Barcelona

Sorry it’s taken me so long to write a new blog post. Last weekend we went to Barcelona, since we were out of class Monday and Tuesday for Carnaval, and I’ve spent the last several days recovering and catching up on homework. During Carnaval, everyone dresses up in costumes and there are parades and parties for the several days leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

Barcelona was amazing! It’s definitely my favorite city that I’ve been to so far. It’s an artsy city with such a neat mix of old and new.  Plus, the weather was really nice. 

Streets of Barcelona 

A lot of interesting things happened in our weekend there, including a lot of firsts. Our flight there left at 6 a.m. so we spent the night in the airport the night before so we wouldn’t miss it (a first for me). When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hostel (another first for me-I’d never been in a taxi before). Our hostel was more on the outskirts of the city, so we had to take the metro to get into the downtown area of Barcelona, but that was fine because there was a metro station about a block from our hostel. Staying in a hostel was also a first for me. Ours was a really nice one though, so it was a good experience.

On Saturday afternoon we went to see the Sagrada Familia, which is a famous unfinished cathedral by the architect Gaudi. (He died while he was in the middle of building it) It was the most interesting church I’ve ever been in. There were beautiful stained glass windows and a lot of the structures in the church held some kind of symbolism. I’m so glad I got to see it!  

Stained glass window

Outside of the cathedral 

On Saturday night, one of the other girls, Annie, and I went to a discotheque. It was so much fun. People here love to dance (and they literally dance all night long!) We went home at 4:30 a.m. and they were still going strong J

On Sunday, we slept late and then took the metro back into the downtown to try to find a Picasso museum. When we got off the metro, we saw a café, so we decided to stop and grab something to eat first. We sat down and I set my purse down on the floor by my chair. We were all talking when this man tapped me on the shoulder and said “your bag.” I turned to look and this lady at the table next to me had picked up my bag and was trying to hide it in her skirt. I jumped up and snatched it back from her. I expected her to pull back, but she just let it go. It was crazy! If that man hadn’t noticed, I wouldn't have even realized it was gone until it was too late. Needless to say, I didn’t set my purse down again anymore the rest of the trip.

We found the Picasso museum, which ended up being free on Sunday afternoons. After learning about him in school, it was neat to see actual Picasso paintings.

On Monday we checked out of our hostel and then went back downtown to find Parc Güell, which is a park also designed by Gaudi. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to walk through the park. There was also an awesome view of the city of Barcelona.

That night we went to see the Mediterranean Sea before catching a train to the airport.

The girls I went to Barcelona with (Jenn, Annie, & Tressa)

We had taken the train earlier that day, so we were pretty sure we knew what we were doing. We bought our tickets, got on, and got settled in. Then the man came through checking tickets.  He took mine, looked at it and said “To the airport?” I said “yes,” and he said, “this train doesn’t go to the airport” At first we thought he was joking, but he then motioned me over and showed me where the train was going on the map. He said “it’s nonstop” and we realized he was serious. He grabbed his phone and walked off, while we were all trying not to panic. A few minutes later he came back with some other people (who had also gotten on the wrong train) and called us all over to the door. He told us that we needed to take another train back to the station and then get on the correct one to the airport. All of a sudden the train stops and he pries open the doors with his hands and we got off at this station in the middle of nowhere. Once we realized that we weren’t going to miss our flight, we realized how funny the situation was: a train had just made an emergency stop for us to get off!

Well, sorry this was so long! Barcelona was a really interesting city; it was a crazy, memorable experience. 

Two weeks.

I’ve been in Spain for over two weeks now! This is the longest amount of time I’ve been out of the U.S. It’s hard to believe. Part of me feels like I’ve been here forever, and the other part still doesn’t feel settled in.

La comida…

 Probably one of the biggest surprises/adjustments to life in Spain has been the food.  Breakfast usually consists of coffee and either a cookie or muffin. Although one morning our señora made us chocolate sandwiches: 2 pieces of white bread with some kind of melted chocolate in between. I was not a fan, and I’m very relieved that those haven’t made an appearance again…

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and we eat it anywhere from 2-4 p.m. After lunch we have “siesta” time. We’re supposed to sleep, but usually my roommate and I just end up doing homework…although I have taken a few naps. But I love siesta time. It’s so neat that everything closes and every one goes home to eat with their family and rest. Just another example of how the concept of time is different here than in the U.S…

After siesta we go back to classes at 5 p.m. After classes we usually go out somewhere until dinner time. They don’t eat dinner here until 9 or 10 p.m. Dinner is supposed to be a small meal, but our señora always gives us so much food! Oh, and there’s always bread. We literally have bread with every. single. meal.   

Toledo

Last Friday we went on an excursion to Toledo. It's  really old city that had some pretty buildings to look at. One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to go in an old cathedral. It's evidently the second largest cathedral in Spain. It was gorgeous! 

Festival of St. Agueda 

This past Sunday, several of us woke up early to go to a festival in the village of Zamarramala outside of Segovia. It’s called the festival of St. Agueda and during it the women of the village have power for a day. They elect a woman mayor and get to tell all the men what to do J The festival celebrates when the Moors had control of the City of Segovia, and some of the women from the village of Zamarramala went out and danced to distract the Moors, and allowed the men to attack them and take back the city of Segovia. 

Anyway, we woke up early and it was snowing outside! I put on several layers of clothing and got ready to make the 30 minute walk up to the village. The view of the city of Segovia on our way there was beautiful!

When we arrived, there were women dancing down the street, a band and lots of vendors selling food. It was freezing, but it didn’t matter. This festival was such a cultural experience. Up until now most of the places we’ve visited have been very “touristy,” but this was an authentic Spanish celebration, and it was so cool to be a part of it. 

Women dancing down the street. 

The weather here has been freezing! It has snowed almost every day for the last week. I think I'm kind of getting used to the cold, but I'm still SO ready for some warm weather! 

My roommate Jenn & I like to sit against the heater under the desk. Our room is freezing! 

¿Vale?

I think that “vale” is the most used word here in Spain. I always thought it meant “do you understand?” or “do you agree?” but here they use it for everything. Walking down the street I hear “vale, vale,vale” over and over again. I think it’s used as a filler such as “like” or “um” in English... J

I’m slowly beginning to pick up on the everyday language too. I’m getting used to hearing Spanish all the time, so it’s becoming more natural. However, I still have trouble when I’m trying to explain something or have a conversation with someone. There are so many words I don’t know!

Last Friday we went to Madrid! There were so many things to see and do there; we literally walked for miles! While Madrid was exciting, I actually think I prefer Segovia, because it’s much easier to find our way around and walk everywhere here.

One of the highlights of our visit to Madrid was getting to go on top of a building (I can’t remember the name of it) and look out over the whole city of Madrid. 

Another highlight was getting to tour a palace that was built in the 1700’s. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but it was incredible! The current king and queen live in a smaller palace (which was something else new that I learned: Spain still has a king & queen! Like England, they are a constitutional monarchy. I felt kind of dumb that I didn’t know that before haha…).  But, past kings & queens of Spain lived in the palace.

Living in Spain has definitely been an adjustment. There are so many things that are different here than in the U.S., such as the concept of time. People here move slowly and there never seems to be a rush to do anything. When we go to cafés, I order coffee but don’t pay for it right away. Everyone just pays sometime before they leave. When we’re ready to leave, I go up to the counter and ask “¿Me cobras?” which means, “can I pay you now?” and then the barista asks what I had and I pay for it. 

Also, the stores and restaurants don’t really have set hours. When we ask places what time they close, we get an answer like “Probably 12 or 1…” 

Oh, and for the past 2 days we didn’t have any hot water. I’m still not sure what happened, but all of a sudden last night we had it again (which was very nice considering it was snowing when we woke up this morning…) 

Well, this is getting pretty long, so next time I’ll write about food/meals…which are also VERY different from at home…¡Hasta luego!