Spain winding down...or up

Part of the Escorial palace with the hills in the background


My first paella!


The funky/awesome cathedral in Madrid




Hello everyone!

Well it's been a solid few weeks of school, homework and hanging out with friends - new and old - on the weekends. This week is our last official week of classes, then we have 2 weeks off, and finals end June 5th - AHHHH!!! I can't believe it's almost over, I get really sad thinking about leaving because I love Madrid and my life here so much, but I'm also really excited to embark on a new adventure in Sweden and eventually see my doggy and then friends at Whitman!

My parents come to visit this Saturday - we'll be checking out Madrid for the first few days, then heading up to La Rioja (the famous wine region) to check out wineries and the scenic north, then we'll go over to Barcelona for 2 days before we come back to Madrid so they can go back home. I'm really excited to see them, show them "my town" and explore new areas of Spain - I love every place I've visited here and just can't wait to see more! I'm planning one more trip to Alicante (southeast coast) with a girlfriend from my Flamenco class for the weekend after finals, and then it's London and Sweden!

This weekend I went on a very last-minute camping trip with a girlfriend of mine. We picked El Escorial because it's a beautiful area that's close to Madrid! A 40 minute bus ride and 10 minute walk and we were there! I've found that spaniards generally have this idea of camping that involves bungalows, RVs and pools or the beach...it was so hard to find like, you know, a fairly secluded camp ground, in the mountains, with maybe a lake and some hiking trails...nope, that's not how they do it here. Vanessa asked the woman at reception if there were places to hike...she replied "of course, you can walk everywhere"...maybe the concept of hiking doesn't exist here? But anyway, we had a great time! So fun to catch up with her - we staked out an area near the back fence (which had cows on the other side) and chowed down on my homemade zucchini and banana bread and her home made lentils. We spent WAY too long laying in the sun by the pool (I look like a maraschino cherry) and then 2 of our friends called and came! By the time they arrived it was raining and dark, we had 2 sleeping bags and a tent for 2, we had no flashlights, and were getting wet. Haha pretty much a total disaster, but it ended up being a blast. We had time in the morning to see more of the city and famous palace in Escorial - the gardens and views were beautiful! It's amazing that such natural beauty is so close to the big booming city of Madrid, how fun!

So now I'm exhausted and working on some final papers...I had the "homework" for my History of Theater class to go to two shows and do write-ups on them. I just recently went to a contemporary dance performance for the second show and it was AMAZING! I loved the choreography and the way they used lights etc, very cool. I am also prepping a "jeopardy review" for one of my classes at my internship. I've been teaching them the evolution unit for the last 2 months and it's test time! I really love working there - I have a great class of women (my age and older) who are getting vocational degrees to be secretaries. None of them speak a lot of English, but enough, and we just do conversation classes and it's so fun because we're all on the same level of humor etc and it ends up being a blast. I've compared recipes with the woman (Pilar) who works in the cafe and made friends with another intern (fullbright scholar) who always gets coffee with me. Everyone who works at this school is so amazing, every professor is nice and funny and helpful and it's just a great environment to be in. I've worked closely with the science teacher and love her to death - she's spanish but grew up in a british education school in spain and speaks PERFECT british english, it's so cute. I've helped her out with labs (mixtures, heat/metals) and a big botany field trip we took the other week. I've found that every lecture I give gets to be easier and more fun, and I feel like each time I explain myself better as well. I get a thrill off of explaining a concept and seeing their little 13 year old faces light up in understanding, it's great. So maybe I should be a teacher?...I don't know, but it's in the realm of possibilities. What I do know is I love working in an environment like that, and I hope that in my life I do something where I get to practice my spanish every day!

The flamenco show my class will put on is in two weeks, and I'll be in Barcelona with my parents! So that's a bit of a bummer, it would have been fun...but I'm still practicing with the class and hope to take lessons when I get back to the US.

Alright, well just wanted to give a little update! Things have been great here, lots of weekend celebrations with friends - people leaving, 21st birthdays, dinner parties (I learned paella from my host mom and made it for everyone last weekend!) and I keep playing beach volleyball with the guys and it's great!

Hope all is well,
Alej

Catching up

Hello again!

Time is flying by, but I'm sticking with it all! I'm getting lots of final projects finished in the next couple of weeks, then my parents come to visit for 8 days in mid May, then I have final exams and June 5th I'm done! Yikes, I don't want it to end but I'm enjoying every new twist and turn and life experience I've encountered.

I finally got around to putting up the rest of the photos from the Italy trip, so check those out when you get a chance, and if you have a facebook you can see lots more there!

Today I was working on some homework in my room when my friend Federica called me "vete al parque, vamos a ganar unos zapatos!". Her spanish roommate is friends with a guy who works for the shoe company Converse, and found out about a promotion they were doing in the park. We got there, they handed us some brand new converse shoes, and we put them on, tied our legs together and raced! And we won! AKA we got free shirts, bandannas and sound-canceling headphones, pilot-sized. It was just a random group of spaniards who had heard about the promotion and were there, and I'm so glad we went! It was a blast to participate and learn new vocabulary (I was saying things like hop and rub (the string was rubbing my skin) and just a big group of words I had never really used/learned before). I got to meet some friends of Federica's roommate and practice my spanish with more locals.

It's amazing how different it is between in-class-spanish (or with other international students) and in-a-group-of-spaniard-friends-spanish. They talk SO much faster, and use lots of slang and phrases that don't make any sense to someone who's not a native speaker or part of their group. But it was fun to listen and participate when I could, and I hey, I walked away with some free shoes!

Pretty fun stuff. Last night a big group of us from the program and some spaniards went out for tapas and ended up at a bar that is on the top floor of an apartment building. There's outdoor seating and lots of space inside, which is good since it was packed at 11pm for dinner. Everyone ordered sangria and we munched on fried calamari, potatoes, olives etc. Basically just having a blast and enjoying being with spaniards...and totally exhausted and must go to bed (sorry if this blog has horrible english, much too tired to care right now).

Tomorrow is a day of homework, then I'm seeing a dance show in the evening with Fede. My host mom taught me how to make paella today! So it's another thing to add to my list...gonna do a big spanish meal for all my buds at Whitman when I get back.

Hasta luego!
Alex

Bella Italia

Starting the trip off right: Pizza.


The Roman Colosseum!


RUINS!! The Forum, Colosseum, (and pretty flowers)


Very cool central plaza - Piazza Navona (cafes, street artists, people watching...)


St. Peters, most beautiful cathedral (inside)


The Pantheon


The Trevi Fountain


Finishing the last day in Rome with a lovely cappuccino


The winding roads of Siena


On our beautiful bike ride outside of Siena


The massive Duomo in Florence - reminded me of a HUGE candy shop


The Italian singer on the Ponte Veccio


Kristina and Whitties showing off our whip cream mustaches - melted chocolate topped with whip cream in a square in Florence :) :) :)


Awesome food markets


The gelato was a work of art in Florence

The Ponte Vecchio

View of Florence

Little Colosseum in Verona

View over Verona

Juliet's Balcony

Duomo in Venice

Gondolas in the Grand Canal

Canals in Venice

Venice at night and high-tide




Hello everyone!

This was my first week back at school, Spain (and many parts of Europe) celebrated "Semana Santa/Pascua" aka Easter Week aka SPRING BREAK! But no Cancun/Maimi Beach here, I was attending church services and seeing some of the coolest, oldest, most beautiful places in the world! A girlfriend Kristina (met her at the Spanish university) and I planned a 9 day, intensive tour of Italy - Rome on up, and it was a blast. We flew into Rome the night of the earthquake actually - it hit in L'Aquila, about 70 miles from Rome, a 6.3 - did a lot of damage. We were lucky enough not to be affected, Kristina and I didn't even wake up/feel it, but others in our hostel said they did. Anyway, on a happier note, Rome was amazing. My favorite city in Italy. We had a good 3 days there and used every minute of it! We walked the streets/hopped "free" buses wherever we could, and braved the metro once, and only once. There are two, yes, 2 metro lines in Rome, and it's a total fiasco. One of the main things I noticed about that country is that things are pretty badly run/disorganized, they don't even clearly mark things! I guess it's something I had taken for granted being in the US where everything is essentially bran spankin' new compared to here. For example we went to the Uffizi museum in Florence, which had obtained paintings before our country existed, kinda weird to think about...

Anyway, Rome, as I was saying, was a blast. We went to the Vatican, saw St. Peters, the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and checked out many cool neighborhoods and Piazzas. The pizza was delicious there, but the best gelato we had was definitely Florence - I randomly ran into a girl from Whitman there (totally by accident, so fun!) and we ended up going out with other Whitties who were studying abroad there AKA they showed us the best gelato, EVER. Oh I'm getting side tracked...

One of my favorite things in Rome was one night when Kristina and I were wandering another adorable street near the Piazza Navona, we ran into two of the coolest thrift stores I've ever seen. They were just chock-full of everything from leather bags belts and cowboy boots to beautiful 50s dresses, hats, old converse shoes, great scarves, dirt-bike suits, you name it. We had a blast going through everything and at closing, the owner who had been chatting with us invited us to stay for wine after they closed! So we did of course. We sat around with him, his wife, their son, his friend and their two dogs, talking in a combination of English Italian and Spanish to get our points across, it was pretty fun.

I noticed that most people in Italy spoke at least a little English - even when I would try and ask things in Italian I would get an immediate response in English, like I had "dumb American" written across my forehead. But in the end it was easier that way, and when they didn't speak English it was fun to try and say things in Spanish/what I thought might be the Italian equivalent, I probably sounded idiotic at times, but it was fun nonetheless.

Best food in Rome: a slice of mozzarella, basil and tomato pizza (they cut it with scissors and weigh it for the price), and ricotta-nutella dessert calzone. yum.

We headed up to Siena on our way to Florence and were there pretty much all day. It was an adorable city in the Tuscan country side: lots of winding, cobblestone roads, old buildings, a cute piazza, and the best food we ate. We found a restaurant our guide book (which a girl in our Rome hostel handed down to us) and I say found because it was IMPOSSIBLE to find - tucked up in some corner of something they thought they could call a street. But it was worth it! Kristina had the fattest spaghetti I've ever seen, chewy, delicious, and home made that morning. I had a bow-tie pasta with artichokes and thyme, and oh my god. Just the simplest ingredients and flavors, the Italians really know what they're doing.

We rented bikes and attempted a "ride in the Tuscan countryside". We were wearing jeans and not at all ready to take on the hills we were about to face, and thus went about half the distance we had planned, but it was still fun and amazingly gorgeous. Just a mile or two out of Siena and you're in the countryside, winding through the roads and enjoying the scenery. It was so green! Unfortunately we were too early for all the blooming flowers but it was still breathtaking. We found a nice field and stopped for an orange. It was great.

Best food in Siena: the lunch I mentioned, SOOOO good.

That evening we bused to Florence and upon arrival were told by the lovely man at the hostel that they were overbooked, even though we had made our reservations a month earlier. SO, with little help from him, we went about the streets of Florence, assaulting every group of Americans until we found some staying in a hostel! And that worked out nicely - out of all the hostels we stayed in, the ones we booked the night of, not knowing anything, were the best.

We did Florence in a day. We crossed the Ponte Vecchio and climbed Piazza Michelangelo for a great view of Florence, and headed back down to the Uffizi, where a man gave us a free ticket! Kristina had the brains to march on in and ask if she could get another one with this one that "she had already reserved" and we paid 10 euros and walked right in, bypassing the line and everything. It was AWESOME. After enjoying the Uffizi we headed over, through some popular piazzas, to the Galleria Academia which houses Michelangelo's David. Got there an hour before closing, waited in line 15 minutes, and had the rest of the time to enjoy Him. The David was amazing, I was taken aback by him, definitely my favorite piece of art (Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine of God giving life to Adam was also up there). I spend a good half hour gazing up at the statue, and happened to look over and see a familiar face! It was my friend Liz from Whitman, who is studying abroad in France and was also on spring break in Italy. What a coincidence. We went out that night and the next day with more Whitties and had a blast, seeing the less touristy parts of the city.

One of my favorite things was spending an hour on the Ponte Vecchio that night, listening to an Italian singer/guitarist do his thing. He was amazing, great voice, could have been there for hours if it weren't for the cold... and I could smell the waffles down the street...

Best food in Florence: a seafood dinner we had at a fish restaurant (spaghetti with clams and muscles and a shrimp risotto) and home-made gelato, the REAL stuff.

We headed out the next morning to Verona, a nice stop on the way to Venice. We saw the cute piazzas/food markets, got fruit cups, checked out Juliet's Balcony and climbed and hill/archaeology museum/roman theatre to get a great view of the city. It was very cute, but small - we were only there about 4 hours. It was fun walking around there and seeing old tombs/ruins every once in a while.

Best food in Verona: snacks from the market-a fried ball shaped "thing" with rice meat and veggies inside...still a mystery

We trained to Venice that evening and got in just in time for one of the last Vaporettos (water bus-the only form of public transportation) to our hostel. I. LOVED. VENICE. What a beautiful, unique place to be. The main thing we did in Venice was wander...we would get lost, find our way, get lost again etc, and that was the best way to see some cool parts of the city and escape all the tourists. The Duomo was amazing, the floor completely covered in mosaic tiles, and the walls and ceiling all gold mosaics, it was absolutely beautiful. We fed pigeons in St. Marco's square and found a great leather shop on the Rialto bridge, where they make everything in the attic. We also made it out to Murano, the island famous for it's glass. We got to see a glass-blowing demonstration where a middle-aged guy in a tight blue shirt, jean shorts, flip flops and a gold chain hummed and worked scorching hot glass like it was nothing. The cute salesman inside the store convinced both of us to get gifts, I guess he was good at his job!

We went back the next day to see more glass blowing demonstrations, and so Kristina could get more gifts for friends ;) We also found a gelato place (in our guide book) that was pretty famous and really delicious. I went back for a second cone...

Best food in Venice: scallops au gratin and that gelato...both times

And that concludes Italy! It was full of fun and adventure and beauty and my feet were SO glad to return to Madrid (to think, I was complaining at the beginning of the year of how much I walk here!). This week I've been trying to catch up and plan trips for the future...my parents come to visit in May and we're heading up to La Rioja (the wine country of Spain) and Barcelona, and shortly after that (and finals) I go to London, meet with my friend Katie there, and we head over to Sweden for the summer internship!

I did get the chance to go out last night and see some friends who I haven't seen in a while. A lot of them help out with the organization that plans all the trips/events for the international students, so I know them from past trips etc. They are all Spaniards who have already done their semester abroad. We chatted over chips, olives, pizza and "calimocho" (red wine and coca cola, disgusting combination and total waste of red wine, but "the drink" for youth in Spain) and I got to practice my Spanish again, which was refreshing. Even though I'm taking classes in Spanish etc, being with people your age who are speaking the language amongst themselves, as friends, is totally different. It's a lot faster, there is a lot more slang, and it's harder to keep up, but I did ok and had a really good time seeing all of them.

I need to go do some actual homework now! I'm still interning at the bilingual school and it's a blast, working on an evolution unit right now, and continuing with conversation classes. My classes at the university are good, but seem to be getting harder...things are just getting down to the wire so I've got a lot more to do/turn in now! But it's all good! Still having lots of fun. I'll post pics and try to do the captions, we'll see how it goes...

Ciao!
Alex


Ok, that took me like an hour, so I'll leave you hanging at Florence, Siena and Rome to come, must sleep...

Lots of traveling...

Some of the Fallas


The city of the arts and sciences

La Virgen made of flowers

The burning of a Falla

The soccer stadium

San Sebastian - Cantabrian Sea from a hill-top


Pinxtos :)

The Guggenheim museum


makes time FLY! I can't believe it's been a month since I last wrote, time is flying by, but what a blast.

I went to Valencia 3 weeks ago to see Las Fallas, and it was a lot of fun. My boyfriend from Whitman, Nick, came to visit and we jetted off (via bus) right away to the east. Valencia was a cute city, had more of the Andalucia-southern Spain-relaxed feel about it, but it was bustling with tourists and locals, everyone there perusing the beautiful wood statues. It was a lot more of a festival than I was expecting - we were constantly just walking with the flow of traffic, it was difficult to go at any other pace, but it was enjoyable! The wood statues are actually wood frames surrounded by a mix of card board, paper mache and intricate paint jobs, and inside they are filled with fireworks-thus the "burning" of the statues is actually an explosive party. Artists work on them all year, and they are put on display all over the city for the whole week, and the last night they are all burned! Nick and I really enjoyed just walking around and seeing the different statues, trying Paella Valenciana (paella is a rice dish and in Valencia they serve it mixed with chicken, rabbit, and sometimes snails!) and experiencing a new city. We spent a good 5 hours walking to and from the beach, dipped our toes in the Mediterranean, got delicious Italian food, and saw the amazing City of the Arts and Sciences, a "museum" that has 4 different centers (it's huge!), and is almost as enjoyable to see from the outside as it is from within (all white, beautiful architecture). We got a good spot the last night (the night of the burnings) in the main square to watch the biggest Falla burn - that was by accident, since we thought it was at 12 but it wasn't until 1am. But it was fun nonetheless - you could feel the heat from the statue once it was on fire, it was intense! And the fireworks show that started it off was very cool, so close to us! One of the pieces had a malfunction and came burning down a little early, caused a (slightly scary) sudden movement of everyone in front of me...aka like 1000 people, but it all turned out fine. All in all Valencia was a blast! It was unlike anything I've seen before, and we really took advantage of everything. Oh and one more thing - the people all dress in the traditional costumes, women with Princess Leah hair and hoop skirts under their floral and lace dresses, men in indescribable clothes that reminded me of "Shrek" in a terrible mix-up with a pirate. They would play music and march down the streets, all going in the direction of La Virgen, a HUGE wooden statue of the virgin, where all the flower bouquets were placed in color-specific patterns to construct her dress etc, pretty cool...

Once Nick and I got back to Madrid it was time to show him around! We did lots of walking and bike riding, seeing the city by day and night. I introduced him to the culture of tapas and canas (small beers) and I think he appreciated that. I also took him to a soccer game! My first one - that was WAY cool. The stadium is HUGE, and filled with people yelling and eating sunflower seeds and not caring where the shells go. We were in the cheap sets, properly labeled the "vomitorio" on our tickets, and I think they were the best seats in the house! You could see the whole stadium and still tell what was going on down below on the field. Way fun.

Last weekend I went on a school-organized trip to the north of Spain - San Sebastian. On the way up we stopped in Burgos for lunch, and on the way back we went to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim museum. All very cool. I was SOSOSO happy to see lots of GREEN! I hadn't realized how much I missed it. The north of Spain is precious. On the bus ride there we saw lots of little towns tucked away in the green hillsides, and sheep farms around all of them. San Sebastian is a tranquil city, with the mountains in the background and the Cantabrian Sea to it's side. Just a wonderful place, I really hope I can go back. San Sebastian (and most of the north in the basque country) is known for the Pinxtos ("Pinchos") which are like tapas, but really extravagant and usually bigger. They line the bar, and you pick the few you want and pay for each one individually. Very fun and visually appealing, but I like plates of greasy free tapas better ;)
We explored the downtown and climbed a hill right on the sea to watch the sunset, one of the most beautiful days I've ever experienced. We didn't pass up the opportunity to go to a disco right on the beach, that was way fun. I was sad to leave, but the Guggenheim on the way back was pretty cool! The building itself is a masterpiece, way cool. And I liked some of the exhibits...it's bound to be funky and difficult to understand, but there were a few that I REALLY liked. All in all - I'm totally in love with the north of Spain. A friend of mine wants to rent a car and go camping in Galicia, which is the very north-west corner(above Portugal) so if we can find time, that should be pretty cool!

I leave tonight for ITALY!!! I'm going with a girl I met at the university, Kristina from Texas. We have a week and a half off for Semana Santa, so we're taking advantage of it! We're both super organized so I think it should be a good trip filled with too much to do. We fly into Rome tonight, spend a few days there, will stop at Siena on our way to Florence, spend a few days there, see Verona on the way to Venice, and after 2 days there, head up north to Bergamo to fly out. Should be pretty fun!!! I'm SO excited, Italy is top top on my list of places I want to visit, so it's pretty cool I'm getting to do it! Lots to come with pictures and stories I'm sure.

Hope all is well wherever you are, talk to you soon!
Alex

Lots of fun things...

...and very little time for blog updates (and homework!), but here it goes...

Hi everyone! These past two weeks in Madrid have flown by. I've been going to classes and still get surprised by people who come in 30 minutes late (although I plead guilty to that now) and professors leaving to answer their cell phones. Nonetheless I'm enjoying them a lot. Regional Geography has looked at a lot of cool places and we're heading into the US, Europe, Asia and Africa in the next weeks. My History of Theater class is always really interesting and I went to a play last week! It was "La vida es sueno" (Life is a dream) by the famous play-write Calderon. It was a very cool rendition, lot's of modern dance and music was incorporated, and I understood almost everything so I was pretty proud of that! Another friend of mine is studying in Madrid (at a different school with a different program) and I met up with him to see the play. My History of Latin America prof (for some reason) really likes me to participate and is always calling on me...it's always SUPER nerve-racking to talk in class, especially since there are other international students and I want to impress everyone or at least hold my own, but I'm glad because I'm speaking more than I normally would and it's good practice.

I keep playing volleyball with the girls and boy's school teams and that's been a blast. They all invited me to go to a bar with them last weekend for beers tapas and to watch the "futbol" game. It was the two Madrid teams - Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid, and as 6 of the 7 people at my table were rooting for Real Madrid, I was rooting for Real Madrid. The bar was packed and every goal was a huge uproar, it was pretty fun. I'm loving my Flamenco class...it's lots of footwork and quick expressive movements so I always feel like I'm acting (and tripping over myself) but I'm having a blast. One of the spaniards in the class, Andrea, has a friend who lives on the coast in a city called Alicante, and she invited me to go there with her for a weekend! So I hope it happens because Alicante is supposed to be a beautiful city, famous for it's beaches and paella, and it would be SO COOL to hang out with some nice spanish girls for the weekend.

I'm going to Valencia next week for Las Fallas which is a 4-day festival in which the whole city has mass burnings of wood statues...weird right? It's a really old tradition, and people make all these wood statues and then they burn them for the festival. Should be pretty cool but different.

One of the reasons I'm so busy now-a-days is because on top of my normal school work and activities, I've started an internship! I'm working at a bilingual secondary education school, and I'm helping out teachers of all different subjects and age groups, with a focus on the science classes. I'm having a blast - the staff and teachers at the school are all really nice and thrilled to have "a native speaker" there helping them out, so I get to see what teaching is like and the kids get talks from a native, a win-win situation. I'm giving a lecture on Neo-darwinism on Wednesday, leading a conversation class with kids who aren't in the bilingual program, and interviewing 4 girls who are applying for scholarships to study in the US. Lot's going on! But I'm loving it and the kids are great.

Other than that I've been enjoying friends and the GREAT weather! We had a Russian dinner at my friend Anja's house the other day - SO delicious. I explored my neighborhood a little more and found out the HUGE soccer stadium in Madrid is about a 30 min walk from my house. The great park here (Retiro) has bike and roller blade rentals and some friends and I did that the other weekend, it was a total blast. We took a break by the lake and listened to about 20 guys all playing their bongos...way cool.

Basically I'm having a blast and way too busy and I love love love it. I'll let you know how Valencia is!!
~Alex

Trip to Granada

Hello to all!

Sorry it's been so long. Last weekend was an amazing trip to Granada in the south of Spain - the region known as Andalucia. It is famous for free tapas and the Alhambra, and we enjoyed both those things and more! The double-decker bus filled with international students arrived in Granada around 3 on Friday and I realized about 5 minutes after stepping off the bus that I was wearing a t-shirt, and I was fine! It was probably 70 degrees the whole time we were there, sunny and breezy. Basically PERFECT. We checked into the "Funky Hostel" which turned out to be really nice other than our heater not working night #2...I didn't sleep much. But anyway the whole hostel was white with a patio in the middle and lots of bridge-walkways and there was also a heated patio on the top where they served sangria and paella on night #2. I got to watch the chef and talk to him a little - he was from Buenos Aires! (where I did a 1-month culture study-aborad). And he cooked a mean paella.

We went on a walking tour of the city and saw the Cathedral and some cool plazas. At the cathedral entrance there were all these "gitanas" (gypsy-women) who would come up to you and try to give you rosemary "toma!" (take it!) but you're screwed if you take the bait. They grab your hand if you take the rosemary and talk to you for 5 minutes and then you have to buy it - I watched this processs on a tourist it was entertaining. That night we all got on a bus and drove up to the Arab neighborhood of Granada. It's characterized by all the white houses that have paitos and fountains and gardens. We walked the windy cobblestone roads until we came upon a beautiful view of the Alhambra lit by night. Granada was the last city to be re-captured from the Arabs and thus has a lot of Arab influence - the houses, the Arab shops that line the roads, the food and tea places - and you guessed it - the Alhambra! It's on the highest part of Granada and was both a look-out and a fortress/palace for the royal family. It was quite a sight by night and equally amazing by day. But beore visiting it on Saturday we finished our Friday night with a Flamenco show!

Now that was something. I still hadn't seen Flamenco in Spain and this was quite the first experience. The whole group piled into a long skinny room and sat down with our complementary sangria. Dancer after dancer came out and did their thing - it was so intense! I had no idea how much footwork is involved or really anything about the dance. There was a guitarist and a singer, and the music was very different. To me it sounded like the singers were crying out loud while they sang, it's not anything I'd heard before. There were mostly solos, girls and guys. One guy had a cane and did some crazy-fast footwork (I'll try to post the video). There was also a dance with four people using "castanuelas" which are these wood shells you have on your fingers and palm and you clank them together to different rhythms. All in all it was a very cool first flamenco show experience.

The next day was all Alhambra. We had a guided tour and started in the gardens, then went to the summer palace (apart from the main palace) and finally made our way to the heart of it all. The whole thing was absolutely amazing. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were on top of the world, taking it all in. The only 2 sounds were birds chirping and water flowing and that made for a very peaceful tour. A lot of the Alhambra has been restored but where there was color - blue, red and I think green - those details were all original. I was taken away by the precision and detail. Every room, every wall, every corner, had a different and equally intricate design. Orange trees were scattered all over and throughout the Alhambra (and Granada) and added a nice touch. After the 3 hour tour we walked up to the look-out tower and saw some beautiful views of Granada. It was perfect. We spent the rest of the day and Sunday walking the streets of Albyzin (the Arab neighborhood), soaking up the sun in the plaza and perusing the Arab shops. It was a great trip - I got to see 2 of the things top on my list - the Alhlambra and Flamenco! The great food, idiosyncratic Albyzin and perfect weather helped too :)

I am continuing to meet new people at the university and am forging on with my classes. I like my beginning flamenco class but it's hard! I'm in the second semester of beginning flamenco so I came in behind, but I like it because we're moving quickly and I feel like I'm learning a lot. Tomorrow the son of my host parents is coming with his wife for lunch and of course I'm invited so that should be fun. Then Madrid celebrates CARNIVAL - I think we'll dress up and join the parade tomorrow night. After that I'm cooking a chinese dinner with friends, and on Sunday I'm going to go on a walk with my host mom in the neighborhood and she's going to show me all her favorite places! So other than the homework I eventually have to find time to do, it should be a fun weekend.

Espero que todos pasen un buen finde!
Ciao,
~Alex

Day trip to Toledo

Hola!

Today the international students went to Toledo, an adorable medieval city about an hour south of the Madrid city center. It was the capital of Spain over 300 years ago and so we saw the castle where the king and queen once lived. Toledo was conquered by Muslims a long time ago and some of the mosques still stand which offered a unique taste to the scenery. It was very picturesque, somewhat like Segovia in that all the streets were cobblestones and windy (and hilly!). All the cars there are stick-shift and I can't even imagine trying to drive - especially through the masses of tourists! But they managed. Anyway it was a beautiful little town with a lot of history and all in all a great 5 euro day trip! I think the best part - well there were two. One was the cathedral. It's the biggest one in Spain and pretty famous. I was taken away by how beautiful it was inside. We weren't allowed to take photos so I tried to sneak one, I'll post the only one what wasn't blurry! But the detail was amazing. A HUGE organ in the middle and this section adorned in gold where the choir sings. There was a room inside that had on display all the old traditional clothing of the bishops. Some of them were older than our country! It was mind boggling.
There was also a building that was being rennovated. It used to be the old look out tower, and the front wall is adorned with little chips out of the stone - bullet holes from invaders. Very cool.

I'll post a picture of the view of the town, one part of the inside of the cathedral, and the building with the bullet holes! Hope you enjoy.

Hasta luego, ciao!
~Alex