A dinner story

The other night, Ana made fish for dinner. Nothing new, we eat fish pretty often. So why was this fish different from all other fish? Well, when we sat down at the table, Ana proceeded to give Jordana and me very specific instructions regarding how to remove THE ENTIRE SPINE from the fish before eating it. Meat here is rarely deboned before being sold or cooked, but I've never had to take out an entire backbone from my meal before eating it! Jordana and I succeeded in the operation with a lot of help from Ana, and then the spine just chilled there on the other half of my plate while I ate the fish (which was delicious, like everything else she makes). New experiences!

¡Carnaval!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I actually had work to do last week...huh? Anyway, what follows is a long overdue recap of my weekend in Cádiz celebrating Carnaval. For two weeks leading up to Lent, Cádiz holds some of the biggest Carnaval festivities in the world, complete with parades, comedic performances, crazy costumes, and botellónes (a cool word to justify the act of drinking in public). Pretty much a Spanish equivalent of Mardi Gras. So, two weekends ago, a bunch of friends and I packed our bags and our tutus and flew to Jeréz, right outside of Cádiz. Side note: first successful plane ride in Europe! Didn't miss my flight! Nice. So we landed at the Jérez airport early Friday morning, breathed in some of that fresh Andaluz air, and found our way to a bus that would take us the half hour journey to Puerto de Santa María. The bus dropped us off and after a brief (long) period of wandering, we found our hotel. The first thing we had to do was buy ferry tickets to Cádiz from Puerto de Santa María, the port of which was conveniently located right next to our hotel. Both Friday and Saturday we took this 25 min ferry ride to and from Cádiz, which was part of the whole Carnaval experience. We really must have looked like a boat full of crazies in our costumes. After purchasing the tickets and getting some lunch, we donned our masks and boas and began the festivities on the rooftop pool of our hotel. The weather was amazing - high 60s and sunny all day, and we were right next to the beach! 

Rooftop ready!

Space friends

After the short ferry ride, we reached land in Cádiz and followed the crowds into the main plaza which was filled with hundreds of people - a mix of tourists and locals, little kids and older peeps - wandering the streets. I met a few mimes, chatted up some adult babies, and made friends with at least 6 different versions of the pope.

Elf friends

Both Friday and Saturday were filled with street-wandering, friend-making, and fun-having by everyone. When it got chilly at night as we started to make our way back to the ferry, we warmed up in the best way we knew how: con un bocadillo caliente y más vino. It really was a great weekend, and though I didn't get the full tourist experience due to the whole Carnaval thing happening, Cádiz seems like a wonderful little city. This trip also got me super excited for the travel plans I have coming up this semester. Next stop...Dublin for St Patrick's day! 

Check out all the gente!

Toledo and Spanish Bathroom Norms

In the middle of my Spanish lengua class today, the profesora stopped class to have a little discussion with us about going to the bathroom. Apparently, getting up during class to go to the bathroom is considered both strange and "maleducado," or ill-mannered, in Spanish culture. This little informative chat took me by surprise because I've never thought twice about doing this at home during a class. This got me thinking about other cultural differences that have stuck out to me since settling into Spain. One of the biggest is taking coffee to go. They don't do that here! Coffee is a social time for sitting, chatting, and sipping. As much as I'd like to get on board with this charming image of a leisurely European breakfast-time, sometimes a girl needs her coffee to get through that hour and a half medieval history class. Not that images of Gothic architecture don't pump my blood with adrenaline, but I gotta say a latte for the walk to class would be nice. Oh well.

Last Friday my program took a day trip to Toledo. We spent the day discussing the city's historical importance, especially during the reign of the Christian kings. We walked through some magnificent cathedrals and two of the remaining Jewish synagogues from those times. Walking around these shuls, walls lined with Hebrew verses and arks still in tact, I felt such an immediate connection to my own heritage and past. It was a really cool feeling to stand in the same place where Jews came to pray so many hundreds of years ago.

Ark in Toledo synagogue

After some more cathedrals and a bakery run for some unreal marzipan, we headed back to Madrid. It was a great day in a truly historic and beautiful place. It's easy to forget how much history there is in this country and how far back it goes, and visiting a city like Toledo was a good reminder.

Overlooking the city!

This weekend, I am traveling with a few friends to the southern city of Cádiz to celebrate Carnaval. From what I've heard Carnaval in Spain is sort of like a combination of American halloween and Mardi Gras...I can work with that. I'll report after the weekend!

Exploring

Every weekend, I try to find a new area of Madrid to walk around in. It seems like there are endless options of places to explore, which is overwhelming and exciting at the same time. Last weekend, I walked around the Chueca area which is sort of like the Boystown of Madrid. It's filled with cool shops and restaurants and a great place to spend an afternoon or go out at night. I also went to el Palacio Real, the official residence of the Spanish royal family (but they don't actually live there; it's more for ceremonial purposes). Built in the 1700s, the palace is huge and the architecture is breathtaking. One thing I love about walking around Madrid is that every street boasts old and beautiful buildings. I guess this is typical of any European city, but this kind of architectural history is not something we have so much in the US and it makes walking around here all the more enchanting! We've also had some really nice and sunny days here recently. One of my favorite places anytime, but especially when it's nice out, is el Parque Retiro. Always a perfect spot for a picnic, a run, or a nice paseo.

Perfect day for Retiro!

On Sunday I finally had my first visit to the Prado and I already can't wait to go back. Highlights included the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch (I could stare at this for hours), Las Meninas by Velásquez, and so many paintings by Goya. Afterwards, Gillian and I discovered the wonder that is 100 Montaditos. This fast food-esque sandwich shop (a montadito is like a mini-sandwich) offers everything on the menu for 1 euro on Sundays and Wednesdays. Score. We each picked a few sandwiches and pulled off a 3.50 euro lunch tab!

On Friday my program is taking a day trip to Toledo, and next weekend I'm going with some friends to Cádiz to celebrate Carnaval. Very excited about both of these trips - updates to come!

First Day of School!

As you may have inferred from the title, today marked our first day of classes at Carlos III. Woohoo! This past week we had orientation and registration for classes. Other than our required lengua and cultura classes, we got to choose 3 courses from the university. At least one of those 3 had to be a "grado" course, meaning a class we take with Spanish students. I signed up for art history (grado), teatro español, and historia de España. The latter two are taken with other American and international students, but still taught in Spanish.

Today, I had the lengua class and history of Spain. Lengua was sort of boring - filled out a worksheet and gave introductions. Felt a lot like middle school Spanish but hopefully that was just day one. After lunch and a couple hours of break, I came back for history of Spain. It sounds like it's gonna be a pretty straightforward and general history class, which might be boring but it's a subject I feel like I should be familiar with. Also, the professor seems great - friendly, engaging, and told us that he is open to suggestions about the course. My schedule every week is generally pretty good; even though I start at 9 am on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the other days I don't start before 12:30 pm and I don't have class on Fridays. Three day weekends wassup. The commute to Carlos III from my apartment takes about 45 mins. Since I didn't have to leave here until 11:30 this morning, I went for a nice run in Parque Retiro.

Speaking of school, I think this would be an appropriate moment in my blogging timeline to share some things I've learned/observed as I come up on my 3 week mark in Spain.

• Babies and young children here are cuter than in America. No explanation. 
• If you can say the word "vale," you can pretty much get through any conversation with a Spaniard (thanks for the heads up, Deb!)
• If you walk down a street without seeing at least one Museo del Jamón (basically Madrid's ham shrine), you are probably lost. 
• Spaniards dress for the season, not for the weather. Case in point: this past Saturday was perfect out - 60 and sunny all afternoon. However, all the señores y señoras were walking around in their fur coats and winter hats...??
• Bidets.
• When you buy a movie ticket, you get an assigned seat. Also, you can't go into the movie theater until 15 minutes before your movie actually starts. Huh?
• Milk doesn't always have to go in the refrigerator. I still don't get this one.
• Chocolate con churros (see photo below) is the best thing to eat at 5 am when you're still drunk and waiting for the metro to reopen at 6 taking an early morning stroll.

YUM

That's all I have for now...wish me luck on my second day!

A week in Granada

¡Hola! This week we traveled to the south of Spain to spend 10 days in Granada for program orientation and intensive Spanish language classes. Granada is a small and beautiful city with a lot of history and cultural importance, which made it the perfect place to start our Spanish culture class that will continue throughout the semester. Every day we had an excursion in the morning, lunch together at a restaurant in the central plaza, Spanish classes from 3-7 pm (oy), and free time at night. Our morning outings included La Alhambra, a visit to García Lorca's summer home, and olive oil tasting at a 15th century olive oil factory. Walking around La Alhambra was incredible, even though we were all running on 4 hours of sleep from staying out at a discoteca the night before! It's pretty mind-boggling to think about how the fountains, walled structures, and intricate design patterns have stayed strongly in place for so many centuries.

In front of a reflection pool at La Alhambra

How do we look?

In the afternoons, we sat through 4 sometimes painful hours of Spanish class. Even though it felt like a reaalllly long time to concentrate, learning colloquial Spanish has already been extremely helpful. The accent in Andalucía (the southern region of Spain) is distinct from the accent in Madrid. After class, the school we went to (Escuela Don Quixote) held optional classes on the very important topics of Spanish curse words and insults and salsa dancing. Then, most of our nights were free which left us to explore the countless tapas restaurants in Granada (birthplace of the tapa!) and go out together. In most of these places, each drink you order comes with a free plate of food. Love it. On one of my favorite nights in Granada, we went as a group to see a flamenco performance inside of a cave. It was a small and intimate setting, and the show was incredible. Three women danced on stage to the music of a live guitarist and singer. I was totally enraptured by the performance - the music, dancing, and unbelievable rhythmic syncopation held in unison by the five performers was unlike anything else I've ever seen.

La Alhambra lit up at night. The girls and Ramiro!

The stage is set for flamenco!

Another stand-out day was Saturday when we spent the morning touring a 15th century olive oil mill and the afternoon walking through los pueblos blancos. At the olive oil mill, our guide taught us all about the process of turning olives (aceitunas) into olive oil. At the end of the tour, we had a tasting! A word to the wise, extra virgin is the only way to go. Afterward we had lunch as a group and headed to the gorgeous Andalusian hillside towns, los pueblos blancos. Our guide, Juan, moved several years ago with his family from Madrid to one of these small and rustic pueblos. He cited the reason for this significant move as a desire to explore "el mito del sur" - the enchanting myth of the south. Walking through these whitewashed villages against a backdrop of lush hills and orange tree orchards, the allure of the pueblos was easy to understand. He told us about his family's life there and how they adjusted to a rural setting after living in Madrid for many years. To finish our tour, we walked up a steep cobblestoned hill to a breathtaking home overlooking the pueblo. An older couple lives here and rents out rooms to travelers as a sort of bed and breakfast. They welcomed us into their home and offered us tea and cakes, allowing us to walk around and take in the magnificent views. It was amazing!

Pretty rainbow over los pueblos blancos

A hilly walk led us to this beautiful view of La Alhambra and La Sierra Nevada

After a wonderful 10-day excursion to the south, I am ready and excited to be back in Madrid. This week, we start orientation at Universidad Carlos III, sign up for classes, and prepare for school to start next week. More to come soon!

My first days in Madrid

The past three days have been nothing short of a whirlwind, and I am loving every minute. Early Thursday morning, my flight touched down in a very foggy Madrid. After picking up our bags from baggage claim (everyone's arrived!), the four of us who flew in together from Chicago walked out and were greeted by our two program directors here, Ramiro and Belén. They then accompanied us in taxis, two by two, to our new homes. I knew I'd be living with a single woman named Ana and sharing a room with a girl on my program, but other than that I had no idea what to expect. I was the first to be dropped off and stood, bags in hand, anxiously awaiting in the street outside the big green door to Ana's apartment. She soon came down and greeted me so warmly, helping me with my bags and leading me up to her 4th floor apartment. As soon as we walked in, I decided that this is the cutest and most charming apartment of all time. There is a small kitchen, a shared open space of dining room and living area, and Ana's bedroom/office. Against a far wall, there is a narrow wooden staircase that leads up to...our room!! Even though I have to duck most of the time to avoid hitting my head on the super low ceilings, the room has more than enough space for the two of us and feels cozy.

Staircase up to our room

Our room (which Ana refers to as our own "república de independencia"); what you can't see are the two sets of dressers, central closet, and two desks she set up for us

My roommate, Jordana, arrived shortly after I did and we both unpacked excitedly in our new room. Ana then called us down and announced that the three of us were going for a walk. We live in an incredible central location of Madrid - a 5 minute walk from the Antón Martín and Atocha metro stations, and in 10 minutes we can walk to the Spanish botanic gardens, El Parque del Retiro (a huuge and gorgeous park), and 3 of Madrid's most important art museums: the Prado, the Reina Sofía, and the Thyssen. Being able to walk to these iconic sites from home is pretty incredible. When we came home from our walk, Ana prepared our first homemade Spanish lunch: tortilla española! This traditional dish is similar to a potato quiche and is also delicious. After lunch I took my first official siesta. I could get used to this schedule! Later (and I really mean later - Spaniards eat dinner at 10 pm or later), Ana called us down for our first dinner together as a new Spanish familia. We sat around the table, eating and chatting away (all en español) about everything from the best travel sites in Europe to cultural differences between Spain and the US to our families. By the time we got up to clear our plates, Jordana and I were barely still functional from our long days of travel and went right to bed.

The next morning, our only instructions from Ramiro were to meet at la Universidad Complutense, one of Spain's oldest public universities, at 9:30 am for our first orientation as a group. Complutense is about 30 minutes away from Ana's, which means that Jordana and I had to attempt to navigate the metro system. We were a little late and went the wrong direction on one of the metro lines but...we made it! Turns out the metro here is very easy to figure out once you've used it a few times. Once at Complutense, we had a mini-orientation followed by a quick tour of the campus led by Ramiro. Afterward, everyone returned to their homestays for lunch and siesta. In the late afternoon, we met up again as a group at the Plaza de España to walk around the historic area. The streets were crowded and a bit touristy but no less beautiful and interesting to explore. One of my favorite parts of being here so far has been discovering new areas of the city. As much as I roll my eyes when my parents talk about the glory days before technology, I must admit that there is something truly enchanting about walking the streets of a foreign place with nothing in hand but a map (the real paper kind, not the iPhone app). Plus, it makes me feel extra proud of myself when I actually get somewhere on purpose!

Today, we walked around Madrid's central district, very close to where I live. We walked by the 3 museums I mentioned earlier, which I cannot wait to explore more on my own. We also took a long walk (a "paseo") through El Retiro. On this beautiful sunny day, the park was particularly stunning. Soon I hope to come back to El Retiro for a picnic or paddleboating in the river! By the end of our paseo in the park, our legs were tired and our group separated to return home for lunch. Ana cooked us an incredible dish of tuna, cauliflower and broccoli with salad and toasted bread. Yum. After a small rest, I ventured to the metro by myself and took it to a northern area where two of my friends, Adi and Gillian, are living. Their area is far more quiet and residential than our bustling central one, so it was fun to walk around a different type of neighborhood. We took the bus (also a very easy and useful system to navigate) into a nearby district with lots of shops and cafés. Although I'm still getting used to the late dinners, I love having such a long afternoon (between lunch at 2 and coming home to get ready for dinner at 9) to stay out exploring.

Parque del Retiro with Haesun, Adi, and Gillian

Now I am getting ready for bed because early tomorrow morning we leave for a ten-day trip to Granada! While we are there we will begin our clase de cultura, which all 15 of us on my program take together at the university and which Ramiro teaches, and we will also be having intensive Spanish language classes. I'm a little sad to already have to say hasta luego to Madrid, but I can't wait to see Granada and take our first trip together as a group. Sorry for the lengthy post, but these first few days have been so exciting that I want to share everything! I will do my best to keep the updates coming. ¡A Granada!

Leora