The other day, I went to my first European “football” game, and I really liked it. We got to sit in the front row! The teams were Real Madrid (real means royal in Spanish) vs. Ecuador. There were lots of Ecuador fans in the stadium too because Ecuadorians make up the largest population of immigrants in Spain. We took the Renfe, a very fast train, to Madrid to go to the game. We had to put our bags through and x-ray machine just like at the airport, and the inside of the train looked like the inside of an airplane. The stadium was huge! It’s bigger than any football stadium I’ve seen in the states, I think I counted 5 levels of seat sections, and the field is about as big as a football field in America. The seats were different in the fact that they didn’t have armrests or cup holders, but they folded down just like a regular stadium seat. They don’t have bleacher seats anywhere though. They have loge seats too, but I don’t know if they provide food and things like that like the loges in our stadiums. Right behind where the players sat looked like little box seats that we have at the Q behind the two basket ball hoops. The thing the players sat in looked like an above ground dug out. They were sheltered by something, but it didn’t go into the ground. The players from both teams also sit on the same side of the field. There is a fence that keeps the fans in their seats, and after that is a security guard with a billy club about every two feet that are supposed to keep people off the field; and after the guards is another steel wall that is short enough to see over. Every time a team scored and the fans started to cheer, the guards stand up and look real defensive. I think in the past that maybe fans have gotten crazy after a good score, or something. Also, if you have a bottle they take the cap away from you, just like at the browns stadium. One nice thing is that you can bring in your own food and drinks of any kind, and if you want to you can film the game on your own video camera. Of course, photographers with Canon equipment lined the field too. The screens on either side show the score, advertisements, the time, player changes, and celebrate when something good happens. They don’t have music playing in the background, though, or things on the screen that egg on the fans. The crowd sings and chants its own songs though, kind of like at a college game.
Now, I have a whole new aspect on football. It is much rougher than I expected. There are two periods of 45 minutes each, and instead of the clock counting down, it counts up from 0 and never stops. The game goes by so fast because of this. There are no time outs and the clock doesn’t stop for injuries. Basically, the players go full speed for 45 minutes straight until a 15 minute pause and then they go for another 45. When a player got injured, they looked really bad and sometimes medics would come on the field, but they tried to get up as fast as they can so they don’t loose time and continue playing. None of the players sat out because of an injury, they just got back up and kept going. At the end of the period, if the medics took time from the game to go on the field, they would add a few minutes of play time. The ball they play with is silver, and if it goes into the stands, the people actually give it back. Every few feet around the security guards are ball boys who throw balls to the players so they don’t have to wait for the one from the crowd to come back since the clock doesn’t stop. The players do some pretty cool tricks with the ball too. During the 15 minute break, more security guards line the field. Also, during the last 5 minutes of the last period, more guards come and they jump over the steel wall to line the field closely. Real Madrid won the game 4 to 2, and I hear that is an amazing score to see because most games have even lower scores like 1 to 0. The game started at 10 and ended around 12, so it seemed like we were in and out of there compared to American sports. After, people sing in the streets and run around and wave their flags.
We tried to get on the metro, but it was so crowded so we decided to walk and find the next station. The metro is just like the one in New York, but much cleaner and more modern. The stations are really pretty and have ads in them for movies and stores. We found a different station, but the metros slow down for the night so we ended up taking a cab home. Cabs here are really cheap, and we only had to pay 6 euro. We stayed in a hostel that was very similar to a hotel. It had two twin beds in the room, a TV, a dresser, night stand, and your own full bath. Usually hostels have a community bathroom. We stayed in the hostel that we will be staying in when we go to Madrid on Saturday. There’s a pizza place near by that I’m dying to try because it smelled like regular pizza. Usually, every pizza here has ham or blue cheese on it. Blue cheese is just weird on pizza, and I don’t like ham. They like worship ham and other pig products here, it’s disgusting. They also have Starbucks in Madrid. I can’t wait to go back, the buildings and really pretty and the city kind of reminds me of San Antonio.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
weekend in Santander
This weekend, some of the other Americans and I went to Santander. It’s a city on the north coast of Spain, on the beach of the Atlantic. It wasn’t a trip that was originally planned, but we had a free weekend so I planned it because nobody else was doing anything. I had my house mom call a hostel to book for us, then everyone who wanted to go paid me and we all went to the bus station to buy tickets to get there. Every city here, no matter how big, has a bus station to travel anywhere you want to go in Spain. It’s pretty convenient and a lot cheaper than flying. We paid 22 euro to go to Santander and back. The hostel we got was pretty nice too and it only cost each of us 26 euro per night. They had a shower and sink just out in the open in the room, and the toilet was communal. I was glad we had a shower and sink in each room so we didn’t have to fight over just one. The shower was a step in shower, kind of like the one I have in my basement at home, but it had an opaque part from your knees to your neck so no one could see that part of your body. It was kind of funny, because I was able to participate in a conversation going on in the room while I was in the shower.
Most of the time we spent there was at the beach. The beaches are beautiful with clean sand and clear water. They also had these little floating plastic islands in the ocean that you could swim to and sit on and tan, or jump off of into deeper water. It was a lot of fun swimming and playing on them. At a different beach, they had lots of pretty boulders and rocks to climb on in the water. At first, you could totally see all the rocks and we went climbing on them. Then, we stayed there so long that by the time we were leaving, all the rocks were covered except for a really tall one. The tide came really close to us. Of course while we were at the beach, we ate a lot of ice cream. I was excited about how tan I got too. At night, we went out for tapas and to the discotecas. Oh, and “discoteca” doesn’t mean you dance disco there or anything corny, it’s like the equivalent to a “club” in America. They don’t call them clubs here though because “club” means a place where you go buy a prostitute. There are only a few discotecas in Valladolid, but in Santander there were like a million. We found one we really liked and we made friends with a few girls from Miami and another girl from Spain who wanted to practice English.
It was a lot of fun to be with a bunch of my friends here and travel to a nice beach to relax for the weekend. This next weekend, I’ll be in Madrid! But tomorrow I’m going to Madrid too to see a futbol/soccer game. I’m pretty excited about that but I don’t know anything about that sport. I have to spend the night in Madrid because there aren’t any buses that will be leaving for how late the game goes. Then, we have to wake up really early the next day so we can get back to Valladolid in time for class. This should be interesting, but fun!
Most of the time we spent there was at the beach. The beaches are beautiful with clean sand and clear water. They also had these little floating plastic islands in the ocean that you could swim to and sit on and tan, or jump off of into deeper water. It was a lot of fun swimming and playing on them. At a different beach, they had lots of pretty boulders and rocks to climb on in the water. At first, you could totally see all the rocks and we went climbing on them. Then, we stayed there so long that by the time we were leaving, all the rocks were covered except for a really tall one. The tide came really close to us. Of course while we were at the beach, we ate a lot of ice cream. I was excited about how tan I got too. At night, we went out for tapas and to the discotecas. Oh, and “discoteca” doesn’t mean you dance disco there or anything corny, it’s like the equivalent to a “club” in America. They don’t call them clubs here though because “club” means a place where you go buy a prostitute. There are only a few discotecas in Valladolid, but in Santander there were like a million. We found one we really liked and we made friends with a few girls from Miami and another girl from Spain who wanted to practice English.
It was a lot of fun to be with a bunch of my friends here and travel to a nice beach to relax for the weekend. This next weekend, I’ll be in Madrid! But tomorrow I’m going to Madrid too to see a futbol/soccer game. I’m pretty excited about that but I don’t know anything about that sport. I have to spend the night in Madrid because there aren’t any buses that will be leaving for how late the game goes. Then, we have to wake up really early the next day so we can get back to Valladolid in time for class. This should be interesting, but fun!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
birthday
Today is my birthday! So I was excited when the university was having an activity to go out and try different tapas. We only had to pay 10 euros and we went to 3 different bars and got ice cream too. At the first bar, I had white grape juice, which is one of my favorite things. For tapas, we got garlic mayonnaise potatoes (patatas alioli), which are kind of like potato salad, spicy potatoes(patatas bravas), and grilled squid (sepia a la plancha). My favorite was the garlic mayonnaise potatoes, but I really liked the squid too. At the next bar we went to, we had Spanish ham in tomatoes and toast (tostada de jamon con tomate) and a ham croquette (croqueta de jamon). I liked them both a lot. The first ham tapa had raw ham on it, but it was really good and I couldn’t even tell it was raw. The ham croquette is sort of like a mozzarella stick. It’s like a fried fat little stick with cheese on the inside. I didn’t see the ham in it, but I guess it was in there. To me, it just tasted like cheese. The last bar we went to, we had eggs with fries (huevos rotos). They were just like French fries with an over hard egg on top. It seemed kind of weird, but I liked that too. Even though we all paid just 10 euros for all of that, we still had enough money left to go get ice cream. Of course, I got chocolate in a cone. Their chocolate ice cream always either has bits of brownies or chocolate chips in it which makes it really good. Also, their cones are like a mix between a waffle cone and a regular cone, and they have a really unique and sweet taste. They’re my favorite kind of cone now. I also like how they only put one scoop in the cone, so you don’t have to eat ice cream for half and hour before getting to the cone part.
Next, I went to a peluqueria, a hair salon. They’re salons are just like the ones in the states. First, they washed my hair in those special sinks, and it felt just as nice as it always does to get your head massaged by a hair stylist. Then the lady cut my hair. I told her to only trim it, so she did and she re-layered my hair and made my bangs a little shorter. Then, she blow dried it and let me pick if I wanted it to be straight or curly, so of course I chose curly. She did a really nice job with it. It only cost my 28 euro, and it was a really nice salon.
Tonight, I’m going to go eat at my friend Kassie’s house because she has the same birthday as me! Her mom is going to make us these really good cheese sandwiches (using the type of cheese they have at Don Ramon’s!) and she’s also making us a nice dessert. Then, we’re going to go out to a discoteca to dance and be with friends. Me and Kassie don’t want to make a big deal about our birthdays today, but we plan on celebrating more when we take our weekend trip to Santander. One of the French boys taught me how to say happy birthday in French too, its joyeaux aniversarie, or something like that. Hasta luego!
Next, I went to a peluqueria, a hair salon. They’re salons are just like the ones in the states. First, they washed my hair in those special sinks, and it felt just as nice as it always does to get your head massaged by a hair stylist. Then the lady cut my hair. I told her to only trim it, so she did and she re-layered my hair and made my bangs a little shorter. Then, she blow dried it and let me pick if I wanted it to be straight or curly, so of course I chose curly. She did a really nice job with it. It only cost my 28 euro, and it was a really nice salon.
Tonight, I’m going to go eat at my friend Kassie’s house because she has the same birthday as me! Her mom is going to make us these really good cheese sandwiches (using the type of cheese they have at Don Ramon’s!) and she’s also making us a nice dessert. Then, we’re going to go out to a discoteca to dance and be with friends. Me and Kassie don’t want to make a big deal about our birthdays today, but we plan on celebrating more when we take our weekend trip to Santander. One of the French boys taught me how to say happy birthday in French too, its joyeaux aniversarie, or something like that. Hasta luego!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
new people and michael jackson back from the dead
After the Italians left us, a few new students came. We have 2 Irish girls, 2 French boys, and an English boy. The Irish girls are really nice and always pronounce their “T’s” at the end of words. The French boys can’t understand us when we speak too fast but they speak pretty good English. The English boy, Olie, has the best accent ever and I just like to sit and hear him talk. We went out with them the other night and talked about all of our cultural differences.
Me and Gabby also went on a walk yesterday by the river and took pictures on a play ground. We saw where homeless people live under the bridges. Valladolid also has a science center, just like the ones at home. I don’t know if I’ll have time to visit it or not, but it’d be really cool to see. They have a McDonald’s by it, so we decided to see how it was. It was the nicest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen. It had really modern furniture with stainless steel trim around pretty wood. Here, they call McDonald’s the “basura”, or garbage can. I think that’s why they decorate it so nice here, so people will come. In the states, we don’t care what a McDonald’s looks like. If we see the golden arches, we’ll flood the place. After, we got a pastry near the Plaza Mayor. This shop has my favorite thing, it’s called a “neopolitina”, and I know they have them at Panera. Here, they heat them up before they serve them to you so the chocolate is melted.
Today we went to the beach for a while to get some sun. Almost everybody from our group came so it was really fun. This one girl keeps trying to hang out with us though and she’s really annoying. We call her Michael Jackson because she really looks like him a lot, it’s scary. But she’s coming with us to Santander for the whole weekend so I’m not really looking forward to that. I’m just glad she’s not staying in my room. I’m going to bed early tonight because I was falling asleep in class today. Buenas Noches.
Me and Gabby also went on a walk yesterday by the river and took pictures on a play ground. We saw where homeless people live under the bridges. Valladolid also has a science center, just like the ones at home. I don’t know if I’ll have time to visit it or not, but it’d be really cool to see. They have a McDonald’s by it, so we decided to see how it was. It was the nicest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen. It had really modern furniture with stainless steel trim around pretty wood. Here, they call McDonald’s the “basura”, or garbage can. I think that’s why they decorate it so nice here, so people will come. In the states, we don’t care what a McDonald’s looks like. If we see the golden arches, we’ll flood the place. After, we got a pastry near the Plaza Mayor. This shop has my favorite thing, it’s called a “neopolitina”, and I know they have them at Panera. Here, they heat them up before they serve them to you so the chocolate is melted.
Today we went to the beach for a while to get some sun. Almost everybody from our group came so it was really fun. This one girl keeps trying to hang out with us though and she’s really annoying. We call her Michael Jackson because she really looks like him a lot, it’s scary. But she’s coming with us to Santander for the whole weekend so I’m not really looking forward to that. I’m just glad she’s not staying in my room. I’m going to bed early tonight because I was falling asleep in class today. Buenas Noches.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Salamanca, Italianos, y Chocolate
Yesterday, we visited Salamanca. It was a nice city with really old things, but I liked Segovia better. Segovia had the aqua duct which was really cool and the Alcazar which was beautiful. In Salamanca we visited 3 churches and the university there. The catholic churches freak me out because their sculptures are so graphic and all the people in them look so distressed. I would much rather see sculptures of happy people. I don’t see why you would be distressed and sad if you’re in a church anyways. One of the churches we visited was the second oldest church in Spain, I think. They reface their churches every so often to keep all the carvings in tact, and one time, a guy thought the church was getting outdated and didn’t fit in with the times. So, logically he carved an astronaut into the design. Now the one side of the church includes carvings of angels, saints, Jesus, and, oh yeah, an astronaut. That was the best part haha.
Anyways, despite all the creepy churches, they had a wonderful Plaza Mayor in Salamanca. It is the biggest and most beautiful one I have seen yet, but I heard the best is in Madrid. I also learned that Valladolid is home to the first Plaza Mayor in Spain, and it is my favorite one I have seen. I think it is smart to have Plaza Mayors in every town. I think it is good for the economy because they have outdoor cafes and all these shops outlining the Plaza, and everyone comes out to be part of the shopping and eating and social life. Also, when an event wants to come to your city, they have a place to set up and entertain the people. Another smart thing they do with the Plazas is have the parking deck underneath it. People drive their cars underground to park there. They do not have any ugly parking garages in Spain, only underground ones that don’t make the city look ugly.
Salamanca also was a great place to shop for souvenirs and they had the best chocolate ice cream there that I’ve had so far in the trip. They also had slushies, which I haven’t seen anywhere else in Spain. I got shirts for my mom, dad, and Kevin and necklace charms for me and my sisters. I was really excited about the charms. They are little keys that say “amor” on one side and “paz” on the other. We all know what amor means, but paz means peace. They also had a lot of leather goods. I got my uncle a wallet.
This was also the last day before the Italians left. All the Americans love the Italians. They are still in high school and so full of energy and hilarious. This morning, they had to catch their flight and leave us around 6 am, so we decided it would be a great idea to stay up all night until they had to leave. It was hard to do, but the Italians are so funny and lively that they kept us all entertained the whole night. Now I don’t know why I stayed up though because I am so tired, but I did have a lot of fun.
Well, right now I’m eating these cookies with nutella on them because I told my house mother that I like chocolate. They are soooo good! When I get home I definitely have to buy some. I eat them for breakfast, after lunch, and with dinner. Oh, and I also decided that I want my first meal when I get back to be Mexican, because they have nothing spicy here. Hasta Luego.
Anyways, despite all the creepy churches, they had a wonderful Plaza Mayor in Salamanca. It is the biggest and most beautiful one I have seen yet, but I heard the best is in Madrid. I also learned that Valladolid is home to the first Plaza Mayor in Spain, and it is my favorite one I have seen. I think it is smart to have Plaza Mayors in every town. I think it is good for the economy because they have outdoor cafes and all these shops outlining the Plaza, and everyone comes out to be part of the shopping and eating and social life. Also, when an event wants to come to your city, they have a place to set up and entertain the people. Another smart thing they do with the Plazas is have the parking deck underneath it. People drive their cars underground to park there. They do not have any ugly parking garages in Spain, only underground ones that don’t make the city look ugly.
Salamanca also was a great place to shop for souvenirs and they had the best chocolate ice cream there that I’ve had so far in the trip. They also had slushies, which I haven’t seen anywhere else in Spain. I got shirts for my mom, dad, and Kevin and necklace charms for me and my sisters. I was really excited about the charms. They are little keys that say “amor” on one side and “paz” on the other. We all know what amor means, but paz means peace. They also had a lot of leather goods. I got my uncle a wallet.
This was also the last day before the Italians left. All the Americans love the Italians. They are still in high school and so full of energy and hilarious. This morning, they had to catch their flight and leave us around 6 am, so we decided it would be a great idea to stay up all night until they had to leave. It was hard to do, but the Italians are so funny and lively that they kept us all entertained the whole night. Now I don’t know why I stayed up though because I am so tired, but I did have a lot of fun.
Well, right now I’m eating these cookies with nutella on them because I told my house mother that I like chocolate. They are soooo good! When I get home I definitely have to buy some. I eat them for breakfast, after lunch, and with dinner. Oh, and I also decided that I want my first meal when I get back to be Mexican, because they have nothing spicy here. Hasta Luego.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
fun stuff
So the weekend after this one, we have free to ourselves. So, a few of us have decided to travel to Santander. It´s a city to the north of Valladolid, on a beach on the sea above spain. I guess this is the prime vacation spot for people who live in Valladolid. We found a bus that can take us there after school friday and return us sunday night for only 22 euros. We´re also going to stay in a hostel so it doesnt cost as much. I´m just really excited to go back to a beach on an ocean.
We went to the beach today here, on the river. It was reallly hot! We got these huge 1.5 liter water bottles. Before we went to the beach, we went to this really good restaurant called la buena moza. I got veal steaks and they were so tender, it was just really good food and the waiters were very patient with us since we don´t have good restaurant spanish vocab. After the beach we got icecream, ofcourse, because i seriously do not go one day here without having it. its sooooooooooo good! Then we went shopping. i really like their clothes here and their skinny jeans are extra long, so they look really nice on me. so far ive bought myself 2 dresses, 3 jeans, and a cardigan,but i need to stop buying dresses and jeans cause i have too many. anyways, tonight im staying in to rest for an active weekend. tomorrow night im going out for 2 of my italian friends birthdays, then saturday im taking a day trip to Salamanca, and saturdy night we are going out because the italians leave sunday morning. its going to be busy but i´ll be napping a lot sunday. hasta luego chicos!
We went to the beach today here, on the river. It was reallly hot! We got these huge 1.5 liter water bottles. Before we went to the beach, we went to this really good restaurant called la buena moza. I got veal steaks and they were so tender, it was just really good food and the waiters were very patient with us since we don´t have good restaurant spanish vocab. After the beach we got icecream, ofcourse, because i seriously do not go one day here without having it. its sooooooooooo good! Then we went shopping. i really like their clothes here and their skinny jeans are extra long, so they look really nice on me. so far ive bought myself 2 dresses, 3 jeans, and a cardigan,but i need to stop buying dresses and jeans cause i have too many. anyways, tonight im staying in to rest for an active weekend. tomorrow night im going out for 2 of my italian friends birthdays, then saturday im taking a day trip to Salamanca, and saturdy night we are going out because the italians leave sunday morning. its going to be busy but i´ll be napping a lot sunday. hasta luego chicos!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
short post...
Today I was really tired, so after lunch I finally took a siesta. It was really nice, but I don’t think I was supposed to sleep for 3 hours. When I woke up, nobody was here. I called my friend Gabby and we decided to sit on a street corner in a mad attempt to get internet. We found some really weak signals so we were only online for half an hour. My internet kept cutting out but I think Friday I’m going to bring my computer to the university in the afternoon. People kept staring at us on the street with our laptops out, but we’re almost desperate now. We’re so used to sitting on Facebook for hours and now I don’t even know what’s going on with all my friends. It’s like I’m going through withdrawals.
Tonight, I had dinner with Ana and she likes to watch the show Bones. It’s the same one we have in the states, but they have Spanish voice-overs. It’s funny though, because she told me she was surprised how well the characters can speak Spanish. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it is filmed in English and they use other people’s voices to speak Spanish.
Tonight I’m not going out because I’m so tired. Tomorrow I’m going to the beach after lunch though. I love going there just to get some sun, I just don’t like how some of the women are topless. Buena Noche.
Tonight, I had dinner with Ana and she likes to watch the show Bones. It’s the same one we have in the states, but they have Spanish voice-overs. It’s funny though, because she told me she was surprised how well the characters can speak Spanish. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it is filmed in English and they use other people’s voices to speak Spanish.
Tonight I’m not going out because I’m so tired. Tomorrow I’m going to the beach after lunch though. I love going there just to get some sun, I just don’t like how some of the women are topless. Buena Noche.
different things
So I’ve been writing down all the different stuff that goes on here… and so far this is what I got.
Their pillowcases have 2 holes in them, instead of just one side open and one side closed. I think we need these kinds of pillowcases. It is so hard to get your pillow in a pillow case in America because there is only one opening, so you cant pull your pillow through. Here there are two openings so it is much easier to case your pillow. These could have saved 10 minutes of our lives.
Smoking is aloud everywhere, which annoys me. All European women, or almost all, smoke. My professor told me they smoke because they want to be really skinny. Everybody here is already skinny because they walk so much. I seriously haven’t seen anyone remotely fat. I would guess the highest weight I have seen is 210 pounds. I think it is because most of the people don’t have cars and there is no fast food around.
Dogs are aloud everywhere too. They’re in department stores, restaurants, and stores on the street.
The people here recycle like it’s there job. All over the street are all kinds of recycle bins for people to use. My house mother has 5 different garbage cans for everything we recycle, and since we recycle so much, she doesn’t need to keep a regular garbage can! Everything has its place. All the food that we don’t eat goes into compost garbage. Cans and plastic, including plastic wrap and packaging, go into another garbage. Newspaper goes into its own can, while other paper products from napkins to boxes also have its own garbage. Last, but not least, is a garbage for glass. I tried thinking of anything that wasn’t covered, but that’s everything.
For everything you eat here, you use silverware. I used silverware to eat my French fries the other day! We eat fruit with forks and knives, like all kinds of fruit. We eat watermelon, peaches, nectarines, oranges, bananas, with a fork and a knife. I was given a fork and knife for calamari, quesadillas, bread, and pizza. They do this because our hands are dirty, but it’s too hard!
Now I know how the siesta started. When everybody was a farmer here, they would get really hot around 2pm and want to go inside. They would have some lunch, but if they went out right after, it was still hot. The weather started to cool around 5 so that is the time they would go back out. So from 2 to 5, all the farmers took a rest from their work to relieve themselves from the heat. It just became a part of their life and they’ve had it ever since, although not everybody in Spain is a farmer.
Their elevators are very small. It is probably smaller than my closet at home, and it was a challenge fitting two of us in there with both my suitcases. They also have mirrors in them for some reason. It’s nice so that you can see how you look before you go to step out of the house.
They keep this city pretty clean. They have people walking around all the time with brooms and hoses cleaning up trash. Also, landscapers are always gardening. In the morning on our way to school, we see a man driving what looks like a Zamboni machine to wash all the sidewalks and streets. And in all seriousness, soap and water come out of the bottom of the vehicle and brushes turn to wash the street. Like you could eat of the ground after they clean it with soap in water! It’s really ridiculous.
Stop signs here looks just like the ones in America, they literally say “STOP” in English. My Italian roommate said that in Italy the stop signs say stop in English too.
I don’t know much about school here, but in Italy they have a different system. You start school when you’re 6, and have elementary school for 5 years. Then, you have middle school for 3 and high school for another 5. You go to different high schools based on what you want to be when you grow up. My roommate goes to an accounting high school and plans on working in a bank. You graduate high school when you are 19 and you don’t usually have to go to college. Some kids do to get more difficult jobs, but you can still live comfortably there without going to a university.
Anyways, today I went to an Oriental Museum to see some of their art and history. It was really interesting and the museum is famous for having the most authentic oriental artifacts in Europe. I really don’t know why they have an oriental museum in Spain, but I went anyways. After, I just went shopping. Hasta Luego.
Their pillowcases have 2 holes in them, instead of just one side open and one side closed. I think we need these kinds of pillowcases. It is so hard to get your pillow in a pillow case in America because there is only one opening, so you cant pull your pillow through. Here there are two openings so it is much easier to case your pillow. These could have saved 10 minutes of our lives.
Smoking is aloud everywhere, which annoys me. All European women, or almost all, smoke. My professor told me they smoke because they want to be really skinny. Everybody here is already skinny because they walk so much. I seriously haven’t seen anyone remotely fat. I would guess the highest weight I have seen is 210 pounds. I think it is because most of the people don’t have cars and there is no fast food around.
Dogs are aloud everywhere too. They’re in department stores, restaurants, and stores on the street.
The people here recycle like it’s there job. All over the street are all kinds of recycle bins for people to use. My house mother has 5 different garbage cans for everything we recycle, and since we recycle so much, she doesn’t need to keep a regular garbage can! Everything has its place. All the food that we don’t eat goes into compost garbage. Cans and plastic, including plastic wrap and packaging, go into another garbage. Newspaper goes into its own can, while other paper products from napkins to boxes also have its own garbage. Last, but not least, is a garbage for glass. I tried thinking of anything that wasn’t covered, but that’s everything.
For everything you eat here, you use silverware. I used silverware to eat my French fries the other day! We eat fruit with forks and knives, like all kinds of fruit. We eat watermelon, peaches, nectarines, oranges, bananas, with a fork and a knife. I was given a fork and knife for calamari, quesadillas, bread, and pizza. They do this because our hands are dirty, but it’s too hard!
Now I know how the siesta started. When everybody was a farmer here, they would get really hot around 2pm and want to go inside. They would have some lunch, but if they went out right after, it was still hot. The weather started to cool around 5 so that is the time they would go back out. So from 2 to 5, all the farmers took a rest from their work to relieve themselves from the heat. It just became a part of their life and they’ve had it ever since, although not everybody in Spain is a farmer.
Their elevators are very small. It is probably smaller than my closet at home, and it was a challenge fitting two of us in there with both my suitcases. They also have mirrors in them for some reason. It’s nice so that you can see how you look before you go to step out of the house.
They keep this city pretty clean. They have people walking around all the time with brooms and hoses cleaning up trash. Also, landscapers are always gardening. In the morning on our way to school, we see a man driving what looks like a Zamboni machine to wash all the sidewalks and streets. And in all seriousness, soap and water come out of the bottom of the vehicle and brushes turn to wash the street. Like you could eat of the ground after they clean it with soap in water! It’s really ridiculous.
Stop signs here looks just like the ones in America, they literally say “STOP” in English. My Italian roommate said that in Italy the stop signs say stop in English too.
I don’t know much about school here, but in Italy they have a different system. You start school when you’re 6, and have elementary school for 5 years. Then, you have middle school for 3 and high school for another 5. You go to different high schools based on what you want to be when you grow up. My roommate goes to an accounting high school and plans on working in a bank. You graduate high school when you are 19 and you don’t usually have to go to college. Some kids do to get more difficult jobs, but you can still live comfortably there without going to a university.
Anyways, today I went to an Oriental Museum to see some of their art and history. It was really interesting and the museum is famous for having the most authentic oriental artifacts in Europe. I really don’t know why they have an oriental museum in Spain, but I went anyways. After, I just went shopping. Hasta Luego.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Segovia
Yesterday, we traveled to Segovia. It is a more touristic town, so I was finally able to get some magnets and other gifts for my family. I also bought a full size flag, which I’m really excited about! This is the town with the aqua ducts- this cool looking bridge thing that transports water from the mountains to the city. I’ll try to put a pic up on here to show you, but if not, ill have pics of it up on Facebook. We also saw some really nice landscapes and churches. Our house mothers packed us lunches to eat in Segovia. There was a festival going on there though, so it was so crowded we couldn’t find a place to sit. Finally, we just sat on the side of some buildings in the street and ate our lunch like homeless people. Segovia is also home to the Alcazar, one of the castles that Walt Disney used to design his. The castle was so huge and pretty inside. We climbed 152 stairs up through the tower to go on top of the castle. I would love to live there, and I couldn’t believe how big it was. The moat around it was at least 6 stories below the entrance, and then you still have to take 152 stairs to the top. I can only imagine how many floors it must have. It also had a lot of things made out of gold on the inside including tapestries, furniture, and the walls and ceilings. Of course before we left Segovia, we bought ice cream. It is so unbelievable how much better the ice cream is here! I’m going to miss it so much. What I don’t believe, is that it is made by Nestle! I don’t know why Nestle sells all their crappy stuff to America and ships all the good ice cream to Europe. It is so much softer, but doesn’t melt as fast, and has chocolate chips in it, and never has freezer burn.
After Segovia, my Italian roommate Giulia made us pizza. She said that the pizza is just like you have in Italy. We had crust with tomato sauce on it, and then small slices of provolone scattered that didn’t cover the whole pizza. Then she sprinkled it with parmesan cheese and oregano and topped it with cherry tomato slices. It was really good! When I get home, I’m going to try to make some of the stuff she does. Later, we went out to a popular club here, where an older man was having a bachelor party. The guys looked like they were in the mob with pin-striped suits and hats. They were so funny looking because everybody else in the club was young. The man said this was his 5th marriage! If I failed 4 times before, I don’t think I would try again, but I guess divorce is very common here. Me and my friends practiced our Spanish with them and they gave us a few pointers about Valladolid. At first, they seemed like creepers but in the end they were just sweet old grandpas that just wanted a little fun.
After Segovia, my Italian roommate Giulia made us pizza. She said that the pizza is just like you have in Italy. We had crust with tomato sauce on it, and then small slices of provolone scattered that didn’t cover the whole pizza. Then she sprinkled it with parmesan cheese and oregano and topped it with cherry tomato slices. It was really good! When I get home, I’m going to try to make some of the stuff she does. Later, we went out to a popular club here, where an older man was having a bachelor party. The guys looked like they were in the mob with pin-striped suits and hats. They were so funny looking because everybody else in the club was young. The man said this was his 5th marriage! If I failed 4 times before, I don’t think I would try again, but I guess divorce is very common here. Me and my friends practiced our Spanish with them and they gave us a few pointers about Valladolid. At first, they seemed like creepers but in the end they were just sweet old grandpas that just wanted a little fun.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tired Day
Today I was really tired, so after lunch I finally took a siesta. It was really nice, but I don’t think I was supposed to sleep for 3 hours. When I woke up, nobody was here. I called my friend Gabby and we decided to sit on a street corner in a mad attempt to get internet. We found some really weak signals so we were only online for half an hour. My internet kept cutting out but I think Friday I’m going to bring my computer to the university in the afternoon. People kept staring at us on the street with our laptops out, but we’re almost desperate now. We’re so used to sitting on Facebook for hours and now I don’t even know what’s going on with all my friends. It’s like I’m going through withdrawals.
Tonight, I had dinner with Ana and she likes to watch the show Bones. It’s the same one we have in the states, but they have Spanish voice-overs. It’s funny though, because she told me she was surprised how well the characters can speak Spanish. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it is filmed in English and they use other people’s voices to speak Spanish.
Tonight I’m not going out because I’m so tired. Tomorrow I’m going to the beach after lunch though. I love going there just to get some sun, I just don’t like how some of the women are topless. Buena Noche.
Tonight, I had dinner with Ana and she likes to watch the show Bones. It’s the same one we have in the states, but they have Spanish voice-overs. It’s funny though, because she told me she was surprised how well the characters can speak Spanish. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it is filmed in English and they use other people’s voices to speak Spanish.
Tonight I’m not going out because I’m so tired. Tomorrow I’m going to the beach after lunch though. I love going there just to get some sun, I just don’t like how some of the women are topless. Buena Noche.
first day of classes
Today was my first day of classes. Yesterday I took a test to see what level I would be in and I found out I’m in level C. It’s the middle level and where the most kids are that are from the U.S. The classes are pretty easy and I can understand most of what my professors say. They handed us an events schedule, and the day we are going out for tapas is the Kassie’s and my birthday! At school, first I have grammar class. Today we pretty much reviewed, or at least I already knew most of the stuff he was teaching us. We had a short break so we went to the vending machines which are a little different from the ones back home. You enter the money in a different way; I don’t know exactly how to describe it though. It is also cold inside the vending machine even though it looks similar to a vending machine with the clear glass so you can see chips and stuff. I got tex-mex Doritos, a flavor I never heard of before, and they were cold. They also came with a prize inside. It was a scratch off ticket, but I didn’t win. Next, we had culture class. The professor told us about interesting places to visit in the city. Some of the museums sounded cool so I think I’ll go one day. Finally, we had conversation class. Today we just went around and said a little about ourselves. He said tomorrow we’re going to talk about trips we have taken. I’m excited about that because I’ve been a lot of places.
After school, some girls and I went to the Plaza Mayor for lunch. I had these potatoes that were similar to potato salad, a ham and cheese tortilla, and bread. I got some really good ice cream afterwards. It’s creamier than the ice cream in the U.S. and doesn’t get freezer burn. It was pretty good, but tonight the Italians want to go to Burger King so I’m going to go too. Next, we went to the beach! The beach is on a river, but it has sand and nice water. Me and my friends got tans and waded in the water. A lot of the women there weren’t wearing tops so we just tried not to look. Most of the guys wore speedos too. They do some weird stuff but we just keep to ourselves. Even though we don’t do weird stuff like that, they always seem to stare at us.
Tonight we’re going to go to a bar to have some tapas. The Italians are going to the disco. That’s the only place they want to go, they always get so excited about it. It’s pretty far from our house though so some of us aren’t going. They also don’t have a lot of water for me to drink, it’s mostly alcohol and I don’t want to be half gone in a city I know nothing about. Hasta Luego!
After school, some girls and I went to the Plaza Mayor for lunch. I had these potatoes that were similar to potato salad, a ham and cheese tortilla, and bread. I got some really good ice cream afterwards. It’s creamier than the ice cream in the U.S. and doesn’t get freezer burn. It was pretty good, but tonight the Italians want to go to Burger King so I’m going to go too. Next, we went to the beach! The beach is on a river, but it has sand and nice water. Me and my friends got tans and waded in the water. A lot of the women there weren’t wearing tops so we just tried not to look. Most of the guys wore speedos too. They do some weird stuff but we just keep to ourselves. Even though we don’t do weird stuff like that, they always seem to stare at us.
Tonight we’re going to go to a bar to have some tapas. The Italians are going to the disco. That’s the only place they want to go, they always get so excited about it. It’s pretty far from our house though so some of us aren’t going. They also don’t have a lot of water for me to drink, it’s mostly alcohol and I don’t want to be half gone in a city I know nothing about. Hasta Luego!
Monday, July 6, 2009
spainspainspain
so my roommate made it here. her name is guilia and shes from italy. she's nice but it's hard to communicate with her. their fashion is different than ours too.
anyways, im in an internet cafe now with my friend. i ordered french fries and they came with mayonaise on them. it tastes good though! so that's fine.
last night i went out with almost everyone from italy and america. we went to a club and they were playing american music. they play a lot of american music here but they dont understand all of it. i tried some champagne and it was ok, but i just got a water to drink.
today was our first day of class, we took a test to see what level we are at. i think i did pretty good. then, a lady took us on a tour of the city. we saw some creepy catholic churches from the gothic era. we went to the park after, and it is full of peacocks! it was so crazy. i didnt want to get too close but i got some pics of them. the parks are really exotic. they have all kinds of birds, playgrounds, statues and sculptures, and gardens.
usually, i cant eat all of the food that Ana tries to feed me, but today i did. We had something kind of like refried beans, but they were called legumes, i think. then we had a peice of chicken and a nectarine. i think the reason we eat so much food for lunch is because we cover most of the food groups during that meal. we start with vegetables, have a meat, eat fruit, and have bread with it all.
tonight all of us are going out to a club again. classes start tomorow. hasta luego!
anyways, im in an internet cafe now with my friend. i ordered french fries and they came with mayonaise on them. it tastes good though! so that's fine.
last night i went out with almost everyone from italy and america. we went to a club and they were playing american music. they play a lot of american music here but they dont understand all of it. i tried some champagne and it was ok, but i just got a water to drink.
today was our first day of class, we took a test to see what level we are at. i think i did pretty good. then, a lady took us on a tour of the city. we saw some creepy catholic churches from the gothic era. we went to the park after, and it is full of peacocks! it was so crazy. i didnt want to get too close but i got some pics of them. the parks are really exotic. they have all kinds of birds, playgrounds, statues and sculptures, and gardens.
usually, i cant eat all of the food that Ana tries to feed me, but today i did. We had something kind of like refried beans, but they were called legumes, i think. then we had a peice of chicken and a nectarine. i think the reason we eat so much food for lunch is because we cover most of the food groups during that meal. we start with vegetables, have a meat, eat fruit, and have bread with it all.
tonight all of us are going out to a club again. classes start tomorow. hasta luego!
day two in spain
So my second day in Valladolid, I really got to explore. I woke up around noon, and Ana, the lady I’m staying with, still wasn’t up! She got up around one and started to make lunch. We had vegetables, fish, and a nectarine. Then, I called Gabrielle. My friend Gabrielle and I went to the beach, the university, an internet café, the pool, the park, the plaza, and a bar.
The beach is on a river, and the water is dirty so people just wade in it to cool off, they don’t really swim in it. A lot of people were lying out in the sun and getting a tan. It was near a park. There are a lot of parks here and people are always on the benches just talking. They don’t seem to be in a rush or like they are trying to get anywhere. It’s kind of relaxing.
On our way to the university, we stopped at a café because we were thirsty and found out that the café had Wi-Fi. We were so excited because in the States, we’re always online, but here they aren’t as crazy about the internet. We spent a while there on Facebook. We met a guy there that is from Italy but lives in Spain and works as a translator. It was nice because he spoke English. He also spoke Spanish, Italian, and German. Gabrielle ordered coke at the café and it came in one of those cute glass bottles they had back in the day in the States. I want to bring one home, but it will probably break.
We saw the university, but didn’t go inside. It was only one building, and it looked like a castle.
After the university, we went to the plaza. Since it was a Saturday, it was full of people. We discovered a department store called “El Corte Ingles”. There are a few of them in Valladolid and they have everything you could ever need. The basement had toiletries and pajamas and underwear and the first floor had watches and makeup and purses. We didn’t go to the second floor but the place kind of reminded me of a Macy’s, but it also had some stuff that Wal-Mart would have.
Then, we went to the campo. An old creepy man hit on us and a younger guy asked if one of us wanted to marry him. We got out of the park quickly after they talked to us. We don’t like creepers.
We decided to check out the pool, but it was closed for the night so we went home to eat.
For dinner I had a piece of pizza and a banana. I then called Gabrielle again to see the nightlife that Spain is so famous for. We went to a bar around the university. It didn’t have a menu so Gabrielle just asked for wine and I asked for water. I tried a sip of her wine and it tasted gross. She’s used to wine though because her family is very Italian.
Then, we went to the plaza to see if we could find other people from Akron, but we didn’t see anyone. We decided to go to a bar closer to our houses. There were more people at this bar and even little kids were playing nearby on scooters and playing tag, and it was one am! I know that Spanish people stay up late, but that just seemed weird. Gabrielle ordered wine again. All we know how to say for drinks is “vino” for wine and “agua” for water, so that’s all we ever get. A nice man talked to us. He spoke a little English and was very polite. He told us more about the city.
We decided to go home around 2 and sleep. We can’t wait for Monday to come so we can talk to the rest of our group so we can all go out together.
The beach is on a river, and the water is dirty so people just wade in it to cool off, they don’t really swim in it. A lot of people were lying out in the sun and getting a tan. It was near a park. There are a lot of parks here and people are always on the benches just talking. They don’t seem to be in a rush or like they are trying to get anywhere. It’s kind of relaxing.
On our way to the university, we stopped at a café because we were thirsty and found out that the café had Wi-Fi. We were so excited because in the States, we’re always online, but here they aren’t as crazy about the internet. We spent a while there on Facebook. We met a guy there that is from Italy but lives in Spain and works as a translator. It was nice because he spoke English. He also spoke Spanish, Italian, and German. Gabrielle ordered coke at the café and it came in one of those cute glass bottles they had back in the day in the States. I want to bring one home, but it will probably break.
We saw the university, but didn’t go inside. It was only one building, and it looked like a castle.
After the university, we went to the plaza. Since it was a Saturday, it was full of people. We discovered a department store called “El Corte Ingles”. There are a few of them in Valladolid and they have everything you could ever need. The basement had toiletries and pajamas and underwear and the first floor had watches and makeup and purses. We didn’t go to the second floor but the place kind of reminded me of a Macy’s, but it also had some stuff that Wal-Mart would have.
Then, we went to the campo. An old creepy man hit on us and a younger guy asked if one of us wanted to marry him. We got out of the park quickly after they talked to us. We don’t like creepers.
We decided to check out the pool, but it was closed for the night so we went home to eat.
For dinner I had a piece of pizza and a banana. I then called Gabrielle again to see the nightlife that Spain is so famous for. We went to a bar around the university. It didn’t have a menu so Gabrielle just asked for wine and I asked for water. I tried a sip of her wine and it tasted gross. She’s used to wine though because her family is very Italian.
Then, we went to the plaza to see if we could find other people from Akron, but we didn’t see anyone. We decided to go to a bar closer to our houses. There were more people at this bar and even little kids were playing nearby on scooters and playing tag, and it was one am! I know that Spanish people stay up late, but that just seemed weird. Gabrielle ordered wine again. All we know how to say for drinks is “vino” for wine and “agua” for water, so that’s all we ever get. A nice man talked to us. He spoke a little English and was very polite. He told us more about the city.
We decided to go home around 2 and sleep. We can’t wait for Monday to come so we can talk to the rest of our group so we can all go out together.
Friday, July 3, 2009
first day in spain
So today I arrived in Spain. The plane ride from Newark to here was only 6 hours, but I never want to take a flight where youre supposed to sleep again. It´s just to hard to sleep upright.
Anyways, when we got here, if I didn´t know I arrived in Spain, I would´ve thought this was America. In Madrid, they have tall buildings like any other city and you still drive on the right side of the road. Valladolid, where I am staying, has older and shorter buildings with cool architecture but still looks similar to America. The sidewalks are even wider than those in NYC and they have cafes all over them, there´s a shopping center that looks like Crocker Park, and a park that looks like Central Park.
My other roommate is from Italy but she hasnt gotten here yet. She is coming Sunday. My Mama is really nice though, but sometimes we can´t understand eachother. She only speaks Spanish. She is diabetic so everything she makes is healthy which is good. It is different how they eat. Breakfast and dinner are eaten on your own. I can go out to eat or heat something up if I want. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and you have it with family. We had 3 courses. The first course was brocoli and potatoes, the second was chicken, and the last course is always fruit and we had an apple. I would have liked eating the broccoli and potatoes better with the chicken instead of by themselves. Who sits there and eats just vegetables?
After I got settled in I called a girl, Kassie, from my group to meet up and walk around the city. We went to the park and the plaza and had our first shopping experience together. We both wanted ice cold water because at our homes, they drink only warm water. The guys at the bar were very nice and slowed down their talking so we could understand. A bottle of water costs about 2 euros.
In the shopping center there was some stores we knew like sephora and rolex. We went in the sephora and I think the perfumes were cheaper, but I´m not really sure because the prices were in euros. There was also a store called "womens secret" and it sold lingerie and bathing suits kind of like victorias secret. It doesn´t have anything like the Pink brand though. I also went to a grocery store which smelled literally fishy. They also had pigs legs hanging up. The fruit section looked a lot like a farmers market and the beauty section seemed expensive.
I will try to put up pictures later but I´m not on my own computer now.
¡Hasta Luego!
Anyways, when we got here, if I didn´t know I arrived in Spain, I would´ve thought this was America. In Madrid, they have tall buildings like any other city and you still drive on the right side of the road. Valladolid, where I am staying, has older and shorter buildings with cool architecture but still looks similar to America. The sidewalks are even wider than those in NYC and they have cafes all over them, there´s a shopping center that looks like Crocker Park, and a park that looks like Central Park.
My other roommate is from Italy but she hasnt gotten here yet. She is coming Sunday. My Mama is really nice though, but sometimes we can´t understand eachother. She only speaks Spanish. She is diabetic so everything she makes is healthy which is good. It is different how they eat. Breakfast and dinner are eaten on your own. I can go out to eat or heat something up if I want. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and you have it with family. We had 3 courses. The first course was brocoli and potatoes, the second was chicken, and the last course is always fruit and we had an apple. I would have liked eating the broccoli and potatoes better with the chicken instead of by themselves. Who sits there and eats just vegetables?
After I got settled in I called a girl, Kassie, from my group to meet up and walk around the city. We went to the park and the plaza and had our first shopping experience together. We both wanted ice cold water because at our homes, they drink only warm water. The guys at the bar were very nice and slowed down their talking so we could understand. A bottle of water costs about 2 euros.
In the shopping center there was some stores we knew like sephora and rolex. We went in the sephora and I think the perfumes were cheaper, but I´m not really sure because the prices were in euros. There was also a store called "womens secret" and it sold lingerie and bathing suits kind of like victorias secret. It doesn´t have anything like the Pink brand though. I also went to a grocery store which smelled literally fishy. They also had pigs legs hanging up. The fruit section looked a lot like a farmers market and the beauty section seemed expensive.
I will try to put up pictures later but I´m not on my own computer now.
¡Hasta Luego!
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