So there are these things called finals and papers and projects and such coming up in the next two weeks...time to do lots and lots of work in a short amount of time...how very unspanish of me. To make it a little better though I just spent the past hour and a half sitting in a cafe, sipping a tinto de verano, while reading the first half of the Spanish Constitution to prep for a final presentation on the Spanish Transition and Constitution of 1978. Only in Spain...
Maybe one of these days I'll get around to talking about San Isidro and Granada and other such happenings. For now though I'll have to settle for Spanish cafes and tinto de verano.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
So that's where plaza del neptuno is...
--THE BEST THINGS I'VE DONE SO FAR HAVE BEEN WHAT I'VE STUMBLED ACROSS BY ACCIDENT--
And what a great accident last night and tonight were:
I think everyone has the common stereotype of associating futbol with Spain, but up until last night I had not watched a single game.
Normally my host Mom complains about how my host Dad is watching yet another soccer game, but last night while I was eating she went in the other room and checked the score and I heard her ask if we had scored. She was excited when she found out we scored which I've never seen happen before. So I decided to go see who was playing and sat down to watch for a bit.
When I asked my host Dad who the other team was (FUL) he also told me it was the European League Championship. Go figure that the first game I decide to watch in my life is really important and I don't even know it.
Then FUL scores and it's tied. And it stays that way through the end of the second half and goes into overtime.
Twenty-Six minutes into overtime Atletico Madrid scores!!! And they win for the first time in 48 years!!
My first soccer game and it's a championship winning game. Wow!
So Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid each have respective plazas that the fans gather in when the team wins. (This will be relevant later)
I also learned yesterday on a completely different note that el Museo del Prado (ie the art institute equivalent of Madrid) is free every day from 6-8pm so I decided to go tonight and see some of the paintings I've been learning about in class. It was really cool because I actually knew the history and stories behind these famous paintings and could recognize them on sight.
The interesting thing in all this though is there happens to be this plaza outside the museum and there were a lot of people gathering there before i went into the Prado. But when I came out that's when I knew...this must be plaza del neptuno and that it was! with tens of thousands of people yelling, singing, and cheering in the streets while wearing atleti jerseys, scarves, and other apparel.
So what do I do? Go check it out of course! I decided to stay on thee outskirts of the crowd and watch them sing, dance, and cheer for awhile and see if I could figure out what everyone was waiting for. Only thing is when I turned around a few mintues later several hundred more people had come and I was trapped in the crowd! So I decided I'd just stay a while longer. The crowd was multiplying rapidly and it was almost 8 so I figured hey maybe something will happen at 8...only it didn't.
After awhile I figured out a bus was going to come (with the team I assumed) but I couldn't see anything because I was stuck behind tall people...being short and in a crowd doesn't work so well. But there was this nice guy in his fifties or sixties next to me who said something, i forget what and then we started chatting. I told him I wasn't from Madrid and didn't know what to make of it all. We chatted for awhile and when people started chanting he would say the words normal for me so I could understand. Eventually he decided to go though and then I was on my own with no idea what I was waiting for. He said he thought they were supposed to come at 8:30 but they didn't so around 8:40 I decided I had seen enough and was going to try to push my way to the back of the crowd and leave.
Only when you are in a crowd of Spaniards they don't even say no when you try to pass they just give you a various serious look and shake their heads (not the first crowd I've been in where this has happened..3rd or 4th actually and it's always the same). Eventually I made it to the back though and saw to my relief and empty blocked off paseo del prado. Except when I looked up the road 500m or so I saw something a little out of the ordinary. And then people started to run and cheer. The bus with the team was coming! So what do I do? Follow of course. And I ended up at the road on the other side of the park at the curb with no one in front of me just as the bus was getting there. I got to see the double decker with the team on top carrying the cup and all because I stumbled across the situation at the right time.
The random experiences we stumble across are far more memorable than the planned ones. A little spontaneity goes a long way.
Now if atleti can win for the first time in 48 years maybe there is hope for the Cubs yet...
And what a great accident last night and tonight were:
I think everyone has the common stereotype of associating futbol with Spain, but up until last night I had not watched a single game.
Normally my host Mom complains about how my host Dad is watching yet another soccer game, but last night while I was eating she went in the other room and checked the score and I heard her ask if we had scored. She was excited when she found out we scored which I've never seen happen before. So I decided to go see who was playing and sat down to watch for a bit.
When I asked my host Dad who the other team was (FUL) he also told me it was the European League Championship. Go figure that the first game I decide to watch in my life is really important and I don't even know it.
Then FUL scores and it's tied. And it stays that way through the end of the second half and goes into overtime.
Twenty-Six minutes into overtime Atletico Madrid scores!!! And they win for the first time in 48 years!!
My first soccer game and it's a championship winning game. Wow!
So Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid each have respective plazas that the fans gather in when the team wins. (This will be relevant later)
I also learned yesterday on a completely different note that el Museo del Prado (ie the art institute equivalent of Madrid) is free every day from 6-8pm so I decided to go tonight and see some of the paintings I've been learning about in class. It was really cool because I actually knew the history and stories behind these famous paintings and could recognize them on sight.
The interesting thing in all this though is there happens to be this plaza outside the museum and there were a lot of people gathering there before i went into the Prado. But when I came out that's when I knew...this must be plaza del neptuno and that it was! with tens of thousands of people yelling, singing, and cheering in the streets while wearing atleti jerseys, scarves, and other apparel.
So what do I do? Go check it out of course! I decided to stay on thee outskirts of the crowd and watch them sing, dance, and cheer for awhile and see if I could figure out what everyone was waiting for. Only thing is when I turned around a few mintues later several hundred more people had come and I was trapped in the crowd! So I decided I'd just stay a while longer. The crowd was multiplying rapidly and it was almost 8 so I figured hey maybe something will happen at 8...only it didn't.
After awhile I figured out a bus was going to come (with the team I assumed) but I couldn't see anything because I was stuck behind tall people...being short and in a crowd doesn't work so well. But there was this nice guy in his fifties or sixties next to me who said something, i forget what and then we started chatting. I told him I wasn't from Madrid and didn't know what to make of it all. We chatted for awhile and when people started chanting he would say the words normal for me so I could understand. Eventually he decided to go though and then I was on my own with no idea what I was waiting for. He said he thought they were supposed to come at 8:30 but they didn't so around 8:40 I decided I had seen enough and was going to try to push my way to the back of the crowd and leave.
Only when you are in a crowd of Spaniards they don't even say no when you try to pass they just give you a various serious look and shake their heads (not the first crowd I've been in where this has happened..3rd or 4th actually and it's always the same). Eventually I made it to the back though and saw to my relief and empty blocked off paseo del prado. Except when I looked up the road 500m or so I saw something a little out of the ordinary. And then people started to run and cheer. The bus with the team was coming! So what do I do? Follow of course. And I ended up at the road on the other side of the park at the curb with no one in front of me just as the bus was getting there. I got to see the double decker with the team on top carrying the cup and all because I stumbled across the situation at the right time.
The random experiences we stumble across are far more memorable than the planned ones. A little spontaneity goes a long way.
Now if atleti can win for the first time in 48 years maybe there is hope for the Cubs yet...
Rosquillas y Atleti
Las Ferias de Madrid son el 12 de mayo hasta el 16 de mayo y coinciden con el día de San Isidro, el santo de Madrid, y el aniversario centenal del Gran Vía también.
So starting last night through Sunday are the ferias of Madrid in celebration of their patron saint San Isidro. I went to the opening parade last night and it was really interesting. [If I figure out how to add a video to this post I will.] I almost didn't go on account of lousy weather and going alone but I'm glad I did in the end. There was a procession of 14 giants that danced in the street to music played by people walking in the parade. They were really bizarre because people went inside them and carried them on their heads essentially. It's really hard to explain. All weekend though there will be lots of special events because of the holiday and they are also celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Gran Via, the Michigan avenue or fifth avenue of Madrid this Saturday. Another tidbit, they have traditional pastries called rosquillas just for the occasion and they are delicious!
On a different note I watched the majority of the final match for the European League Cup with my host dad last night. I hadn't watched any futbol since getting here and then ended up watching a championship game with atletico Madrid against FUL (London?). The game was tied until 26 minutes into overtime when atleti scored! That was the game winning goal which meant Madrid won the Euro League Cup for the first time in 48 years! I told my host dad it reminded me of how the cubs have their loyal, die-heart fans, but haven't won the world series in over 100 years. He said that explained atleti fans exactly. It was interesting to find the common ground too...who knows maybe this year will be the year for the cubs too.
So starting last night through Sunday are the ferias of Madrid in celebration of their patron saint San Isidro. I went to the opening parade last night and it was really interesting. [If I figure out how to add a video to this post I will.] I almost didn't go on account of lousy weather and going alone but I'm glad I did in the end. There was a procession of 14 giants that danced in the street to music played by people walking in the parade. They were really bizarre because people went inside them and carried them on their heads essentially. It's really hard to explain. All weekend though there will be lots of special events because of the holiday and they are also celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Gran Via, the Michigan avenue or fifth avenue of Madrid this Saturday. Another tidbit, they have traditional pastries called rosquillas just for the occasion and they are delicious!
On a different note I watched the majority of the final match for the European League Cup with my host dad last night. I hadn't watched any futbol since getting here and then ended up watching a championship game with atletico Madrid against FUL (London?). The game was tied until 26 minutes into overtime when atleti scored! That was the game winning goal which meant Madrid won the Euro League Cup for the first time in 48 years! I told my host dad it reminded me of how the cubs have their loyal, die-heart fans, but haven't won the world series in over 100 years. He said that explained atleti fans exactly. It was interesting to find the common ground too...who knows maybe this year will be the year for the cubs too.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Keep Street Theater Alive
So I've never been one to stop and watch street performers much in the States and never in my life have I given one money, until today that is. There is something different, entertaining about street theater in Europe. I'm not talking about people playing instruments and I'm not talking about mimes with face paint. No I'm talking about people that have a skit or act and they perform it in plazas on the street. I saw lots in Paris and a few in Madrid, but today I saw the first one that I ever gave money to.
I was walking back from an adventure across the city. I could have taken the metro, it was probably about an hour long walk but I decided I wanted to explore and see what I could find on my way home. I was in the home stretch, last fifteen or twenty minutes and walking past the Palacio Real when I saw a large crowd of people and heard a man yelling in English. So what do I do? Stop and go take a peak of course! I managed to stumble across an Australian guy who spoke essentially no Spanish doing an act in the street and when I walked up he was partially wrapped in Saranwrap and was spinning furiously as a girl held the roll for him. He went on and on until the roll was empty. Then he pulled another man from the audience and had the two of them tie him up in a chain and eventually after many antics managed to escape from them. It wasn't his act so much as everything he did in between that was hilarious and only if you'd been there could you truly appreciate it.
In the end though he said he was traveling around the world and this was what he was doing to pay his way and yelled help keep street theater alive and somehow after watching this guy for half an hour and being thoroughly entertained I felt he was the first street performer worthy of some spare change. :)
I was walking back from an adventure across the city. I could have taken the metro, it was probably about an hour long walk but I decided I wanted to explore and see what I could find on my way home. I was in the home stretch, last fifteen or twenty minutes and walking past the Palacio Real when I saw a large crowd of people and heard a man yelling in English. So what do I do? Stop and go take a peak of course! I managed to stumble across an Australian guy who spoke essentially no Spanish doing an act in the street and when I walked up he was partially wrapped in Saranwrap and was spinning furiously as a girl held the roll for him. He went on and on until the roll was empty. Then he pulled another man from the audience and had the two of them tie him up in a chain and eventually after many antics managed to escape from them. It wasn't his act so much as everything he did in between that was hilarious and only if you'd been there could you truly appreciate it.
In the end though he said he was traveling around the world and this was what he was doing to pay his way and yelled help keep street theater alive and somehow after watching this guy for half an hour and being thoroughly entertained I felt he was the first street performer worthy of some spare change. :)
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Francosim: Quite possibly the most interesting lecture/discussion I've had here so far
So I'm taking this course called Spanish History and Culture through cinema and other visual arts. We started out the semester discussing Isabel, Fernando, how Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, nothing too exciting or foreign to me in other words. This week however we started talking about the twentieth century, the Spanish Civil War, and Franco and I don't have words for how fascinated and awestruck I am by all of this. We talked about censorship and education during Franco's dictatorship today and it just amazes me the things that were put in textbooks and all the subliminal messages. For example, in the history section of a primary school textbook it stated something to the effect of: Franco was appointed leader after the country rose up in arms to fight for their beliefs. No mention of two parties in conflict, ie the civil war, just a national uprising which implies they were all on the same side. No mention of a golpe del estado tampoco (coup d'etat either. Rather the textbook said that Franco was appointed. I can't imagine. After class I asked my teacher if I could borrow the books she brought in as examples because I wanted to look at them more and some of the things I found in them I just can't imagine. In the one there is a section on habits and hygiene where it says it is bad to eat too much (the people were going hungry at the time mind you) or drink too much water.
Then there is the reader from the republica...
This thing was used to teach young children how to read and was published by the republican government. It is structured with words on the left page and a phrase and picture on the facing page. Nothing too extraordinary there...except consider some of the phrases used: Lenin our great teacher; the soviet union helps us; we work for the war; we fight for our culture. Something about all of this just struck me and you add in the images and well needless to say I find this all fascinating.
I cannot explain the feeling I had walking through the halls of the school with these books in my arms though. I felt like I was doing something very wrong and quickly put the books in my bag. I'm also rather nervous for what my host mom will do if she happens to see these books in my room seeing as how she grew up with all of this. I had a sincere interest and so I borrowed them but I can't help but have this nagging feeling that there is something wrong with having them.
Then there is the reader from the republica...
This thing was used to teach young children how to read and was published by the republican government. It is structured with words on the left page and a phrase and picture on the facing page. Nothing too extraordinary there...except consider some of the phrases used: Lenin our great teacher; the soviet union helps us; we work for the war; we fight for our culture. Something about all of this just struck me and you add in the images and well needless to say I find this all fascinating.
I cannot explain the feeling I had walking through the halls of the school with these books in my arms though. I felt like I was doing something very wrong and quickly put the books in my bag. I'm also rather nervous for what my host mom will do if she happens to see these books in my room seeing as how she grew up with all of this. I had a sincere interest and so I borrowed them but I can't help but have this nagging feeling that there is something wrong with having them.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Obama Bueno: There is just no escaping American culture
So I was walking to class today when I got stuck behind this man wearing a sports coat and smoking a cigarette. I'm in Spain...there is nothing particularly interesting about this story. Except of course for what was embroidered onto the back of his suit jacket in multicolored thread: OBAMA BUENO. Yet another reminder that there is no escaping American culture. I had this idea before I left that I would be completely immersed into the Spanish culture by living in Madrid for five months. I thought I would only speak Spanish, I would get to know Spanish music, Spanish tv, Spanish movies, etc. Little did I know that I would speak English just as often as Spanish because practically everyone in my age bracket knows at least some English and is eager to practice it with you or that Spanish pop culture is dominated by American pop culture. When I hear music in a store, bar, disco, etc it is almost always American. The movies in the theaters: American. Spanish tv? Well I don't watch tv here but from talking to Spaniards they all know the shows I watch back home and many of them better than I do. I am definitely immersed in another culture, and am certainly not in the U.S. right now but it never ceases to amaze me each day all the influences of the United States I see. So for now OBAMA BUENO I guess.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Al son del Jazz...my adventure to the spanish theater to see CHICAGO
How ironic...I go to the theater in Madrid and decide to see Chicago! It only seemed fitting though. This is one of my favorite musicals and seeing it in another language was hysterical. It was also very interesting to see the differences in the theater. For example, everything was very understated (unlike everything American) so for example the actors wore the same outfit throughout the entire show and the two leads added a jacket here (but only one). Also, there was no set really. The band was on stage upstage and that acted as the set with a few props here and there. Also, they did not have a lightboard in use for most of the show but rather used manual spots. There is nothing wrong with any of this and it is almost better. In the U.S. the set, costumes, lighting, etc is often my favorite part but it is highly distracting.
The show itself was pretty good. It was really entertaining to hear the songs translated and also see a different cultures interpretation of the musical. For example, the choreography had definite spanish influences in certain parts as did the wardrobe. The men were dressed very latin in tight pants and open shirts but did not reflect my perception of the twenties in America. The same went for the women. The wore long blazers and not flapper dresses through most of the show.
The funniest part was probably at the end though after both Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart had been acquitted and in the English version they make a statement that Chicago and America is not as bad as it seems afterall. Only here it was extremely sarcastic almost as a mockery of the line. I found this hilarious but none of the Spaniards around me understood why I was laughing I'm quite sure.
All in all it was a great night at the theater. Now lets see what's in store for this weekend in Lagos and Portugal...
The show itself was pretty good. It was really entertaining to hear the songs translated and also see a different cultures interpretation of the musical. For example, the choreography had definite spanish influences in certain parts as did the wardrobe. The men were dressed very latin in tight pants and open shirts but did not reflect my perception of the twenties in America. The same went for the women. The wore long blazers and not flapper dresses through most of the show.
The funniest part was probably at the end though after both Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart had been acquitted and in the English version they make a statement that Chicago and America is not as bad as it seems afterall. Only here it was extremely sarcastic almost as a mockery of the line. I found this hilarious but none of the Spaniards around me understood why I was laughing I'm quite sure.
All in all it was a great night at the theater. Now lets see what's in store for this weekend in Lagos and Portugal...
Monday, April 19, 2010
Holy Crap!...Travel Plans for the next 10 weeks
Oh man this is insane...I was looking at my calendar and can't believe I'm doing this...after hassling my credit card company's fraud department to convince them I was actually the one buying these tickets the wow factor of what I'm actually doing is starting to set in and I think I've got to be a little nuts but this will be a pretty epic experience...here's the list of trips for before I go home:
Lisbon and Lagos in Portugal
Granada
Cordoba and Sevilla
Somewhere in Northern Spain w/ Emily (Galicia or Basque Country probably)
Cairo with Emily her Mom and her sister
Athens
Barcelona
I don't even know what to say I can't believe I bought tickets to go to Egypt today. Wow
Lisbon and Lagos in Portugal
Granada
Cordoba and Sevilla
Somewhere in Northern Spain w/ Emily (Galicia or Basque Country probably)
Cairo with Emily her Mom and her sister
Athens
Barcelona
I don't even know what to say I can't believe I bought tickets to go to Egypt today. Wow
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
C'est la Vie: My Parisian Adventures (April 8-11)
Quel Bon Voyage! Okay so my french is terrible so I won't try to keep going but my weekend in Paris was an absolute blast.
I went to visit an old friend who I haven't been able to spend much time with in the past ten years or so. We spent the first afternoon just talking and catching up...we literally talked for 5 or 6 hours straight.
Then I got down to business the next morning...I mean I had to be able to say I did Paris in three days just as I saw Rome in two...Hilary quite possibly will be the only one who understands this is she reads this though hehe.
Anyways Day 1: Friday
I started off at L'ecole Militaire and la Tour Eiffel. I decided to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and just a warning to anyone going in the future...that can be a very time consuming although worthwhile event. All in all it took over three hours...close to 3.5 I think because of all the lines. In the meantime I got to see my first Parisian street performer though and he was quite funny. He was this man dressed in a bomber jacket, scarf and aviators who would walk up within inches behind tourists and mimic there every move until eventually they realized, turned around, and generally freaked...hilarious! After about an hour of watching this guy I made it up to the ticket booth and then eventually up the first lift and then the second. I went up to the top first and looked out over Paris. I took lots of photos (do you expect anything less of me) and enjoyed the view. I even impressed myself by being able to identify a lot of the key landmarks. After that I went down to the middle level and looked around some more. I actually preferred the middle level to the top, the views were just as good if not clearer and it was much easier to move around.
After my lengthy visit to the Eiffel Tower, I walked along the Seine, through les Invalides, saw hotel de les invalides where the dome church is as well as Napoleans crypt I believe, up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph, back down the Champs Elysees through the gardens at the other end on to the Louvre. I saw a lot along the way and just generally enjoyed all the flowers and gardens. It was the first time I've seen anything green in awhile and its amazing how much I missed it.
After all this I decided I'd seen enough for one afternoon and heading back to the 20th arrondisment to meet up with Hilary.
We went out to an Indian neighborhood for dinner later...go figure go to Paris and have Indian food but it was good :)
Day 2: Saturday
After a lazy morning we got on our way around one in the afternoon and had a very busy although leisurely day. We started out at the Pantheon which was a cool building from the outside...I didn't bother going in though. There was this little church next door though that I thought was really pretty so we decided to take a peak inside there. It was very open feeling and bright which is noteworthy considering the feel of alot of the other gothic churches.
We then wandered over to the Jardin du Loxembourg which was very pretty and green! There was a little pond in front of an old palace (Paris is full of these) and there were young children with toy sailboats on the pond. It was all very storybook in my opinion.
After this we headed over to Ile de la Cite to Notre Dame. The stained glass was gorgeous just as everyone says but the church itself was very dark and kinda of eery...fitting of the gothic style I suppose. Also leave it to the civil engineer to pause in the front and look at the dimensions of the altar/interior and comment on odd proportions...yes I'm that much of a dork. Hilary thought I was a little nuts I imagine as I sat that and said that it looked odd to me because it didn't follow the dimensions of the golden rectangle. The inside was extremely narrow and extremely tall though and so it struck my attention.
We walked around the back to see the flying buttresses after per my request...again can you tell I'm a civil engineer? But we stumbled across a hilarious street performer as a result. There was this guy in the street who did this silent skit with his bike and I guess you would have had to see it but it was so funny. He had this tape tight rope and then did all sorts of stunts on his bike and then rode a toy bike that was probably only a foot long. It was really quite amusing.
After our first street performer of the day it was time for crepes and I have to say there is something quite awesome about sitting on the Seine, looking at Notre Dame and eating a delicious, fresh crepe!
We wandered around for a while longer and ended up at this shopping center where on one of the random patios outside an exit they had this statue with cartoons all over it and it said in french " find the one that looks most like you then tell your dad you're changing your first name" so now I'm Dina everyone...the girl diving head first into water, seem fitting?
Eventually we ended up in Monmartre and walked the strip with all the caberets etc including Moulin Rouge. I took my stereotypical tourist shot in front but I think the photo I took of all the tourists taking photos is probably more entertaining hehe. We then found this hilarious yet awesome fondue place that Hilary had been to five years earlier called refuge des Fondus. It was this Fondue restaurant with graffiti all over the walls from previous visitors and just two long tables. If you sat on the inside the waiter literally helped you climb over the table to sit down. That way everyone, strangers and people there together alike, all sat together and chatted in a mishmosh of several languages which was a blast. They also served the wine in baby bottles which is ridiculous but entertaining nonetheless.
Hilary and I then wandered the streets of Monmartre with our leftover baby bottle of wine and ended up getting our portrait done at midnight before ended up at Sacre Couer. Can't forget going across the city and then missing the last metro and walking back to her place until 3am either hehe. It was a very full day :)
Day 3: Sunday
Famous dead people in a cemetary, sandwiches in the park, and my flight home. Simple yet fun.
I went to visit an old friend who I haven't been able to spend much time with in the past ten years or so. We spent the first afternoon just talking and catching up...we literally talked for 5 or 6 hours straight.
Then I got down to business the next morning...I mean I had to be able to say I did Paris in three days just as I saw Rome in two...Hilary quite possibly will be the only one who understands this is she reads this though hehe.
Anyways Day 1: Friday
I started off at L'ecole Militaire and la Tour Eiffel. I decided to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and just a warning to anyone going in the future...that can be a very time consuming although worthwhile event. All in all it took over three hours...close to 3.5 I think because of all the lines. In the meantime I got to see my first Parisian street performer though and he was quite funny. He was this man dressed in a bomber jacket, scarf and aviators who would walk up within inches behind tourists and mimic there every move until eventually they realized, turned around, and generally freaked...hilarious! After about an hour of watching this guy I made it up to the ticket booth and then eventually up the first lift and then the second. I went up to the top first and looked out over Paris. I took lots of photos (do you expect anything less of me) and enjoyed the view. I even impressed myself by being able to identify a lot of the key landmarks. After that I went down to the middle level and looked around some more. I actually preferred the middle level to the top, the views were just as good if not clearer and it was much easier to move around.
After my lengthy visit to the Eiffel Tower, I walked along the Seine, through les Invalides, saw hotel de les invalides where the dome church is as well as Napoleans crypt I believe, up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph, back down the Champs Elysees through the gardens at the other end on to the Louvre. I saw a lot along the way and just generally enjoyed all the flowers and gardens. It was the first time I've seen anything green in awhile and its amazing how much I missed it.
After all this I decided I'd seen enough for one afternoon and heading back to the 20th arrondisment to meet up with Hilary.
We went out to an Indian neighborhood for dinner later...go figure go to Paris and have Indian food but it was good :)
Day 2: Saturday
After a lazy morning we got on our way around one in the afternoon and had a very busy although leisurely day. We started out at the Pantheon which was a cool building from the outside...I didn't bother going in though. There was this little church next door though that I thought was really pretty so we decided to take a peak inside there. It was very open feeling and bright which is noteworthy considering the feel of alot of the other gothic churches.
We then wandered over to the Jardin du Loxembourg which was very pretty and green! There was a little pond in front of an old palace (Paris is full of these) and there were young children with toy sailboats on the pond. It was all very storybook in my opinion.
After this we headed over to Ile de la Cite to Notre Dame. The stained glass was gorgeous just as everyone says but the church itself was very dark and kinda of eery...fitting of the gothic style I suppose. Also leave it to the civil engineer to pause in the front and look at the dimensions of the altar/interior and comment on odd proportions...yes I'm that much of a dork. Hilary thought I was a little nuts I imagine as I sat that and said that it looked odd to me because it didn't follow the dimensions of the golden rectangle. The inside was extremely narrow and extremely tall though and so it struck my attention.
We walked around the back to see the flying buttresses after per my request...again can you tell I'm a civil engineer? But we stumbled across a hilarious street performer as a result. There was this guy in the street who did this silent skit with his bike and I guess you would have had to see it but it was so funny. He had this tape tight rope and then did all sorts of stunts on his bike and then rode a toy bike that was probably only a foot long. It was really quite amusing.
After our first street performer of the day it was time for crepes and I have to say there is something quite awesome about sitting on the Seine, looking at Notre Dame and eating a delicious, fresh crepe!
We wandered around for a while longer and ended up at this shopping center where on one of the random patios outside an exit they had this statue with cartoons all over it and it said in french " find the one that looks most like you then tell your dad you're changing your first name" so now I'm Dina everyone...the girl diving head first into water, seem fitting?
Eventually we ended up in Monmartre and walked the strip with all the caberets etc including Moulin Rouge. I took my stereotypical tourist shot in front but I think the photo I took of all the tourists taking photos is probably more entertaining hehe. We then found this hilarious yet awesome fondue place that Hilary had been to five years earlier called refuge des Fondus. It was this Fondue restaurant with graffiti all over the walls from previous visitors and just two long tables. If you sat on the inside the waiter literally helped you climb over the table to sit down. That way everyone, strangers and people there together alike, all sat together and chatted in a mishmosh of several languages which was a blast. They also served the wine in baby bottles which is ridiculous but entertaining nonetheless.
Hilary and I then wandered the streets of Monmartre with our leftover baby bottle of wine and ended up getting our portrait done at midnight before ended up at Sacre Couer. Can't forget going across the city and then missing the last metro and walking back to her place until 3am either hehe. It was a very full day :)
Day 3: Sunday
Famous dead people in a cemetary, sandwiches in the park, and my flight home. Simple yet fun.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
El Escorial
El Escorial is the monastery, palace, crypt, library, and cathedral from the days of Felipe II. After all the insanity on Friday I went here last Sunday.
It's about a 40 minute bus ride outside of Madrid and a really cool trip.
We walked through the living courters, art museum, architecture museum, etc parts first. It was the first place I've seen that felt like someone actually lived there once upon a time. The furniture was worn and it looked so authentic which I really liked. Felipe II was a big supporter of art and so there are a lot of interesting and important paintings there. They also had lots of sketches for the plans of different parts of this gigantic building and models which I loved (that's my sort of thing)!
El Escorial has over 134 km of corridors, 1200 doors, 2000 windows, 86 staircases, etc. To say its big is an understatement.
We also walked through the royal crypts. This was interesting if not a tad creepy at times. There were 9 tomb rooms! Also, a lot of the tombs had intricate carvings on the granite and some even had life size statues of the person inside on top. There was also a room just for children of the royal family who did not make it to adulthood. There were 60 tombs in all with 47 full! They were stalked in three tiers and made out of white granite. As a result the spanish refer to the structure as the wedding cake. A bit morbid if you ask me but each to one's own I suppose.
We also went to the Catedral, always a necessary stop and walked through. As all European major cathedrals seem to be, it was extremely lavishly decorated with huge gold statues and was gorgeous on the inside. They also had a replica of the monument for Holy Thursday which is this structure that looks kind of like a Gazebo that was made out of over 400 pieces of wood but without any nails! It was really cool.
Last we went inside the palace library. The ceiling was decorated with one continuing fresco that showed all the great thinkers and areas of thought: math, science, philosophy, etc etc. There were also thousands of original manuscripts from back in the 16th century. They had some open so you could look at the covers or inside. The calligraphy was absolutely gorgeous as were all of the hand drawn sketches. It quite possibly was my favorite stop in the whole place.
It's about a 40 minute bus ride outside of Madrid and a really cool trip.
We walked through the living courters, art museum, architecture museum, etc parts first. It was the first place I've seen that felt like someone actually lived there once upon a time. The furniture was worn and it looked so authentic which I really liked. Felipe II was a big supporter of art and so there are a lot of interesting and important paintings there. They also had lots of sketches for the plans of different parts of this gigantic building and models which I loved (that's my sort of thing)!
El Escorial has over 134 km of corridors, 1200 doors, 2000 windows, 86 staircases, etc. To say its big is an understatement.
We also walked through the royal crypts. This was interesting if not a tad creepy at times. There were 9 tomb rooms! Also, a lot of the tombs had intricate carvings on the granite and some even had life size statues of the person inside on top. There was also a room just for children of the royal family who did not make it to adulthood. There were 60 tombs in all with 47 full! They were stalked in three tiers and made out of white granite. As a result the spanish refer to the structure as the wedding cake. A bit morbid if you ask me but each to one's own I suppose.
We also went to the Catedral, always a necessary stop and walked through. As all European major cathedrals seem to be, it was extremely lavishly decorated with huge gold statues and was gorgeous on the inside. They also had a replica of the monument for Holy Thursday which is this structure that looks kind of like a Gazebo that was made out of over 400 pieces of wood but without any nails! It was really cool.
Last we went inside the palace library. The ceiling was decorated with one continuing fresco that showed all the great thinkers and areas of thought: math, science, philosophy, etc etc. There were also thousands of original manuscripts from back in the 16th century. They had some open so you could look at the covers or inside. The calligraphy was absolutely gorgeous as were all of the hand drawn sketches. It quite possibly was my favorite stop in the whole place.
Las Fallas
Las Fallas de Valencia eran genial!
Last Friday I went to Valencia just for the day and it was amazing! I left Madrid about 9am and got back to Madrid about noon on Saturday after staying up all night. What's a girl to do when there is a huge festival with people out all night and no hostel anyways?
The answer is this: stay out all night, watch things burn, and have a fantastic time!
I got there around 3pm on Friday after the bus left an hour late, had its mandatory hour break halfway through the trip, and four hours of driving.
I've never seen so many people out in my life. The only thing I can compare it to is the taste of Chicago on the 3rd of July before the fireworks in Chicago aka insane.
For those that don't know first let me explain what fallas are. It's this huge festival in honor of The Day of Saint Joseph. Artists and people in Valencia spend all year and tons of $$ building fallas which are gigantic paper mache and cardboard figures. Some were as tall as about 15 meters or 5 stories! They build these scenes surrounding a theme, this year the theme was the crisis in the world, and install them in the streets during the week leading up to this.
Every morning at 8am the people of Valencia are awakened by lots of noise (I did not get to experience this) such as firecrackers and drums and such I think. Then on March 19th (Dia de San Jose) at 2pm is la mescleta' which is a huge amount of noise. The noise of this whole celebration is unimaginable. I took videos just so i would be able to show people later. All day long people are setting off firecrackers in the street, there are musicians in the street, etc. It was so loud!
Then at midnight until about 2am they set las fallas on fire and burn them until there is nothing but ash! At 1am is la crema' which is the burning of the first place falla in the main square. I got to see this and I don't have words to describe how cool this was. First they set off fireworks directly over head. Not like in Chicago where they are set off over the lake or when they are set off further away normally in the states. The noise was unreal and so exciting! Then afterwards the ignited the first place falla and we watched it get engulfed in flames until there was nothing left. Then we walked away and saw another!
This was probably one of the coolest and most confusing things I've ever seen. I'm really glad I found a way to go last minute and buying my bus tickets from strangers at a random metro stop and paying in cash worked out in the end despite my apprehension of the shadiness of it all.
Last Friday I went to Valencia just for the day and it was amazing! I left Madrid about 9am and got back to Madrid about noon on Saturday after staying up all night. What's a girl to do when there is a huge festival with people out all night and no hostel anyways?
The answer is this: stay out all night, watch things burn, and have a fantastic time!
I got there around 3pm on Friday after the bus left an hour late, had its mandatory hour break halfway through the trip, and four hours of driving.
I've never seen so many people out in my life. The only thing I can compare it to is the taste of Chicago on the 3rd of July before the fireworks in Chicago aka insane.
For those that don't know first let me explain what fallas are. It's this huge festival in honor of The Day of Saint Joseph. Artists and people in Valencia spend all year and tons of $$ building fallas which are gigantic paper mache and cardboard figures. Some were as tall as about 15 meters or 5 stories! They build these scenes surrounding a theme, this year the theme was the crisis in the world, and install them in the streets during the week leading up to this.
Every morning at 8am the people of Valencia are awakened by lots of noise (I did not get to experience this) such as firecrackers and drums and such I think. Then on March 19th (Dia de San Jose) at 2pm is la mescleta' which is a huge amount of noise. The noise of this whole celebration is unimaginable. I took videos just so i would be able to show people later. All day long people are setting off firecrackers in the street, there are musicians in the street, etc. It was so loud!
Then at midnight until about 2am they set las fallas on fire and burn them until there is nothing but ash! At 1am is la crema' which is the burning of the first place falla in the main square. I got to see this and I don't have words to describe how cool this was. First they set off fireworks directly over head. Not like in Chicago where they are set off over the lake or when they are set off further away normally in the states. The noise was unreal and so exciting! Then afterwards the ignited the first place falla and we watched it get engulfed in flames until there was nothing left. Then we walked away and saw another!
This was probably one of the coolest and most confusing things I've ever seen. I'm really glad I found a way to go last minute and buying my bus tickets from strangers at a random metro stop and paying in cash worked out in the end despite my apprehension of the shadiness of it all.
Monday, March 22, 2010
No comas pan enfrente del pobre!
My new favorite phrase I learned this weekend: "no comas pan enfrente del pobre." It literally means don't eat bread in front of the poor but it's used when you're with a group of people and two are a couple and start making out or something. The equivalent of "get a room" in English.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Interesting Customs Differences
Two different things happened to me today that would unlikely happen in the U.S.
THING NUMBER ONE: Business Being Conducted at a Metro Stop
So there is this insane festival in Valencia on Friday called Las Fallas. People from Valencia spend the entire year building fallas or giant paper mache sculptures/floats/models. This year the theme is "el crisis" and there supposedly will even be fallas of the first family. Anyways at midnight on Friday all of the fallas will be set on fire and burned as fireworks go off all over the city.
This is an internationally known festival and therefore it is extremely popular to go to. Thus waiting until two days before to find tickets leads to an interesting story. I used the everhandy services of google and found a trip with Madrid Erasmus that still had spots left. Only my instructions for paying were to go to a metro stop and pay in cash! This is something that would be considered extremely shady and I would never do at home...but I'm not at home right. I have a receipt and the people seemed legit so hopefully it all works out but I was very nervous to do this initially.
THING NUMBER TWO:The Grocery Store
So I went to the atm to get cash today because I needed to and walked away with a fifty euro bill. Walking around with a fifty bill isn't the most practical thing though so I wanted to break it. I also needed some snacks from the grocery store. My total came to 1.35 and I paid 50.35. The cashier seemed annoyed when I paid with a fifty then confused when I gave her change. In the U.S. it's fairly common to give change when you overpay to make the amount you receive back nicer. I don't think that's all to common here because this isn't the first time I've been given a very confused look when paying for something.
That's all for now. On to la crema de las fallas! (That's what it's called when the burn everything :D)
THING NUMBER ONE: Business Being Conducted at a Metro Stop
So there is this insane festival in Valencia on Friday called Las Fallas. People from Valencia spend the entire year building fallas or giant paper mache sculptures/floats/models. This year the theme is "el crisis" and there supposedly will even be fallas of the first family. Anyways at midnight on Friday all of the fallas will be set on fire and burned as fireworks go off all over the city.
This is an internationally known festival and therefore it is extremely popular to go to. Thus waiting until two days before to find tickets leads to an interesting story. I used the everhandy services of google and found a trip with Madrid Erasmus that still had spots left. Only my instructions for paying were to go to a metro stop and pay in cash! This is something that would be considered extremely shady and I would never do at home...but I'm not at home right. I have a receipt and the people seemed legit so hopefully it all works out but I was very nervous to do this initially.
THING NUMBER TWO:The Grocery Store
So I went to the atm to get cash today because I needed to and walked away with a fifty euro bill. Walking around with a fifty bill isn't the most practical thing though so I wanted to break it. I also needed some snacks from the grocery store. My total came to 1.35 and I paid 50.35. The cashier seemed annoyed when I paid with a fifty then confused when I gave her change. In the U.S. it's fairly common to give change when you overpay to make the amount you receive back nicer. I don't think that's all to common here because this isn't the first time I've been given a very confused look when paying for something.
That's all for now. On to la crema de las fallas! (That's what it's called when the burn everything :D)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Happenings of the Past Few Weeks
Hola a todos!
So I've gotten kind of lazy on this whole blogging thing but here's an update.
I've seen a lot more sites around Madrid and made my first trip outside the city yesterday.
Palacio Real
I went to the Royal Palace about two weeks ago and it was absolutely gorgeous! There is something to be said about the antiguity and lavish decor of palace's that you just can't find in the states. The first place I visited at the palace was the Armory. It had armor from the past five or six centuries that was just gorgeous. I've never had any interest in guns in my life but when I saw the intricate carvings on the hold shot guns I literally described them as beautiful. They also had different types of armor from everyone to your typical knight all the way up to the king. It was very interesting to see the distinctions in the various classes of armor. They also had horse armor. The face plates for the horses were especially interesting in my opinion.
Next we went inside some of the palace rooms. We saw everything from a royal dressing room, dining room, throne room, music room, to the yellow room and porcelein room. It was spectacular! I don't think I've ever walked around with my mouth hanging wide open in awe for such a long/continuous amount of time. Every room had lavish embellishments on the ceilings. Practically every room had an intricate fresco painted on the ceiling and intense gold and stone embellishments around the molding. They even had a yellow room where everything was in yellow down to the silk wall papering and a porcelein room which was gorgeous. Everything in the room was made out of porcelein including all of the decorative embellishments on the wall. What was even cooler was that you couldn't see a single joint because they were artistically covered in the pattern. The dining room which had a table to seat over 80 if I remember right (I counted) was gigantic for lack of a better word. Ansd the following rooms which house all the dishes, cutlery, glassware, etc was spectacular. In short, if you come to Madrid a stop at the Royal Palace is a must in my opinion.
The Reina Sofia
Last Saturday I went to the Reina Sofia. This is the modern art museum in Madrid which houses La Guernica and many other Picasso works as well as lots of other artists. Personally, modern art is not my favorite but it was still a very enjoyable visit. There were some paintings and sculptures that were particularly interesting to look at. I'm sad to say though that I'm not a huge fan of La Guernica. For those that don't know La Guernica is a painting by Picasso done in the early 1930s. Picasso was a communist and did not approve of the SPanish Fascist regime. Therefore, he painted this painting as a social comentary on the situation in Spain and was exiled shortly after never to return again. It is a very controversial and important painting in 20th century Spanish history.
Toledo
Toledo is a small town about an hour drive outside of Madrid. I visited yesterday and had a fabulous time! It is a town probably comparable to the UIUC campus or maybe double in terms of land size. It is on top of a hill and in general you spend the whole day going up and down hills when you walk through. The views from the top are gorgeous though. The town is surrounded by a midieval wall and is a mix of Moorish, Catholic, and Jewish heritage. It is full of architectural and cultural influences from these three religions which is an odd thing to have been preserved considering Spain's history with expelling the Moors and the Jews. It's most famous sites are the Cathedral, the house of EL Greco, and Alcazar although the latter two are currently closed for renovations.
Museo de America
I went to Museo de America this morning. It is a small museum dedicated to the Americas and reminded me of the exhibits at the Field Museum in Chicago about the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec cultures. This was much more in depth though I think. There were hords of artifacts from exploration in the New World. There were lots of maps from the time period which were very interesting to look at as well in my opinion. The museum only takes about an hour and a half to go through if you are stopping to look at every little thing like I did and not that well known but I found it very interesting and a nice little excursion for a Sunday morning. (Oh and by morning I mean I went at about 12:30pm)
That's all for now about site seeing in Madrid. I'm hoping to go to Las Fallas in Valencia next weekend which is this insane sounding festival where there are gigantic paper mache floats and huge parades and then at midnight they burn them in the streets! I also might go to Segovia next weekend and then the weekend after that is the start of Spring Break! Lots of traveling in the coming weeks-I can't wait!
So I've gotten kind of lazy on this whole blogging thing but here's an update.
I've seen a lot more sites around Madrid and made my first trip outside the city yesterday.
Palacio Real
I went to the Royal Palace about two weeks ago and it was absolutely gorgeous! There is something to be said about the antiguity and lavish decor of palace's that you just can't find in the states. The first place I visited at the palace was the Armory. It had armor from the past five or six centuries that was just gorgeous. I've never had any interest in guns in my life but when I saw the intricate carvings on the hold shot guns I literally described them as beautiful. They also had different types of armor from everyone to your typical knight all the way up to the king. It was very interesting to see the distinctions in the various classes of armor. They also had horse armor. The face plates for the horses were especially interesting in my opinion.
Next we went inside some of the palace rooms. We saw everything from a royal dressing room, dining room, throne room, music room, to the yellow room and porcelein room. It was spectacular! I don't think I've ever walked around with my mouth hanging wide open in awe for such a long/continuous amount of time. Every room had lavish embellishments on the ceilings. Practically every room had an intricate fresco painted on the ceiling and intense gold and stone embellishments around the molding. They even had a yellow room where everything was in yellow down to the silk wall papering and a porcelein room which was gorgeous. Everything in the room was made out of porcelein including all of the decorative embellishments on the wall. What was even cooler was that you couldn't see a single joint because they were artistically covered in the pattern. The dining room which had a table to seat over 80 if I remember right (I counted) was gigantic for lack of a better word. Ansd the following rooms which house all the dishes, cutlery, glassware, etc was spectacular. In short, if you come to Madrid a stop at the Royal Palace is a must in my opinion.
The Reina Sofia
Last Saturday I went to the Reina Sofia. This is the modern art museum in Madrid which houses La Guernica and many other Picasso works as well as lots of other artists. Personally, modern art is not my favorite but it was still a very enjoyable visit. There were some paintings and sculptures that were particularly interesting to look at. I'm sad to say though that I'm not a huge fan of La Guernica. For those that don't know La Guernica is a painting by Picasso done in the early 1930s. Picasso was a communist and did not approve of the SPanish Fascist regime. Therefore, he painted this painting as a social comentary on the situation in Spain and was exiled shortly after never to return again. It is a very controversial and important painting in 20th century Spanish history.
Toledo
Toledo is a small town about an hour drive outside of Madrid. I visited yesterday and had a fabulous time! It is a town probably comparable to the UIUC campus or maybe double in terms of land size. It is on top of a hill and in general you spend the whole day going up and down hills when you walk through. The views from the top are gorgeous though. The town is surrounded by a midieval wall and is a mix of Moorish, Catholic, and Jewish heritage. It is full of architectural and cultural influences from these three religions which is an odd thing to have been preserved considering Spain's history with expelling the Moors and the Jews. It's most famous sites are the Cathedral, the house of EL Greco, and Alcazar although the latter two are currently closed for renovations.
Museo de America
I went to Museo de America this morning. It is a small museum dedicated to the Americas and reminded me of the exhibits at the Field Museum in Chicago about the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec cultures. This was much more in depth though I think. There were hords of artifacts from exploration in the New World. There were lots of maps from the time period which were very interesting to look at as well in my opinion. The museum only takes about an hour and a half to go through if you are stopping to look at every little thing like I did and not that well known but I found it very interesting and a nice little excursion for a Sunday morning. (Oh and by morning I mean I went at about 12:30pm)
That's all for now about site seeing in Madrid. I'm hoping to go to Las Fallas in Valencia next weekend which is this insane sounding festival where there are gigantic paper mache floats and huge parades and then at midnight they burn them in the streets! I also might go to Segovia next weekend and then the weekend after that is the start of Spring Break! Lots of traveling in the coming weeks-I can't wait!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Leftovers Get Flushed
Okay so before I left I had a ridiculous discussion with several people about whether the toilet water swirls the same way as in the U.S. here. We decided that was a North/South not East/West oddity.
That aside funny anecdote about my host mother:
She is very adament about not wasting food. I'm not sure if there is a connection between that and the small garbage can in the kitchen or not and I doubt there is any connection between that and the small kitchen sink. However, whenever there is excessive waste it gets flushed! This wouldn't be funny except for the part where I had lental soup for dinner and the remains looked like something fitting to be flushed...very good taste wise just not appearance wise. Ariel and I might be the only ones that find this amusing but we couldn't help but burst out laughing when we heard Nieves flushing a certain something after dinner...buen provecho!
That aside funny anecdote about my host mother:
She is very adament about not wasting food. I'm not sure if there is a connection between that and the small garbage can in the kitchen or not and I doubt there is any connection between that and the small kitchen sink. However, whenever there is excessive waste it gets flushed! This wouldn't be funny except for the part where I had lental soup for dinner and the remains looked like something fitting to be flushed...very good taste wise just not appearance wise. Ariel and I might be the only ones that find this amusing but we couldn't help but burst out laughing when we heard Nieves flushing a certain something after dinner...buen provecho!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Some Stereotypes are Universal: First Impressions of Classes
I have a grand mishmosh of classes over here which confuses the Spaniards to no end. Here you only take classes in your respective college, or faculty as they call it, and not across multiple colleges within the university. For example, I am an engineering major so if I were a Spanish student I would only take classes within the engineering college. However, I have a classes within the faculties of: Languages, Law, Economics, Humanities, and Engineering. As a result of this I've gotten to observe a variety of students within different departments and I've come to this conclusion: some stereotypes/personalities are universal.
What I mean by this is at the end of the day an engineering student is an engineering student and a business student is a business student just as an engineering class is full of engineers and a business class is full of business students.
That may seem like stating the obvious but consider this. How often do you see a female engineering student go to class in heavy make-up, mini skirt, and heals or shorts with tights and heals? Now how often do you see a business student or humanities student not do this? This may not seem significant and perhaps it's not but I was amused nonetheless.
In my non engineering classes the girls are very liberally dressed and you can tell they spend a great deal of time getting ready in the morning. The guys just as in the U.S. where jeans and a t-shirt. The teachers also seem to have a livelier personality and are upbeat in the non-engineering classes. This is the same impression I have of the U.S. They also are often younger. However, in my engineering class I have an older professor and the students are very conservative. I was quite possibly the only girl with make up on and felt horribly underdressed. About half the guys were either in suits or collared shirts and nice sweaters and the girls looked very professional.
At the end of the day none of this matters. I was merely amused by the similarities amongst the steroetypical personalities of the engineering student versus non-engineering student.
On a different note my classes are interesting for the most part. There is only one I am not that enthused about but I've only gone once so it deserves a second chance. I am taking SPanish for Exchange Students which is a lot of fun. I also am in one class in English which is called Spanish History and Culture through Cinema and Visual Arts. I think this one will be particularly interesting and easy :). I also am in Power and Politics in Modern Spain which is a three hour lecture in Spanish and there were no visual aids last class just a teacher talking in Spanish for three hours. Also, I didn't know that modern meant 15th-18th century and not present day. I'm also in a Spanish class on European Union Policy which I expect will be rather interesting and fairly easy. My last class is on the Economics and Exploitation of Transportation and is in Spanish as well. I'm glad I decided to take one engineering class to get a sense of what that is like over here.
Anyways, that is all for my rant on classes and stereotypes. Adiós!
What I mean by this is at the end of the day an engineering student is an engineering student and a business student is a business student just as an engineering class is full of engineers and a business class is full of business students.
That may seem like stating the obvious but consider this. How often do you see a female engineering student go to class in heavy make-up, mini skirt, and heals or shorts with tights and heals? Now how often do you see a business student or humanities student not do this? This may not seem significant and perhaps it's not but I was amused nonetheless.
In my non engineering classes the girls are very liberally dressed and you can tell they spend a great deal of time getting ready in the morning. The guys just as in the U.S. where jeans and a t-shirt. The teachers also seem to have a livelier personality and are upbeat in the non-engineering classes. This is the same impression I have of the U.S. They also are often younger. However, in my engineering class I have an older professor and the students are very conservative. I was quite possibly the only girl with make up on and felt horribly underdressed. About half the guys were either in suits or collared shirts and nice sweaters and the girls looked very professional.
At the end of the day none of this matters. I was merely amused by the similarities amongst the steroetypical personalities of the engineering student versus non-engineering student.
On a different note my classes are interesting for the most part. There is only one I am not that enthused about but I've only gone once so it deserves a second chance. I am taking SPanish for Exchange Students which is a lot of fun. I also am in one class in English which is called Spanish History and Culture through Cinema and Visual Arts. I think this one will be particularly interesting and easy :). I also am in Power and Politics in Modern Spain which is a three hour lecture in Spanish and there were no visual aids last class just a teacher talking in Spanish for three hours. Also, I didn't know that modern meant 15th-18th century and not present day. I'm also in a Spanish class on European Union Policy which I expect will be rather interesting and fairly easy. My last class is on the Economics and Exploitation of Transportation and is in Spanish as well. I'm glad I decided to take one engineering class to get a sense of what that is like over here.
Anyways, that is all for my rant on classes and stereotypes. Adiós!
Monday, February 22, 2010
UWH Spain Style
So I decided on a whim to go to an underwater hockey tournament this weekend-or as they say here hockey sub. I'm really glad I decided to go it was an absolute blast. I got to know some of the girls better and play as well.
I played for Castilla y Leon because they needed players and Madrid didn't. I ironmanned the entire tournament...we didn't have any subs. They don't play co-ed here or rather guys cannot play on the girls teams but girls can play with the guys if they need players. It was an interesting change of pace. I was the most experienced player on my team which also made for an interesting tournament. We played with three underwater rugby players two of which have only been playing hockey for a month. The other has been playing hockey for awhile but only occasionally. Another one of girls is from Canada and only in Spain for the year. She's only been playing since September. The last is 16 and has been playing about as long as me. I played center forward the whole tournament without subs and it was very different playing just girls teams. It was also interesting to play where the other players were not significantly physically stronger than me.
Another cool thing for hockey players reading this: they take the colors of the team a lot more seriously than we do in the U.S. For example, we wear dark or light colored caps and use the appropriate colored stick. They all have team suits and they are either reversible or they have two. They change their suits based on what color they are for each game. They also were very amused by my polo ear caps connected directly to my mask strap. None of them have ever seen this before. It is because they all wear matching water polo caps with the team logo and change the head gear depending on color as well. They also do this because each player has a number and they write it on their arms for tournaments. The table then keeps track of who scored the goals.
I also got to see a final sudden death game. The final game for the boys was tied at the end of the alotted time and so they played an extra five minutes. They were still tied so then they did the best of three penalty shots for each team and that decided who one (Madrid). I've never seen a game end like that before and it was very exciting to watch.
I also don't know what they use in the pools here but after twelve straight hours of play it was still crystal clear that you could watch the game from the pool deck.
Anyways, that's enough hockey talk for now.
Hasta Luego
I played for Castilla y Leon because they needed players and Madrid didn't. I ironmanned the entire tournament...we didn't have any subs. They don't play co-ed here or rather guys cannot play on the girls teams but girls can play with the guys if they need players. It was an interesting change of pace. I was the most experienced player on my team which also made for an interesting tournament. We played with three underwater rugby players two of which have only been playing hockey for a month. The other has been playing hockey for awhile but only occasionally. Another one of girls is from Canada and only in Spain for the year. She's only been playing since September. The last is 16 and has been playing about as long as me. I played center forward the whole tournament without subs and it was very different playing just girls teams. It was also interesting to play where the other players were not significantly physically stronger than me.
Another cool thing for hockey players reading this: they take the colors of the team a lot more seriously than we do in the U.S. For example, we wear dark or light colored caps and use the appropriate colored stick. They all have team suits and they are either reversible or they have two. They change their suits based on what color they are for each game. They also were very amused by my polo ear caps connected directly to my mask strap. None of them have ever seen this before. It is because they all wear matching water polo caps with the team logo and change the head gear depending on color as well. They also do this because each player has a number and they write it on their arms for tournaments. The table then keeps track of who scored the goals.
I also got to see a final sudden death game. The final game for the boys was tied at the end of the alotted time and so they played an extra five minutes. They were still tied so then they did the best of three penalty shots for each team and that decided who one (Madrid). I've never seen a game end like that before and it was very exciting to watch.
I also don't know what they use in the pools here but after twelve straight hours of play it was still crystal clear that you could watch the game from the pool deck.
Anyways, that's enough hockey talk for now.
Hasta Luego
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Leaping Before You Look Leads to an Interesting Lunch
So I went to the school cafeteria for lunch today and decided to order from the Menú del Día instead of a la carte items. And so far when I've gone out to get food and just sort of ordered at random its been okay. Tried some new things and been fine.
Today I ordered callos de Madrileños for the main dish--translation: tripe or stomach lining stew. I have to say I like to try new things and all and tend to be of the opinion that if you tell me after I eat it then it won't gross me out.
Callos is not for me and looking it up after I tasted it was an even worse idea. The waiter noticed I didn't like it and asked me if I wanted something else instead so I ordered codillo. AKA knee. I asked what it was before ordering this time and figured it would be worth a try. It tasted good enough but I have to say having an entire knee with bones and everything put on my plate kinda freaked me out after the tripe. Aside from my lunch experience today though I love msot of the food I've tried but needless to say I don't know if I'm going to be as comfortable ordering blindly for awhile.
Today I ordered callos de Madrileños for the main dish--translation: tripe or stomach lining stew. I have to say I like to try new things and all and tend to be of the opinion that if you tell me after I eat it then it won't gross me out.
Callos is not for me and looking it up after I tasted it was an even worse idea. The waiter noticed I didn't like it and asked me if I wanted something else instead so I ordered codillo. AKA knee. I asked what it was before ordering this time and figured it would be worth a try. It tasted good enough but I have to say having an entire knee with bones and everything put on my plate kinda freaked me out after the tripe. Aside from my lunch experience today though I love msot of the food I've tried but needless to say I don't know if I'm going to be as comfortable ordering blindly for awhile.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Words of Wisdom for the Morning
So if you want to dry your hair with an american hairdryer after you shower, and it has a switch on it to switch the voltage but you can't get the switch to work, don't assume that means it's okay to use it in another country! Almost burnt down my room this morning. The hairdryer came on with way more force than any hairdryer should, started smoking profusely, and now doesn't work...I think I fried it literally!
Anywho, good morning from Spain. Here's a bit of what I've been up to.
My first day I just wandered around the neighborhood and took photos and the like. I'll post some here soon but they are pretty much all on facebook although I haven't had time to tag or put captions on yet.
Then Tuesday Ariel (the other girl staying in the house with me :D) braved figuring out how to go on the Metro without asking anyone first (we were proud of ourselves) and went to Parque de Retiro. It's this absolutely gigantic park near the center of Madrid and is gorgeous. I can't wait to go back a little later in the Spring when everything is in bloom. We went when it was upper 40s and my host mom was like oh but it's so cold out you should go when it's warmer lol. She's 73 and really sweet but also a your stereotypical Grandmother. She just knocked on my door, noticed I was barefoot, and told it was cold and I need to put something on my feet.
The first day of school, or rather the orientation, was a bit of a mess. I overslept because I set the time on my alarm clock off by twelve hours and got hardly any sleep because after two days the jetlag decided to set in when I had a placement exam at 9am. That led to really screwing up the language exam to the point that I ended up in the Spanish class for students some of which only started learning Spanish last semester. But after spending about four hours going from one person to the next I think I am getting switched into a higher class and then everything in theory will be fine with my schedule.
Tonight we're planning on going to the opening parade for Carnaval and I'm super excited :D. Expect pictures to follow...then again it's me we're talking about always expect photos or something is wrong hehe.
Oh and for those who are curious a cultural difference or two I've noticed so far. For one they don't seem to refrigerate meat much unless it's going to not be eaten for over a day. For example, I didn't finish all of a chicken breast with lunch yesterday and asked to save it for dinner. My host Mom left it on the plate and just put it in the microwave for later. And she makes me a little sandwich with ham or turkey to take with in the mornings but she makes it the day before and leaves it out over night. This is different for me to get used to. Also, doors seem to open the opposite here than in the U.S. You have to pull them to open instead of push a lot of times and that led to some funny moments the first couple of days. Anyways, have to get to that meeting to fix my schedule and the like so hasta luego!
Anywho, good morning from Spain. Here's a bit of what I've been up to.
My first day I just wandered around the neighborhood and took photos and the like. I'll post some here soon but they are pretty much all on facebook although I haven't had time to tag or put captions on yet.
Then Tuesday Ariel (the other girl staying in the house with me :D) braved figuring out how to go on the Metro without asking anyone first (we were proud of ourselves) and went to Parque de Retiro. It's this absolutely gigantic park near the center of Madrid and is gorgeous. I can't wait to go back a little later in the Spring when everything is in bloom. We went when it was upper 40s and my host mom was like oh but it's so cold out you should go when it's warmer lol. She's 73 and really sweet but also a your stereotypical Grandmother. She just knocked on my door, noticed I was barefoot, and told it was cold and I need to put something on my feet.
The first day of school, or rather the orientation, was a bit of a mess. I overslept because I set the time on my alarm clock off by twelve hours and got hardly any sleep because after two days the jetlag decided to set in when I had a placement exam at 9am. That led to really screwing up the language exam to the point that I ended up in the Spanish class for students some of which only started learning Spanish last semester. But after spending about four hours going from one person to the next I think I am getting switched into a higher class and then everything in theory will be fine with my schedule.
Tonight we're planning on going to the opening parade for Carnaval and I'm super excited :D. Expect pictures to follow...then again it's me we're talking about always expect photos or something is wrong hehe.
Oh and for those who are curious a cultural difference or two I've noticed so far. For one they don't seem to refrigerate meat much unless it's going to not be eaten for over a day. For example, I didn't finish all of a chicken breast with lunch yesterday and asked to save it for dinner. My host Mom left it on the plate and just put it in the microwave for later. And she makes me a little sandwich with ham or turkey to take with in the mornings but she makes it the day before and leaves it out over night. This is different for me to get used to. Also, doors seem to open the opposite here than in the U.S. You have to pull them to open instead of push a lot of times and that led to some funny moments the first couple of days. Anyways, have to get to that meeting to fix my schedule and the like so hasta luego!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Llegué Ayer
Hola! It's 7:45 in the am, still dark outside, and I'm wide awake. I got here yesterday and so far everything is great. My host parents are so so nice. They have been hosting exchange students for the past twenty five years every semester and Nieves (my host mom) told me that before me 50 other students have stayed in my room! Today is a pretty relaxed today and then tomorrow is my orientation so kind of like my first day. Not much else to say now so hasta luego.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Postcards from Europe
Hi everyone,
If you're reading this it means you want to know more about my trip along the way. No promises that I'll keep it up to date but I'll try my best at least when I go travel or see something I want to share. If you want a postcard from somewhere in Europe leave me your address and I'll try and make it happen. I leave February 7th so don't expect much until after that.
-Carrie
If you're reading this it means you want to know more about my trip along the way. No promises that I'll keep it up to date but I'll try my best at least when I go travel or see something I want to share. If you want a postcard from somewhere in Europe leave me your address and I'll try and make it happen. I leave February 7th so don't expect much until after that.
-Carrie
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