This weekend in Oxford was a lot of fun! Friday night I went with some of my friends to see Skyfall! It was really interesting seeing a James Bond movie in England. It was cool to watch with a British audience to their reactions and it also tied in with a lot that we've been learning in class about Britishness. I won't give anything away but I really enjoyed it!
But the main thing that happened this weekend was Top Gear Live. A small group of us heading to Birmingham yesterday to see a Top Gear Arena Show. If you don't know what Top Gear is, you should. It is fantastic! It's a show about cars, but I watch it because the host are really great and funny! It's really interesting and entertaining. Well anyway they do live arena shows with stunts and stuff and we found out about the one in Birmingham and went! It was fantastic! We got to see Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May goof off and there were cool cars and stunts and stuff. There were pogo sticks jumping over cars and flipping over cars too! That was really cool! They played some games with cars. One where they fling a car (with a host inside) into some other cars. And another one was sidecar polo which was like polo on motor bikes. It was great! The show was fantastic and it was cool to get to see the guys and the Stig. Yes! I got to see the Stig race! Who woulda thunk I'd get excited about going to a car show...but it was great! Top Gear is one of my favourites so...
Well that's about it. Thursday I leave for France and Belgium! I'll write about that later. Bye!
28 October 2012
25 October 2012
Life in Oxford
So I've talked a lot about excursions I've gone out on and things I've seen as a tourist. Which is fun and all but I was thinking it might be cool to talk about my everyday life is in Oxford. I do live here for now so it's not all fun. I get annoyed by tourist and go grocery shopping, have classes, and normal things.
I go to church at St. Aldates. It's of the Church of England. But that could be a variety of things. There are some that are really traditional Anglican. This one isn't very traditional. They have a good student group and I've met a few of the students as well as other American students studying abroad in Oxford. I've really liked it! There are a lot of really nice people. I also volunteer there on Mondays. I help out with English classes for the internationals in the city. Many attend church at St. Aldates, others have heard about it from different means. That has been really fun to help out at.
Through the week I have classes. So that's not so fun. But I guess that's the "study" part of study abroad. It's kinda necessary. I'm taking Core, Ethics, Bible, Great Britain, and French. It's getting to about that time when I really need to get working to get everything done. The end of the semester is really not all that far away if you think about it.
There are a lot of things we do for fun in Oxford. On the nice days we sometimes go to University Parks. There we will walk, read, or play frisbee or ultimate frisbee. There is also a place over by Christchurch that is nice for walking but it's a bit further way so I've only been once. Sometimes we go get ice cream at G&D at night. Other times in the day we may go a bit further to the covered market and get cookies at Ben's cookies. We also like getting sandwiches at On the Hoof, which is our favorite sandwich shop that's nearby. It is very good too! I had heard it was good by people who had studied abroad before, but it is really good! We also cook together a lot. And we eat together which is really fun. This week has been good for eating as a group because Monday after we got back from Spain we had a "family dinner" and tonight we had a potluck. It was really good!
Because eating out is expensive we do cook a lot because it really is a whole lot cheaper. And we have to go grocery shopping, and usually a lot since we don't have a lot of storage space for food for one and have to carry everything we get home...it's quite a walk with a lot of groceries. We go for our main shopping at Tesco. We go for things we need really quick to a closer but a tiny little grocery store called 9 to 9. It makes the grocery store I worked at look big. But it does have a lot in it. The basics at least. Wednesdays are great days because it's market day. That's usually when we go to get our fresh fruits and veggies. I usually have to go early before French class so I don't make it every week...but there is a lot of good, and kinda cheap (or was at the beginning of the semester) produce. I love my fruit! I usually buy a ton every week and it's gone by Saturday...Then we get our food and make meals for each other, either in small groups or big groups. Someday I'm going to make enchiladas. I just need to finally get around to doing it... It is a bit interesting at times shopping because they don't always have what we need to cook. And when they do the portions are different so we're always having to convert oz to grams, etc. We have to make do every once in a while. But there are some things I like better here.
Some of the things I like better are well food. I do miss my proper Mexican food and sometimes I wish food was more flavourful but there are some really good aspects of British food. I'm not a tea person and I just kind of blew it off saying that I just don't like hot drinks since I don't really like anything hot. But I take that back...squash (which really has nothing to do with..squash) is a type of hot drink (but can be served cold) and it's kinda like hot kool-aid. It's really sweet. My favourite flavour is apple and black current.) Which brings me to another favourite. Black current. I like it. Especially with apple. I have juice boxes as well that are apple and black current juice. You just don't get it in the States. Another thing I like, and I'm not sure if people do this but my family just didn't or what I've just never seen it in the states, but people butter their sandwiches. Which really isn't healthy, but it's kinda good! It gives it a bit more flavour and keeps it from being as dry. I even started doing it on my own sandwiches. Coca-cola is better here. It really does taste better and do you know why...it has real sugar!!! No high-fructos junk. It just has a better taste here. And I like to think it's probably a bit healthier... I like going to markets, which I know people do that in the states but I don't back home. Things that aren't food that I like better are mostly television. I mean there are some excellent British shows. But I do watch them in the States still. The British Netflix selection is different so that's a bit strange but there are some really good stuff that the US doesn't have but also they don't have everything that the US has, including Merlin...(which is British so you'd think.) I love BBC. I also love the fact that I can go onto the BBC's website and watch tv shows without being told that I can't watch it in my country. Well the point is that there is a lot I like, not to bash anything but just saying.
Primark...is basically our favorite place. At least a lot of people's favorite place. It basically is like the Walmart clothing section with a lot of cheap clothes...It's one of the places to go. It's a lot of fun to go to because they do have some really cute clothes. It is kinda awesome! Nearby is Poundland is also a good store. Basically everything's a pound (which is good for us)
Weekend's are pretty busy. I'm really not sure if I'm going to have another free weekend until we leave (and don't think I've had one since we've been here...at least not one that is completely free. We will travel or make plans doing something. This weekend in fact I'm going with a couple girls to Birmingham for a Top Gear arena show (which isn't a monster truck rally). And London makes a great day trip so some time I'll have to go back one last weekend at least.
I can't think of anything else that's just a part of everyday life here...there is probably something else though. But yeah that's a bit of my "normal" life here.
I go to church at St. Aldates. It's of the Church of England. But that could be a variety of things. There are some that are really traditional Anglican. This one isn't very traditional. They have a good student group and I've met a few of the students as well as other American students studying abroad in Oxford. I've really liked it! There are a lot of really nice people. I also volunteer there on Mondays. I help out with English classes for the internationals in the city. Many attend church at St. Aldates, others have heard about it from different means. That has been really fun to help out at.
Through the week I have classes. So that's not so fun. But I guess that's the "study" part of study abroad. It's kinda necessary. I'm taking Core, Ethics, Bible, Great Britain, and French. It's getting to about that time when I really need to get working to get everything done. The end of the semester is really not all that far away if you think about it.
There are a lot of things we do for fun in Oxford. On the nice days we sometimes go to University Parks. There we will walk, read, or play frisbee or ultimate frisbee. There is also a place over by Christchurch that is nice for walking but it's a bit further way so I've only been once. Sometimes we go get ice cream at G&D at night. Other times in the day we may go a bit further to the covered market and get cookies at Ben's cookies. We also like getting sandwiches at On the Hoof, which is our favorite sandwich shop that's nearby. It is very good too! I had heard it was good by people who had studied abroad before, but it is really good! We also cook together a lot. And we eat together which is really fun. This week has been good for eating as a group because Monday after we got back from Spain we had a "family dinner" and tonight we had a potluck. It was really good!
Because eating out is expensive we do cook a lot because it really is a whole lot cheaper. And we have to go grocery shopping, and usually a lot since we don't have a lot of storage space for food for one and have to carry everything we get home...it's quite a walk with a lot of groceries. We go for our main shopping at Tesco. We go for things we need really quick to a closer but a tiny little grocery store called 9 to 9. It makes the grocery store I worked at look big. But it does have a lot in it. The basics at least. Wednesdays are great days because it's market day. That's usually when we go to get our fresh fruits and veggies. I usually have to go early before French class so I don't make it every week...but there is a lot of good, and kinda cheap (or was at the beginning of the semester) produce. I love my fruit! I usually buy a ton every week and it's gone by Saturday...Then we get our food and make meals for each other, either in small groups or big groups. Someday I'm going to make enchiladas. I just need to finally get around to doing it... It is a bit interesting at times shopping because they don't always have what we need to cook. And when they do the portions are different so we're always having to convert oz to grams, etc. We have to make do every once in a while. But there are some things I like better here.
Some of the things I like better are well food. I do miss my proper Mexican food and sometimes I wish food was more flavourful but there are some really good aspects of British food. I'm not a tea person and I just kind of blew it off saying that I just don't like hot drinks since I don't really like anything hot. But I take that back...squash (which really has nothing to do with..squash) is a type of hot drink (but can be served cold) and it's kinda like hot kool-aid. It's really sweet. My favourite flavour is apple and black current.) Which brings me to another favourite. Black current. I like it. Especially with apple. I have juice boxes as well that are apple and black current juice. You just don't get it in the States. Another thing I like, and I'm not sure if people do this but my family just didn't or what I've just never seen it in the states, but people butter their sandwiches. Which really isn't healthy, but it's kinda good! It gives it a bit more flavour and keeps it from being as dry. I even started doing it on my own sandwiches. Coca-cola is better here. It really does taste better and do you know why...it has real sugar!!! No high-fructos junk. It just has a better taste here. And I like to think it's probably a bit healthier... I like going to markets, which I know people do that in the states but I don't back home. Things that aren't food that I like better are mostly television. I mean there are some excellent British shows. But I do watch them in the States still. The British Netflix selection is different so that's a bit strange but there are some really good stuff that the US doesn't have but also they don't have everything that the US has, including Merlin...(which is British so you'd think.) I love BBC. I also love the fact that I can go onto the BBC's website and watch tv shows without being told that I can't watch it in my country. Well the point is that there is a lot I like, not to bash anything but just saying.
Primark...is basically our favorite place. At least a lot of people's favorite place. It basically is like the Walmart clothing section with a lot of cheap clothes...It's one of the places to go. It's a lot of fun to go to because they do have some really cute clothes. It is kinda awesome! Nearby is Poundland is also a good store. Basically everything's a pound (which is good for us)
Weekend's are pretty busy. I'm really not sure if I'm going to have another free weekend until we leave (and don't think I've had one since we've been here...at least not one that is completely free. We will travel or make plans doing something. This weekend in fact I'm going with a couple girls to Birmingham for a Top Gear arena show (which isn't a monster truck rally). And London makes a great day trip so some time I'll have to go back one last weekend at least.
I can't think of anything else that's just a part of everyday life here...there is probably something else though. But yeah that's a bit of my "normal" life here.
23 October 2012
Espanya: Catalunya
We left Zaragoza and spent the rest of the trip in Catalonia. Spain has regions that are a bit like U.S. states. But at the same time some are very different from the rest of Spain. Franco tried to get rid of these differences during his regime. Fortunately he didn’t and as a result we have areas of Spain that aren’t Spanish. It provides a beautiful diversity in a country. Just as Quebec in Canada is a French speaking province, the region of Catalonia speaks Catalan. There are also other regions like the Basque region and Galicia that have a different national identity and language. I’m not sure how they compare to Catalonia since we didn’t get the chance to visit them but as soon as you enter Catalonia it is obvious that you’re in a very different region from Castilla y Leon and Aragon, the other areas we had already visited. As we were driving I noticed that the signs weren’t in Spanish. Luckily Catalonian isn’t like Basque and is similar enough to Spanish that I can make sense of some of it. Catalonia doesn’t feel a connection to Spain anymore, perhaps partially because of linguistic difference, but there are a lot of contributing factors to Catalonians having their own identity and wanting their independence. Yes, it’s in the air and talk is all over. Catalonians are inspired by Scotland’s press for independence and they want their freedom, legal or not. Which it isn’t. But it’s really interesting to see their strides toward independence. One thing that I noticed what the lack of Spanish flags and the abundance of Catalonian flags, as well as signs saying “Catalonia, a new European state” in both Catalan and English. That was especially evident in Gerona.
Gerona, Girona in Catalan, was the first city we visited in Catalonia. It was a nice little city but was quite touristy. We stayed in the Old Jewish quarter of the city. The first day we just took off exploring. We went across the river to the newer part of town and there were a lot of nicer shops. So they were out of our price range. We mostly explored that day. There was a gorgeous area with old walls and towers with great views of the city. It was fantastic! The next day we went to the cathedral which has the second widest nave, of a Gothic style church at least. It also had a tapestry which was from the 12th century and supposedly the oldest one still in existence. After we returned to the walls and actually walked them this time. We did a bit more exploring and saw the Arab baths, which weren't really Arab. The Moors weren't actually in Gerona for long so little of their influence exist today. These baths were from the 12th century I believe. They really weren't that impressive, maybe because I saw the Roman Baths in Bath but still. In Gerona people were a bit more traditional and even though it was touristy the stores still had a siesta time. Gerona wasn't my favorite place. The walls were cool and the cathedral was alright. But other than that there was nothing much else but shops and a few museums but those can get expensive. We did hang out a bit but there wasn't a really good gathering spot like there was in Avila where we had more free time. We only spent one and a half days in Gerona, which I think is fine. I probably could have gotten everything I wanted to do in an afternoon. But it was still fun.
Gerona
But then we went to Barcelona! I've heard a lot of people say that Barcelona is their favorite city in Spain, if not one of their favorite cities ever. So I had pretty high expectations for it. And I have to say they were met. It really was a fantastic city! The first day we went out and walked around a bit (I love walking around cities and just exploring) We stayed outside of Barcelona in a city called Santa Coloma and while walking to the train we were stopped by a local who asked what we were doing there and why some North Americans would be in Santa Coloma. He was a bit confused and a bit annoyed. But in Barcelona we roamed around a bit, saw some markets and then went to the Olympic venue from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. There was a kids event going on that day so it was quite festive. We saw the Olympic tower, the baseball field (and surprisingly they keep it up so it doesn't look too bad like I expected) and got to go into the stadium! That part was so cool. I don't know if it's normally free but we got in for free. No we didn't sneak it, it was open for the event. So we sat a bit there and it was really cool. We saw the olympic torch from those games too since it's at the stadium. We also saw the diving venue. So after walking around that for a while we took a cable car over the city. The view could have been better since it was rather cloudy. The cable car dropped us off near the beach so we went for a moment but it was getting dark so we went to go find a place to eat. We found this place (maybe some people had heard of it before because they were pretty set on eating that this one place) and ate some tapas for dinner. Which was plenty. They were good. They had a variety of tapas and you just grabbed what you wanted and paid per item. At first I wasn't very excited because it was all sea food, which I don't like. But then they started bringing out other things like Spanish Omelette and guacamole. It was good! And then we went and got Gelato and that was day one in Barcelona. It was so much fun! The next day was probably just as fun if not more fun. That morning I went to the Sagrada Familia which was just fantastic! I've gone to a lot of cathedrals and I love going, but there is a point where they start kinda looking the same so then you just go to the free ones. But this isn't like that all. This one is different and the only thing I can think to describe it is unique. It is unlike other cathedrals that I've been to and any others in the world, which is one reason it's so famous. They're still building it after over a hundred years of construction work. It's incredible. It's just breathtaking to look at inside and out. Outside of the basilica there were people forming a human tower like I'd seen on tv before. The first one fell as they were coming down which scared me a bit, but they were fine. It was cool to see life! There was quite a crowd around and music playing and people just climbing on top of each other to make a tower and then go send a kid to climb to the top of it. We spent quite a while at the Sagrada Familia then after lunch I met the rest of the group to go to a football match. I had been to one in Reading but it was cool to see one in Spain and see how the football culture is different. I think the people were a bit rowdier at this match and they would yell at and boo their own team if someone did something that they didn't like... but it was cool! I don't know a lot about football, but I love watching it! That night I went to a market for tapas but we were a bit disappointed at the lack of tapas so we found a random restaurant, which was very good! Then we went to a chocolate place that someone had remembered from a previous trip to Spain and that was quite good. Don't get me wrong, I loved Barcelona, but I have to say that there were some things that I didn't like. One major one is that people would speak to me in English when I went to a restaurant or store or something. Yes it is a correct assumption that I speak English and don't speak Catalan and don't speak Spanish so well. But one thing I liked about other places in Spain is that I got to practice my Spanish and talk to people even if I embarrassed myself. I guess being a red head in Barcelona makes it seem like you don't belong...and most people knew English in the touristy parts. So I was saying at dinner that I didn't like not being able to practice my Spanish and force myself to learn and struggle. Weird that I missed the hard, embarrassing part of being in Spain. I did get to use my Spanish at the chocolate place though. There was a guy working there didn't speak English and he talked to us for a bit in Spanish. And he was from Ecuador (I think...) so I could understand him better. For someone who doesn't know Spanish very well Spain Spanish can be hard to understand... So that made me happy that I got one last chance to practice my Spanish.
I really loved Spain. I'm back in Oxford now and back to the usual routine. I have homework and stuff (which really isn't as fun) But if one thing Spain made me excited to go to Uruguay next semester and practice my Spanish seriously. I enjoyed being a translator, even if I wasn't much help. It was a lot of fun, even if I did embarrass myself a lot either because I said something wrong because I didn't know better or was tongue tied. I would love to go back to Spain. It is one of those countries that for one really interest me but it has a lot of great places to visit. I'd love to visit the Basque country and Galicia to see the regional differences and the linguist aspects of those regions compared to Catalonia. I would also like to go to the south of Spain one day and visit Sevilla and Grenada and see those places and then return to Madrid and spend more time there. It was a great trip and though it was pretty long, it was great! I loved it! I'm going to be really interested to see how the Catalonia thing works out and if it spreads to other regions. I think talk of independence might be brewing in the Basque country too. But I love Spain! Here are some pictures.
Olympic Stands with torch
Beach in Barcelona
La Sagrada Familia
Human Tower
17 October 2012
España: Madrid, Ávila, y Zaragoza
I'm in Spain and we're going to visit 5 cities during this trip (which is about a 10 day trip so not bad) and we have so far been to Madrid, Avila and Zaragoza, but we will also Girona and Barcelona.
Last Thursday we left very early to catch a flight to Madrid. After only getting a few hours of sleep (because the night before it sounded like much more fun to go get ice cream at G&D's at 11 instead of packing. But despite being tired I was so excited to be in Spain that I didn't care. Our hotel was a bit outside of Madrid so we just went and caught the train to Madrid. That day we explored the city a bit, saw the Prado museum, and ate a fairly nice dinner in town. The next day we went out again into Madrid. It was the Spanish National Holiday and there was a military procession so we watched that for a while. The king and queen were watching nearby but I didn't get to see them. I saw where they had been after they left. We kinda got stuck in that area a bit after the parade but whenever we could we headed down to the park. The park was so much fun. There were puppet shows and vendors selling crafts and it was a lot of fun to walk around. In the middle of the park there is a lake and there were people in row boats. We really wanted to do it so after finding out that it was €4.60 per boat/4 to a boat for 45 minutes we had to do it. So that was the best euro I've spent. If i ever go back to Madrid I want to do that again. After it started raining so we tried to find shelter in the park hoping to ride it out. When it became apparent it wasn't going to stop soon we decided to go get some food. We found this place and I got patatas bravas. It was really good! After that we took pictures with a fat and crazy spiderman. I didn't want to but he chased us down. Then we went to a tapas market. After walking around a bit more we went to the Museo de Reina Sofia which is the modern art museum. (the Prado is the classical art). I had been to the Tate Modern in London and there discovered that I'm not a big fan of modern art. But I liked the Reina Sofia. It had a lot of stuff from the 1930s. It also had Picasso so that was really cool. I didn't really know what all he had done so it was cool to see some of his art. It can be quite weird though. But the main Picasso painting at the Reina Sofia is the Guernaca (not sure how it's spelt). But it was a really interesting painting. The next day I could have gone to Madrid in the morning but I felt like I needed to rest for one and I also needed to work on a project. That afternoon we headed to Avila.
I really wasn't quite sure what to think of Avila at first. It wasn't a city I had heard of and I didn't really want to go. But it was great. In the city center there is kinda a separate city and there is a wall around it and I think it's from the 12th century. It's old that's for sure. We stayed in a monastery. We explored a bit that afternoon and night. The good think about staying at the monastery is that all the meals were taken care of. But we had to get use to the Spanish style of eating. Breakfast was at a fairly normal time, lunch was at 2, and dinner at 9. So we would go get tapas sometimes before dinner.
Sunday went to Mass. It was a really neat experience. I don't think I had ever been to a Catholic service before so it was really neat to see. It was in Spanish so I had a bit of trouble keeping up with what was being said but it was still a really neat experience. After the service we went to a milk machine. Some people had found it the day before and it is pretty fantastic. Basically you go up, and buy a bottle if you don't have one and then fill it with milk and then it makes it cold and it's great! That afternoon we went to go see a bit of Spanish culture, specifically went to a bull fight. It was more disturbing than I thought it would be. Mean I knew that they killed the bull but still. They would just stab it over and over again and then put hooks in it and it was just very disturbing. Every time it would get stabbed the audience would cheer. The poor thing was bleeding terribly and finally I just had to leave. A group had just left so I went to go catch up with them. We headed to the city center and saw a procession. They were carrying an effigy of Saint Teresa into the cathedral because the next day would be her feast day. We followed a bit and it was really cool! After it was inside the church we decided to go find a bite to eat and something hot to drink be because it was a bit cold and rainy. I got churros con chocolate! It was good! I'm going to have to get it again before we leave Spain.
The next day was the feast day of Saint Teresa. She was born in Avila in the 1500s and after a bit of a crazy youth, her father sent her to a convent, she became a nun, and lived like a normal nun for a while. Later in her life she started having visions and people were thinking that she was a bit crazy. Someone said that it was crazy that she became a saint because she might have been burnt at the stake for her beliefs. She reformed the way things worked in convents and did a lot for the catholic church. She really is pretty interesting. She is the patron saint of Avila and was made a doctor of the catholic church. For the festivities there was a mass that morning that I went to and there were a lot of people and I think there were probably people from out of town (other than us) because at the beginning when they were welcoming everyone they mentioned a special welcome to those coming from out of town. After the mass there was a procession so people lined the streets and bands marched as they carried the effigy of her to the church dedicated to her, which is built on the sight that she was supposedly born. A bit late we walked around the city again and went to that church and saw some relics of St. Teresa including her finger...which was interesting. That night there was a firework show and it was pretty awesome!
Tuesday we had class in the morning but still went to walk around the city a bit for fun. We went and saw some views and wanted to walk the walls of the city but they were closed. That was sad because it was our last full day in Avila and we were a bit disappointed that we couldn't do that. But we still had fun in the city that day.
We were going to leave too early this morning to go out and do anything but the bus called and said they couldn't come until noon so we were able to go again to the city and walk the walls so I got to do it after all. We went up to the city and went up the walls and walked where we could. It was a really neat view and a lot of fun.
Today we got to Zaragoza a bit late so we just went to dinner and walked around a bit. We are leaving tomorrow morning so it's sad that we don't have a lot of time here. It is a really cool city and super pretty! The buildings are fantastic! I really wish we had at least a full day here. A few hours are not enough. Also the cathedral was closed and I wanted to go see the inside because the outside was just fantastic!!!
I have loved being in Spain so far. I have had a blast being here with this group and it has been nice to get to know people better and to grow as a family. I have also enjoyed the chance to practice my Spanish a bit. It has reminded me how much I need to work at it and that I have a lot to do to achieve my goal of being fluent in Spanish. But at the same time I'm also motivated to do so being here. It has made me excited about going to Uruguay and spending a lot of time in a Spanish speaking country. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get around how I wished I were able to while here. Spain Spanish is a bit different but I feel like I've been able to get around surprisingly well and understand more than I expected. I can read most signs I see so I have been fairly confident. I have ordering food at restaurants down pretty well too. I do occasionally get looks like "what did you just say?" But it is good. I'm looking forward to these next few days here. Tomorrow we go to Girona for two nights and then we have the rest of our time in Barcelona. I'll post about that later.
So this as quite the long post but I didn't want to leave anything out! Spain is great and I highly recommend it!
Last Thursday we left very early to catch a flight to Madrid. After only getting a few hours of sleep (because the night before it sounded like much more fun to go get ice cream at G&D's at 11 instead of packing. But despite being tired I was so excited to be in Spain that I didn't care. Our hotel was a bit outside of Madrid so we just went and caught the train to Madrid. That day we explored the city a bit, saw the Prado museum, and ate a fairly nice dinner in town. The next day we went out again into Madrid. It was the Spanish National Holiday and there was a military procession so we watched that for a while. The king and queen were watching nearby but I didn't get to see them. I saw where they had been after they left. We kinda got stuck in that area a bit after the parade but whenever we could we headed down to the park. The park was so much fun. There were puppet shows and vendors selling crafts and it was a lot of fun to walk around. In the middle of the park there is a lake and there were people in row boats. We really wanted to do it so after finding out that it was €4.60 per boat/4 to a boat for 45 minutes we had to do it. So that was the best euro I've spent. If i ever go back to Madrid I want to do that again. After it started raining so we tried to find shelter in the park hoping to ride it out. When it became apparent it wasn't going to stop soon we decided to go get some food. We found this place and I got patatas bravas. It was really good! After that we took pictures with a fat and crazy spiderman. I didn't want to but he chased us down. Then we went to a tapas market. After walking around a bit more we went to the Museo de Reina Sofia which is the modern art museum. (the Prado is the classical art). I had been to the Tate Modern in London and there discovered that I'm not a big fan of modern art. But I liked the Reina Sofia. It had a lot of stuff from the 1930s. It also had Picasso so that was really cool. I didn't really know what all he had done so it was cool to see some of his art. It can be quite weird though. But the main Picasso painting at the Reina Sofia is the Guernaca (not sure how it's spelt). But it was a really interesting painting. The next day I could have gone to Madrid in the morning but I felt like I needed to rest for one and I also needed to work on a project. That afternoon we headed to Avila.
I really wasn't quite sure what to think of Avila at first. It wasn't a city I had heard of and I didn't really want to go. But it was great. In the city center there is kinda a separate city and there is a wall around it and I think it's from the 12th century. It's old that's for sure. We stayed in a monastery. We explored a bit that afternoon and night. The good think about staying at the monastery is that all the meals were taken care of. But we had to get use to the Spanish style of eating. Breakfast was at a fairly normal time, lunch was at 2, and dinner at 9. So we would go get tapas sometimes before dinner.
Sunday went to Mass. It was a really neat experience. I don't think I had ever been to a Catholic service before so it was really neat to see. It was in Spanish so I had a bit of trouble keeping up with what was being said but it was still a really neat experience. After the service we went to a milk machine. Some people had found it the day before and it is pretty fantastic. Basically you go up, and buy a bottle if you don't have one and then fill it with milk and then it makes it cold and it's great! That afternoon we went to go see a bit of Spanish culture, specifically went to a bull fight. It was more disturbing than I thought it would be. Mean I knew that they killed the bull but still. They would just stab it over and over again and then put hooks in it and it was just very disturbing. Every time it would get stabbed the audience would cheer. The poor thing was bleeding terribly and finally I just had to leave. A group had just left so I went to go catch up with them. We headed to the city center and saw a procession. They were carrying an effigy of Saint Teresa into the cathedral because the next day would be her feast day. We followed a bit and it was really cool! After it was inside the church we decided to go find a bite to eat and something hot to drink be because it was a bit cold and rainy. I got churros con chocolate! It was good! I'm going to have to get it again before we leave Spain.
The next day was the feast day of Saint Teresa. She was born in Avila in the 1500s and after a bit of a crazy youth, her father sent her to a convent, she became a nun, and lived like a normal nun for a while. Later in her life she started having visions and people were thinking that she was a bit crazy. Someone said that it was crazy that she became a saint because she might have been burnt at the stake for her beliefs. She reformed the way things worked in convents and did a lot for the catholic church. She really is pretty interesting. She is the patron saint of Avila and was made a doctor of the catholic church. For the festivities there was a mass that morning that I went to and there were a lot of people and I think there were probably people from out of town (other than us) because at the beginning when they were welcoming everyone they mentioned a special welcome to those coming from out of town. After the mass there was a procession so people lined the streets and bands marched as they carried the effigy of her to the church dedicated to her, which is built on the sight that she was supposedly born. A bit late we walked around the city again and went to that church and saw some relics of St. Teresa including her finger...which was interesting. That night there was a firework show and it was pretty awesome!
Tuesday we had class in the morning but still went to walk around the city a bit for fun. We went and saw some views and wanted to walk the walls of the city but they were closed. That was sad because it was our last full day in Avila and we were a bit disappointed that we couldn't do that. But we still had fun in the city that day.
We were going to leave too early this morning to go out and do anything but the bus called and said they couldn't come until noon so we were able to go again to the city and walk the walls so I got to do it after all. We went up to the city and went up the walls and walked where we could. It was a really neat view and a lot of fun.
Today we got to Zaragoza a bit late so we just went to dinner and walked around a bit. We are leaving tomorrow morning so it's sad that we don't have a lot of time here. It is a really cool city and super pretty! The buildings are fantastic! I really wish we had at least a full day here. A few hours are not enough. Also the cathedral was closed and I wanted to go see the inside because the outside was just fantastic!!!
I have loved being in Spain so far. I have had a blast being here with this group and it has been nice to get to know people better and to grow as a family. I have also enjoyed the chance to practice my Spanish a bit. It has reminded me how much I need to work at it and that I have a lot to do to achieve my goal of being fluent in Spanish. But at the same time I'm also motivated to do so being here. It has made me excited about going to Uruguay and spending a lot of time in a Spanish speaking country. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get around how I wished I were able to while here. Spain Spanish is a bit different but I feel like I've been able to get around surprisingly well and understand more than I expected. I can read most signs I see so I have been fairly confident. I have ordering food at restaurants down pretty well too. I do occasionally get looks like "what did you just say?" But it is good. I'm looking forward to these next few days here. Tomorrow we go to Girona for two nights and then we have the rest of our time in Barcelona. I'll post about that later.
So this as quite the long post but I didn't want to leave anything out! Spain is great and I highly recommend it!
06 October 2012
London Again and Les Misérables
So one of the good things about living so close to London is that you can decide the day before to go on a day trip to London and then go buy a train ticket in the morning and just go. So yesterday I went to London for a second time! This time was to do more of the touristy stuff. We saw some of the stuff we saw the other day, Big Ben, The London Eye, and other stuff. We also went into Westminster Abbey! It was fantastic! It is so big and beautiful and so many famous people are entombed there. Which does make it a bit creepy but really cool at the same time to see where Chaucer and Handel and other people, including monarchs, are buried. It's just overall really cool! After that we spent forever trying to find something to eat and after walking along the Thames for a while we decided to eat at some food stands by the river. After we walked a bit further and went to the Tate Modern, which is a modern art museum. It was really interesting but I'm not a huge modern art fan. After that we headed back to pick up tickets for Les Mis! Which was fantastic! (but we'll get to that later) Well there really isn't much else. We found a random restaurant to eat then went to the theatre and Christen and I went to the show and everyone else went home soon later.
After we kinda had to run out of the theatre, to the underground, and get to the train station so we could catch the 11:15 train home. And we made it with time to spare! Oh the fun of day trips to London!
It doesn't feel like I did a ton on this trip but it was a great one. I really did do and see a lot. I saw Big Ben, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Shard, Buckingham Palace, a bridge that we recognized from harry potter, tower bridge (from a distance) and really a lot. And Les Mis! It was great!
It was a great trip! I've got a few days back here in Oxford and Thursday I leave for Spain! I'm so excited!!!
03 October 2012
London/Football
So I'm just finally getting around to posting about this last weekend. I've been pretty busy. So here goes. Last Friday we took a train into London for a project. In groups we chose an area of London to be participant observers in. I went to Brick Lane in the borough Tower Hamlets. Brick Lane is a road that on (and in the surrounding area is a Bangladeshi population. The street signs are written in both English and Bengali. It was really interesting. We also had curry because there is quite a lot in Brick Lane. It was quite good. After the project we went around London a bit (since it was my first official time to go since I don't count the airport) We road the underground a lot, went to herrods, and then on the way to chipotle (we needed mexican food) we saw some of the sights in passing like Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The London Eye, Downing Street, Trafalgar street and other stuff. But really just in passing. And then we went to see Wicked and had to run to catch the last train that day back to Oxford so we didn't have to pay for a ticket back.
We had gotten back to Oxford pretty late Friday night/early Saturday morning and so I was pretty tired. But in the morning I got an email saying that there was an extra ticket to a football match in Reading. And so I went! And it was fantastic! We were on the second row and it was great! The match was Reading and Newcastle and they tied but it was still a great match. So that took up a considerable part of the day Saturday so I spent Sunday doing a lot of homework.
I know that wasn't very informational but I have a lot of homework tonight. So here are some pictures.
We had gotten back to Oxford pretty late Friday night/early Saturday morning and so I was pretty tired. But in the morning I got an email saying that there was an extra ticket to a football match in Reading. And so I went! And it was fantastic! We were on the second row and it was great! The match was Reading and Newcastle and they tied but it was still a great match. So that took up a considerable part of the day Saturday so I spent Sunday doing a lot of homework.
I know that wasn't very informational but I have a lot of homework tonight. So here are some pictures.
Platform 9 3/4
Brick Lane
The Underground
Big Ben
Wicked!
So there it is. My first trip to London. I'm planning on going again to spend some more time in London because it's really fun and awesome!
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