Maaaadddrrriiiddd!

So I just got back from my spring break trip to Germany and the Czech Republic...but I had already started this blog about my time in Madrid before I left, so that blog will have to wait ;)

Madrid Day 1: 

I took the high speed train to Madrid with two of my friends, Beth and Nick. In bus it takes 6 hours to get to Madrid, in high speed train it only takes 2 ½! I was at first not terribly excited to visit Madrid, because I had heard from many Spaniards that it was nothing special; just a more modern, larger city. Upon arriving I was immediately shown otherwise. Yes, it was a large city, but it had a unique atmosphere of the old mixed with the new. There were tall (for Spain), modern buildings with flashy advertisements for a large variety of musicals and theater shows, but there were also old churches, beautiful architecture, and a huge, beautiful palace.

 We started off walking to two of the most popular plazas in Madrid, Plaza del Sol and Plaza Mayor. There we found a bunch of random characters walking around for a picture….que interesante…

At least this guy was more cute than creepy!

The symbol of Madrid 

Oh and for those who have seen “The Hole” advertisements in Spain…here it is!

After saying, “Adios” to the creepy characters we headed off to the cathedral. The cathedral was HUGE! And a totally different style than the one in Sevilla. It was more modern looking (and in my opinion not as cool as the one in Sevilla!)

Those are some pretty big doors!

The ceilings were neat with all of the bright colors!

After visiting the Cathedral and its crypts underneath, we went to the Palacio Real, the official residence of the royal family of Spain. These days they live in another palace outside of Madrid and only use this palace for ceremonies. 

It was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside. Each room was decorated in such detail, with fabrics of different colors and patterns covering the ceilings and walls. My one friend and I enjoyed stopping and analyzing every little stitch on the wall or treasure on the table, so we spent a good amount of time there!

Because we just can’t get enough of churches in Spain, we decided to visit the basilica of Madrid. We arrived just in time for a free tour…que suerte! The tour guide was amazingly easy to understand, because of his lack of Andalusian accent. Whenever I hear a Spanish speaker from another part in the world I realize how hard the Andalusian accent is to understand! At least this means if I can understand the accent in Sevilla I can understand anything!

The basilica looked very plain and boring on the outside, but on the inside it was bellísima! 

One interesting fact I learned was that the seats in the choir could fold down as chairs, but then fold up as be small little seats so the clergy or choir could sit down while appearing like they are standing. Because no one could ever see the small seat, because they would be blocking it with their body, crude or weird images were carved on them…weird hunh? Now I always look at the choir seats when I visit a church in Europe!

The next part of our adventure was probably my favorite part…an actual Egyptian Temple! You are probably wondering how this can be possible…an Egyptian temple in Spain?? Well, apparently one day Egypt was just like, “Hey Spain do you want a temple? You are pretty cool and we can’t take care of it very easily.” So there it now stands!

I thought it was the coolest thing ever, because when will I ever get a chance to actually visit Egypt? Probably never, so this was my one chance to see some actual Egyptian work!

Hieroglyphics! 

A belly crawl tunnel for Link! (Sorry, Zelda reference)

We then walked to Plaza de España to view this famous statue of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza! I am taking a class about the novel, so I just had to get a pic!

Now we decided to see the more modern-looking street of Madrid, Gran Via. There were so many theaters and shows, it was so exciting! I wanted to see Lion King, but no one else wanted to join me :/

Toledo

The next day we took a train with two of our other friends, Evan and Grace, to Toledo, a city outside of Madrid. Toledo was incredible....pretty much a huge renascence fair!

Toledo is in the area of Spain where the famous novel, Don Quijote, took place. There were so many statues of him around and I tried to get pics with as many as I could!

This is the only pic with my big ole hat...don't laugh!

One of the biggest attractions there was its huge Cathedral, this is Spain…of course it is! It was again huge and took us awhile to conquer!

Next we expanded our horizons and visited two different synagogues. In one of these synagogues there was a small museum and I learned that there are only three synagogues in Spain…two in Toledo and one in Cordoba. I had visited them all! The style of the synagogues were definitely different than the churches. They were much more plain and small. The lack of a ton of large, fancy synagogues was mainly due to the prosecution they received throughout history in Spain. 

We then visited the house of El Greco, a very famous Spanish artist who lived in the 1600's. His house had a display of some of his famous works. I knew nothing about him before, so it was very interesting to learn about his life and inspirations!

We then ended the day walking around the medieval streets, shopping around, and eating Marzapan! (A dessert in Toledo that tasted like cookie dough!)

Madrid Day 2:

The next day in Madrid we started the day visiting the famous national art museum, El Prado. It was HUGE! It had art from the 12th through the 19th century, but unfortunately the majority of paintings we saw were religious...which were full of dark colors and repeated images.. There are only so many things you can paint to represent Jesus and Virgin Mary, so after the tenth room it got a little old..

We then decided to finish the day in the large central park of Madrid, El Retiro. This was a hoot! There was a pond with a huge monument, a bunch of street performers, nature paths, and a building made entirely of glass with an art exhibit inside! What a good end to the weekend :)

The Royal Triumphal Arch by the park

The pond and monument in the park!

House of glass!

The End is Near!

I am dreading the end of the program, but sadly I only have one and a half weeks left and then I am done :( Sevilla has been so good to me I don’t want to llleeeaaavvveee! To try to make myself feel better I have thought about the things I am looking forward to experiencing once I am back in the good ole US of A.

1.     My boyfriend

2.     My family and friends

3.     NATURE! I am not meant for city life.

4.      Certain foods like peanut butter, fruit parfaits, chocolate milk, and a delicious American cook-out

5.     Internet access….I hate to sound high maintenance, but trying to do homework or traveling in an unfamiliar city without the guaranteed access of internet has made my life more difficult than it should  

6.     Clean bathrooms in public places

7.     Being able to wear shorts or a sun hat without having everyone stare at me like I am crazy

8.     Being able to choose how much I eat and when I eat. I absolutely love getting meals made for me all of the time, but I am ready to be an adult again and be able to choose what goes into my body and when!

But then I start thinking about everything I am going to miss about Sevilla...

1.     My awesome new friends I have made

2.     The love and care of my goofy host family

3.     Speaking and hearing Spanish every day….it is such a beautiful language!

4.     The awesome food here like queso manchego, espinachas con garbanzos, croquetas, churros, pisto, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh bread, fresh everything!!

5.     Not having each day consist of studying, eating, sleeping, studying, eating, sleeping, studying, eating, sleeping like at Madison

6.     The slowness of time here and the importance of relaxation and enjoying the small things in life

7.     Being two seconds away from the super market or the pharmacy….upside of living in a city!

8.     Traveling and exploring the world almost every weekend :)

9.     Meeting people from all over the world and learning about a wide range of cultures and opinions

10. Los niños graciosos at the school that I volunteer at

11. Being in a city with hundreds of years of history and culture which makes me and los Sevillanos proud to call it home. I never run out of things to do here!

Dang I am going to miss Spain! It went by too fast. I guess I will have to find little ways to bring Spain home with me :)

Mis Padres en España: Dos mundos se chocan

A couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to share my life here with my wonderful parents and cousin, Courtney! I cannot thank my parents enough for allowing me to have this amazing experience in Sevilla, where I have been learning and doing so much! I was so happy to finally be able to share Sevilla with them and show them how I have been spending my time since January. I was also so happy to share Courtney's first experience abroad with her! This was the perfect opportunity for her to travel outside of the U.S. for the first time, and I was so glad that she chose to visit beautiful España conmigo :) I was sad that my siblings couldn't come, but 7 plane tickets aren't a cheap purchase! They kept busy with school and all of their hundreds of activities, while Adara was the absolutely BEST sister/daughter in the world and looked after them during her spring break!

The weather was perfect when they came; in the mid 70's and sunny! We kept very busy throughout the week, me showing them everything in Sevilla. 

Friday

The first night they were very jet-lagged, so we had a relaxing night walking around Sevilla a little bit and climbing las settas (the large modern art structure) for a beautiful night view of the city. Courtney was quite the trooper, because her luggage did not arrive with her....luckily it arrived the second night, so she didn't have to go too long without it!

Courtney, Dad, and me on las settas

Saturday

The next day I brought them to a typical Spanish Pueblo, Carmona. I had never visited it before, but as it was a small suburb of Sevilla many of my friends had been there before and said it was very pretty. After a little bit of a stressful time trying to find the right bus to get there, we headed to a great view of the classic Spanish countryside. 

Outside of the town there were some Roman ruins and an an ancient Roman Necropolis (cemetery). We were even able to crawl inside some of the ancient tombs! Also, this was one of the many examples of my embarrassing parents...they saw the word for tomb in Spanish (tumba) and they thought it was the funniest word ever and couldn't stop saying it and laughing. How did I ever make it through that week?

 

We followed the ruins up with a HUGE lunch. Since I don't eat out at Spanish restaurants much (I have free, home-cooked meals at mi casa) I didn't really know how many tapas would fill up our family. It is hard, because every restaurant gives out different sizes. We picked a good one, because we ended up getting SO MUCH FOOD!! It was all delicious though:) My parents said they absolutely loved Spanish Cuisine! Yay!

After lunch we walked around the town a little bit, got some helado, and climbed up a castle for another good view.

That night we were still full from lunch, so we decided to get churros con chocolate for dinner haha. We again received way more than we thought, but we still conquered them anyway ;)

Sunday

The next day we grabbed some delicious Spanish pastries for breakfast and headed to the Plaza de España. What a beautiful day!

We then decided to try something new for all us and have a relaxing afternoon at the Arab baths. The Arab baths are based off of the ancient Arab baths in Sevilla that is now converted into a restaurant (which we ate at that night). It was absolutely beautiful inside and smelled heavenly. There was a warm bath, hot bath, cold bath, salt bath, Jacuzzi, steam room, tea, and a short massage! How relaxing! 

We then split up due to different interests. My mom and Courtney shopped around, went out to eat, and had some girl time, while my dad and I went to a futbol game!! It was SO much fun! There are two futbol teams in Sevilla: Real Betis and F.C. Sevilla. My host dad is a hard-core Sevilla fan, so we decided to go to a Sevilla vs. Valladolid game. We ended up winning 4-1! We were really impressed by the energy of the crowd, especially the main cheering section. I have to admit they even put Madison's student section to shame! They sang the ENTIRE game without stopping, danced half the time as well, and did everything perfectly in-sync! It was fun to try to sing along, but also a little embarrassing as my dad decided to substitute his own English words in that didn't make sense and proceeded to sing it aaaalll night!

 

Monday

The next day I showed them around my university, they were impressed!

One of the many casual fountains in my university! 

We also visited the Torre de Oro for a beautiful view of the city and then la Hospital de la Caridad, a very old church and charity hospital that is now a nursing home. It was one of the first churches here that my parents visited, so they were blown away with the beauty. They would soon learn that there are only a couple hundred more of those gorgeous churches around the city! 

Top of the Torre de Oro

Iglesia en la Hospital de la Caridad

That night was a pretty special night as my real parents invited my host family out to dinner. Because my host mom and dad have to always be home to take care of the aging abuela (grandma), it was pretty exciting for them to be able to have a night out to relax from the stress of the abuela. My host family chose a delicious restaurant on the river with a breath-taking view of the Torre del Oro and the river. 

I was really nervous at first of how a dinner with my two families would go, especially because they don't speak the same language!! But to my surprise things could not have gone better. My two dads hit it off right away and were somehow having a whole conversation without knowing the language of the other! They were laughing and both being their goofy (sometimes embarrassing) selves, using the little phrases they knew in English/Spanish. 

My host sister has a basic knowledge of English, but is always way to nervous to try to speak it. During the dinner though she sat by Courtney (who remembered some Spanish from her college days) and they chatted up a storm, helping each other in the other language! How awesome! 

My two moms on the other hand were both a little more intimidated by the language barrier, so I sat in-between them to help translate and they soon relaxed and were having a good conversation with my help. After the meal I got the details from both families on how it went, and they both said awesome things about the other. My host mom couldn't believe how young-looking and beautiful my real mom was! Haha :) It made my real parents relax and feel better that I am in such good hands here, and my host family feel good that I come from such a nice family. I felt so loved!

My host sister Laura, me, my host mom Ana Maria, and my host dad Pepe

The restaurant with glass walls!

Tuesday

The next day I took my parents to a couple of the many convents in Sevilla. Many convents are known for their delicious pastries that they sell to raise money. We got some famous Magdalenas (muffins) that were delicious! We then went to another convent who sold hand-made marmalade..yum! There was also a small museum and a beautiful church that we visited there. Courtney sat the museum out, and therefore got to becomes friends there with one of the nuns...and by become friends I mean smile and nod as the nun spoke rapid Spanish at her haha. But seriously the nuns are always so sweet wherever I go! 

While I had class all day they visited the Alcazar. We then took a tour of the Plaza de Toros, which I have never visited. We learned a lot about bullfighting and it was neat for them to see a bullring for the first time! We then ended the night eating the world's best pizza at the restaurant where my friends and I hang out all of the time.

Courtney and I chilling by the river after the tour

Wednesday

Today was another memorable day as my host family had my parents and Courtney over for lunch. There was food on food on food (now my parents understand why I am getting so fat!), and every type of alcohol under the sun. Courtney mentioned to me that she felt a little odd drinking so much in the middle of the afternoon with my families, but I assured her that is just how they do it here haha. My other host sister, Rosalia, who doesn't live at home anymore came to lunch as well with her family. Her husband Luis Miguel spoke some English which made communication with my parents easier. Abril, their adorable 3 year-old daughter, is learning English in school, so she impressed us all with her knowledge of English greetings and colors! My parents brought her a Bucky Badger pillow pet which she loved. 

It was a weird experience to be embarrassed by two families at once (sometimes I just didn't even want to translate the awkward comments and jokes my two families made!), but overall it was another successful afternoon :) 

Thursday

During the morning I showed them one of the palaces in Sevilla with a gorgeous garden. This is one of the best times of year to visit Sevilla and see/smell all of the blooming flowers, especially the flowers of the orange trees!

My favorite colored flower

Courtney really liked all of the azulejos (tiles), which are very common in all of the architecture of Sevilla

After visiting the Cathedral while I was in class, we all said good-bye to Courtney as she left to explore Barcelona for a couple of days. My parents and I then visited the famous Macarena church, which also has a museum about Semana Santa. Semana Santa is a HUGE and very old celebration during Easter week that thousands of people come to Sevilla to see. Each church has super detailed and beautiful floats with Virgen Mary and Jesus Christ that men carry on their backs in processions throughout the city. (There is a whole lot more to it, but this is the quick version.) 

Macarena church

One of the Semana Santa floats

How pretty! And heavy looking...

We then walked around the Macarena neighborhood a little more and made our way to a more modern plaza, Alameda, where we enjoyed a long dinner together on our last night.

Roman wall near the Macarena church

Friday

The next day I left for Madrid while my parents enjoyed one last day in Sevilla, just the two of them. I was happy that they got to end their trip on a romantic note, because they hardly ever get to relax and have alone time! I don't know what they all did, but I think that is for the best anyway :p

I had so much fun that week with my parents and Courtney, but at the same time it was a bit of a roller coaster. It was a weird feeling to have my new and different life here in Sevilla collide with my old life back home. Being with my parents made me realize all of the new things I have learned and the new views I am developing on life. It made me realize how much I miss some things about home, but also that I am going to miss so much about my life here as well. To sum it up though, I pretty much have the BEST parents in the world and am so thankful that they helped me be able to experience study abroad :)