Julie and Cassandra
A couple of weeks ago, unas gemelas francesas named Julie and Cassandra came to stay with us for a few days. I have never heard Spanish spoken with a French accent, so trying to communicate with them was a bit interesting. Actually, they were fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English. One of them made fun of me because she could apparently hear me speaking lots of English in my room (not that I spend my afternoons Skyping or watching True Blood). These girls were probably the most goal oriented teenagers that I have ever met: one of them wants to be an environmental scientist and the other is like a professional gymnast who is going to be a doctor... or something. In any case, they left me questioning my abilities with Spanish and with life in general.
Segovia
Three weekends ago, my program took us on a group trip to Segovia, España. I really didn't know much about the city prior to the visit so I didn't have very high expectations, which ended up working in my favor since it rained the whole time. And I had to buy the ugliest umbrella on Earth, which promptly broke just after I bought it. ¿Fenomenal, no? The aqueduct, Segvoia's main attraction, was beautiful and, yes, there were some beautiful buildings to visit. We saw a famous castle, El Alcázar (complete with suits of armor), that Walt Disney apparently used as a base for his design of the Disney Castle. I spent the day hyped up on caffeine trying to entertain myself by goofing around rather than listening to Ricardo blabber (you'll find out more about him in a minute). But let me tell you why I wished I would have been in Barcelona instead of Segovia. For those of you who don't know, three of my best girlfriends from home are also studying abroad in Europe this semester: Blair (Roma), Bri (Roma), and Lauren (Barca). The three of them decided to meet up in Barcelona that very weekend (read: more fun than a barrel of monkeys), but I had already paid for this day trip to Segovia so I opted out of their rendezvous. Huge mistake on my part, but you live and learn I guess.
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| It is pretty amazing that they had to carve each stone by hand. |
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| Preciosa |
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| Catedrál de Santa María |
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| ♥ |
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| Umbrella Tent and Frizzy Hair From the Bottom going Clockwise: Lauren . Maria . Mooney . Vanessa . Me |
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| El Alcázar |
Chicken Hotdogs
I don't consider myself a picky eater, it's more that I'm particular about the food that I ingest. And what I eat depends more on what I think of the food rather than how it actually tastes. (It's not that I don't want to eat hamburgers, it's that I can't. I have a mental block about chewing animal meat. So sue me.) When I came to Spain, I explained to Julia my aversion to brussels sprouts and food that used to walk on four legs. But after a few weeks of delicious paella and other Spanish food, Julia started serving me these weird meat patties and hotdogs, which she assured me were made with "chicken." At first, I kind of believed her. One of the times I even ate half of a hotdog (it's considered extremely rude in Spain to leave food on your plate), but I quickly concluded that it was definitely not chicken. I used to eat hotdogs when I was little so I know what they taste like, and this chicken hotdog tasted exactly like pork. It was pork, for sure. Disgusting! I just don't have the stomach for that kind of food so I decided that from then on, I would cut up the hotdogs (or patties, or whatever food I couldn't eat) into tiny pieces and throw them in the garbage. It worked for a while, but Julia is no ordinary old lady. She caught on in no time, and insisted again that the hotdogs were made with chicken. My rebuttal? "No es pollo. Es cerdo, y no me lo gusta." Her rebuttal? She got the pack of hotdogs out of the fridge, and showed me the label... chicken?! Seriously. They really were hotdogs made with chicken. But why eat chicken if it has the shape, taste, and texture of a hotdog anyway? It's just not my thing. Sorry, I'm not sorry.
Sevilla
Traveling around Spain is fairly easy and reasonably cheap. All you have to do is buy a bus ticket, book a hostel for a night or two, and you're golden. Let's talk for a minute about the busses here. When you buy a bus ticket to go to another city, you're reserving a seat on a coach-type bus that's fairly comfortable and usually plays movies. However, the rides themselves are madness (think Knight Bus). I wish I could keep my eyes open because driving through Spain is absolutely breathtaking, but I have to sleep to keep from vomiting or having a panic attack. The roads are super narrow, and when we're up in the mountains on winding roads it's terrifying. I sit there trying to convince myself that the center of gravity is low enough that the busses won't (can't?) tip over, but it honestly amazes me that they don't.
On the six-hour bus ride to Sevilla, my friends and I were lucky enough to encounter the worst smelling human on Earth. Sitting where? You guessed it! Right behind me. I can't begin to describe the stench that wafted from this man. I wouldn't even classify it as body odor because this smell truly deserved its own category. Absolutely repulsive. Like rotting eggs or a dead body. Or rotting eggs and a dead body. I might start crying if I keep thinking about it, so let's move on.
The trip was great, to say the least. We took a carriage ride through the entire city (tourist much?) but it was so precious, and we had so much fun (except for our creepy driver who didn't realize that we could understand Español). It was probably about 75 degrees - perfect weather for traipsing around a new place. That's really my favorite thing to do here, to wander around a new city with my friends, discovering its secrets. You never known what you might find. It's exhilarating.
Our hostel was adorable, and had a rooftop terrace with tables and chairs. We went up there one evening to hang out and ended up meeting a group of French boys who were on holiday. They were very friendly and seemed really nice, so we went out dancing with them later that night. It was a really good time, definitely worth the while, but my feet were killing me by the end of the night...
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| Bonita |
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| ¿Hay un Secreto Aquí? |
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| El Palacio |
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| La Catedrál |
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| Un Edificio Muy Importante |
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| Carriage Ride Me & Lamia |
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| Carriage Ride Hannah . Hanna . Ryan |
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| Sevilla is Ripe with Orange Trees |
Ricardo
Let me tell you a little bit about Ricardo. Es un Español who lives here in Madrid and works for Reunidas (our exchange program) teaching courses to foreign students (us). He chain smokes cigarettes, and he's probably the smartest man in the world. Well maybe not the smartest, but he sure does know more about Spain than anyone I've ever met. When we take group trips (or sometimes just walking tours around Madrid), he comes with as our tour guide. He's super nice and friendly, and I'm sure he has many other notable personal qualities. But I can only take so much Spanish history before I start to lose my marbles. I mean I can't even listen to him for more than 30 minutes without my eyes crossing. To make the time pass, I sometimes sneak pictures of him without him knowing.
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| In the past, this was used to lift big rocks. Nowadays, it is used to tweeze Molly Stanfa's eyebrows. |
Equipo de Baloncesto Español
A couple of weeks ago, we were sitting in Plaza Mayor eating some ice cream (which is all too quickly becoming a habitual thing), when Lamia ran into a friend from high school. Small world. She didn't know he was abroad, so she was completely taken by surprise to see him. His name is Kevin, and he has been studying here for the whole school year. He's such a nice guy. After talking to him for a while, we found out that he plays on a basketball team here in Madrid. Chachi qué sí - finally we had a way to make some amigos españoles. We've met up with them now a couple of times, and for the most part they are really fun and really nice. I'll leave it at that.
Valencia
This past weekend we went to Valencia as a group (which meant more Ricardo, but he toned it down a bit). It was beautiful (shocker). Mostly every important city in España has the following key elements: A Cathedral, A Tower, A Museum, A Palace, and sometimes something Extra. In Valencia, we did it all. And the weather was perfect so we got to spend some time at the beach, which was really nice.
"Colleen, what was your favorite thing about Valencia? Seeing the Mediterranean Sea? Going to the Cathedral? Was it the shopping?" "None of the above. Lo mejor en Valencia fue el helado de sabor violeta."
Violet ice cream. It happened, and it changed my life. Now, I've had some good ice cream in my life. Back home, I work at an ice cream and chocolate shop, and that's nothing to sneeze at because we have the highest quality sweets you can imagine. But I have never had violet ice cream before - man oh man, it was delicious. And it was purple.
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| España |
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| Inside the Cathedral |
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| Apparently this is a real arm, but I don't know if I believe it. |
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| Peek A Boo |
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| On Top of a Tower |
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| Weird |
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| Museum or Darth Vader? |
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| "All the cool kids." |
The Most Important Thing
It's been a while since I've written about Whitey. He's still here, alive and kicking (so to speak). I don't bring him with me on any of my trips because I'm too afraid that I'll lost him or that he'll get a bed bug. So what does Whitey do while I'm gone, you ask? Well he sleeps a lot, but sometimes he likes to surf the net. If he's really hyper he'll jump on the bed or play with Blackey (my other dog). It really depends on the day. He's always waiting, though, for me to come back. I know he gets lonely sometimes, but he leads a charmed life, really.
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| ♥♥ |
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