Thursday, May 16, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
REGRASADO
España Parte II
I cannot express how thrilled I am to be visiting Spain again. My professor has said that it is better the second time around several times, but I didn't believe him until our plane landed or even until I was reunited with my Spain Madre on Saturday.
Primera Dia (Sabado)
I saw my Madre as I was exiting the bus, and went straight to her before even getting my bags. She's the same from last year, so it was a happy and familiar reunion. The transition into the culture this time around felt more sudden and drastic. I don't know if it's because I'm more confident in my Spanish or if it's because I've spent more time with my Madre the first few days than I did before. My roommate and I are about at the same level of Spanish, so it works out perfectly. We both are really good about encouraging the other to mostly speak Spanish. This has helped immensely with the transition. I'm already thinking and dreaming in mostly Spanish now! Immediately, upon arrival and after unpacking, my roommate and I joined our Madre for Churros in the Plaza with her friends. Our Mother is in her 60's as well her friends. Listening to 6 sixty year old spaniards converse for a few hours my first day, was a struggle, especially with the jet lag.
To avoid taking a nap, my roommate and I decided to go to a birthday dinner for our Madre's granddaughter Jimena. We had a BLAST! The grandchildren were eager to practice their english with us, or help us with our Spanish. It was a little bit easier listening to 12 year olds converse than the sixty year olds. The dinner was full of conversation about politics, traveling, music, etc. It was a great way to be welcomed to Spain.
Domingo
The next day was less eventful. We took a placement exam at the school, walked around my most favorite place in the world Parque Retiro, and shopped a little at H & M of course. It was an exciting feeling to be Retiro again. Once I started walking around memories began flooding back of all the times I spent in the park two years ago. Not much has changed about it, from what I could tell, and I prefer it that way because it was always perfect how it was. I'm excited to make new memories there also.
Now that my vocabulary is more vast than before, I'm excited to learn more about the history of Spain on the excursions. I am able to express my wants and needs much easier on this trip, but I need some serious help with comprehending when people talk to me. Anyways, I'll try and write more later in the week. Hope all is well in Estados Unido!
Hannah
Monday, June 6, 2011
Alicante
Buenos Noches
We have moved locations! We are now in Alicante! Its about 5 hours south of madrid on THE BEACH! The weather here is a little chillier than I expected but it is still beautiful!
Mis Dias Ultimas en Madrid
La Universidad de Sampere
The last few days in madrid were pretty bitter/sweet.
We all have grown very close to our professors so we were sad to leave them.
Velia has ordered us to find her a nice tan boyfriend in Alicante
Alvaro was in class when we were leaving school that day so we interupted his class for goodbyes and pictures.
Lugares hemos vistado
Reina Sofia- This was a museam I knew little about before arriving in spain, but ended up being my favorite place. It was a huge modern looking building filled with original PICASSO´S and DALI´S!! I am even more of a Picasso fan after seeing his work up close. It´s even wierder up close. There are several paintings of this woman by Dali. This is said to be his sister and he never painted her face, always from behind.
He would paint realistic painting like above then turn around and painted what seemed to be organized chaos like this
The explanation on this was very exstinsive. Its an autobiography of his life, in it contains the story of his brothers death, his fears, and confused thoughts on sexuality.
I feel incredibly blessed to be able to see legacies pieces of Dali and Picasso in person!
Viernes
We travelled a little outside of madrid to Escorial and Manzaneras
Escorial is a monastary-school-library and also where phillip II spent the last month of his life. It was interesting to see all the books that were written by hand before the printing press was invented! In Manzaneras we walked through a small (er than other castles we´ve been in). There was little explination, we were just free to roam the building.
El Parque de Retiro
Parque de Retiro has been my favorite place here. I´ve spent countless hours there walking around. It´s 350 acres so there´s always something new to see, whether it be a monument or street entertainers. I´ve made a habit of jogging there pretty much every night with a few other students. So friday night of course we went for one last jog around the park. I think I will miss that place the most.
La Desayuna Ultima
Our Madre was very excited to present us with her version of Churros for our last morning! Basically we had toast dipped in chocolate sauce, it was more like thick chocolate milk. She took note that our favorite breakfast was toast with chocolate nutella spread and sliced bananas ontop. As a going away gift she gave us each a jar of the chocolate spread! We took a few pictures and said our goodbyes. She was an excellent house mom and took great care of us! If we started speaking in english she would always remindus
¨ no habeis venido a espana pues hablar ingles, necesitas hablar espanol siempre¨
Ya´ll did not come to spain to speak english, you must speak spanish always !
Despite her impatience she helped me incredibally with my Spanish (and patience)
El Metro
When we were departing Madrid my roommate and I decided on the cheaper option of taking the metro to meet the group to depart for Alicante. 10 euros for a cab, or 1 euro for the metro? Hmmmm... I would have paid 50 euros to avoid everything i went through that morning. Our line broke, there were too many steps, too much luggage and not enough time. Luckily the phone that WAS NOT supposed to work worked for us to call our group. We arrived 2 minutes before they said they were going to leave us. It wasn´t the best way to say goodbye to the metro but I´ll be happy if I never see another flight of stairs again. Funny thing, theres literally 90 steps I have to climb to get the top of my new home in Alicante. Two words. Killer Calves. Just wait!
On the way to Alicante we stopped at these really cool ruins of a town built by the Romans a LONG time ago , 2000 years ago, if I understood the tour guide correctly.
Alicante
Mi Familia
There are 5 girls here, four from austen peay and 1 from switzerland. She speaks a little english and even less spanish.
The family consists of
Daniel, the father, Laura, the mother and two daughters 10 and 8.
They are very sweet, loving, and hardworking. Both the parents cook for us.They have been hosting students for 10 years, so they are practically experts! They are from argentina so they´re accents are easier for me to understand!
La Ciudad
Everyone says its a 10 minute walk to the beach, but it takes me 30 minutes. The weather has been 70-80 so far and the water is a little chilly.However the sun is very strong! I´m already alittle tan! Everyone walks everywhere there´s a metro and taxi, but it seems to be more popular to just walk. The buildings are old, so there are few elevators. The town is also known for shoes. There are shoe stores everywhere for cheap too!
Comida
The food here is completely different from Madrid. There are alot of soups and little meat in Madrid. It is mostly Pasta and meat here! I love it! Last night we had spagetti and the night before chicken with this potato egg mix. It was delicioso! I am absolutly loving this town. Everyone is even more relaxed here and very friendly!
Mi Español
I have become a whole lot more comfortable and confident with my spanish. I can sit down and watch TV and listen to conversations, and grasp more of the content than before! My accent is stronger and I´m making less mistakes. I can comfortably speak in past tense too! I plan on continuing my growth in the spanish language.
Proxima Semana
Although I have fallen in love with Spain, I am ready to be back in my normal routines. . I feel that the experiences I have here have made a huge impact on my life.It has definatly changed my perspective on life and how I want to live mine. You learn alot about yourself when you take yourself out of your comfort zone, away from your friends and family who you are comfortable with and always keep you in check. I will carry these experiences into my life back home for sure. I miss everyone so much right now. I will miss Spain but I can´t wait to get off that plane and see everyone!!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Mas
I´m half way through my trip! 2 more weeks to go! Where to start... This week we went out to dinner at an old restuarant named Casa Botin, took a tour of the Royal Palace, and went to Segovia and Salamanca!
Mi Madre Y la comida
This first week she had some trouble finding food that my roommate and I like. Lately she has been doing so good! The food here is very hit and miss with me. I either love it or hate it. The meat is thicker and greasier than in the states, and they like to serve things luke warm or cold, especially soup.
Casa Botin
Casa Botin is the oldest restuarant in Madrid, it was founded before 1776 I believe! Almost all of the group attended and the food was perfecto!
Palacio Real
This place was beautiful! We couldn´t take any pictures, but it was definatly memorable!
I learned a lot of history about Spain. It was full of paintings by Goya and Minx! Its getting easier for me to understand what the tour guide is saying without having to ask for help.
Segovia!
Other than Madrid this has been my favorite excursion! This town is about four hours away from madrid. Its very old with an aqueduct extending a few miles througout the city! We visited a castle called Alcazar! Although we had to climb 150 stairs to get to the top tour, it was so worth it! I´m going to have some amazing calves when I get home, just sayin...
Salamanca
We stayed the night in a hostel in Salamanca this weekend. If/when I return to europe, I definatly would like to stay in a Hostel over a hotel. Its cheap and convienent! My roommates and I had a nice relaxed evening, we walked around the town saw some sights, got some dinner, and had good conversation. The following day we toured around the city looking at monuments, churches, and schools. We even saw the first university in europe! The walls were covered in red letters. The tour guide explained that the red paint was made of ¨Sangre, leche, y agua¨ ¨Blood, milk and water¨. The names were of those who graduated from the school. They signed their names on the wall with their own blood!
Cosas
I miss waffle house
I miss sweet tea
I miss working my job
I miss TV, my cell phone, having internet whenever I want it
I miss my family and friends
I miss Poker night
I miss driving
I find myself not having to ask my mom to repeat herself as much when conversing. I´m more comfortable speaking in past tense too, something I´ve always struggled with. I´m hoping that I can keep practicing my spanish when I get home. I´ve decided to atleast attemp to continue my spanish Academically after this summer. I´m signed up for the next level Spanish class this fall.
Its hard to believe that about 5 years ago I went to mexico on a mission trip not knowing or caring anything about Spanish. A 5 year old boy Jorge graciasly taught me a few phrases to build on from there. Ever since I´ve hated to think about giving up the language.
Things are good here, I´m excited to go home and excited to return here!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Fin de Semana
I probably won´t be able to summerize everything in just one blog. This week has been very busy! Thursday night I spent the day at retiro with another student here. We went to the park and a bunch of cool places, like Plaza Mayor, the zoo, a futbol game, the prado, etc
EL PRADO
El Prado is huge! This was the first tour that I went on where I could follow what the tourguide was saying about each picture. We only saw a handful of paintings by Velazques and Goya, and I still learned a plethora of information about each. I´m planning to go back and see everything else this week sometime.
PLAZA MAYOR
Plaza mayor is in the center of Madrid, it´s a very open space surrounded by older tall buildings with copies of Velezques paintings painted on the wall. There are several cute outdoor restaurantes there too. The weather at night here is PERFECT. It´s never too hot or cold (atleast it hasn´t been yet). We went to the palace, but I´m unsure of facts or history about it. It was grand and beautiful though!
SABADO
Saturday was a big day. Two students and I spent the whole day at the zoo! We saw every animal there and had time to take a siesta in the grass. Once three o´clock hit you could watch people stop in the middle of the path, find a nice sunny grassy spot and sleep. Siesta is something that needs to happen more often in the states!
After the park we went out to TGI fridays. After finally getting used to the food here, the american food did not settle well with my stomach. The soccer game was a blast! Real Madrid won 8-1.
ESPANA VS MEXICO
I notice that if I mention that I learned spanish in Mexico, the spaniards role their eyes, sigh, and begin to tell me that mexicans don´t speak the real educated spanish language. I´m used to spanish pronunciation, however i like that spaniards speak a little bit slower.
OTRAS COSAS
I want to be able to...
Eavesdrop on an argument on the subway and understand it.
Comprehend how much a meter or a kilometer is.
I´ve learned how important transition words are like ¨and then¨, ¨so¨, ¨however¨ ¨in addition to¨.
Favorite things here
The metro- Its so fast and cheap! You can travel get anywhere with it!
Walking- I want to keep walking everywhere when I get home- I feel better, I sleep better, I can eat more and not gain as much weight too!
Parks- El Parque de Retiro is this huge park next to the school. I´ve literally spent three days there and still saw new things each time. It´s full of botanical gardens, an art museum, sculptures, fountains, monuments, and probably more!
MANEFESTACION
There are protests going on in Sol right now. Hundreds of younger people in madrid are camping out in protest of the economy. From what I understand 40% of people ages 18-25 are unemployed. I´m not sure what the protesters want the government to do, but they sure are getting alot of attention. So far there hasn´t been any violence, just tons of signs plaguing the city.
PROFESOR
My profesor Alavaro is very vocal about his views. He believes that Anarchy is the answer and the system is flawed. He keeps trying to get us to debate politics in class, but we don´t really know the right vocabulary for that.
PERSONAS
I´ve made some really good friends here. I´m excited to see where those friendships go also. When preparing myself for spain my thoughts were ¨I´m going to learn so much spanish, see so many things, and eat so much good food¨. I didn´t really think about the conversations I would have with my teachers, classmates, random waiters or people on the street.
I´ll upload pictures later!
Buenos Dias!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Mejor!
This week has started out great!
1. I mastered using my key to get in my apartement
2. I´ve mastered using the subway to go to and from school from home.
3. I haven´t gone to any catholic churches yet and embarressed myself.
4. I started class and I LOVE it! It´s all in spanish. My professors only know a few words in english.
Some observations
I´ve seen these pants quite a few times
Also Shorts with tights is pretty popular. I saw a handful of younger girls wearing them at church.
AYER
Yesterday I went with the whole group to dinner at Casa Minga- their specialty is chicken. So of course I had half a chicken con agua! Afterwards a bunch of us went out around the city. We ended up in an Irish pub with a Polish waiter with American music in Spain. We stayed out pretty late so I went home with some of the other girls.
Mi Madre
I just found out that my mom thinks that I´m mad at her. My roommate said that she was sad the whole night. She called me three times after I told her I was staying with friends tonight and kept asking if I was content. I grew up in a pretty strict home. But not as strict as my Madres house. She has specific places for everything and is constantly cleaning, I´m not sure what dirt she is cleaning up, the house looks spotless. She got upset with my roommate for getting up too early on sunday. She gets extremely frustrated and impatient when I don´t understand what she´s saying.
Ahora
I am enjoying spain much more after yesterday, there is a bull fight and flamigo dancing this week that I might go to! And there is talk of extending our trip a couple of days and going Paris!
I am so ready for a nap though. So far Siesta is my favorite part of Madrid!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Los Fotos y la iglesia!
These are pictures from yesterday in Toledo!
Now, about today!
Today was a little bit rougher than yesterday. Now that i´m starting to get comfortable,I´m starting to get homesick of the things i´m most comfortable with at home. I haven´t gotten to speak with most of my family, friends, or my boyfriend. So that has taken an extra toll on my emotional state. To top it off today, I had a horrible embarressing experience at church today.A Mi Iglesia en Tennessee
At my church at home, we take communion every week, and I take it very seriously. I think it is an incredible spiritual experience with God. I believe that if you believe in Jesus and that you are his child if you have asked him to forgive your sins and ask him into your heart. And if you checkd all of the above, you may take communion. A la iglesia de Catolics
I had forgotten that catholics believe in transubstanciation. ¨In many Christian churches, the doctrine holding that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, although their appearances remain the same.¨. I had forgotten that you can not take communion in a catholic church if you do not belive this. Hoy
Not only was this was a horrible mistake to make in a catholic church, but in a church where you barely speak the language. So this afternoon like everyone else, I got in line to recieve commonion. I paid attention to the order to make sure I was doing everything respectfully and correctly. The priest held up the bread and said ¨de el cuerpo de cristo¨ (of the body of christ) . He then placed the bread in the persons hand, or mouth. When it came my turn, he handed me the bread said the phrase, and I ate the bread. He stopped me. There was some confusion and he told me to go sit down. He followed me and took the bread away. Later, he came to me and asked me if I was a christian, if I believed in jesus, and if I was catholic.
Yes, Yes, No. He then asked about transubstanciation which my reply was no. He then told me that he could not give me the holy bread and i could not take communion with the catholic church because i was not catholic. This was incredibly embarressing and I was trying my best to hold back my tears.
Mi Madre
My mother was with me the entire time and was very understanding, as to why I was emotional. She walked home with me quietly asking me questions about my religion, and reassuring me that that everything was okay. She reminded me sweetly that we believed in the same God, and that we are sisters in Christ. Almarzar
When we returned we set the table for lunch. Lunch here is the biggest meal of the day! We had pancho (Cold soup made of tomatoes, onions, peppers,), bread, beef, potatoes, strawberries with whip creme, and little donut like pastries, and red wine. My Madré´s daughter and her family came to visit! Sh had two little hijos (children) who spoke a few phrases in english. I enjoy practicing my spanish with children the most, because they don´t get frustrated if you mess up and usually their vocabulary is smaller.Siesta
I was so tired afterwards I took a long siesta (nap), and now I am at this little internet cafe writing this. I miss and love you all!
Hannah
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