So I feel like I haven´t written anything in a while, so I´m giving any readers a little update. Haha...
Soo... not much has changed. I still love the house and family I live with. I just found out that Tomi is leaving in February and I´m going to miss her very very much. I can just imagine how the family feels since she´s been with them for 10 yeras. Whoa.
My winter break just started yesterday. Thursday was my last day of classes and in my La Mujer en Literatura class we watched a movie called "Te Doy Mis Ojos" and it was sooo good! You should watch it if you can. Its about a woman who gets abused by her husband and their whole sitch... very good and necessary in this country when this year there have already been 70 women that died due to spousal abuse. So sad.
I get to stay in Madrid over break due to my lack of money... woo credit card debt! :-( But that gives me plenty of time to work on some of my trabajos and read and disfrutar más en mi vida. Me and Dar are planning on going to a bar that my roommate and her friends are renting out for el Nocheviejo. And our friend Jose is coming up from Sevilla so it should be a blasty blast! Apparently Madrid has this huge party on the 1st so we´re thinking about doing that too depending on how much money we have. Haha.
For Christmas Spaniards celebrate on the 24th and the family I live with has invited me to have dinner with them, but I´m not sure if I´m going to. The rest of us Erasmus Madrileños are planning on spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together at our friend Jackie´s place because our dear friend Ashley has gone back to lovely LB for the holidays. That fact not only saddens me, but makes me jealous and really happy bc her bed is SUPER comfortable to sleep in! haha! Then if you´re one of the people that will be at my parents house on Christmas morning I will be Skyping you guys again. Haha... just like Thanksgiving. I really hope my dad doesn´t figure out how to put my image up on the tv. Ha!
Since the last time I wrote anywhere on here I feel like I haven´t done much. I go to school, work, and pass time by either sleeping, eating with Dar, or drinking in a bar. Its a really great life I must say. Haha! The brothers at El Tigre still call us "guapa" every time we go in. And last night there was almost a fight with these 2 guys that were right behind us, they didn´t fight though. Thankfully. But one of them was talking to us as we were leaving and the brothers did not look happy about it... or maybe they thought he would try to fight us? I don´t know. haha!
I am thoroughly enjoying my life here in Madrid basically. I take the bus to school every LMJV (MTThF) and walk home after school as long as it isn´t raining too hard. I just got a new phone/phone company which saves me soooo much money and the cute little thing has a converter for both € to $ and ºC to ºF!!! Which is my bf now! So I finally know that the usual 2ºC in the am is actually 35ºF... Woo!! Yet I am wearing less layers than I was before and finding myself only in a cardigan in my classes while everyone else still has their coats on and gloves and scarves. Haha... I might just be crazy or something.
My Volcom purse broke yesterday and my black Jack Purcelss have holes in them, so those will need to be replaced soon. Thank you to Darlene for giving me a pair of grey boots that she bought that were too big for her. Haha! She´s a life saver. And to replace my purse that I use ever day I am probably going to go to the Rastro to find a nice, cheap leather one that I´ve had my eye on for some time now. Now I have a reason to buy it, so I don´t feel guilty.
I´m finding myself missing home a lot, but I just cannot see myself going back now. I keep meeting people that were only here for a semester and I think they are insane for leaving now. I just couldn´t do it. I love everyone at home, and the weather, and the FOOD! Oh my gosh do I miss the food! I´ve already decided I am going to gain about 20 pounds upon my return because I am going to eat everything that is delicious and spicy 2 times!!! Haha... But I can wait for that. For now I am enjoying my croquettas and tortilla española. And I keep tricking people into thinking I´m spanish with my bangs that I cute just a little too short. Haha... but they´re almost grown back to a normal length for me.
Oh yeah, almost forgot to tell you guys. I´ve pretty much planned my schedule for next semester already, I just need to pick a facultad still. But I have looked in to my degree progress and emailed my advisors... and next fall I will be graduating with a BA in International Studies, and a minor in Spanish as well as a minor in Anthropology which I will be adding when I get back home!! Yay!! And Emma might be my future roommate if she doesn´t get a job working as an RA in the dorms. Haha... as for me... Lets all pray that the courts don´t take away my license for good! Or even for a month... If I go back to working at Hurley I am definately going to need to drive. Definately.
So thats my life. I´ll write a little more after I eat my 12 uvas at midnight on the 31st of December. Love you all! Pasa un buen día!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The best November EVER!!!
Is pretty much what I´m feeling right now.
I have soooo much to tell!! I was definately feeling the bottom of my "U" in October, but I could tell November was going to be AMAZING and its proved itself to me. Haha!
Reasons why November was freaking awesome!!
#1) I MOVED OUT of my crappy living sitch!! And in to the best possible situation for me too! I love my new house and all my new roommates... meaning the family I live with. There´s AnaOla who goes to school at the Compultense too and is 18, her sister Aurora who´s 15, their parents Jose (AKA Pepe) and Ana and their somewhere between 55 and 50, then there´s the grandparents, Salvador and I keep forgetting the grandma´s name... but she loves repeating her story as to why she´s not educated bc during the Civil war her dad didn´t want her going to school with boys. Haha! And then there´s Tommi who´s a Monday-Friday maid and she is sooo awesome! I like waking up to her and coming home from school to her to chat with. She doesn´t clean my room, but she´s really helpful if I have any dudas.
#2) OBAMA won! ... but thats a given. Great way to start my month off right there.
#3) We had our excursion to Sevilla the weekend after elections.
... and in Sevilla me and my friend Darlene hung out with a couple of friends that we know from Madrid, but are from Sevilla and they showed us a good time. And Sevilla is SO beautiful and the weather is SO perfect! I didn´t want to leave! The cool thing is we want to go back for their festivals in February I think... or April? Hahah... there´s some in Cadiz too that we want to go to, but for sure Sevilla´s in we can. Anyways, me and Dar might be joingin our Sevillan friends for New Years in a house they usually rent as a group... which means I get a mini-vacay during my winter break since I´m too poor to go to the UK with Sarah after all. I hope it all works out... here are some pics of Sevilla... none are from me though. I wasn´t in a picture taking mood while I was there. I just wanted to embrass it all!
#4) The following weekend my very good guy friends from Gilroy, Gibbs and Neil, paid for a flight for me to go to Amsterdam!!! I love them soooo much for that!! I flew out Saturday morning and was greeted by 3 of the most beautiful faces in my life! Sarah met us at the airport too and they made a cute little sign so I could find them! Haha...
Neil´s brother was kind enough to recomend a hotel we should stay at... little did we know this hotel was in the damn boondocks of Amsterdam. Haha! It was about a 20 min bus ride to the airport, where we then had to take a train to Amsterdam Centraal. Still fun though.
We checked in then made our way to the center on Saturday night. Walked around a lot... we hit up the Redlight District a little too early and only got to see a few not so pretty hookers. We found a bar we were really comfortable in and somehow the last 6 hours of our night flew by! We made a new friend and had some issues figuring out how to get back to the hotel from the airport... Eventually (around 6am) we made it. And napped until 2...
We showered and got ready and headed back to the airport for lunch at the BK lounge and after that the lovely Ms. Sarah left me and the boys. :-( We went back to the center and attempted to get to the Heinekin Brewery on time to take a tour, but failed and insteaded went to the bar next door for a few drinks. Went back towards the center and walked around the Redlight District A LOT in search of a certain alley where supposedly the best hookers are... After we found it we went to the same bar as the night before. They were closing at about 1, so we decided to make it an early night since the guys had to leave around 4 the next day, so we headed home. Or tried too. What ended up happening was the fastest train to the airport was first going to Utrecht (where Sarah lives and also about 40 mins the opposite direction from where we needed to be). Haha... So we napped for a while, and eventually got back to our hotel.
The next morning we packed up and headed to the center. We finally made it to the Heinekin Brewery and took a tour! You get 2 free drinks with admission! Haha... after that we grabbed a bite to eat and the boys went on their way. So I wandered for a while by myself... I had wanted to visit either the VanGough Museum or the Anne Frank House. But, I didn´t think I´d have enough time for either and I couldn´t quite understand how to get there. All in all the trip was awesome and seeing some of my best friends from home really helped me cope with my "U" issue.
#5) This past weekend was full of fun... Some of Emma´s friends from Barcelona came down and I spent most of Friday with them until nighttime came and they were heading of to Capital, a huge 7 story club that costs a lot and I wasn´t down to go to. So I went with Dar to meet up with our Sevillan friends in Sol. Funny little thing to mention... I´m kind of seeing one of our Sevillan friends. His name is Carlos, he´s 30 and has a bald spot on the back of his head. Haha... he´s really cool and fun to talk to. Yes, we talk to eachother in Spanish and he as well as the rest of my spanish friends agree that my Spanish has improved greatly. We communicate a lot better now than we did back when we met at La Noche en Blanco. Anyways... just thought I´d throw that in there.
On Saturday night however, a big group of us went to a party called Sensation White and it was AMAZING! It was a techno concert that started at 8:30 and ended at 3... sooooo FUN!!! My body was really sore after dancing for that long, but it was definately worth it. Definately.
#6) And lastly... I´M DONE WITH MIDTERMS!!!!
Haha... yeah, so they say spanish students don´t have to take them, but us americans do. Screw that... but whatev... THEIR DONE!!!
I have soooo much to tell!! I was definately feeling the bottom of my "U" in October, but I could tell November was going to be AMAZING and its proved itself to me. Haha!
Reasons why November was freaking awesome!!
#1) I MOVED OUT of my crappy living sitch!! And in to the best possible situation for me too! I love my new house and all my new roommates... meaning the family I live with. There´s AnaOla who goes to school at the Compultense too and is 18, her sister Aurora who´s 15, their parents Jose (AKA Pepe) and Ana and their somewhere between 55 and 50, then there´s the grandparents, Salvador and I keep forgetting the grandma´s name... but she loves repeating her story as to why she´s not educated bc during the Civil war her dad didn´t want her going to school with boys. Haha! And then there´s Tommi who´s a Monday-Friday maid and she is sooo awesome! I like waking up to her and coming home from school to her to chat with. She doesn´t clean my room, but she´s really helpful if I have any dudas.
#2) OBAMA won! ... but thats a given. Great way to start my month off right there.
#3) We had our excursion to Sevilla the weekend after elections.
... and in Sevilla me and my friend Darlene hung out with a couple of friends that we know from Madrid, but are from Sevilla and they showed us a good time. And Sevilla is SO beautiful and the weather is SO perfect! I didn´t want to leave! The cool thing is we want to go back for their festivals in February I think... or April? Hahah... there´s some in Cadiz too that we want to go to, but for sure Sevilla´s in we can. Anyways, me and Dar might be joingin our Sevillan friends for New Years in a house they usually rent as a group... which means I get a mini-vacay during my winter break since I´m too poor to go to the UK with Sarah after all. I hope it all works out... here are some pics of Sevilla... none are from me though. I wasn´t in a picture taking mood while I was there. I just wanted to embrass it all!
#4) The following weekend my very good guy friends from Gilroy, Gibbs and Neil, paid for a flight for me to go to Amsterdam!!! I love them soooo much for that!! I flew out Saturday morning and was greeted by 3 of the most beautiful faces in my life! Sarah met us at the airport too and they made a cute little sign so I could find them! Haha...
Neil´s brother was kind enough to recomend a hotel we should stay at... little did we know this hotel was in the damn boondocks of Amsterdam. Haha! It was about a 20 min bus ride to the airport, where we then had to take a train to Amsterdam Centraal. Still fun though.
We checked in then made our way to the center on Saturday night. Walked around a lot... we hit up the Redlight District a little too early and only got to see a few not so pretty hookers. We found a bar we were really comfortable in and somehow the last 6 hours of our night flew by! We made a new friend and had some issues figuring out how to get back to the hotel from the airport... Eventually (around 6am) we made it. And napped until 2...
We showered and got ready and headed back to the airport for lunch at the BK lounge and after that the lovely Ms. Sarah left me and the boys. :-( We went back to the center and attempted to get to the Heinekin Brewery on time to take a tour, but failed and insteaded went to the bar next door for a few drinks. Went back towards the center and walked around the Redlight District A LOT in search of a certain alley where supposedly the best hookers are... After we found it we went to the same bar as the night before. They were closing at about 1, so we decided to make it an early night since the guys had to leave around 4 the next day, so we headed home. Or tried too. What ended up happening was the fastest train to the airport was first going to Utrecht (where Sarah lives and also about 40 mins the opposite direction from where we needed to be). Haha... So we napped for a while, and eventually got back to our hotel.
The next morning we packed up and headed to the center. We finally made it to the Heinekin Brewery and took a tour! You get 2 free drinks with admission! Haha... after that we grabbed a bite to eat and the boys went on their way. So I wandered for a while by myself... I had wanted to visit either the VanGough Museum or the Anne Frank House. But, I didn´t think I´d have enough time for either and I couldn´t quite understand how to get there. All in all the trip was awesome and seeing some of my best friends from home really helped me cope with my "U" issue.
#5) This past weekend was full of fun... Some of Emma´s friends from Barcelona came down and I spent most of Friday with them until nighttime came and they were heading of to Capital, a huge 7 story club that costs a lot and I wasn´t down to go to. So I went with Dar to meet up with our Sevillan friends in Sol. Funny little thing to mention... I´m kind of seeing one of our Sevillan friends. His name is Carlos, he´s 30 and has a bald spot on the back of his head. Haha... he´s really cool and fun to talk to. Yes, we talk to eachother in Spanish and he as well as the rest of my spanish friends agree that my Spanish has improved greatly. We communicate a lot better now than we did back when we met at La Noche en Blanco. Anyways... just thought I´d throw that in there.
On Saturday night however, a big group of us went to a party called Sensation White and it was AMAZING! It was a techno concert that started at 8:30 and ended at 3... sooooo FUN!!! My body was really sore after dancing for that long, but it was definately worth it. Definately.
#6) And lastly... I´M DONE WITH MIDTERMS!!!!
Haha... yeah, so they say spanish students don´t have to take them, but us americans do. Screw that... but whatev... THEIR DONE!!!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Huelga
Sooo... There is definately a strike happening right now in my facultad. And my roommat is involved. Haha!
There´s this thing called Bologna thats trying to be passed that would change the standards of all the universities in the European Union. Basically it would take a degree you get from an Ivy League school and make it the equivalent to getting a degree at CSU. ¿Entiendes?
So, as would be expected most of the students here at the Compultence are not down for the change. There have been several strikes on campus about it and there are always new signs up denouncing it, but today is different. Since Monday there have been students locked in the building over night in protest of Boloña and they are all on full strike along with more (my roomie included). When my friend Janel and I were getting off the bus this morning in front of my facultad AnaOla was right there. Haha... with face paint making a human chain and telling all the students getting off the bus not to go to their classes. I said hi and we kept walking towards the doors where it looked like we weren´t going to be able to enter. There were a lot more students there with a huge banner covering the door saying something about Boloña and the strike and a couple guys were on megaphones. We had to walk under the banner to get through the doors and as soon as you duck you start to get gently hit and taunted by even more students in the foyer with newspaper pom-poms calling you a name that we didn´t quite understand and telling you not to go to class. They had newspaper strips hanging from the ceiling like streamers with signs about stopping Boloña all over. Then on the stairway that goes to the bottom floor they had blocked one off by wrapping toilet paper around the rails so you really couldn´t walk through. Luckily the other side was clear. There are ridiculous amounts of signs everywhere... much more than usual. And very few people are actually in the building. Normally you can barely walk, but today it seems semi-ghost town.
Thankfully my teacher did show up for class, he was lucky enough to not be hit. I´m guessing they would get in a lot of trouble for hitting a teacher, but the rest of my classmates had been. We all kind of feel ashamed for coming to our classes since this is such an important thing to the students here. I wouldn´t want a change like this in the U.S. I understand why its been proposed, but higher education to me shouldn´t be dumbed down to help the masses. Anyhooter... I´m gonna get going soon and I´m kind of nervous to walk outside the building. I´m also wondering how long my roommate is going to be here, I wonder if she´s going to spend the night again?
There´s this thing called Bologna thats trying to be passed that would change the standards of all the universities in the European Union. Basically it would take a degree you get from an Ivy League school and make it the equivalent to getting a degree at CSU. ¿Entiendes?
So, as would be expected most of the students here at the Compultence are not down for the change. There have been several strikes on campus about it and there are always new signs up denouncing it, but today is different. Since Monday there have been students locked in the building over night in protest of Boloña and they are all on full strike along with more (my roomie included). When my friend Janel and I were getting off the bus this morning in front of my facultad AnaOla was right there. Haha... with face paint making a human chain and telling all the students getting off the bus not to go to their classes. I said hi and we kept walking towards the doors where it looked like we weren´t going to be able to enter. There were a lot more students there with a huge banner covering the door saying something about Boloña and the strike and a couple guys were on megaphones. We had to walk under the banner to get through the doors and as soon as you duck you start to get gently hit and taunted by even more students in the foyer with newspaper pom-poms calling you a name that we didn´t quite understand and telling you not to go to class. They had newspaper strips hanging from the ceiling like streamers with signs about stopping Boloña all over. Then on the stairway that goes to the bottom floor they had blocked one off by wrapping toilet paper around the rails so you really couldn´t walk through. Luckily the other side was clear. There are ridiculous amounts of signs everywhere... much more than usual. And very few people are actually in the building. Normally you can barely walk, but today it seems semi-ghost town.
Thankfully my teacher did show up for class, he was lucky enough to not be hit. I´m guessing they would get in a lot of trouble for hitting a teacher, but the rest of my classmates had been. We all kind of feel ashamed for coming to our classes since this is such an important thing to the students here. I wouldn´t want a change like this in the U.S. I understand why its been proposed, but higher education to me shouldn´t be dumbed down to help the masses. Anyhooter... I´m gonna get going soon and I´m kind of nervous to walk outside the building. I´m also wondering how long my roommate is going to be here, I wonder if she´s going to spend the night again?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
I´ve never been more proud
to be an American.
I feel like my words cannot do my thoughts and feelings justice. I was so nervous for election day even though it seemed like the whole world was on my side. But being outside the United States for an event like this gave me an entirely new perspective on life back at home. The U.S. has gained respect again from the world, and not just because we are more powerful, but because we are finally using our brains again and making the right decision.
Every person that realizes I am an American immediately asks if you are for Obama and is more than glad to explain to you that they are and are excited for the elections as well. We went out to bars to watch the states turn and instantly had a bar full of non-americans explaining their perspectives to us and their hopes that the Republicans would not win.
This man wanted to know everything he could about our election process as it was going on. With every state that turned we would cheer and I would have to explain more about the electoral college to him. Haha!
When the screen flashed Obama´s name announcing him as the winner EVERYONE in the bar was extatic! I am not normally an emotional person, but my eyes watered up and tears almost streamed when I saw the results. I honestly had my doubts. Prefering to be pesimistic and not wanting to get my hopes up I continued to tell myself that the Bible-belt of America was going to pull through again and screw us over. But it didn´t happen. I am so glad to have been abroud and see what the rest of the world thinks of us during this time of change.
I have never denounced being an American, but I have felt very disappointed in my fellow Americans for quite some time. Especially those that were able to vote 4 years ago. Since Wednesday morning I have not been able to keep a smile off my face. The whole thing seems too surreal to me. I keep feeling like I am going to wake up and realize that this monumentous event didn´t actually happen. But it did. And I am so proud of America and especially the American citizens that finally put forth their views and opinions and got out there and voted.
I do feel that many might have just been swayed by the excitement around the country to go vote for the president and not all the issues. I am very disappointed in my fellow Californians for passing Proposition 8. Who has the right to tell anyone how to live their life. I do believe in our high school government classes we learn that there is a separation of church and state clause in our constitution, but that somehow seems to have been overlooked this year. I apologize to those in the gay and lesbian community for allowing your rights as a U.S. citizen to be taken away. I hope that within the next few years we are able to pull ourselves back together and overturn the decision. We have 4 years of progress to make up for 8 years of bad decisions and I have faith that it will get done. I don´t doubt that there will still be hard times coming, but the big outcome will be worth the struggle.
Have a wonderful day America and I cannot wait to return next summer!
I feel like my words cannot do my thoughts and feelings justice. I was so nervous for election day even though it seemed like the whole world was on my side. But being outside the United States for an event like this gave me an entirely new perspective on life back at home. The U.S. has gained respect again from the world, and not just because we are more powerful, but because we are finally using our brains again and making the right decision.
Every person that realizes I am an American immediately asks if you are for Obama and is more than glad to explain to you that they are and are excited for the elections as well. We went out to bars to watch the states turn and instantly had a bar full of non-americans explaining their perspectives to us and their hopes that the Republicans would not win.
This man wanted to know everything he could about our election process as it was going on. With every state that turned we would cheer and I would have to explain more about the electoral college to him. Haha!When the screen flashed Obama´s name announcing him as the winner EVERYONE in the bar was extatic! I am not normally an emotional person, but my eyes watered up and tears almost streamed when I saw the results. I honestly had my doubts. Prefering to be pesimistic and not wanting to get my hopes up I continued to tell myself that the Bible-belt of America was going to pull through again and screw us over. But it didn´t happen. I am so glad to have been abroud and see what the rest of the world thinks of us during this time of change.
I have never denounced being an American, but I have felt very disappointed in my fellow Americans for quite some time. Especially those that were able to vote 4 years ago. Since Wednesday morning I have not been able to keep a smile off my face. The whole thing seems too surreal to me. I keep feeling like I am going to wake up and realize that this monumentous event didn´t actually happen. But it did. And I am so proud of America and especially the American citizens that finally put forth their views and opinions and got out there and voted.
I do feel that many might have just been swayed by the excitement around the country to go vote for the president and not all the issues. I am very disappointed in my fellow Californians for passing Proposition 8. Who has the right to tell anyone how to live their life. I do believe in our high school government classes we learn that there is a separation of church and state clause in our constitution, but that somehow seems to have been overlooked this year. I apologize to those in the gay and lesbian community for allowing your rights as a U.S. citizen to be taken away. I hope that within the next few years we are able to pull ourselves back together and overturn the decision. We have 4 years of progress to make up for 8 years of bad decisions and I have faith that it will get done. I don´t doubt that there will still be hard times coming, but the big outcome will be worth the struggle.
Have a wonderful day America and I cannot wait to return next summer!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Hace frío!!!
So, I have never been a fan of the cold and I think I am ready to die because of it here. Haha... Two days ago at night the temp was at 2 degrees celsius! Not my style. I bought a peacoat for €35.90 and it has been my life save! Along with the gloves and pashminas I bought. All very necessary. I think I need a pair of longjohns too! Haha. And I am going to be in Amsterdam in a couple of weeks which will only be colder and for my Christmas break I am planning on a UK trip with my friend Sarah to visit her old SF roommate in Whales and hopefully Dublin or London too. So this kind of cold is only preparing me for my next vacations. The month of November seems to be pretty packed for me schedule wise. In some of my classes I have midterms and midterm projects due, I have a vacation/excursion/party planned already for everyweekend. I can´t wait! More blogging will come once these events start happening. Its Halloween weekend and all the American students are excited to dress up... I might just wear some ears or something. Along with 30 layers of clothes. Haha!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
These are the girls in Madrid that I love. Ellie Kiesel is on the left, she´s from Chico and goes to Chico state. She´s a total sweetheart and luckily for all of us her bf lived here for a year before and is back with us again and has been showing us where all the cool spots are. The second from the left is Miss Emma Kerss. She was born and raised in Sacramento and moved to Long Beach for school... we know a whole bunch of the same people, we just didn´t know we knew eachother. I love her too! We always end up finding people, events, places that we have in common back in LB. Then we have Darlene Powell... probably the one I understand the most. She´s complex, but I understand her. She´s boy crazy and fluent in spanish for the most part. Her mom´s from Nicaragua so she´s been raised speaking the language. She´s from a city just outside of Palm Springs and goes to SDSU. The girl on the right of Dar is Jessica Cheney. We were suitemates the first couple of weeks in the dorms. She and I don´t hang out much, but I love it when we do. I guess I would consider her my escape. We both have impecable skills when it comes to finding our way and giving directions. Haha...They´re my closest friends out here.
And these are the boys I´ve mentioned. Phil and Dylan. I´m not as close to them as I would excpect, but they definately have the big bro thing going.
This is my bedroom at Marquez de Viana, 57... the bed/door.
This is my desk and a bit of the sliding door...
And this is the view I have... yes, the trash cans are right in front.
So in order to escape from the piso that I don´t care much for I frequently find myself here. El Parque del Buen Retiro. This is a huge lake that you can take paddle boats out onto. It is so peaceful and gorgeous. Not as big as NY´s Central Park, but big nonetheless. On Sunday afternoons (during summer apparently) they have huge drum circles and they´re cool.
This is James, he´s the main guy that roomed/fed/showed us around Granada...
and this is Aaron, his roommate. Who bought blankets for us to crash on and didn´t step on us while walking in and out of his room. Haha...
this is Gabi... another one of the boys that gave a couple of us a place to sleep and shower as well as joined us on our excursions...
and then we have Ferny who did the same...
lastly we have Ben. He didn´t house any of us, but he just lived too far. But what is in his hands is more important right now. That is a Döner Kebab... DELICIOUS! They are Spain´s version of a burrito. Mmmmmmm
This is the giant wall I wrote about in the last blog. There is only a tiny row of crumbling bricks that we had to climb in order to get to where we are. It was soooo amazing.
One of my best friends from home, Sarah Chase, just paid me a visit... isn´t she awesome!
And we also just recently had the first couple of birthdays... We threw a suprise party for our friend Jacque.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Granada
So I just got back from Granada, Spain yesterday at like 7:30 after the metro and what not. And I will say one thing first: I have never had such an amazing and awesome vacation ever.
This is sooo true. I can´t really describe it. I mean, nothing went wrong. There were 7 girls and no one fought or bickered. The guys from the Granada IP program were the best tour guides/photographers/big bros/waiters/cooks we could have asked for. I mean, they bought extra blankets and pillows for us and food so we would have something to eat when we got hungry. Who really goes that far out of their way for people they met briefly a few weeks ago? It was so awesome... and two other boys allowed us to crash at their pads a few of the nights too. Which was greatly appreciated becuase 4 of us on the floor in one piso was a bit much.
So here is the day by day play by play, and hopefully some pictures if I can figure it out.
Friday:
We all met at the Dar, Emm, and Ellie´s place, then trucked over via the metro to get to the bus station. After an interesting situation where my friend Sara got yelled at by what we think was a bumb asleep on the bench, we made it to our bus on time and headed out of Madrid. I sat next to Ellie and we watched the weird movie that was playing on the bus and listened to our ipods and hit each other when we wanted to show them something out the window. The bus stopped about halfway through at a rest stop kind of thing so we could eat, strech, and use the restrooms. I have to say that driving through Spain seemed very similar to a drive through the 5 from nothern California to southern California, without really hitting any major cities though. Only Granada once we got there.
We had all packed for a rainy weekend and most of the girls had nothing other than winter clothes. So the slight rain and intense wind didn´t bother us too much when we were getting in to the taxis to head to James and Aaron´s house. After a brief botellón and a the arrival of a few more of the Granada kids we all headed out to a club about 12:30 or 1. We would get a free drink if we arrived before 1. Haha... So the place we went to was soooo cool! It was basically a cave. We had to climb up a really huge hill, or a few I should say, but it was worth it. The area that all the IP kids live in is covered with EARSMUS students, so we heard a lot more english being spoken as we walked down the street as opposed to Spanish. Apparently one of the Granada guys, Ferny, had his 20th birthday the previous Monday so he bought 2 rounds of tequilla shots for all 12 or so of us that were there. The music was very american and we all had a blast dancing and sweating up a storm until 6 am. Our only relief was to go out on to the beautiful deck and enjoy the strong winds blowing. On the way home we stopped by a Döner Kebab place calle Kebab King and enjoyed our first delicious bites of kebabs. Then me, Ellie, and Emma crashed out at James & Aaron´s place while the rest of the girls went with Fern to his house since he had more space.
Saturday:
We all woke up around 1 I believe and began getting ready. I was the first one at our place to take a shower and as soon as the hot water turned on the house almost went up in flames because they´re water heater had been smoking up for a few days already. Haha... so needless to say we all enjoyed cold prison showers instead. You only use the water when necessary and be prepared for a headache if you decide to wash your hair. Haha. Once we all met up again the boys took us up the same hill as the night before and then some so we could see the city from one of the best vistas in the town. Apparently we brought perfect weather with us becaus it wasn´t to hot and it was far from cold. It was perfect. After our mission and a half up the hill we made it to the wall they recommended we climb. One of the boys, Ben, had almost convinced me not to (pretty much did) climb the wall because it wasn´t worth it. But once I saw the rest of the girls making their way up, freaking out, and making James spot them as the scaled the small wall I decided I would do it too. Because there is a slim to none chance that I would ever get the opportunity again. Without guidance from anyone because they were either up on the wall already or they were taking pictures I made my way up the wall. And it was SO worth it. It was still pretty windy when we got up there so we didn´t stand much, but the second it slowed a bit we were all over that wall. After we climbed down with a bit of verbal guidance from the ones already on the ground we headed back down the hill.
The guys took us to get gelato at what they said was the best place in town and then to see the Cathedral and the market surrounding it. All of which was amazing as well. I bought 2 pairs of earrings from one of the vendors, but happened to leave them at James´ place so he´ll have to bring them next time he´s in Madrid. At this point we decided to reconvene later on for tapas and to head out to a really cool club that we had to be ridiculously dressed up to get in to and we couldn´t let on that we were americans. So I was nervous because I don´t do clubs. I certainly don´t have the proper attire to go out to them either. But luckily I pulled something together and borrowed a pair of heels from Darlene for the night. We were all starving by the time we made it to the tapas bar and literally inhaled the food the second the boys would put the plate down in front of us. I think most of us were more interested in getting food as opposed to drinks. Haha. We headed back to James´place to pick up the rest of the crew and pre-drink a bit before heading to the club. By this point my feet were already killing me and I was not in the mood for a night full of painful feet.
We headed out to the club, Mai West, I believe is the name and I walked over with one of the guys named Ben, he´s from Chico and knows my friend Torrie that has lived there since we were in 8th grade. So it was cool. To prepare ourselves we kept our convos to spanish only and we were planning on going in in small groups so they couldn´t really deny us entrance. But somehow while me and Ben were in line a group ahead of us had been denied so we walked over to another club. Knowing that this club was a walk in the complete opposite direction I took the heels off and went barefoot until I got to the line. Haha... This club was so much fun! I think almost all of the Granada group made it there and we all danced and drank (I was stoked on getting 2 free drinks with the price of admission & didn´t spen any money at the bar). A few of us headed back to James´place a tiny bit earlier than the rest, but once they all came in with kebabs again I was determined to have one too. Me and Sara were going to be the ones to stay at Ferny´s that night and since Kebab King was on the way, I took one for the road. Haha.. I don´t think I said a single word the whole walk there.
Sunday:
Sara, Fern, and I woke up around 2 when the other girls called to see if we were headed back yet because they had just woken up and were getting ready. We had planned on eating and going to see the Alhambra. Sara and I went to James´place and I took a quick cold shower without washing my hair because I still felt gross from the night before. I still felt gross because I hadn´t washed my hair, but it was manageable. We stopped at a tapas bar for a meal before we began climbing the staircase that would lead to the Alhambra. While we were sitting there, we not only saw one man dressed in a Spiderman suit, but 2! Haha... And they both went in to the mexican restaurant nearby. We think the younger one lost because he came out first. Haha...
After nearly dying on the walk uphill again we walked through an aquatic display near the Alhambra. It had posters filled with pictures and facts about the worlds water supply and usage. Some of it was rather heartbreaking and others were just plain interesting or cute. Like the picture of an elephante swimming. We found out that the Alhambra couldn´t sell any more tickets for the day and went out towards the terrace where access without tickets was still allowed. Then we went back to James´place to rest and watch Weeds and Entourage on his laptop.
Around 7 we decided to get ready to go to a Flamenco show/dinner. Only James and Fern joined us this time. Gabi, Ben, and Aaron chose to stay in for a bit instead. They missed out. The show was absolutely breathtaking. We believe the guitarist and the dancer were a couple by the way they would stare in to each others eyes and she had so much expression while she danced. It almost made my eyes water. And the dinner was delicious. Most of us opted for pizza since it was the cheapest thing on the menu and and we all shared jarras of sangria. Dar, Fern, Sara, and I grabbed some ice cream and watched one of the coolest street performances ever. Monday was a holiday so all the performers were in renaissance attire and there were bagpipes, flames, drums, clarinettes, and a unicylce involved. haha... so sweet! And I almost forgot to mention that earlier that afternoon while watching tv a firework went off right next to James´ place and scared the crap out of us! Especially Jacque, me, and Sara... Me and Jacque ran for the bedroom and Sara hit the floor. Haha... it was too funny. I think I had a mini heart attack. Haha
We decided to take it easy Sunday night since we planned on going to the Alhambra at 7:30 so we were sure we´d get tickets and enough time to see the place. So we went to the pub across the street and watched american football (Woo! the 49ers lost!) of course the SF boys were all pretty upset about that. All the girls except for me and Dar went home at around 11 or 12, but I had planned on crashing at Fern´s house again so I could have a warm shower so I stayed out for while too. After noticing Darlene across the street with a kebab I got one too and headed back to James´place to eat and watch tv with the girls. I didn´t end up getting back until about 2 and James came pretty much at the same time. There were already 3 girls on the floor and one on the couch, so I was going to see if I could join Dar and Jacque at Gabi´s, but Dar didn´t feel like waiting for the show to end so I found a comfy spot and watched tv til I fell asleep.
Monday:
Sara´s alarm clock went off at 7. Then her phone rang at 7:30 and it was Jacque asking if we were up and getting ready yet to head to the Alhambra. After hanging up Sara asks us if any of us are ready to get up, I don´t remember who, but they responded with "no, its still dark outside. We can´t get up." And it was settled. Haha... All 6 of us stayed sleeping. Then about an hour later the doorbell rings and I had to get up and answer it. Looking like crap and without shoes, Dar, Gabi, and Jacque weren´t very suprised to see that we were all still sleeping. That changed almost immediately and none of us showered, we just got up, put clothes on, brushed our teeth, did our hair and make up and we were off. We stopped and got Napolitanas de chocolate y crossaints on the way and headed up the hill again.
The Alhambra was beautiful. I took soooo many pictures. If I can figure it out I´ll try and make a blog just with the pictures from the Alhambra. Most of us weren´t able to enter the main building of the Alhambra until 12:30, so we just roamed the rest of it and took lots of pictures. Around 12:30 though we started heading back to James´ place to pack and grab one last döner kebab for the road and we left. I ended up leaving the two pairs of earrings that I had bought behind and Ellie left her Klean Kantine which she takes everywhere. We ended up back in Madrid at about 6:50 and I was at home and showering by 7:30. It was very necessary. Haha.
This was a life changing trip I´d have to say. I would really love to go back again before I leave Spain. And if the day were to ever come and it were possible for me to fly my entire family over here... I´d get married in the Alhambra or one of the churches I saw in Granada. It was that beautiful. Wow.
This is sooo true. I can´t really describe it. I mean, nothing went wrong. There were 7 girls and no one fought or bickered. The guys from the Granada IP program were the best tour guides/photographers/big bros/waiters/cooks we could have asked for. I mean, they bought extra blankets and pillows for us and food so we would have something to eat when we got hungry. Who really goes that far out of their way for people they met briefly a few weeks ago? It was so awesome... and two other boys allowed us to crash at their pads a few of the nights too. Which was greatly appreciated becuase 4 of us on the floor in one piso was a bit much.
So here is the day by day play by play, and hopefully some pictures if I can figure it out.
Friday:
We all met at the Dar, Emm, and Ellie´s place, then trucked over via the metro to get to the bus station. After an interesting situation where my friend Sara got yelled at by what we think was a bumb asleep on the bench, we made it to our bus on time and headed out of Madrid. I sat next to Ellie and we watched the weird movie that was playing on the bus and listened to our ipods and hit each other when we wanted to show them something out the window. The bus stopped about halfway through at a rest stop kind of thing so we could eat, strech, and use the restrooms. I have to say that driving through Spain seemed very similar to a drive through the 5 from nothern California to southern California, without really hitting any major cities though. Only Granada once we got there.
We had all packed for a rainy weekend and most of the girls had nothing other than winter clothes. So the slight rain and intense wind didn´t bother us too much when we were getting in to the taxis to head to James and Aaron´s house. After a brief botellón and a the arrival of a few more of the Granada kids we all headed out to a club about 12:30 or 1. We would get a free drink if we arrived before 1. Haha... So the place we went to was soooo cool! It was basically a cave. We had to climb up a really huge hill, or a few I should say, but it was worth it. The area that all the IP kids live in is covered with EARSMUS students, so we heard a lot more english being spoken as we walked down the street as opposed to Spanish. Apparently one of the Granada guys, Ferny, had his 20th birthday the previous Monday so he bought 2 rounds of tequilla shots for all 12 or so of us that were there. The music was very american and we all had a blast dancing and sweating up a storm until 6 am. Our only relief was to go out on to the beautiful deck and enjoy the strong winds blowing. On the way home we stopped by a Döner Kebab place calle Kebab King and enjoyed our first delicious bites of kebabs. Then me, Ellie, and Emma crashed out at James & Aaron´s place while the rest of the girls went with Fern to his house since he had more space.
Saturday:
We all woke up around 1 I believe and began getting ready. I was the first one at our place to take a shower and as soon as the hot water turned on the house almost went up in flames because they´re water heater had been smoking up for a few days already. Haha... so needless to say we all enjoyed cold prison showers instead. You only use the water when necessary and be prepared for a headache if you decide to wash your hair. Haha. Once we all met up again the boys took us up the same hill as the night before and then some so we could see the city from one of the best vistas in the town. Apparently we brought perfect weather with us becaus it wasn´t to hot and it was far from cold. It was perfect. After our mission and a half up the hill we made it to the wall they recommended we climb. One of the boys, Ben, had almost convinced me not to (pretty much did) climb the wall because it wasn´t worth it. But once I saw the rest of the girls making their way up, freaking out, and making James spot them as the scaled the small wall I decided I would do it too. Because there is a slim to none chance that I would ever get the opportunity again. Without guidance from anyone because they were either up on the wall already or they were taking pictures I made my way up the wall. And it was SO worth it. It was still pretty windy when we got up there so we didn´t stand much, but the second it slowed a bit we were all over that wall. After we climbed down with a bit of verbal guidance from the ones already on the ground we headed back down the hill.
The guys took us to get gelato at what they said was the best place in town and then to see the Cathedral and the market surrounding it. All of which was amazing as well. I bought 2 pairs of earrings from one of the vendors, but happened to leave them at James´ place so he´ll have to bring them next time he´s in Madrid. At this point we decided to reconvene later on for tapas and to head out to a really cool club that we had to be ridiculously dressed up to get in to and we couldn´t let on that we were americans. So I was nervous because I don´t do clubs. I certainly don´t have the proper attire to go out to them either. But luckily I pulled something together and borrowed a pair of heels from Darlene for the night. We were all starving by the time we made it to the tapas bar and literally inhaled the food the second the boys would put the plate down in front of us. I think most of us were more interested in getting food as opposed to drinks. Haha. We headed back to James´place to pick up the rest of the crew and pre-drink a bit before heading to the club. By this point my feet were already killing me and I was not in the mood for a night full of painful feet.
We headed out to the club, Mai West, I believe is the name and I walked over with one of the guys named Ben, he´s from Chico and knows my friend Torrie that has lived there since we were in 8th grade. So it was cool. To prepare ourselves we kept our convos to spanish only and we were planning on going in in small groups so they couldn´t really deny us entrance. But somehow while me and Ben were in line a group ahead of us had been denied so we walked over to another club. Knowing that this club was a walk in the complete opposite direction I took the heels off and went barefoot until I got to the line. Haha... This club was so much fun! I think almost all of the Granada group made it there and we all danced and drank (I was stoked on getting 2 free drinks with the price of admission & didn´t spen any money at the bar). A few of us headed back to James´place a tiny bit earlier than the rest, but once they all came in with kebabs again I was determined to have one too. Me and Sara were going to be the ones to stay at Ferny´s that night and since Kebab King was on the way, I took one for the road. Haha.. I don´t think I said a single word the whole walk there.
Sunday:
Sara, Fern, and I woke up around 2 when the other girls called to see if we were headed back yet because they had just woken up and were getting ready. We had planned on eating and going to see the Alhambra. Sara and I went to James´place and I took a quick cold shower without washing my hair because I still felt gross from the night before. I still felt gross because I hadn´t washed my hair, but it was manageable. We stopped at a tapas bar for a meal before we began climbing the staircase that would lead to the Alhambra. While we were sitting there, we not only saw one man dressed in a Spiderman suit, but 2! Haha... And they both went in to the mexican restaurant nearby. We think the younger one lost because he came out first. Haha...
After nearly dying on the walk uphill again we walked through an aquatic display near the Alhambra. It had posters filled with pictures and facts about the worlds water supply and usage. Some of it was rather heartbreaking and others were just plain interesting or cute. Like the picture of an elephante swimming. We found out that the Alhambra couldn´t sell any more tickets for the day and went out towards the terrace where access without tickets was still allowed. Then we went back to James´place to rest and watch Weeds and Entourage on his laptop.
Around 7 we decided to get ready to go to a Flamenco show/dinner. Only James and Fern joined us this time. Gabi, Ben, and Aaron chose to stay in for a bit instead. They missed out. The show was absolutely breathtaking. We believe the guitarist and the dancer were a couple by the way they would stare in to each others eyes and she had so much expression while she danced. It almost made my eyes water. And the dinner was delicious. Most of us opted for pizza since it was the cheapest thing on the menu and and we all shared jarras of sangria. Dar, Fern, Sara, and I grabbed some ice cream and watched one of the coolest street performances ever. Monday was a holiday so all the performers were in renaissance attire and there were bagpipes, flames, drums, clarinettes, and a unicylce involved. haha... so sweet! And I almost forgot to mention that earlier that afternoon while watching tv a firework went off right next to James´ place and scared the crap out of us! Especially Jacque, me, and Sara... Me and Jacque ran for the bedroom and Sara hit the floor. Haha... it was too funny. I think I had a mini heart attack. Haha
We decided to take it easy Sunday night since we planned on going to the Alhambra at 7:30 so we were sure we´d get tickets and enough time to see the place. So we went to the pub across the street and watched american football (Woo! the 49ers lost!) of course the SF boys were all pretty upset about that. All the girls except for me and Dar went home at around 11 or 12, but I had planned on crashing at Fern´s house again so I could have a warm shower so I stayed out for while too. After noticing Darlene across the street with a kebab I got one too and headed back to James´place to eat and watch tv with the girls. I didn´t end up getting back until about 2 and James came pretty much at the same time. There were already 3 girls on the floor and one on the couch, so I was going to see if I could join Dar and Jacque at Gabi´s, but Dar didn´t feel like waiting for the show to end so I found a comfy spot and watched tv til I fell asleep.
Monday:
Sara´s alarm clock went off at 7. Then her phone rang at 7:30 and it was Jacque asking if we were up and getting ready yet to head to the Alhambra. After hanging up Sara asks us if any of us are ready to get up, I don´t remember who, but they responded with "no, its still dark outside. We can´t get up." And it was settled. Haha... All 6 of us stayed sleeping. Then about an hour later the doorbell rings and I had to get up and answer it. Looking like crap and without shoes, Dar, Gabi, and Jacque weren´t very suprised to see that we were all still sleeping. That changed almost immediately and none of us showered, we just got up, put clothes on, brushed our teeth, did our hair and make up and we were off. We stopped and got Napolitanas de chocolate y crossaints on the way and headed up the hill again.
The Alhambra was beautiful. I took soooo many pictures. If I can figure it out I´ll try and make a blog just with the pictures from the Alhambra. Most of us weren´t able to enter the main building of the Alhambra until 12:30, so we just roamed the rest of it and took lots of pictures. Around 12:30 though we started heading back to James´ place to pack and grab one last döner kebab for the road and we left. I ended up leaving the two pairs of earrings that I had bought behind and Ellie left her Klean Kantine which she takes everywhere. We ended up back in Madrid at about 6:50 and I was at home and showering by 7:30. It was very necessary. Haha.
This was a life changing trip I´d have to say. I would really love to go back again before I leave Spain. And if the day were to ever come and it were possible for me to fly my entire family over here... I´d get married in the Alhambra or one of the churches I saw in Granada. It was that beautiful. Wow.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
More stuff to say
So, I was having 1€ tapas and jarras de cerveza last night with a few friends, one of which is from El Salvador and had his one year anniversary of living in Madrid yesterday as well. Anyways, he asked a question that kinda suprised me. Its something I´d never heard of as being an issue, or non-issue... depends on how you look at it. But he asked if in the U.S. we are taught that being from the United States and being American are interchangeable? Which is true. We, people from the U.S. are Americans. No question about it right? But what about him? Is he not an American as well? He is from the americas, just the one further south. It was a first time hearing that for me and I was pretty suprised by it. I was just wondering if anyone else I know has ever considered the same topic.
Anyways, life is going well for now. I am actually able to afford a three day trip to Granada where hopefully we will have a free place to stay with the other kids from the IP program. Me and 6 other girls are leaving tomorrow at 18:30 and come back Monday about the same time. I guess we´ll be missing a parade and a festival, but it doesn´t seem to be too big of a deal, so I´m okay with missing it. and next weekend one of my best friends, Sarah Chase, is coming to visit!! Super stoked on that! Its weird that I have people nearby to visit and to have visit me. Who would have really thought this would happen in Europe? I mean, I can barely get people to visit me when I live in Long Beach, which is an amazing city itself as well.
Anyways, life is going well for now. I am actually able to afford a three day trip to Granada where hopefully we will have a free place to stay with the other kids from the IP program. Me and 6 other girls are leaving tomorrow at 18:30 and come back Monday about the same time. I guess we´ll be missing a parade and a festival, but it doesn´t seem to be too big of a deal, so I´m okay with missing it. and next weekend one of my best friends, Sarah Chase, is coming to visit!! Super stoked on that! Its weird that I have people nearby to visit and to have visit me. Who would have really thought this would happen in Europe? I mean, I can barely get people to visit me when I live in Long Beach, which is an amazing city itself as well.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Still catching up on the blogging... kinda long again.
Hi again. So I have some time to kill for a bit so I figured I would write a little bit more about whats happening in my life here in Madrid. I don´t really know where to start, so don´t be too suprised if its really scattered in thought. Try and keep up and I apologize ahead of time.
So for the first month of being here we had to take intense language, history, and culture classes. Those just finished last Thursday. And they were intense. I loved them though... for the most part that is. The grammar and composition class we had was really really helpful for me, especially since I didn´t do well with using spanish regularly once last semester ended. And the history and culture class were pretty awesome too. I learned a lot in both of them. I honestly came to Spain knowing very little about the country and the people. I knew a bit about their political interests and their economic crisis, but thats it. I now know about their political system, their recent political history (post-Franco), and their population issues. I never knew for the last 15 years or so there has been a massive immigration from Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. In culture the most interesting fact I can say I learned was that the number one cause of death in women is due to spousal abuse. Isn´t that insane! That lecture was really intense. Almost unbelievable. And of course they explained the gastronomy of the culture and how its based on olive oil, fish, ham, and wine.
If you don´t know me well enough to know, I am a very picky eater usually. If it doesn´t look good I don´t touch it. Or if I don´t know exactly what it is. However, that has totally gone out the window since my arrival here. For one reason, during our first two weeks in the dorms we had no choice in what we ate or when for that matter. If you didn´t like it you either went without eating or you paid for it elsewhere. I kind of liked the food situation there though because it forced me to try new things every day. I eat fish now... big shocker to some of you. Just earlier this week I went to a restaurant that has foods from Galicia, which is in the north of Spain. They´re main diet consists of fish of course. I willingly ate calamari, not the kind I´m used to though.. these rings were huge and very fishy.
My favorite foods so far have been tortilla española, mixtos con huevos, napolitanas de chocolate, and cheese. Haha... tortilla española is basically eggs and potatoes with greens and such mixed in. I don´t know how its cooked, but it is delicious cold and hot... I prefer hot though. Mixtos are grilled bread with ham and cheese, and con huevos is with eggs too. I tend to make these at home now. Napolitanas are great! They make them with ham and cheese too, but I had a bad experience with one once and just don´t want to give it another chance. Haha... I prefer the ones with chocolate cream and chocolate sprinkles on them, but they make them with like a custard in them too. They´re crossaint-like too. And cheese is everywhere. When you go to the tapas bars. You buy a drink and they give you a small serving of a normal food. I.E. I order a beer and they give me a small bite-sized piece of bread with jámon serrano (cured ham), queso, tortilla española, or some other sort of topping, like a tomatoe paste. So you kill two birds with one stone by going to a tapas bar and drinking and getting dinner in too. I really like that law here. It goes way back... If you want I can give you the history of the tapas too. Haha... There are a few tapas bars that I really like and when people come to visit I will surely be taking them there. One of them is in the downtown area and is run by three brothers. They´re very nice and friendly, and they give you a LOT of tapas with your drinks. So it makes up for a jarra being 7€. I think I come out of that one more full than tipsy.
We had a week break between last Thursday and yesterday, which was our first day of our fall semester. I stayed in Madrid and did some traveling. I already mentioned how I went to the Reina Sofia and saw many of Pablo Picasso´s paintings, drawings, sketchings and all. It was sooo amazing. I just have to mention it again. During the break I also roamed town a bit on my own. I chose to go pack to El Parque Del Buen Retiro and took a few pictures of statues and the lake there. I sat and enjoyed the weather for a while on a hill next to the lake and read a book in spanish and listened to music on my ipod. Haha, but the first time I went to Retiro was on a Sunday and it was amazing! I love drum and bass music and hadn´t yet enjoyed a drum circle back in the states. But every Sunday at Retiro near the giant staircase into the water there are several small drum circles and its amazing. So many people are in the park on Sundays, walking, playing the drums, laying out in the sun, having botellones (which is when the youth meet in public places and drink calimochos or cervezas... usually a preparty, but can occur at any time of day.). The police are in constant patrol there. Its so amazing though. I´m hoping to make it the huge market they have on Sundays called the Rastro. The last two Sundays its been rainy, just recently rained, or looks like it will rain, so I haven´t gone yet.
Like I said, we just started our first semester of courses yesterday. And as of now I´ve only had two classes. La Mujer en Literatura Hispañola. I´m enjoying it so far, but then again we´ve only lectured on women in the Bible so far. And thats an interesting topic to me anyways. I´m really suprised at how well I´m understanding my professors so far. I need it to be relatively quiet though. Any small noise and I loose my train of thought and get lost in what the instructor is saying. The other class I have is Relacciones Internacionales. Which is what my major is pretty much and I´ve taken a course very similar back at LB. The issues Spain and the U.S. have are very similar in the highest levels. So I´m grasping the concept pretty well so far. Eventhough the instructor is really hard to understand. Those are just my Thursday/Friday classes though. On Monday/Tuesday I´m taking an advanced grammar class, a class on the geography of Spain, and a class on the economy of Spain. The hardest class for me will probably be grammar. I´m positive about it. Haha.
Oh! I almost forgot to talk about the music here in Spain. Music is one of the things in life I can´t live without, so go figure when we had to do a presentation on an aspect of spanish culture for class I chose music. Basically they listen to a lot of american music and foreign made music. When you listen to Los Primeros 40 FM station more than half the songs aren´t in spanish, and a good 80% of those songs are in english. Crazy right. They´re much more international here when it comes to music. Me and my friends also had the chance to go to a huge music festival held here on the university campus by the Metro company. Its called Metro Rock. And it was AWESOME!!! Haha... It was two Saturdays ago and we had been seeing the signs all over since we got here. But I was the only one that had mentioned really really wanting to go, but I wasn´t about to go by myself. So when the girls called Saturday morning to say they wanted to go, I jumped up and headed over. It was so great. It would take me forever to describe it all. I have a bunch of pictures and videos up from it. There were soooo many people there! It was insane. Me and the girls got there really early, shortly after it opened. We bought tickets from scalpers because they were 10€ cheaper than buying them at the window. There were two stages. One for bands and rock music I guess you could say, and the second was mostly electronica. And both were absolutely fabulous. We listened to a couple groups that I really really liked. One is the group called Elbicho, they´re a spanish group and in their performance they remind me of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The other artist I was totally into was Melendi. But I had alreaday known I liked him. Haha. He´s hot. Haha. There was a reggae-like band called El Tio Calambres that I liked too. I haven´t had the chance to give them any more of a listen though. The electronica stage was off the hook when the DJ started. His name was Alexander Kowalski... he was amazing. I didn´t stop moving until Emma needed to sit or else she would faint. There was a drum circle that acted as a filler between acts on the main stage. They were soooo awesome as well! Our first trip to give them a listen was fairly early in the day and we didn´t dance much, but after we saw Elbicho we got down with the drum circle... Haha! It was sooo fun!!! The last DJ didn´t go on until 2:30 AM! I would have totally been down to stay the entire time if I had someone else to stay with me and a safe way to get home. My place is kind of the main tracks, so I wasn´t sure if the nocturnal buses would have gone my way and I didn´t want to test it and have to pay a lot of money for a taxi back, especially if I ended up waking up my roomates. Gosh, after that show all of our feet were nasty black and brown from the dirt at the electronica stage. Haha... such a great time though! My favorite adventure here so far.
For a while I was planning on moving out of my apartment and finding a new place, closer to my friends and the downtown are, and cheaper too if I could find it. But I wasn´t having much success and was able to get more comfortable at my current place, so I chose to stay. I live with 2 other women. One is probably in her late 20s or early 30s, she´s from Africa, but used to live in the NY. She speaks english perfectly fine. She has a 6-yearold girl that lives with us, and right now her mom is visiting. The other girl is probably in her early 30s too and is from Venezuela. She only speaks spanish, so I get some practice in, but she was just on vacation for 2 weeks and got back on Wednesday I believe. So we haven´t had much talking time. I live in a barrio called Tetuan. It has a lot of immigrants. No very many Spaniards. But its cool. I´m okay with it.
I really don´t know what else to say, so I´m just going to leave it here. Have a great day everyone!
So for the first month of being here we had to take intense language, history, and culture classes. Those just finished last Thursday. And they were intense. I loved them though... for the most part that is. The grammar and composition class we had was really really helpful for me, especially since I didn´t do well with using spanish regularly once last semester ended. And the history and culture class were pretty awesome too. I learned a lot in both of them. I honestly came to Spain knowing very little about the country and the people. I knew a bit about their political interests and their economic crisis, but thats it. I now know about their political system, their recent political history (post-Franco), and their population issues. I never knew for the last 15 years or so there has been a massive immigration from Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. In culture the most interesting fact I can say I learned was that the number one cause of death in women is due to spousal abuse. Isn´t that insane! That lecture was really intense. Almost unbelievable. And of course they explained the gastronomy of the culture and how its based on olive oil, fish, ham, and wine.
If you don´t know me well enough to know, I am a very picky eater usually. If it doesn´t look good I don´t touch it. Or if I don´t know exactly what it is. However, that has totally gone out the window since my arrival here. For one reason, during our first two weeks in the dorms we had no choice in what we ate or when for that matter. If you didn´t like it you either went without eating or you paid for it elsewhere. I kind of liked the food situation there though because it forced me to try new things every day. I eat fish now... big shocker to some of you. Just earlier this week I went to a restaurant that has foods from Galicia, which is in the north of Spain. They´re main diet consists of fish of course. I willingly ate calamari, not the kind I´m used to though.. these rings were huge and very fishy.
My favorite foods so far have been tortilla española, mixtos con huevos, napolitanas de chocolate, and cheese. Haha... tortilla española is basically eggs and potatoes with greens and such mixed in. I don´t know how its cooked, but it is delicious cold and hot... I prefer hot though. Mixtos are grilled bread with ham and cheese, and con huevos is with eggs too. I tend to make these at home now. Napolitanas are great! They make them with ham and cheese too, but I had a bad experience with one once and just don´t want to give it another chance. Haha... I prefer the ones with chocolate cream and chocolate sprinkles on them, but they make them with like a custard in them too. They´re crossaint-like too. And cheese is everywhere. When you go to the tapas bars. You buy a drink and they give you a small serving of a normal food. I.E. I order a beer and they give me a small bite-sized piece of bread with jámon serrano (cured ham), queso, tortilla española, or some other sort of topping, like a tomatoe paste. So you kill two birds with one stone by going to a tapas bar and drinking and getting dinner in too. I really like that law here. It goes way back... If you want I can give you the history of the tapas too. Haha... There are a few tapas bars that I really like and when people come to visit I will surely be taking them there. One of them is in the downtown area and is run by three brothers. They´re very nice and friendly, and they give you a LOT of tapas with your drinks. So it makes up for a jarra being 7€. I think I come out of that one more full than tipsy.
We had a week break between last Thursday and yesterday, which was our first day of our fall semester. I stayed in Madrid and did some traveling. I already mentioned how I went to the Reina Sofia and saw many of Pablo Picasso´s paintings, drawings, sketchings and all. It was sooo amazing. I just have to mention it again. During the break I also roamed town a bit on my own. I chose to go pack to El Parque Del Buen Retiro and took a few pictures of statues and the lake there. I sat and enjoyed the weather for a while on a hill next to the lake and read a book in spanish and listened to music on my ipod. Haha, but the first time I went to Retiro was on a Sunday and it was amazing! I love drum and bass music and hadn´t yet enjoyed a drum circle back in the states. But every Sunday at Retiro near the giant staircase into the water there are several small drum circles and its amazing. So many people are in the park on Sundays, walking, playing the drums, laying out in the sun, having botellones (which is when the youth meet in public places and drink calimochos or cervezas... usually a preparty, but can occur at any time of day.). The police are in constant patrol there. Its so amazing though. I´m hoping to make it the huge market they have on Sundays called the Rastro. The last two Sundays its been rainy, just recently rained, or looks like it will rain, so I haven´t gone yet.
Like I said, we just started our first semester of courses yesterday. And as of now I´ve only had two classes. La Mujer en Literatura Hispañola. I´m enjoying it so far, but then again we´ve only lectured on women in the Bible so far. And thats an interesting topic to me anyways. I´m really suprised at how well I´m understanding my professors so far. I need it to be relatively quiet though. Any small noise and I loose my train of thought and get lost in what the instructor is saying. The other class I have is Relacciones Internacionales. Which is what my major is pretty much and I´ve taken a course very similar back at LB. The issues Spain and the U.S. have are very similar in the highest levels. So I´m grasping the concept pretty well so far. Eventhough the instructor is really hard to understand. Those are just my Thursday/Friday classes though. On Monday/Tuesday I´m taking an advanced grammar class, a class on the geography of Spain, and a class on the economy of Spain. The hardest class for me will probably be grammar. I´m positive about it. Haha.
Oh! I almost forgot to talk about the music here in Spain. Music is one of the things in life I can´t live without, so go figure when we had to do a presentation on an aspect of spanish culture for class I chose music. Basically they listen to a lot of american music and foreign made music. When you listen to Los Primeros 40 FM station more than half the songs aren´t in spanish, and a good 80% of those songs are in english. Crazy right. They´re much more international here when it comes to music. Me and my friends also had the chance to go to a huge music festival held here on the university campus by the Metro company. Its called Metro Rock. And it was AWESOME!!! Haha... It was two Saturdays ago and we had been seeing the signs all over since we got here. But I was the only one that had mentioned really really wanting to go, but I wasn´t about to go by myself. So when the girls called Saturday morning to say they wanted to go, I jumped up and headed over. It was so great. It would take me forever to describe it all. I have a bunch of pictures and videos up from it. There were soooo many people there! It was insane. Me and the girls got there really early, shortly after it opened. We bought tickets from scalpers because they were 10€ cheaper than buying them at the window. There were two stages. One for bands and rock music I guess you could say, and the second was mostly electronica. And both were absolutely fabulous. We listened to a couple groups that I really really liked. One is the group called Elbicho, they´re a spanish group and in their performance they remind me of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The other artist I was totally into was Melendi. But I had alreaday known I liked him. Haha. He´s hot. Haha. There was a reggae-like band called El Tio Calambres that I liked too. I haven´t had the chance to give them any more of a listen though. The electronica stage was off the hook when the DJ started. His name was Alexander Kowalski... he was amazing. I didn´t stop moving until Emma needed to sit or else she would faint. There was a drum circle that acted as a filler between acts on the main stage. They were soooo awesome as well! Our first trip to give them a listen was fairly early in the day and we didn´t dance much, but after we saw Elbicho we got down with the drum circle... Haha! It was sooo fun!!! The last DJ didn´t go on until 2:30 AM! I would have totally been down to stay the entire time if I had someone else to stay with me and a safe way to get home. My place is kind of the main tracks, so I wasn´t sure if the nocturnal buses would have gone my way and I didn´t want to test it and have to pay a lot of money for a taxi back, especially if I ended up waking up my roomates. Gosh, after that show all of our feet were nasty black and brown from the dirt at the electronica stage. Haha... such a great time though! My favorite adventure here so far.
For a while I was planning on moving out of my apartment and finding a new place, closer to my friends and the downtown are, and cheaper too if I could find it. But I wasn´t having much success and was able to get more comfortable at my current place, so I chose to stay. I live with 2 other women. One is probably in her late 20s or early 30s, she´s from Africa, but used to live in the NY. She speaks english perfectly fine. She has a 6-yearold girl that lives with us, and right now her mom is visiting. The other girl is probably in her early 30s too and is from Venezuela. She only speaks spanish, so I get some practice in, but she was just on vacation for 2 weeks and got back on Wednesday I believe. So we haven´t had much talking time. I live in a barrio called Tetuan. It has a lot of immigrants. No very many Spaniards. But its cool. I´m okay with it.
I really don´t know what else to say, so I´m just going to leave it here. Have a great day everyone!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Finally in Madrid!
Hello,
So I finally made it here to Madrid, Spain. It is AMAZING!!!! I must say! It's been a month so far since we've arrived. If you feel like continuing on to read this feel free. Just know it will be very long. I have a month of stories to catch up on telling. And if you know me, you know how long it takes for me to tell a story. haha! Lo siento.
The flight here wasn't all that bad. I sat next to a spanish-fluent girl that was going to study in Madrid, a girl that knew less spanish than me, but she was going to Madrid, and an older girl that just recently graduated college and was going to work in Paris after having studied there for a semester. She was super excited we were all going to be in Madrid for a year. Anyways, before the flight I met a girl named Emma Kerss who happens to attend CSULB too. And now there are four of us. Me, Emma, Ellie Kiesel (from Chico/CSU Chico), and Darlene Powell (from Palm Springs/SDSU). We have two "brother" -like characters. Dylan Christopher (Berkley/SFSU) and Phl Garza (SLO/SFSU). They are entertaining boys I must say. Hah!
For our first two weeks here we stayed in the International House... a dorm for international students of the Universitaria Compultence de Madrid. We made pretty good friends with a boy name Kais, that has been in Spain for a while, but was actually born in Africa. He showed us around the few bars near us. Introduced us to a drink called "Calimocho," which is red wine (vino tinto en espanol) and coca-cola. Very delicious. The drink of the youth though. Its not something one should order unless you've had it at the bar before, or there are lots of young people at the bar already. During those two weeks we had to find housing for ourselves and take a couple days of orientation courses to get us acquainted with the culture.
Those were our PLP courses. We were place in 3 different "levels" of spanish courses. Which they tried to convince us were based on our learning styles of spanish, but really are just because some of us suck at spanish (AKA me and about 10 other people... we don't suck. Its just really hard to communicatue with ease for us). and others have been speaking spanish their whole lives and dont' really need courses on it at all. Haha... and we all share the same Contemporary History course and Culture course. These classes just ended this past Wednesday and Thursday with our final tests. I'm pretty sure I aced my History test, but my spanish one worries me. For our spanish classes we each had to turn in a research paper varying in length depending on what class you were in. For my class it was only 1000-1200 words on any subject dealing with Spain and its culture. I chose a comparison of the youth from Spain and the youth from the U.S. I ended my paper with a little over 1350 words. I was pretty proud. I just hope it was grammatically correct. Some people have complained that they would give us such difficult of a paper during our first month long course here in Spain. Personally I'm glad. Its definately preparing us best for our tests in January and the term papers that will most likely be due at the end of the semester too. So I'm content with it. I signed up for my courses too.
Monday & Tuesday I'm taking Spanish Grammar, Geography of Spain, and an economic analalsys course. And on Thursday and Friday I'm taking a class on women in Spanish Literature and an International Political Science class. I'm pretty stoked! You know how I get when it comes to the first days of school/class.... I'm a nerd at heart. I just need to stay focused and I'll be fine.
Anyways. Back to more interesting things. Going out to the local college bars near the dorms basically meant harassment by creepy drunk Spanish students. They are very aggressive here. You have to be very blunt about not wanting them to talk/touch/follow you home here. We all stayed together though, so there weren't ever any problems. I felt bad for Dylan, he usually was the last boy standing to keep guard over us American girls... since the stereotype here is that we're easy... and had to make sure no one got too friendly or frisky with any of us. Just in case we needed muscle strength, with didn't ever happen.
Our friend Kais once took us t a botellon. None of us knew what was going on really. We though we were just headed to another bar, but when we got to the park next to the bar where there was a ridiculously large group of students drinking out in the open we all got a little weirded out. The botellones are supposed to be illegal, but several cops drove by and didn't do anything about it. Its the begininning of the year, so there were a few "novatos" also considered freshmen with writing on their forheads performing acts that would usually get someone accepted in to a frat or sorrority. But here in Spain you go through these things for whichever department (facultad) you're in. I've talked to older people that said they went through the same things when they were younger too. Its really crazy.... And cool at the same time.
I ended up moving in to an apartment (piso) that is kind of far away from school, the downtown area (el centro), and Moncloa-Aruguelles (which is where most of the people I know live). So I'm not really digging it. The three girls I hang out with all live together, which is where I am writing this blog... I should be sleeping though. It is 5 AM. 8 PM your time. Anyways, I'm currently looking for another, cheaper, perhaps closer place to live before the end of the month since I had no money to travel and have a week here in Spain to spend finding a new place. Wish me luck!
Since I've been here I've also participated in "La Noche En Blanco." A city wide festival celebrating the end of summer... thousands and thousands of people are in the streets all night, the metros don't stop running, there are art instalations in some plazas and music in others and everyone is having botellones. We met a few really cool peopl that night too! it was awesome!!! Hopefully I'll be able to put up a bunch of pictures too.
I've also enjoyed a Sunday afternoon in the Parque del Buen Retiro. Which is super awesome too! Sunday afternoons are when the drum circles show up, so its pretty awesome to just sit, people watch and listen. It just so happens that the guys we were with that day drummed a tiny tiny bit in our little circle, bought beer for us from the asian people roaming the park, and supplied has cigarettes so we could relax a bit more. Lo siento for anyone that didn't know that about me. And P.S. on the cigarette part, I've slightly picked up the one habit I've always disliked the most. I'm not a regular smoker, but if its around, which is pretty much everywhere I tend to grab a smoke.
And today. Today I went to the Reina Sofia Museum... for free after 2:30 PM. And it was sooooooo beautiful!! I got to see several of Pablo Picasso's paintings, sketches, drawings. But the most amazing part about it was I was face to face with "Guernica." His most famous painting. I do believe it was a mural he was assigned by the Spanish government, but I could be wrong. It has been a couple years since my art class and my memories blur together. It was such a... "Holy shit Leah. You're in Madrid." moment. I was in awe. I found several other artists interesting as well as a different favorite painting. I've really only had two moments like that. The other was a random day in my history class when I really did understand everything our teacher was talking about.
So I'm still 9+ months away from returning home. Wish me luck and I will try and keep you more updated from here on out. Hopefully they won't be as long either. I love you all and miss you as well. Hasta luego!
So I finally made it here to Madrid, Spain. It is AMAZING!!!! I must say! It's been a month so far since we've arrived. If you feel like continuing on to read this feel free. Just know it will be very long. I have a month of stories to catch up on telling. And if you know me, you know how long it takes for me to tell a story. haha! Lo siento.
The flight here wasn't all that bad. I sat next to a spanish-fluent girl that was going to study in Madrid, a girl that knew less spanish than me, but she was going to Madrid, and an older girl that just recently graduated college and was going to work in Paris after having studied there for a semester. She was super excited we were all going to be in Madrid for a year. Anyways, before the flight I met a girl named Emma Kerss who happens to attend CSULB too. And now there are four of us. Me, Emma, Ellie Kiesel (from Chico/CSU Chico), and Darlene Powell (from Palm Springs/SDSU). We have two "brother" -like characters. Dylan Christopher (Berkley/SFSU) and Phl Garza (SLO/SFSU). They are entertaining boys I must say. Hah!
For our first two weeks here we stayed in the International House... a dorm for international students of the Universitaria Compultence de Madrid. We made pretty good friends with a boy name Kais, that has been in Spain for a while, but was actually born in Africa. He showed us around the few bars near us. Introduced us to a drink called "Calimocho," which is red wine (vino tinto en espanol) and coca-cola. Very delicious. The drink of the youth though. Its not something one should order unless you've had it at the bar before, or there are lots of young people at the bar already. During those two weeks we had to find housing for ourselves and take a couple days of orientation courses to get us acquainted with the culture.
Those were our PLP courses. We were place in 3 different "levels" of spanish courses. Which they tried to convince us were based on our learning styles of spanish, but really are just because some of us suck at spanish (AKA me and about 10 other people... we don't suck. Its just really hard to communicatue with ease for us). and others have been speaking spanish their whole lives and dont' really need courses on it at all. Haha... and we all share the same Contemporary History course and Culture course. These classes just ended this past Wednesday and Thursday with our final tests. I'm pretty sure I aced my History test, but my spanish one worries me. For our spanish classes we each had to turn in a research paper varying in length depending on what class you were in. For my class it was only 1000-1200 words on any subject dealing with Spain and its culture. I chose a comparison of the youth from Spain and the youth from the U.S. I ended my paper with a little over 1350 words. I was pretty proud. I just hope it was grammatically correct. Some people have complained that they would give us such difficult of a paper during our first month long course here in Spain. Personally I'm glad. Its definately preparing us best for our tests in January and the term papers that will most likely be due at the end of the semester too. So I'm content with it. I signed up for my courses too.
Monday & Tuesday I'm taking Spanish Grammar, Geography of Spain, and an economic analalsys course. And on Thursday and Friday I'm taking a class on women in Spanish Literature and an International Political Science class. I'm pretty stoked! You know how I get when it comes to the first days of school/class.... I'm a nerd at heart. I just need to stay focused and I'll be fine.
Anyways. Back to more interesting things. Going out to the local college bars near the dorms basically meant harassment by creepy drunk Spanish students. They are very aggressive here. You have to be very blunt about not wanting them to talk/touch/follow you home here. We all stayed together though, so there weren't ever any problems. I felt bad for Dylan, he usually was the last boy standing to keep guard over us American girls... since the stereotype here is that we're easy... and had to make sure no one got too friendly or frisky with any of us. Just in case we needed muscle strength, with didn't ever happen.
Our friend Kais once took us t a botellon. None of us knew what was going on really. We though we were just headed to another bar, but when we got to the park next to the bar where there was a ridiculously large group of students drinking out in the open we all got a little weirded out. The botellones are supposed to be illegal, but several cops drove by and didn't do anything about it. Its the begininning of the year, so there were a few "novatos" also considered freshmen with writing on their forheads performing acts that would usually get someone accepted in to a frat or sorrority. But here in Spain you go through these things for whichever department (facultad) you're in. I've talked to older people that said they went through the same things when they were younger too. Its really crazy.... And cool at the same time.
I ended up moving in to an apartment (piso) that is kind of far away from school, the downtown area (el centro), and Moncloa-Aruguelles (which is where most of the people I know live). So I'm not really digging it. The three girls I hang out with all live together, which is where I am writing this blog... I should be sleeping though. It is 5 AM. 8 PM your time. Anyways, I'm currently looking for another, cheaper, perhaps closer place to live before the end of the month since I had no money to travel and have a week here in Spain to spend finding a new place. Wish me luck!
Since I've been here I've also participated in "La Noche En Blanco." A city wide festival celebrating the end of summer... thousands and thousands of people are in the streets all night, the metros don't stop running, there are art instalations in some plazas and music in others and everyone is having botellones. We met a few really cool peopl that night too! it was awesome!!! Hopefully I'll be able to put up a bunch of pictures too.
I've also enjoyed a Sunday afternoon in the Parque del Buen Retiro. Which is super awesome too! Sunday afternoons are when the drum circles show up, so its pretty awesome to just sit, people watch and listen. It just so happens that the guys we were with that day drummed a tiny tiny bit in our little circle, bought beer for us from the asian people roaming the park, and supplied has cigarettes so we could relax a bit more. Lo siento for anyone that didn't know that about me. And P.S. on the cigarette part, I've slightly picked up the one habit I've always disliked the most. I'm not a regular smoker, but if its around, which is pretty much everywhere I tend to grab a smoke.
And today. Today I went to the Reina Sofia Museum... for free after 2:30 PM. And it was sooooooo beautiful!! I got to see several of Pablo Picasso's paintings, sketches, drawings. But the most amazing part about it was I was face to face with "Guernica." His most famous painting. I do believe it was a mural he was assigned by the Spanish government, but I could be wrong. It has been a couple years since my art class and my memories blur together. It was such a... "Holy shit Leah. You're in Madrid." moment. I was in awe. I found several other artists interesting as well as a different favorite painting. I've really only had two moments like that. The other was a random day in my history class when I really did understand everything our teacher was talking about.
So I'm still 9+ months away from returning home. Wish me luck and I will try and keep you more updated from here on out. Hopefully they won't be as long either. I love you all and miss you as well. Hasta luego!
Friday, May 9, 2008
From the Economist Magazine
Spanish economy
In a slump
Apr 17th 2008 MADRIDFrom The Economist print edition
The Spanish prime minister has recently won re-election, but his economic problems are just starting
AP
THE higher they climb, the harder they fall. Spain, one of Europe's economic star performers for more than a decade, is tumbling from its pedestal just as José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister, begins his second term.
Mr Zapatero has burnished his credentials as a social reformer, with a fresh cabinet dominated by women, including the new defence minister, Carme Chancón. But the need for economic reforms is becoming ever more urgent.
The global credit crunch has come with an extra twist in Spain, where it coincides with the bursting of the housing bubble. An expected soft landing has suddenly become hard and painful. Underlying (and untended) economic weaknesses that were hidden by the construction boom are being painfully exposed, among them low productivity growth.
Things have become considerably worse since the March 9th elections. The IMF estimates that last year's growth of 3.8% will fall to 1.8% this year, and get worse in 2009. These would be the slowest growth levels in Spain since 1993.
House prices are predicted to fall by up to 15% over three years. Negative equity threatens some home-owners. But as a member of the euro zone, Spain has no control over interest rates or the value of the currency. Builders are struggling to find buyers for homes and, worse, cannot borrow to get through hard times. Some have already gone bankrupt. The construction sector—which accounts for 60% of all bank loans—is set to shed some 400,000 jobs over the next two years.
The most worrying factor, however, is the disappearing budget surplus. Before the elections, Mr Zapatero boasted that he had ample funds to respond to the downturn. Last year's surplus was a healthy 2.2% of GDP, or €23 billion ($36 billion). “The comfortable state of public finances provides margin for manoeuvre,” says the veteran finance minister, Pedro Solbes. A report from the BBVA bank, however, suggests the surplus will turn to deficit next year. Receipts from value-added tax have already dropped in the first two months of 2008.
Nevertheless, at the first cabinet meeting of the new government due to be held on April 18th, ministers were expected to approve a fiscal stimulus worth €10 billion ($16 billion), including a €400 annual rebate to every taxpayer (worth €6 billion) and several other measures, such as infrastructure and public-housing contracts.
Fiscal expansion may not be enough, however. A strengthening euro will hinder export-led growth. Productivity and competitiveness remain Spain's greatest challenges. These need reforms to the labour market, the education system and Spain's research and development infrastructure that may take years to produce results.
Mr Zapatero is lucky, for the moment at least. The opposition People's Party is immersed in internal squabbling, and is waiting to see whether its leader, Mariano Rajoy, who has lost two consecutive elections, will face a challenge from Madrid's ambitious regional premier, Esperanza Aguirre, at its convention in June.
The prime minister is fortunate, too, in that he went to the polls before the worst of the economic news emerged. His minority government is just seven seats short of a parliamentary majority, although it should get support from Catalan or Basque regional parties.
Mr Zapatero claims the downturn is temporary and promises that Spain will soon return to high growth. That will be a taller order than he may imagine.
In a slump
Apr 17th 2008 MADRIDFrom The Economist print edition
The Spanish prime minister has recently won re-election, but his economic problems are just starting
AP
THE higher they climb, the harder they fall. Spain, one of Europe's economic star performers for more than a decade, is tumbling from its pedestal just as José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister, begins his second term.
Mr Zapatero has burnished his credentials as a social reformer, with a fresh cabinet dominated by women, including the new defence minister, Carme Chancón. But the need for economic reforms is becoming ever more urgent.
The global credit crunch has come with an extra twist in Spain, where it coincides with the bursting of the housing bubble. An expected soft landing has suddenly become hard and painful. Underlying (and untended) economic weaknesses that were hidden by the construction boom are being painfully exposed, among them low productivity growth.
Things have become considerably worse since the March 9th elections. The IMF estimates that last year's growth of 3.8% will fall to 1.8% this year, and get worse in 2009. These would be the slowest growth levels in Spain since 1993.
House prices are predicted to fall by up to 15% over three years. Negative equity threatens some home-owners. But as a member of the euro zone, Spain has no control over interest rates or the value of the currency. Builders are struggling to find buyers for homes and, worse, cannot borrow to get through hard times. Some have already gone bankrupt. The construction sector—which accounts for 60% of all bank loans—is set to shed some 400,000 jobs over the next two years.
The most worrying factor, however, is the disappearing budget surplus. Before the elections, Mr Zapatero boasted that he had ample funds to respond to the downturn. Last year's surplus was a healthy 2.2% of GDP, or €23 billion ($36 billion). “The comfortable state of public finances provides margin for manoeuvre,” says the veteran finance minister, Pedro Solbes. A report from the BBVA bank, however, suggests the surplus will turn to deficit next year. Receipts from value-added tax have already dropped in the first two months of 2008.
Nevertheless, at the first cabinet meeting of the new government due to be held on April 18th, ministers were expected to approve a fiscal stimulus worth €10 billion ($16 billion), including a €400 annual rebate to every taxpayer (worth €6 billion) and several other measures, such as infrastructure and public-housing contracts.
Fiscal expansion may not be enough, however. A strengthening euro will hinder export-led growth. Productivity and competitiveness remain Spain's greatest challenges. These need reforms to the labour market, the education system and Spain's research and development infrastructure that may take years to produce results.
Mr Zapatero is lucky, for the moment at least. The opposition People's Party is immersed in internal squabbling, and is waiting to see whether its leader, Mariano Rajoy, who has lost two consecutive elections, will face a challenge from Madrid's ambitious regional premier, Esperanza Aguirre, at its convention in June.
The prime minister is fortunate, too, in that he went to the polls before the worst of the economic news emerged. His minority government is just seven seats short of a parliamentary majority, although it should get support from Catalan or Basque regional parties.
Mr Zapatero claims the downturn is temporary and promises that Spain will soon return to high growth. That will be a taller order than he may imagine.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Internet Browsing trouble in the government
Apr 24, 10:12 AM EDT
Spain bans sports Web surfing for Defense Ministry staff
By DANIEL WOOLLS Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa
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MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's Defense Ministry has ordered its staff to stop browsing sports and entertainment Web sites while on duty, an official said Thursday.
The newspaper El Mundo said the restrictions stem from recent incidents in which computer systems overloaded and nearly crashed.
A ministry official said the order distributed this week affects staff at the ministry building as well as the army, navy and air force headquarters. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with ministry rules.
The official said the order did not come directly from Carme Chacon, 37, who took over last week as Spain's first female defense minister
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Spain bans sports Web surfing for Defense Ministry staff
By DANIEL WOOLLS Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa
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MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's Defense Ministry has ordered its staff to stop browsing sports and entertainment Web sites while on duty, an official said Thursday.
The newspaper El Mundo said the restrictions stem from recent incidents in which computer systems overloaded and nearly crashed.
A ministry official said the order distributed this week affects staff at the ministry building as well as the army, navy and air force headquarters. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with ministry rules.
The official said the order did not come directly from Carme Chacon, 37, who took over last week as Spain's first female defense minister
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Sunflower Oil Recall
Apr 28, 4:36 AM EDT
Spain ends warning against sunflower oil
By CIARAN GILES Associated Press Writer
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MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's Health Ministry has ended a warning against using sunflower oil, saying a contaminated batch has been removed from outlets.
A ministry spokesman says none of the batch of tainted sunflower oil that came from the Ukraine will be on store shelves starting Monday.
Since Friday, the government has warned people against buying sunflower oil. The government had said that the shipment from the Ukraine had arrived at Rotterdam and that France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain had received deliveries.
The oil had been withdrawn in other countries before reaching retail outlets.
The ministry did not specify what effects the oil could have on consumers' health but insisted it was not toxic.
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Spain ends warning against sunflower oil
By CIARAN GILES Associated Press Writer
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MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's Health Ministry has ended a warning against using sunflower oil, saying a contaminated batch has been removed from outlets.
A ministry spokesman says none of the batch of tainted sunflower oil that came from the Ukraine will be on store shelves starting Monday.
Since Friday, the government has warned people against buying sunflower oil. The government had said that the shipment from the Ukraine had arrived at Rotterdam and that France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain had received deliveries.
The oil had been withdrawn in other countries before reaching retail outlets.
The ministry did not specify what effects the oil could have on consumers' health but insisted it was not toxic.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Spanish Grand Prix
Apr 27, 5:34 PM EDT
Raikkonen's win in Spanish GP hands Ferrari control in chase
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS AP Auto Racing Writer
AP Photo/Manu Fernandez
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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Kimi Raikkonen drove Ferrari to its third straight Formula One victory, winning the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to put the Italian team in control of the championship race.
The 28-year-old Finn won his 17th race by 3.228 seconds ahead of teammate Felipe Massa of Brazil. Raikkonen was second to Massa at Bahrain three weeks ago after winning the Malaysian GP last month.
Raikkonen led from start to finish for the sixth time to put him nine points ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton atop the drivers standings and lift Ferrari into the constructors lead after four races.
Ferrari's one-point effort at the season-opening Australian GP in Melbourne - its worst start in 16 years - is now a distant memory.
"It would be hard to do better than this," said Raikkonen, who matched former driver Mika Hakkinen of Finland with 51 career top-three finishes. "We are leading both championships, which I am happy about. The whole weekend went well."
Hamilton placed third, but the McLaren team was focused on a violent crash that sent Heikki Kovalainen to a hospital. A likely wheel rim failure caused the Finnish driver's front-left tire to explode and his car to fly into the side wall at 150 mph. It took at least 10 minutes for the track's medical team to remove Kovalainen from the wrecked car, which was missing half its front.
Kovalainen was shaken, but medical scans showed no injuries.
"(Heikki) is safe and well," McLaren team principal Ron Dennis said. "He has no broken bones and CT scans performed at the hospital confirm that he has no head injuries, and the team is optimistic that he will make a full recovery over the next few days."
Hamilton overcame a career-worst 13th-place finish at Bahrain to get back into the points. The Briton is convinced McLaren has the car to compete with Ferrari.
"For sure, you could say it was a surprise (to finish third) because they were very quick. They just have the slight edge for the moment," Hamilton said.
Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was nearly 6 seconds back in fourth and Mark Webber of Red Bull rounded out the top five. Jenson Button of Honda was sixth, followed by Kazuki Nakajima of Williams and Jarno Trulli of Toyota in the final positions to earn points.
Raikkonen, who also won here in 2005, leads the overall standings with 29 points. After Hamilton, Kubica is next with 19, one more than Massa.
Raikkonen topped both of Friday's practice sessions before taking his 15th career pole. That makes it eight straight winners here to have won from the pole.
"You know the chance to win is very small ... but I was pretty much sure that unless something happened, it would be very difficult to win the race," Massa said. "It's very important to bring home eight points and make another step forward in the championship that we know is quite long."
Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso of Renault, who started second, withdrew with engine problems after 34 laps.
"The motor broke, I think," said Alonso, who won his home race two years ago. "It's tough because we're here in Spain. But I think in the next race we can do a better performance."
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Raikkonen's win in Spanish GP hands Ferrari control in chase
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS AP Auto Racing Writer
AP Photo/Manu Fernandez
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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Kimi Raikkonen drove Ferrari to its third straight Formula One victory, winning the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to put the Italian team in control of the championship race.
The 28-year-old Finn won his 17th race by 3.228 seconds ahead of teammate Felipe Massa of Brazil. Raikkonen was second to Massa at Bahrain three weeks ago after winning the Malaysian GP last month.
Raikkonen led from start to finish for the sixth time to put him nine points ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton atop the drivers standings and lift Ferrari into the constructors lead after four races.
Ferrari's one-point effort at the season-opening Australian GP in Melbourne - its worst start in 16 years - is now a distant memory.
"It would be hard to do better than this," said Raikkonen, who matched former driver Mika Hakkinen of Finland with 51 career top-three finishes. "We are leading both championships, which I am happy about. The whole weekend went well."
Hamilton placed third, but the McLaren team was focused on a violent crash that sent Heikki Kovalainen to a hospital. A likely wheel rim failure caused the Finnish driver's front-left tire to explode and his car to fly into the side wall at 150 mph. It took at least 10 minutes for the track's medical team to remove Kovalainen from the wrecked car, which was missing half its front.
Kovalainen was shaken, but medical scans showed no injuries.
"(Heikki) is safe and well," McLaren team principal Ron Dennis said. "He has no broken bones and CT scans performed at the hospital confirm that he has no head injuries, and the team is optimistic that he will make a full recovery over the next few days."
Hamilton overcame a career-worst 13th-place finish at Bahrain to get back into the points. The Briton is convinced McLaren has the car to compete with Ferrari.
"For sure, you could say it was a surprise (to finish third) because they were very quick. They just have the slight edge for the moment," Hamilton said.
Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was nearly 6 seconds back in fourth and Mark Webber of Red Bull rounded out the top five. Jenson Button of Honda was sixth, followed by Kazuki Nakajima of Williams and Jarno Trulli of Toyota in the final positions to earn points.
Raikkonen, who also won here in 2005, leads the overall standings with 29 points. After Hamilton, Kubica is next with 19, one more than Massa.
Raikkonen topped both of Friday's practice sessions before taking his 15th career pole. That makes it eight straight winners here to have won from the pole.
"You know the chance to win is very small ... but I was pretty much sure that unless something happened, it would be very difficult to win the race," Massa said. "It's very important to bring home eight points and make another step forward in the championship that we know is quite long."
Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso of Renault, who started second, withdrew with engine problems after 34 laps.
"The motor broke, I think," said Alonso, who won his home race two years ago. "It's tough because we're here in Spain. But I think in the next race we can do a better performance."
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Spanish Government takes back the coast
Apr 19, 3:55 AM EDT
Spain cleanup jolts property owners
By CIARAN GILES Associated Press Writer
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VALENCIA, Spain (AP) -- It's been the dream of millions - a home by the sea in sunny Spain. People from all over Europe have invested hard-earned savings in coastal villas and apartments.
Now a government drive to clean up Spain's concrete-filled coastline after decades of abuse may wash away many of those dreams like castles of sand.
Enforcing a much-neglected 1988 law, the Socialist government is getting tough about what constitutes coastal public domain - the strip of land stretching back from the water's edge - and telling thousands of house and apartment owners their properties do not really belong to them.
"Out of the blue we've been told the house we have owned for more than 30 years is no longer ours," said retired British electronics engineer Clifford Carter, 59, who lives with his Spanish wife in La Casbah, a beach side complex in eastern Spain.
"The house was built legally, but now they say we can only live here until we die but can't sell the house or leave it to our children," said Carter.
The fears of losing coastal villas come as Spain's real estate market is turning sour, a situation tied by some to the international banking crisis and its parent, the U.S. subprime mortgage scandal. While the troubles of Spain's overgrown coast are not directly tied to the banking crisis, both have involved shady business practices that often wind up in the lap of individual homeowners.
Along the Spanish coast, a protest group formed in January says it already represents 20,000 people. It notes that up to half a million others - apartment and villa owners and restaurant and hotel proprietors - could be affected. Most are Spaniards, but many are foreigners.
"This is the single biggest assault on private property we have seen in the recent history of Spain," said Jose Ortega, a spokesman for the group and lawyer for many of those affected.
He says that at best, owners are being given 60-year concessions to live on the property or operate their businesses. Others, he says, are threatened with demolition.
The government says the claims are exaggerated but insists the coast has to be saved.
"We're taking the law seriously," said the Environment Ministry's coastal department director, Jose Fernandez. "Previous governments didn't think it was important, while we have made it a priority."
The government is finishing the process of drawing the line that designates what is state-owned and cannot contain private property along Spain's 4,900 miles of coast - which includes the Canary and Balearic Islands and North African territories in addition the mainland.
It plans to spend some $8 billion to fix up the coast. Some of the money will go to homeowners who, under the 1988 law, cannot sell to another private party but can sell to the state.
Many people are suddenly finding they're on the wrong side of the dividing line. Ortega's group alleges the government is drawing it selectively, targeting individuals but shying away from tourist resorts.
But it's not just individuals. The five-star Hotel Sidi lies a stone's throw from retired engineer Carter's house and the shoreline. Last December its owners were told it had been built on dune land protected by the 1988 law and must go. They are being offered a 60-year operating concession, after which it falls into state hands.
"We're afraid that they'll take away the property. It was built legally with all the papers," said Roger Zimmermann, the hotel's managing director. "This is our livelihood."
Fernandez admits 1,300 structures have been demolished since the Socialists came to power in 2004 but insists most were constructed without permits. He denies the government has plans for mass demolitions or immediate expropriations. Barring exceptional cases, he says, people whose property is in the public domain will be able to continue living or working there.
Ortega says that is not comforting. "Today anybody who owns or wants to own a home or property on the coast can't be sure because at any moment the government can take it away from you without compensation," he said.
The economic impact on construction and tourism could be immense, Ortega argues.
This would be bad news for a real estate sector that has largely driven Spain's economy for the past decade but it now cooling sharply.
The Costa del Sol Association of Builders and Promoters reported in February that sales of tourist property in southern Malaga province fell nearly 50 percent last year. It claimed the main problem was people being frightened by corruption scandals in which homes were built with licenses obtained through bribes.
Tourism and rampant construction over the past three decades have turned the Spanish coast from the French border all the way round and beyond the Rock of Gibraltar into a continuous mass of concrete.
In many cases, town halls bypassed planning regulations and took bribes in exchange for licenses.
Spain says 40 percent of the coast is built on and nearly 70 percent of its beaches are surrounded by buildings.
"It was the politics of money today, forget about tomorrow." said Luis Cerrillo, head of the Ecologists in Action group in the Valencia region.
Spain, the world's No. 2 tourism destination, is the most popular choice for northern Europeans seeking to own a second home. Just British residents in Spain are believed to amount to nearly 1 million - though it's not certain how many own property.
Most observers agree it is no coincidence that the coastal clean-up drive follows a real estate fraud scandal on the Costa del Sol in 2006 in which 80 people face charges.
Gordon Turnbull of Blue Med estate agents in the eastern Murcia region blames the corruption scandals and international banking crisis for dropping sales, but argues the coastal law might actually stimulate the market by making the coast prettier.
On two nearby beaches, he says there are the shells of two major apartment buildings, illegal and unfinished monstrosities.
"They put people off buying here," said Turnbull. "People appreciate seeing an eyesore getting knocked down. The government's not doing enough."
(This version CORRECTS the length of the Spanish coastline to 4,900 miles.)
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Spain cleanup jolts property owners
By CIARAN GILES Associated Press Writer
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VALENCIA, Spain (AP) -- It's been the dream of millions - a home by the sea in sunny Spain. People from all over Europe have invested hard-earned savings in coastal villas and apartments.
Now a government drive to clean up Spain's concrete-filled coastline after decades of abuse may wash away many of those dreams like castles of sand.
Enforcing a much-neglected 1988 law, the Socialist government is getting tough about what constitutes coastal public domain - the strip of land stretching back from the water's edge - and telling thousands of house and apartment owners their properties do not really belong to them.
"Out of the blue we've been told the house we have owned for more than 30 years is no longer ours," said retired British electronics engineer Clifford Carter, 59, who lives with his Spanish wife in La Casbah, a beach side complex in eastern Spain.
"The house was built legally, but now they say we can only live here until we die but can't sell the house or leave it to our children," said Carter.
The fears of losing coastal villas come as Spain's real estate market is turning sour, a situation tied by some to the international banking crisis and its parent, the U.S. subprime mortgage scandal. While the troubles of Spain's overgrown coast are not directly tied to the banking crisis, both have involved shady business practices that often wind up in the lap of individual homeowners.
Along the Spanish coast, a protest group formed in January says it already represents 20,000 people. It notes that up to half a million others - apartment and villa owners and restaurant and hotel proprietors - could be affected. Most are Spaniards, but many are foreigners.
"This is the single biggest assault on private property we have seen in the recent history of Spain," said Jose Ortega, a spokesman for the group and lawyer for many of those affected.
He says that at best, owners are being given 60-year concessions to live on the property or operate their businesses. Others, he says, are threatened with demolition.
The government says the claims are exaggerated but insists the coast has to be saved.
"We're taking the law seriously," said the Environment Ministry's coastal department director, Jose Fernandez. "Previous governments didn't think it was important, while we have made it a priority."
The government is finishing the process of drawing the line that designates what is state-owned and cannot contain private property along Spain's 4,900 miles of coast - which includes the Canary and Balearic Islands and North African territories in addition the mainland.
It plans to spend some $8 billion to fix up the coast. Some of the money will go to homeowners who, under the 1988 law, cannot sell to another private party but can sell to the state.
Many people are suddenly finding they're on the wrong side of the dividing line. Ortega's group alleges the government is drawing it selectively, targeting individuals but shying away from tourist resorts.
But it's not just individuals. The five-star Hotel Sidi lies a stone's throw from retired engineer Carter's house and the shoreline. Last December its owners were told it had been built on dune land protected by the 1988 law and must go. They are being offered a 60-year operating concession, after which it falls into state hands.
"We're afraid that they'll take away the property. It was built legally with all the papers," said Roger Zimmermann, the hotel's managing director. "This is our livelihood."
Fernandez admits 1,300 structures have been demolished since the Socialists came to power in 2004 but insists most were constructed without permits. He denies the government has plans for mass demolitions or immediate expropriations. Barring exceptional cases, he says, people whose property is in the public domain will be able to continue living or working there.
Ortega says that is not comforting. "Today anybody who owns or wants to own a home or property on the coast can't be sure because at any moment the government can take it away from you without compensation," he said.
The economic impact on construction and tourism could be immense, Ortega argues.
This would be bad news for a real estate sector that has largely driven Spain's economy for the past decade but it now cooling sharply.
The Costa del Sol Association of Builders and Promoters reported in February that sales of tourist property in southern Malaga province fell nearly 50 percent last year. It claimed the main problem was people being frightened by corruption scandals in which homes were built with licenses obtained through bribes.
Tourism and rampant construction over the past three decades have turned the Spanish coast from the French border all the way round and beyond the Rock of Gibraltar into a continuous mass of concrete.
In many cases, town halls bypassed planning regulations and took bribes in exchange for licenses.
Spain says 40 percent of the coast is built on and nearly 70 percent of its beaches are surrounded by buildings.
"It was the politics of money today, forget about tomorrow." said Luis Cerrillo, head of the Ecologists in Action group in the Valencia region.
Spain, the world's No. 2 tourism destination, is the most popular choice for northern Europeans seeking to own a second home. Just British residents in Spain are believed to amount to nearly 1 million - though it's not certain how many own property.
Most observers agree it is no coincidence that the coastal clean-up drive follows a real estate fraud scandal on the Costa del Sol in 2006 in which 80 people face charges.
Gordon Turnbull of Blue Med estate agents in the eastern Murcia region blames the corruption scandals and international banking crisis for dropping sales, but argues the coastal law might actually stimulate the market by making the coast prettier.
On two nearby beaches, he says there are the shells of two major apartment buildings, illegal and unfinished monstrosities.
"They put people off buying here," said Turnbull. "People appreciate seeing an eyesore getting knocked down. The government's not doing enough."
(This version CORRECTS the length of the Spanish coastline to 4,900 miles.)
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
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