Tiritas

Ripe blisters and a cracked heel are good signs. It means I walked a lot. hahahaha =D


I found myself in Madrid two days in a row, walking for hours and hours. The first day, I skipped a trip to the Royal Palace in Madrid (Yes, I know but I'll go there on my own very soon) because I was sick. So, with another sick girl in our group, we decided to spend the day relaxing and watched a movie instead. PRIMOS (Cousins) was a really funny movie, even though I barely understood anything. Luckily, all the comedy was not in the language. But I really hope to watch more Spanish movies! It was a fun challenge for me. I also went to the post office in Madrid, which is in a gorgeous white building called the Palace of Communications. There, I sent my very first postcard!! How exciting!!

Then the next day, an intercambio Aura wanted to show us El Rastro in Madrid, something almost like La Rambla in Barcelona or Dongdaemun in Korea, except more crowded. I thought I was going to suffocate from claustrophobia. El Rastro is a long, long flea market that opens up every Sunday with thousands of vendors. I definitely liked the visit and I saw the Spanish way of bargaining, but it took us an hour to walk through the whole market. It's a good place to go buy trinkets like earrings or scarves. 

El Rastro

Man making music with water and glass

Afterward, we went to the Plaza Mayor to eat bocadillos de calamares (calamari in baguette bread)! I really liked how there were so many people with their bocadillo in one hand and a coke can in another eating on the streets. After a quick lunch we ended the day at the Retiro Park, which is so much prettier now than it was in January.

P.S. I swear it was SNOWING this morning. The weather is strange today..

La ciudad global

Sleeping on cold marble floors at the airport before our flight! 0.o

Barcelona definitely felt like a more cosmopolitan city compared to Madrid. Well, we were staying at hostels where travelers from all over come and go, but I got that global vibe everywhere we went. Barcelona is a city in an area of Spain called Catalonia. So here, Catalan is the common language, but they do understand Spanish. Not that it was evident, though. Whenever we tried to speak Spanish with waiters or shop owners, their replies were always in English. Frustrating, but understandable.

Our hostel was near La Rambla, this long street famous for its various stands and moving statues. It was a touristy place, which we unfortunately found out after eating at one of the pricey restaurants on the street. 

Guess how he's floating?

Acrobatic dancers performing for restaurant customers

One of my favorite places: a market off of La Rambla that sold everything from fruits and vegetables to sweets and pig's heads.

Our first cultural visit was to Picasso's Museum. It holds most of his earlier works, before he started cubism. It was so strange to see how his paintings slowly started changing and becoming more childlike. It's often said that he had to prove that he could paint like an adult when he was a child, but when he became an adult he painted like a child. "Desde niño pintaba como Rafael, pero me llevó toda una vida aprender a dibujar como un niño." 

Entrance to Picasso's Museum

Petra

  
After the museum visit, we found this hard-to-find restaurant called Petra for lunch and it was deliciousss. Their menu was printed on wine bottles and the restaurant had a very antique and quirky feel. 




We can't miss out on the night life, can we? We went to a bar called Chupitos (I think it's a chain of the same kind of bar) that sold over 200 different kinds of shots. The eleven of us (by the way, it was SO difficult traveling with eleven girls) ordered a shot called Harry Potter. hehehe of course we would. The bartender filled our shot glasses, then placed slices of oranges on top of each. He sprinkled some kind of seasoning on them and then lit them on fire. After blowing out the fire (which we were all awed by), we took the warm orange slices first and then had the shot. It was surprisingly sweet and GOOD. 

At the Chupitos bar

During our last full day in the city, we went crazy for Gaudí. Antonio Gaudí (I wikipedia-ed him when I got back because I knew almost nothing about this guy) was a Catalan architect from the Modernisme period. His works are pretty noticeable throughout the city and he has a very unique style. 

 

One of the first works we visited was Park Güell, a place that was like a mix of Alice in Wonderland and Hansel & Gretel. 

The view from outside

Then we visited THE place to go for Gaudí, La Sagrada Familia. The girls and I stepped off the metro and looked up at the cathedral and the first thing we said was, "It's so ugly that it's amazing." The cathedral is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Inside, it was more astounding. The place was like a distorted stone forest. It surprised me that they actually hold mass in this place! One girl described it as being like the work of a child who was playing with clay. But you knew that it wasn't all just random. It was all planned out. I think it'll be a while before the cathedral is finished being built. Gaudí died before he could finish it, so it's still under construction (supposedly until 2026). 

During our last night in Barcelona, most of us were pretty exhausted. The few stupid ones (like me) decided to go out for the third night in a row to a pub crawl hosted by the hostel we stayed at. So we spent our Sunday night at a small bar and then headed over to a club called Opium, near the beach. OH I almost forgot to mention the beach! It was beautiful. We walked along a boardwalk with palm trees and the sound of the ocean was so nice to hear. It's unfortunate that I only got to see it at night, but after dancing for hours in Opium, a friend and I walked barefoot in the sand and it was sooo relaxing. I forgot how much I missed the beach. =)


All in all, Barcelona was a successful first-trip for us. We learned what NOT to do (like try to go see all the sites with all ten girls) and what to bring (towels, extra socks, a BRUSH for goodness sakes). It's a huge city that was lots of fun but it can also get very tiring very quickly. It was nice to return to quiet Alcalá. And I say we're pretty prepared for our next trip, wherever that may be!!!

¿Oyes lo que oigo yo?

Today was the kind of day where I wanted to ride a Ferris wheel by myself and just go around and around...

On my way to grammar class, I always pass a large old building near the Calle de Infanta Catalina. And around that exact time, I hear a large band/orchestra playing inside. They don't sound very professional or anything, but I wonder what kind of group they are and if I can go see them perform. I'm missing music these days and I really really would like to find a place where I can play the piano too. Hm..

 
Post about BARCELONA, coming soon!!

¡¡¡Arre!!!

Something I love about learning Spanish is the sounds. It's so fun and challenging to try to pronounce sounds that I usually never make. In grammar class today, we started playing around with the double r sound, which I still can't do. So everyday on my way to class, I practice rolling my r's while looking like a crazy person muttering under her breath. I have definitely improved, but I'm not quite there just yet. Another sound that I find myself choking on is the j (jota) sound, which sort of sounds like someone coughing up a small hairball. Hahah that's the only way I can describe it. Something a little more difficult is the subtle t, which is a softer t sound than I'm used to. It sort of sounds like, or could be, a lisp.

Miguel, our grammar professor, showed us a funny wine commercial that uses a million r's:
In English:

In Spanish:

AND...this was a sort of reflection activity we did with Clair Jasinski, a psychologist who talked with us during orientation:

SO FAR...

 1. I can appreciate...the honesty and forwardness of Spanish people.

2. I still can't understand...why people like to call me china so much.

3. Listening to and understanding Spanish and making Spanish friends...is easier than I expected.

4. Going to the next level, challenging myself, getting out of my comfort zone again...is more difficult.

5. Right now, I'm in a stage of acceptance with moments of enchantment and disenchantment.

 
TONIGHT, I'm off to the airport to spend the night there with my friends before our early Friday morning flight to Barcelona. We'll be spending three days in the city and hopefully seeing and doing a lot of things! ¡Hasta pronto!

El día de los enamorados

I thought, and was hoping, that Valentine's day wasn't celebrated much in Europe. But now, I think it is a bigger of a holiday here than it is in the states. All the tapa bars had special couples menus and the shop windows were drowning in red hearts. So my friend and I decided to make the best of it and made sappy valentine cards for the girls. We went all out, with pink construction paper and sticker hearts and Lindt chocolates. On the way home, I bought a rose for my Spanish mother, who seemed to like it a lot. As I was leaving to meet my friends, she insisted that today didn't need to be a day only for couples. She said it was for all the people you loved (aww). But then she changed her mind and said that today might be geared more for couples. The six of us (minus one, who was on a ski trip) went to a Mexican restaurant and had burritos and margaritas con sal. Sharing stories, laughing and eating bonbons, it was one of the sweetest Valentine's days ever. Sometimes, in the midst of the stresses of being in a foreign country without your regular support system, it feels lucky to even find one or two really good friends. But I'm grateful to be already making so many lasting memories with six other chicas. Plus, we got free chupitos from the restaurant and went for chocolate croissants after dinner. Can it get any better?

chupitos to end the night

¡Vuelva pronto!

the neighborhood of Lavapiés

I had the best random encounter today! After a 50-minute speed tour through the Prado Museum for our art class, two friends and I went off looking for a place to eat. We decided to try an area called Lavapiés, which is apparently known for having a lot of South-Eastern restaurants. I was really happy about traveling in a small group this time, because it always took forever to decide on where to eat when we were a group of 10+. There were a lot of Indian restaurants that all seemed similar, so we decided on one that had outdoor seating because the weather was so nice. The waiter waved us over to a table, and said something along the lines of "agashi". I thought he was saying something in Spanish that I didn't understand, but it turns out he was speaking in Korean! And he spoke pretty well. He introduced himself as Ahmed and told me that he lived in the Gimpo area in Korea for about six years before he came to Spain. It was so nice to get to speak Korean yet so strange that I was speaking it with a Bangladeshi. What are the chances that we not only randomly decided to go to this area for lunch but also happen to choose a restaurant with a Bangladesh waiter from Korea? The food was delicious, and I definitely promised him that we will come again. 

...and then we had strawberry milkshakes later on (Café Hemisferio)

Palomas de maíz, por favor

It's beautiful, annoying, frustrating, and funny how language can be confused and lost in translation. My friends went to watch a Spanish movie for their class. One girl, meaning to say popcorn, which are palomitas de maíz, accidentally said palomas de maíz, thus asking for doves of corn. We couldn't stop laughing at the story as we shook our heads and sighed. We, americanos.

It's getting a bit easier to understand the language without having to concentrate so much. Classes have officially started, and it can be a pain trying to listen to professors talking a thousand words a minute, but I feel myself improving. HAHA. At least, I like to think that I am. Which brings me to Prof. Sergio's theater class. This class has become one of my favorite classes here. We learn the weirdest things ever, but they turn out to be pretty useful. For example, I learned how to jump properly without putting stress on my back. Since we're always using our bodies and moving, I've started learning the Spanish vocabulary for all the parts of the body. For today's class, we practiced breathing properly for an hour and had to act out various elements like water, oil, and rock with our bodies. Sergio as a theater professor is crazy and amazing.

Roof of the cathedral

Last week, the program took us on a trip to Toledo, a city about an hour away from Madrid. It is a beautiful, beautiful city. Guided by Professor Alvaro, we went around to see religious monuments like the Mosque of Cristo de la Luz and the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, which was one of the largest cathedrals I have ever seen. We were amazed by the monuments and the incredible view from the hilly city for only a short time before we were distracted by delicious sweets. Toledo is famous for its mazapán, a sugary dessert made from almonds. I brought a small box back home for my host mother, and when I tasted one with her, I immediately regretted not buying more. It was riquísimo and my friends and I are planning on making a separate trip back to the city for more. 

Group shot with Madrid and Alcalá students

 [I discovered another delicious almond dessert, thanks to an intercambio friend. These polvorones are less sweeter than marzipan, and more crumbly and delicate. Its name actually comes from the Spanish word for dust, polvo. These, I definitely recommend.]