LONG Update!

[bookaddict88]

Well, it’s been two weeks since I last updated, and I don’t really have an excuse! Things were still crazy the first week of classes, but in the last week, things have finally begun to settle into a routine. It’s still a pretty crazy, fun-filled routine, but a routine all the same. 

The Roman Aqueduct in Segovia

 

Let’s see, I left off right before school began, so I guess I’ll start with school.  School is going well, overall.  I’m at school from 10am-6:15pm (with breaks, esp. Mon./Wed.), so I’m pretty much there all day.  My two Spanish classes, Oral Communication and Written Communication are probably my least favorite.  My Oral Comm professor doesn’t always seem like he’s well prepared. Also, I have both Spanish classes every day (well, except Friday, but I arranged my classes so I don’t have any classes that day, which is extremely nice).  So it feels like I spend so much time on those classes, which really don’t count for anything back at my home university. But at least my Spanish is improving, although much slower than I would like it to.  I really need to find more Spanish-speakers to talk with, since I go to school with English-speakers.

My other two academic classes are history classes. I’m taking National Identity in Spain, which has only around 7 people in the class (people have been adding and dropping, so I don’t know yet for sure), which is really nice. This class seems A LOT like my normal honors classes, with no text-book (just articles and things), and lots of discussion.  So while it’ll be on the difficult side, it should be pretty interesting. My other history class is Modern Latin America, which is quite interesting, though not really anything special. It does bring back memories of senior year in high school, though, which was the last time we went at all in-depth into Latin America.  One of my favorite history teachers ever (though I’ve had quite a number of good ones) taught that class, so the memories are great.

A Fun Street Performer

My last two classes are dance classes. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have Spanish Dance, which is mostly Flamenco. I’m taking it for 3 credits, so that means I’m there from 3:30-6:15pm.  There are only 6 people in the class (and only 4 who stay past 4:45pm), and it’s a lot of fun. The teacher mostly just speaks Spanish, too, so I get some practice in on that respect as well. I’m not too good at this class yet (especially with some of the footwork, which resembles tap, which I’m not quite coordinated enough to do), but I’m not doing too badly either.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have Latin Rhythms and Dance, which I’m only taking for 2 credits (3:30-4:45pm). I’d love to take the three credit class, which is currently learning tango, but my National Identity class is right after.  Right now in this class, we’re learning Merengue. This is a much bigger class (40 or so students), but it works. This class is easier and more fun than Flamenco, since we’re less focused on technique and we dance in pairs (which means that since I’m a girl, all I have to do is follow the guy’s lead!). Unfortunately, we have 10 more girls than guys, so we have to dance alone at times, but I thought the ratio would be worse.

 
A photo of one of the photos outside the theater

And of course, since I’m in Spain, I’ve been doing much more than school work!  The Friday after my birthday/the first day of school, some friends and I went to see La Bella y la Bestia.  We went to the earlier show on Friday evening, so there were lots of kids there. It was pretty fun, because so many families dressed their kids all alike (sometimes even the parents matched!).  Anyway, the show was amazing! I absolutely love that musical in English, and pretty much know it forwards and backwards. So seeing it in Spanish, even if I didn’t understand most of the words, was pretty amazing. They lacked quite a few of the special effects of the Broadway production, but the sets were still pretty neat. 

Look how they lined up perfectly for me!

The next day, I went on a day trip to Segovia, sponsored by my school.  The first thing we saw there was the old Roman aqueduct from the late first or early second century. It’s so well preserved, so it was rather amazing to see.  I love seeing all these historical sights, since Southern California really doesn’t have any old man-made objects. We also got to see an old Romanesque church and a cathedral (which was beautiful!).  My favorite sight, however, was Alcázar, a castle that is said to be the inspiration for one of the Disney castles.  We didn’t get to see the inside, but even the outside is just splendid! Segovia is probably one of my favorite places in Spain so far.

 
Gorgeous Alcázar, from the side

On Sunday, I visited an English-speaking Baptist church.  It was really neat, because there were so many people there from all over the world! I really want to go again, though I didn’t go last week.  That afternoon, I went to Retiro Park for the first time, which is a large, gorgeous park in the center of Madrid near the Prado.  I took some homework, but since I went with friends (mostly from my home university), of course, very little of it got done.  

 
The Pond at Retiro Park

There, I found out that they were going to go to a bullfight afterwards, so I decided to go with them.  Once at the ring, we bought our tickets off some random guy selling them…which was a mistake, but I went along because I didn’t end want to sit by myself. We ended up paying 10 euro for seats worth just over 2 euro, way up in the top section. After 3 bulls, though, we snuck down to the bottom where some other people we knew were for a couple of bulls (I had to leave before the last bullfight to make it back in time for dinner).  The bull fight was…interesting. I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it, and I don’t think I’m going to go again..  It wasn’t so much the blood and the slow death of the bulls that got to me as much as the fact that the matadors kept getting hurt.  Two were carried off and had to go to the hospital, and even more were hurt less badly. Apparently they don’t usually get hurt that often, but it was scary! I hadn’t really thought about what I’d be getting in to until right before it started. Still, I’m glad I went. It was still rather fascinating (as you can tell by the fact that I didn’t leave as some girls did), and an interesting cultural experience.

 
Going to Watch a Bullfight

The next day, I got to meet an LJ friend in person for the first time.  3rdragon (who is also studying abroad in Spain, though she was only in Madrid for the weekend) and I went out for dinner, which was nice.

We had school off on Tuesday for a Madrid holiday. Apparently, Spain has more holidays than most countries, but I had the misfortune to come during a semester where most of them fall on a Saturday or Sunday.  So I only have two days off this semester.  Anyway, on Tuesday, some friends and I decided to go to Toledo.  So we got on a bus, and headed off.  While there, we visited a hospital-turned-residence-turned-museum.  I really liked seeing the old pharmacy, but it also had some paintings by El Greco and some old furniture and such which was cool. Afterwards, we had lunch at a tavern (cheaper than a restaurant), where they herded us down to the basement where the floor was covered in sand. I though that it was kind of cool, though some of the others didn’t like it.  The server wasn’t too happy we were down there, either, as going up and down meant more work for her. And in Spain, servers aren’t afraid to show when they’re annoyed!  After lunch, some of us went inside a cathedral. It cost to go in, so some people decided not to go in, but those of us who did felt it was SO worth it.  It was absolutely gorgeous! Everything was so elaborate and detailed.  There was also a museum portion with paintings, old important clerical robes, etc. Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures inside most of these types of buildings, or I would have taken hundreds.

 
The Cathedral in Toledo

The next Saturday, we went to El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen. (Can you tell how much we’re trying to cram in this semester?)  At El Escorial, there’s an old monastery that was also a royal residence.  Much of it is now a museum, which was fascinating to explore. Afterwards, we took another bus to the Valley of the Fallen, built by General Franco to commemorate those who had died in the Civil War.  There’s a HUGE cross there, and we tried to hike up to the base. Unfortunately, that part was closed.  We ignored the first set of signs (preparing to say we didn’t speak English or Spanish if stopped), but then came to a fence that wasn’t easy to get over.  So, we turned around. The day was so beautiful, as were the mountains, though, that the walk was definitely worth it.  We then toured the Basilica, which was built into the rock. It was a pretty solemn place.

  
Sneaking a picture in the library at El Escorial (left); The Cross at the Valley of the Fallen (right)

That night, was La Noche en Blanco, an annual cultural celebration all around Madrid that lasted all night. However, my friends and I started out kind of late, as the first thing we went to was a performance at 12:30am.  The performance was sort of a circus/dance combination, where a group of performers hung on ropes and treated a vertical wall as the floor.  It was so cool, as half the time it seemed like gravity for them was pointing perpendicular to the wall and wasn’t as strong as it is normally.  Afterwards, we returned to the main center of the city.  We thought about taking a backstage tour of Beauty and the Beast, but we figured there was no way we could get in, as they only took groups of 20 every half hour. So instead, we got food while we tried to decide what to do next.  Madrileños stay out really late, but the live performances that were part of La Noche. So instead, we did what some of us had been hoping to avoid that night (we could do it anytime, and this event only happened once) and what a couple of others had been wanting to do all night.  We basically went out and danced for several hours. It was a ton of fun, but smoky enough that after awhile my asthma kicked in very slightly, which it rarely does.  Thankfully, I carry my inhaler, and a friend and I just went outside for a little while.  At around 5 in the morning, we went to a chocolatería and got chocolate con churros – without chocolate and with sugar for me and another girl – which is one of our favorite foods. It’s a typical Spanish breakfast food, but we usually eat it late at night (or in this case, in the early morning).  It was only the first or second time I stayed out all night – my roommates do it much more – and I don’t plan on doing it too often, but I had a blast! I did sleep until 5pm the next day, though…

 

This weekend, some friends and I are going to Barcelona! It seems as if half my school is going, as there’s a big festival going on. It should be fun!

 

P.S. I’ve finally begun uploading pictures on Facebook! I have three albums up, if you want to go look.  If you’re not my friend on Facebook, and would like to be or would just like to see the pictures, let me know. I don’t want to just give out my full name, etc. out where anyone can see it, but if we’re friends here, I’ll probably add you at least on a limited basis there!

 

Comments

[bookaddict88.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's all been absolutely amazing!

Ooh...Rome! I really want to try to get there sometime this semester...