So on Saturday afternoon I arrived in Salamanca, which is where I will be studying for the rest of the program (until August 1st). I met my host family, who turned out to be an older lady that lives by herself (but her brother lives in the city close by). Her name is Elena and this is her first time hosting a student. She is really nice, but a little quiet and she refuses to let me help her with anything, but I keep trying. I was actually suprised with how well I understand her and the other people that I have meet here. One thing that I already like better about Salamanca than Madrid is that when I go out and speak in Spanish, the people here respond in Spanish, whereas in Madrid, every restaurant or anywhere we went and talked to people in Spanish, they knew we were English speakers and would speak in English. I like that I have to use the language more here because getting better at speaking was basically the biggest goal of this trip.
Last night, I met some friends in the Plaza Mayor, which is probably the prettiest plaza that I have ever seen. There is some celebration or something because there was a stage set up and people were dancing the tango both on the stage and by the stage in the plaza. I was actually really excited that they were dancing the tango because the last Spanish class was all about the tango, so it was really awesome to see it here too. Other than that, I have just been exploring. This city is really cool with crazy awesome buildings and churches and stuff. Today I went for a two hour walk around a majority of the city (and saw a place where people were tangoing outside again!).
Well that is all for now!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Days 2-5
Tuesday we went to the Palacio Real, which is a castle with rooms that have been maintained and you can see them. It was really cool. A girl from Greek Camp is in Madrid through a different program (Georganne) and some other people from this program are friends with her, so we met her for dinner. After that, some of us went to San Gines Chocolateria, which is the same one that the big group of family that came in 2006 went to. We got Churros and Chocolate and I thought that it was delicious, but a few of my friends didn't really like it because the chocolate isn't that sweet.
So on Wednesday the group went to the Museo de Prado, which is a really big art museum that the family group that went to too. It was pretty cool again. After that Kelly (one of my roommates and the girl who was on my flight) and I went to go find the Biblioteca Nacional, but when we got there, all you could do was go in. There was a museum of archeology that we could have bought tickets for that was connected, but we didn't. We went out to dinner at the cutest restaurant where the owner and his kids worked. His son, Pepito, was about 12 and he knew a little English, so he helped us decipher the menu. I got these scrambled eggs with chicken, caramelized onions, peppers, and potatoes and it was fantastic, probably the best meal that we had in Madrid.
Thursday was awesome! The program took everyone to a really sweet city about an hour away from Madrid name Toledo. This city has such a cool history, which is completely evident still today. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all lived in this city pretty peacefully together for hundreds of years, which was a pretty rare phenomenon because usually when relgions clashed, wars/violence would result. So because of this cohabitation, there are many synagogues, mosques, and cathedrals all within this little city. The one cathedral in the center is beautiful, both inside and out. Some guy named Jose led us to a convent where we got to watch people work on crosses and jewelery and stuff in this little workshop. This city kind of reminds me of Santorini because of how cute and quaint it is, but it isn't all white and it has castles and stuff around it, so I suppose it is just the atmosphere and the beauty of the cities that is similar.
Today (Friday) after class (which I have everyday, but for lack of anything interesting, I haven't talked about it) we went to Ritero Park. This park is gorgeous! It has fountains and sculptures galore, and beautiful gardens throughout, but my favorite part was the large pond. It was so pretty, especially because it had this really amazing area to stand/sit with statues and stairs and columns AND you could rent little row boats to take out, which looked like so much fun, but we didn't have time to do that because we had to meet the rest of the program at El Congreso. The Congress was really pretty as well and the tour, which was in Spanish, was interesting until the very end where he was answering questions and he wasn't really talking to everyone anymore. Micaela, the student helper person, then took us all the people that showed up to the Congress out for ice cream because I think she was treating us for coming to the excursion.
Tonight is the last night in Madrid because we leave for Salamanca in the morning tomorrow. As fun and awesome as Madrid is, I am actually pretty excited to go to Salamanca and meet my host family (and I won't find out who they are or anything about them until I meet them tomorrow) because I know that I will be speaking way more Spanish with them than I am with my friends. Also, it will be nice to have all of my classes (this week was just a mini introduction into Living in Spain and we basically just went over vocab and stuff). Sometime next week, I will be taking a placement exam to put me in a level for the cursos internacionales at the University of Salamanca. These classes will be with students from all over the world, so depending on my level and stuff, I could be without any people from my program.
Well, that's all for now. Going to go out for the last time in Madrid!
So I am going to edit this post to mention where we went in Madrid. It was this crazy club called Kapital and it is so crazy because there are 7 stories to it, all of which are dances floors with bars on the sides. It was really awesome, and I don´t always enjoy clubs, but this one was really something. We left at midnight or so for the club (this is considered early by the rest of Spain) and we didn´t leave until 5 or some in the morning, and the club was still going strong. It was a 15 euro entrance fee, but it came with two drinks of my choice, so it was worth it.
So on Wednesday the group went to the Museo de Prado, which is a really big art museum that the family group that went to too. It was pretty cool again. After that Kelly (one of my roommates and the girl who was on my flight) and I went to go find the Biblioteca Nacional, but when we got there, all you could do was go in. There was a museum of archeology that we could have bought tickets for that was connected, but we didn't. We went out to dinner at the cutest restaurant where the owner and his kids worked. His son, Pepito, was about 12 and he knew a little English, so he helped us decipher the menu. I got these scrambled eggs with chicken, caramelized onions, peppers, and potatoes and it was fantastic, probably the best meal that we had in Madrid.
Thursday was awesome! The program took everyone to a really sweet city about an hour away from Madrid name Toledo. This city has such a cool history, which is completely evident still today. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all lived in this city pretty peacefully together for hundreds of years, which was a pretty rare phenomenon because usually when relgions clashed, wars/violence would result. So because of this cohabitation, there are many synagogues, mosques, and cathedrals all within this little city. The one cathedral in the center is beautiful, both inside and out. Some guy named Jose led us to a convent where we got to watch people work on crosses and jewelery and stuff in this little workshop. This city kind of reminds me of Santorini because of how cute and quaint it is, but it isn't all white and it has castles and stuff around it, so I suppose it is just the atmosphere and the beauty of the cities that is similar.
Today (Friday) after class (which I have everyday, but for lack of anything interesting, I haven't talked about it) we went to Ritero Park. This park is gorgeous! It has fountains and sculptures galore, and beautiful gardens throughout, but my favorite part was the large pond. It was so pretty, especially because it had this really amazing area to stand/sit with statues and stairs and columns AND you could rent little row boats to take out, which looked like so much fun, but we didn't have time to do that because we had to meet the rest of the program at El Congreso. The Congress was really pretty as well and the tour, which was in Spanish, was interesting until the very end where he was answering questions and he wasn't really talking to everyone anymore. Micaela, the student helper person, then took us all the people that showed up to the Congress out for ice cream because I think she was treating us for coming to the excursion.
Tonight is the last night in Madrid because we leave for Salamanca in the morning tomorrow. As fun and awesome as Madrid is, I am actually pretty excited to go to Salamanca and meet my host family (and I won't find out who they are or anything about them until I meet them tomorrow) because I know that I will be speaking way more Spanish with them than I am with my friends. Also, it will be nice to have all of my classes (this week was just a mini introduction into Living in Spain and we basically just went over vocab and stuff). Sometime next week, I will be taking a placement exam to put me in a level for the cursos internacionales at the University of Salamanca. These classes will be with students from all over the world, so depending on my level and stuff, I could be without any people from my program.
Well, that's all for now. Going to go out for the last time in Madrid!
So I am going to edit this post to mention where we went in Madrid. It was this crazy club called Kapital and it is so crazy because there are 7 stories to it, all of which are dances floors with bars on the sides. It was really awesome, and I don´t always enjoy clubs, but this one was really something. We left at midnight or so for the club (this is considered early by the rest of Spain) and we didn´t leave until 5 or some in the morning, and the club was still going strong. It was a 15 euro entrance fee, but it came with two drinks of my choice, so it was worth it.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Day One
Today I went to my first class at Middlebury University, which is about a 10 minute walk from my hotel. My instructor seems really cool and one of his assignments is to blog the rest of this trip, which is fantastic for me since I was already planning on doing this. I am a little worried about not having my computer because I think I really am the only person without a laptop. My instructor said that it wouldn't be a problem, but doing my assignments would be more difficult because I won't be able to do as many as things with technology (like uploading pictures and stuff), which kind of sucks but oh well. For my first assignment, I have to go with a few other students to this really famous restaurant Casa Labra, which is supposed to be really close to the hotel.
During the orientation meeting, the director made a huge point about how important it is to have a cell phone and stuff, so some of us went to a store called Corte Ingles and bought a cheap one (only 19 euros). It took a while to understand how many minutes were on the phone because of the slight language barrier, but I am pretty confident that I understand everything. I don't really plan to use it, but I suppose that is will be nice to have.
And Becky, I bought some cute white and brown sandals at a local store.
All of the meals in Madrid, except for breakfast, are on us, but tonight the program is taking us out to dinner at some pizza place, so I am super excited (and hungry). Voy a comer, adios!
Rachael
During the orientation meeting, the director made a huge point about how important it is to have a cell phone and stuff, so some of us went to a store called Corte Ingles and bought a cheap one (only 19 euros). It took a while to understand how many minutes were on the phone because of the slight language barrier, but I am pretty confident that I understand everything. I don't really plan to use it, but I suppose that is will be nice to have.
And Becky, I bought some cute white and brown sandals at a local store.
All of the meals in Madrid, except for breakfast, are on us, but tonight the program is taking us out to dinner at some pizza place, so I am super excited (and hungry). Voy a comer, adios!
Rachael
My Arrival to Madrid
Hi everyone!
So I have officially arrived in Spain! My airplane ride to Amsterdam was great, but of course I barely slept even though I was exhausted. Even though I was told that I shouldn't watch it before I go, I saw "Taken" on the plane, which didn't scare me too much and it was a pretty good movie.
On my flight to Madrid, I met a girl named Kelly from my program and when we arrived we took the metro to our hotel together, so that worked out really well.
My hotel room is really nice and it is bigger than most of the other students because I have 3 roommates right now: Kelly (the one I met on the plane), another Kelly, and Lauren. We are all in the same level, which means that we will be in the same classes throughout our time in Spain.
Later that day, we had our orientation, which pretty much just consisted of meeting the four instructors and going over the basic rules. I found out that we are going on a day trip to Toledo on Thursday, so that will be pretty awesome. I think that there are more excursion trips (like to Sevilla and Portugal) that I can go on that are put on by the program, so I will probably do those. I had originally planned to go to Sevilla and Toledo already, so these trips work out really well!
During the day, I went around the city with some people from the program. We wanted to go to the Rastro Flea Market, but we didn't end up finding it so we just explored the city. We found the Plaza Mayor and had lunch (I had my favorite, tortilla patata), explored some more. and then stopped at a little place for sangria. Jill, Jenn, Mike, and John, I am pretty sure that this place was right next door to the place we had lunch that one day when it was just us in Madrid.
After the Orientation meeting, we went to dinner at some little place. We got this huge paella, and a few tapas (patatas bravas, jamon serrano, and croquetas). It is a huge advantage that I have been to Spain before because I actually know what I am ordering and what it really looks and tastes like.
Also, I think that it is important to note that I really haven´t suffered too much jet lag, which is probably due to my flight that left at 4 pm Michigan time. I just took a little nap when I got to the hotel, and then I was all set.
Okay, that's all for now!
Rachael
So I have officially arrived in Spain! My airplane ride to Amsterdam was great, but of course I barely slept even though I was exhausted. Even though I was told that I shouldn't watch it before I go, I saw "Taken" on the plane, which didn't scare me too much and it was a pretty good movie.
On my flight to Madrid, I met a girl named Kelly from my program and when we arrived we took the metro to our hotel together, so that worked out really well.
My hotel room is really nice and it is bigger than most of the other students because I have 3 roommates right now: Kelly (the one I met on the plane), another Kelly, and Lauren. We are all in the same level, which means that we will be in the same classes throughout our time in Spain.
Later that day, we had our orientation, which pretty much just consisted of meeting the four instructors and going over the basic rules. I found out that we are going on a day trip to Toledo on Thursday, so that will be pretty awesome. I think that there are more excursion trips (like to Sevilla and Portugal) that I can go on that are put on by the program, so I will probably do those. I had originally planned to go to Sevilla and Toledo already, so these trips work out really well!
During the day, I went around the city with some people from the program. We wanted to go to the Rastro Flea Market, but we didn't end up finding it so we just explored the city. We found the Plaza Mayor and had lunch (I had my favorite, tortilla patata), explored some more. and then stopped at a little place for sangria. Jill, Jenn, Mike, and John, I am pretty sure that this place was right next door to the place we had lunch that one day when it was just us in Madrid.
After the Orientation meeting, we went to dinner at some little place. We got this huge paella, and a few tapas (patatas bravas, jamon serrano, and croquetas). It is a huge advantage that I have been to Spain before because I actually know what I am ordering and what it really looks and tastes like.
Also, I think that it is important to note that I really haven´t suffered too much jet lag, which is probably due to my flight that left at 4 pm Michigan time. I just took a little nap when I got to the hotel, and then I was all set.
Okay, that's all for now!
Rachael
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