Algunos fotos... (illustrations for the previous post)

a view from inside the alhambra during my trip to granada

the aqueducts that i love so much!

me with aqueducts in the background

the palace/castle

our new friend who lives inside the castle

the ballroom? im not sure. but it was pretty

one of my new favorites

segovia cathedral

salamanca, the shell house

the grand plaza mayor in salamanca in the night time

DONER KEBABS

Sorry for the long delay. Time has really been slipping right through my fingers- figures that yesterday was my one month anniversary of arriving in Spain! And so far so good. There is so much to fill you in on- I’ll fill you in on my current life then tell you about the my past 2 weekend adventures. I heard from my Mom that my blog is becoming quite the commodity at home--- who knows, maybe I will end up on Oprah or something haha!

Well I have been doing a lot of planning. We are taking advantage of our long Fri-Sat-Sun weekends and I have trips and tickets all ready! I'm going to Paris this weekend! We found a hostel, life is good. Thank goodness for my tax refund that I got recently because that covered my flight to LONDON during my spring break! That trip will be from April 2-April 7, then we come back to Spain and book it to Seville, south of Spain for “Semana Santa”(Holy Week). We chose Seville because it is famous for its processions etc. Other sites of interest: Germany (to visit Lisa, a friend who lives there that I met while she was in the United States for a year), Italy, and Greece. Of course, my list is infinite but unfortunately classes just get in the way J.

Do not fret! I am staying at home base, Madrid, the city I keep learning and exploring. With all the traveling my mom asks “when do you do your homework” and the answer is basically, in transit (1 hour to get to my school via public transportation), and night times during the week. Its all good. Talking about family, I had a dream about the new BABYYY!!! Rosie, you’ve been pregnant too long, lets get that baby out! And mind you, my dream did not determine the sex of the child, so that is still a surprise for me J. All I know is that it was absolutely precious- obviously.

Today I got out of classes at 5, got back to my metro stop at 6, and decided to just walk. So, I walked around and didn’t realize how close Zara, United Colors of Beddington, and other stuff is to my house (I mean, its close, like 15 min walk)! I have been spending a lot of time in the city city, so now that my neighborhood and I are good friends I'm going to have to hang out here more. It was a perfect day to walk around- pants, ballet flats, light jacket. I even just let my hair air dry now and let it do its own thing (my bangs are too long to be considered bangs and too short to be pulled back into my pony tail, so I pin them back). 18 degrees Celsius, or something like that? I don’t know what that converts to… I open up the doors to the balcony in my room and its just fantastic.

Well, the pictures I put up the last post were from Granada- the trip was one I will never forget. For the good, the bad, and the uuuugly haha. Really, it’s a beautiful city and a must-see if you go to Spain, but our AYA group (11 of us) went through a bigger group of 75 students associated with ERASMUS and the trip was “led” by Erasmus Students. I used the word “led”, but really what I mean to say is that they basically organized the bus ride but not much else. The hostel situation was a disaster, the planning was a disaster, but other things went REALLY well. For example we got to see a cool flamenco show done in the gypsy fashion- it was basically in a cave! The next day (insert excited voice) we saw the Alhambra! Unbelieveable- destination wedding anyone? Or at least the wedding pictures- its worth it. Basically the trip was blind leading the dumb. Or stupid leaving the blind- you get the gist- but it’s a beautiful place. Thank goodness Concha made me a sack of food before I left- shes so cute she told me the other day that if I'm going on these weekend trips to remind her and she’ll put together food for me. Sammies, cheese curls, yummy chocolate things, fruit. THANKS CONCHA (we all remember this is my host mom’s name)!

Uugh I just love food. Currently I'm in a huge kebab kick… the kebabs here are in the doner kebab style- basically a gyro. Shops are all over the place for this delish food! And I was about to get my fill…..


[(Letting down the curtains, lights fade back on.) Intermission. Please take a 5 minute break and grab a snack. Or popcorn or something- phew this is a long epic story]


...during my weekend adventure! After a week of classes, We toured the Iberian Peninsula a little more to Spanish cities Segovia and Salamanca. Segovia is closer to Spain, so we went on Friday. We left early in the day and got there around 11 after a bunch of confusion about our train/bus situation. Jeannie Ryan and I made the epic journey! We saw ROMAN AQUEDUCTS probably one of my favorite sights so far that I have seen, and we went to a castle, Alcazar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcazar is the link if you want to read up. Basically we got to hang out with a bunch of knights in shining amour. Well, they weren’t REAL guys, but the amour was impressive!

We also went to a castle, Alcazar, where we got to go up 150 twirly stairs alllll the way up to the top of the tower! The view was very impressive and we took many a pictures there. We walked around, and a lot of stores were closing down a little early because this weekend was Carnival, Spain’s version of Marti Gras. We were SO HUNGRY, like usual, and Jeannie and I were adamant about finding a Doner Kabab in the city. Luckily we got directions from someone on the street and found one and it was probably one of the best Kebabs I’ve had here. DELISH!!! Then, we found a bakery and got dessert, because here I feel no remorse in eating chocolate mousse cake when I spent all day walking up 150 stairs and what not. we had a smooth arrival back to Madrid at 6, and got to meet up with some friends from Catholic who were visiting Madrid during their study abroad in London (makes sense?). It was super fun but I made sure to rest up that night to get prepared for Salamanca!

We got a real train to Salamanca, you know when they have the seats facing each other with a table in the middle? Tres cute. It didn’t take long and we got to Salamanca, walked around, saw the awesome plaza mayor, ate Kebabs again, met up with Katie from our program, and then spent the night celebrating Jeannie’s 21st birthday at one of the bars in town! The next morning we got our train ride back and I was back in Madrid at 11. and then another week of school….. and now I'm getting ready for my trip to PARIS!!!

Oh, and another funny thing. Well not funny, more informative- whatever. Well, we all decided to give up English for lent (minus communicating with people that don’t know Spanish). So that way we wont be tempted to use it, which does get frustrating sometimes when theres confusing stories involved, but it all works out ok in the end.
Really now, I think I have said enough. PHEW! Next time I’ve gotta write earlier so I don’t have to much to recount…

besos

Belated Valentines Day!

AH yes, the highly anticipated life of Jillian Marie, oye the stories i have to tell of late.

really though, it is late. 1 oclock in the morning... so i will leave you with pictures now with a thorough update later on (hopefully by tomorrow.)


Pics of the Alhambra (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra), a palace that i am pretty certian is haunted.







Enjoy the pics and read up on Alhambra! and familia,,,, a million hugs and kisses for a belated Valentines day. thank you so much for the package.... i destroyed those live savers and am trying to space out those chocolates..... YUMMM!!! i love the shorts too---- they are perfecto! and the hearts are hanging behind my desk..... it was so nice!


xxooxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxooxo

Ray ban Wayfarers

Its been a while now that i have been obsessed with wayfarer sunglasses- i just dont have the heart to spend that much money on sunglasses when i could be getting a ticket to london or berlin or milan.....


This past week FLEW by. i cant believe its so long since ive posted. let me see if i can recount a lot of what has happened. I guess ill pick out a few highlights. Sit back and relax.

The best way to learn transportation around this city is to just throw yourself right in and see what happens. well, i learned the bus system with Jeannie and Ryan last week on our day trip (aka 5 hour) to Avila homeplace of Saint Teresa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_Avila). the bus wasnt as confusing as i thought. you go up to the ticket booth and ask for the train you want and then you have the option of buying an open ended ticket or the trip back. so, it took us 2 hours or so to get there, and didnt quite realize how far up in the mountains avila really was.... we saw snow on the way and it was definately colder. ryan wasnt quite prepared with his thin jacket, but we made due. we got a private tour of this creepy church/cathedral, and saw a mini museum about st teresa plus other stuff like a chair that pope john paul sat in once upon a time. i was honestly creeped out and was pretty certain it was haunted, but jeannie loved it. we found our way to the murallas- gorgeous walls that surround the old part of the city

unfortunately we got there 15 min too late to actually walk the walls, but its ok cause we got to see a lot of the view in hilly parts inside the walls. this is a square located in the middle of the town:

last week we (aka the 13 of us on the AYA program) also got 2nd row seats to a flamenco production. it was so cool, and i was particularly impressed with the bagpipes and the crazy ruffily colorful dresses.

probably one of my favorite days so far has been this past sunday. jeannie and i met up at the "la latina" metro station to experience el rastro, the HUGE flea market that happens every sunday. it opens up really early (for spaniards that is), 8am or so and is open till 2pm so you got to hustle. its so big that noone has really seen the whole thing. theyve got everything minus food- but this includes clothes, sunglasses, jewelry, pashminas, even animals (not really allowed, but we are in spain). well, i have currenty solved my wayfarer situation- i found some really good fakes (quality not so good, but the effect is the same) for 6 euro! good deal! i also found a spot that was selling pashminas for 2 euro! geeze, it was awesome. Jeannie and i had 3 hours to kill between the end of rastro and the 5 oclock free entrance to the prado museum, so we walked arounda and i was caught by a sudden urge to find hot chocolate. but not ANY hot chocolate. I hope you all know samantha brown on the travel channel- the perky blond who goes around and tells us why to visit certain places. well, she visited this hot chocolate store, the oldest in madrid (1881) and i found it and had a cup (they were out of churros so i got a croissant) AND IT WAS SO DIVINE! i think i talked about this melted-chocolate-bar-experience in one of my first posts. good thing its not around the corner or i would come back in june not quite fitting in my pants. well, we spent enough time there and found our way to the prado aka one of the most famous museums in the world featuring goya, velazquez, even some caravaggio and rubens. im a pretty fast museum walker but i did stop for a few minutes at las meninas.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas. it was my fav, and everyone elses fav too according to the crowd around it. i bought a little pin with the Infanta Margaritas face on it, super cool. so that was a very good sunday.

we started classes on monday and so far, so good. i was a little disgruntled when i heard about a car bomb that occurred that day- the ETA is a terrorist group located mostly in northern spain, and they are not too happy right now with an election that is going on. (currently as i am sitting here, i can hear out my balcony and someone is having a car horn fight. someone has been honking at another car for a minute now. crazies...oye, now the other one is honking back. parking spot perhaps? going the wrong way on a one way street? hmmm) Back to the ETA, they protest via violence but always call in 2 hours or so before each act. Hopefully any scares are going to stop after this election- dont worry i am safe and promise not to get involved with any protests.

i am taking 5 classes
a spanish language class level advancado B, which means nothing to most of you but basically i took an oral and written test and was placed at this level, spanish for professional use (i learned my first class that it is a law that when you get married, you get 15 vacation days), history of spain, Cultural studies, and hispanicamerican literature. and i dont have classes fridays (YESS!). its a hefty commute that involves metro and a commuter train, but its fine becasue i like people watching and i almost always find someone that i recognize in transit. and did you know: lined paper is for learning to write- they use graph paper here for notes and basically all spirals use graph paper. hmmm funny. also, i signed up for an intercambio, a native spanish speakers interested in practicing their english with you and your spanish with them.

This coming weekend i am signed up for a trip to granada, at the south of spain, with ERASMUS- an international organization that creates activites for students to meet other students- things like these weekend trips, or even sometimes they have a "meeting point" at a bar or something were they get special deals and can all hang out in the evenings. i have an ERASMUS card that gives me discounts on stuff, a Carlos III Univeristy card, a special monthly transportation card, an international student card.... lovin cards here.

oh, and to top that all off today, on the way home in the metro there was this huge crowd that was surrounding this guy that was levitating . yes, he was probably 8 feet in the air. CREEPY. the things you see in madrid. like the people that dress up and paint themselves and their clothes to look like statues and actually LOOK like statues. (theres one that holding a big broom, and if someone gets close, will sweep in their direction- the cause of many a gasp and yells).

well, thats updating you all- oye!

ps. a million thanks kristy for that book- Veronika Decides to Die. It was fabulous and i even marked pages with my favorite quotes. I have also been listening to the CD you gave me basically every day. "your ex lover is dead"/Stars is a personal favorite.

i do love madrid, but i do miss home...

Penelope Cruz

So, i didnt meet her, but i did see her on TV yesterday. one of the funniest things about Spain is its television. Although lacking in number, the channels do play a lot of american shows! my host mom likes to watch House, so my roommate and i watched it with her. no subtitles... its all dubbed! it actually makes it harder to understand because sometimes i rely on both the sound AND movement of lips to catch quick phrases, and obviously lip movement does NOT match up.

Last night were the "Goya" awards... sortof an oscar- like deal. lots of famous people in pretty (or not-so-pretty) dresses and lots of "thank you" speeches. penelope cruz won one, it was pretty cool. they have a lot of people i have never heard about before, but it was fun to watch anyways. my host mom was very excited about watching the awards- she is so great, and is a really good cook, even though she wont admit it. we had artichoke and her version of paella last night (she didnt say it was paella but it was yellow rice with chicken, red peppers, shrimp and mussels) YUMMMMMMM. over dinner we talk about the most random things aka Victoria beckham and how her and her futbol hubbie were in Madrid. (supposedly vikki hates madrid becaue it smells like garlic. and sounds like the spaniards dont like her either. my host mom said that david, who is SO good looking, could have done so much better than her. hahahahah).

this blog is sortof everywhere- sorry if i lost you. continuation of my thoughts...

we went to Toledo the other day (saturday?) and it was GORGEOUS- its just like the movies- itty bitty stone streets that seem to go nowhere, and laundry hanging out of peoples balconys. i was thinking- can you order pizza for delivery?

sunday it snowed furiously- it didnt really stick cause it was a rain mix, but my plans to go to the flea market at rastro were cancelled. my host mom says nothing works when it snows- spaniards dont know what to do. (same with dc- snow+driving=mess)

can you see the snow? this is off my balcony

today we went to our campus for the first time. it was a hike but i think its doable... its worth the commute because i get to live in the city and go to a school that is smaller and international-student friendly. im trying to choose classes now... ill let you know when i figure that out.