The Past Week

This week was pretty quiet but nice. A lot of hanging out at the park, gym, studying. Went to "Madrid de Austrias," about a 3 minute metro ride from the dorm and the oldest part of Madrid. Really beautiful with a lot of old architecture and restaurants, churches, bars, etc. Friday we went to "Valle de Los Caidos" (click that) which was really cool. Then we went to an Ice Bar which was sorta cool but pretty stupid. It's what it sounds like, a bar, where literally everything is ice. The tables, the bar, the seats, everything. You get a big parka when you go so it's tolerable. Afterwards we went to some other club near by. Attatched is a picture of me and my room mate at the ice bar. Yesterday I mostly chilled all day then went out to the bar close to us that we always go to. Got an in class composition tomorrow on one of the Lola Loga books tomorrow so I'm doing a bunch of studying today. That's all I have to say for now.

Back in Madrid

Got back in Madrid yesterday around 7 in the morning. Couldn't sleep at all on the bus so was miserable all day until I took a nap after class. Didn't do much yesterday besides homework and chill. Barcelona was fun, made some friends in the hostel. 2 Austrians and an Australian. Practiced my German a bit with the Austrians which was depressingly awful considering I took it 6 years or whatever.

I uploaded some pictures so I'll put a bunch up here. Some are Segovia/Avila (can't tell the difference, went on the same day) and others are Barcelona.

Today was our first "hands-on" HW assignment. We had to go to the muebleria (furniture store) with a list of 10 types of furniture and find them, check the price, and write a description about them and what they are used for.

As for the questions Mom asked before:

1. For the most part the culture isn't that different. The people are pretty friendly (more so here than Barcelona). Barcelona people are mostly assholes. Have way too much pride in their state and are openly racist and dislike people who can't speak Catalan, even if they are fluent in the national language. We walked about a half block behind a Muslim woman in full garb and in those 45 seconds witnessed two elderly women (separately at different times) get in her face and harass her over her clothing/religion. Also a lot more poverty/drugs in Barcelona. Another thing I've noticed is that people are much better with language. Most people here can speak a good amount of English, and a lot also speak another Spanish dialect (such as Catalan). But in Madrid whenever I need to ask someone a question they are really helpful and nice (for example, today I asked a young couple about one piece of furniture for my HW, and they decided to come around to each piece with me until I finished my HW even though I told them it was unnecessary).

2. The school work is going well. The first couple grades were only okay because I would make small grammatical mistakes that added up, but the past 5 or so I've had one of my friends who is fluent proof read, and as a result my past grades have all been 90+. My class is only 6 people. Me, my room mate, a senior I've become friends with, and 3 girls who are alright. I really like the teacher and feel like I'm picking up the language well. Each night our typical homework is read 5-10 pages of Lola Lago (those little children's detective novels) and do either an excercise, composition, or go on an "excursion" (like today).

Barcelona:



























1/2:Segrada Familia. 3:Me and a friend on the trip at a bar. 4. Barcelona FC Stadium.












Segovia/Avila: 1. Inside of a very old royal home, with about 3-4 foot monuments to all the former kings on high up on the walls (obviously not all are shown in this pic). 2. Picture of one of the cities from a mountain far way. 3. Picture of some houses. 4. Big fort wall around one of the cities. 5. Outside of a Cathedral.

Barcelona pt. II

Sunday at about 2 p.m. we just checked out of the hostal then went to the beach for the day. Much nicer than the beach we went to yesterday which was overcrowded and dirty. Swam and played soccer until it started to get cloudy so we just got back to the hostal where we are still allowed to hang out until our bus later. The bus is at midnight, so we should get back around 7 30 am. Last night we went out to some seafood restaurant then to an absinthe bar which was fun. Barcelona´s been fun but I look forward to getting back to Madrid.

Barcelona

As you know I arrived safely in Barcelona last night. The ride there was long but not awful. Tons of mountains and junk so it looked cool. Got in around 2 then walked around some festival with the group for a little.

Today we went to the beach in Barcelona, about a 5 minute metro ride away. Place was really crowded and wasn´t that sunny out. Not really a nice beach at all. Kinda dirty. Just got back from there after having lunch. The city as a whole, from what I could tell from my exploring the past 15 hours, is a dirtier, lower class, Madrid with less to do. It´s still nice of course but I like Madrid more from the limited amounts I´ve seen.

The hostal is actually pretty nice. Clean, free computers, nice people, free lockers, etc. Definitely better than I expected.

It´s 4 45 now, plan is to chill and shower before going out to dinner then a bar or club tonight. Talk to you later.

About to Leave for Barcelona

Currently sitting in the lounge of our building waiting to leave for Barcelona. Just got back from Segovia and Avila. Both very nice, Segovia nicer. Brought my camera so I'll put some pictures of next week. Just got back from the supermarket to stock up for this weekend. Should be fun. Will be arriving in Barcelona around midnight. Total cost about 110 Euro and hopefully I can keep spending there to a minimum. The past couple days haven't been very eventful so not much else to say about that. Any questions leave them as a comment and I'll address them asap.

Friday-Sunday

Very eventful weekend. Friday we went to Toledo, about an hour away by bus, and got a tour of the city. Very beautiful, and the Church we went to was unlike anything I've ever seen. The place was probably the size of a very big department store (and as high) but without different levels. Beautiful architecture and art in it as well. Put up a couple pictures of the city.

Friday night we went to "Kapital." This was a huge, over-priced, seven story club full of people. Was a good time and interesting experience.

Saturday I did a lot of relaxing mostly. During the day went to some huge Macy's-like store in Madrid to get a pair of jeans, and I may end up going back for a couple of shirts since I have no clean ones left. Went out to a bar for a bit at night, but came home pretty early by European standards.

Yesterday during the day I went out to explore a bit by myself and got some lunch and stuff for the room. Got my work done, then had some drinks before going to my first Bull Fight. The place was a 10 minute metro ride away and only costs 5 euros. Awesome but gruesome. After that we went out to a nice italian restaurant by the stadium before heading back.

Museo del Prado

Last night was uneventful. Did some studying, went to the gym, and got to sleep early because this morning we had class at 9 so that we could get to "Museo del Prado." It's an art museum on the other side of Madrid that we took a bus to and got a tour of the whole place in Spanish. The art was really cool because of the religious symbolism in all of it and how old it was. I can't remember the name to two of my favorites, but the "Table of the Seven Deadly Sins" (first picture) was really cool as were the "Pinturas Negras" or black paintings by Goya. Sadly the only two that I really liked a lot whose names I remember are very dark. The second picture is one of the more famous Pinturas Negras, called "Saturn" which is a depiction of the God Saturn eating one of his sons out of the knowledge that one day his son will become more powerful and the fear of this event. My favorite stuff was Goya and Valasquez.
After that I took the metro back to school and I took a nice nap. After waking up I went to the gym and just got back from that. Gonna shower and study and maybe go out for a bit tonight.

4th of July

Hola. Today is actually the 5th (not 4th) but the post is about the fourth.

Right now it's about 1 30, 30 minutes after class, 30 minutes before lunch.

So after getting out of class yesterday I immediately got all my work done. Next a couple of the people I'm more friendly with were heading to the big park by campus to get their work done so I went with to relax since it was so nice out. Drinking in public is legal here, including parks, so 4th of July celebrations were started.








After staying there for a while I came back, showered, ate, and chilled. At around 11 15 we all went out to a bar. The place was really cool. The inside was made to look like you were inside a cave and was done really well, if I can find a picture on someone's FB I'll post it. Had a couple drinks and tried the "Leche de Pantera" (Panther's Milk) which was a house specialty. The place was really dark but when you order it a spotlight comes on where the bartender makes it and a milky liquid starts pouring out of the ceiling where they catch it in a glass while mixing in cinnamon, sugar, and a bunch of different types of alcohol. Good, surprisingly.













As for today, not much on the schedule. Probably going to nap, go to the gym, then go hang out at the park. Not going out tonight since last night was a long one.

The pictures I'm posting are just some ones I thought looked cool that I stole from a girl on the trip. The only one that I can identify is the one in the middle with the water, which is the egyptian temple in the park next to campus that I talked about yesterday. Tomorrow is our first trip, I forget where, but I'll be sure to take a bunch of pictures.

Adios.

Primera Dia

Today (4th of July) is my first full day in Spain. Yesterday was mostly miserable because of how tired and jet lagged I was, but still very interesting. Right when I got to Casa Do Brazil I had time for a short nap then off to the 2 hour tour of the city. Sadly I forgot my camera but I'm sure there will be plenty other opportunities for that. We saw all the old monuments and buildings as well as a huge, beautiful park right next to the campus. In the park is an old Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain in return for some support a bunch of years ago that I didn't really understand because the entire tour was in Spanish. After the tour we went out for dinner after hopping on the metro to Plaza de Sol, a big shopping touristy area. The place we ate sucked, as did the only beer most places carry, "Mahou." Metro is really easy and pretty cheap (10-use ticket for 9 euro). After dinner we walked around but I went back early because I was so tired. This morning was our first class which went really well. Class is 10-1, M-Th. After lunch we went to the supermarket where I got some essentials. Finally got a chance to unpack, and that brings me to the present. Look forward to tonight, my first real night and 4th of July. Alls well so far and I'll try to keep this updated as more interesting things happen.