BARCELONA

corodoba

corodoba

this past weekend a lot of people stayed in toledo but i really didn't want to because usually by the end of the week i want to go somewhere-i look forward to the week during the week and i really wanted to go somewhere warm. so i decided to go to cordoba which is in andalucia (south of spain) with jasmine and adrienne. we got there after some confusion about our bus tickets (we usually just use our passports to get one because we don't have printers to print out the tickets we buy online but apparently we needed tickets) but we ended up getting on the bus and after 4 hours we arrived in cordoba.

it was soo warm! the next day we sat outside for lunch and i was literally sweating in the sun, roasting. i had gazpacho, which is a typical spanish soup-kinda like tomato soup but it's served cold. it's so good i asked mercedes to show me how to make it one day so i can make it when i get back home-she said it's really simple. then we got ice cream and walked around the mezquita which is one of the main attraction points there.

i don't know if it was the heat we weren't used to or just the fact that we have been traveling every weekend since we have been here and the lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with our bodies- but after shopping after the mezquita we took a nap. then woke up, grabbed some dinner and headed out to find a bar. it took us more than an hour and a half to find  A SINGLE BAR or place where they served alcohol. we finally found the pub after realizing we had been walking around in a complete circle. the streets in spain will do that to you.

next day we walked around for a while trying to find somewhere to eat where we could eat outside and ended up finding a place by the mezquita and i had gazpacho again with chicken. so good. then we walked over and around the big bridge there. again took a nap and went out for the night to a dance club- i think we really are adjusting to the spanish culture where they don't end up going out until 11-12 but stay out until 6 or so in the morning. at one of the bars we took a picture with a guy who was on BIG BROTHER but the spanish version-first spanish celeb!

it was hard to leave the weather but it actually is heating up here in toledo- spring needs to spring!

ML 250 update.

Pues, ¡yo he disfrutado mi tiempo aquí en España! Mi casa está cerca de todo: diez minutos por pies de nuestra universidad y tres minutos o menos de la plaza Zocodover donde hay tiendas, restaurantes y bares. Yo he caminando por todos partes y puedo sentirme en mis músculos de pierna. Pero yo necesito ejercicio porque Mercedes es un fabuloso cocinero. Hemos tenido muchos legumbres y carne y cada noche tenemos algo nuevo y diferente. Claire, "mi hermana," habla español mejor de yo. Pero, cuando nosotros comemos, me siento que yo puede aprender mas porque yo eschucho. Yo hablo también y el otro día Mercedes dijo que yo he mejorado mucho cuando hablo porque yo puedo conjugar verbos mejor porque yo me siento más relajado. A mí me gusta tener Claire aquí porque nosotros hablamos y practicamos español durante la comida y yo aprendo cosas culturales porque Claire ha estado aquí desde septiembre.

Pero pienso que mi cosa favorita o mi costumbre favorito es tapas. Hay un lugar dos minutos de mi casa se llamo "Enebro." Cuando yo compro una bebida, recibio una tapa gratis. Todos las tapas tiene papas frítas. Un tiempo, tuve carne. Otro tiempo, tuve un bocadillo con jamón y tomate. ¡Estas tapas son ricas! Yo voy a Enebro para tapas por lo menos una vez a la semana con Claire, mis amigas de Intercambio o mis amigas/os de Ohio. 

Mi otro lugar favorito es NocaNoca-un cafe. Tienen el mejor chocolate. También me gustan los bocadillos. Cuando fui en Granada, tuvimos chocolate y churros después de la cena. En este momento, yo sentía muy española porque de yo consegía costumbres españoles. También, fueron deliciosos.

Otro punto: yo puedo he acostumbrado a las siestas...cuando en España, vive como los españoles.

ML 250

I have two experiences I can pass on to other students. 

First, the bus to the mall. You can take the 6.1 or 6.2 but it doesn't take you directly there. It only takes you to the main road that the mall is off so you have to walk. But if you go to the Plaza de Torres and take the 92 it will take you directly to the mall. The bus ride is probably 15 minutes. At the mall there are many clothing stores (many of which we have right here in Toledo near Zocodover: Zara, Pull and Bear, Pimpkie...) but there is a Corte Ingles at the mall and takes up about half the lower level because it is so big! There also is a food court with McDonalds and BK and other spanish chains and a movie theater. But don't go on Sunday because the only thing that is open is the food court and the Ben & Jerry's.

Second, I had to buy a new camera here, as much as I didn't want to spend the money I didn't have much of a choice. When I went to the beach in Valencia sand got in my camera because it was so windy and the lens wouldn't open. So the man said they could fix it but it would cost around 100 euro because of the shipping to and from Madrid on top of the actual cost to fix it. So I bought a new camera for 135 euro...but I loooove it! The only thing is that I think i am going to have to buy an adapter for the US, weird. But the camera store is on the way to the cathedral and is called Foto Spot. The owner was really nice, didn't speak english but spoke slowly so I could understand. You can develop pictures or buy photo albums there as well.

VALENCIA BEACH PICS

friend reel.

MORE GRANADA.

SALAMANCA.

Last Saturday we went to Salamanca just for Saturday night because we had our excursion to Aranjuez/Escorial on Friday. We felt like traveling and had already spent Friday night in Toledo. Salamanca is a university town with a Plaza Mayor (above) that looked exactly like the one in Madrid. We had lunch in the Plaza, the menu del dia. We had paella first that had mussels, shrimp, some kind of fish and rice, of course. I am coming around the fish and tried the mussels but it still tasted a little too fishy for me (and salty from all the fish). I think the paella in Valencia was better (and that time it had rabbit and snail, which I tried). Then we had eggs, ham and french fries. It also came with wine as the drink and the waiter gave us two bottles (there were 5 of us) so we finished lunch and sat there for about 2 hours finishing the wine and talking. We took a nap and then got ready because as Mercedes told me, Toledo has "mucha marcha." The next day we got Doner Kabeb, my new favorite! I think the man opened his restaurant just for us because he was watching our disappointed faces through the window when we couldn't open his door. Again, we sat around in the Doner Kabeb until we got back on the bus. This was probably the worst bus ride ever-it was only supposed to be 3 hours and ended up being like 5 because we took the non-express route because it was cheaper but then we hit traffic and there was an accident because it started snowing. There was a good few inches of snow that we drove through but we were higher up in the mountains but it was so pretty-all the mountains covered in snow. i almost miss the snow here. it is cold, but there is nothing really to show for it. but despite the bus ride home, it was nice to get away for the weekend from Toledo and experience a different part of Spain-if only for one night.

TOWERS TOUR IN TOLEDO.

ARANJUEZ Y EL ESCORIAL

american.

as part of the program (ESTO=espanol en Toledo) we have to do some form of community service. we go to the english school here in Toledo once a week for an hour and help the speak english with the students who are between the ages of 21-40. it is really interesting (and nice) to be on the other side-that is having more knowledge about a language than someone else. for once it is nice to continually stutter and say 'um...' the first week we learned all about aussies and did a worksheet on them. this week we did a sheet with a list of questions called "getting to know you" with basic questions like what is your favorite color, food, smell, ice cream, etc. but then there were some other random questions like if you were a gardening tool, what would you be? 

at first we all had some of the same answers but then it asked about our living situation and here i live with a host family but the three women that were in my group one was 22 and living with her parents and the other two were in their 40's and they still lived with their parents!! i couldn't believe it.  another major difference we talked about were cars. it asked what our first car was and i said a green passat and the one woman said, oh that's a big car. and i was like big? no. big is the kind of car i have now and compared it to the size of range rover because they don't have "SUV's" like we do and they didn't understand that term. and they also didn't understand the concept of peanut butter. especially in chocolate ice cream-they thought that was so strange. 

but there were some times like when i was answering these questions that i really did notice our differences more so than the similarities and really felt american, like i was not blending in with the spanish. but we have distinct cultures. it is just interesting when you really break it down, how many there are. and when we were talking about names for children they said pablo, alejandro, rosita...names that i would never think of! but that is what these intercambios are for-to share our cultures and i really do find it interesting.

aranjuez and escorial

last friday we took a day trip with our group to a small town outside of madrid called aranjuez. there is a palace there and we toured it. it is still a residence of the king of spain but was commissioned by phillip II the same who designed the escorial we went to later that day during the 1500's. we only were able to see certain rooms of the palace but the rooms we saw were truly amazing. they were exactly what i was expecting to see in a palace. the walls were covered in wall paper of yellows, reds,  and blue with patterns. every room had a chandelier in the hanging in the middle. if only i could own a chandelier like those i saw in that palace even tho most of them are not the original, they still looked amazing. most of the ceilings were also painted with cherubs, spanish symbols and designs. we saw the queen's bed, which weighed a ton and was made out of gold and wood...the most beautiful bed i have ever seen. 

i think that the most impressive part for me was the elegance that the palace possessed. the elaborate designs, fabrics, use of gold, antiques, paintings/artwork in every room and really attention to detail made it feel prestigious. i almost felt that i didn't belong in the palace-like walking around in it would someone make it seem less perfect. i could not imagine living in such a place.

later we went to the escorial, a monastery that phillip II commissioned as well and used as his summer home or when he needed peace. there are quarters just for him and his family and his business. the monastery and rooms here and no where near as elaborate as the palace. they were simple and decorated with paintings and other religious decor. i think the most interesting part about the escorial were the caskets in the basement. the each of the rooms that held the caskets of royalty and royal family throughout spanish history was made out of marble. the caskets were also made out of marble and highly decorated. the amount of marble and gold screamed wealth, even in death. but the escorial was located up in the mountains and really was very quiet, very peaceful. it is fitting for a monastery to be there and have so many spanish royal families spend eternity there.