Zoo & Sushi!

So today Antea (one of my roomates) and I went to the Madrid Zoo. I love zoos! We had an amazing time. They had a lot of animals that the Cincinnati Zoo doesn't have (Koalas, Kangaroos, etc) so it was very interesting. We got these big long tube slushies that you could refill for 3 Euro all day :)

Probably my most favorite part of the zoo was the animal shows. We saw a sea lion show and a dolphin show. It was really funny. They had a lot of like late 90s American pop music for all of the songs and the performers were very talented. Here's a picture from the dolphin show and a short video from the sea lion show.

Los Delfines!

y Los Leones Marinos

We had a great time! Afterwards we came home and took a nap (very long exciting day!). Then around 9:30 we went out to this nice Japanese Restaurant for a Sushi Dinner (Antea said she was craving sushi lol). It was very very good.
I had a great day! Thank you to everyone who is supporting me emotionally (and financially)! I can't wait to see you all in two weeks!!!
Buenas Noches!
(to see all my pictures from the Zoo - Click Here )

Everyday Update: Take two

So yeah I typed this up once and closed the window by accident so we're going to try it again.

This week has been a little bit more relaxed than the first week was. Monday and Tuesday I mostly just took siestas in the park and explored new parts of the city with the girls I came here with. Wednesday our teacher from UC took us to the Prado. It's an amazing Art museum second only to the Louvre. It was almost overwhelming how many different artists and different medias of art there were! Of course, Murphy's Law, my camera batteries died when we got there and I had given my extra set to a friend. I'll get some tomorrow. After wards we watched the USA v. Spain soccer game in a local bar. It was a lot of fun because the fans were really excited and having a great time. Unfortunately, the USA won and it was a rather depressing evening lol.

PS: I got an A on my paper about the Spanish Civil War (in Spanish of course!)

One of my favorite parts about this trip is my "Spanish Today" class after my classes at the university here. Its taught by Carlos Guitierrez (UC Professor) who was actually born here in Spain. We start each day by sharing articles we read in the news papers and talking about them. (Reading the newspaper in Spanish is much harder than it sounds) Then we learn about differnet things about the culture or compare statistical data between the US and Spain.

The other day we were talking about the permissiveness of the parents here in Spain. Kids here from age 15 and up are basically allowed to do anything. Parents are okay with then having their significant others over for the night or going out drinking with friends. There is a phenomenae here called "botellon" which is basically a LARGE group of kids aged 15-25 drinking or doing drugs in a public place or park. I have yet to see one but my house mother says they hapepn all the time and that she is lucky her daughters don't hang out with that type of crowd.

Picture of a botellon.
Another thing that goes a long with this is the fact that many people here do not leave their homes to live on their own until theyre 30-35. Families here do not want their kids to have to worry about making ends meet so many people live with their parents way after their professional careers have already developed. For my paper this Monday I am going to write a paper about how the reason the drug and alcohol abuse rate is so high here is because the kids don't feel like they will lose anything if they do. Whereas I would be afraid to lose my job or be kicked out of my house for staying out until 6am drunk and on drugs, the most of the kids here have no such fears. Their social net will still be there even if they mess up.

I don't want to give you the impression that all the kids here are like that. By far they aren't. But it is a social phenomenon that fascinates me and was by far the biggest cultural shock for me coming in.

Other than that my favorite food here is Gazpacho. It is AMAZING. Its basically cold tomato soup with herbs. I love it. I get it everytime we go out. I might try to make it once I get home :) Weĺl see.

Hope you all are doing well!!

Very Late Update: Trip to Segovia!

Sorry it's taken me so long to update. The day starts so early and ends so late here that I always seem to forget.

Last Saturday we went on an excursion to Segovia. It is a beautiful little city with some of the most gorgeous arcitecture I have ever seen! The buildings, and churches and stores are just incredibly built; most of them without cement! The majority of the streets are cobblestone which makes you feel like you've gone back in time.

Below is a picture of a small part of the huge aquaduct that runs through the city. Its gorgeous and was build simply by stacking bricks, no cement! Its so pretty and has an incredible view behind it.

Below: All students from UC, minus me :) (Margaret, Natalie, Lindsay, and Sarah)

One of the biggest things we saw was a gorgeous cathedral. It had been the site of many celebrations and royal weddings throughout the last few centuries. Technically, we weren't supposed to take any pictures inside, but I snuck some in just for you!



Afterwards, we saw the main attraction so to speak. In Segovia there is a castle that is said to be what inspired disney to make the logo for his company. It was absolutely incredible. Inside were gorgeous exhibits of thrones, art, and treasures. Outside were views from high up on beautiful turrets.



Im going to make a separate update for everything else!! :)

Protests and Creepy Old Guys

"I don't get to retire"

Today after class while we were looking for a place to have lunch, we found a large group of protesters in a park. Apparently here the age for policemen to retire is 65. They were protesting to have it lowered (I agree!). It was kind of neat to see a protest (called Demonstraciones here) in a different country. I was just surprised at how incredibly nice they were to us and took the time to tell us what was going on.

As usual we took our siesta in a park (today the beautiful Palacio Real or Royal Palace Park) but unfortunately we had an interruption. This older gentleman decided to come over and talk to us. As usual we welcomed the opportunity to speak with native speakers but unfortunately this wasn't one of those opportunities. He spoke with us about America for a half an hour or so and then asked for a picture with us (see below). That's when we discovered his.. intentions? lol. In Spain it is more appropriate to be this "touchy feely" than it is in the United States but it was still inappropriate for him to do this. At least I got it on film ;)

After this I had tapas with a friend from Liverpool (small world) and came home for the night. Everyone here stays out so late! Between the heat and the walking I'm beat at the end of the day :) I do love it here though. Everyone is so laid back and not stressed out. It's so beautiful here that I can see why everyone is so happy (good thing I still have 3.5 weeks to enjoy it).

Well, time for sleep.

Buenas Noches!

( to see all my pictures click here )

El primer dia de Escuela y Noches Divertidas

yesterday was my first day of actual classes. I have one class from 9-10-30 with Espe (short for Esperanza) she's really cool. And one class from 11-1 with Beatriz (she's ok I guess lol). Then I have a class from 1-3 with Carlos Guitierrez (UC teacher that came to Spain with us). So I have a pretty full day! Yesterday (Monday) we had Meditaranian Food for lunch (very very good! And basically spent the day exploring.

The architecture here is incredible. I have never really been into buildings :P but they are so gorgeous here you can't help but notice. Even the cheaper apartments are gorgeous. The cobblestone sidestreets make for a very quaint neighborhood.

Last night we had a "welcome" dinner with the school and after that went to some local bars with some of the students we had met. We had people from Calgary, Canada to Manchester, UK to Turkey! The Sangria here is incredibly delicious! It's very sweet (almost like fruit juice) but has wine, little bits of fruit, and splashes of different types of liquor. You can get it anywhere here and it's pretty inexpensive. Also the Appetizers here (called Tapas) are a big deal. People go Tapas Tasting like we go Wine Tasting. Some times it's bits of cured ham, or chicken wings, or these amazing cheezy potato croquettes!

Today I went on a solo excursion after class :) I got lunch at this littls sandwhich place and read one of the bigger newspapers there called "El Pais" (The country). Then I walked to this park and took a short sieta (oh how I love the siestas here!). Then I found out there was a Egyptian Temple located on the park! Totally random but I loved it!

Well everyone, thats all for tonight. This weekend we will be going on an excursion to Segovia. I heard the palace there is what inspired Disney to design the Castle for it's logo :)

If you would like to see all of my photos, you can see them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2247477&id=21420955&l=19fb84f847

Bueno, necesito dormir, adios!

(Well, I need to sleep, good bye!)

El Viaje y El Primer Dia

"Carry On Luggage"

So Saturday afternoon my family took me to CVG airport and I jumped on a Delta plane to New York's JFK airport. We had a three hour layover there and then boarded AirFrance to leave for Paris. Apparently there was heavy traffic at JFK so we waited on the plane for oh.. I don't know.. 3 HOURS! Ugh. So we left late. To make it worse I was sitting between two smelly guys lol.

The food wasn't bad. The attendants were very nice. All of them were fluent in French, Spanish, English, and Portuguese. I decided that while French is a lovely language to sit and listen to, I still have no desire to learn it :). I tried to sleep but I couldn't get comfortable during the 6hr flight. So I watched Coraline and Doubt. Both were very good movies. The next morning I discovered my first underestimate of Europe. What they called "Cafe" (coffee) I call an expresso that kicks you in the face. They also had this awesome thing that you could watch that showed you the position of the plane in relation to your destination.

So when we finally landed we were 30 min late and had missed our flight to Madrid. This meant we had to hang out in the Paris Airport for 2 hrs (lovely). We finally arrived and I am now staying with my Spain Family.

"My little room"

Tomorrow morning is my firt day of school. I take a placement test at 8am and that will decide what and when my classes are. Well, I'm exhausted. Hasta manana.

Getting Ready!

So I leave for Madrid, Spain in exactly 9 days!

I will be staying with a host family: Pilar & Jesús (Mom & Dad) and Andrea & María (sisters). I will be attending the don Quijote university 5 days each week taking full-time classes. Each evening we will be doing cultural activities such as cooking, dancing lessons, art, etc. Each weekend we will be taking field trips around the country.

I will update this blog with pictures and stories when I have internet access. I am so excited! I can hardly wait!