed Swasey and pass a student or administrator and you make eye contact and smile, maybe say “Hi”? Well they don’t do that in Spain. No one smiles. Sure people smile when they’re joking with friends, or when they see someone they know on the street, but if it’s anyone else they don’t even make eye contact. Now I’m a big smile person. I like to smile. I don’t take life too seriously. And maybe it’s a Midwest thing, but you don’t walk down a small street, look the person you’re passing dead in the eye and not smile! I expected it out of Madrid Spaniards because it’s a large city, but not Toledo Spaniards. Toledo is that kind of small town where our tour guide was walking us down a street and she stopped twice to talk to someone she knew. So what still puzzles me is why they refuse to smile! Maybe it’s because the Spanish men take it as a sign that you’re interested. Since when did something as simple as a smile automatically mean that you’re interested in someone? Well maybe I missed the memo, but I learned that a smile is a way to be polite, sincere and nice. Not a “You’re hot, let me give you my really long 12-digit international phone number so you can give me a tour of Madrid.” I mean don’t get me wrong; I know that there are different kinds of smiles. But I’m absolutely NOT doing one of those Joey from Friends “How you doin’?” smiles. I’m purely just trying to be nice. So I’ll clearly be working on not smiling while walking the cobblestone streets of Toledo, but until then I may need to make a sign that says, “Not interested, just trying to have fun” for all those Spanish guys who are not only very forward but don’t get the hint. I’ve already had a tour of Madrid, thanks. And it was by a professional tour guide.

No Sprechen Deutsches

"No Sprechen Deutsches," "I don't speak German," was probably our most useful phrase throughout the weekend. That and "Danke," "Thank you." However, in Germany they have to take 9 years of English so it was never difficult to communicate with any Germans throughout our weekend festivities.

DAY 1:
Caroline, Laurence and I flew from Madrid to Munich on Thursday afternoon and got in around 4pm. Coop and Larry had to take an overnight bus to Madrid because our flight was at 1pm and they are in Granada, almost 6 hrs away from Madrid. And they got to wait at the airport since 7am. I luckily am only an hour from Madrid. But their wait turned out better since they got to eat their first Magnum ice cream, which they said is like a Dove Bar but better... I still have yet to try one. Anyway, Caroline and Laurence luckily had no classes on Thursday and no one has classes on Friday, but I skipped my classes on Thursday.

So we got into this tiny plane with maybe 20 rows and only two seats on each side (See Facebook album for pictures and don't mind the one with Laurence in the corner not looking too happy). My backpack didn't even fit in the overhead bin cuz they were so small! And, just for future reference, they don't announce when they start boarding the plane so PAY ATTENTION!
Once we took off, they served us a legit full course meal with bread and desert pastry. Of course the meal itself was typical airplane food but the bread and pastry were good, little did we know that bread would be our food for almost every meal in Germany. They also offered us beer or wine FOR FREE, but none of us boozed on the plane. That didn't stop the girl our age sitting across from me already dressed up in her Oktoberfest costume from ordering a beer and drinking it from the bottle instead of pouring it in the plastic cup the stewardess gave her.

So we left sunny, 75+ degree Spain and arrived into Munich to find ourselves digging into our bags for our fleeces AND rain coats. But our excitement overshadowed the gray skies. Once we got our luggage, we had to figure out how to get from the airport to our hostel. The train system is not easy. I still don't understand it. So after stupidly looking at the directions in German for 5 minutes we went to the information desk and got a ticket for the 3 of us. 18 Euros. Then we found out that they never check your ticket, and you don't have to put it in any little machine for the machine to let you through. It's an honor system type thing. So on the way back we didn't pay. I in no way advise or condone this, but if you also do not pay, you'll be among the majority of people who just walk into the station and get on the train.
Our train ride took an hour. But we did get to see all the German men, women, teens, and kids dressed up in their costumes. It was amazing.

Once we got off the train Laurence and I found our way to the hostel, Caroline wasn't allowed to touch the map since she just would've gotten us lost.
Once the hostel situation was taken care of, and Larry and Coop were relieved that their hostel wasn't sketchy, we headed out in the rain to check out Oktoberfest. Aside from the downpour, walking into that park was a kid in the candy store exciting. It's like a carnival with huge buildings that they call tents that have long wooden tables full of people from all over with huge beer steins full of beer and they're all dancing and shouting on top of the tables. To top it all off, there are TONS of different stands selling souvenirs, roasted chickens, duck, brawts, crepes, chocolate covered fruit (we had chocolate covered bananas and strawberries HIGHLY recommended!), pretzels, fish sandwiches and sooo much more. But the most exciting of all was probably the roller coasters. I mean these aren't Six Flags Great America type roller coasters but they just as great.

Anyway, I can't write about our first night without talking about our first beer tent experience and Sue. The three of us has absolutely NO idea how to get into these tents and there were crowds of people waiting at the doors. So we went to some tent with a really long German name that I won't even attempt to write and went to the side door that had a short line. We waited maybe 20 min. and had to stand next to this annoying British guy around our age, probably as tall as me, blonde, with glasses and every time he spoke he created a lot of spit where it would build up on the corners of his mouth (I know all of you know someone who that happens to when they talk). It was disturbing and he was drunk and all he kept saying was I was in front of you in line over and over again. Well turns out patience and not being annoying to the security guards gets you in. And when the security guard pointed to me I told him there were 3 of us and the British guy was like "Four" but he didn't get in. Haha

The place was huge. And packed. And everyone was dancing and cheering. So we decided to join in. We stood by the place where the waitresses get the beer and Sue came up to us and asked us if we wanted beer. She got our beer and told us to follow her and she pushed her way through the crowd and carrying about 8 beers at one time (I'm still astonished as to how they do it), and put them down on a table. The tables were packed so we just stood there drinking our beers and these people on the table next to us soon became our best friends. One of the women sewed her own costume because she said they're so expensive. And the other two guys were a couple and there was one other guy who was one of the exes of one of the guys in the couple. But don't worry, he's married now so there was no tension. We got all of this from the woman. On another note, Sue was the best, she took really good care of us.

Anyway, after all the beer, food and rides, Caroline got some nuts. The warm, candied nuts that call you from miles away with their strong smell. She almost bought two bags but Laurence made us leave. They then took me to meet up with Liz and Tupper who got in late because we shared a hotel room for the night.

DAY 2:
Everyone who was missing got in on Saturday at different times and we finally got to get into our room once Glenna and Em got to the hotel to check-in. Nine girls to one room. There were two twin beds, and a cot. Two people slept in each bed and cot and then the other three slept on the floor in between the beds. But we switched who got the beds each night. And what we thought would be a disaster when we showered turned out really well because we all showered at different times of the day.
That day all of us but Marge, who was the last to get in went to one of the tents to meet up with the guys from school who were there too, and we waited in line to get into the tent when a group of guys called us over to sit with them in their outside table. Turns out they were all from North Carolina. There was one South African guy and one British guy who sat with them too, but they werent with them. The British guy tried to get us to play this horrible game of Fives that half of us didn't understand and then the other half didn't pay attention. So he resorted to making people chug their beers. He chanted "I call on (insert name) to chug us a beer" or something like that. And every time someone started to chug, this table full of Italians (there were tons of Italians all weekend) would cheer them on. The guy was really pushy though and when he called on me to chug a beer I told him no. It kind of killed the game for him until someone turned the tables around and called on him and he wouldn't do it either.

Anyway, Marge was the last to get in at night so we all went back to the hotel room to meet her, which we had to go in and out of in shifts so we wouldn't get caught. But the tents close at 10:30/11pm, really early! So Friday night wasn't too eventful since once Marge got there and we got into the tents it was too late to have a beer. But it turned out well since Glenna was sooo excited about Oktoberfest she woke us all up at 7am to get up and get in line to try to get in one of the tents.

DAY 3:
7am: Glenna's alarm goes off.
Glenna: Whispering "Caroline, should I get in the shower?"
No answer.
Glenna: "Caroline, Caroline, Should I get in the shower?"
Caroline: "Yea Glenna, whatever"
So we all woke up early and got breakfast and went to Hofbrau Tent to try to get inside. We split up though and half of us got a table outside while the rest tried to get inside and failed. But we sat under the heaters and it was all good!
From 9am to around 2pm we drank. And the troopers, Em, Glenna, Tupper and Laurence stayed at the table and drank all day, in moderation of course, those beers are HUGE. But Liz, Marge, Coop, Cassie and I had to go take a nap. We also stopped at the supermarket on the way back to get some fruit and because all we'd been eating was bread: pretzels and cheese bread were my staple.

After our nap, later that night we decided to go back and tried to get into the Hofbrau tent and Lowenbrau but both were beyond full and so we went to Paulaner and waited maybe 20 min and actually got in at like 8pm!
As we waited for Glenna to meet us, this group of Germans dressed in their Leiderhosin (I'm not sure how you spell it) came up to us started dancing, and one of them put his beer up to Cassie's mouth and made her drink, then he did it to me. Oh My Gosh. All I could think of was what he put in this drink, I'm gonna wake up tomorrow in a park with all my money and belongings gone. Turns out I was wrong. Another of the guys gave his beer to Caroline and they invited us up to the balcony, where all the VIP/Reserved tables were. But we couldn't leave Glenna, who had managed to push herself to the front of the line and was the first one at the door. So one of the guys walked up to the security guard and told him to let Glenna in, but the security guard told him that he would let people in again in 15 min. He then went up to the security guard checking wristbands at the stairs to go up to balcony and told him that Glenna was Caroline's girlfriend and they were from Scotland. So Caroline had to ask to let Glenna in and do it with gestures because she doesn't have a Scottish accent. We got her in though. AND we got up to the VIP section. AND we got free beer, free food, free roses, and found out we were sitting with caterers and CEO manufacturers of beer. They were from Hanover and had three tables and were invited by the Paulaner tent to come for Oktoberfest. It was probably the best ending to the weekend ever!!!!

We all sang, and took pictures with them and one of the waitresses brought a cheese and fruit platter on the table. They didn't know too much English, but we all got along great!

Sunday was probably the saddest morning because we all said goodbye. But it was definitely one of the best weekends I've had!
Laurence and Caroline waiting for the train from the airport.
This is the group who made it the the VIP. From Left: Caroline, Marge, Me, Caroline, Cassie & Glenna

This is the group with our guy friends from school. From Left: Marge, Liz, Glenna, Wyatt, Jeff, Reese, Tupper, Peter, Laurence, Caroline, Cassie, Me
With our first beers!
Me, Liz, Caroline, Laurence, and Tupper
Inside of Hofbraü at 11:30am. It was packed! And people started a USA chant and other chimed in, then everyone started chanting their country.
Lowenbraü tent, this and Hofbraü are the most popular and the largest ones.

Toledo in a Nutshell

Hello all,
Well my weekdays aren't too eventful, but last week we went on a tour of Toledo. All the students were taken on a bus across the river to one of the mountains and we got to take pictures of the city of Toledo. The view was absolutely gorgeous!
Here are a few pictures I took:
This is a photo of the river that surrounds 3/4 of Toledo. It was good to protect the city of invasion.

This is the view of the whole city.

This is a close-up of the Alcázar. It is built on the highest point of the city, and it is where the king and queen lived when Toledo was the capital. During Spain's civil war it was used by Crnl. José Moscardó as a defensive base and it was actually almost completely destroyed by the Republic soldiers. It was restored and re-built just like all of the buildings in Toledo, and now it's the home of the library and the military museum. I actually pass it each time I walk to my internship.
This is a close-up of the cathedral. Absolutely gorgeous. We walked to it and so there are closer detailed pictures. The cathedral took two centuries to be finished, but once you see the details of it, you understand completely how it took that long.

This is one of the entrances... I don't think it's the main one that people use to walk into.


I couldn't get over the detail of the designs. I just stood there looking at it for a few minutes.


Can you imagine how much time and patience it took to carve all that detail? It really makes you appreciate it to think of the talent and determination it took.
The next photos go back to the view at the top of the mountain.


This is Maggie and I with the background of Toledo. They say we're attached at the hip, but we can't help it if we're really similar and are even both from Chi-town (she's from Addison, IL and goes to Elmhurst), I mean it's definitely been nice to find someone I can be really close with. Definitely helps with the homesickness.
This is my Arcadia group. From top left are Brian and Amanda. Then Maggie, Me, Mark, Kristie and Jamie. It's a small group, but we've been able to get really close. Maggie, Brian, Mark, Jamie and I basically travel everywhere together, with a few other people here and there.

This is just a street while we were walking. This is how narrow the streets are in Toledo, and the houses are very tall too.

Now this is the entrance to the school. It's down a long, narrow walkway, and the buildings on both sides are homes so we have to be very quiet when we walk home late at night. One of the girls I was walking home with actually got yelled at one night for speaking too loudly.

And lastly, this is the plaza Zocodover, the main plaza in Toledo. To the right on the side of the street I'm on there's a building with a McDonald's. Yup, can't escape the chain even in a small town. Big Mac's here go for like 8 Euros though... so no American really goes there, except for Mark. He's had a hard time transitioning to Spanish food. I on the other hand, LOVE it! Except for the fact that I don't think I've ever eaten so much bread in my life! They have bread for every meal! But it's that irresistible baguette break that they make fresh every day and is just crunchy enough on the outside and so soft and fluffy on the inside.... Can you tell it's almost dinner time here? I'm describing bread. Haha. Anyway, this post didn't have too much writing, but I thought you would enjoy my photos of where I am living.
Until my next post,
xoxo
D

Is it Sacrilegious to Dance and Drink in a Church?

Apologies for being so behind, but I will try to write maybe two blogs before going to bed. It's almost midnight here, while everyone at home is getting ready to leave work. The time change makes it really hard to be able to set up a time to talk on Skype with the family, but weekends have been working out well... So I got an e-mail from my dad telling me that he wakes up every morning hoping there's a new blog post... Talk about pressure! So here goes, I'll try to remember as best I can where I left off...

I had my first day of classes, and it's my only class on Tuesdays, but with the siesta and all, and the fact that there are only 5 classrooms and no more than two classes go on at a time, we have night classes. So my class isn't until 6:20-7:45. It's a little weird to have class so late, but the days are long and it stays light out late so it doesn't seem that late when I'm in class. The thing I still have yet to get adjusted to is the view from the classroom windows. The windows are usually always open and when I look outside I see old buildings, and tiled roofs, it's amazing. I'll have to take a picture of the view so that everyone can enjoy what I do when I zone out and stop listening to the professor. Just Kidding, I would never do that....
Anyway, this internship class is with all of the students who are doing internships. They range from the red cross, court, teaching English, and so much more. Basically what we'll be doing during that time is kind of discussing the experiences we have and we'll be reading something, which I haven't read yet. Our books are sooo cheap here!! All of my books for 5 classes were only 30 Euros. Granted they aren't real books, they're all bounded photo copies of the real books, and my Society Through Spanish and Latin American Film class has no book, but it was still incredibly cheap! I've spent over $250 in a semester alone at Denison, it's ridiculous!
Anyway, the class was fun, we talked about differences we might encounter in a work environment in Spain versus the U.S. Such things like what to wear, how to introduce ourselves, which I soon learned to wait for the Spanish person to make the move first then I followed suit. When I went in to meet with the head of the tv station, he shook my hand, but when I met Rodrigo, he host of the show I'm on, he gave me a kiss on both cheeks. It's something else that will also take some time to get used to, but interesting nonetheless.
So we sat in a circle in the classroom, and the Professor Miguel Angel told us to go around making introductions. He went first and pulled out this little plush football, that you would never guess had the Ohio State logo! I mean what are the chances that I'll study abroad in this tiny town with 75,000 people coming from the Chicago/Ohio and an Ohio State fan all my life and one of my professors has an Ohio State football. I just had to laugh. The best part though, was that when it hit something hard the song would come on. So as it went around the circle in no particular order, and if it landed hard in someone's hands or it hit the floor, the song would play for a few seconds.
It eventually reached this kid Jason, who introduced himself, said where he was from, what school, what his major was and what his internship was and then he said "No me gusta Ohio State," "I don't like Ohio State." The professor then asked if there was anyone who did like Ohio State and I raised my hand and I said I did, and Jason replied by saying that he was a Michigan fan. Typical, I thought. We sized each other up and then after class when a group of us went to the University Bar just outside of the Fundación to have a drink and sit outside, he asked me why I was an Ohio State fan. I gave him the answer that my dad grew up in Columbus, so I've been a fan all my life, and I go to school in Ohio. And then he said that he didn't think that they would be good because one of the players got hurt, and I proceeded to tell him that they'll probably win anyway. Next thing I know they get beat... and bad by USC. But we won't talk about that. I'm a Chicagoan, ever since the Bulls went downhill in the 90's, I've gotten used to sports teams letting me down. (I'm crossing my fingers for the Cubs though!)
Anyway, the University Bar is great, they give you free tapas with every drink you order! It can range from a basket of chips, to a platter of chorizo and green olives, to little sandwiches. It's great! And Sarah, those olives they have are AMAZING! They're not acidic at all! You were definitely right, they marinate them in something that tastes great.

So the second day of classes, my third day in Toledo I had two classes, one was the Spanish Linguistics class, which I never get homework for, and the other was Women in Literature. The Contemporary Spanish Women in Literature course was twice that day, once in the morning and the other later in the afternoon at around 5. The linguistics course was alright. We're going to be learning the history of the Spanish language in Spain because there are 4 official languages in Spain. Castellano(Spanish), Vasco, Catalán and Gallego. But Spanish is the main language, 400 million people speak it in Spain.
The women's literature class will be really interesting, and the second class we already started reading one of the stories. The only thing is is that each student read one paragraph then we would switch and it went on that way the entire class but at almost every single paragraph, the professor would either re-read excerpts or explain each one. It killed me. So I read ahead and then just went back and caught up with the class when it was my turn to read. We'll see if every class will be that way, but I hope not. The story we're reading is really interesting though, I'll have to explain more about it once we're finished with it.
The professor for the lit class, Benito, is the one who taught at Denison, and is friends and keeps in touch with Profesora Llanos, one of my Spanish professors at Denison so I brought Benito a Denison care package from Llanos and I immediately became her favorite student, on the first day. Yay me! haha
Anyway, my fourth day in Toledo, and third and final day of classes for the week (we don't have classes on Fridays! They do that to give us time to travel) I had one more class but twice. One was Muslim, Jewish and Christian art in Toledo, which will be fascinating to be able to go out and see the actual art in person and not just study it from a textbook. The class is twice in one day, so the morning class will be a field trip and tour to a cathedral, sinagogue, mosque in Toledo and then the second class we learn more of the history and discuss what we saw. I'm really excited to get started on my first field trip!
I also learned that Thursdays are a big going out day in Spain so I had my first experience of staying up until 3:30am and going out to the a bar and club in the town. First, let's rewind and talk about my internship, and my first time on tv! Although I started off with a somber topic, 9/11 because it was the anniversary of the attacks, I thought the whole process went well and I was surprised that I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. I spent the whole day researching and making notecards with talking points about the memorials, the security changes, the political side of it. I was so excited to get into how the Republican party has converted 9/11 from a day of remembrance to a campaign slogan, and how Republicans are focusing on how they have maintained the country and the people so safe since then and are stating that voting Democratic will bring on another 9/11 and everyone will die.
I wasn't able to say all that though. Instead, I was asked where I was on the day of, and what I thought of the memorials, and what the security changes have been. However, I did get to get a little more political and say that now the fear of flying that existed immediately after the attacks has been replaced with discrimination and racism. And that it's become acceptable to prejudge someone based on their name and appearance, especially at airports... But then he moved on to compared 9/11 with M-11, which was the train bombing that took place in Madrid in 2004. So I'll have to save my political speech for when we talk about the elections.
Anyway, later that night, I went to one of the classrooms that is also the Sala, Living Room, and has a tv in it in order to watch myself on tv. It was weird. I definitely need to smile more, which is something I should've already known from watching tv anchors smiling while they talk about a flood that's killed hundreds of people, or a shooting that took place somewhere. Smiling is on my to do list. Other than that, I felt very calm in front of the camera, and I think that I spoke very well, I knew what I was talking about. But some people walked in and watched some of it with me and they were all amazed that I was on tv. And let me tell you, word travels around FAST! I went to O'Briens later that night and it seemed like the entire school was there, but everyone came up to me and was like "I heard you're on tv, you're so famous now!" Haha it was weird.
Now, I know what you're thinking, O' Briens? An Irish pub in Spain? They are very common, and yes, I went there. One of the bartenders actually is from Puerto Rico and he speaks English perfectly. He also loves American kids and gives free drinks. And it was his birthday at midnight, so we all sang him Happy Birthday. The pub is small though, and it was packed fast, so we went walking to look for one of the discotecas that we had heard of, it's called Circulo de Arte. And guess what. It's a church turned into a dance club. As sacrilegious as I felt, it was a lot of fun. The place is huge, with really high ceilings obviously, and it's made of brick. It also has two bars, one on each end, and the DJ is lofted up above everyone. It's pretty cool.


This is the photo of the outside of the club, during the day. It's not the greatest picture, but you can get the idea of it.
Anyway, we all stayed until about 3 and then Maggie called a cab to come pick up the kids who live with families. There were 5 of them. Of course I spoke to the cab, told him where we were and gave him my name, because they you have to give your name when they arrive so they know that you were the one who called. The cab arrived quickly, and I spoke with the driver and asked him if he could take 5 people, but 4 is the limit. So I called another cab and the 5 people split up in regards to who lived in the same area. The second cab came and I went up again and told him that he needed to make to stops. I almost left before the second cab came, but Mark, who had to take it asked me to stay to talk to the driver. Haha. I'm glad I've become so useful.
Me and three girls were the ones left who live in the dorms, so we walked back to the school, and the receptionist opened the door for us, because after a certain time the door is locked and we have to ring a bell to get back in. As we walked through the door, the guy was like "What a late night" Haha little did he know we would be going to Madrid from Saturday to Sunday, stay up all night and walk through the door right on time for breakfast. But that's for another post... I do have to keep you intrigued somehow. :)
Until my next post,
xoxo
D

Reporting From Toledo... Spain That Is

So It's not that bad here... Reflecting on it more I realized it's hard because I've been in Madrid the last two days for orientation with my group and its been sooooooo fun cuz its only 7 of us and the group is like amazing so we got really really close because we've been together like 24/7 the last 2.5 days, so getting split up just made me feel lost, and kind of lonely. And it feels like almost all of the 150 who are studying here are doing homestays, which kind of sucks because it's great during the day, but then everyone leaves at night. And that's when I have time to think and that's when I get homesick and lonely.
I know now why college is so fun and I never got lonely because people didn't leave at night, everyone lives in the dorms somewhere on campus, so I never really had down time to get homesick. But even if I did, my family was a phone call away, whereas here the time difference is 7 hrs, and I can't just pick up the phone and call them because it's so expensive, I have to schedule a time to get on Skype that works for everyone. It's hard. And it'll take A LOT to get used to it, I don't know if I'll ever get used to it...

Yesterday I just felt like stuck when everyone left, like I started to get familiar with everything and then it just collapsed.

I'm just being more emotional because its a lot to take in. I mean once I get my classes and get a schedule/routine going it'll be fun. I just had to cry it out to my parents and I've been ok since then. I just also really miss school and home though. But it's normal, it's also just hard because I didn't expect me to break down at all and if I did I especially didn't think it would be in the 3rd day of being here. But I know that the first days are the hardest.

Today though, I'm back with my group, who are here right now because we've been taking tests and getting our classes and we went and walked around the town so that was good. It's been ok today so far, I'm not the only one that isn't too happy right now though which makes me feel better. A couple of them actually want to move back to the dorms, which I hope they do. And I went out last night to a restaurant with a group of like 10 people and we had sangria which was nice, and they were cool, but I like my group more haha. I'm trying to keep an open mind though. And I found out today that everyone lives 20 min or farther, which sucks. I don't know I'm trying to take it day by day.
But first thing we did today was take a two part test to see where our level of Spanish is. I failed. Haha I'm totally kidding. The first thing we had to do was write a letter to a penpal and they gave us some points we had to include. Simple enough. Then we got a 6-page packet with unfinished sentences and they gave us multiple choice options to choose the correct answer to complete the sentence. They told us to put an "X" on the letter that was correct, which I thought was so odd because usually we use X to cross something out as wrong... Maybe that's one of the new culture things I'll have to adjust to... Anyway, I was one of the first to finish so I had a lot of time to wait in between then and when we met with a professor to choose our classes. So we all just hung out, ate lunch. When I went in for my meeting, I found out that I did very well in both exams, and the professor told me that I didn't need to take a Spanish language class, but it's a requirement for the Arcadia program so she told me to do the Service Learning class that's new, but I just took that course at Denison last semester. So I'm in a Spanish Linguistics course that is a level lower. First day of class I found out we don't get homework. And we can use all of our notes in tests. If all of my classes are like that this will be a great semester! I'm also doing an internship, but our interviews for the internship are later in the day, so I technically don't even know if I'll get it or not until later in the day. If I don't get it, I'll have to pick up another class. I'm also taking Christian, Muslim and Jewish Art in Toledo. Which is an art history class, and probably the best one to be offered because Toledo is known as the city of three cultures. It used to be the home for Christians, Muslims and Jews where they all lived together. Also on my schedule is Society through Spanish and Latin American film. And finally, contemporary Spanish women writers, which is actually taught by Luisa Benito, who was a Spanish professor at Denison about 13 years ago. Honestly, what a small world!!
After getting my classes, we all waited for our internship interviews for the ones who applied for one. As time went on we found out that some of them were filled. And I started to get nervous and wonder what kind of process it was where the slots filled before they even interviewed everyone who applied. I started to get really nervous that mine would be filled also, and my nervousness became anger. The process wasn't fair for the students who had last names that were later in the alphabet resulting in later interview times. I soon found out that they didn't decide on the students based on that, rather they based it on when their application was sent. That isn't any better though, because I could have had a bad application but sent it in early and gotten the internship over someone who worked harder and could even be a better candidate. Regardless, I got my internship. I walked into the office and sat down with the professor and he looked at my application and said so you want to work with La Tribuna. And I said that I did, and he was like ok well this is what you'll be doing and went on to explain that I will be ON TV!!
I'm gonna be on a late night tv show as a special correspondent and I give my
point of view as a student from the U.S. studying abroad in Spain. So he told me that the
host of the show will give me a topic like a couple days or a day in advance and I'll do
research on it, and I ask other students, etc. and I report my opinion on the
show!!!!
I'm like freaking out, sooo excited and unexpected at the same time! I had NO idea that
it would be like this! So I also have a couple of DVDs with past students who have
interned so I can see examples. I'm soooo excited!!!
And the professor told me that I can also stick around and learn some of the other things that go into tv shows like the behind the scenes stuff. Because he was like it's all there and so
ask questions. So I'm glad the place is small so that I can get a whole experience with
the in front of and behind the camera stuff.
I'm sooo excited!!!
It is only a local television station, but I can't wait! I'm so nervous and excited at the same time!
I'm off to check out the examples that he gave me, but I cannot wait to see what this is like!
Until my next post,
xoxo
D

Goodbye Madrid... Hola Toledo

Well, as I said am waay behind on my posts, but I will be writing this post as if the day had just happened, since it's easier that way. Anyway, this is our last morning in Madrid, and we will be leaving for Toledo by bus which will take approximately an hour. We first had breakfast in the hotel like the other morning, and breakfast isn't a big thing here, it's funny. Spaniards don't live by the whole "you need a big breakfast to start your day off well" concept like they do in the States. They basically eat toast or a piece of a fresh baguette with jelly or cheese and coffee. Or they'll have some fruit. It's a small meal usually at around 8 or 9am but then they take a work break at around 10:30-11am and eat a larger breakfast type meal, some don't eat until that time. And then lunch is between 2-4, which is usually when the siesta or naptime is. That's when all of the stores close and everyone relaxes until about 5. Then they eat dinner between 9-11, and don't go out until after midnight. Since I'm a night person I think I'll be able to handle that, but it's hard to wait to eat what for me are such odd times. Of course it'll take some getting used to, but I'll have to rearrange my entire eating schedule because I snack like all day long and they do not do that here. I'll just have to buy a lot of gum to sustain me until the next meal.
Anyway, we all met in the lobby and walked to the taxi stop. We each had our own taxi since we all packed two bags and that was about all the trunk could fit. As Clif told the taxis where to drop us off, we each left individually. Turns out there was some kind of misunderstanding between three of the drivers and Clif because three of us ended up somewhere else. No worries though, I speak Spanish. My taxi followed the two in front of it and as they each pulled over on a corner, I didn't see any of the other people who had left before us. And the meter read 5 Euros, when Clif had told us it would be about a 10 Euro ride. Something was definitely wrong. So as the three taxi drivers and the four students walked out of the cab all in confusion, Brian pointed to me and told his taxi driver that I could speak Spanish. So the three taxi drivers came to me and asked me where we were supposed to go. After I told them that we had to go to the Plaza, one of the drivers was not too happy about being wrong and was convinced that this was where he was told to drop us off. So I explained that we had to catch a bus to go to Toledo and there was no bus stop here. As he reluctantly went back to his car, we all got back into ours and headed off.
Once I shut my door, my taxi driver told me that she didn't know that I spoke Spanish and that was why she didn't talk to me before. She asked me where I was from, and I found out that she is a big fan of Chicago and had visited years ago. We quickly got to the plaza and I was relieved to see that the rest of the group was waiting for us. We got our stuff on the bus and waited for students from other schools to get there. And we quickly added two more to our group of friends, two students from University of Minnesota, which I soon learned is "The U" here because there are so many of them studying in Toledo from there.
We soon headed off to Toledo and after we all introduced ourselves and asked the standard where are you from, what school do you go to, did you just get here, how was your flight questions there was that awkward pause where everyone's run out of things to say, so everyone either turned their iPods on, or tried to sleep or looked out the window or turned to have a one-on-one conversation with someone. I did all three. And there were still 45 min. left of the drive. So I wrote down some stuff to remind me of what we had done to be able to blog about it.
Once we finally got to Toledo, I saw the hills that it's built on and how old and dry everything looks. It's amazing. Gorgeous.
It looks like there is a lot of green, but this picture was taken from a hill that had a lot of green bushes, the actual town and center of Toledo which is what the photo is of is dry and all of it's colors are neutral so it makes it look drier. On the right is the Alcázar, which is one of the monuments that Toledo is known for. It used to be a roman palace in the 3rd century, and the Spanish king and queen would stay there. Alcázar is actually an arabic word. All Spanish words that start with an "Al" are arabic words. Like almohada (pillow), alambre (wire), etc.
Anyway, we had to take rolls our bags down a small street that cars would not fit through, and the handle of one of my wheeled bags broke! Luckily Maggie connected it to the top of her big bag and then I rolled her second one with mine. It was a difficult process and we were the last to get into the Funda (short for Fundación, which everyone says to call the school). I was sweating like an icy drink in the summer and then I had to carry my bags up the stairs to my room on the second floor. Which, by the way, is the first floor here because they start their lobby floor at zero. It was really confusing when we took the elevator in the hotel, and I definitely got off at the wrong floor a couple of times.
After dropping off my bags, we all had lunch, which offered many vegetable/vegetarian options. Yay! I'm thinking I'll like the food here. After lunch we got the tour of the school, which is ONE BUILDING. Yes, the dorms, the dining room, the classrooms, the laundry room and the computer labs are all in one building. One. Uno. I can get out of bed and walk up the stairs and go to class if I want. I didn't think it would be like that at all, I was expecting being able to go out to the library, or find a study room in a building. The library is on the second floor. And the classrooms are locked after classes are over. Never will I ever take Denison for granted. I mean can you imagine studying for midterms or finals and not having your own room or table to study in. I'm gonna have to find the town library, which I hope will be bigger and not have only two aisles with books. One which is only travel guides. I guess I will definitely NOT have to worry about missing anything when I travel on weekends...
Once our tour was over, the students doing a homestay left to meet their families, which was my whole group except for one girl and I suddenly got really overwhelmed and started to get really homesick and sad. I felt like I hadn't talked to my family in forever, and like I was all by myself now, and that everyone was doing a homestay... It's hard to be away, and I think I finally noticed that I was away from home for a whole semester. So I cried. I went to my room and grabbed my computer, my charger and plug converter, cell phone and first went upstairs to try to find an open classroom. That's when I found out they're locked when there's no class. So I went to the library. Closed. So I walked downstairs to a room full of couches and chairs, there were people there. All I wanted to do was be alone and talk to my parents and the place was so small there was nowhere I could call my own space. It felt like the school was getting smaller and smaller and I was convinced I had made the wrong decision. I didn't know where to go or what to do. My roommate was in my room, and I could feel the tears coming. So I walked down to the basement where the laundry room is and another computer lab. The computer lab was empty so I went in and set up shop. But once I got on Skype, my family wasn't on. So I wrote an e-mail to my dad and while trying to explain to him how I felt, I burst into tears. Don't worry, I brought my to go pack of tissues with me.
This is what I wrote him:
" I added you to my Skype, sorry I haven't responded we've been all over the place and
anytime we have free time I've been sleeping cuz I'm exhausted. I hate it here. I mean I
like it, but right now I don't. It's really late at home so I know you guys won't be up,
but I'd really like to talk to you soon. I'm really homesick right now. I think it has to
do with the fact that we just got to the school and have split up into our rooms and the
others who are oing homestays have split up with those not doing a homestay and from my
group me and another girl are the only ones staying in the dorms. And I think it's just
hard to finally have gotten close to a group of people and then they leave, and I don't
know how far they are from the school. The girl who is here and our rooms actually
connect and we each have a Puerto Rican roommate and they knew each other before. I'm
glad I share a bathroom with Amanda, the girl from my group but I think I just need some
alone time or something cuz I just don't want to be around her, and I feel like me
feeling like everything's all over the place I would try to hold onto someone or
something that would keep it the same, but I just can't stand her right now. I think it's
cuz she's been really clingy and needy cuz she's freaking out about not knowing Spanish
well enough, and being one of the only ones living in the dorms, etc. And I just can't
deal with that and my emotions either.
I think I'm also kind of freaking out because I didn't think that I would get very
homesick at all or "hate" the place so soon into the trip, but I wanna go home, and it's
hard and I know that it's just a phase and probably just that it's a lot of stuff to take
in in like 3 days. I think I might just go take a walk around the town and try to find a
quiet place.
The school is tiny. The dorm rooms are one the first and second floor and the classrooms
are on the second floor too. As is the library. And there's no place to just be by
yourself. It's gonna be really hard to get used to cuz at school there's tons of
classrooms in any building you can hide out in to work and stuff
We don't start classes yet tomorrow, we have to take a placement exam and an oral exam.
Then we have to interview for the internship position.
I'm kind of wishing that I did a homestay, just to be with a family and have my own room
which would be really nice, and I actually wish I had requested a single room.
Anyway, I'm calming down a little bit, but I really miss you guys. Here's my schedule for
tomorrow so that maybe you can e-mail me back a time we can skype or talk on the phone.

I actually have to go back to my room to get it so I'll send you another e-mail with it.

I miss you and love you,
Daniella"
The e-mail is very jumbly and rambles, but I was typing so fast and crying I didn't care.
Two minutes later, my dad was calling me on Skype and I don't think I've ever felt so relieved and happy before. Just hearing his voice made it seem like everything was gonna be ok. I talked everything out with my dad, then I iChated with my brother, but seeing the kitchen in the background made me homesick again. Then I got to talk to Cassie and she told me that she went through the same thing, but that it gets better, and then I talked to Caroline and she said the same thing, and then I talked to my mom who made me feel better. But I think the girl Rocio, who I found out is from Chicago, went to Jones high school and was doing a homestay but she wanted to move out and into the dorms reassured me that I definitely made the right decision living in the dorms. There are obviously pros and cons for both, but I was satisfied with staying in the dorms.
I spent about 5 hours on the computer and I think it made me feel better to be connected to something since I had NO way of contacting anyone in my group because they didn't have phones yet.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. I'll at least be back with my friends...
Until my next post,
xoxo
D

The Unofficial Translator

So the second day in Madrid we spent in the Palacio Real de Madrid, which is where the Kings and Queens used to live. The place was AMAZING! Here's a picture of the outside. We couldn't ake pictures inside, which I didn't know until I went up the stairs and saw the sign, but that's ok because I only took one picture of the statue of Carlos III, who was the first monarch to live in the castle. And the security guards didn't see me so I didn't get in trouble either. Hah. Before I go into detail of what I saw and how blown away I was I'll post some more of the pictures that I could take before going inside, and explain them as I go.

This is just a photo of the side of the castle that I couldn't fit into the first picture, just to show how big it is.This is one of the lamp posts that was in the large plaza in front of the castle, inside of the gated castle. It's not too interesting, but it begins to explain how much detail and how gorgeous the inside rooms were.

And this is the church right outside of the gates that surround the castle. Very breathtaking.


The following two photos are the view of Madrid from steps to the right side of the castle.















The view isn't too special and it's also not the most important part of what I saw that day, but I just wanted you all to see the pictures.

The castle has two statues, one on the left and one on the right up towards that top. And because we did an audio tour, we each got our own little audio machine which told us the history of each room and the castle, I learned that the left statue is Moctezuma and the right one is Atahualpa. Which, I thought was amazing that they would put Aztec statues of such important men on their castle. In the middle, almost at the top of the castle are four statues of the first royal family to have lived in the castle. And below are the photos.

The first is Moctezuma, then Atahualpa, then the family.As you can see from the final picture, the sky was amazing. The weather in Madrid will take a little to get used to. I expected it to be hot since I left Chicago and it was hot, and this summer Chicago being hot was a miracle. When I got into Madrid though I was cold. First, let me say that I know I get cold easily, and I wear a hoodie and sweat pants in the summer, but this really was cold. Even the other students told me that thought it was cold and not what they expected. Anyway, basically, Madrid is really chilly in the morning, and then the afternoon gets really sunny and hot, and the nights drop down and are cold again. It kind of reminded me of Guatemala where you can't walk barefoot on the tiled floors i the morning because you'll freeze and then all you want to do in the middle of the afternoon is strip your clothes off and jump in the pila or sometimes it's so hot that you'll go so far as to shower with the freezing cold water instead of heating up the water... That's only when you're desperate though, (which I can't say I have ever reached that point). Then at night you always have to put a sweater or sweatshirt on because it gets crisp. That's exactly how Madrid was. The only problem was that we started our days so early and then wouldn't get back to the hotel until late afternoon. So I soon learned that I had to either be cold in the morning but then good in the afternoon, or the other way around... let's just say that I have yet to master the weather.
Anyway, back to the palace. When we got our audio machines we all got to choose which language we wanted our tour in. One by one each student said English and I was like español. Now, this is not an exaggeration but everyone turned around to look at me and were like, "You're crazy, I could never do that, are you sure you're going to understand?" Now when people ask me how I know Spanish so well, I tell them that I'm guatemalan and that I grew up speaking it and I went to a bilingual elementary school where I learned how to read it and write it also. But for them to really understand what that means I have to say that when someone speaks to me in Spanish, it's like someone speaking to them in English, I just understand it. That's ususally when they get jealous and say, "I wish I knew Spanish like that". I guess me being here is kind of like cheating since I already know the language, but there's so much more to learn. The Spanish culture is very different than Latin American cultures, and the use of vosotros and instead of pronouncing the "s", they say "th", which is completely different also. I may not be here to learn the language but I am here to learn just as much as everyone else.
So I took the Spanish tour, which was amazing, and yes mami I did understand everything, I am not losing it like you always ask.
I walked into the palace, and as the audio tour guide explained, before walking up the steps there was a statue of Carlos III, who was the first monarch to inhabit the palace. Here's the photo of his statue that I took before knowing we couldn't take any inside... oops!
Anyway, it's a little dark, but you can begin to see how amazing the inside the palace is. If you turn around you walk up the stairs and there's two lions at the top of the steps on each side where the steps split in two one so that you can climb either side. All of the ceilings in each room and the ceiling above the steps are painted with angels, or gods and/or goddesses. The paintings are amazing, they have so much detail, the clods look real, the fabric of the clothing looks real, and they look like they were 3-D. Also, there was so much gold detail along the ceiling and the walls. The gold detail is like that on the lamp post that I have a picture of.
I mean the inside each room was breathtaking. It's so difficult to explain.

In several of the rooms, there were long crystal chandeliers. Gorgeous and still looking like new, which, made me wonder how they keep up the appearance of the place. I mean the walls were covered in tapestries and they were all still so deep and rich in their color, it was amazing. I also found out that in the winter they would cover the walls with tapestries and then in the summer they would take it down and hang up large paintings. It was an interesting idea I thought. But the tapestries to make the rooms look darker kind of an old, eerie feel. But I guess the lack of light (in order to preserve the color of the inside) except for small ones on the ceilings add to the darkness. The border of the doorways were made of marble as were most of the floors. It also makes me wonder how they keep everything clean. Everything has that antique, but very well preserved look, but I wonder how they clean it. The ceilings are so high, I would hate to have the job of dusting it and getting the cobwebs out of the corners. Walking through the rooms and hearing the story of each one and the history of the pieces in them, it made me think of the new buildings and condos going up all over Chicago. When I compare the models and photos of the new condos they are the polar opposite to the decoration and design of anything in this palace. Everything is so modern and all about the newest high tech appliances, it's crazy to think how much has changed and how the high tech modern things hundreds of years ago used to be china from Asia, or hand-painted clocks. There were about 16 different rooms and it was amazing to walk to each room and see how different they would be from the one before it. Carlos III had a room where the wallpaper was a seagreen color and it had his initials and his wife, Doña Sofia. It had a monogram with JCS which stood for Don Juan Carlos III and Doña Sofia. I thought of Lindsley when I saw it and how if she were to see the wallpaper she would probably get it made for the Beaver 6 room or get it made for her children's rooms when she has kids. Haha Love you Linds!
There was also a Room covered in china. It was small, but it was covered in 134 plaques of porcelain. and there was hand painted detail. It was gorgeous. There was also a Comedor de Gala, which is the Gala Dining Hall where they would hold big dinners and dance. The floor was wooden, and you could see the worn marks from people's shoes in the closed off section, who knows how old they were. The room was huge, and apparently during the time of Carlos III, part of it was the queen's room. But then during the period of Alfonso XIII the bedrooms were joined to form the gala dining room.
Something that was very common to find in the rooms were statues and only statue heads, or designs on the walls of angel heads. I don't know what scares me more, the statues with eyes or the ones without... I think I might have just come upon a new phobia of mine, statues. Mannequins would be included too, they just freak me out, like they're going to come to life all of a sudden. Haha.

Anyway, I was one of the people who got behind on the tour, and I didn't get to finish it, but there are a few more pictures I took like of the hallway and the patio in the middle of the palace. Here they are below.

After leaving the palace, we met up with our tour guide Mercedes. She was great we went all over Madrid and I'll explain the history that she told us while I post up the pictures. The funny think is that I'm horrible at history. Not only do I not enjoy it (I always tell my dad history doesn't matter because it's in the past), I have the worst memory for it. However, I became Mercedes' English translator. Every time we stopped and she explained something to us then moved on, everyone turned to me to explain what she had just said and translate it into English. Let me tell you, repetition definitely works. Ha...
Anyway, let us begin the tour.
This is a picture of the Plaza Mayor. After Madrid became the capital of Spain, which used to be Toledo, this is where all of the activities took place. The festivals and celebrations, and even the criminal sentencing because the jail is very close by. Therefore, they would sentence the person in the plaza then take him/her to the jail if that was the sentence.






The second photo is the right side of the plaza, the part that is cut off in the first photo. The place where the flags are is the balcony where the king and queen would stand and watch whatever was going on from above. Also, there was a law in Madrid that said that the owners of the apartments in these buildings had to give up their balcony's to the government so that the government could rent them out to the nobles and they could watch the event from a balcony. Isn't that just ridiculous?! Not only were the apartment owners kicked out of their balcony's, they didn't even get the rent money that the nobles had to pay to be able to be on the balcony's. So the people living in the apartments had to watch the events down in the plaza with everyone else! Now let us move on to clearly more entertaining and interesting things. I know everyone sees the Yoda in the right hand corner of the photo. (Don't worry I got a close up). I especially wanted to get him in the photo to contrast the old historic site with what happens in the plaza today. Hey, you gotta make money somehow!

So here's the close-up. And as you can see he is fully equipped with a light saber. If you put money in his box he waved the light saber around as if in a mock fight. But, Yoda wasn't the only entertainer. There was a spider also. This man stood up on a box (I guess that's the cool thing since Yoda was on one too?), and he was dressed all in black, and had his arms down by his sides, and when someone put money in his box he lifted up his arms he pulled up the other legs and a web all sewn together. It was kind of a waste of money if you ask me...







Anyway, the next photo is the old jail house, where I said they took the criminals. It's not a jail anymore, it's actually the town/city hall building now.














The next photo is just one of the streets in Madrid, one of the smaller ones. You can see the top of the churches in Madrid.

One of the things I noticed in Madrid was how much grafitti there was on buildings and all of the little street carts had graffiti all over them. Some of it was in English and pretty inappropriate. But here's a colorful one I thought was interesting.
The next photo is just of one of the churches we saw on the tour.
And then there was a building that was painted just very vibrant, bright colors that I thought was gorgeous.


This next photo is a picture of the bridge in Madrid. Apparently Madrid is mainly on two big hills and it used to take a long time to go from one to the other, that is until they built this bridge. However, the bridge also became the place where people went to commit suicide. I'm not sure whether you can see from the photo, but there is a fence, as well as glass to block people from being able to jump.

This is the last photo of the tour and it's one of a convent where the nuns are not able to have any contact whatsoever with anyone outside of the convent and no one can see the nuns. That's why the windows are so high up and there are so few so that they can't look out. Mercedes told us that these types of convents used to be very common, and that there was a law in Madrid that stated that no one could build a house higher than the convent walls, and if they did they couldn't have any windows above where the walls ended so that there would be no contact between the nuns and the people outside.
Also, the nuns used to hold fundraisers by selling baked goods, but since they couldn't see anyone and vice versa, they were put inside this wooden cylinder thing with no openings except something in the middle that would swivel. Someone would put their money in the little swivel drawer and then the nuns would swivel it around to get the money then but the candy on the drawer and swivel it back around to give to the buyer. How odd is that? I mean it's so difficult to imagine living a life that way. Mercedes told us though that most of the women who were nuns were the ones dropped off on the doorstep of the church by their mothers of parents who could not care for them, they were just abandoned. I guess if you grow up in that way, you never know what you're missing, so it's easier in that sense. But it's still so hard to fathom never having contact with anyone.

Once our tour was over, we had a couple of hours of free time back at the hotel which I spend laying down and trying to update my blog, which yes I know I am waaay behind on. I will catch up, promise.
The plan for the rest of the night was to meet at the lobby at 8pm to go to a flamenco dance. And our program director told us to eat something before it or we would probably starve in the middle of it. Right before we had to meet, Maggie, Amanda and I went to find something to eat but we didn't have enough time to sit down so we went to the grocery store and found pre-made salads for 1.99 Euros. They also had a cart with samples of chocolate soy milk, which tasted just like the chocolate soymilk we always have at home, and I missed home again... Anyway, Maggie and I bought one of the salads and as we checked out, I soon found out that there was no tax!!! Coming from Chicago, where they just raised the taxes I thought I had hit gold. The flamenco dance was great. There was more singing than dancing, but the talent and the deep strong voices of the singers is incredible. If you ever have a chance to see a flamenco dance, I highly recommend it. Especially in Madrid, where we got to order a drink, and which we all took full advantage of and ordered wine or sangria. :) Don't worry though dad, your sangria is still the best. ;)
After the dance, the group went to find a place to eat tapas and the girls went to one place, while the boys went to find a place where they could watch the Spain soccer team play and eat. While we were eating, I saw my first pick pocket. The four of us were sitting outside and suddenly we saw a man running towards us and he past us, and then a man was running right behind him trying to catch him. And behind both of them was a police officer, waayy behind. It was interesting haha. And it definitely made me clutch onto my purse even tighter.
After dinner we went back to the hotel which was about 12:30 pm, we slowly are trying to get used to the late nights. And at around 1 the boys came knocking at our door determined to pull a noche española where we stayed out as late as the spanish did. However, I was the only one up for it, so the 3 guy and I walked around for a bit, and we came across a hookah place, Jamie and I got really excited and convinced Brian and Mark to try it because they never had before. So we got two hookahs, strawberry flavored and sat outside and smoked it and got the attention of a lot of people wondering what it was that we were doing. We even had a conversation with two English men who had been drinking since 5pm and it was about 1:30am. One of them was wearing a red dress. Mark asked them if they were Manchester United or Leads fans and the man said Leads. As they walked away one of the guys yelled out Manchester United and the guy in the dress got so offended and started walking back towards our table and kept repeating, "Oh you're fuckin rilin' me now, you're fuckin' rilin' me." It was hilarious. I don't know what was funnier, the man being in a dress, which was inside out by the way, or the way he said the f-word.
Anyway, after stopping in O'Connells again, and realizing how uncomfortably packed and crowded and sweaty it was we left and went back to the hotel and called it a low key, yet successful night.
Until my next post,
xoxo
D