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
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...
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...
2 comments:
you saw someone levitate?!?!! for real... do elaborate.
home misses Jillian too.....Love, Mom
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