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!!
