Chocolate con Churros, Turtlenecks y Reina Sofia

Jueves ~ After sleeping in and missing the morning rain, it was time to go outside and wander around some more because I'm on the hunt for una iglesia to visit. Although I'm not sure how singing Spanish hymns will go, I think it'll be a really neat experience once I find one! One thing I keep noticing whenever I'm out walking or riding the bus to and from school is the fashion, doggy fashion. Almost everyone here has a perrito (small dog, also the word for hotdog oddly enough), and every dog is rocking a some kind of sweater! Phil - you just thought I was crazy when I got stuff for Gus. Little did yall know I was just keeping up with Spain!

Multiple layers!

After walking around for a bit and even locating a honky tonk bar, I decided to stop and enjoy my first chocolate con churros, the most common Spanish dessert around. The churros are basically fried dough that you dip into a cup of melted chocolate. Needless to say, its delicious!

A church right by our apartment!

Later that evening, it was time to grab some dinner before heading to Kapital for the night. I mentioned Kapital before but it really can't be described. It is enormous! I managed to visit to all seven floors and we all got a kick out of the kareoke floor. It ended up being one of my favorite nights by far!

The lighting for this turned out funny but here is a group of some of our amigas!



Viernes ~ Deciding it was time for a little break from Spanish, Margaret, Kayla, and I decided to take advantage of the English movie theaters and went to see the King's Speech. We all absolutely loved El Discurso del Rey and even learned a few new words thanks to the subtitulos en espanol! After the movie, we did as los madrilenos do and got chocolate con churros for our five o'clock snack before walking around Gran Via some more and making our plans to meet at Lateral for dinner at diez y media. Before I tell yall about the amazing tapas at Lateral or our evening out, I have to admit that yes, there has been some culture shock in terms of adjusting to the Spanish culture but never did I think I would manage to shock my new American friends. On Friday night, I introduced a few of my yankee amigas to a turtleneck. I'll defend myself by saying it was a cute,simple black turtleneck but my friends all were amazed to see me wear it out! Una de mis amigas, Becca, was the funniest and said she thought turtlenecks were only for funerals! After a good laugh and Tess, Lizzy, and I explained how turtlenecks can indeed be worn when you go out.

Sabado ~ After a fun night, I decided it was time to venture to el gimnasio and get a good run in before meeting girls at the Reina Sofia museum. The gym is really great and even has clases de salsa! My goal before the end of the semester is to take one but I may need to improve my Spanish a little bit first. As for the Reina Sofia, a group of five of us (Margaret, Becca, Kayla, Kaitlin, and myself) all met around four or rather four fifteen because I got a little lost and headed into el museo. The Reina Sofia is an incredibly famous modern art museum that has a large collection of Picassos. It was so interesting to see but after two hours or so, we'd only been through two of the five parts and that was just on one side! Needless to say it's going to take the whole semester to get through everything, but we're all excited because it is such a neat place. I'm sorry but I don't have pictures! I somehow managed to forget my camera that day. But here's the website and there will be lots of pictures to come from our next visit! More to come soon!http://www.museoreinasofia.es/index.html

Kaitlin, Becca, Margaret, and I at Reina Sofia

La Riviera, Museo Sorolla y Flamenco

So first I have to say that I'm sorry I've been so slow posting! We're definitely still trying to get a grasp on time here, which seems to run out quicker than at home (possibly due to everything being later than we're used to!) Anyways, after a big day in Segovia, Lizzy and I decided to lay low on Friday night to prepare for our first Spanish club experience on Saturday night. After catching up on our sleep, we wandered our barrio more until it was time to get ready for a night out in Madrid. We headed to Carly and Nayha's apartment to meet up with all the girls first, and then headed to La Riviera for the night. For all of yall who have been to Club Rome, including adults because I know quite a few of yall have been, La Riveria, which is a discoteca here, is Club Rome x10000000 and more. After the bouncer lets you in, we waited in line to check our coats and then I was literally blown away by the number of people there. One thing I was surprised to discover, however, was that the were playing American music for the most part, including everything from Rhianna to Celine Dion. (It seems the Madrilenos also have a strange obsession with Phil Collins and Shania Twain which we found very interesting...) I didn't take my camera to La Riviera but here is a picture I stole from Lizzy just to give yall an idea of what it was like...

After an entertaining night, we caught a taxi and headed back to our apartment to head to bed. Although it was a highly entertaining experience, I don't think the clubs are going to be my scene. Of course I'll have to experience Kapital, the seven floor dance club that Madrid is famous for, but otherwise I think I'm going to be spending my weekends at smaller venues. On Sunday afternoon after another day of sleeping in and finally getting over jet lag, Lizzy and I met some girls in Sol to spend the afternoon wandering around and getting to know the city.

When Monday morning rolled around, we headed to school for class where we learned that on Tuesday we'd be writing a composicion and taking un examen oral on Wednesday to help determine our Spanish grammar class nivel. We were very lucky to get Jacinta for our teacher because she has been nothing but encouraging and great with our entire class. We were sad to learn she won't be a regular teacher for our classes but we couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Madrid academics. After we finished class, Lizzy and I went to Sol again to try out a lunch place called Cafe y Te. It's a chain restaurant in Spain that turned out to be pretty good! We enjoyed wandering the area, including the plaza that is full of street entertainers, and finished the afternoon off with something warm from Starbucks, where Lizzy learned that asking for sacrina, which is the spanish version of splenda, can sometimes be mistaken for saying your name is Zack.

Lizzy decided to stay and shop around a while, so I hopped on the metro and headed back to the apartment to go with Cristina to talk to her gym about joining while I'm here. I wasn't sure what to expect, considering Cristina said she only went for pilates and had no idea if there were even treadmills, but I was blown away when we got there. It is an amazing facility called Gimnasio Chamberi (http://www.gimnasiochamberi.com/)and they have every type of class to offer, including spinning, yoga and pilates, karate, and more! Later that night, Lizzy and I were very excited because it was time to book our first trip. The first weekend in Febrero, Lizzy, Laurie, and I are heading to Paris to meet up with Elizabeth, Claire, and Meredith! We couldn't be more excited and felt so accomplished having bought our tickets and booked a hostel sin problemas!

After successfully writing our composicion por clase, we decided to head to Gran Via to explore and have lunch. Madrid is HUGE but when you're in each neighborhood, it doesn't feel so overwhelmingly grande. Gran Via, on the other hand, it the Nueva York of Madrid. They have every type of store you could imagine -- Zara, Sfera, H&M, Nike, tattoo parlors, the typical I <3 Madrid gift shop, hair salons, restaurants, theaters, and more. (There is one particular hair salon that we think must be the Madrid version of Great Clips because it is on cada calle. It has bright blue lights and big tacky signs. You can't miss them.) After passing a few different cafes and restaurants, Lizzy and I decided to eat at a restaurant called Nebraska that despite the American name, had no American food whatsoever. Lizzy ended up picking a few sides to put together as a meal, while I went for the traditional croquetas. Croquetas are kind of like a cross between hush puppies and poppers, but can be filled with all sorts of things. I went for, again, the most traditional and had croquetas con jamon iberico. They were absolutely delicious but very rich, so it's hard to eat a ton of them.

Once we finished lunch, I headed to Museo Sorolla to meet Will and Thomas. Joaquin Sorolla was an incredibly gifted Spanish painter from Valencia, Spain (autonomous community on the coast of Spain) who is famous for his portraits, landscape paintings, and use of light in his works. The museum is actually Sorrolla's old house and it is right around the corner from our apartment! It was absolutely beautiful and has a nice garden area that you're allowed to study in for free. It'll be great in la primavera when it warms up, but its just too cold now. Here were some of mis cuadros favoritos:

 Entrance to Sorolla's house

Self portrait -- Autoretrato

Snapshot, Biarritz

Bride and groom from Salamanca

Siesta

As for Miercoles, it was one of my favorite days so far because not only did I discover the Spanish version of Key Lime Pie at Cafe Van Gogh with Carly, Nayha, and Pamela, I also got to see a live flamenco show at el Teatro Munoz Seca. It was absolutely incredible -- it was both men and women that performed all different types of flamenco. Flamenco originated in Andalucia and there are all different types now based on the different communidades. We weren't allowed to take pictures or anything, but here is a youtube video that will give you an idea as to what it was like, though I really can't even put it into words! There is so much tap and ballet incorporated, it was just incredible to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v7-irkk_gg&feature=related

El Clase de Español, Las Dos Comidas y Segovia

On Wednesday morning, we woke up and headed to school to find our assignments for our el curso intensivo de Lengua y Cultura española that will last through the rest of orientation (friday, 1/28). With approximately ten people in each class, I was nervous that I wouldn't know anyone in my class but all the Wofford Spanish professors should be proud because Lizzy, Will, Thomas, An, Lindsey, and I all got placed in an above average language class together! Kaitlin is also in our class, as well as three other students in our program. Class was pretty interesting -- we learned some need-to-know aspects about the Spanish culture. For example, businesses are open from 10am - 1:30 pm and then close until five so that everyone can go take siestas. Then the stores reopen from 5pm - 8:30pm. Not only do they break for naps, they also take a break around 11am for everyone to get coffee and a snack. I'm thinking this needs to transfer over to the states! When class finished, Lizzy and I walked to our bus stop and then hopped on the bus to head back home for lunch where Cristina made us a very Spanish meal of some kind of meatballs, rice, broccoli, and more soup. One thing that is very different between here and los estados unidos is that when it's okay to cross the street, not only does the little green man light up, but a very loud siren beeps. We had no idea what it was at first but after realizing there weren't ambulances driving by everytime we wanted to cross the street, we figured it out. Stuffed from lunch, we decided it was time to embrace la cultura española and enjoy a siesta. Due to a bit of jet lag, our naps turned into sleep and we didn't wake up until around 9pm. Lizzy decided to just go ahead and sleep through the night but I was not about to miss cena so I decided to go walk around the neighborhood and find somewhere to pick up dinner. After finding a little supermercado and grabbing a sandwich and some yogurt for dinner, I headed back to the house to watch some trashy American tv (yes, the Bachelor) on my computer and head to bed.

We headed back to class on Thursday morning and our profesora, Jacinta (like the flower), focused on differences in American and Spanish culture, especially in terms of what we are allowed to do in our casas. For example, you can NEVER walk around barefoot in the house so everyone is a big fan of slippers here (but more like the grandmother slip-on kind. Just let me know whoever wants a pair because most of the them are only two euro). We finished up class, told our friends we'd meet up with them later, and headed back to our barrio to grab lunch. Lizzy and I found this great little sandwich shop right down the street from our apartment and enjoyed not only great sandwiches, but pasta salad and coca-cola light too! As we walked back into the house, we both stopped and had the whole deer-in-headlights look because we saw Cristina was making lunch for us. Realizing we had misunderstood her at breakfast (she was making us breakfast and dinner on Friday, not Thursday), we took a moment to secretly freak out and prepare ourselves for a comida segunda of spaghetti, pan, and ensalada. Absolutely stuffed, we decided that after two lunches we needed to go walk and explore our neighborhood. What started as short walk to stretch our legs turned into a three hour excursion as we kept wandering and figuring out what all our neighborhood had to offer. We're still not sure what everything is, but we found some great restaurants, little cafes, and even a few shops!

La iglesia near our apartment

After we finished exploring, we headed back to Cristina's to regroup and then met Will and Thomas for dinner at La Piteria, a pita restaurant near us, and then headed back to get ready for our big trip to Segovia the proxima dia!

On Friday morning, our entire IES group took a day trip to Segovia, an absolutely beautiful ciudad in Castilla y León. We started our paseo of Segovia at the aquaducts which were absolutely incredible. They are gigantic which makes it hard to believe that anyone could have ever built those without huge machinery and technology. As we continued walking, we came to la Iglesia San Martin, a local church in Segovia that is right next to el monumento del Juan Bravo, a local hero. One of my favorite stops of the day, however, was la Catedral de Segovia. It was absolutely breathtaking because of its incredible architecture and size. We weren't able to go in because they are restoring parts of it, but you can tell from the pictures how spectacular it is.

La iglesia San Martin  

Juan Bravo

La Catedral de Segovia

Most of our Wofford group at la Catedral (Thomas, Lizzy, An, Will)

We continued our tour down the cobblestone roads and came to el Alcázar, an amazing castle on the hillside of Segovia that was home to la Reina Isabela and was used as a defense against the Muslims during her time. This was my other favorite site of the day because of the intricate detail in the interior of the castle as well as the amazing view it had to offer of the city. Our guide, Ramón, did an amazing job of telling us all about the history of the castle and the unique mezcla of Spanish and Muslim styles in the architecture. Once we finished touring the castle, we walked down the hill (which was a little steep and interesting for all of us girls in boots) to la Iglesia de la Veracruz.  After looking around the little church, we got back on the bus and headed to Torrecaballeros, another little city, to enjoy an amazing meal and start back towards Madrid.

el Alcázar

La iglesia de la Veracruz

Mis Primeros Días en España!

We made it! After a quick flight from Charlotte to Philly, we boarded our plane for Madrid and realized that about half the passengers were IES students heading to Madrid, Salamanca, or Seville. You could see how excited everyone was to finally be on the plane and starting our adventures in Spain. Around 8am Spanish time (or 2am for everyone back at home), we landed at the aeropuerto Madrid-Barajas! Following a quick trip through customs, we grabbed our bags (they all made it!) and headed for the taxis where we were greeted by the IES staff. While there was some Spanish spoken on the plane, the real "oh wow we're in Spain" feeling didn't hit until the staff starting giving us directions to the hotel in Spanish. After a few "ques" and "comos," we managed to get directions and head to the hotel Husa Princesa where we would spend our first night and begin orientation. Once we managed to get all of our bags out of the cab, Lizzy (my roomate for the semster) and I made it to our room where we decided it was time to enjoy a quick nap before all the students met for lunch at one.

After our much-needed naps, we met up with Laurie, our neighbor who goes to school in California, and headed upstairs for lunch and orientation. We grabbed a table with Will and Thomas and were joined by Melissa and Kaitlin, some of our new amigas from Villanova, as well as Danny, another Will, and Peter. There are around 100 students in the IES Madrid program, but we're doing our best to keep meeting everyone and keep track of names at the same time. As for lunch, I'm not sure if it is this way in all of Spain, but so far everyone in Madrid makes sure that you do not leave hungry! We started with sausage, salami, and bread, followed by grilled veggies, and then enjoyed veal and asparagus for our main dish. And if that wasn't enough, they brought us cake and coffee for dessert. The IES staff then introduced themselves and gave us our orientation schedules, maps, class schedule, and a charla about safety in Madrid.

Having been given the afternoon off, we walked to Corte Ingles, a seven story store that has everything from a supermarket  to a department store, to get our Spanish phones. After lots of questions using our Spanglish, all seven girls got their new phones and headed back to the hotel where we hung out until we headed out to dinner around 10. The meal schedule is a lot different in Spain. While breakfast is still in the morning, you don't eat lunch until 2:30 or 3pm and no one even thinks about dinner before 9:30pm. Needless to say, Lizzy and I have been stopping for snacks to hold us over until we adjust. After walking the streets near our hotel, Lizzy, Will, Thomas, Becca, Kayla, Melissa, Kaitlin, and I all enjoyed a wonderful meal  at El Parque, then headed to El Chapandaz (the cave bar) to celebrate Will's birthday.

The next morning, we had to wake up early for orientation during which we learned about the rules for our homestay, as well as the academic expectations. We don't start classes until the 31st, so the first two weeks is solely orientation and our language and culture class. When we finished with those, we headed upstairs to pack our bags and meet our madre! Lizzy and I are living together with Cristina, nuestra madre, and her dog, Greta. Cristina is very nice and was just as excited to see us as we were her. After once again cramming all of our bags into the taxi, we headed to our apartment on Zurbano in el barrio Chamberí,  a beautiful neighborhood that is primarily residencial and known for being tranquilo. Once we arrived, we got a tour of the apartment and then moved into our rooms! Lizzy and I each have our own rooms and share a bathroom. Here's mine!

And here's Greta!

After settling in, we ate la comida (what they call lunch) with Cristina, who made us zuchinni soup and bread. I was a little hesistant at first but it turned out to be delicious. Once we ate, Cristina showed us the way to school, which is about 30 minutes away. We take a bus for the first 15 minutes and then walk the last part. It's a beautiful walk, part of which is through a park and hasn't been too cold, so we've enjoyed it! Once we got to school, we took our language placement test for orientation and then made our way back home. It took a little while to find which bus we needed to take but we enjoyed the wrong turns and found lots of places that we want to visit soon! Later in the evening, Lizzy, Cristina, and I took a tour of the barrio with some of the other madres and students in our neighborhood. We went to Gran Via and took the metro to a few places. Jet lag began to set in so when we finished the tour, Lizzy and I walked around the neighborhood looking for a good place for dinner, only to settle on a delicious Burger King meal. Once we polished off our chicken fingers, we headed home to get some sleep and prepare for our first day of language class. More to come later!