Okay so I haven't written in here for two weeks, I'm sorry. Let me re-cap what I've been doing, it's been crazy!
So to begin with, THREE weekends ago was a holiday weekend here in Spain. The Monday after that weekend was a holiday in Alcalá and that Tuesday was a holiday in all of Spain, so I didn't have class both of those days, which was absolutely fantastic. The Saturday of that weekend, my friends and I went to the Medieval Festival in Alcalá de Henares. The festival happens once a year! People dress up in costumes and set up little shops all over the main square called Plaza de Cervantes. The shops sell and make things that were found in the Medieval Ages. In the middle of the street, people dressed up as medieval soldiers were doing skits and dances and other people with really creepy face paint were walking by on stilts. Even though it rained the entire time, it was amazing and so much fun! And we ate a lot of delicious desserts :)
Then, the Tuesday after that weekend, I went to see a parade in Madrid with my friend. This holiday is in recognition of a special Saint and every year in Madrid, there is a huge parade that involves the entire Spanish army (aka the marines, soldiers on foot, soldiers with horses, etc etc etc), so there were at least a couple or three hundred soldiers. There were tanks on the street and later, army planes even flew above us in the sky. All together, it was an incredible sight! My friend and I tried to take pictures with each type of soldier because we thought it was hilarious. There was almost a thousand people out on the street to watch the parade! We found out later that the Spanish president gave a speech, but we didn't see him or hear what he said. Apparently, the Spanish people are very unhappy with the government at the moment, so we heard people in the crowd start negative chants about the president.
That week I only had three days of class, which was an absolute dream, and then, last weekend, my friends and I took a day trip to Toledo! It was an absolutely beautiful city. It's only about a half an hour train ride away from Madrid, and it actually used to be the capital of the Spanish Empire. It's recognized worldwide for incredible coexistence of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions that takes place in the city. Toledo is extremely small - it takes about fifteen minutes to walk from one side of the city to the other - and it's very hilly. It's an ancient city though, so it not only has stunning monuments but it also has a mysterious, old glow in its entirety, from its roads to its houses. Everywhere you looked, the architecture was gorgeous and so interesting. You could definitely see the Arabic presence in the structure of the houses and some buildings. We walked into the Cathedral first, and it was an amazing sight. It was the biggest cathedral I have ever seen! The painted or sculpted walls were incredible, so carefully designed to represent heaven and religious scenes. We tried to follow groups with guides that were speaking either Spanish or English so that we could learn about the Cathedral. There is definitely a Jewish presence there: in the middle of one painting (my favorite!) covering the top part of a room, there was writing in Hebrew that said "God." We took two rounds walking through the Cathedral so we could absorb all of it. We then went up a huge tower and took pictures of Toledo from way up top! Along the way, we met a Brazilian girl who was touring Toledo by herself and she joined our group... so we became the four international touristas, represting Japan, Sweden, Brazil, and Italy/America! It was fantastic :) We spent the entire day walking around everywhere! We were so exhausted on our way home that we could barely speak.
Tomorrow marks my fourth week in Spain and its almost frightening how fast time has flown by. I think I speak and understand Spanish better than I did when I got here, and the classes are definitely helping. I even started taking a theater class on Sundays, which is really scary because it's just a group of ten Spanish teenagers from Madrid who all speak really fast. But I'm trying hard to make Spanish friends so I can speak and listen to Spanish all the time. It's much much much easier to talk Spanish to the foreigners at the university than it is to talk to actual Spanish people. With other foreigners, we just kind of laugh at our own mistakes and finish each other sentences. With Spanish people, it depends if they have the patience to talk to you or not. Thankfully, most of the people I've met do. Also, I am constantly reminded how nice some people can be. Once, on the train, one woman woke me up (yes, I basically sleep the entire time on the train hahaha) to tell me that we had reached a certain station, in case I was supposed to get off there. And the teacher of my theater class is so caring and nice to me - he told me he would speak slowly with me and that it's no problem that I don't speak well. I'm even feeling better with my Spanish family, which is great. I had a little trouble feeling situated and "at home" with the family, but I think we're all warming up to each other, even though we all have our differences, and I've finally gotten over the fact that my actual family isn't the same as this one.
Okay, it's noon here and I have yet to get out of my pajamas! Tomorrow, I'm going to theater class and then to a Chinese restaurant with my foreign friends from the university... most of them being Chinese! It'll be really fun, so I'm excited. One last thing - I'm totally loving the unprofessional relationship I have with my professors. They tell us to call them by their first names and we talk as if we've been friends forever. It's so fun! I think my class is going out to dinner with one of my professors soon! I'm also thinking, unfortunately, that I need to change universities because Alcalá is way too far away for me (I basically spend three hours every day riding the train). But if I do switch, I'm not switching until January, when I come back from winter break at home, so I have all the time to make the most of my friends and professors and classes at Alcalá! :)
sábado, 23 de octubre de 2010
lunes, 4 de octubre de 2010
Ni un día sin poesía
I can't believe it's already been more than a week since I left and came here. It's gone by so quickly! The end of last week wasn't too crazy. I explored more of Madrid and - ready for this? - bought a SIM card for my phone, bought a transportation pass for the metro/train/bus, ordered a student ID at my university, found an apple store and got my iPod fixed, and ordered something at a Starbucks... all in Spanish!!! I'm really proud of myself, you have no idea.
I've been thinking about how I could describe Madrid in a way that you could picture it. Think of New York-like place, with horizontal and vertical streets crossing into each other and with cars passing every which way and people walking on the sidewalks. Now imagine that there is no trash on the ground (there are people cleaning it literally every second of every day), and the sidewalks are lined on one side with pretty stores, markets, or cafés, and on the other side with a long row of sycamore trees (thank you Waterbound). Imagine that there isn't that much traffic and your thoughts and conversations aren't constantly overpowered by the noise of the happenings on the street. Instead, it's quiet and peaceful. Some people are in a hurry, others walk leisurely. Cars pass by, but they respect the traffic lights, as well as the people walking across the street. Actually, cars will very nicely stop for you if you need to get to the other side of the street, except they stop so close to you that it feels like they want to run you over, but it's only their way of being respectful. Also, it's funny to me to see police cars or ambulances on the road - cars don't react the same way as they do in America. The other day, I saw a police car with its sirens blaring stuck in traffic for a good five minutes because the traffic light was red!
I see my being in Spain a lot like a big research project. I like observing my surroundings and asking questions about the culture. For example, my host family is Catholic and very religious, which is something to which I have never been exposed, and it is interesting for me to learn about their religion and their customs. The oldest host sister and I had a long talk about God and religion the other day, it was fantastic to see what she thought about fate and happiness and what she called "God's plans for each person." It was a wonderful look into the mind of a Catholic believer, and I very much respect her ideas and opinions. However, I thought long and hard about my own beliefs, and I decided that I'm fine believing in my own ideas of success and happiness without being tied to a certain religion.
OH and I forgot a really important part of my stay here in Spain - the FOOD! I had paella with chicken and all of this seafood on Sunday at the family's grandparents' house. It was so so so good. I also had papaya the other day and tonight I had some other sort of tropical fruit, but I forget what it's called. I've also eaten a lot of lentils, which is unusual for me because in Italy, we only really eat them on New Years' Day, since it is said that it brings luck for the entire year. The 16-year-old sister and I like to cook together, so the other day we made pizza, which turned out pretty well! We decided that we're going to cook something every weekend, so I'll keep you updated.
And today was my first day at the university! I LOVED it! Today, we only had a placement exam, which wasn't too awful, thankfully. The actual classes start tomorrow and I really should be going to sleep soon, but I definitely have to tell you all about what I learned today. First off, the other students - there were about fifty of us - are mostly all Chinese and Japanese, which was a little unsettling at first, I'm not going to lie. They were all taking Chinese/Japanese with each other! But I met this fantastic Italian girl who knows a lot more Spanish than I do, but she's great and I'm glad I met her! We made a promise to only speak in Spanish, and it's helping me very much, especially since I have to speak English for three hours a day with the children of my host family. I'm really excited to meet the other students in my class tomorrow though. I also want to make friends with Spanish people, so that I can get as close to the culture and the people as I can.
With one of the professors of my program as our guide, the other foreigner students and I went on a tour of the city of Alcalá de Henares, where the university is located. My little Spanish program is part of a much larger university called la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, and it was the third university of Europe (meaning it was built in the mid-1400s). As our professor told us, not that many things have happened in the little town of Alcalá, but those events that have happened changed the course of history. This completely struck a chord in me - isn't amazing to think of an event that changes future years and years of history? Inside the actual, original university of Alcalá, which is currently under construction, is a big inner courtyard, covered in trees and surrounded by beautiful architecture. On the left is a prison (yes, the university had its own prison!), which was meant for students who had bad grades or were caught cheating.. can you imagine?! In front is a little area that was meant for students to only talk in foreign languages, meaning no Spanish. If a student crossed an imaginary line into the area and was still speaking Spanish, he/she was sent to the prison!
We also saw the house were Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, among other things, was born. And next to it, the first hospital in Europe to admit patients free of charge. It was built in 1438 and it is among the oldest hospitals, if not the only one, that is still functioning today. Also, we stood outside of the palace where Fernando and Isabel (the rulers of Spain in the late 1400s, I think?) met with Christopher Columbus for the first time, so he could show them his plans for his travels to India - aka the infamous trip that led to the discovery America. Lastly, we went inside the room where the Premio Cervantes, which is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Spanish and Latin-American literature, is given. On the walls outside the room were names of important authors who had won the prize, and upstairs, on the walls, were the names of people important to the university. One of them was the first woman in the world who got her Ph.D., graduating from that university. She wrote a 14,000 page senior thesis at 24 years old on the origin of many Spanish words. How incredible? Another was the man who basically wrote out all of Spanish grammar for the first time. He did it right inside of that university! The actual room was was small, but it felt enormous, as if the knowledge that passed through those doors was palpable to all of us, and it was beautiful beyond belief. The three most important religions of Spain - Christianity, Islam, and Judaism - were represented by the architecture in the room, in three different layers, from the walls to the ceiling respectively. We just stared around us in wonder for a few moments. After all, how could we not? Around us were the most important authors in the Spanish/Latin-American world - their words and language enveloped us warmly, welcoming us.
And to finish the day just right, the train I was on broke down on the way home and I ended up taking a different train and the metro (for the first time by myself!). On the metro, I saw a poem posted up on the wall. At the bottom it said "Ni un día sin poesía" (not a day without poetry), which I liked immensely and am currently writing on a post-it so I can hang it up on my wall. I keep thinking that I was fated to be here. The other day, I took a picture of a sign that said "Destino: ¡Madrid!" Destino in Spanish means destination, and in that case, it meant destination for the metro, but in Italian, it's a word that is much more commonly used to mean fate. So that made me laugh - I swear, it's destiny at it's finest!
Now I really do have to go to bed, it's almost midnight and I have my first day of actual school tomorrow! I'm still thinking about this changing the course of history business.. we're all changing it in our own little words, no? Even though we don't all end up in history books! :)
Buenas noches!
I've been thinking about how I could describe Madrid in a way that you could picture it. Think of New York-like place, with horizontal and vertical streets crossing into each other and with cars passing every which way and people walking on the sidewalks. Now imagine that there is no trash on the ground (there are people cleaning it literally every second of every day), and the sidewalks are lined on one side with pretty stores, markets, or cafés, and on the other side with a long row of sycamore trees (thank you Waterbound). Imagine that there isn't that much traffic and your thoughts and conversations aren't constantly overpowered by the noise of the happenings on the street. Instead, it's quiet and peaceful. Some people are in a hurry, others walk leisurely. Cars pass by, but they respect the traffic lights, as well as the people walking across the street. Actually, cars will very nicely stop for you if you need to get to the other side of the street, except they stop so close to you that it feels like they want to run you over, but it's only their way of being respectful. Also, it's funny to me to see police cars or ambulances on the road - cars don't react the same way as they do in America. The other day, I saw a police car with its sirens blaring stuck in traffic for a good five minutes because the traffic light was red!
I see my being in Spain a lot like a big research project. I like observing my surroundings and asking questions about the culture. For example, my host family is Catholic and very religious, which is something to which I have never been exposed, and it is interesting for me to learn about their religion and their customs. The oldest host sister and I had a long talk about God and religion the other day, it was fantastic to see what she thought about fate and happiness and what she called "God's plans for each person." It was a wonderful look into the mind of a Catholic believer, and I very much respect her ideas and opinions. However, I thought long and hard about my own beliefs, and I decided that I'm fine believing in my own ideas of success and happiness without being tied to a certain religion.
OH and I forgot a really important part of my stay here in Spain - the FOOD! I had paella with chicken and all of this seafood on Sunday at the family's grandparents' house. It was so so so good. I also had papaya the other day and tonight I had some other sort of tropical fruit, but I forget what it's called. I've also eaten a lot of lentils, which is unusual for me because in Italy, we only really eat them on New Years' Day, since it is said that it brings luck for the entire year. The 16-year-old sister and I like to cook together, so the other day we made pizza, which turned out pretty well! We decided that we're going to cook something every weekend, so I'll keep you updated.
And today was my first day at the university! I LOVED it! Today, we only had a placement exam, which wasn't too awful, thankfully. The actual classes start tomorrow and I really should be going to sleep soon, but I definitely have to tell you all about what I learned today. First off, the other students - there were about fifty of us - are mostly all Chinese and Japanese, which was a little unsettling at first, I'm not going to lie. They were all taking Chinese/Japanese with each other! But I met this fantastic Italian girl who knows a lot more Spanish than I do, but she's great and I'm glad I met her! We made a promise to only speak in Spanish, and it's helping me very much, especially since I have to speak English for three hours a day with the children of my host family. I'm really excited to meet the other students in my class tomorrow though. I also want to make friends with Spanish people, so that I can get as close to the culture and the people as I can.
With one of the professors of my program as our guide, the other foreigner students and I went on a tour of the city of Alcalá de Henares, where the university is located. My little Spanish program is part of a much larger university called la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, and it was the third university of Europe (meaning it was built in the mid-1400s). As our professor told us, not that many things have happened in the little town of Alcalá, but those events that have happened changed the course of history. This completely struck a chord in me - isn't amazing to think of an event that changes future years and years of history? Inside the actual, original university of Alcalá, which is currently under construction, is a big inner courtyard, covered in trees and surrounded by beautiful architecture. On the left is a prison (yes, the university had its own prison!), which was meant for students who had bad grades or were caught cheating.. can you imagine?! In front is a little area that was meant for students to only talk in foreign languages, meaning no Spanish. If a student crossed an imaginary line into the area and was still speaking Spanish, he/she was sent to the prison!
We also saw the house were Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, among other things, was born. And next to it, the first hospital in Europe to admit patients free of charge. It was built in 1438 and it is among the oldest hospitals, if not the only one, that is still functioning today. Also, we stood outside of the palace where Fernando and Isabel (the rulers of Spain in the late 1400s, I think?) met with Christopher Columbus for the first time, so he could show them his plans for his travels to India - aka the infamous trip that led to the discovery America. Lastly, we went inside the room where the Premio Cervantes, which is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Spanish and Latin-American literature, is given. On the walls outside the room were names of important authors who had won the prize, and upstairs, on the walls, were the names of people important to the university. One of them was the first woman in the world who got her Ph.D., graduating from that university. She wrote a 14,000 page senior thesis at 24 years old on the origin of many Spanish words. How incredible? Another was the man who basically wrote out all of Spanish grammar for the first time. He did it right inside of that university! The actual room was was small, but it felt enormous, as if the knowledge that passed through those doors was palpable to all of us, and it was beautiful beyond belief. The three most important religions of Spain - Christianity, Islam, and Judaism - were represented by the architecture in the room, in three different layers, from the walls to the ceiling respectively. We just stared around us in wonder for a few moments. After all, how could we not? Around us were the most important authors in the Spanish/Latin-American world - their words and language enveloped us warmly, welcoming us.
And to finish the day just right, the train I was on broke down on the way home and I ended up taking a different train and the metro (for the first time by myself!). On the metro, I saw a poem posted up on the wall. At the bottom it said "Ni un día sin poesía" (not a day without poetry), which I liked immensely and am currently writing on a post-it so I can hang it up on my wall. I keep thinking that I was fated to be here. The other day, I took a picture of a sign that said "Destino: ¡Madrid!" Destino in Spanish means destination, and in that case, it meant destination for the metro, but in Italian, it's a word that is much more commonly used to mean fate. So that made me laugh - I swear, it's destiny at it's finest!
Now I really do have to go to bed, it's almost midnight and I have my first day of actual school tomorrow! I'm still thinking about this changing the course of history business.. we're all changing it in our own little words, no? Even though we don't all end up in history books! :)
Buenas noches!
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