I'm home!

So I do realize that this blog is a few days late, seeing that I have been home since Monday. Well my apologies, but I was welcomed back to the United States with a nice 102 degree fever and the 24 hour stomach bug... so I wasn't doing too much of anything for my first few days back. On today's agenda was my wisdom teeth surgery, so after amusing the oral surgeon and his nurses with my reaction to the laughing gas, I spent my third straight day in bed watching Gilmore Girls and noshing on soft-foods galore. Oh pudding. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to breathing some outside air and I may make it to the pool (but only to pass out on a lounge chair, nothing too crazy just yet.)

As for the end of our time in Spain. The last week flew by and included a flamenco concert, exams, and "graduating" from the university of Cádiz and receiving our very official certificates. We traveled to Granada for our last weekend, and despite the 45 degree Celsius (yes, that DOES convert to 115 degrees Farenheit) temperatures it was definitely worth the trip. We got to see the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella in La Capilla Real, La Catedral de Granada and of course La Alhambra (which was absolutely AMAZING). It was really cool to see so many of the things we had learned about in Alberto's Art History class. (The Alhambra is significantly cooler in real life as opposed to a picture on a powerpoint screen, just saying.)

Well, I just felt like I should have a final blog entry for some closure. Thank you so much to everyone for following my time in Spain and I hope that you at least sort of enjoyed reading my ramblings about our experiences. I uploaded some more pictures from the last few weeks of the trip (it's amazing how quickly photos upload when you're not using the free WiFi in Plaza San Antonio!! Claro!!). Thank you again!

ADIOS!!!!

~Katie~

Last day of art history class with Alberto (we thought seriously about kidnapping him and bringing him back to Davidson to teach in the Spanish department...)

The Alhambra

One of our last lunches with Pepa... my stomach misses her cooking :(

WELCOME HOME!!!!

One of our last sunsets in Cádiz

Only in Spain...

Time continues to fly by here. I remember thinking about writing a blog about five times this week, but it never happened. So here it goes.

To start off on a random note, yesterday Amy, Pat, Pacious and I witnessed something I have never encountered before. And kind of feel like could only be found in Spain. Rounding a corner on our walk to school, what do we come across (and nearly run into) but a woman walking her pig. Yes, her pig. We tried not to stare too much, but weren’t very successful. So we have added that to the list of things you can come across in the streets of Cádiz. Other items on the list include speeding motocicletas who do NOT adhere to the yield to pedestrians rule, Spanish men who enjoy staring at you and yelling “hola guapa” (my personal favorite… not), and millions upon millions of pigeons that absolutely will not move for me (for everyone else yes, but for me they just sit there. I’ve started a point system actually to see how many I can kick each day. They deserve it after I was pooped on twice in one day last week). Okay now I’m making Cádiz sound terrible which was not my intention at all. Today Amy and I have to face the fact that we officially only have one week left here, and we’re really not too happy about this porque:

1) Pepa is the most adorable host mom in the world. Reasons why: (I like numbering things)

1) She is the best cook ever. You all already know this and probably are tired of hearing about it. But allow me a few lines to share this week’s amazing culinary creations. The menu included paella de arroz negro (rice dyed black with squid ink and filled with pieces of calamari. I know it sounds gross but it is AMAZING), mejillónes con picadillo (mussels with a mix of onions, green and red peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes), merluza fish “Pepa style” for the second time (our absolute FAVORITE dish), átun encebollada (tuna with carmelized onions and eggplant), and much much more but I’ll stop there. We keep telling Pepa she needs to open her own restaurant and that she is la mejor cocinera en todo el mundo (best cook in the world). And she just smiles and says “Gracias, guapas”. It’s going to be strange to go home and not be called guapa (which means pretty) all the time. I think I’m really going to miss Pepa.

2) She bought us these funny little triangular towels for our hair (she and Alba both have one). Mine is blue and I look like a little smurf once I’ve wrapped my hair up in it. The button on mine broke today and Pepa sewed it back on for me. She takes such good care of us.

3) Amy and I really like her daughter Alba. The other night we helped her make pancakes using this packet of pancake mix and little bottle of maple syrup that was a gift from a girl from Vermont who stayed here at the beginning of the summer. She didn’t really understand the concept of American pancakes, but was very pleased with the final product. Amy and I can make some mean pancakes.

4) Pepa is so patient with us and I have a HUGE list of new words that she has helped us learn in my travel journal. I also just love sitting and talking with her and I’m actually able to understand her speedy Andalucian accent most of the time now!

2) I really like our classes and I’m going to miss Miguel and Alberto. In culture we’ve studied the Spanish Civil War, the Andalucian dialect (which my fruitería friend Antonia continues to try to teach me with no avail), the youth of Spain, the government of Spain, festivals, flamenco dancing, food, vocabulary, etc. etc. etc. In art we started with arte rupestre (cave paintings) and have progressed through arquitectura romana, el arte hispanomusulmano, el arte gótico y mudéjar and el Renacimiento (the Renaissance). The names just sound so much cooler in Español. Grammar is rather complicated at times but I feel like that is inevitable when you are learning difficult conjugations such as how to form the preteritó pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo en oraciones temporales con el condicional compuesto from a professor speaking in rapid Spanish gaditiano style. But I feel like I’ve learned so much and I’m beginning to notice that I don’t stumble over my verb conjugations as much when I’m speaking. So combine this with all the new words I’ve learned from Pepa, and my conversations are actually semi-coherent instead of a babbling amalgamation of un-conjugated verbs and partially relevant vocabulary.

3) Just random things such as… (another list, yay)

1) The ability to hop on a bus and travel to a completely different city for the day. Sevilla was amazing. We saw the Giralda Tower, El Torre de Oro, La Catedral, La Plaza de España and beautiful gardens. It was definitely worth the trip. (And we went to Starbucks three times. No joke.)

2) Harry Potter in Spanish is a fun experience. Except when the characters start speaking demasiado rapido (too fast) and all the Spanish people in the theater are laughing and the joke goes right over your American head.

3) The constant sounds of Michael Jackson in our little Spanish casa. Alba is SO OBSESSED. Amy and I find it to be a constant source of amusement. If anyone has any questions about the life of Michael Jackson, please ask me. There is a 99.9% chance that I will know the answer.

4) Coffee

5) Babysitting for Professor Kietry’s little boys the other night. After many hours of Peter Pan action figures, stories, coloring and Looney Tunes in Spanish, Amy and I did manage to get them to bed.

6) Watching The Lion King (El Rey León) and Beethoven 2 in Spanish on Sunday afternoon while laying on the couch eating the espinacas y garbanzos (spinach and garbanzo stew) that Pepa made for us before leaving for the beach with her little flowered lunch box and bocadillo in tote. She took juice boxes of sangria with her. Oh Spain.

7) Salsa classes. Need I say more.

8) Coffee

9) Coffee

10) Spinning class. The music is amazing. My iPod has definitely received a makeover thanks to this trip.

11) Pepa’s cooking

12) Coffee

Okay, I think that’s about it for now. Plus my computer is about to die and I need to go pack for our trip to Granada. We leave tomorrow morning and get back on Sunday night. Apparently it’s even hotter in Granada than Sevilla. Ay de mi. Hasta luego and I will try to be better about blogging next week!

adios íngles

This week certainly proved to be quite eventful, filled with some hilarious moments, multiple pruebas (quizzes) and papers and of course muchas tazas de café. Claro. (Our new favorite word… it’s the equivalent of “obviously” in English, but just sounds much cooler in Spanish. Pepa uses it at least 1,000,000 times a day. So we’ve followed suit and added it to our ever-increasing vocabulary).

On Wednesday morning our group met in front of the one and only Burguer King for our bodega adventure, on time for the most part. There were a few stragglers who got a bit turned around courtesy of the ADD layout of the streets in Cádiz. We boarded a catamaran and crossed the Bahía de Cádiz to Puerta Santamaria, arriving at the Osbourne winery after a tour of the city. We snapped a group photo with the huge bull statue of course and then embarked on our tour of the wine cellars. I’m not much of a wine connoisseur so having the ins and outs of the wine making process explained in rapid Spanish was a little difficult, but interesting nonetheless. We saw the huge vessels they used to stomp around in and juice the grapes (I’ve always wanted to do that. Too bad that wasn’t included as part of the tour) and the antiquated cork machines. As always, our tour included entertaining tourists. This particular one featured a little boy with the most epic rattail I’ve ever seen. (He started fiddling with the cork machines and was promptly reprimanded by the tour guide. I was about to do the same thing, so good thing he bit the bullet for me.) Then came the tasting portion of the tour… keep in mind that this was at 11:00 in the morning. Hence, I wasn’t really feeling it, although some people in our group were not at all affected by the awkward hour. I tried a sip of each wine and then kept myself busy polishing off nearly all of our table’s tapas, all the while sneaking pictures of the rattail kid of course. We then meandered back to the port and caught another catamaran (the wind had picked up substantially, so we were all quite damp and seasick upon our arrival in Cádiz.) This was quickly remedied by a good old Pepa lunch however. Warner girls, I’ve decided that if Nancy ever abandons us, Pepa is going to be our new chef. I am fairly certain she would not disappoint.

Wednesday night brought about round two of Spanish spinning class and I was excited to receive fewer strange looks this time. I think they’re beginning to accept me as one of their own, especially since they like that I know all the words to the American songs. I was given an official laminated membership card to replace the dinky little paper slip I’d been using before and after class the instructor asked me if I’d taken spinning before. I replied “si, pero solo dos veces” and received a “¡Que bueno!”. I was excited. I can’t wait for Monday. To top it all off, I visited Antonía and my frutería on the walk home. After a thirty-minute conversation in which I also got to meet her husband and daughter, I left laden with her recommendations of paraguayos (a type of peach) and ciruelas (yellow, plum-like and my new obsession).

Then came some intense studying for Cultura and Grammatica at our café as well as the writing of my codigo de honor, which marks the official end of my English for the next two weeks. As we were traveling to the bodega, Professora Kietrys informed us that it was indeed time to write up and sign our contracts and decide how much English we would use for the remainder of the trip. Amy and I decided to go all Español except for fifteen minutes of English a day (for emergencies and when we’re just too tired to think solely in a foreign language) and communication with our families and friends at home. So potentially I could have committed myself to ONLY Spanish and anyone reading this blog would have had to promptly enroll in some intensive Spanish classes. J But I decided against that.

It was a little frustrating Thursday night during our cooking class, since most people in our group haven’t committed themselves to that much Spanish. To avoid the temptation of speaking in English, Amy and I ended up talking mostly with Diego and Elena, the two Spanish students that joined us for dinner. We bonded over homemade paella and they invited us to dinner next week. They want to take us to the most popular tapas street in Cádiz and introduce us to some authentic Spanish dining. Elena asked us for our email to figure out a time and place to meet and I just have to share this email. It’s without a doubt the greatest message ever to appear in my inbox. I’m keeping it FOREVER.

"Hello! We're Diego and Elena ( We were talking with your in paellas's time xD). This is the elena's emails. Soon we' re going to send email about we meet for eat at the evening. Kisses"

In addition to new Spanish amigos, Amy and I also scored some free tickets to see (drum roll please) HARRY POTTER tonight!!! I can’t even express how excited I am on here since I feel like exclamation points and smiley faces would just lose their meaning after typing one hundred or so. Our MundoLengua professor Rosilla had three tickets to distribute among our group and Amy and I beasted the number guessing game and will therefore be heading to Corte Ingles tonight at 9:30 for a Spanish Harry Potter experience. Should be quite interesting. We’ve reviewed the plot together so we aren’t completely confused. J J J J

Other than that, I am glad that it is el fin de semana. Pepa made us seafood pasta and delicious salad for lunch and I just woke up from a glorious siesta. Now off to the gimnasio and then to view la major película en el mundo (the best movie in the world). Tomorrow Amy, Pat and I are heading to Sevilla for the day. Some people from our group are leaving this afternoon and spending the night in a hostel but we decided we just wanted a day trip. So I’m sure this weekend will result in another long entry. ¡Hasta luego!

week 2 begins

I’m having trouble grasping the fact that week two in Cádiz is already almost halfway over. The days seem to fly by here, even though everything about this culture screams relaxation. I think it has something to do with how we’re constantly learning, both in and out of the classroom. (Although our daily four-hour dose of classes conducted solely in Español certainly could get the job done on its own.) I keep on finding new things that I love about this city though. Por ejemplo, every single inch of Cádiz is jam packed with history. I feel like I’ve died and gone to history nerd heaven, and there just happens to be a gorgeous beach and culinary whiz of a host mom included as part of the package deal.

In place of Cultura y Historía del Arte this morning we paid a visit to the Museo de Cádiz. (Amy and I were already very familiar with its location since the entrance is about twenty feet from our café. See?? All that late night coffee drinking DOES pay off in the end.) Our workload has picked up substantially this week (although we’re not up to the Davidson pace of six-hour days in E.H. Little Library just yet…) and we have three compositions due on Friday, one of which was the reason for our museum visit. Our art professor Alberto accompanied us to the museum for a guided tour of the arqueología floor. The other two floors of the museum feature contemporary art and ethnographic artifacts from all over Andalucía, but the archaeology portion is special since everything in it was discovered in Cádiz. We started with artifacts from the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Copper Ages, then moved into the second room which focused on the Phoenician colonization of Cádiz. The city was originally known as Gadir before the Arabs began calling it Qadis, which in turn evolved into Cádiz. (Although the gaditianos pronounce it Cái… the ‘s’ here is a forgotten letter. This oftentimes results in some serious blank stares on our end when the locals start talking to us at their normal pace.) Then we saw sarcophaguses, Roman statues, vases, jewelry, terracotta sculptures, masks y mucho más before heading back to la Universidad for afternoon classes (but only after Amy and I made a café stop of course. It didn’t measure up to our Café Piccola though. That’s impossible). In Grammar this afternoon we had more oral presentations. Thus far people’s topics have ranged from international dance to secret societies to the TV show West Wing to the Bermuda Triangle. Mine isn’t until the 27^th so I’m still pondering…

After class, as is tradition, Amy and I met outside the school to commence our daily sprint (not kidding…) back to Pepa’s house for lunch. There are a TON of things I love about Spain, but the eating schedule is not on the list desafortunadamente. Each day, despite endless snacks and multiple cafés during class hours, we always seem to find ourselves FAMISHED at the 2:30 “lunch” hour and our noses always perk up as we round the corner onto Calle Adolfo de Castro, hoping to catch a whiff of the culinary bliss we are about to consume. As always, Pepa did not disappoint. While we were eating Amy and Alba (Pepa’s daughter who just got home on Sunday) were comparing L.A. sights such as In-N-Out Burgers, Disneyland and Hollywood Boulevard. And of course we heard all about Michael Jackson’s funeral. She really is quite obsessed. Reporters from the Cádiz newspaper actually came to the house today to interview this girl that flew hallway around the world for the occasion. And his songs occupy quite a few spots on the top 40 list of songs here while his music videos are always playing on the TV. In other words, he’s kind of a big deal in our household and in this country it seems.

After stuffing myself with Pepa’s magical soup and fresh bread from the panadería on our street, I went back to the museum to do some more research for my paper. I was quite proud of myself actually… I must have looked like a pretty official student with my backpack and notebook and all so museum workers waived the one-euro fee and I proceeded to write my essay while walking through the museum, rereading all the exhibits. Then I went back outside, sat at our café (recall its convenient proximity to the museum), and had a good conversation with our waitress buddy before heading to my gimnasio.

Speaking of the gimnasio! I joined Millennium Gym on Friday and went to my first spinning class last night. I received a few weird looks at first, but was quickly accepted once they realized I understood what they were saying and knew how to adjust my bike on my own. Davidson’s Fitness for the Athlete can take credit for that. Not the Spanish part, just the bike. THE CLASS WAS SO HARD. But I loved it. I’m obsessed. I’m going back tomorrow. It’s a very good thing the owners are extremely nice and graciously lent me a towel since I didn’t know you had to bring one… spinning class with INTENSE Spanish instructors barking orders at you + no air conditioner + no towel = mal idea. I have also discovered a new love for Spanish techno music. (Although the fact that the last song played was Barbie Girl did kind of make my day. Bopping alongside a muscular Spanish dude singing “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world” is something I will never, ever forget.)

I left the gym looking like I’d just jumped in the water at Playa Caleta and made a stop at my favorite frutería on the way back to Pepa’s casa. Like our dear little café, this frutería has become part of my daily routine. I went again this afternoon after the gym and spent twenty minutes talking to the owner Antonía. She is adorable. The frutería has been in her family for 80 years and she has worked there for the past 25. She lives right above the store with her two sons, 15 and 20, and five international students that are taking Spanish classes here this summer. I told her I’ll probably pay a visit every single day (she sells the best grapes and nectarines in all of Cádiz, hands down) and she smiled and told me she can’t wait to talk with me more and that my Spanish is muy bueno. Did I mention that she is adorable? Then on the way home I noticed that the bookstore I have been wanting to go in was finally open (the whole siesta phenomenon creates some weird shopping hours ciertamente) and I bought Tercera Verano en Vaqueros (The Third Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book). J I figured a Spanish version of a favorite book at a semi-easy reading level posiblemente could improve my Español. (Plus I wanted to read it again and there are no English books to be found here.)

Whoops, another freakishly long entry. Tomorrow we go to a bodega (vineyard) in Jerez de La Frontera in place of classes. Yes, we are going to a vineyard, not class, you read that correctly. We meet in front of Burguer King (not a typo, that’s how they spell it here) at 9 AM sharp, so we have to get up a little earlier than usual. Hence, we’re going to head to bed now… much earlier than usual for us! Anything before midnight qualifies as early now. My tummy is full of café descafinado delicioso, I’m starting to warm up to Coco (the yappy Chihuahua) after he fell asleep in my lap earlier today, and I’ve finished all three of my compositions due on Friday… all is right in the world. Buenas noches!

WE FIT IN HERE!!

Guess what just happened. Amy and I sat down at our café (we just call it "the café" now since we have been here four out of the past five nights) and the waitress came up and recited our order, asking us if we'd like our usual! We played it all cool and said, "si muchas gracias", and then after she left we kind of flipped out. She knows us. We fit in. We're locals. (Okay Amy more so than me, I still got lots of weird looks with my blonde hair today in the Corte Inglés. But who cares! Our waitress knows our order.)

I know this seems like a trivial occurrence, but it's just one example of how I feel like I'm getting the hang of España. Another example: took my first SIESTA today. It was a huge success. I completely understand the whole mentality behind this glorious Spanish tradition now. You wake up feeling completely rejuvenated and ready to start the second part of your day. I think Amy and I have slept for the majority of the day... actually I am certain that we have. We woke up at 10:30, went for a swim at Playa Caleta (went to the buoys and back 4 times today, I've got to keep training so I can keep up with you when I get home mommy!) and came home to probably Pepa's best meal yet. Tomato, corn and cucumber salad (sounds very simple I know, but Pepa is a whiz with herbs and seasonings, let me tell you) and then a sort of ratatouille-like vegetable dish of eggplant, potato, onion, peppers and squash with more perfectly seasoned chicken. I do realize that I just spent four lines describing food... but anyone reading this blog should know that that is completely normal for me. :) Then came the siesta, a trip to Corte Inglés and more amazing Pepa cooking.

Our waitress just came back and we told her that this place serves the best coffee in all of Cádiz. She agreed and told us she ONLY drinks coffee at work, nowhere else. We're well on the way to becoming amigas mejores (best friends).

más fotos

A beautiful Cádiz sunset :)

Playa Caleta Roman ruins at Merida

some pictures!

Funny chairs at Montserrat



The ferocaríl ride up to the monastery

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

La Boqueria = GREATEST FRUIT MARKET EVER

La Casa Batiló by Gaudi

let's flamenco!

Okay, so allow me to paint a picture for you. 18 somewhat uncoordinated Davidson students sporting an array of footwear definitely not made for flamenco dancing (rainbows don't have very good traction for spinning, in case you were wondering) and attempting to copy the complicated steps our expert instructor was demonstrating. However, two hours, several stepped on toes and a few bruises later our group had "mastered" parte uno of the Sevillana flamenco dance. Props to MundoLengua for setting up amazing excursions for us. I also now know what I want my Spanish souvenir to be: a flamenco skirt just like our teacher's. For the entire class I found myself wishing I had a big, swishing pink skirt to mask my terrible dancing skills. We'll be going back next week for salsa lessons, which should be quite interesting. (Heads up, we're planning on founding a flamenco club when we get back to Davidson if anyone's interested. There will be T-shirts.)

I also went to the beach for the first time yesterday afternoon! There are three beaches here in Cádiz and each has its own distinct reputation. Playa de la Victoria is the farthest away but apparently is favored by the "domingeros" aka people who only visit the playa on Sundays. So we've been advised to go there only during the week unless we want to encounter wall to wall sunbathers... some of which prefer to take the less is more route in regards to beach wear. A little disturbing. Not going to lie. Oh Spain. Then there is Playa de Santamaria which is where you go if you want to face plant straight into a rock while you're boogie boarding. Pass. I'd like to keep my face intact while on this Spanish adventure. And then there is Playa de Caleta which is within walking distance of the university and our house, so as of right now it is our beach of choice. (Although I do really want to check out Victoria because when I was running there the other day I noticed they have a HUGE kiddy park with an elephant blow up slide. Wish I was more embarrassed to admit how much I want to go there...)

The beach is beautiful, although very different from what I am used to. (Learned a new fun fact today: Castillo de Santa Catalina, the fortress at Playa de Caleta, is the southernmost point in Spain and the last part of the country to see the sun each day. Apparently it can be dark at Playa Victoria and still sunny at Playa Caleta and you can see some of the most beautiful puertas del sol (sunsets) from this spot.) After the guys and I jumped in the water (the boys complained WAY more than I, the only girl, did about the water temperature for the record) and swam to the buoys and back a few times (swimming laps Cádiz style!) we were FREEZING getting out of the water since it's so windy here! And since we have to ask Pepa to switch on the shower's hot water at our house, that particular bathing experience was quite chilly seeing that she was not home. After 10 minutes of scampering around the kitchen in my bathing suit searching for however she turns the hot water on, I finally took a deep breath and braved the frigid shower. Refreshing! Sort of.

It is actually pretty cool here, especially at night and I am getting a lot of use out of the one sweater that I brought with me, thinking it was going to be 100 degrees 24/7. Not the case. We THINK/hope that Pepa is going to do laundry tomorrow... this jacket is getting a little sucio (dirty) and we are running out of clothes. Do you think bathing suits are acceptable attire in La Universidad de Cádiz? We may find out soon. I'll consult Pepa. :) Tonight's dinner conversation was hilarious. After Pepa discovered that I am unable to roll my r's, she and Amy spent a full ten minutes trying to teach me, but mostly just laughing at me. I try to avoid the words carro and perro (car and dog) since I always end up saying caro and pero (expensive and but). Not exactly corectamente. Then she asked us to translate the English song that was on the radio and we happily obliged. I love Pepa. And I LOVE her cooking! Tonight we dined on some delicious homemade Spanish tortilla and gazpacho and then put away an entire bag of cherries among the three of us. For lunch we had a fish native to Andalucia simmered in wine, onions, garlic, tomatoes and lemon along with handmade croquettes that are a family recipe. I'm in comida heaven.

We're all really excited for our first fin de semana (weekend) in Cádiz. We may try to travel to Faro, Portugal or take wind surfing lessons next weekend but we've decided to just stay in Cádiz this weekend. We're planning on visiting Medussa music bar (the Cádiz version of a discoteca we've heard) tomorrow and dancing the night away. :) For now we're about to leave our little café (third night in a row) to head back and crash. Maybe I'll join in on the siesta tradition this weekend... it still hasn't happened. Soon though. ¡Buenas noches!

Cádiz!

So… Cádiz. This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been! I feel like I’m in some sort of gorgeous movie set, which is actually true. The James Bond movie Die Another Day was filmed here since Cádiz looks a lot like Havana. (Little fun fact for you there, since we watched a video clip in our Spanish Cultura clase this morning.)

Although we’ve only been here two days, I feel like we’ve already settled into a routine. We arrived on Sunday night, pulling into the bus station a bit dazed from our 12-hour bus ride to find our host families waiting for us. It was quite a peculiar looking moment I’m sure; imagine a group of American students standing off to the side trying to manage our huge rolling suitcases while staying out of the way on the microscopic sidewalk (that’s one thing I’ve noticed… the sidewalks are very, very narrow. Hence you better watch out for speeding cars and mopeds while you’re wandering around) and the host moms milling around, gawking at us and trying to figure out which kids belong to them. It was so cute, they had their little info packets out and were trying to pronounce our names and match our pictures with our faces (I’m sure I didn’t look much like mine at the moment, I had weird marks on my face from sleeping awkwardly on the bus seat for two hours.) Pepa found Amy and I eventually and promptly kissed us both on the cheek and insisted upon helping us haul our stuff to her house. Two other girls in our group, Sydnor and Elyse, are living with Pepa’s sister, and their mom and several family friends were also there to greet us. So essentially we’ve just been adopted into an adorable little Spanish family. Pepa and her sister own a little tienda (store) in the Plaza de San Antonio and Amy and I hope we can use this to our advantage and obtain some extra rebajas (discounts) there. In Spain, for the months of July and August, there are HUGE sales EVERYWHERE. Excellent planning with the dates of this trip Davidson. J

Our living situation is rather funny actually… Pepa and her 17-year-old daughter Alba are obsessed (and I mean obsessed) with Michael Jackson. I’m not kidding. Alba pretty much has a shrine to him in her room with pictures plastered all over the wall. Interestingly enough, Alba is actually in L.A. right now for Michael Jackson’s funeral and Pepa was absolutely enthralled to learn that Amy is from there. I’m sure Alba is going to be peppering her with questions when she gets home on Friday. Pepa has been glued to the TV today, watching the funeral hoping to catch a glimpse of Alba. Other than that the house is filled with random trinkets and decorations from Pepa’s store along with Coco (the Chihuahua) and Dulca (some sort of terrier) and two turtles that have yet to be named (Pepa told us we can do the honors so we’ve been perusing our dictionary. We’re taking this responsibility very seriously.)

So we unpacked, showered and ate our first dinner with Pepa before going out to explore the city, which entailed walking out of the door of our little casa on Calle Adolfo de Castro, taking a left and walking about 50 yards to encounter the most amazing sunset ever. Then we tested out the WiFi in the plazas, which has not disappointed thus far. (Currently we’re sitting in the Plaza de Mina sipping coffee at a little café. I love this.) Classes started yesterday and I am really excited to start studying again! (I feel like some of my friends are going to cringe after reading this, but it’s the truth). We’re taking Spanish Culture and Grammar and Composition with Miguel and Art History with Alberto, both of whom are University of Cádiz professors. We have class from 9:30 to 11:30, then a descanso (break) until 12, in which we go and fight our way to the front of the cafeteria line to order café con leche, and then class again until 2:00. They’ve also planned all these cultural excursions for us… we’ll be taking a cooking class (SO EXCITED), taking flamenco lessons (we’ll see how that goes…) and going to museums and cathedrals too.

Other than that we’ve just been trying to improve our Español talking with Pepa, sitting along the seawall doing our homework and trying to learn our way around the city. Although we’ve gotten turned around quite a few times, we’ve discovered that if you walk long enough in one direction you’ll either run into a cathedral or the ocean. So no worries about getting lost. Although we did have quite a fun excursion this evening… a group of us embarked on an autobús adventure to find the Corte Ingles and buy Spanish phones so we can stop with the whole, “meet you in front of the university at this hour” thing. We left around 8:00, promising Pepa that we would return by 9:30 for dinner. Yeah, that didn’t happen. The service at Corte Ingles is quite a bit slower than your typical Walmart, Target or Best Buy. (Plus the whole Spanish thing adds another element as well.) After two hours in the store, numerous trips up and down the escalators searching for the móvil section, and a trip to the supermercado to buy liters of lemon Fanta (our new obsession) we walked out of the store ten minutes after it closed. (Also, the tag that I’ve neglected to cut out of my shorts kept on setting off the alarm every time we walked in and out of the electronics section, so the clerks all though I was shop lifting. That was fun to explain in Spanish.) They turned the lights off while we were still inside and locked the doors behind us. We closed down the Corte Ingles! Turns out we actually came out on the wrong side so then we hiked around the massive building, found the right bus and returned to Pepa who fed us well, scolded us a little (but in a sweet, motherly way) for being late and sent us on our way. It’s 1 AM right now… and I’m not even tired! The streets are still filled with people at this hour. It’s Tuesday night. I love Spain. I think we’re going to regresar y acostar muy pronto (AHH I just wrote that in Spanish without thinking about it!) Cool. Maybe I’ll dream in Spanish tonight. Just maybe. ¡Adios!

¡vamanos a cádiz!

This blog is going to have capital letters, yes! We said adios to the Tryp Rex hotel in Madrid at 7:30 this morning so I’m back on my laptop and hoping that the free WiFi becomes reality when we get to Cádiz. Right now we’re on the bus on our way to the city where we’re going to spend the next four weeks studying, traveling, windsurfing (hopefully), living with our host families and seriously boosting our Spanish abilities (another hopefully!)

Just had quite an interesting experience… we all woke up and groggily stumbled off the bus after the first three hour leg of our trip into the most random gas station/restaurant/who knows what complex I’ve ever been in. You could satisfy all your needs for food (including the Spanish equivalent of Twinkies, called Bimbos, and their version of spam… did NOT purchase that for my lunch today), DVD (they had Doug’s 1^st Movie and I got really excited and seriously contemplated buying it), fox pelt (not joking), Zorro hat (once again, not kidding), hunting knife, huge hocks of Iberian ham and so much more. Amy and I got our caffeine fix with one of the best cafés con leche I’ve had so far on this trip before trying to figure out where we were on a map of Spain. We still have quite a ways to go… we’re on the bus until 7:30 tonight.

I guess I should recap on Madrid! I think I actually may have enjoyed that city even more than Barcelona, although it’s a tough call. We got there after a long bus ride on Thursday and went out for tapas after meeting up with Professor Santamaria and her family. Ironically, the restaurant we ate at was called Los Angeles… Amy and I were amused and laughed at the fact that she’d traveled halfway around the world to eat at a restaurant named after her hometown. We posed for a picture outside of course. We then went back to the hotel and crashed for the night… only to be awoken to the sound of madrileños singing in the streets. At 5:45 AM. We laughed, tried to understand what they were saying for a few minutes, then conked out again.

Friday morning we woke up and went on a tour of the Congreso de los Diputados. Our tour guide walked us through the Salón de Conferencias and Sala de Ministros, teaching us about the two Cámaras (houses), el Congreso de los Diputados and el Senado, of Las Cortes Generales. We saw the constitution signed by Rey Juan Carlos y Reina Sofia and then had an awkward group picture taken in the huge Salón de Sesiones with all of us in our Davidson t-shirts and athletic shorts posing in front of the elaborately adorned podium. Our tour guide made sure to point out all the bullet marks in the walls of that room from attempted golpes de estado/coups de’tat that have occurred through the years.

After that we moved on to see El Prado Museum which houses the works of Velazquez, Goya and El Greco. We saw Las Meninas and El Segundo de Mayo and once again got to wear the funny headphones for an audiovisual tour. But this time pretty much everyone in the museum was a) sporting the same nerdy gear and b) tourists like us. So it was alright. Despues de esté we girls walked to Salad Co. (a restaurant we had scouted out the night before). But don’t let the name fool you; it was more like the Spanish equivalent of a Golden Corral and we all quickly became big fans of the all you can eat concept as we made multiple visits to the pizza and pasta, ice cream, fruit and coffee stations, basically ignoring the whole salad portion and the restaurant’s namesake. Then we returned to the hotel where most everyone took advantage of siesta time… I on the other hand still haven’t mastered the concept yet. I’m trying though. Posiblemente in Cádiz. Instead Anna and I went running in the Parque del Retiro which was only a kilometer or so down Gran Via, one of the main streets that runs through Madrid. It was so cool to run through the park and see the Crystal Palace, lots of statues, the little lake with rowboats and the Plaza de la Independencia. While Amy and I are going on a coffee tour of Spain, Anna and I have decided we are on our version of a running tour of Spain. It really is a great way to see the city. Okay our bus driver is about ONE FOOT from the tiny toy-like car in front of us… I think we’re about to take them out. Oh nope, we’re good, we just passed them… no blinker though. Spanish driving certainly is a different experience. Watch out when I come home Mom, you’re not going to want to drive with me anymore, I may acquire some bad habits over here J.

Saturday (Fourth of July) proved to be an interesting experience. That morning we went on a tour of the Plaza Mayor and the surrounding streets and plazas. The tour was informative but honestly after a while we had more fun taking pictures of the tourists on the tour with us. Amy captured some epic pictures of our new German friend with the beer belly stretching on a bright yellow Vespa. But don’t worry, we did learn all about the history of Madrid and the Hapsburg influence on Madrid in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. We just mixed in some other forms of entertainment along the way, hence the pictures. Then we had the rest of the day on our own and we saw the Palacio Real, a beautiful cathedral (Pacious and I almost snuck upstairs to play the organ… we figured that might have been frowned upon though, so we thought better of it) and ate lunch along Calle Atocho. Amy and I ended up walking all the way to the Reina Sofia museum and were pleasantly surprised to discover that admission was free after 2:30. So we got to see Guernica and Salvador Dali’s paintings for free. Then as we were leaving the museum a man was playing Pachabel’s Canon on his violin right outside. And there was a Starbucks right next door. Many sonrisas (smiles) resulted from this perfect travel moment.

And although we did not experience the conventional American traditions that come with celebrating the Fourth of July… there was indeed a gay pride parade going on in Madrid. Right outside of our hotel and all up and down that main street. I think that the general revelry, flamboyantly dressed spectators, and buses decked out with blaring music might have made up for our lack of fireworks and red white and blue. We all leaned out of our hotel windows all afternoon, gawking at the scene before us and taking pictures and videos. Quite an experience. After dinner in the hotel some of us ventured out to sample the churros y chocolate that Madrid is so famous for. We went to the best churro joint in the city. It’s been there since 1894 and let me tell you, they know what they’re doing. We sat outside at little café tables and chowed down on the delectable fried amazingness that is a churro, all the while dunking them in chocolate and then just resorting to drinking the leftover chocolate after we ran out of churros. Although Pacious did utilize Sydnor’s empty water bottle to take some chocolate to go when we all declared that we couldn’t finish it. We are such Americans… the locals at the table next to us were staring at us. But we didn’t care. I think he ate it for breakfast this morning…

So that is Madrid! Lo siento for this being the longest entry ever. I think we have about an hour left until we stop in Medila which is known for its Roman ruins and its intense heat. More awkward tan lines to come. I’m excited. Until next time! I hope our host families are nice and orientation goes well tomorrow morning!!

technology FAIL

okay so i ran out of time on that internet session, but managed to post what i had written so far before it logged me out. this keyboard certainly does decrease my wpm...

the biking tour continued... we rode all over barcelona and got to see everything from the bull fighting arena to where they held the 1992 olympics to the beach to the estatua colon and the stairs that christopher columbus ascended to tell queen isabella of his discovery of the new world. pretty cool, not going to lie. our guide was hilarious and found a way to pepper all the information he was throwing at us with jokes and random facts i do not think i would have found in my national geographic guide books. for example. did you know that in spain it is completely legal to walk around stark naked, but if you put a shirt on you can be arrested? yup, that´s right. completely in your birthday suit is just fine but a shirt and no pants no es permite. spain sure is an interesting place. the fashions here are also quite diferente... i do not know if i am going to embrace the whole eurotrash bleached mohawk look or the unitard like pantsuits i see people wearing. i don´t know if davidson is ready for that yet, although some of the boys in our group are determined to try. i also absolutely LOVE getting to use my spanish. i am now BFF with our hotel concierge here in madrid after our hour long conversation last night while i was waiting for the pay phone. he wanted to know all about the huge group of american kids that had invaded his hotel and we also talked about everything from the cultural differences you encounter in different regions of spain, to michael jackson, to his visit to montana, to american accents to cadiz. i felt so proud having that conversation... yet i feel so american being excited about that... oh well.

i´m getting ahead of myself. not done with barcelona yet. on our third day there we actually went on an excursion to montserrat, a monastery nestled up in the mountains about an hour train ride away from barcelon. it was amazing. we rode a gondola (ferocaril in spanish, which sounds way cooler) up there and hiked all over the place after wandering through the cathedral and sampling cheeses and honeys made by the monks. amy and anna and i went on a pretty legit hike to a little monastery called santa cava which was so peaceful. and also had funny little chairs the monks use to kneel on during prayer. we took pictures in them. we are 2.

that night we embrked on a paella adventure armed only with a vague recommendation from the concierge and the knowledge of which direction the water was in. but we found a great restaurant, la barceloneta, and dined on seafood paella. and we´re talking seafood paella here. it had crawfish and shrimp staring at us out of it. we named them, made some new friends... and then devoured it. so delicious. then in the morning we all wrestled our suitcases shut (well at least i did, i didn´t even buy anything in barcelona. i think my stuff just grew. i got another bruise. joy) we were on the bus pretty much all day minus a stop in the medieval city of sirguenza which we hit at the awkward siesta hour where pretty much everything is closed and it looked like the spanish version of those ghost towns you see in old western movies. i will honestly never forget spending my 19th birthday there. haha.

uh oh!! desafortunadamente i am about to be tarde para la cena (late for dinner). but maybe i´ll finish this up later. i just love pounding away on this keyboard anyway. i look like i´m seriously angry at someone, it´s rather funny. ¡¡¡hasta luego!!! i love upside down exclamation points.

aventuras thus far...

so i´m really hoping that i can finish typing this in under 30 minutes because that´s how much the 3 euros i just handed over to the hotel concierge is going to get me... this is the ultimate test of my typing abilities, i´ve been training. i will go ahead and apologize for any mispelled words, since some of the keys don´t work muy buena, and the lack of capital letters. but i think it gives it a bit of spanish charm, si si? (it just took me like a solid minute to figure out how to type that question mark, just saying.)

okay, so here it goes. SPAIN IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!! i thought that barcelona was one of the most beautiful cities i have ever been to but now that we´re here in madrid i think it might be a tie. maybe cadiz will top both of them, we shall just have to wait and see. where to begin?? for our first full day in barcelona we went on a walking tour of the city which featured the modernista architecture and took us all through the bario gotico (gothic quarter). the tour was very informative... but blatantly touristy as we found ourselves traipsing around the city sporting individual audio headsets with bright blue earphones that screamed I AM AN AMERICAN. i really wanted to let people know we were in fact listening to our tourguide firing off tons of information in rapid espanol as our little spanish lady guided our group around barcelona, trying to make sure none of us got taken out by buses, cars, mopeds, locals, etc. we ended at the casa batilo which was the designed by gaudi and the most surreal and colorful piece of architecture i have ever seen... i feel like i would get sea sick living there with all the wavy walls and blue tiles. then we were on our own for the afternoon and a group and i decided to embark on a trek to la sagrada familia, gaudi´s famous unfinished cathedral which he started in 1893 and worked on until his death in 1926. they found the blueprints in his crypt and continued construction on it after that... they´re hoping to be able to hold services there by 2010 and be completely done by 2030. although it´s quite likely that it will always remain the unfinished cathedral forever since they still have 13 towers left to build (with the tallest one aiming for 169 meters, twice as tall as the ones alredy there) and the metro runs right underneath the building, so it shakes every single day. amy and i are planning on coming back with our grandkids to see how that plan ends up. the five mile or so round trip there was totally worth it since that´s one of the biggest sites in barcelona.

on monday we went on a bicycle tour of the city, courtesy of fat tire biking tours. our guide, michael, had the most epic cut off tshirt tan i´ve ever seen (and after4 hours on a bike in a racerback tank top, i did indeed acquire my own awkward tan line. i love it) we rode all over the city, slowly but surely mastering the use of the little bells attached to our handlebars and trying to earn points by hitting birds, squirrells, locals, etc. since michael promised us he would buy the person with the most points a lemonade at lunch (just kidding... sort of)

¿como se dice jet lag en español?

Well I made it to Barcelona! But just to warn you this may be a very interesting blog due to my current state... have you ever experienced the unique combination of lack of sleep, changes in time zone and severe over-caffeination? That's what I'm feeling right now and let me tell you it's a rather strange sensation. Haha.

I feel like I'm officially a seasoned world traveler now... after a six hour layover in Philadelphia filled with intense people watching, an unsuccessful Starbucks hunt and getting kicked out of the Brookstone store for sitting in the massage chairs for too long (why do they even bother to put them there if they don't want you to use them?? Seriously), I took one of those amazing NyQuil pills and slept like a baby for the majority of the flight (save for the solid hour in which an actual baby was screaming a few rows ahead of me). I then milled around in the Heathrow airport for an hour or so, of course spending the most time in the awesome toy store. :) Forget Harrod's and Coach. I then boarded my connecting flight with all these ambitious plans to review spanish for the next three hours... before conking out unexpectedly and waking up fifteen minutes before landing in Barcelona. Whoops.

But anyway... the city is beautiful! I don't think I'm fully grasping the fact that I am actually here just quite yet... maybe I'll get to that once my body figures out what time zone it's in. After getting off the plane I followed the huge, idiot-proof green line to the baggage claim, snatched up my bag sin problemas and directed our taxi driver to the Hotel Colón, where my fellow Cádiz goers and I are currently residing checking our emails courtesy of the hotel's free wireless. We're quite a sight to see I'm sure... a group of slightly disheveled, sleep-deprived Americans typing away on our computers. But don't get the wrong idea... we spent about three hours exploring the city right after arriving. We strolled down the main street, La Rambla, took touristy pictures of the beautiful architecture and saw the port before coming back here to crash. But I AM resisting the urge to nap. Some of my fellow classmates haven't been so successful... our numbers are dwindling as people head off to rest before dinner at 8:00. Something tells me I am going to sleep very, very well tonight.

Well, that's all for now. Over and out!

A note for Allison Jones (I promised I would!): Um... so our first Tourista Barista coffee attempt was an epic fail. Amy and I got all excited, selected the coffee shop and eagerly placed our orders... only to be served a cup of ice accompanied by a black americano concoction minus cream or sugar. We tried to salvage it with some little sketchy packs of what we thought was sugar before chucking it and going to the Starbucks across from our hotel. We'll get better, promise.

tomorrow??!!??

So I recently became obsessed with downloading widgets onto my Mac dashboard and one of my favorites (apart from the virtual roller coaster that actually screams... it's cool, don't judge) is the countdown calendar. About that... I swear it seems like just the other day it read 50 something + days until Spain... NOW IT SAYS ONE. :) YAY!

So I'm new to this whole blogging thing. I was a bit hesitant to make one partly because I've always been absolutely terrible at/seriously loathed those soul-searching questionnaires like "describe yourself in three words" and just general all about myself things, which I kind of associate with blogging. But on second thought, I figured it might be cool to be able to share my trip with my friends and family (plus my mom wants constant confirmation that I am still alive and well... so that definitely factored into the creation of this here blog). I figured I should post my first entry before I leave the comfort of my Lovett AirNet wireless just in case for some reason the whole let's sit in the plazas in Cádiz and use the free WiFi on our laptops thing falls through. That would result in the most pitiful blog ever so at least now it'll definitely have one entry.

Plus writing on here marks me actually doing something with my life today other than watching Gilmore Girls, inhaling copious amounts of Port City Java coffee (I've gotta store up, it's going to be five weeks before I have it again) and obtaining a large bruise on my leg from falling during an intense struggle with my suitcase while bouncing up and down on top of it in an attempt to zip it shut. But I won in case you were wondering. I do believe that I am packed and ready to go... somehow during this past week the explosion of stuff around my room (that warranted a fair amount of contempt and nagging from the parental units) made its way into my suitcase and new North Face backpack (I figured the L.L. Bean monogrammed backpack I've had since middle school might not be the best European travel pack... it's been retired now.)

So now all I've got to do is actually make it to Spain! I'm leaving Wilmington tomorrow morning, flying to Philadelphia, then to London and then arriving in Barcelona on Sunday around lunch time. Next time I write I guess I'll be in Cádiz! ¡Hasta luego!