Starting from where I left off, last Thursday I went with my host sister and her friend Sergio to Monfrague National Park, which is about one hour out of Caceres by car. It was perfect weather-like 75 degrees and sunny! We stopped at a castle and walked up very narrow steps to the top. There were no guard rails on the top of the castle so we had to be careful not to get too close to the edge but it was very cool looking out over the park. There were lots of olive trees and the Tajo River (I think). There were also a lot of red/orange rocks. I think the soil is pretty much the same color and it is hard to believe that so much can grow in this soil since it is nothing like the black soil of Iowa. We also stopped at a lookout to see some birds. The bird of Extremadura (the state Caceres is in) is the stork so there were a lot of storks we could see on top of a cliff. We kept driving and got to a town that has only one street and only 4 houses that are inhabited. Apparently they are trying to build cabins and make it into a touristy area. The town was having a bird convention last weekend so there were actually quite a few people walking around. Thursday night I packed and got ready for our trip.
On Friday, we got on a bus at 8am and left for Granada. We all slept almost the whole bus ride. We had to stop twice for the driver and to eat. At one of the rest stops, we found 2 very scragly dogs that we gave some extra food to. They ate it right up. As a note, there are quite a few stray cats who live in the street in Caceres. I wish they were safe to pet. We got to Granada around 4pm and went to La Capilla Real and La Catedral first. Basically it is 3 cathedrals built connected to each other. Our professor thinks it is the only place in the world that has such a thing. The first cathedral was built by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (If you remember, they were the people that Christopher Columbus got money from to go on his expedition to America). It was a pretty simple building with little decoration on the walls because Queen Isabella wanted it to be decorated in a humble manner. The king and queen were also buried in this cathedral in addition to their daughter, a prince, and another person. We got to see the crypt which had a window so you could see the lead caskets. Before the construction of that cathedral was finished, their son decided to have another cathedral built next door that was much more extravagant to show the prosper of Spain during their rule. This cathedral was huge and extravagantly decorated. It had 2 huge pipe organs.
After seeing the cathedrals, we went to our albergue. An albergue is like a cheap hostel that offers meals. We had a room with two beds and our own shower and bathroom! We ate at the dinning room in the hostel and then got ready to go out. We went to two bars in the city and then went to check out a discoteca. While we were talking as a group to decide whether or not to pay 10 euro to get into the discoteca, we were escorted out of the lobby by some security guards...guess we took to long! Oh well. We got to bed at about 4am.
On Saturday, we had breakfast at the albergue and left at 10am to go to La Alhambra, which translates into "The Red Fort" because the walls of made of a red clay like substance. Apparently Bill Clinton was very inspired by his visit here and thinks it is the most beautiful thing he has seen. I thought it was absolutely HUGE!! The palace is where the Muslim King lived. The outside walls have no decoration but the inside is absolutely covered with intricate design and decoration. I think that relates to a Muslim belief that the inside of a person is much more important than the outside. The main thing that we saw is the Palacio Nazaries. It is divided into 3 parts. The first part is where the King would receive citizens who had complaints. It is the public part of the palace. We saw where the king would sit, etc. There were a lot of mosaics on the walls and some that were actually poems or stories about the construction of the Alhambra. Each of the three parts had a patio with lots of vegetation and water because the Muslim's idea of paradise is a place filled with water and vegetation. Next, we moved to the semi-private part of the palace. This is where the king would receive diplomats from other nations. We saw where his throne would sit as well as where the people he consulted with would sit. The ceilings and walls were much more detailed in the architecture. There was also this beautiful, long fountain that we saw. Finally, we reached the private part of the palace. This is where the king, his wife, his mistresses, and his children lived. The king had a lot of women because that was a sign of power. They were not allowed to leave the palace or by seen by anyone from the outside. We saw the royal bedrooms and also a famous Fountain of Lions, which was a gift from another country.
After our visit to the Alhambra, we got back on the bus and went to Cordoba. It was about a 3 hour bus ride so we arrived at 10pm, had supper, and I went to bed. On Sunday morning, we got up early to try to get to Mass before we had to leave. We walked all over the city trying to find churches, which was difficult since they were not on our map. Eventually we found our way to the Monasterio de la Incarnacion-Monastery of the Incarnation. They had Mass at 9:30am so we decided to go. When we walked in, we were very surprised to see about 20 nuns sitting in the choir loft at the back of the church, dressed in black habits and white robes. There were about 6 older adults in the church and the 11 of us Americans. The nuns sang all of the songs for Mass and we all felt a little like we were in The Sound of Music. It was definitely a type of Mass none of us had ever experienced before. The priest directed the homily to us "jovenes"-young people-telling us to not be afraid to get to know God and that we should use Mary as an example for our lives, since she was once a young person like us. When we went up for Communion, they took the host and dipped it in wine. This was the first time we had experienced this too.
After Mass, we went back to the albergue to meet the rest of the group and go to an old city of ruins on the top of a hill just a short trip outside of the city. It wasn't really that exciting, just really windy! After that, we went back to the city, got lunch and ice cream and then went to La Mezquita-the Mosque. This was probably my favorite part of the weekend. First a little history: When the Christians/Catholics conquered a Muslim city, usually they destroyed the mosques or religious buildings and then built a Catholic Church over it to show their power. However, in Cordoba, they decided to keep the mosque and just build a cathedral inside and over part of the mosque. They also put lots of crosses around on the walls of the mosque part. The mosque is the only mosque in the world that was not built aligned with Meca. It was built in the direction that people would go if they would take a pilgramage to Meca. The cathedral was SO pretty and I will try to get pictures up sometime. I just don't think I can describe it well enough because it was so gorgeous.
After the mosque, we walked across a bridge that covers the river that Christopher Columbus set sail from when he went to America. We got back on the bus and got back to Caceres at 10:30pm. I skyped a few friends and went to bed.
Today, I got up and walked to school. I had 2 classes and then we finally booked our tickets for spring break. We will be going to Rome from the Wednesday before until the Monday after Palm Sunday and then will be going to Barcelona, Spain for about 4 days. It is going to be a lot of fun. Going to Rome is like my dream come true! I can't wait!!
Also, Sunday marked the end of our first month here in Spain! So much has happened and I can't wait for everything that we have coming up in the next couple months. Miss you all!!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
We found Catholic Teens!
Last night, we decided to meet up and go to see the movie Invictus that was advertised online as being free at a theater near the old part of the city. When we got there, it turned out to be a fundraiser for Catholic teens from Caceres to go to the World Youth Day in Madrid, which will be held in August. Since it was a fundraiser, it was unfortuately not free and the group decided not to go since a lot of us didn't bring money. We told them how much we wanted to go to World Youth Day but we just don't have the money to make it possible. They suggested selling cookies....I can only imagine how many thousand cookies I'd have to sell to get enough for the plane ticket. How nice it would be to only have to go 4 hours to Madrid to get there. However, we did get a chance to talk to some of the people there and apparently they have a Mass that they all go to on Sunday night at 8pm and they have a couple Bible studies and other activities that they do together. I gave one girl my contact info so I really hope they invite us to join them for some of their activities! It was very exciting to finally find some Spanish people our age who actually go to church! We have been looking for them ever since we got here!
Today I had all four of my classes and my professor prepared us for our trip to Granada and Cordoba this weekend. All 19 of us will be going as well as our professor and program director. We will visit La Alhambra, which is a palace in Granada, and La Mezquita, which is a really old mosque in Cordoba. It should be a very fun weekend!
Going back to my computer problem, I am so incredibly thankful that everything worked out! When I emailed my mom about what happened, she told me that she knew that God had a reason and a lesson for me that would come out of this and as hard as it was for me to hear that, I definitely can see it now. No matter if I am halfway across the world from my closest friends and family, God is still here with me. I also feel like I was being reminded that although I want to be independent and do things for myself, there are times when I need other people's help and God puts everyone in my life for a reason. I can definitely see God working in my life here which is so good!
It has been so good catching up on skyping with friends and family! I will continue to do that tonight as well as work on planning more of an itinerary for my dad and brother when they get to Spain. They will be here in 10 days! I am SOOOO excited to see them!!!
Today I had all four of my classes and my professor prepared us for our trip to Granada and Cordoba this weekend. All 19 of us will be going as well as our professor and program director. We will visit La Alhambra, which is a palace in Granada, and La Mezquita, which is a really old mosque in Cordoba. It should be a very fun weekend!
Going back to my computer problem, I am so incredibly thankful that everything worked out! When I emailed my mom about what happened, she told me that she knew that God had a reason and a lesson for me that would come out of this and as hard as it was for me to hear that, I definitely can see it now. No matter if I am halfway across the world from my closest friends and family, God is still here with me. I also feel like I was being reminded that although I want to be independent and do things for myself, there are times when I need other people's help and God puts everyone in my life for a reason. I can definitely see God working in my life here which is so good!
It has been so good catching up on skyping with friends and family! I will continue to do that tonight as well as work on planning more of an itinerary for my dad and brother when they get to Spain. They will be here in 10 days! I am SOOOO excited to see them!!!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Buenas Noticias! Good News!
I am very happy to report that I got rid of my computer's virus myself! It is so nice to be able to get on the internet whenever I want now! I ended up googling the message that was on my wallpaper from the virus and downloaded a program that worked to get rid of it. What a relief!
On Saturday, we got up early and took the 6am bus to Madrid. We could not find any good prices on hostels or hotels before we left, so that was the first thing we did when we got there. We arrived at 10am and took our first trip on the metro to a station near the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where Real Madrid plays. We walked up the street and found a hotel called Hotel Aitana which had a room with 2 single beds for a reasonable price. It was a super nice hotel!! There were 5 of us total staying in the room, so 4 slept on the beds and one slept on chair cushions on the floor. Also, the shower was great!! There was hot water and pretty good water pressure!! Best shower I've had in Spain so far!
Saturday afternoon, we went on the tour of the Real Madrid Stadium. We went through the trophy room, down to touch the field, sat in the seats that the players who are on the bench sit in during the game, and saw the press room. It was definitely more than you would get to see in any US football stadium due to not as much security here! We went to the Real Madrid v. Levante soccer game on Saturday night. It lasted about 2.5 hours total. By the way, it rained all day Saturday and during the entire game. Good thing our seats were in the nosebleed section so we had the overhang to protect us from the rain and heat lamps to keep us warm :)
After the game, we went out in the Puerta del Sol area of the city. There were lots of people out but all the discotecas cost quite a bit to get in, so we decided not to go there.
On Sunday, we went to El Rastro, which is a huge market in the city. They sold everything there...from powerstrips, to clothes, to fingernail polish, to flowers. It was pretty cool and there were lots of people there. Next, we went to the Prado Museum, but we decided we didn't have enough time to go in. At least we'll know how to get there when we go back to Madrid in the future. We went to the bus station and got something to eat before getting on our 5 hour bus ride home. We got back to Caceres at 10:30pm last night and everyone was really tired!
Today, I had classes and nothing much new has happened...I'll try to put up pictures of the game, etc. soon!
On Saturday, we got up early and took the 6am bus to Madrid. We could not find any good prices on hostels or hotels before we left, so that was the first thing we did when we got there. We arrived at 10am and took our first trip on the metro to a station near the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where Real Madrid plays. We walked up the street and found a hotel called Hotel Aitana which had a room with 2 single beds for a reasonable price. It was a super nice hotel!! There were 5 of us total staying in the room, so 4 slept on the beds and one slept on chair cushions on the floor. Also, the shower was great!! There was hot water and pretty good water pressure!! Best shower I've had in Spain so far!
Saturday afternoon, we went on the tour of the Real Madrid Stadium. We went through the trophy room, down to touch the field, sat in the seats that the players who are on the bench sit in during the game, and saw the press room. It was definitely more than you would get to see in any US football stadium due to not as much security here! We went to the Real Madrid v. Levante soccer game on Saturday night. It lasted about 2.5 hours total. By the way, it rained all day Saturday and during the entire game. Good thing our seats were in the nosebleed section so we had the overhang to protect us from the rain and heat lamps to keep us warm :)
After the game, we went out in the Puerta del Sol area of the city. There were lots of people out but all the discotecas cost quite a bit to get in, so we decided not to go there.
On Sunday, we went to El Rastro, which is a huge market in the city. They sold everything there...from powerstrips, to clothes, to fingernail polish, to flowers. It was pretty cool and there were lots of people there. Next, we went to the Prado Museum, but we decided we didn't have enough time to go in. At least we'll know how to get there when we go back to Madrid in the future. We went to the bus station and got something to eat before getting on our 5 hour bus ride home. We got back to Caceres at 10:30pm last night and everyone was really tired!
Today, I had classes and nothing much new has happened...I'll try to put up pictures of the game, etc. soon!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Mi Ordenador Enfermo
My computer has a virus. I was trying to make a powerpoint for my speech I will give next week on illnesses, and I clicked on a picture on Google of someone with a stomach ache and it downloaded a virus to my computer. I was very sad :( My sister had her friend look at it but he was not able to remove the virus. I think I will have to format my hard drive and delete everything to get rid of the virus. Luckily I had backed up my documents to a flash drive on Sunday, so those are safe. The only problem is my pictures. There were too many to save to my flash drive, so I didn't worry about it on Sunday, but now I am uploading them onto shutterfly and Kodak websites so I don't lose them. It takes forever but I know it will be worth it! It's a very unfortunate thing to have happen but I'm getting over it and moving on.
Last night (Thursday) we went to the filmoteca to see Toy Story 3. We thought that it would be in English like the movie last week and were very surprised when the characters started talking in Spanish. They even sang the songs in Spanish..."Hay un amigo en mi"=You've Got a Friend in Me. We learned some phrases like "al infinito y mas alla"=to infinity and beyond! and "hay un serpiente en me bota"=there's a snake in my boot. The movie only costs one euro and we always stop at the Sanchez-Cortes candy store to buy gummy bears before going in.
After the movie, I went home, had supper, and went out. We went to a new discoteca and then to La Habana for a party with the Erasmus students. It was lots of fun and there was lots of music in English. I also ran into my sister and her friends there. I met so many new people that I can hardly remember any of their names. When La Habana closed at 3AM, we headed toward another area of town that opens later in the night. I didn't stay long because another person wanted to go home so I walked back with her. We were out til 4AM!! Latest I've ever stayed out!
Today I slept in, had lunch, and am working on homework. Yes, we finally got homework. I have to finish my powerpoint for my speech, write a reflection paper on our trip to Merida, read a couple chapters in a book, and translate an American recipie into Spanish (I'm doing Corn on the Cob). We leave tomorrow morning at 6am on a bus to go to Madrid!!! Can't wait!
Last night (Thursday) we went to the filmoteca to see Toy Story 3. We thought that it would be in English like the movie last week and were very surprised when the characters started talking in Spanish. They even sang the songs in Spanish..."Hay un amigo en mi"=You've Got a Friend in Me. We learned some phrases like "al infinito y mas alla"=to infinity and beyond! and "hay un serpiente en me bota"=there's a snake in my boot. The movie only costs one euro and we always stop at the Sanchez-Cortes candy store to buy gummy bears before going in.
After the movie, I went home, had supper, and went out. We went to a new discoteca and then to La Habana for a party with the Erasmus students. It was lots of fun and there was lots of music in English. I also ran into my sister and her friends there. I met so many new people that I can hardly remember any of their names. When La Habana closed at 3AM, we headed toward another area of town that opens later in the night. I didn't stay long because another person wanted to go home so I walked back with her. We were out til 4AM!! Latest I've ever stayed out!
Today I slept in, had lunch, and am working on homework. Yes, we finally got homework. I have to finish my powerpoint for my speech, write a reflection paper on our trip to Merida, read a couple chapters in a book, and translate an American recipie into Spanish (I'm doing Corn on the Cob). We leave tomorrow morning at 6am on a bus to go to Madrid!!! Can't wait!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Mi Casa-Part 1
Today we rode the bus to school because it was absolutely pouring rain. We were all soaked by the time we walked from the bus stop to our building at the university even though we were using umbrellas. I had all 4 of my classes today, which tends to be a bit long since we sit there for 4 hours straight with no break. Everyday my host mom makes me a cheese sandwich and gives me a juice box to take as a snack. After classes, thankfully the rain was over. We took the bus home and I had lunch with my sister and host mom. Clara made lemonade from the lemons that her dad gave us. It was really good. This afternoon, my host sister and I watched last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy. She absolutely loves that show and so do I!
Casey, Lizzy, and I are starting to make our plans for Italy. The cities on our list to visit are Rome, Florence, Venice, and Siena. We will only have about 7.5 days there, so we will try to see as much as we can. Also, a couple days ago we booked our tickets to go to Ireland for the weekend after St. Patrick's Day!!! I'm so excited! I will get to visit my friend Abby who is studying abroad in Cork for a couple days and then we will spend 2 days in Dublin.
I've decided to put up some pictures of where I live. I'll put up more tomorrow hopefully but for now, the kitchen and living room!
The Kitchen! We have plastic yellow chairs to sit on and pretty much every meal we have to get the stool from the bathroom for someone to sit on since there are 3 of us.
Washing machine on the left. They do not have dryers here-only washers so everything is hung out on the line to dry. There is a dishwasher in the middle/right of the picture.
Microwave and Oven
There is always fresh fruit on the table. Refrigerator is on the left and freezer is below.
Every living room has a table like this with heater underneath. The blankets go down over the heater to keep the heat in. You can put them over yourself and warm up while watching TV.
Living Room
TV :) They don't have many channels here and my family doesn't have cable. They sometimes watch American shows like Extreme Makeover Home Edition that are dubbed over in Spanish. They watch a lot of tv!!
More living room.
/
Casey, Lizzy, and I are starting to make our plans for Italy. The cities on our list to visit are Rome, Florence, Venice, and Siena. We will only have about 7.5 days there, so we will try to see as much as we can. Also, a couple days ago we booked our tickets to go to Ireland for the weekend after St. Patrick's Day!!! I'm so excited! I will get to visit my friend Abby who is studying abroad in Cork for a couple days and then we will spend 2 days in Dublin.
I've decided to put up some pictures of where I live. I'll put up more tomorrow hopefully but for now, the kitchen and living room!
The Kitchen! We have plastic yellow chairs to sit on and pretty much every meal we have to get the stool from the bathroom for someone to sit on since there are 3 of us.
Washing machine on the left. They do not have dryers here-only washers so everything is hung out on the line to dry. There is a dishwasher in the middle/right of the picture.
Microwave and Oven
There is always fresh fruit on the table. Refrigerator is on the left and freezer is below.
Every living room has a table like this with heater underneath. The blankets go down over the heater to keep the heat in. You can put them over yourself and warm up while watching TV.
Living Room
TV :) They don't have many channels here and my family doesn't have cable. They sometimes watch American shows like Extreme Makeover Home Edition that are dubbed over in Spanish. They watch a lot of tv!!
More living room. Tomorrow I'll try to post pictures of my room and the bathroom!
Hasta luego!
/
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Rain, Rain Go Away
It rained and was overcast almost all of the day today :( Only about 45 degrees here and a little bit windy. Hard to believe that the weather in Iowa was probably better than the weather here today! Went to classes this morning and gave a speech. I really love the two classes I had today-Spanish Conversation and Phonetics. The professors for both are really good at teaching and keep class interesting! They are probably my favorite 2 classes.
The Spanish grading system is much different than what we have in the US. First of all, there is no such thing as Web CT, where we can go and view our scores for each assignment, test, quiz, and project. I think we will not know what are grades are until we finish the semester. When we get back assignments, the professor does not put a grade on them, but instead a word. It can say Mal, Bien, Muy Bien, or Perfecto. Each word is associated with a number on a 10 point scale:
Mal= less than 5
Bien=5-6
Muy Bien=7-8
Perfecto=9-10
Then, at the end of the course, the teacher translates those numbers into a number on a 4 point scale:
Mal=1=F
Bien=2=C
Muy Bien=3=B
Perfecto=4=A
It is a very rare occasion that professors give perfectos (9-10). Students here only have to pass the classes (Bien), so they are not very concerned about getting the highest grade possible. I am very proud to say that I got my first "Perfecto" on an essay today for my Phonetics class :)
After class, I came home on the bus because of the rain and had lunch with my sister and host mom. We had french fries! They were definitely not as good as American french fries, but still good. My host mom and sister asked me what I thought about President Obama and Bush and Sarah Palin. It is so crazy how much they know about the US. I never realized how big of an impact our country had on the world.
This afternoon, I took a siesta, skyped a friend, and went to the bus station to buy a ticket for this weekend. We are going to Madrid on Saturday and coming back on Sunday. We are getting tickets to see Real Madrid (a professional soccer team) play on Saturday night. I am SOOO excited!!!
Tonight, we all went to Cafe Dipas to meet some Spanish people and have a dialogue with them. We spoke in Spanish and they spoke in English, and we helped correct each other. It was a very good time. I met Raul, Dani, and two people named Carmen. I think we will be doing this almost every week.
The Spanish grading system is much different than what we have in the US. First of all, there is no such thing as Web CT, where we can go and view our scores for each assignment, test, quiz, and project. I think we will not know what are grades are until we finish the semester. When we get back assignments, the professor does not put a grade on them, but instead a word. It can say Mal, Bien, Muy Bien, or Perfecto. Each word is associated with a number on a 10 point scale:
Mal= less than 5
Bien=5-6
Muy Bien=7-8
Perfecto=9-10
Then, at the end of the course, the teacher translates those numbers into a number on a 4 point scale:
Mal=1=F
Bien=2=C
Muy Bien=3=B
Perfecto=4=A
It is a very rare occasion that professors give perfectos (9-10). Students here only have to pass the classes (Bien), so they are not very concerned about getting the highest grade possible. I am very proud to say that I got my first "Perfecto" on an essay today for my Phonetics class :)
After class, I came home on the bus because of the rain and had lunch with my sister and host mom. We had french fries! They were definitely not as good as American french fries, but still good. My host mom and sister asked me what I thought about President Obama and Bush and Sarah Palin. It is so crazy how much they know about the US. I never realized how big of an impact our country had on the world.
This afternoon, I took a siesta, skyped a friend, and went to the bus station to buy a ticket for this weekend. We are going to Madrid on Saturday and coming back on Sunday. We are getting tickets to see Real Madrid (a professional soccer team) play on Saturday night. I am SOOO excited!!!
Tonight, we all went to Cafe Dipas to meet some Spanish people and have a dialogue with them. We spoke in Spanish and they spoke in English, and we helped correct each other. It was a very good time. I met Raul, Dani, and two people named Carmen. I think we will be doing this almost every week.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Feliz Día de San Valentín!
Happy Valentine's Day! This holiday is not celebrated very much in Spain. I think only couples celebrate it. I saw lots of people carrying around roses this afternoon so they must give flowers as a gift. I saw this cute little old man walking with a cane in his right hand and a single red rose wrapped in plastic in his left. He was so cute I wish I had taken a picture! At school, we learned about the legend of San Valentin and how he married people in secret until he was arrested and killled.
It rained and was overcast most of today. It was pretty cold and windy too which is a big change from our weather last week. This afternoon, Bev, Casey, Cory and I went to get frozen yogurt from a frozen yogurt store near the Plaza Mayor. It was pretty good and I tried nutella for the first time. It was so good!!! Tonight, Mariah, Alex, Lizzy, Courtney, and I started our Bible Study. It was a very good session! Tomorrow I have to give a speech on my major and what I want to do when I graduate from college. There is no translation for physician's assistant in Spanish, and I don't think such a career exists outside the US.
It rained and was overcast most of today. It was pretty cold and windy too which is a big change from our weather last week. This afternoon, Bev, Casey, Cory and I went to get frozen yogurt from a frozen yogurt store near the Plaza Mayor. It was pretty good and I tried nutella for the first time. It was so good!!! Tonight, Mariah, Alex, Lizzy, Courtney, and I started our Bible Study. It was a very good session! Tomorrow I have to give a speech on my major and what I want to do when I graduate from college. There is no translation for physician's assistant in Spanish, and I don't think such a career exists outside the US.
Mountain Climbing and Mass Going
Friday night, I went with Bev, Casey, Taylor, and Cory to a bar called Corral in the Parte Antigua to watch a local singer perform. It was okay..it was just a girl singing and two guys accompanying her-one on drums and the other on guitar. Some of her songs were in English. The thing that really bothered me was all of the people smoking since it was outside...I can't stand smoke but oh well.
On Saturday, we met up at 11am and went to get churros con chocolate which is a Spanish food we had been dying to try. If you don't know, churros are a fried bread and in Spain, they dip it in a thick chocolate sauce and it is SO delicious! After our churros, we started our journey toward "the mountain". Apparently it is the only one around because everyone refers to it as THE mountain. We knew the general direction we were supposed to go but didn't really know how to get to the road that goes up the mountain, so we ended up taking a detour through some grass, past some sheep, and over a creek to get up to the road. It was a very hot walk up the mountain since the sun was shining the whole time and the road was pretty steep! It took us about 1 hour to get to the top. We could see all of the city of Caceres when we reached the top, even our university! We spent the afternoon on the top of the mountain and had a picnic with the sandwiches our families packed for us. It was lots of fun just hanging out together. Around 3pm, we headed back down the mountain. We all ended up a little sunburned but it was worth it...starting my summer tan already :)
Saturday night we all went out. Went to Corral again, La Habana, and Divina Comedia. I was soooo tired from climbing the mountain that I went home at 2am. One of these weekends, I gotta stay out til 6am like a true Spaniard!
On Sunday, I woke up at 11am and got ready and went to 1pm Mass at the Parroquia de Fatima with Taylor and Cory. It is a new Catholic church that my host mom recommended that is only 5 minutes from my house. It was great!!! There were so many people there and they actually had a choir that sang!!! Most of the people were old but at least there were lots of them there. I printed off a translation of the Order of the Mass in Spanish and we tried to follow along and respond but the people talk so fast! We'll have to work on it! There was one guy who was so excited that we were there that he ran over to give us the sign of peace. I still can't understand much at Mass but at least I can participate somewhat now. The music was pretty good...only bad part was when the pianist played Amazing Grace at the offertory...can't stand that song...thank goodness they didn't sing the words too yet! Mass only lasted 45 minutes. I spent the rest of the day working on homework and relaxing at home. I also skyped several friends over the weekend and it was so good to catch up with them!
On Saturday, we met up at 11am and went to get churros con chocolate which is a Spanish food we had been dying to try. If you don't know, churros are a fried bread and in Spain, they dip it in a thick chocolate sauce and it is SO delicious! After our churros, we started our journey toward "the mountain". Apparently it is the only one around because everyone refers to it as THE mountain. We knew the general direction we were supposed to go but didn't really know how to get to the road that goes up the mountain, so we ended up taking a detour through some grass, past some sheep, and over a creek to get up to the road. It was a very hot walk up the mountain since the sun was shining the whole time and the road was pretty steep! It took us about 1 hour to get to the top. We could see all of the city of Caceres when we reached the top, even our university! We spent the afternoon on the top of the mountain and had a picnic with the sandwiches our families packed for us. It was lots of fun just hanging out together. Around 3pm, we headed back down the mountain. We all ended up a little sunburned but it was worth it...starting my summer tan already :)
Saturday night we all went out. Went to Corral again, La Habana, and Divina Comedia. I was soooo tired from climbing the mountain that I went home at 2am. One of these weekends, I gotta stay out til 6am like a true Spaniard!
On Sunday, I woke up at 11am and got ready and went to 1pm Mass at the Parroquia de Fatima with Taylor and Cory. It is a new Catholic church that my host mom recommended that is only 5 minutes from my house. It was great!!! There were so many people there and they actually had a choir that sang!!! Most of the people were old but at least there were lots of them there. I printed off a translation of the Order of the Mass in Spanish and we tried to follow along and respond but the people talk so fast! We'll have to work on it! There was one guy who was so excited that we were there that he ran over to give us the sign of peace. I still can't understand much at Mass but at least I can participate somewhat now. The music was pretty good...only bad part was when the pianist played Amazing Grace at the offertory...can't stand that song...thank goodness they didn't sing the words too yet! Mass only lasted 45 minutes. I spent the rest of the day working on homework and relaxing at home. I also skyped several friends over the weekend and it was so good to catch up with them!
Field Trip to Mérida
Last Friday we took a day trip to Merida. It is about one hour from Caceres by bus, in another region of the state of Extremadura. Merida was a very important city in the Roman Empire when it stretched across Spain in 200 AD. It was founded in 25 BC and used to be called Emeritus Augusta-Emeritus which means discharged soldiers (since that's who lived there) and Augusta for the emperor at the time. Now it is a city of about 60,000 people and most of the people who work in Merida work for the government and live in the surrounding cities, but drive to Merida to work each day. During our visit, we saw lots of the remains of the Roman Empire. Each Roman city has 3 main areas: a theater (for plays), an ampitheater (for bullfights, etc), and a circulo (for charriot races). Here are some pictures of what we saw:
The ampitheater-the pit is where they had the bullfights, etc.
This is where they kept the lions before they came out to fight. 
Templo de Diana. It used to be the town square.
El Puente Romano-this bridge was built by the Romans to help people get across the river. Now it is a footbridge, but at one time they let cars drive on it.
Tombs for the wealthy people at the time. They were really short!
The circulo where they had charriot races.
Notice that the statues do not have heads...that is because when the emperor or other important officials died or went out of office they did not want to have to make a whole new staute, so they just replaced the heads and arms.
In front of the theater where plays were performed.
This is a garden behind the theater where people could walk around if they got tired from sitting on the stone seats and watching the play. There were also dressing tents back here for the actors.
The ampitheater-the pit is where they had the bullfights, etc.
This is where they kept the lions before they came out to fight.
Templo de Diana. It used to be the town square.
El Puente Romano-this bridge was built by the Romans to help people get across the river. Now it is a footbridge, but at one time they let cars drive on it.
Tombs for the wealthy people at the time. They were really short!
The circulo where they had charriot races.
Notice that the statues do not have heads...that is because when the emperor or other important officials died or went out of office they did not want to have to make a whole new staute, so they just replaced the heads and arms.
In front of the theater where plays were performed.
This is a garden behind the theater where people could walk around if they got tired from sitting on the stone seats and watching the play. There were also dressing tents back here for the actors.More to come soon from the rest of the weekend!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Road at the Filmoteca
So tonight, Casey, Bev, Mariah, Alex, Cory, Taylor, and I went to the filmoteca (movie theater) to see a movie for one euro. We thought it was a pretty good deal compared to movie prices in the US and had heard the movie would be in English with Spanish subtitles. The movie was called The Road and Bev had read the book it was based on before so she thought it would be a good movie to see. Actually it was probably the most horrific movie I've seen! It was about the world after nuclear warfare had happened and these two main characters were trying to find a way to survive and find somewhere that had not been destroyed. There was one point with cannibals in the cellar of a house that I don't think any of us will forget because it was so disgusting!! Oh well. It was definitely an experience and I do not recommend the movie. Next week they are showing Toy Story 3 so that should be a much better experience.
In other news, tomorrow the whole group is going to Merida for the day. It is about a one hour bus ride from Caceres to Merida and we will spend the day looking at ruins from the time of the Roman Empire.
In other news, tomorrow the whole group is going to Merida for the day. It is about a one hour bus ride from Caceres to Merida and we will spend the day looking at ruins from the time of the Roman Empire.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Pictures of Lisboa
View from our hostel window 
The elevator/tower that we went in to see the city
On the tour bus
Watching the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean
The best picture I got of the Cristo Rei Statue-Christ with his arms outstreched. Never actually made it to see it up close
View of Lisboa as we went away from it on the ferry
Door to the women's restroom in the church :) It says women in a bunch of languages
Front of la Iglesia de Sao Roque where we went for Mass
One of our two bedrooms in our hostel
The Belem Pastry-DELICIOUS!!
Me, Casey, Courtney, Lizzy, and Bev in front of a castle on our bus tour of the city
Fountain in the main plazaClasses and Spanish Life
Yesterday, I went to classes at the university as usual. In the afternoon, I watched the newest episode of Grey's Anatomy with my sister Clara. Since Hulu and the other websites that have full episodes of shows in the US do not work here, she downloaded it for us from a Spanish website. Apparently in Spain you can download anything (music, movies, and tv episodes) for free and it is legal. She absolutely loves Grey's Anatomy too so it was fun watching the episode together. It will probably be a weekly tradition. Just after it finished, her friend called and invited us to go to get tapas so we did. I met two of her friends from the university-Alejandro and Sergio. They were pretty nice and both wanted to practice their English with me. After tapas, we went home and had supper. One of the other ISU students, Keely, had her 20th birthday, so we all went out to celebrate with her. We basically took over the back part of El Montallito Restaurant since we were such a big group but it was lots of fun! Got home around 11:30, finished homework, and went to bed.
Today I walked to school for the first time. It is a little over a one hour walk but saves me paying for the bus. I plan to walk to school on Mondays since my class doesn't start til 10am that day. I finally started my 4th class today. It is about the history and art of Spain. Our professor taught us about Merida, which is the capital of the state we are living in. On Friday, we will all be going to Merida for the day. It was a very important city when the Romans were occupying Spain in the 2nd century AD. So far, 3 out of my 4 professors have been easy to understand. The other one tends to leave off the ends of his words and gets excited and speaks too fast...hopefully he'll be easier to understand as the semester goes on. After classes, I walked home, had lunch, watched the newest episode of Glee and worked on homework. Tonight, I hope to put up my pictures from Lisbon and spend time with my sister Maria because she will be leaving to go to her university in Salamanca tomorrow. I feel like we have so much free time while here because we have no clubs or jobs but it is definitely nice to have a break from our fast paced lives in the US.
Today I walked to school for the first time. It is a little over a one hour walk but saves me paying for the bus. I plan to walk to school on Mondays since my class doesn't start til 10am that day. I finally started my 4th class today. It is about the history and art of Spain. Our professor taught us about Merida, which is the capital of the state we are living in. On Friday, we will all be going to Merida for the day. It was a very important city when the Romans were occupying Spain in the 2nd century AD. So far, 3 out of my 4 professors have been easy to understand. The other one tends to leave off the ends of his words and gets excited and speaks too fast...hopefully he'll be easier to understand as the semester goes on. After classes, I walked home, had lunch, watched the newest episode of Glee and worked on homework. Tonight, I hope to put up my pictures from Lisbon and spend time with my sister Maria because she will be leaving to go to her university in Salamanca tomorrow. I feel like we have so much free time while here because we have no clubs or jobs but it is definitely nice to have a break from our fast paced lives in the US.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Lisboa, Portugal and more
Starting where I left off, last Thursday night, Maria (my host sister) and her friends Cristina, Ana, and Javi went out with the American students. We went to a bar for a couple hours and talked in Spanish and English. Cristina is a student at the university who wants to teach English, so she practiced her English with me and I practiced my Spanish with her. Around 12:30am, I left to go home and get my bag to get to the train station.
Our train to Lisboa was about 10 minutes late arriving...no surprise because everything starts about 10 minutes or more late here. The train ride was 6 hours long, and we gained an hour going to Portugal since we crossed time zones. We spread out and each took two seats so we could sleep. They didn't even check our passports to get into Portugal, which is surprising. We didn't even get them stamped! Oh well.
Day 1 (Friday)
When we got off the train, the tourism office at the train station was closed, so we ate some bocadillos (sandwiches) and fruit that our mom's had packed for us and then started to walk toward where we thought our hostal was. Luckily, my sister printed me a small map of part of the city, so we had some idea where we were. We reached the neighborhood of the city called Baxia, we knew we were very close to our hostel. We found brochures for a tour bus company that took us on 3 different routes through the city, and it was a pretty good deal so we bought tickets. We took one route, which took us past a castle and lots of statues. We rode on double-decker open top buses, which was lots of fun! When we returned to the main plaza, we checked into the hostel and left our luggage (backpacks) there. Our hostel was very close to the main square, which was very nice! It was semi-clean and very secure-there were security cameras all the way up to our room and the person at the hostel desk had to buzz us in the door anytime we came in or left. We took a second tour route which was in a tram and then decided to get supper. We were all craving Italian food since we haven't had it for a while, so we found a decently priced restaurant and ate there. We tried not to spend a lot of money on food this trip, so whenever we ate, we ate every bite. After supper, we went back to the hostel and went to bed at 8pm :) We were so tired from not sleeping much on the train!
Day 2 (Saturday)
We woke up at 10am...14 hours of sleep total!! We got ready and went to take our third tour bus route. We got off the bus at El Corte Ingles, which is a 10 floor (6 above ground and 4 below ground) department store that has literally every brand of anything you would ever need. One floor is a huge supermarket and one is a restaurant. Since it was about lunch time when we arrived, we decided to have lunch at the cafe on the top floor. It was cool to look out at the ocean while we ate. This time we ordered American food...hamburgers, club sandwiches, and fries. We also got some white sangria to share, which was delicious! We all ordered this AMAZING chocolate cake for dessert too. After we were done we were all super full but it was such good food! While we were at the restaurant, there was a waiter who kept staring at us as he walked by and we kept laughing about it so finally Lizzy asked hime to take a picture with us. We've made it a goal to take a picture with at least one guy from each country so I guess he's our man from Portugal! After lunch, we looked around a couple other floors then headed to the supermarket. We found oranges on sale for 35 euro cents/kg so I bought 3. I ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day, which was great because it cost me like 50 US cents all together, saving LOTS of money. From El Corte Ingles, we got back on the bus and got off near the Belem Pasteleria aka Belem Pastry Shop. The Belem Pastry is very famous and we had to stand in line for a bit to get one. It is like a small pie crust filled with sweet filling and you put cinnamon and powdered sugar on top. It was good and something you can only get in Lisbon I think. Next, we walked to the elevator that takes you up like 4 stories so you can see the whole city. It was dark, so it was cool to see all the lights. Then, we spent a couple hours at the hostel, changed and decided to go out. We walked through Bairro Alto-another neighborhood-but we didn't see much going on, so we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe we had seen on our tour route earlier that day. It was a good decision! Just sitting there and listening to the music made us feel like we were back in the US and I think that cured all of our homesickness a bit. We stayed there til about 1:30am and then went back to the hostel.
Day 3 (Sunday)
Woke up at 9am today. Got ready and packed everything up so we could check out of our hostel before church. We went to La Iglesia de Sao Roque-the Church of St. Rock I think. Never knew that saint existed! The church was only about a 15 minute walk from our hostel. When we arrived, there was a small choir rehearsing-3 singers and 1 guitarist. They were singing "Every Breath You Take" by Sting in Portuguese. They were really good and led the music during Mass. The Mass was totally in Portuguese, which is pretty similar to Spanish, but it was still really hard to know what they were saying. All I got from the readings this weekend was that we are the salt of the Earth and the light of the world. Once again, we were the only young people at Mass. After Mass, we went to the church's museum next door, which was free. We ate ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch in the cafe next door, which were delicious! Then, we walked back to the neighborhood of our hostel and looked around a couple more shops and I bought a magnet. I want to get a magnet from each city I visit. We were hoping to find a beach to go to, but it wasn't quite that warm, so we found an area along the ocean that had steps down and we walked down and touched the Atlantic Ocean. It was pretty cold. There is a statue called Cristo Rei in Lisbon, which means Christ the King. It is really tall and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. We were told you had to take a ferry to get there, so we decided to try it out. We bought tickets and took the ferry to the other side, only to realize that we were probably farther from it than when we were in Lisbon. So, we just got back on the ferry and rode it back to Lisbon. Never made it to see the statue, but oh well. When we got back, we decided to watch the sunset by the ocean. There were lots of pickpockets and suspicious people walking around because it was a touristy area, but we were careful. The sunset was beautiful...don't think I'd ever seen the sun set over the ocean before. After the sunset, we needed to get some food so decided to be true Americans and go to McDonald's. I really do not like fast food and especially McDonald's but this restaurant was actually pretty nice. I had my supper orange and ordered a Kit-Kat McFlurry. It was pretty cheap. We hung out at McDonald's for like 1.5 hours and then walked to the train station. We found a grocery store at the train station and bought a bottle of green wine, which is something that Lisbon is known for. We haven't tried it yet, but will have to see. Also got some Oreos...not enough chocolate here! Our train left the station at 10:30pm and we got back to Caceres at 5:15am. It was a pretty quiet walk home because we were all so tired. When I got home, I found a note from my mom that welcomed me home and said that I didn't have class today because Toni, our program director, wanted to make sure we got our rest...that would NEVER happen in the US.
Today!
Sorry this is so long, but there is so much to say! So today, I got up at 9:45am-4 hours of sleep. Went to the meeting point and walked to the parte antigua-old part of the city-for a tour and to meet some students from the Erasmus program. The Erasmus program is like a student exchage program between European countries. Most of the universities in Europe are free if students pass an exam to get into them. The program gives the students scholarships to go study in other countries. We met a really nice girl named Iveta who is from the Czech Republic. We also met some students from Maryland and North Carolina who are here for the semester. After the tour, they took us to a restaurant to mingle and have tapas-appetizers. I tried pallela for the first time. It is a very typical Spanish dish that has rice and fish and was pretty good. For drinks, they had wine, sangria, fanta orange, coke, and beer. It was so strange to have alcohol served at a school function! This afternoon, I took a nap. Tomorrow, I have my first speech...4 minutes in Spanish! Should be pretty easy :) I'm going to spend tonight with my family and probably watch tv like we do every night. I'll try to put up some pictures soon!
Our train to Lisboa was about 10 minutes late arriving...no surprise because everything starts about 10 minutes or more late here. The train ride was 6 hours long, and we gained an hour going to Portugal since we crossed time zones. We spread out and each took two seats so we could sleep. They didn't even check our passports to get into Portugal, which is surprising. We didn't even get them stamped! Oh well.
Day 1 (Friday)
When we got off the train, the tourism office at the train station was closed, so we ate some bocadillos (sandwiches) and fruit that our mom's had packed for us and then started to walk toward where we thought our hostal was. Luckily, my sister printed me a small map of part of the city, so we had some idea where we were. We reached the neighborhood of the city called Baxia, we knew we were very close to our hostel. We found brochures for a tour bus company that took us on 3 different routes through the city, and it was a pretty good deal so we bought tickets. We took one route, which took us past a castle and lots of statues. We rode on double-decker open top buses, which was lots of fun! When we returned to the main plaza, we checked into the hostel and left our luggage (backpacks) there. Our hostel was very close to the main square, which was very nice! It was semi-clean and very secure-there were security cameras all the way up to our room and the person at the hostel desk had to buzz us in the door anytime we came in or left. We took a second tour route which was in a tram and then decided to get supper. We were all craving Italian food since we haven't had it for a while, so we found a decently priced restaurant and ate there. We tried not to spend a lot of money on food this trip, so whenever we ate, we ate every bite. After supper, we went back to the hostel and went to bed at 8pm :) We were so tired from not sleeping much on the train!
Day 2 (Saturday)
We woke up at 10am...14 hours of sleep total!! We got ready and went to take our third tour bus route. We got off the bus at El Corte Ingles, which is a 10 floor (6 above ground and 4 below ground) department store that has literally every brand of anything you would ever need. One floor is a huge supermarket and one is a restaurant. Since it was about lunch time when we arrived, we decided to have lunch at the cafe on the top floor. It was cool to look out at the ocean while we ate. This time we ordered American food...hamburgers, club sandwiches, and fries. We also got some white sangria to share, which was delicious! We all ordered this AMAZING chocolate cake for dessert too. After we were done we were all super full but it was such good food! While we were at the restaurant, there was a waiter who kept staring at us as he walked by and we kept laughing about it so finally Lizzy asked hime to take a picture with us. We've made it a goal to take a picture with at least one guy from each country so I guess he's our man from Portugal! After lunch, we looked around a couple other floors then headed to the supermarket. We found oranges on sale for 35 euro cents/kg so I bought 3. I ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day, which was great because it cost me like 50 US cents all together, saving LOTS of money. From El Corte Ingles, we got back on the bus and got off near the Belem Pasteleria aka Belem Pastry Shop. The Belem Pastry is very famous and we had to stand in line for a bit to get one. It is like a small pie crust filled with sweet filling and you put cinnamon and powdered sugar on top. It was good and something you can only get in Lisbon I think. Next, we walked to the elevator that takes you up like 4 stories so you can see the whole city. It was dark, so it was cool to see all the lights. Then, we spent a couple hours at the hostel, changed and decided to go out. We walked through Bairro Alto-another neighborhood-but we didn't see much going on, so we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe we had seen on our tour route earlier that day. It was a good decision! Just sitting there and listening to the music made us feel like we were back in the US and I think that cured all of our homesickness a bit. We stayed there til about 1:30am and then went back to the hostel.
Day 3 (Sunday)
Woke up at 9am today. Got ready and packed everything up so we could check out of our hostel before church. We went to La Iglesia de Sao Roque-the Church of St. Rock I think. Never knew that saint existed! The church was only about a 15 minute walk from our hostel. When we arrived, there was a small choir rehearsing-3 singers and 1 guitarist. They were singing "Every Breath You Take" by Sting in Portuguese. They were really good and led the music during Mass. The Mass was totally in Portuguese, which is pretty similar to Spanish, but it was still really hard to know what they were saying. All I got from the readings this weekend was that we are the salt of the Earth and the light of the world. Once again, we were the only young people at Mass. After Mass, we went to the church's museum next door, which was free. We ate ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch in the cafe next door, which were delicious! Then, we walked back to the neighborhood of our hostel and looked around a couple more shops and I bought a magnet. I want to get a magnet from each city I visit. We were hoping to find a beach to go to, but it wasn't quite that warm, so we found an area along the ocean that had steps down and we walked down and touched the Atlantic Ocean. It was pretty cold. There is a statue called Cristo Rei in Lisbon, which means Christ the King. It is really tall and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. We were told you had to take a ferry to get there, so we decided to try it out. We bought tickets and took the ferry to the other side, only to realize that we were probably farther from it than when we were in Lisbon. So, we just got back on the ferry and rode it back to Lisbon. Never made it to see the statue, but oh well. When we got back, we decided to watch the sunset by the ocean. There were lots of pickpockets and suspicious people walking around because it was a touristy area, but we were careful. The sunset was beautiful...don't think I'd ever seen the sun set over the ocean before. After the sunset, we needed to get some food so decided to be true Americans and go to McDonald's. I really do not like fast food and especially McDonald's but this restaurant was actually pretty nice. I had my supper orange and ordered a Kit-Kat McFlurry. It was pretty cheap. We hung out at McDonald's for like 1.5 hours and then walked to the train station. We found a grocery store at the train station and bought a bottle of green wine, which is something that Lisbon is known for. We haven't tried it yet, but will have to see. Also got some Oreos...not enough chocolate here! Our train left the station at 10:30pm and we got back to Caceres at 5:15am. It was a pretty quiet walk home because we were all so tired. When I got home, I found a note from my mom that welcomed me home and said that I didn't have class today because Toni, our program director, wanted to make sure we got our rest...that would NEVER happen in the US.
Today!
Sorry this is so long, but there is so much to say! So today, I got up at 9:45am-4 hours of sleep. Went to the meeting point and walked to the parte antigua-old part of the city-for a tour and to meet some students from the Erasmus program. The Erasmus program is like a student exchage program between European countries. Most of the universities in Europe are free if students pass an exam to get into them. The program gives the students scholarships to go study in other countries. We met a really nice girl named Iveta who is from the Czech Republic. We also met some students from Maryland and North Carolina who are here for the semester. After the tour, they took us to a restaurant to mingle and have tapas-appetizers. I tried pallela for the first time. It is a very typical Spanish dish that has rice and fish and was pretty good. For drinks, they had wine, sangria, fanta orange, coke, and beer. It was so strange to have alcohol served at a school function! This afternoon, I took a nap. Tomorrow, I have my first speech...4 minutes in Spanish! Should be pretty easy :) I'm going to spend tonight with my family and probably watch tv like we do every night. I'll try to put up some pictures soon!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Travel Plans
Today I went to on the bus as usual. In my first class, we learned a Spanish song from the 1980s and our professor made us sing it in class. Then he taught us a Spanish drinking game. It was called "un limon, medio limon". I had my Spain Today class again and the professor spoke very fast and had slides that we were trying to copy down, but it was hard to get it all written. My notes are half in English and half in Spanish. It's easier to take them in English because I know how to spell words and can write faster, but I want to get to the point when I can write them in Spanish. We are talking about each region (similar to a state) of Spain and then special festivals, food, holidays, etc for each. After school, I walked home-about a one hour walk! It is so nice outside that I really don't mind and it saves on having to buy tickets for the bus.
This afternoon, I did homework...I have to give a 4 minute speech next Tuesday about Ames, the state of Iowa, and the US, and I am all ready for it! I also packed for the weekend! My host sister Maria took me on a walk through Caceres and showed me the supermarket, mall, and park. We also talked about Christmas/New Year's traditions on our walk. She said that at midnight on New Year's Eve, people in Spain eat 12 grapes for good luck in the new year. They sometimes have cake with two things inside-one is a bean and one is something else (I forgot). Anyways, the person who gets the bean in their piece of cake has to pay for the whole thing and person who gets the other item will have good luck for the whole year.
Travel Plans: Tonight at 1am, the five of us will get on the train to Lisbon. It will be about a 5.5 hour train ride. We will be in Lisbon until Sunday night at 10:30pm when we get on a train to come home. We hope to be back in Caceres by 5am Monday. Our Spring Break is Holy Week, and today, I made plans to go to Italy with Emily, Mindy, Shea, and Robert. We think we will fly into Naples and then have a Eurail pass for the train to travel north. We plan to be in Rome for Mass on Palm Sunday :) SO Excited!!!
I'll update my blog as soon as a get back! Hasta lunes!
This afternoon, I did homework...I have to give a 4 minute speech next Tuesday about Ames, the state of Iowa, and the US, and I am all ready for it! I also packed for the weekend! My host sister Maria took me on a walk through Caceres and showed me the supermarket, mall, and park. We also talked about Christmas/New Year's traditions on our walk. She said that at midnight on New Year's Eve, people in Spain eat 12 grapes for good luck in the new year. They sometimes have cake with two things inside-one is a bean and one is something else (I forgot). Anyways, the person who gets the bean in their piece of cake has to pay for the whole thing and person who gets the other item will have good luck for the whole year.
Travel Plans: Tonight at 1am, the five of us will get on the train to Lisbon. It will be about a 5.5 hour train ride. We will be in Lisbon until Sunday night at 10:30pm when we get on a train to come home. We hope to be back in Caceres by 5am Monday. Our Spring Break is Holy Week, and today, I made plans to go to Italy with Emily, Mindy, Shea, and Robert. We think we will fly into Naples and then have a Eurail pass for the train to travel north. We plan to be in Rome for Mass on Palm Sunday :) SO Excited!!!
I'll update my blog as soon as a get back! Hasta lunes!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Weekend Plans: Lisboa!!
I turned in my first actual homework today-10 sentences in Spanish about my first impression of Spain. I said that lots of people here smoke, they are always just a little bit late to meeting times, people talk their time walking on the sidewalks, and that it was a lot warmer here than in Iowa. I had two new classes today. One is about properly pronouncing words in Spanish and the other is called Spain Today. In that class, we learned lots of statistics about the average age of marriage, how many kids the average family has, the percent of the population over age 65, etc. Spain is pretty close to the US with most of the statistics. The one thing that surprised me is that almost no one is illiterate here. That is such a problem in the US, and I wonder how they have eliminated that here. I still have yet to begin one class...who knows when that will be! After school, I went and bought the two books I need for my classes...36 euro for both. That's about $55 and we are trying to share them between 3 people to spend the least money...we'll see how that works!
This afternoon, we planned our first weekend trip! We are going to Lisboa, Portugal (Lisbon in English). We will take a train there and will leave Friday morning at 1am. It is about a 7 hour ride. We will return Monday morning at 5am and will go to our classes at 10am :) We are staying in a hotel together...and you know what that means? SHOWERS!!! We have been taking such short showers here to conserve water and when we go to the hotels, we don't have to worry about it! I'm sooooo excited to finally feel warm and clean! I am traveling with Courtney, Lizzy, Bev, and Casey. It should be lots of fun!!
This afternoon, we planned our first weekend trip! We are going to Lisboa, Portugal (Lisbon in English). We will take a train there and will leave Friday morning at 1am. It is about a 7 hour ride. We will return Monday morning at 5am and will go to our classes at 10am :) We are staying in a hotel together...and you know what that means? SHOWERS!!! We have been taking such short showers here to conserve water and when we go to the hotels, we don't have to worry about it! I'm sooooo excited to finally feel warm and clean! I am traveling with Courtney, Lizzy, Bev, and Casey. It should be lots of fun!!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Pictures!
Left: These are my host sisters: Clara on the left and Maria on the right.
Above: The front of the church San Juan where we went to Mass last weekend.
A special thanks to Kaity Brien for helping me figure out how to add pictures!!
Clara's View of Life
I keep forgetting to write what my host sister Clara told me the other day. She said that in Spain, they work to live as compared to the US, where we live to work. This makes so much sense after living here. I don't feel like they are as concerned with having the biggest and best things here. They just want to work so that they can have a comfortable life and that is enough. She told me that they like to have a drink and enjoy life. It is nice to be away from the fast pace of the US for a while. I have only been here for 5 days, but it feels like forever since everything goes at a slower pace. For example, when walking down the street, people stroll along at a nice easy pace, nothing like how I would walk on campus to get to class. I still have not adapted to walking so slow because I feel like it is a waste of time so I'm sure the Spaniards can definitely tell I am from the US based on how fast I walk.
Today, I had my first real class! It was my Spanish Conversation class. We met our professor, Ramone, and he seems really cool! We attend his class 3 hours/week. One day, we each give a 4 minute speech about the topic for the week. The next day, we learn about Spanish grammar and write a 10 sentence composition. The third day, we listen to Spanish pop songs, watch movie clips, and learn Spanish games. Sounds like the easiest class ever so far!
After school, Lizzy, Shea, Claire, and I walked home from the university. The weather was 50 degrees and sunny and it was about a 1 hour walk. We saw a lot of the city though! We got so hot when we were walking that we had to take off our coats and sweaters until we only had short sleeves. All the Spanish people stared at us walking around in short sleeves when they were all bundled up because they think it's SO cold.
Tonight, I applied for a library card to check out books...and DVDs! We found the movie Mean Girls in Spanish. It's called Chicas Malas. We also found Made of Honor...it's called La Boda de la Novia (the wedding of my best female friend). After supper, my host family helped me work on planning hotels and activities for my dad and brother when they come to visit in March. They are VERY helpful!!!
Today, I had my first real class! It was my Spanish Conversation class. We met our professor, Ramone, and he seems really cool! We attend his class 3 hours/week. One day, we each give a 4 minute speech about the topic for the week. The next day, we learn about Spanish grammar and write a 10 sentence composition. The third day, we listen to Spanish pop songs, watch movie clips, and learn Spanish games. Sounds like the easiest class ever so far!
After school, Lizzy, Shea, Claire, and I walked home from the university. The weather was 50 degrees and sunny and it was about a 1 hour walk. We saw a lot of the city though! We got so hot when we were walking that we had to take off our coats and sweaters until we only had short sleeves. All the Spanish people stared at us walking around in short sleeves when they were all bundled up because they think it's SO cold.
Tonight, I applied for a library card to check out books...and DVDs! We found the movie Mean Girls in Spanish. It's called Chicas Malas. We also found Made of Honor...it's called La Boda de la Novia (the wedding of my best female friend). After supper, my host family helped me work on planning hotels and activities for my dad and brother when they come to visit in March. They are VERY helpful!!!
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