¡Buenos!
So I´m back from the weekend excursion and am not far from the next one: a day trip to Salamanca this Friday.
Highlights from this weekend:
Of Granada: 1) The Alhambra, like a whole city of its own. The private quarters for the Islamic king so many years ago are incredible, filled with detail, color and fountains of water. Since the Muslims came from the desert, their idea of paradise always contains lots of water. The doorways are always shaped like a keyhole, and since their faith didn´t allow decoration with pictures, tiles mosaics and poetic writing decorate the walls instead. The overall design is incredibly intricate and beautiful. 2) La Catedral & La Capilla Real, The Cathedral and Royal Chapel, where the famous Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Ferdinand, are buried. The cathedral is huge and full of marble statues and imitation gold edging over everything. I thought the 3 foot by 2 foot books of choral music in Latin displayed there were especially cool! 3) Our nice hotel, the first non-hostel I´ve stayed in while traveling this semester, complete with a delicious breakfast, so it felt rather luxurious. 4) And, randomly checking out a nearby park dedicated to a very famous Spanish writer, Frederico García Lorca. It has a fabulous rose garden of almost every color, and Hannah and I discovered peculiar in-ground individual trampoline-type things in the excercise area of the park. Haha! We felt like kids jumping on them, but who cares! Seems like Hannah and I always find something fun when we break off on our own.
and of Córdoba: 1) our supper sampling typical foods of the region, including fried eggplant with honey, fried ham rolls, lettuce salad with tuna, tortilla de patata, fried spicy fish, salmoreja (a thick sauce of tomato-breadcrumbs-hardboiled egg-olive oil) and dessert, including a cake-like Tarta de Santiago. Yum! 2) The partially excavated city of Medinat Azahara, located just outside Córdoba. We walked through the ruins as I tried to imagine people living here however many hundreds of years ago. I found it fascinating to learn that the Arabs had figured out a system of running water for their buildings and towns, something that Christians wouldn´t dream of for many years to come. 3) The main mosque of Córdoba, which is almost as famous as the Alhambra. It has a Catholic cathedral planted right in the middle, to symbolize the domination of the Catholic faith and power over Islam when the city was conquered, which creates a strange effect when going from one part into the next. The space for the choir in that area is made entirely of beautiful dark brown wood imported from the Caribbean, as well as the main podium and the back wall decoration...that´s a long way just for some wood...
So, it was a study in Muslim and then Catholic architecture, all explained by our knowledgeable professor (he´s led this trip many times). Two Spanish students from the university came along on the trip too, so Friday night in Granada, I went out with them, plus another gal from Cáceres and an Erasmus girl from Venezuela, enjoying the chance to speak Spanish, of course, with natives. :-) It was interesting to spend a whole weekend with our program coordinator Toñi, too, because during a normal week I don´t see her very often, and never on the weekends.
Lowlights:
Long bus ride on a not-so-great bus.
Taking pictures of things I fear I won´t remember soon.
...Can´t think of much else!
So, after Salamanca, I have a week off of school for Thanksgiving vacation, so my family is coming to Spain! How exciting, right? We´ll have a whirlwind tour starting in Madrid this Saturday, then to Toledo, then to Córdoba (I have a couple recommendations since I´ve vistited it once already now) on the high speed train. From there we will visit some small southern towns then drive north to Cáceres on Thanksgiving Day. The next day they´ll return to Madrid and I´ll stay in town--overall a short trip, so "¡lo aprovechamos!" (a.k.a We´ll make good use of it, or We´ll take advantage of what we´ve got--as you seen, it´s far simpler to say in Spanish.) Hence, I probably won´t post an entry on this blog for at least another week and a half. And that will most likely be the last one, because there won´t be much time left in the program. The last day of my internship is December 4th, and I fly home on Dec. 11. Tempus fugit, as it´s said in Latin. Time flies...
Venga. (A common word/expression in Extremadura, as in "alright", or signaling ending a conversation. Learn it, then use it a lot, and you´ll sound like a true local!) Hasta luego,
Ellen P.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Up next: Granada & Córdoba, officially
Buenos días!
Just thought I'd let you all know that tomorrow I leave for Granada and Córdoba on an official 3-day program excursion. It'll be 6 or 7 hours on the bus to Granada, main sight being the Alhambra (Everyone recommends it, and I'm so excited!), then on to Córdoba, to see the famous mosque (in Spanish, mezquita) there. This is the first of the three excursions for the program, so it's strange we're doing it so late in the semester, but the Alhambra people haven't been easy to work with, apparently.
So that means 10 students, Toñi the program coordinator, and José our Spanish Art class professor, who will be making this trip extra-educational by telling us all about Muslim arquitecture. Yes, and I have to write a paper after we return, so it's not all fun and games, but it's nice not having to pay for lodging and food, nor plan the intinerary for once!
Pictures and blog to come next week!
Hasta luego,
Ellen P.
P.S. I found out that there is no coloquial way to say "Stay warm." I often say it and hear it during the winter season in the U.S., but when I asked the English professors I work with at the School of Languages, they said it's just not used, so any translation is just awkward. (Because "Put on a coat" just sounds motherly.) I asked the British professors at the school too if they say something similar, and they said no as well! Are Americans the only ones that need reminding to stay warm when the weather gets cold? Haha.
Just thought I'd let you all know that tomorrow I leave for Granada and Córdoba on an official 3-day program excursion. It'll be 6 or 7 hours on the bus to Granada, main sight being the Alhambra (Everyone recommends it, and I'm so excited!), then on to Córdoba, to see the famous mosque (in Spanish, mezquita) there. This is the first of the three excursions for the program, so it's strange we're doing it so late in the semester, but the Alhambra people haven't been easy to work with, apparently.
So that means 10 students, Toñi the program coordinator, and José our Spanish Art class professor, who will be making this trip extra-educational by telling us all about Muslim arquitecture. Yes, and I have to write a paper after we return, so it's not all fun and games, but it's nice not having to pay for lodging and food, nor plan the intinerary for once!
Pictures and blog to come next week!
Hasta luego,
Ellen P.
P.S. I found out that there is no coloquial way to say "Stay warm." I often say it and hear it during the winter season in the U.S., but when I asked the English professors I work with at the School of Languages, they said it's just not used, so any translation is just awkward. (Because "Put on a coat" just sounds motherly.) I asked the British professors at the school too if they say something similar, and they said no as well! Are Americans the only ones that need reminding to stay warm when the weather gets cold? Haha.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Madrid, with pictures
Hello again!
This past weekend I was in Madrid, and because I have my pictures up before I write this entry, I´m going to put pictures in this blog, and see how I like it. For the rest of the album, go to this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037318&id=1079670010&l=ba07c2a86b
It was a long weekend with Monday off of school, so it was time to travel again. All Saint´s Day was on Sunday, but it carries over to Monday--fine by me! Halloween has just recently begun to be celebrated in Spain, and it´s very strange, because it has no tradition here and it´s basically just another excuse for stores to sell stuff. It was mostly little kids who dressed up.
Anyway, three ISU gals and I rode the train Friday morning to Madrid. If you buy your ticket early enough, it´s cheaper than the bus, and it´s a shorter, more comfortable trip, so I was a big fan. We found our hostel without a problem, and although it was on the third floor without an elevator, the location was excellent and it was a fine place to stay. By the way, the weather was fantastic, a balmy 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit every day, very unusual for the end of October! I loved it, knowing there was snow at my house back in the States. ;-)
So, I had agreed to meet up with my friend Kristen who was visiting Spain that week with her mother, and leaving the next day to fly back to Rome, so I spent the rest of Friday trying to find her. Kind of like "Where´s Waldo?" Her cell number didn´t work and she wasn´t at her hostel when I looked for her there, so I got pretty discouraged, periodically meeting up with the ISU girls to see things or go eat, before I´d take off again to check my email or try looking for her at Puerta del Sol, a big plaza I´d said I´d be at... Finally, much later that night, she called me and I met her and her mom at a cafe. (She had checked her email using the internet at the cafe.) We chatted for an hour, catching up on things, especially their week of vacation in Spain, before they left to sleep, exhausted from all their travel. "All´s well that ends well" goes the saying, but it´s really a shame we couldn´t find each other earlier!
Walked to Plaza Mayor that night with the girls, but honestly, I´m not that impressed, despite everyone telling me I had to see it. It´s a big square with a statue in the middle... I don´t know, it just didn´t strike me as particularly interesting. On Saturday, I met up with a Spanish-American family I had contact with, thanks to U.S. friends. Bill and his daughter Raquel picked me up and took me to their house for a delicious lunch, where I met his wife. Bill is an American missionary who has lived in Spain for over 30 years, and he knows Madrid very well. After going to the nearby airport to greet some friends of theirs who had just flown in, Bill and his family and I drove to Alcalá, a city outside of Madrid where Cervantes was born. We walked around, Bill telling me a bit about the history there, pointing out the historic university that´s still used, the old Jewish neighborhood square and the house where Cervantes was born, among other things. I really liked the town, very peaceful compared to busy Madrid, and lots of cool history and buildings. It was nice to have a sort of tour guide for once, and we talked entirely in Spanish that day, so it was great practice for me. After stopping for coffee, Bill took me back to Madrid so I could meet up with the ISU girls again.
I toured the Museo del Prado that evening, my number one priority for the weekend. There are certain times of the day that the museum is free, and I got there with plenty of time. I have been learning about the "greats" of Spanish Art--El Greco, Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya-- so I could really appreciate a lot of the paintings. I didn´t see everything I wanted to, but I know I will return to Madrid when my parents come see me over Thanksgiving, so I wasn´t concerned about packing it all in. Strangely enough, my favorite painting is "Saturno devorando a su hijo" (Saturn devouring his son) by Goya, because of the emotion behind it, or perhaps "Perro, semihundido" ("Half-buried dog", see below) by the same.
That night was Halloween night, so after supper, the ISU girls and I went for a walk around the Chueca quarter, an area in Madrid known for its hoppin´ bars and gay community. Let´s just say the costumes were quite intriguing... Also, the bars hire people to stand in the streets, handing out cards with advertising for drinks that night. By the end of the walk, I had a handfull of these little business cards, but we never did go into any of them. We were too tired from our day of sightseeing!
Sunday morning we went out for breakfast, which was disappointing after our delicious churros con chocolate the morning before, and then walked to El Rastro, the Sundays-only outdoor market in Madrid.
It´s very well-known, and there were a ton of people there, speaking every language imaginable. Some things are very cheap, and others are more expensive because they´re handmade artisan crafts. I bought some abalone earrings and a handpainted watercolor card, nothing big. Listened to a guy "playing" glasses filled with water, who was very good. Actually, there are all sorts of street performers in Madrid, some much better than others. The other common sight is live statues, or people dressed up to look like statues to ask for money. A few of them were pretty cool, and my favorite was the golden fairy who looked like she was floating in the air...
Afterward, we split up, the girls going to Toledo for the rest of the day, and I hurried off to the Reina Sofia to see it before it closed. It´s free on Sundays, so that was the second free museum that weekend! I had to write a paper on Picasso the following week, so I made sure to see his magnum opus: Guernica. After that, I went for a walk through Lavapiés, a neighborhood of many ethnicities, and ate a delicious "doner kebap"--the Turkish equivalent of a gyro-- for lunch. Took the metro back to Puerta del Sol (I´m an expert at the metro now, and Kristen had given me her half-used 10-trip pass, so I never had to pay for that either!). That night I took a walk to Plaza de España and past the Grand Palace, since the girls still hadn´t gotten back. I ate a few tapas at the Mercado de San Miguel, which is a really neat place: indoor market by day, a classy tapas place by night. Each counter was a different store, selling specialties, whether it be cheeses, wines, empanadas, fish, jamón ibérico... you get the idea. So if you don´t mind standing up the whole time while you eat supper, this is the place for you! I would totally recommend this place, which isn´t far from Plaza Mayor.
Finally, Monday, our last day in Madrid, the girls and I went to the Parque del Retiro, a sight we´d saved for when other things would be closed. We took it easy, just wandering around and snapping lots of pictures, enjoying the sunshine and fall colors. That afternoon we figured out the train station (a bit confusing in a big city like Madrid) and caught our train back to Cáceres. In summary, I enjoyed seeing the popular sights in Madrid as well as hanging out with Kristen and Bill, and I know I´ll make an excellent tour guide for when my family comes to visit in a few short weeks. ;-) To be honest, this wasn´t my favorite trip so far, in part because I was on my own a lot, and because I´m not in love with big cities, but the trip was certainly worth it, and the sunny weather sure helped! The next two trips will be official school trips (Cordoba-Granada, and Salamanca) so I´m interested to see how those compare to my informal trips.
--Ellen
(Above, from right to left, with Autumn, Molly and Sarah)
P.S. This weekend I´m staying in Cáceres, because I have a few papers to start writing, and because it´s expensive to travel all the time! There´s an Irish music festival in town, though, so there´s always something to do for fun, including meeting up with some new friends from the Evangelical church. Can´t wait!
This past weekend I was in Madrid, and because I have my pictures up before I write this entry, I´m going to put pictures in this blog, and see how I like it. For the rest of the album, go to this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037318&id=1079670010&l=ba07c2a86b
It was a long weekend with Monday off of school, so it was time to travel again. All Saint´s Day was on Sunday, but it carries over to Monday--fine by me! Halloween has just recently begun to be celebrated in Spain, and it´s very strange, because it has no tradition here and it´s basically just another excuse for stores to sell stuff. It was mostly little kids who dressed up.
Anyway, three ISU gals and I rode the train Friday morning to Madrid. If you buy your ticket early enough, it´s cheaper than the bus, and it´s a shorter, more comfortable trip, so I was a big fan. We found our hostel without a problem, and although it was on the third floor without an elevator, the location was excellent and it was a fine place to stay. By the way, the weather was fantastic, a balmy 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit every day, very unusual for the end of October! I loved it, knowing there was snow at my house back in the States. ;-)
So, I had agreed to meet up with my friend Kristen who was visiting Spain that week with her mother, and leaving the next day to fly back to Rome, so I spent the rest of Friday trying to find her. Kind of like "Where´s Waldo?" Her cell number didn´t work and she wasn´t at her hostel when I looked for her there, so I got pretty discouraged, periodically meeting up with the ISU girls to see things or go eat, before I´d take off again to check my email or try looking for her at Puerta del Sol, a big plaza I´d said I´d be at... Finally, much later that night, she called me and I met her and her mom at a cafe. (She had checked her email using the internet at the cafe.) We chatted for an hour, catching up on things, especially their week of vacation in Spain, before they left to sleep, exhausted from all their travel. "All´s well that ends well" goes the saying, but it´s really a shame we couldn´t find each other earlier!
Walked to Plaza Mayor that night with the girls, but honestly, I´m not that impressed, despite everyone telling me I had to see it. It´s a big square with a statue in the middle... I don´t know, it just didn´t strike me as particularly interesting. On Saturday, I met up with a Spanish-American family I had contact with, thanks to U.S. friends. Bill and his daughter Raquel picked me up and took me to their house for a delicious lunch, where I met his wife. Bill is an American missionary who has lived in Spain for over 30 years, and he knows Madrid very well. After going to the nearby airport to greet some friends of theirs who had just flown in, Bill and his family and I drove to Alcalá, a city outside of Madrid where Cervantes was born. We walked around, Bill telling me a bit about the history there, pointing out the historic university that´s still used, the old Jewish neighborhood square and the house where Cervantes was born, among other things. I really liked the town, very peaceful compared to busy Madrid, and lots of cool history and buildings. It was nice to have a sort of tour guide for once, and we talked entirely in Spanish that day, so it was great practice for me. After stopping for coffee, Bill took me back to Madrid so I could meet up with the ISU girls again.
I toured the Museo del Prado that evening, my number one priority for the weekend. There are certain times of the day that the museum is free, and I got there with plenty of time. I have been learning about the "greats" of Spanish Art--El Greco, Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya-- so I could really appreciate a lot of the paintings. I didn´t see everything I wanted to, but I know I will return to Madrid when my parents come see me over Thanksgiving, so I wasn´t concerned about packing it all in. Strangely enough, my favorite painting is "Saturno devorando a su hijo" (Saturn devouring his son) by Goya, because of the emotion behind it, or perhaps "Perro, semihundido" ("Half-buried dog", see below) by the same.That night was Halloween night, so after supper, the ISU girls and I went for a walk around the Chueca quarter, an area in Madrid known for its hoppin´ bars and gay community. Let´s just say the costumes were quite intriguing... Also, the bars hire people to stand in the streets, handing out cards with advertising for drinks that night. By the end of the walk, I had a handfull of these little business cards, but we never did go into any of them. We were too tired from our day of sightseeing!Sunday morning we went out for breakfast, which was disappointing after our delicious churros con chocolate the morning before, and then walked to El Rastro, the Sundays-only outdoor market in Madrid.
It´s very well-known, and there were a ton of people there, speaking every language imaginable. Some things are very cheap, and others are more expensive because they´re handmade artisan crafts. I bought some abalone earrings and a handpainted watercolor card, nothing big. Listened to a guy "playing" glasses filled with water, who was very good. Actually, there are all sorts of street performers in Madrid, some much better than others. The other common sight is live statues, or people dressed up to look like statues to ask for money. A few of them were pretty cool, and my favorite was the golden fairy who looked like she was floating in the air...
Afterward, we split up, the girls going to Toledo for the rest of the day, and I hurried off to the Reina Sofia to see it before it closed. It´s free on Sundays, so that was the second free museum that weekend! I had to write a paper on Picasso the following week, so I made sure to see his magnum opus: Guernica. After that, I went for a walk through Lavapiés, a neighborhood of many ethnicities, and ate a delicious "doner kebap"--the Turkish equivalent of a gyro-- for lunch. Took the metro back to Puerta del Sol (I´m an expert at the metro now, and Kristen had given me her half-used 10-trip pass, so I never had to pay for that either!). That night I took a walk to Plaza de España and past the Grand Palace, since the girls still hadn´t gotten back. I ate a few tapas at the Mercado de San Miguel, which is a really neat place: indoor market by day, a classy tapas place by night. Each counter was a different store, selling specialties, whether it be cheeses, wines, empanadas, fish, jamón ibérico... you get the idea. So if you don´t mind standing up the whole time while you eat supper, this is the place for you! I would totally recommend this place, which isn´t far from Plaza Mayor.Finally, Monday, our last day in Madrid, the girls and I went to the Parque del Retiro, a sight we´d saved for when other things would be closed. We took it easy, just wandering around and snapping lots of pictures, enjoying the sunshine and fall colors. That afternoon we figured out the train station (a bit confusing in a big city like Madrid) and caught our train back to Cáceres. In summary, I enjoyed seeing the popular sights in Madrid as well as hanging out with Kristen and Bill, and I know I´ll make an excellent tour guide for when my family comes to visit in a few short weeks. ;-) To be honest, this wasn´t my favorite trip so far, in part because I was on my own a lot, and because I´m not in love with big cities, but the trip was certainly worth it, and the sunny weather sure helped! The next two trips will be official school trips (Cordoba-Granada, and Salamanca) so I´m interested to see how those compare to my informal trips.
--Ellen(Above, from right to left, with Autumn, Molly and Sarah)
P.S. This weekend I´m staying in Cáceres, because I have a few papers to start writing, and because it´s expensive to travel all the time! There´s an Irish music festival in town, though, so there´s always something to do for fun, including meeting up with some new friends from the Evangelical church. Can´t wait!
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