Londres

To start, one thing I cannot wait for about coming home is not having to think of the exchange rate. Everything is going to seem so inexpensive, especially after being in London where one pound was about $1.65, so everything seemed very very expensive.

My friend Vanessa and I flew out on Thursday night after class and, after waiting in line for customs for over an hour an a half, made our way to my friend's place to stay the night at around 2:30am (thanks again Grace!!). After sleeping on nice leather couches (so much better than airport seats), we spent the morning walking around Hyde Park. The flowers were in bloom and it was so pretty. We saw the Peter Pan statue, Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, among other things. It was a very relaxing morning, which was what we needed.

Vanessa, Peter Pan, and I

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

After that we got on the tube to find our hostel. Unfortunately, it took us over an hour to get there due to construction, a fire alarm, and not understanding streets. We finally made it, dropped off our things, and headed to the National Gallery. It holds western European paintings from the 13th to the 19th century and was free so that made it all the more enjoyable. Trafalgar Square is right in front of the Gallery, so we grabbed a sandwich and hung out there for a bit. In the Square they also have the countdown clock to the 2012 Olympics.

The National Gallery

Trafalgar Square (setting up for a concert we thought)

That night we met up with my friend again at a pub near her apartment and it was really nice to just sit, have a drink, and talk. It was more of a laid back environment, which you don't find in Sevilla that much. When people go out here, they go all out as in you are dressed up, makeup perfect, etc. and so it was really nice to just hang out and speak English for a night.

The next day we started off by going to the British Museum, which was very close to our hostel and so cool. We saw so many interesting things including one of the first images of Buddha ever, mummies, and the Rosetta Stone. We spent a few hours there before making the trek to the London Tower (which was a really pretty walk by the river). The London Tower was very interesting as well. We saw the Crown Jewels, scratchings made by prisoners who were held in the towers, the site where people such as Queen Anne Boleyn were beheaded, and many ravens. The view we got of the Tower Bridge was really pretty too. The London Bridge was not as impressive as we were thinking it would be due to the fact that it has a song named after it, but I suppose since it was originally the only way to cross the river however many years ago that it has history on its side.

The British Museum

The Rosetta Stone

From the Parthanon

London Bridge

Tower Bridge

Scaffold Site

Ravens

After that we stopped to see St. Paul's Cathedral, which was beautiful outside. We only saw a little bit of the inside, but that was gorgeous as well. That night we went out to eat at this nice Indian restaurant and had some amazing food. It was the one time we really splurged on money, but we figured that since we were going to Les Miserables later on that we should make a night out of it. The show was amazing! I've had the music stuck in my head ever since which suits me just fine.

Les Mis!!

St. Paul's Cathedral

 For Palm Sunday we started off by going to church at Westminster Abbey. Yet another gorgeous gorgeous place. And it's located right by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament so we were able get some very good pictures around that area. The London Marathon was also going on and ended at Buckingham Palace so we were able to follow that on our way there. It was a little crowded, but races are always exciting. We took a break on the grass by Buckingham Palace before deciding our next move, which was to head to a different part of town and see Harrods, one of the first department stores. That evening we walked around the area we were staying. There were so many little squares full of blooming flowers all over the place. We went to bed semi early that night since we wanted to fit some things in the next morning.

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben and they Eye

Buckingham Palace

After packing up and storing our bags in the luggage room at our hostel, we went to King's Cross Station, where they have a sign for Platform 9¾ (Harry Potter), but unfortunately that area was under construction! That was a bummer, but on our walk there we ran past a bookshop were every book was two pounds and in English! I got two books for about $6.65 which even in dollars is inexpensive! Before leaving, we went to the British Library since we had time. I am sooo glad we did. In the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, we saw original work by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, an original manuscript of the book Crash, original scores by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden, Ravel, and Mendelssohn, the original Beatles' lyrics (one on the back of a birthday card) to Yesterday, Help, Hard Day's Night, and Ticket to Ride, letters by Leonardo da Vinci, Darwin, and Freud, and also saw the Magna Carta. There was so much more along with all this, but these were my highlights (kind of long I guess).

We made it back on that night (Monday) ready to see what Semana Santa was all about in Sevilla! Unfortunately, it rained pretty much all of Tuesday and is raining again today. Yesterday I was able to go out and see what goes on in the city. Hopefully I can do that some more before the week is up (although I do have a lot of homework to do) so I will tell you all about the processions next time!

Third Continent

Hard to believe that I'm about to be finished with my three weeks straight of weekend traveling. Last weekend was amazing. I went to Morocco with my study abroad program so it was another weekend that was completely planned for us. Of course there are pros and cons to having less flexibility, but I think the pros definitely outweighed the cons this weekend.

We left early Thursday morning to take a bus ride (about 2.5 hours) to where we would catch the ferry. I'd never really been on a boat like that before and it was sort of windy so when we walked around the ground would move unexpectedly and it felt like I was wearing the "drunk goggles" they gave us in D.A.R.E. It was only about a half hour boat ride or so and it took us to Ceuta which is a Spanish province but on the continent of Africa. We then caught another bus and got through to boarder to Tetuán, the city where we spent the day and where our hotel was. Our guide for the day was "Michael Douglas" and he was awesome. We learned some Arabic words and felt completely free and comfortable to ask him questions about Islam all day. It was very interesting to hear the answers and reasons behind Islam from someone who is Islamic.  

That day we went to la Escuela Taller de Tetuán which was an art school where students learn the ins and outs of all the intricate details of their art. There was everything from painting on wood to cutting it to doing work with metal, etc. The pieces were amazing. Hard to believe that students did them.

Our group plus "Michael Douglas" right next to me on the bottom

After that we had a typical Moroccan lunch complete with vegetable soup, shish kebabs, couscous, steamed veggies, and mint tea and cookies to complete it. Mint tea is amazing there. We checked into our hotel then and headed out to the city.

Mmm mint tea

Tetuán is a city that contains a medina which is a section of the city that has very narrow and confusing streets. Tetuán's medina has 1,800 streets, and it is a very smaaaaall area. For that reason, and because it was a pretty crowded market, we had about four burly men with us as guards. It was not my favorite part of the trip. The streetw were very crowded, dirty, and smelly when you were deep within the medina. It was a good experience though. We saw a tannery, something that I will never ever do again, learned about some of the natural self-cleaning products they have, and talked more about Islam with our guide. All in all it's a day I wouldn't take back, but I wouldn't necessarily repeat it again.

In his hand is natural shampoo and the pile of stuff are natural teeth cleaners

The tannery...

Part of the market

The next day we went to Tangier which is one of the largest cities. We went to their Coke Bottling Company and got to see the whole assembling process. I sort of felt like I was coming out of an episode of Mr. Rogers when they have the "intermission" type thing and see what's going on in the world. It was pretty cool actually. To make it even better, six of us were wrapped in plastic wrap and then we all got to sample some of their drinks that are only sold in Morocco.

Me, Lauren, and Alison at the Coke factory

Then we took a beach break. Unfortunately we didn't have swimsuits, but it was still amazingly beautiful. After about a half hour there we went to have the best lunch ever. I think it was something called chicken pastry, but I'm not sure. All I know is that it was some of the best food I've tasted. And there were french fries, tea, and cookies which made it all the better.

Beautiful beach

A few of us

Amazing!

Las Cuevas (caves) de Hercules were next which was really neat since there's a cutout of Africa backwards in the rock so that sailors could find their way, or so the story goes. Soon after that, we rode camels. It was fine until I felt some slobber on my ankle and looked down to find that the camel behind me was all about going after my foot. It was definitely the troublemaker of the group and didn't give up even though one of the "trainers" was next to it the whole time.

Had to put in another beach shot

Africa! (backwards)

Caught in the act

Still paranoid at the end of the ride

The rest of the afternoon was filled with shopping in the market. This market was a lot smaller and less crowded, so we were allowed to go off on our own for a couple of hours. Bargaining was a necessity in Morocco and I think overall my friend and I did well. That night we had a relaxed dinner and went to bed pretty much right away.

Our final day was by far my favorite. We went to a city called Chefchaouen. The drive there alone was worth the trip. The whole time in Morocco I would see things that reminded me so much of El Salvador, but this drive made me feel like I was in El Salvador at times. Insanely beautiful. Chefchaouen is a city in the Rif Mountains that just sort of appears on the hills.

Pretty drive

We toured the city which was probably my favorite part due to the blue and white walls. They paint the bottom half of the walls blue and the top half white due to a tradition that started when the town was Jewish (now Islamic). They repaint the walls four times a year which I think is just amazing dedication. The whole culture in general of the town felt so much more inviting and just comfortable. It is definitely a place I could see going back to and maybe even staying for a longer period of time. We got to shop around again that afternoon and then had lunch and headed back to the ferry to take us to Sevilla.

Lauren and I

PC would be proud of the amount of the pictures I took here

On Sunday, my friend found out about something called el Encuentro de Alternativas which was a festival about taking care of the environment. Basically it was a hippie festival, something I would never have expected to find in sophisticated Sevilla, and was so much fun. Good music, good food, good shopping stands, good company, just overall a good time and nice break from the formality of Sevilla. I love Sevilla but I do miss all the diversity of Madison so it was nice to see and participate in a different part of Sevilla.

School is finally starting to get a little stressful. I have two group projects coming up the week after next and with the weather being in the 80s, it's pretty hard to get work done. Plus, we have off school next week for Semana Santa aka Holy Week. I'm leaving this Thursday night to go to London with my friend Vanessa and am very excited. We have tickets to see Les Miserables on Saturday night! I'll get back on Monday night and will spend a few days in Sevilla before going to my family's beach house for probably the majority of the weekend. May be a little tricky to fit in school, but I'll do my best :)

Paradise in Portugal

This past weekend, a few friends a I went to Portugal through "WeLoveSpain" which is basically a travel agency for students studying abroad. We left on Friday morning and got the Albuferia about two hours later. It was a perfect day so after checking into our hotel (which was very nice), we headed to the beach for the afternoon. That night we got some pasta and made dinner in our kitchen. I was rooming with Lauren and Emily and then our friends Tori and Danielle joined us for dinner too. That night, we went out with everyone who was on the trip to three different bars. They were all a lot of fun, good music, close to the hotel, and we just felt safer overall since the people in charge of the trip were the ones to find everyone and say "Meeting outside in 10 minutes to go to the next place".

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel which was the biggest breakfast I've had since being here. Scrambled eggs, cereal, toast, etc. A nice break from the small Spanish breakfasts. That day we went to Lagos. Our first stop was Ponte de Piedad. It was a gorgeous lookout with lost of cliffs. We ended up spending the day on the beach near the cliffs. It was a lot cooler that day, but still warm enough to be in a swim suit for the majority of the time.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at "El fin del mundo" or "The End of the World" aka what people used to think was the end of the world. Again, it was a very pretty area, but by that point, we were all very very cold.

That night we attempted to make Mac n cheese by melting cheese with milk on the stove and adding it to some pasta. Unfortunately, we failed, but it made for an entertaining hour or so. And we still ate it. We had another night out and a few different bars from the night before.

Tori, Lauren, me, and Danielle

Sunday, unfortunately, was very very cold and a bit rainy. We spent the day in town doing a little shopping and then sat in a nice restaurant for an hour or so before heading out. All in all it was a very good trip. It was nice to be in a place where we weren't rushing around to get to museums or trying to figure out the metro etc. I've missed seeing nature type sights too so it was a very good break.

On Thursday I'm headed to Morocco with our program. They split us up in two groups so the first half of the alphabet already went and have given us a lot of tips about bargaining in the markets, how much money to bring, what shoes to wear and etc. I think it will be a really fun trip because, again, we don't have to spend time figuring anything out since it's planned by our program. We'll leave early Thursday morning to take a bus to the water and then we'll take a boat over! When we get there, we're going to be in safe areas as well as have a security guard with us, so no worries!

Halfway Done?

Hard to believe, but it's true. Today marks the exact middle of my trip. 9 weeks in, 9 week to go. I think I'm in a good place right now though when I think about being halfway done. I'm not feeling terribly sad that I only have 9 weeks left and I'm not feeling like I'm ready to go home sooner. I'm excited to go home and see everyone, but I'm also excited for everything that's coming before. I think that's a good place to be.

As I said in my last post, midterms happened last week. They went pretty well, but I'm still glad their over. Not nearly as hard as Madison exams where you have 150 pages of a book to basically memorize, but it's all in Spanish, which makes the 60 pages or so a little more difficult to solidify in my mind. I think my Spanish overall has been getting better but not as much as I thought it would. Still time to fix that though.

After exams, a group of five of us celebrated by going to Paris!! To start, you definitely need more than 48 hours in that city. It is amazing. We got there on Friday and after settling into our hostel, we went straight to the Louvre (for free too!). We saw the Mona Lisa, some of Michelangelo's work, and a lot of new pieces that I really enjoyed.

Then we went to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night, even though it was raining. The best word I can find to define that night: enchanting. I didn't expect it to be as impressive as it was. I've seen x number of pictures of the Eiffel Tower so I guess I thought I'd seen all there was to see of it? I'm not sure. All I can say is that I was wrong. It was amazing. We grabbed some nutella-banana crepes and hung out taking pictures for probably close to an hour. This is in tie for the number one moment of Paris.

Delicious crepe.

 

The next day, after navigating the metro, we went to the Arc de Triomphe and saw the Opera Garnier (Phantom of the Opera). Then to the Musee de L'Orangerie, which is what the Eiffel Tower is tied for first place for the best moment in Paris. The museum has two oval rooms that are two different scenes painted by Monet, "The Water Lilies". One is full of his famous water lilies and the other includes weeping willows. However, before you enter to the rooms, you go through a white room that has nothing in it and was designed by Monet as a decompression space between "the city's agitation" and his work. I love Monet and walking in there was an amazing feeling. The way he created this peaceful environment was completely unexpected and great. We were there for about an hour. There was more art downstairs as well that we were able to see. But those rooms are another new happy place to go to when feeling stressed, that's for sure. 

  

After that, we headed to the Notre Dame. Another breathtaking place. There is so much history there that you just get this overwhelming feeling when you walk in. Even sitting outside eating our croque monsieurs was amazing. Unfortunatley we didn't go up the towers. It was very cold (in the 40s) and we were not dressed appropriately and the line was very long. Guess I'll have to save that for the next trip :)

My friend Rosie (who is studying in Paris!) and I

Then we walked around for a bit, stopping for more crepes, and went to Shakespeare and Company which is a bookstore that housed writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway back in the day. We then went to the Montmartre area and saw the Sacre Coeur which is another beautiful basilica. Right outside it was a great view of the city.

That night we went to a nice dinner with my friend Rosie from Madison who is studying in Paris. We had also gotten to see another friend of mine who is studying there as well on Friday. Rosie then showed us the Moulin Rouge, Hotel de Dieu, the Bastille Prision, and another wonderful crepe stand. The next morning we ended our trip with another visit to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately we had to leave before the lift was open to go to the top, but I guess that will be another thing to look forward to next time :)

Au revoir/Hasta luego!!

Learning in Class?

I had a very relaxing, family weekend, and that will be the same for the next week or so. Next week we have midterms, so I'll need to be actually studying unlike the past month. Crazy that it has already been a month that I've had actual classes. I have learned a number of things however, many outside of class:

1) Spain living (as expected) is very different than American living. Although I've gotten used to eating a tostada (basically toast, sometimes with meat on it) at 10am, a bigger lunch at 3:30pm, a snack at 7pm (sometimes not even necessary), and a smaller dinner at 10pm, there are some things that strike me as even more different. For example, there is siesta time. It is usually between 3-5:30 or so. Obviously this sounded amazing when coming over, and still is an enjoyable time; the whole city basically shuts down. I forget that occasionally and find myself planning to run a quick errand after my 4:30 class, but unfortunately that is never an option. In general, it seems much more laid back here which on one hand is great. They really enjoy life and don't have to make time for family, fun or anything else. Enjoyment is number one on their list. And that is great. But on the other hand, they are going through a major economic crisis right now and sometimes I can't help but think that they could maybe be doing more. I'm probably out of place by saying that, but the time that is spent on some things I can't help but wonder if it really needs so much time. I am in no way judging, since I am living this way as well and enjoying it, but it's just interesting to compare. All cultures have their strengths and weaknesses, my own and the one I'm living in now included.

2) People are more similar than they are different. Coming here, I thought I would be thrown into this totally different world, which in some senses I am. As I said, the lifestyle and culture are very different. I had also thought that the people would be very different, more proper due to all the style tips I got before I left about not bringing too many t-shirts or sweats. But in reality, everyone here is just living their lives like everyone at home. They just have different hobbies, different histories, different upbringings, and speak Spanish. Listing it out makes it seem pretty different I guess, but it seems like lives everywhere follow the same basic strategic plan: you're born, learn to walk and talk, go to school, learn about your country's history, go on field trips, find your hobbies, etc. The steps are more similar than I had thought. I was surprised when I wasn't faced with the shock of how different life was or the feeling of intense homesickness that I had prepared myself for. At first I took that as a bad thing. I didn't think I was living in the culture enough, not putting myself out there enough. Then I thought, I'm in Spain, not seeing my family or friends for over four months, living with a family I didn't know the names of until two days before I moved in. I think that's pretty out of the box. So then I got to wondering why I wasn't homesick or anything, and I realized it was because everything was already a little bit familiar. My host mom is still a typical mom making sure I have sunscreen, my 10 year old sister Paula is still a typical 10-year-old, I still attend a university although they may grade differently and speak in Spanish, and I've still found friends that I like to do things with. I think that I was so focused on finding the differences that I was almost disappointed in myself when I could only find a few. I didn't realize that it was because there are so many similarities in the people who are simply living in a different culture. There are definitely differences, don't get me wrong, but the regular phrases such as "boys will be boys" and "mother knows best" still stand here.

3) Retention of imagination is very very necessary. A few weeks ago I spent the day with my 10-year-old sister Paula. The things she would find for us to do were numerous and I'm sure she didn't even pull out all the stops. Putting on plays, doing science experiments, drawing, singing, and a lot of dancing just highlight some of what we did. There was a TV show or two in that mix as well, but I got to thinking about how these were things that we would do as kids as well and how now, TV, the internet, cell phones, Facebook, etc. seem to dominate our lives. Not that technology is a bad thing, I love it, but the ability to entertain yourself without it may seem impossible to some. After that day, yes I still watch some TV shows online and yes I still have a Facebook account, but I've also spent more time sketching, more time outside even if it's just to go for a walk, and more time talking with people than I had been since I'd gotten here. Technology can be and is a great thing, and the people who came up with it all had amazing imaginations. I do not think it was even close to their intentions to take away our imagination with theirs, so being aware that imagination needs to be kept intact is important to have in the back of my mind.

4) Something that I've learned from an actual class is the reason why we English speakers have such an issue pronouncing the "rr" in Spanish words. For the most part, we suck at rolling our r's. My "Phonology and Phonetics" class has taught me why. In our mind, we have abstract symbols that we associate with sounds. These symbols are different in every language and we learn them at a young age. There are also slight changes made in these symbols that we still somehow relate to one thing in our mind. For example, the "a" sounds different between the words "cat" and "have", yet our mind still knows it is an "a". Well, in Spanish, there are two different abstract symbols for the sound "r" and the sound "rr". In English, we only have "r". We also have an abstract symbol for "th" in our minds whereas they do not in Spanish. There is a significant difference between "then" and "den", but for them, "dedo" and "detho" will have the same meaning in their minds. Maybe that's just me being a nerd, but I think that's interesting. Guess it's good I like and am learning in, at the least, one class!


Something else I've learned is that I am a pro procrastinator over here, even more so than in Madison. So with that, off to finish my homework I go!