Random title I know, but that´s the song that´s playing here in the little internet access place around the corner from our piso. You´d be surprised at just how much music in English is played here-- especially 80's music!
OMG SYDNEY no joke, ¨Piano Man¨ in Spanish JUST STARTED PLAYING THIS VERY SECOND-- hahahahahahha.
Anyway, today we had our first official day of classes, which wasn´t too bad. Uneventful, really. The place we have classes is really cool though.
I don´t like the Metro here as much as I liked the subway in New York. I know I mentioned that before, but it´s like a maze, and we have to go up and down 5 or 6 sets of escalators almost every time between stops in the stations. However, it´s the best mode of travel to the hub of the city- la estación del Sol.
Last night Maví´s oldest daughter, Elena, came and had dinner with us. She was very nice, (and smelled good! haha) and was the first person to give Ashley and I the traditional cheek kisses as a greeting (you´re supposed to do that every time you meet someone or encounter a friend, etc. it´s like a handshake in America.)
It was a great opportunity to carry on conversation, and Maví y Elena are both so patient with us, and very energetic and excited to help us understand, so that has really been a blessing.
We went to a candy store this morning during our break between classes, and the names of the products here are hilarious. I purchased a Twix-like candy bar called "Hurry Up!" -mostly because I thought it was funny. We made the mistake of trying to go to a restaurant across the street to get tapas, but we found out a bit too late that it was actually a very nice restaurant, and we were in street clothes, and only ordered a plate of Queso Frito. Oops! Next time we´ll know better. We had a better experience last night at the (VERY TOURISTY) Plaza Mayor, where several of us in the program met up to enjoy some sangría and people watching on one of the terrazas (terraces- basically just open air cafes).
Tonight I am not sure what we are doing after dinner, I know Audrey and Colin wanted to try out a discoteca, but most of those have dress codes so we will probably have to change clothes. As soon as I leave here I will probably try and take una siesta, because even early nights in Spain are pretty late (12 or 1 in the morning) and we have to meet at the big Atocha train station in the morning at 9am to take a bus to Segovia! Maví mentioned having a mountain house as well, so I think either this Saturday or next Saturday we will go up there and see what it´s like. Too bad we´ll miss Condoleeza Rice in Madrid tomorrow, haha. Oh well. Segovia is where the Roman aqueducts are, so that´s relatively exciting (at least I think so.)
Everyone´s allergies here are terrible, a few people have even gotten pretty sick because of how severe the allergy season in Spain is. I just hope I will not be one of them, although I have been pretty sneezy lately and woke up with a scratchy throat. Ew.
Okay, my 30 minutos are almost up at the computer and I don´t have any more change with me right now to pay for overages, so I will wrap this up. I hope you all are doing well! Feel free to e-mail me :)
Un abrazo,
Erin
Thursday, May 31, 2007
primeras días en la ciudad
(Hey y'all, I wrote this yesterday, 5.30.07, but forgot to post it. Lo siento mucho.)
It´s the first full day in España! Ashley, Colin and I decided to roam about town after lunch today (which
is served around 3pm) and we FINALLY found a place with cheap internet access- 20 minutes per Euro. Our hostess is WONDERFUL, her name is Mavi and she is an architect for a company located near the airport. She is older, in her 60s I'd say, but people in Spain tend to work much longer into their lives than Americans do (from what I´ve seen here). The
apartment ("piso") is not very large, but it is very nice and we all have our own bedroom and 1.5 bathrooms. Mavi has a hairdryer here, so I don´t have to buy one, thank goodness! All the appliances in the home are very Retro so it is pretty interesting trying to figure out how some of them work. She has a housekeeper, Esperanza, that comes on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, and Mavi also has a very senile and neurotic dog named Timi (don´t know what kind of "perro" he is, but looks like a slightly larger scottish terrier) that doesn´t bark or jump much, but can get very annoying as he is very much an attention hog. Mavi is an excellent cook, the first meal we had was quiche, and it was AMAZING (just like everything we´ve eaten since) but Mom: Mavi puts sunflower seeds in her quiche, which sounds strange but it tastes very good so we might want to try that sometime and you can see how you like it "Spanish style". I really like Benito and Nacho (the other professors)
and of course, Dr. Fisher. Classes are (beginning tomorrow) Mon-Thurs., from 9:30 hasta las 1:30pm. Fridays we have day excursions, for example, this Friday we are going to Segovia! It´s not all fun and games though, we still do have some homework assignments and a final exam at the end of the month.
The flight from Greensboro to Newark was so scary, mostly just because the plane was smaller than my car it seemed, and it also smelled like feet. The plane from Newark to Madrid was much nicer, although it was still not as large as I was expecting. (it was 2 rows of 3 seats) but the in flight movie was ¨The Pursuit of Happyness¨ so I was glad I finally got to see it! Taking off from Newark was amazing because we got to fly over New York City at night. Barajas is a HUGE airport, but we came through the old, under-construction part, so it didn´t seem that impressive. The taxis here are just about as loco as other taxis I´ve taken (like the one in Mexico) and there was a moment where Ashley and I thought we were going to be flattened between a bus and a wall. Riding in foreign taxis would be a good stunt for ¨Fear Factor¨. Oh, there was also a hilarious little chubby kid at the airport named Nacho who was wearing some kind of goggle glasses, and I thought that was pretty awesome. He reminded me of Chancho from the movie Nacho Libre.
Last night, Mavi came home from work around 8, and then after dinner (which they eat between 8:30 and 10) she drove the three of us to the center of Old Madrid, and showed us the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), Plaza Mayor, and tons of other cool places- (as an architect, she seemed to know the history of every building really well and gave a great running commentary). She especially likes how pretty the churches are, and I am the same way, so that was great for her to point out all the prettiest ones to me! ;) She even bought us some ice cream while we were out- Dulce de Leche in Spain is SO much more than the cheap caramel rip-offs we have in the States that only claim to be dulce de leche!
The metro is MUCH further underground than it was in New York. I bet we went down 5 huge flights of stairs to get to the train that took us to our meeting this morning! Ever since then, my 2 roommates and I have been walking everywhere, but I know that later we will have to take the Metro to get to places farther away. Oh well.
So far I am surprised at how much Spanish I can understand, especially when Mavi speaks to us (she is very clear, and also very patient with our Spanish... Esperanza, however, is not so much) so now I guess the task is to be able to better SPEAK the language myself!
Well, that´s about it for now!!
Sorry for the typos, the keyboards here have all the punctuation and keys in different places than the ones in the US!
It´s the first full day in España! Ashley, Colin and I decided to roam about town after lunch today (which
is served around 3pm) and we FINALLY found a place with cheap internet access- 20 minutes per Euro. Our hostess is WONDERFUL, her name is Mavi and she is an architect for a company located near the airport. She is older, in her 60s I'd say, but people in Spain tend to work much longer into their lives than Americans do (from what I´ve seen here). The
apartment ("piso") is not very large, but it is very nice and we all have our own bedroom and 1.5 bathrooms. Mavi has a hairdryer here, so I don´t have to buy one, thank goodness! All the appliances in the home are very Retro so it is pretty interesting trying to figure out how some of them work. She has a housekeeper, Esperanza, that comes on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, and Mavi also has a very senile and neurotic dog named Timi (don´t know what kind of "perro" he is, but looks like a slightly larger scottish terrier) that doesn´t bark or jump much, but can get very annoying as he is very much an attention hog. Mavi is an excellent cook, the first meal we had was quiche, and it was AMAZING (just like everything we´ve eaten since) but Mom: Mavi puts sunflower seeds in her quiche, which sounds strange but it tastes very good so we might want to try that sometime and you can see how you like it "Spanish style". I really like Benito and Nacho (the other professors)
and of course, Dr. Fisher. Classes are (beginning tomorrow) Mon-Thurs., from 9:30 hasta las 1:30pm. Fridays we have day excursions, for example, this Friday we are going to Segovia! It´s not all fun and games though, we still do have some homework assignments and a final exam at the end of the month.
The flight from Greensboro to Newark was so scary, mostly just because the plane was smaller than my car it seemed, and it also smelled like feet. The plane from Newark to Madrid was much nicer, although it was still not as large as I was expecting. (it was 2 rows of 3 seats) but the in flight movie was ¨The Pursuit of Happyness¨ so I was glad I finally got to see it! Taking off from Newark was amazing because we got to fly over New York City at night. Barajas is a HUGE airport, but we came through the old, under-construction part, so it didn´t seem that impressive. The taxis here are just about as loco as other taxis I´ve taken (like the one in Mexico) and there was a moment where Ashley and I thought we were going to be flattened between a bus and a wall. Riding in foreign taxis would be a good stunt for ¨Fear Factor¨. Oh, there was also a hilarious little chubby kid at the airport named Nacho who was wearing some kind of goggle glasses, and I thought that was pretty awesome. He reminded me of Chancho from the movie Nacho Libre.
Last night, Mavi came home from work around 8, and then after dinner (which they eat between 8:30 and 10) she drove the three of us to the center of Old Madrid, and showed us the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), Plaza Mayor, and tons of other cool places- (as an architect, she seemed to know the history of every building really well and gave a great running commentary). She especially likes how pretty the churches are, and I am the same way, so that was great for her to point out all the prettiest ones to me! ;) She even bought us some ice cream while we were out- Dulce de Leche in Spain is SO much more than the cheap caramel rip-offs we have in the States that only claim to be dulce de leche!
The metro is MUCH further underground than it was in New York. I bet we went down 5 huge flights of stairs to get to the train that took us to our meeting this morning! Ever since then, my 2 roommates and I have been walking everywhere, but I know that later we will have to take the Metro to get to places farther away. Oh well.
So far I am surprised at how much Spanish I can understand, especially when Mavi speaks to us (she is very clear, and also very patient with our Spanish... Esperanza, however, is not so much) so now I guess the task is to be able to better SPEAK the language myself!
Well, that´s about it for now!!
Sorry for the typos, the keyboards here have all the punctuation and keys in different places than the ones in the US!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
A donde el corazón se inclina, el pie camina.
Hi to anybody reading this, I had second thoughts about making a blog (it seems lame) but this morning at church, Jordan told me I needed to do a blog of my trip so I changed my mind again, and here I am. Today has been an insane last full day at home, and it's still not quite over (I need to pack my carry-on bags). Courtney came over this afternoon, as she is a packing expert, and helped out tremendously with me putting all my stuff in my suitcases very neatly and logically! Then all of my grandparents, one of my uncles, and my little cousin came down to the house for a cookout and to say bye. In the morning (early.. very early) I am having breakfast with Sydney and her mom, and then it will be lots of checking and double-checking and trying not to freak out until I leave for the airport around 3pm. :) I don't know how long it will be after I arrive before I get on the internet again, but I will try to update as often as I can, especially when something really exciting is going on! Pray for safety for Ashley and I as we travel and that we have a good host family! I love you all- especially all those nice messages that were left on my IM and voicemail this afternoon! :)
Friday, May 18, 2007
Para empezar...
Hey y'all, I just thought I'd set this thing up so I could keep everyone equally updated on my trip to Spain! As it stands right now, I will only be able to access the internet via internet cafes in the city, so rather than try and keep up with multiple e-mails, this will hopefully prove to be a better system.
Nine days until we leave! I can't wait.
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