A Subtle Explosion

31 January 2008

Flamenco

So I leave Sevilla for Alicante this morning on a train at 6:15am. So early!

This week has been absolutely hectic! We had class on Monday and Tuesday, and then we had our final exam Wednesday morning. We also had a presentation and a paper due Wednesday afternoon. I did really well on my final, so I expect a good grade in the class. But we don’t find out for sure for a while. Oh well.

Since last night was our last night in Sevilla, my roommate Jenna and I decided to go out and see a Flamenco show. It was amazing! There were four people: a guitarist, a singer, and two dancers. The guitarist was sooooooo good; it was crazy how fast he played the guitar. And his thumb was playing a completely separate bass/harmony from his other four fingers but it was all at the same time. It was very cool. And the singer had an amazing voice, and she even danced a bit at the end, which was cool. The dancers were fantastic also. Their feet moved so fast, and you could hear the rhythm they were tapping out with their feet, but it was so controlled that the rest of their bodies didn’t move at all. Even the guy dancer had heels on so you could hear the rhythm his feet were making. Anyways, it was the coolest thing ever and I’m so glad that Jenna and I decided to go, even though we’re leaving so early.

But that’s all for now. The next time you hear from me I’ll be in Alicante!

25 January 2008

More on Sevilla

Well, things are going great here in Sevilla so far! Classes have been very fun and I’m learning a lot. I know (or knew, or was taught at some point) all of the stuff that we are learning, but it’s nice to review it. Plus we’re going over things in more depth and talking about exceptions to rules etc. It’s very nice. Plus, every single kid in the class had a huge AHA! moment the other day when Pilar, our teacher, was teaching us about when to use the four different forms of the past. She said one thing about one form of the past being about years past, and one that you use when the past includes the present (for example, a year ago versus this morning) and every single one of us suddenly understood. It was the first time it had made any sense to us, so that was pretty cool.

Today we played Tabu (Taboo in English). But we played it in Spanish and it was a very good tool for practicing defining words. It was interesting to see how hard it was, but it was a lot of fun too.

It’s interesting to notice that now, since I’ve been here for a while, I no longer can tell when people speak to me in English versus Spanish. Or say, if I read a sign, I don’t immediately recognize it for being in one language or another because I’m so comfortable understanding both now. It’s pretty cool. But every once in a while it’s weird to look back and realize that someone was saying the entire paragraph in Spanish, and I completely understood it, just as if I were in class back in the states. Jenna, my roommate, and I were walking around the other day after class and we passed a friend who recognized us and said “Hey guys” as he passed. We didn’t even notice for a few seconds and had to turn around and see him behind us when we finally realized that someone was speaking to us in English, which means it was probably someone we knew! It’s crazy, but I’m getting really good at Spanish, which is cool.

Classes finish up here next week! So soon! And then on February 1^st I travel to Alicante. But classes there don’t start until like the 16^th or something like that. So I get a bunch of time to get used to living there and figure out things like good restaurants, bus routes, places to study, etc. I’m pretty excited!

Well, I think that’s about it. There isn’t really much more to say. I haven’t taken that many more pictures since the first batch because we’ve stopped running around and doing touristy type things. But I’ll add some more up there later, I promise.

21 January 2008

Just a quick note

This one is just a quick one...it's late here (or rather, early). It's about 1:30am and I've got class tomorrow.

But I thought I'd let you know I finally got pictures uploaded to my computer, and therefore to the internet. So if you want to check them out, they are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/phoenixrisen41/Spain02

I put a bunch of pictures up so far, and I'll let you know if more go up later. (I'm sure they will!)

17 January 2008

Sevilla!

Ok, so one more quick update before I have to go back to class.

(Yes, apparently I have classes.) I did not know this, nor did any of the other direct exchange kids. But while we are in Sevilla we are taking three weeks of intense language courses. I think it's pretty cool because I am really ready to start classes again, plus it will be nice to get a bit more language experience before I go off and start real classes in Spanish with Spanish students where they aren't catering to Americans and speaking slowly etc.

I still haven't gotten internet on my laptop yet, so still no pictures. Hopefully it'll happen soon though because I have about 400 pictures just sitting on my camera, waiting to be uploaded to the World Wide Web for everyone's viewing pleasure. 400 pictures in five days is pretty amazing. I think it will slow down a bit now though.

So we did a quick tour of La Reina Sofía MOMA before we left Madrid on Monday. It was all interesting, but modern art is really not my thing. I liked the paintings by Dalí though, those were interesting. We also did a quick tour of El Palacio Real, which is the royal palace where the kings and queens of Spain have lived since Madrid became the capital. The palace was very spacious and very highly decorated, and very cold. I wouldn't want to actually live there.

We drove to Toledo later that day and did a quick bus tour of the old part of the city and then went to our hotel. My roommate Jenna and I went back into the city for dinner and walked around a bit. On Tuesday we did a few tours in Toledo. We saw a mosque, a church, and a synagogue (representative of the three different cultures of Toledo). I was really tired from all the walking after that though so I just went back to the hotel and slept for a bit. Jenna and I and a few friends went into the city again for dinner that night. We went to a place after dinner called Circulo del Arte, which is a discoteca that is located in a church. We went only because we thought that it was pretty ironic. But it was a pretty cool place and a bunch of us sat around talking for a while.

Yesterday we drove to Sevilla, which is about a 6 hour drive, plus stops for lunch etc. We stopped at the windmills (las molinas, or maybe molenas) in La Mancha for a few pictures on the way. When we got to Sevilla we met our host mom. Her name is Manuela, and her husband's name is Jorge. They live in a little apartment just on the edge of the older commercial center part of Sevilla. Jenna and I each have our own room, which is nice, and our family is super nice. They have two kids who are grown and living on their own now, and they have hosted international students in the past. Plus they both work at schools (Jorge is an engineering professor at a college, and Manuela is an administrator at a high school) so they know all about kids.

Anyways, things are going great, but it's time for class. I'll write more later!

13 January 2008

Madrid!

So, Spain is amazing so far (though I guess I don't really expect that to change).

First order of business though...AAARRRGGGG European keyboards. They are sooooooo close to the keyboards I am used to, but there are slight differences. For example, this symbol ´ is in the apostrophe spot (little finger on the right hand) and the actual apostrophe ' is next to the zero on the top row. Also, quotation marks " are shift 2 and the ? is also next to the zero instead of down below. A few other slight problems, but I'm doing my best!

So the flights were pretty easy, and customs in Spain were even easier. I gave my passport to a bored-looking woman behind a desk as I got off the plane and she stamped it. Then I went and picked up my luggage and just left. Getting a taxi to my hotel was pretty easy also. My Spanish is only slightly rusty when I have to speak, though in the two days I've been here I've never listened to anyone and not been able to fully understand what they were saying!

We went on a quick bus tour of Madrid Saturday night. It was pretty cool. We saw an Egyptian palace, the Royal Palace, the Suicide Bridge (so named for all of the people who jump off it and kill themselves; icky, right? there is plexiglass between the sidewalk and the edge now to further discourage people), a botanical garden, the opera house, and a bunch of other cool things.

Question...so has anyone heard of El Corte Inglés? It is a supermarket type store here, and apparently it's so big and famous that a lot of the kids I'm with learned about it in their Spanish textbooks in high school! Who knew! Anyways, it is like a super duper nice version of a WalMart (closest thing I can think of to describe it, I guess). There are four outside our hotel. Literally. One is the food market, one is a papeleria (stationary office supplies type of store), one is electronics, and I don't even know what the fourth is. And they are all the size of the biggest WalMart I've ever been in. They're huge!

Also, apparently everything here is on sale right now. They seem to have an annual sale (they being every single store in Madrid) that runs from Jan 7 to Feb 13 or so. There are signs everywhere that say REBAJAS! in huge letters. The same signs, on different stores. It's weird, but nice for shopping.

So just a quick update of what has gone on so far, and I'll write more later and post pictures. Right now I'm in an internet cafe and can't use my own computer. :(

So after the bus tour yesterday my two roommates Jenna and Carrie and a friend Jason and I went exploring. We got on the Metro and went in the direction of El Plaza del Sol to find some dinner. Jenna got here a day early so she had stayed in a hostel in the area so she led us around. We ended up at a tapas bar that had amazing food. We didn't really know what to order, so we just told the waiter to bring us three things he liked. So he brought us garlic prawns, little spicy sausages, and calamari or something like it. We also had an order of the tomato bread which is extremely finely chopped tomatoes (almost like a sauce) on bread with olive oil on it. Very yummy. We shared a pitcher of Sangria and a bottle of wine between us. The Sangria was very different from any I've had before and I liked it a lot. It was very sweet. We took the Metro back home afterwards. The Metro system here is very nice and easy to use!

Today we went to Valle de los Caidos which is a huge monument/church on top of a hill to commemorate those that died during the Spanish Civil War. It was created during the regime of Franco, and he is interred there. Got to see that part too. I'll tell you more about it when I can get photos up.

We also went to San Lorenzo de El Escorial. There is a huge monastery/library/palace/tomb there. It is an Austrian palace and it is the tomb where all the Spanish kings and queens are buried. It is also still a working monastery and there are monks who live there. The church part was beautiful, pictures to come later.

Other than that, I came back to the hotel and fell asleep. And now I'm here in an internet cafe that is connected to a Subway restaurant, where I found an hour of internet for €1, which is a pretty good price considering it is €5,50 for half an hour in the hotel.

I'll write more later!

06 January 2008

Going to Spain!

So we had an awesome Christmas. My dad knit me a pair of socks! Apparently it took him the entire five months I was gone in school to finish them, but they're awesome, and warm.

And I turned 21 two days ago. One of my friends took me out to a bar at midnight to celebrate. It was pretty cool.

And according to the Consulate of Spain in Houston, my passport (with the visa affixed to it) is on it's way to my house, scheduled to arrive at 10:30am on Monday morning. So I am actually going to Spain (barring any incredible unforseen problems). Hurray!

I spent most of the day today packing. I have apparently inherited my mother's organizational sense, though I think today has proved that I have since moved far beyond the realm of "organizing". (I also made three lists.) But you can decide for yourself I suppose.

This is what my room looks like after I went through
my dresser. The rest of my clothes are either being
washed, or I have to wear them in the next six days.