So last weekend we went to the Canary Islands and it was absolutely incredible! The Canary Islands are technically part of Spain, although the are located off the western coast of Africa, and as such have an incredible climate :) It was 85-90 degrees and sunny all weekend and very enjoyable!
On Thursday night I had gone to the Tallest Man on Earth concert with my Spanish friend Alejandra (which was INCREDIBLE by the way) and got back home at about 11:30 p.m. Then we met at 5 a.m. on Friday morning to go to the airport so I was a just a little bit sleepy... haha but anyway the flight was about 3 hours and it was my first time flying Ryanair which was interesting. They talk over the intercom the entire time and try to sell things the whole flight so it was a bit obnoxious and impossible to sleep but oh well we were heading to the Canary Islands so I was too excited to sleep anyway! We arrived at 9 a.m. Canary Island time and headed straight to the beach where we got on a catamaran and went to go whale watching. We ended up running into a group of about 20 dolphins and they swam underneath and around our boat for over a half an hour, playing, jumping, and watching us. It was truly incredible and so beautiful. Then we headed to have have lunch and... RODE CAMELS. It was an interesting experience. I thought it seemed kind of sad because they camels just sit there chained to each other, getting up when needed, having to sit when not, but our director told us that it's a very important part of the Canary Island culture because camels were used there in the old days and that they're treated fine and all that. Anyway then we headed back to our hotel and were free to do what we wanted for the night so me and the girls went out to dinner and then came back and crashed at about 10:30.
On Saturday, we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel and left on the bus at 9 a.m. We went to walk around a small town and see some of the sights there. Then we started the drive up into the mountains. We went to the peak of the volcano Teide, which is about 13,000 feet high and is the third highest volcano in the world. We could only drive so far, and then we took a cable car up to the top and then it was about a half hour hike to the very top. The view from the top is probably the most impressive thing I've seen in my life. You could see the other Canary Islands around us!! It really was beautiful and I had a moment thinking about Grandpa and how he would have loved to see this being the mountain man that he was :) I really loved it and I wish that I could have shared the experience with my family. After coming down, we stopped to have some lunch (we were starving after that hike!!) and then headed to the capital of the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz, to see that city. We did a bus tour of the city, and then went to a pizzeria for dinner as a group and had (a lot of) beer and pizza. We made it back to the hotel, showered, and a few of us went out to have a drink but we were pretty exhausted so we made it back pretty early again and went to sleep.
On Sunday, we didn't have to leave the hotel for the airport until 2 p.m. so we got up at 9 and had breakfast and then headed to the beach. The beach was black sand and it was sooooo beautiful. The pictures really don't do it justice. It also made your skin super soft we were all rubbing it all over our skin to exfoliate (hahaha) :) Then we headed back to the hotel to head back to chilly Madrid :(
Overall it was a truly amazing weekend. The culture, climate, etc. (and accent) there is very similar to those I've seen in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It was nice to get out of the city and into nature for a while. I took so many pictures and they're all incredible that it would take too long to try to put them in this entry, so I'm including a public link to my facebook album so that you can take a look at them all. If the link doesn't work, leave me a comment and I'll try something else. Hope you enjoy them!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3714659917500.2132008.1605750104&type=1&l=b22b758c9c
Monday, October 15, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Freiburg and Sam!!!
So... here goes the post about my most exciting weekend since I've been here... going to see Sam in Germany!!!
I left Madrid at 3 on Thursday and flew to Frankfurt, then took the train from Frankfurt to Freiburg and arrived there at about 10:30. Sam picked me up from the train station and we went to meet up with his friends and went to their student bar.
Then on Friday, Sam and I walked all around Freiburg until he had class. We had some delicious pastries for breakfast and then had some currywurst(?) for lunch which was really good. We met up with two of his friends and shared a pitcher of beer. Then I walked around and did a little bit of shopping while he had class. Later on we went out to dinner at the restaurant where his friend worked and he ordered me wienerschnitzel, which is a typical German dish I guess, and it was delicious. The restaurant was next to this huge beautiful church so we sat outside and just sat, ate, enjoyed wine (Sam, beer) and talked. Then we met up with a couple of his friends and had a drink at two different bars.
On Saturday we slept in a bit and then went and got pizza and pasta for lunch and ate outside in a really cute courtyard. Then went up into the mountains there which was incredibly beautiful. It was very cloudy and a little chilly and just drizzling a tiny bit, but the clouds made the view of the mountains and the forest sooooo beautiful and since it wasn't really great weather there was hardly anyone there so it was very romantic :) It was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Since there wasn't really anyone around we couldn't ask someone to take a photo of us but we took a few selfies haha. We also stopped to get gelato on the way back which was sooo yummy. I had lost my voice almost completely the night before since I'm sick, so in order for me to recuperate a bit, we just came back and watched Bridesmaids and took a nap. Then we got up and went to get groceries and took them to Brandt's apartment to make dinner. We were super fancy and had wine (that was 2 euro for a bottle of red and 1.60 euro for a carton of white!!!!), cheese, apples, and bread for appetizers and then Sam made some chicken and vegetables in a tomato/wine sauce for dinner which was equally good! Then we just sat around and drank some more wine (beers for Sam and Brandt) and chatted.
On Sunday Sam and I walked around Freiburg a bit more and he showed me some more stuff and then we sat and had cappuccinos and talked and then went to get flammkuchen for lunch which is sort of like a thin crust pizza and it was delicious. Sam then had a second hankering for gelato so we split a cone :) Then we came had to say goodbye since I had to leave from the Freiburg train station at 3 :(
I finally made it back to my apartment in Madrid at 11 pm on Sunday (note to self: never leave that late in the afternoon on Sunday!!) and was EXTREMELY sick. But the infection of the pharynx (yes, that's what I have, I went to the doctor today finally) I got while there was well worth it :) It was soooo incredible to see Sam again and just made me even more sure that we'll make it through this year just fine.
I just want to say thank you to my parents (and Sam's). We appreciate it sooooooooooooooooo much how much you guys are supporting us in traveling to see each other or just with our friends this year. This will surely be the most influential and rewarding year of our lives and we wouldn't be able to do it without you. I really can't say how much we appreciate it. I know you're both going to read this so I hope you know it! We love you so much!!
Well this weekend I'm off to Tenerife in the Canary Islands with my program... hehehe. It's going to be amazing I'm sure. I just hope I feel better by then... :/
Besitos!!!
I left Madrid at 3 on Thursday and flew to Frankfurt, then took the train from Frankfurt to Freiburg and arrived there at about 10:30. Sam picked me up from the train station and we went to meet up with his friends and went to their student bar.
Then on Friday, Sam and I walked all around Freiburg until he had class. We had some delicious pastries for breakfast and then had some currywurst(?) for lunch which was really good. We met up with two of his friends and shared a pitcher of beer. Then I walked around and did a little bit of shopping while he had class. Later on we went out to dinner at the restaurant where his friend worked and he ordered me wienerschnitzel, which is a typical German dish I guess, and it was delicious. The restaurant was next to this huge beautiful church so we sat outside and just sat, ate, enjoyed wine (Sam, beer) and talked. Then we met up with a couple of his friends and had a drink at two different bars.
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| We ate outside the restaurant in the blue building |
On Saturday we slept in a bit and then went and got pizza and pasta for lunch and ate outside in a really cute courtyard. Then went up into the mountains there which was incredibly beautiful. It was very cloudy and a little chilly and just drizzling a tiny bit, but the clouds made the view of the mountains and the forest sooooo beautiful and since it wasn't really great weather there was hardly anyone there so it was very romantic :) It was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Since there wasn't really anyone around we couldn't ask someone to take a photo of us but we took a few selfies haha. We also stopped to get gelato on the way back which was sooo yummy. I had lost my voice almost completely the night before since I'm sick, so in order for me to recuperate a bit, we just came back and watched Bridesmaids and took a nap. Then we got up and went to get groceries and took them to Brandt's apartment to make dinner. We were super fancy and had wine (that was 2 euro for a bottle of red and 1.60 euro for a carton of white!!!!), cheese, apples, and bread for appetizers and then Sam made some chicken and vegetables in a tomato/wine sauce for dinner which was equally good! Then we just sat around and drank some more wine (beers for Sam and Brandt) and chatted. 
On Sunday Sam and I walked around Freiburg a bit more and he showed me some more stuff and then we sat and had cappuccinos and talked and then went to get flammkuchen for lunch which is sort of like a thin crust pizza and it was delicious. Sam then had a second hankering for gelato so we split a cone :) Then we came had to say goodbye since I had to leave from the Freiburg train station at 3 :(I finally made it back to my apartment in Madrid at 11 pm on Sunday (note to self: never leave that late in the afternoon on Sunday!!) and was EXTREMELY sick. But the infection of the pharynx (yes, that's what I have, I went to the doctor today finally) I got while there was well worth it :) It was soooo incredible to see Sam again and just made me even more sure that we'll make it through this year just fine.
Well this weekend I'm off to Tenerife in the Canary Islands with my program... hehehe. It's going to be amazing I'm sure. I just hope I feel better by then... :/
Besitos!!!
Mountains in Spain!
This entry is way overdue, but two weekends ago (Saturday the 22nd) I went with my host mom and some of her friends to the mountains outside of Madrid. It was a really incredible time! The views were so beautiful. We hiked for probably about 5 hours in total and when we got to the peak, we could see Madrid on one side and Segovia on the other! It was very cool and it reminded me a lot of home and Wyoming.
Then on Sunday we went to see the "circo" (circus) which was incredible! I went again with my host mom and her friends and it's like an indoor event with people who do like the flying trapeze and all that cool stuff. It was really awesome! This is the link to the performance we saw if anyone wants to see what it was like. They have photos and videos of some of the performers so you should check it out :)
http://www.teatrocircoprice.es/web//index.php/espectaculos/view/210
Those were really the only eventful things that happened that week, unfortunately...
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| Argentina, Maria, Florida, Paloma, and me (the giant) |
Then on Sunday we went to see the "circo" (circus) which was incredible! I went again with my host mom and her friends and it's like an indoor event with people who do like the flying trapeze and all that cool stuff. It was really awesome! This is the link to the performance we saw if anyone wants to see what it was like. They have photos and videos of some of the performers so you should check it out :)
http://www.teatrocircoprice.es/web//index.php/espectaculos/view/210
Those were really the only eventful things that happened that week, unfortunately...
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Changes...
I'm going to add a longer entry later on today about some of the things I've been doing over the weekend, but for now I'm just going to give a brief update about what's going on with me overall and in Spain overall right now.
Yesterday in Spain there were protests in 5 plazas of Madrid, a few of which are just some odd blocks from where I live. These protests over the day became violent and several protesters, and police officers, were injured when people tried to press beyond the boundaries set by the police. If you're interested in reading a bit more about what went on, here's one site:
http://rt.com/news/spain-protests-parliament-crisis-942/
I'm sure you can find information about this anywhere though. Likely it's on the news in the U.S. Anyway, I wanted to go shopping to grab a couple winter items since the weather here dropped 30 degrees overnight and suddenly we were thrust into fall. My host mom was adamant that I not leave the house unless it was to go to class. I was thinking... okay I really just want to run to H&M really quickly, it's not going to take more than 45 minutes... but I heard the helicopters all day and then when I left for the Atocha Renfe train station I saw hundreds of people already gathered (at about 4:30 p.m. here) on Calle Atocha and Paseo del Prado.
When I was on my walk home (at about 8:00 p.m.) there were even more people gathered, and lots of police. I don't need to walk through any of it to get home so I really had no idea of how bad things were until I got home and my host mom was frantically calling her friends asking if they had gotten home okay since they live by some of the plazas where the protesting was happening. Then we watched the news and I started realizing how intense the protests had gotten.
So as if the unrest here with the protests isn't enough to make me not want to leave the house, this morning it was raining. Normally, I like when it rains back home because everything smells so fresh. Here... it stinks when it rains. Not to mention I've gotten a sore throat (yes, of course, right before I leave to go see Sam :/). Which was an experience in itself. I stopped by the pharmacy and told the pharmacist that I had a sore throat. She asked me if I had any other symptoms (cough, runny nose, fever, headaches, etc.) and I said no. She went behind the counter, got me two prescriptions, I paid 9 euros, she informed me on how to take them, and I was on my way. No doctor necessary! I thought it was pretty funny...
Anyway I'm still waiting to see if what they gave me is actually going to help... so far no. But I've been having lots of hot beverages, taking vitamins, drinking lots of water, taking cough drops, etc. Although doing this has proved no easy task!! I brought a big supply of vitamins with me, since I take them normally in the US and had a lot left, but here they are super expensive! Especially vitamin C. As for water... the water here from the tap is totally fine to drink. But there aren't any bubblers anywhere!!! It's made drinking water sort of difficult. I see people drinking cafe con leche ALL DAY but never see anyone drinking water. I don't get how they all are alive if no one stays hydrated. As for the hot beverages, ugh. Nothing here is really ever "hot." More like lukewarm. The coffee here is really espresso with a lot of milk which I have to add a ton of sugar to for it to taste normal. So the coffee is hot, but the milk comes from the fridge, ergo lukewarm coffee. I must admit I'm getting a little homesick for waking up at home to Dave's fresh prepared steaming hot chocolate raspberry coffee..............
Anyway I'll update later today with a post covering what I did over the last weekend with some pictures. Just thought I'd get some thoughts out today since I've had a lot on my mind last night and this morning.
Yesterday in Spain there were protests in 5 plazas of Madrid, a few of which are just some odd blocks from where I live. These protests over the day became violent and several protesters, and police officers, were injured when people tried to press beyond the boundaries set by the police. If you're interested in reading a bit more about what went on, here's one site:
http://rt.com/news/spain-protests-parliament-crisis-942/
I'm sure you can find information about this anywhere though. Likely it's on the news in the U.S. Anyway, I wanted to go shopping to grab a couple winter items since the weather here dropped 30 degrees overnight and suddenly we were thrust into fall. My host mom was adamant that I not leave the house unless it was to go to class. I was thinking... okay I really just want to run to H&M really quickly, it's not going to take more than 45 minutes... but I heard the helicopters all day and then when I left for the Atocha Renfe train station I saw hundreds of people already gathered (at about 4:30 p.m. here) on Calle Atocha and Paseo del Prado.
When I was on my walk home (at about 8:00 p.m.) there were even more people gathered, and lots of police. I don't need to walk through any of it to get home so I really had no idea of how bad things were until I got home and my host mom was frantically calling her friends asking if they had gotten home okay since they live by some of the plazas where the protesting was happening. Then we watched the news and I started realizing how intense the protests had gotten.
So as if the unrest here with the protests isn't enough to make me not want to leave the house, this morning it was raining. Normally, I like when it rains back home because everything smells so fresh. Here... it stinks when it rains. Not to mention I've gotten a sore throat (yes, of course, right before I leave to go see Sam :/). Which was an experience in itself. I stopped by the pharmacy and told the pharmacist that I had a sore throat. She asked me if I had any other symptoms (cough, runny nose, fever, headaches, etc.) and I said no. She went behind the counter, got me two prescriptions, I paid 9 euros, she informed me on how to take them, and I was on my way. No doctor necessary! I thought it was pretty funny...
Anyway I'm still waiting to see if what they gave me is actually going to help... so far no. But I've been having lots of hot beverages, taking vitamins, drinking lots of water, taking cough drops, etc. Although doing this has proved no easy task!! I brought a big supply of vitamins with me, since I take them normally in the US and had a lot left, but here they are super expensive! Especially vitamin C. As for water... the water here from the tap is totally fine to drink. But there aren't any bubblers anywhere!!! It's made drinking water sort of difficult. I see people drinking cafe con leche ALL DAY but never see anyone drinking water. I don't get how they all are alive if no one stays hydrated. As for the hot beverages, ugh. Nothing here is really ever "hot." More like lukewarm. The coffee here is really espresso with a lot of milk which I have to add a ton of sugar to for it to taste normal. So the coffee is hot, but the milk comes from the fridge, ergo lukewarm coffee. I must admit I'm getting a little homesick for waking up at home to Dave's fresh prepared steaming hot chocolate raspberry coffee..............
Anyway I'll update later today with a post covering what I did over the last weekend with some pictures. Just thought I'd get some thoughts out today since I've had a lot on my mind last night and this morning.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Settling In...
Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since my last entry but it's because I'm starting to settle into my classes and schedule and there really hasn't been that much going on. But here's a recap of my first week at the Universidad Carlos III.
We didn't end up getting our train passes so we had to apply for them individually a second time (which I did today with Argentina) and for now we just have to get the 10 trip ones. Anyway on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I have class starting at 9:00 so I have to get up around 7:00 and leave here by 8:05. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the train station, and then I have to walk about another 10 minutes (maybe a bit less) to get to the campus from the train station. So I usually arrive around 8:45 or 8:50. Friday I don't have class and Tuesday I just have one class at 5:45 so I usually leave around 4:45.
So far my classes are going fine. My language class and Coloquial Spanish class are actually EXTREMELY helpful as we've already gone over a ton of like real life situations so we're learning a lot of everyday conversation that I never learned in the U.S. Just like the more common way to speak and respond to people. So I'm really happy with those two classes. My Contemporary Spain class is actually really... dry, I don't know, just not fun. We've only so far talked about newspapers and tv channels and radio stations. But yeah idk. My History of Spain class is really hard. The professor just speaks SUPER fast for an hour and a half straight and I've taken at least 5 pages of notes every class and I don't even catch everything he says. So I think I'm going to buy a recording device or something. And lastly, my linguistics class, which is the direct enrollment. I've met a couple people in the class that are from Spain and I'm really liking the class so far, but we'll see.
Thursday I went on a nice long 3 hour walk with my host mom through the Parque del Retiro. I love going on walks with her because I'm learning my way around the city really fast and she knows SO much about the history of Madrid and Spain in general.
On Friday the group went on an excursion to the province of Segovia to go kayaking and to a small medieval village called Pedraza. It was sooo fun. The kayaking was great and it reminded me so much of Wyoming and Colorado. The Pedraza was also really cool because one of my favorite movies from when I was younger, Ever After, has a scene that is modeled after the Castilla de Pedraza so it was really cool to see.
Friday night I went out with the group, which I'm pretty much over now haha. But anyway then on Saturday I went shopping with some other girls from the group and then to get pizza for lunch, since Argentina was in Alcalá all day for her master's program. We also went to a tattoo and piercing shop because some girls want to get their noses pierced, but sadly they were busy so we're gonna go back later haha. Then I took Ian and Lauren on a walk through the Buen Retiro (since I'm a pro now) and then went home, had dinner with my host mom, and went to bed pretty early.
On Sunday I really wanted to go to the Hopper exhibit, since it was the last day, but when we got there it was all sold out already :( I was super sad. But then we went back to the Buen Retiro and rented the boats in the little pond thing and that ended up being super fun. Then we had a little picnic and I got home around 9, had dinner with my host mom, did some homework, and went to bed.
In other news, me and Sam have my trip to Freiburg to visit him all planned! I leave next week Thursday at 3:50 to fly to Frankfurt, and then I'm going to catch a train from Frankfurt to Freiburg and should arrive there at about 10 at night. In typical Sam style, he has a list of stuff for us to do. I'm sooooooooooooooo excited to see him. It hasn't been too hard being apart yet because we talk on skype or google hangout pretty much every day, but it really will be incredible to see him (and in Europe!). His dad is also helping us plan our next trip, which will start with him getting here in October and being in Madrid with his friends from Freiburg FOR A WHOLE WEEK!!!! And then me and him will leave Thursday the 18th to spend a long weekend in Paris. :) :) :) I'm very excited.
This Thursday we have the "Rock the Vote" event at the club Kapital which is an event for all the American students (free) and is sort of just an event for the elections upcoming. Not sure what's all happening there, but it should be cool. Then this weekend I'm going with my host mom and her friends to go hiking in the mountains, so I'll make sure I do another post next week around this time and let you guys know how all of that has gone. Then I'll be off to Germany for my first European excursion!!
Well that's all for now!
Un besito,
Jolene
We didn't end up getting our train passes so we had to apply for them individually a second time (which I did today with Argentina) and for now we just have to get the 10 trip ones. Anyway on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I have class starting at 9:00 so I have to get up around 7:00 and leave here by 8:05. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the train station, and then I have to walk about another 10 minutes (maybe a bit less) to get to the campus from the train station. So I usually arrive around 8:45 or 8:50. Friday I don't have class and Tuesday I just have one class at 5:45 so I usually leave around 4:45.
So far my classes are going fine. My language class and Coloquial Spanish class are actually EXTREMELY helpful as we've already gone over a ton of like real life situations so we're learning a lot of everyday conversation that I never learned in the U.S. Just like the more common way to speak and respond to people. So I'm really happy with those two classes. My Contemporary Spain class is actually really... dry, I don't know, just not fun. We've only so far talked about newspapers and tv channels and radio stations. But yeah idk. My History of Spain class is really hard. The professor just speaks SUPER fast for an hour and a half straight and I've taken at least 5 pages of notes every class and I don't even catch everything he says. So I think I'm going to buy a recording device or something. And lastly, my linguistics class, which is the direct enrollment. I've met a couple people in the class that are from Spain and I'm really liking the class so far, but we'll see.
 |
| En el Parque del Retiro |
Thursday I went on a nice long 3 hour walk with my host mom through the Parque del Retiro. I love going on walks with her because I'm learning my way around the city really fast and she knows SO much about the history of Madrid and Spain in general.
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| A fountain en el Parque del Retiro |
On Friday the group went on an excursion to the province of Segovia to go kayaking and to a small medieval village called Pedraza. It was sooo fun. The kayaking was great and it reminded me so much of Wyoming and Colorado. The Pedraza was also really cool because one of my favorite movies from when I was younger, Ever After, has a scene that is modeled after the Castilla de Pedraza so it was really cool to see.
Friday night I went out with the group, which I'm pretty much over now haha. But anyway then on Saturday I went shopping with some other girls from the group and then to get pizza for lunch, since Argentina was in Alcalá all day for her master's program. We also went to a tattoo and piercing shop because some girls want to get their noses pierced, but sadly they were busy so we're gonna go back later haha. Then I took Ian and Lauren on a walk through the Buen Retiro (since I'm a pro now) and then went home, had dinner with my host mom, and went to bed pretty early.
On Sunday I really wanted to go to the Hopper exhibit, since it was the last day, but when we got there it was all sold out already :( I was super sad. But then we went back to the Buen Retiro and rented the boats in the little pond thing and that ended up being super fun. Then we had a little picnic and I got home around 9, had dinner with my host mom, did some homework, and went to bed.
This Thursday we have the "Rock the Vote" event at the club Kapital which is an event for all the American students (free) and is sort of just an event for the elections upcoming. Not sure what's all happening there, but it should be cool. Then this weekend I'm going with my host mom and her friends to go hiking in the mountains, so I'll make sure I do another post next week around this time and let you guys know how all of that has gone. Then I'll be off to Germany for my first European excursion!!
Well that's all for now!
Un besito,
Jolene
Saturday, September 8, 2012
After a week...
I realize it's been a while since my last post, but this week we had such long days with orientation that I would come home and crash at night. So this will be a fairly long post to cover the whole week, but we also did a lot of fun stuff that I have to tell you all about!
Sunday was our first real day of orientation. We met at the office (which is right next to el famoso museo nacional centro del arte Reina Sofia) at 10:00 and had presentations about various themes such as using the study center website and being safe and what to do in case of emergencies, bought our mobile phones, and were introduced to the network of students who are from Spain and go to la Universidad Carlos III with us and accompany us for various activities and volunteer their time to help us acostumbrarnos a la vida madrileña. Their names are Adriana, Alejandra, Almudena, Guillermo, and Carlos and they're all MUY majos (cool and nice). Then at night we did a walking tour of Madrid. It was right as the sun was setting so it was incredibly beautiful. We walked past important sites like el museo nacional del Prado, el Palacio Real (the royal palace), la catedral de Santa María la Real de La Almudena (a Catholic cathedral), la Plaza Mayor, etc. Then we stopped at a bar and had some tapas for dinner. We got home from dinner at about 12:30 and I went straight to bed!
Monday we started orientation at 9:00 and had presentations about our host families and being comfortable in our homes, classes, the university Carlos III, how to register for classes, and played a name game to make sure we all knew each others names. In our group, there are 13 students including myself. Some are from the east coast (Boston, New York), one from Tennessee, one from Georgia, California, Ohio, Portland, etc. For lunch we went to a restaurant called Ginger in la plaza de Angél. Then we had some more presentations at the office about the cultural agenda, excursions, internships, etc. At night we went to el Museo Sorolla to see a special exhibit. I thought it was a really cool museum. It's in the house where Joaquín Sorolla used to live and has a lot of his furniture there, obviously many of his paintings, and a beautiful garden. After going, I KNEW Dave would love it and I want to go with my family when they come :) Then we came home and I had dinner with mi anfintriona en casa at about 10:30, chatted for maybe an hour or so and then went to bed.
WEDNESDAY
We didn't have to come into orientation Friday at all, except that each of us had a 15 minute meeting with Senzeni (the director) to confirm our registration and print out our schedules. I'll be taking one required language class (I placed into the high advanced class), three CEH classes (which are classes with only international students but are taught in Spanish) History of Spain, Spain Today, and Colloquial Spanish, and one direct enrollment course General Linguistics. At 2:30 we met at Plot Point, which is a theatre school owned by one of the host families. We had some food, and did some activities with the people who work there. This is when things got really interesting! I got back to our apartment at about 6:00 and then me and my host mom got ready to go to one of her friend's birthday parties. We left at about 7:45 and their home is a 10 to fifteen minute drive outside of the city. About 30 people were there in total (I would guess) and it was incredible. First we sat (and stood) around a table and had some food, chatted, and drank. I got to meet all of Argentina's friends and talk to them a bit and they all told me a speak great Spanish, which made me VERY happy! Her friend Paloma, whose birthday it was, is a dancer of 13 years or so. She does like ethnic dancing sort of and she's REALLY good so her friends got her a brand new (gorgeous) orange skirt and top for dancing and a little wrap around scarf thing with jewels on it so it jingles when she shakes her hips (which she does a lot). As soon as she opened it everyone was like put it on put it on!! and of course she did. Then the tables got shoved to the side of the little garden so that there was room for dancing! Everyone was dancing for about an hour or so. It was really an incredible experience--a true fiesta Española! At about 11:00, they did a "magic trick" for the kids. Which was the they had four people lay in a square on chairs with their heads in the lap of the other person (hard to explain) and then they took the chairs out. I'll attach a picture, but it was adorable and all the kids were screaming "magia magia magia" which means magic. We got back to Madrid at about 11:30 I think so I met up with the rest of the group who were all at a bar getting ready to leave for a club. We went to a club in La Latina and I ended up catching a cab home earlier than most because I was tired.
SUNDAY
Sunday was our first real day of orientation. We met at the office (which is right next to el famoso museo nacional centro del arte Reina Sofia) at 10:00 and had presentations about various themes such as using the study center website and being safe and what to do in case of emergencies, bought our mobile phones, and were introduced to the network of students who are from Spain and go to la Universidad Carlos III with us and accompany us for various activities and volunteer their time to help us acostumbrarnos a la vida madrileña. Their names are Adriana, Alejandra, Almudena, Guillermo, and Carlos and they're all MUY majos (cool and nice). Then at night we did a walking tour of Madrid. It was right as the sun was setting so it was incredibly beautiful. We walked past important sites like el museo nacional del Prado, el Palacio Real (the royal palace), la catedral de Santa María la Real de La Almudena (a Catholic cathedral), la Plaza Mayor, etc. Then we stopped at a bar and had some tapas for dinner. We got home from dinner at about 12:30 and I went straight to bed!
MONDAY
Monday we started orientation at 9:00 and had presentations about our host families and being comfortable in our homes, classes, the university Carlos III, how to register for classes, and played a name game to make sure we all knew each others names. In our group, there are 13 students including myself. Some are from the east coast (Boston, New York), one from Tennessee, one from Georgia, California, Ohio, Portland, etc. For lunch we went to a restaurant called Ginger in la plaza de Angél. Then we had some more presentations at the office about the cultural agenda, excursions, internships, etc. At night we went to el Museo Sorolla to see a special exhibit. I thought it was a really cool museum. It's in the house where Joaquín Sorolla used to live and has a lot of his furniture there, obviously many of his paintings, and a beautiful garden. After going, I KNEW Dave would love it and I want to go with my family when they come :) Then we came home and I had dinner with mi anfintriona en casa at about 10:30, chatted for maybe an hour or so and then went to bed.
TUESDAY
We started orientation again at 9:00 and had presentations about making goals and how to achieve them, blogging for the CIEE website, more about the cultural agenda, using our UC3M email, and volunteering. There is a non-profit in Madrid called t-oigo which has American students go to the homes of young deaf children who have hearing aides and help teach them English! I think it sounds like a great program and I've emailed Dale, who presented to us, and hopefully will be starting to volunteer with them soon! At about 1:00, we went to the train station and took the train to la Universidad Carlos III for the first day of our orientation there. The University is GREAT. Their library is SUPER cool, they have a brand new gym that is really nice, and the campus is pretty and not too big that I'll get lost. I didn't take any pictures, but if you're interested in seeing what the university is like the website is uc3m.es. It's a short train ride to Getafe, which is south of Madrid. We had lunch at the University and then had a guided tour of campus by Carlos and Guillermo. We then took our oral exams, which are part of our placement examination. We then had time to start registering or looking at classes in case we weren't sure yet which ones we wanted to take. We got back to Madrid at about 8:00 and had a little bit of time to rest and eat dinner and then it was off to bed.
 |
| Me, Lauren, Kendyl, and Jennifer in the Getafe train station after the first day of UC3M Orientation. |
Today we met at 8:30 at the train station to head to UC3M. We had orientation there until 4:00 at night. We listened to professors each give about a 20 minute presentation of their class, took the written portion of the placement exam, and had some time for lunch. At 7:00 we met to go on a tour of the neighborhood La Latina. It's a very popular neighborhood in the center of Madrid. After the tour, we went to a restaurant called La Turkana. All the profits of the restaurant go to a medical surgery project in Turkana, Kenya. The tapas were great and we had some cerveza and sangria and chatted with Adriana and Alejandra and then headed back to our homes at about 11:00.
THURSDAY
Thursday we met in the CIEE office at 9:00 for some presentations about a Moroccan exchange program, and Disfruta Madrid Más, which is a program that gives students discounts on all sorts of things. We left for UC3M at about 11:00 and continued there with hearing presentations by professors, had a break for lunch, and headed back to Madrid at about 6:00. At 7:00, we met to go to the Teleferico, which is basically a cable car that takes you a few miles out of Madrid and back so you have some fantastic views of the entire city. Then we went to el Parque del Oeste (West Park) to check out some of the sites there and have a picnic. It again was perfectly timed at sunset and was a really pretty walk through the park. The picnic was fun too! Then as a group we went out to a couple bars in la plaza de Tirso de Molina and in Lavapiés to have some drinks. We met up with a few friends of one of our group members who are studying at a different university in Madrid and went out to a bar with them as well. Three bars in one night, you're wondering?! Yes. It was a long night. I made it back home at about 4:00 a.m. and was surprised that we were some of the first to be heading home. La vida madrileña......
FRIDAY
We didn't have to come into orientation Friday at all, except that each of us had a 15 minute meeting with Senzeni (the director) to confirm our registration and print out our schedules. I'll be taking one required language class (I placed into the high advanced class), three CEH classes (which are classes with only international students but are taught in Spanish) History of Spain, Spain Today, and Colloquial Spanish, and one direct enrollment course General Linguistics. At 2:30 we met at Plot Point, which is a theatre school owned by one of the host families. We had some food, and did some activities with the people who work there. This is when things got really interesting! I got back to our apartment at about 6:00 and then me and my host mom got ready to go to one of her friend's birthday parties. We left at about 7:45 and their home is a 10 to fifteen minute drive outside of the city. About 30 people were there in total (I would guess) and it was incredible. First we sat (and stood) around a table and had some food, chatted, and drank. I got to meet all of Argentina's friends and talk to them a bit and they all told me a speak great Spanish, which made me VERY happy! Her friend Paloma, whose birthday it was, is a dancer of 13 years or so. She does like ethnic dancing sort of and she's REALLY good so her friends got her a brand new (gorgeous) orange skirt and top for dancing and a little wrap around scarf thing with jewels on it so it jingles when she shakes her hips (which she does a lot). As soon as she opened it everyone was like put it on put it on!! and of course she did. Then the tables got shoved to the side of the little garden so that there was room for dancing! Everyone was dancing for about an hour or so. It was really an incredible experience--a true fiesta Española! At about 11:00, they did a "magic trick" for the kids. Which was the they had four people lay in a square on chairs with their heads in the lap of the other person (hard to explain) and then they took the chairs out. I'll attach a picture, but it was adorable and all the kids were screaming "magia magia magia" which means magic. We got back to Madrid at about 11:30 I think so I met up with the rest of the group who were all at a bar getting ready to leave for a club. We went to a club in La Latina and I ended up catching a cab home earlier than most because I was tired. 
So far today, me and Argentina both slept in til about 11:00 and then had some breakfast. Then we went through the supermarket to pick up a few things and she explained more to me about things like the differences in milk, jam, and olive oil. We also went all around the neighborhood so she could show me the ferreteria, panaderia, farmacia, papeleria, etc. Then we got back at about 4:00 and ate lunch. Now we're just both on our computers and listening to music. I think tonight we're going out with some of the spanish students, Adriana and her friends.
Hopefully this post wasn't too long! I'll try to post a little more frequently from now on :)
¡Un saludo!
Jolene
Saturday, September 1, 2012
¡El primer día en Madrid!
¡Hola hola!
Well my first night in Madrid is coming to a close so I'm going to give you all a summary of what's happened thus far. I left Milwaukee at noon (August 31st) and flew to Philadelphia. The flight is about two hours, which isn't bad at all normally, but I was unfortunate enough to be sitting next to someone who weighed about 400 pounds and had terrible body odor, so it seemed horribly long. Needless to say, I was relieved to get off even though I had a three hour layover in Philadelphia. Side note: the wifi at the Philadelphia airport (at least in Terminal A where I was) is AWFUL. Anyway, we took off from Philadelphia at about 6:40 p.m. (5:40 Milwaukee time). This flight was even more exciting than the last. The guy sitting next to me was Spanish, but has worked in the U.S. and Spain both for several years and speaks perfect English. Anyway, his television didn't work so he notified the flight attendant and they restarted it. After they restarted it, it still didn't work so he pushed the button to request a flight attendant and the lady came up and was VERY rude to him saying that he should stop pushing buttons and that they would restart the television, even though he told her that another flight attendant had already done that and it didn't work. So they got into a bit of a row, even though the man was only asking her to report it as broken so that they don't seat someone there again who is intending to have something to do while on an almost 8 hour flight, and they presented him with a federal notification that he was threatening airline workers and blah blah blah so he asked for my email as a witness and it was a bit of a mess.
I took a bunch of stuff to try to fall asleep but maybe slept for an hour (of course). I arrived in Madrid at about 8:25 a.m. (1:25 a.m. Milwaukee time), made it through customs and got my bags very quickly, found the directors for the program and met my anfintriona (host mom), Argentina, and a few other girls from the program that arrived at the same time as me but on different flights and their anfintrionas. Argentina and I took a taxi to our barrio, Lavapiés, and had fun lugging my luggage up to her flat. After we finally got it up, we went out to get a café con leche y algunos churros. Yummy!! It's more typical to have them with hot chocolate, she told me, and after you're returning from the bars at about 6 a.m. but they were still good :) Then we walked around the neighborhood, up to la Plaza Mayor, and around different parts of the center of the city that Argentina wanted me to see. She quizzed me at almost every corner. She's so sweet and really doesn't want me to get lost!
At about 1:00 we returned to our piso and I unpacked my suitcases and set up my room! I love it, it's very cute. and I can't believe that I can fit a year's worth of clothes in my little armario. I'm a very good packer! Argentina made the typical dish, tortilla española, and some ensalada for lunch and we ate at about 3:00. Then I we talked for a while and both retired to our rooms for a nap. Argentina had just spent the last two months in Barcelona and had a long trip back to Madrid arriving only a few hours before me, so we were both tired. Then I got up, took a shower (which was probably the most refreshing of my life after that long trip!), and got ready to leave for orientation.
At orientation, we met all the other students and their host families, and then put together a map of the US to show where we are all from and introduce ourselves. We also went over some basics of living with your anfintriones and things like that. Then at about 9 we left to go out to dinner with the group. We ate at a restaurant in the center of Madrid and omg the food. We ate a lot and had some delicious desserts and drank some Sangria, and then left at about midnight. Argentina made me escort us home, even though I wasn't quite sure how. She said, just use your intuition. I didn't quite figure it out, she helped, but I'm glad she's making me familiarize myself so much with the streets! Anyway, when I was starting this post at about 1:00 a.m. there are soooo many people out. The windows here are always open to let in el aire fresco, which I absolutely love. And it's kind of fun to hear dogs and people and cars instead of the silence of the country in the Midwest that I'm used to.
In conclusion, needless to say, I love Madrid. My first day was fabulous and I can't wait to start the next!
Hasta luego! xoxo
Jolene
Well my first night in Madrid is coming to a close so I'm going to give you all a summary of what's happened thus far. I left Milwaukee at noon (August 31st) and flew to Philadelphia. The flight is about two hours, which isn't bad at all normally, but I was unfortunate enough to be sitting next to someone who weighed about 400 pounds and had terrible body odor, so it seemed horribly long. Needless to say, I was relieved to get off even though I had a three hour layover in Philadelphia. Side note: the wifi at the Philadelphia airport (at least in Terminal A where I was) is AWFUL. Anyway, we took off from Philadelphia at about 6:40 p.m. (5:40 Milwaukee time). This flight was even more exciting than the last. The guy sitting next to me was Spanish, but has worked in the U.S. and Spain both for several years and speaks perfect English. Anyway, his television didn't work so he notified the flight attendant and they restarted it. After they restarted it, it still didn't work so he pushed the button to request a flight attendant and the lady came up and was VERY rude to him saying that he should stop pushing buttons and that they would restart the television, even though he told her that another flight attendant had already done that and it didn't work. So they got into a bit of a row, even though the man was only asking her to report it as broken so that they don't seat someone there again who is intending to have something to do while on an almost 8 hour flight, and they presented him with a federal notification that he was threatening airline workers and blah blah blah so he asked for my email as a witness and it was a bit of a mess.
I took a bunch of stuff to try to fall asleep but maybe slept for an hour (of course). I arrived in Madrid at about 8:25 a.m. (1:25 a.m. Milwaukee time), made it through customs and got my bags very quickly, found the directors for the program and met my anfintriona (host mom), Argentina, and a few other girls from the program that arrived at the same time as me but on different flights and their anfintrionas. Argentina and I took a taxi to our barrio, Lavapiés, and had fun lugging my luggage up to her flat. After we finally got it up, we went out to get a café con leche y algunos churros. Yummy!! It's more typical to have them with hot chocolate, she told me, and after you're returning from the bars at about 6 a.m. but they were still good :) Then we walked around the neighborhood, up to la Plaza Mayor, and around different parts of the center of the city that Argentina wanted me to see. She quizzed me at almost every corner. She's so sweet and really doesn't want me to get lost!
At orientation, we met all the other students and their host families, and then put together a map of the US to show where we are all from and introduce ourselves. We also went over some basics of living with your anfintriones and things like that. Then at about 9 we left to go out to dinner with the group. We ate at a restaurant in the center of Madrid and omg the food. We ate a lot and had some delicious desserts and drank some Sangria, and then left at about midnight. Argentina made me escort us home, even though I wasn't quite sure how. She said, just use your intuition. I didn't quite figure it out, she helped, but I'm glad she's making me familiarize myself so much with the streets! Anyway, when I was starting this post at about 1:00 a.m. there are soooo many people out. The windows here are always open to let in el aire fresco, which I absolutely love. And it's kind of fun to hear dogs and people and cars instead of the silence of the country in the Midwest that I'm used to.
In conclusion, needless to say, I love Madrid. My first day was fabulous and I can't wait to start the next!
Hasta luego! xoxo
Jolene
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