Viajar y Pescado.

So, it´s been a pretty normal week. I had school all week and am now preparing for three tests next week. Yayyy. I have been planning out some trips, though. I bought my plane ticket for Barcelona this coming weekend. I´m super excited for that. Also, we have March 7th and 8th off for a Spanish fiesta called ¨Carnaval¨ during which I´m planning on traveling to London for four or five days. Then, the weekend of April 2nd, I´m going to see Enrique Iglesias in Paris! And, for the first week of spring break (April 16-22), I will be traveling in Greece and Italy. The second week of spring break, as most of you know, my parents are coming to visit me and we´ll be traveling around southern Spain in Andalucia. These trips are all in addition to the excursions we have with school. In two weeks, we are going to see things around Valladolid. At the end of March, we´re heading to Salamanca, and in April, we´re going somewhere where we can see nature in Spain, but the actual location is still undetermined. In May, we´re going to Santander. And this is probably not even all of the traveling I´ll be doing. It´s exciting now that I´m finally planning all my trips. I know that traveling will probably end up being my favorite part of this experience. I just cannot wait to get out and see the world!

Also, I have concluded that European chocolate is the best thing ever. The sweets here, especially the chocolate, are just amazing. I can´t get enough! I´m lucky I have to walk so much here, otherwise I´d probably get fat off of all the chocolate I´ve had. However, all the fish here is wearing me out, literally. We pretty much have fish with lunch and dinner every day. Normally, I love fish. A lot of people here don´t even like fish to begin with but I definitely do. However, I don´t know how much more fish I can take. It´s getting really excessive. I´ve heard from a few different sources in Eau Claire that eating too much fish can make a person really tired and if that´s true, it´s definitely doing that to me. I am constantly so tired and worn out. I never want to get out of bed in the morning and I have trouble staying up late. I know I´m not jetlagged anymore, so I´m blaming it on the fish. My roommate and I skipped dinner on Friday and went to search for McDonalds, just so we could have a break from the fish. Unfortunately, we couldn´t find McDonalds, so we settled for Burger King. American food has never tasted so good.

I have also been reading a lot here. On Sundays, everything is closed, as well as from 2:00-5:00pm every day for siesta. So during those times, there is really nothing to do. And since I don´t have the internet at home to distract me, I´ve been reading. I´m already halfway through my third book here. I really enjoy it though. I think the fact that we don´t have internet has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me. I´ve finally been able to catch up on reading all the books I´ve been wanting to read.

Anyway, I think I´m pretty adjusted now. Planning trips has helped to get rid of the ¨I want to go home¨ feeling, although I do still miss home. That probably will never go away. I´m always going to be missing my family and friends, but now that I´m here, I´m glad I was brave enough to do this. I know I´ll never regret it.

¡Segovia!

Yesterday, we went on our excursion to Segovia! It was so fun, and the city was really awesome. However, it was extremely cold out. Now I know that you guys are all probably saying ¨Yah right, try going outside here, in our 40 below weather!¨ But you probably weren´t outside all day long with crazy wind and not a very warm coat, so bear with me. I know I´m turning into a wimp being here compared to freezing Minnesota, but it did feel like Minnesota yesterday. Anyway, when we got there, the first thing we saw was Segovia´s famous Aqueduct, built in the first century. It is huge - 28 meters high and 800 meters large. It´s built from over 20,000 blocks and back then, they didn´t have cement, so it´s just the blocks; nothing to hold it together. After seeing the impressive aqueduct, we went on a tour around the city, seeing much of Segovia´s history, including La Casa de los Picos, a defensive palace tracing back to the 15th century, the statue of Juan Bravo, and the church of San Martin. We ended in their Plaza Mayor, at a huge Cathedral. Then we had three hours of free time so some of us decided to go in and see the Cathedral on the inside. It was pretty cool, but unfortunately, they didn´t allow photos to be taken, and also didn´t have the heat we were seeking. The cathedral is comprised of 23 individually decorated chapels. After leaving the cathedral, we stopped in a few shops and some people bought some souvenirs. Then, we walked around the city, seeing some incredible views and trying to take in the sun as much as we could to escape the cold. When we met back up with the group, we walked over to the Alcázar Castle. We got a tour of the castle, which also didn´t have heat, but was still impressive, and then climbed the enormous tower to finish with an amazing view of Segovia. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The view was just stunning. After we were finished seeing the castle, we were left with one hour of free time, during which we stopped in some stores and finally sat in a cafe and bar where I ate my first churros y chocolate! Oh my gosh, I think that might have been one of the most wonderful things I have ever tasted. It was so yummy. I´m definitely having more in the near future. All in all, it was a really fun day. Segovia is an awesome city and I can´t wait for my next trip! Possibly Barcelona in a couple weeks?

El Fin de Semana.

People have been bugging me to write another blog so here it is. This weekend was pretty low key. Friday night basically everyone in the program went out to see the bars and discotecas. We got back around 4 am (since everything is done much later here, 4 am is still early to go home). Saturday morning, Kelly and I went to a market that they have every Saturday here. It was pretty neat - there were lots of clothes, shoes, boots, scarves, jewelry, etc. for very cheap. I didn´t buy anything, but it´s nice to know that´s there. I also got to talk to my family on Skype on Saturday! That was very nice. I miss them, and everyone, so much. Sunday was low key to the extreme. We don´t get much homework here, and pretty much everything is closed on Sundays so I just sat around and read the whole day. My host mom made us paella on Sunday as well. She said that only on Sundays they eat paella here. For those who don´t know, paella is basically THE Spanish dish. It´s probably the most commonly known Spanish food as well. It´s kind of a big deal. It consists of rice and vegetables and usually seafood, but sometimes other meats. It´s very yummy.

Yesterday we went back to school and I got to talk to my family again! They weren´t working because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I wish they celebrated that here... Our class schedule changes pretty much weekly. We had one schedule last week that only lasted a few days, now we have one that will last for two weeks and then another one that will last two weeks after that. It´s different, but I like the variety.

My host parents have an adorable grandson named Arón who comes over in the mornings on weekdays. I don´t usually get to see him because I´m in school but today he came over later with his mom. The photos I put up are one of Arón and his grandpa, my host dad, and the other with his mom, Susana. It´s so cute when Arón is with his grandpa - you can so easily see how much my host dad loves him.

Hmm... not much else to report. I´m slowly beginning to adjust to life here. It´s still really different and I´m still homesick but it´s starting to become more normal. Getting excited for Segovia this weekend!

Gracias, Dioni.

It´s the weekend! I´m so excited to have a few days to take photos and shop and relax. Next weekend the group is going to Segovia. I´m very excited for that. I can´t wait to start traveling and seeing Europe! I´ve been keeping my eye on the 5€ flight deals. Yep, you read that right. Five euro. That´s like six bucks in the US, to fly somewhere and see something amazing. Definitely taking advantage of that and I´m hoping to take my first trip the weekend after next.

Valladolid is a really hard city to find your way around. If we didn´t have maps, we would probably never find our way home at night. The roads are very complicated and there are so many plazas that can easily confuse you. We´ve been going out to random plazas and such every night, just because there is really nothing to do at home. We just kind of sit around,especially since we don´t have wi-fi (pronounced [wee-fee] here). So everyone is usually around the city somewhere. Because we usually go out twice per day (after siesta and after dinner) and we walk half an hour to school and back, I now have huge blisters on my feet. Needless to say, we walk A LOT here. There are also dogs EVERYWHERE . I love it. Except it´s not acceptable to go up to someone and pet their dog, so I can only see them, but not play with them. I told my host mom I loved seeing all the dogs here and she replied, ¨I hate dogs.¨ So, no hope for getting a dog. Oh well. Also, everyone smokes here. I thought it was bad in Eau Claire but it´s probably ten times worse here. I can´t leave the apartment without getting a face full of smoke within seconds. I honestly feel like all the secondhand smoke I´m getting is risking my health. Luckily, no one in my family smokes because of my asthma and I am so glad I requested that. I didn´t realize that non-smoking people would be so rare here.

I had my Culture class today and learned that Spaniards get really annoyed when you say ¨thank you¨too much. She said it´s acceptable to say it once or twice to the same person but no more than that. That´s going to be a really hard thing to change. My host mom does so much for us and I´m constantly saying ¨thank you.¨ Really, sometimes I feel like I´m living with a maid. She cooks for us, doesn´t let us clean or do our dishes, brings us snacks when we´re sitting around at home, and always has food ready right when we get home. When we leave for school, we always make our beds, but when we´re gone, she remakes them. She also refills my water by my bed, collects our laundry and trash, and replaces our towels every day. When we first got here, she would walk us everywhere to make sure we didn´t get lost. She does so much for us and it´s really hard not to say thank you. In this culture, though, she sees it as her job to do all these things and it´s not necessary to thank someone for doing their job. I always feel bad that she´s doing so much work for us, but she does it out of her own free will, regardless of whether we need it. Very different.

I have been adjusting well to the culture, though. It´s already much easier than it was just a few days ago. I´m getting a hold on the way they speak Spanish and I understand a lot more of what Dioni is saying. I still am getting lost in the city, but I´m not so sure I´ll ever get to know the streets here.

Las clases y la comida.

Yesterday we started classes. It´s about a thirty minute walk to school, not too bad. Some people live super far away and have to take the bus. Our classes are divided up into trimesters, but we will only be there for two trimesters. The classes I have are: Grammar, Art, Oral Expression, Literature, History, Geography, and Culture. Every day we have four classes and we are at school from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. One thing very different from the United States is that we don´t move anywhere between classes. Our professors come to us. This way, we are with one group of people all day, at the same level. There are four levels one can test into: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert. I placed into the advanced level. Most people are in this level. The expert level is for people who are practically fluent. I have Grammar class every day and Culture only once per week. I have not yet had my Geography or Culture class. The professors here are AMAZING. They are all incredibly nice and patient, and also very funny and animated. They know to slow down their speech a little for us and they always make sure we understand them correctly. They are very good at keeping class interesting. However, I have been very sleepy in class so far. Here, they do everything later. They get up later, start work later, eat later, and go to bed later. My host parents are usually up until 1 am and they are in their sixties. So, in order to try and get accustomed to the culture, we have been staying up late, which I´ve learned is not always such a good idea when I have to get up at 8 am. I might try to go to bed earlier now.

For those who I haven´t already told, the eating schedule here is very different. I´ve found, though, that it makes more sense to me. For breakfast, we only eat something small. So far, we´ve had toast and marmelade every day. My host mom also makes me orange juice every morning, which is always my favorite part of breakfast, but Kelly usually has heated milk and cocoa powder to put in. At 2:00 pm, everything shuts down for siesta. Stores close, school ends, people leave work, and everyone goes home and has a huge lunch. Our lunches have usually consisted of three or four parts. First, we usually have a soup of sorts; today we had beans, yesterday potato soup. Then we have a main course; today was fish and potatoes. Then we have fruit, usually my favorite part. Dioni has given us pineapple, apples, pears, oranges, grapes, and clementines, and it´s all fresh so it´s extra delicious. I don´t know if this is how every family´s lunch works but that´s what we have. After lunch, people usually take a nap or relax and read a book or something. At 5 pm, stores reopen and we usually go out somewhere then. Dinner is not until around 9 or 10 pm, and we only have something small. Last night we had little breaded things that had meats in them, kind of like piroks (for those who know what those are), but not really. It was more bready/creamy. We also had some sort of fried zucchini or eggplant. And then we had grapes. Fruit is served with every meal. To me, the smaller dinner and bigger lunch makes sense because you burn off everything you ate for lunch after siesta and not as much after dinner. You´re not supposed to eat before bed because it will just sit around and turn into fat, so they have smaller dinners. I like it. Tonight I think we are going to have tortilla de patata, which is probably my favorite thing I´ve had here (besides the oranges). This last picture on the left is tortilla de patata. All of these photos are of some of the foods I´ve had here. I´m kind of obsessed with the orange juice...

Fotografías.

So I finally was able to get pictures for you all! I´ve been quite frustrated because I haven´t been able to get onto the wireless internet here. My host family doesn´t have internet but the school does, however I haven´t been able to reach it so I haven´t been able to upload photos.

But here are a few photos of the apartment I´m living in:


This is my bedroom.

Here is my bed and desk

The photo on the left here is the living room. When I told Dioni I was going to take photos of the apartment to show my family and friends, she went crazy cleaning the apartment, as if it weren´t already clean.

The photo on the right shows the hallway. In the hallway, there are three doors to the left leading to the kitchen, bathroom, and Kelly´s room.

This bottom photo is the front entryway of the apartment.

Here are some of the awesome view we have from our balcony.

Here is where the famous Fernando y Isabel married. It´s right across the street!

These are just some photos of around Valladolid. It´s a beautiful city. These were taken on our way to el plaza mayor.

El Corte Ingles. This place is awesome. It´s like a Macy´s and a Target combined and has tons of American products. :)

That´s all for now. Hope you all enjoy mis fotos!

Hasta luego.

Un día mejor.

Today has been a better day. We had toast with orange marmalade for breakfast, which was very good. Dioni also gave us glasses of milk with cocoa powder to put in, but I told her I was mildly lactose intolerant and couldn´t drink a full glass of milk. In response to this, she whipped out a couple of oranges and made me a glass of orange juice right there. And oh my gosh it was the best orange juice I have ever had in my life! The fruit here is really good because it´s all freshly grown. We have had fruit with every meal so far, which makes me happy. After breakfast, Dioni walked us over to the university so we could take our placement exams. After the exam, we left for a tour of the university area of Valladolid. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera for this part. After the tour, we came back home and had lunch. Dioni made us macarones, which is pasta with meat and some sauce. It tasted kind of like Chef Boyardee, but better. We also had bread and pears with lunch. We gave Dioni our gifts after lunch and she was absolutely thrilled. She kissed us and assured us our gifts would be safe with her.

Last night, before I went to bed, I asked Dioni if I could have a glass of water. She started going on and on about how good water is for you and that I could have some anytime I wanted. After this, though, she told me that this was my home in Spain and she wanted me to feel comfortable. She said that if I ever needed anything, I could let her know, and that she would always keep her door cracked open in case I needed anything at night. After such a long and stressful day, this was really what I needed to hear. I had not yet felt totally comfortable with her or her home, but this made me feel welcomed.

After lunch, Kelly and I left to go shopping for some things and met up with some people. We bought some shampoo and conditioner and phones. Later on, around 9pm, we met everyone in the international program and had a huge dinner. First they brought out bread with tomato stuff on top and ham, next was a salad, then ¨tortilla de patata,¨which is a chunk of egg, omelette style, with potatoes and cheese (I think?) inside. It was delcious, definitely my favorite part of the meal. Then there was breaded shrimp, kind of like a shrimp corn dog, and breaded salsa, like spicy pizza rolls. After this, they brought out pork drenched in a sauce with vegetables inside, and then dessert - ¨torta de queso,¨kind of like cheesecake, but with a flan texture. We drank red wine with dinner and there was a band that played Spanish music.

After dinner, we headed back home and Kelly and I stayed up talking until 3am.

Día Uno.

I finally made it to Spain! It has been such a long day of traveling and stress. So here´s my flight story: I got to the airport in Minneapolis only to find out my flight to Philadelphia had been delayed by an hour and a half. The woman who was checking me in told me she was switching me from the US airways flight to a Delta flight to New York. I had planned to fly with two other girls from my program but the Philadelphia delay caused us all to end up on three different flights going to three different places. When I found out I had to travel alone, I was instantly terrified. My new flight now did not leave until two hours later than the original flight and the new estimated arrival time to Madrid was cutting it pretty close to the time I needed to catch the University bus to Valladolid. However, after venturing through security, I found not only my gate, but also two girls from my program going to Spain. Finding new travel companions was such a relief. When the time came, we boarded the plane to New York. A couple hours passed and we soon were in the city, very late. They had us sit in the plane while another plane was being de-iced. We waited, and waited and waited. Soon enough there was fifteen minutes to get to the gate for the connecting flight, which was in another terminal much too far away. Once we got off the plane we sprinted to the shuttle gate but arrived too late. We had missed the last shuttle. The flight was refusing to wait for us and the next flight to Madrid was not until the next morning. We were all ready to stay the night in the airport but after much persuasion, a manager got a special shuttle for the six of us from this flight. When we finally got to the gate we were welcomed by shouting and guilt trips. "Come on, come on, let´s go! We´ve been waiting for you!" So we rushed onto the plane, found our seats... and didn´t leave the ground for another hour and a half. So much running, stressing and worrying over nothing. They needed to de-ice the plane. Finally we took off, but since we left late, we also arrived late; once again scared we would miss our next connection to the bus. After making it through customs, we went to baggage claim. We waited, and waited and waited for our luggage to show up. With every new piece of unrecognizable luggage that came out, stress levels increased. Finally our luggage showed up, the last luggage to come out. So we got our luggage and made it to the bus, which was delayed by an hour and a half. But after everything, finally, FINALLY we made it to Valladolid.

When we arrived at our stop in Valladolid, all the host families were waiting. My roommate, Kelly, and I have a host mom named Dioni and a host dad. Our host dad hasn´t really talked much to us; he is deaf in one ear and kind of just does his own thing. But Dioni has not gone a second without talking. She´s just been talking our ears off the entire time we´ve been here, telling the most random stories, most of which we can´t understand. It´s very hard to keep up with her. She talks faster than the average Spaniards, it seems, and trying to understand so much Spanish for so long gets extremely tiring. She seems very strict and protective, but at least she cares. I also have my own room, which was unexpected. We´re living in a ninth-floor apartment in the heart of the city, close to the University.

Some other random things I´ve noticed that were not quite expected:

• People are CRAZY drivers here. I´m afraid to cross the street because I think someone might hit me, and the concept of lanes doesn´t really mean much to them. Also, virtually all the cars are stick-shift and I have yet to see an SUV. Most cars are very small here because the gas is so pricey. And, all the road signs are completely different (so that wasn´t so much unexpected, just weird to see).
• There is graffiti EVERYWHERE. Driving from Madrid to Valladolid, graffiti lined every inch of the highway the entire way. It´s also incredibly beautiful outside the city here. The houses and buildings are so different and there are huge hills and valleys everywhere.
• Walking around at night in the city feels very safe. We walked around at night with Dioni checking out the city and looking for internet and I never felt unsafe, even when Kelly and I walked around by ourselves. Everyone is just really nice and genuine and willing to help when you´re lost.
• All the doorknobs in my apartment building are in the middle of the door, not the left or right side. And the elevators are extremely tiny.
• They speak a lot of Spanish here...