so a lot of exciting things happened this week!! Namely, MY PARENTS CAME! yayyyy that was fun. But before they came, my new spanish novioooo and i had some dates which was lovely, and I finally expeienced Pacha for a Comitas Wednesday celebration. It was really fun especially since like 10 ppl from my program went, though i wore the completely wrong shoes, but whatever.
Moving onward to the weekend! Since my parents have already been to Madrid and Barcelona, we decided to go South to Granada to see the infamous Alhambra. Absolutely amazing. They say that if you die without seeing the Alhambra, you haven't lived (or something like that), so I'm glad I saw it. We also went over to Sevilla to tour there, which was so amazing and gorgeous, even though it DOWNPOURED the whole time we were there. BUT major pro was that I got to spend time with my parents in a beautiful place, and ALSO got a leopard print dress from Zara, score. This will certainly be making an appearance for New Years and on Penn's campus, so get excited.
Seeing my parents was bittersweet. It was so great to be with them and i am SO thankful that they came (really made my Thanksgiving), but it also made me realize that part of me really doesn't want to leave Madrid. Of course I want to spend more time with my family and friends, but I love this city so much, and have really found a place here, especially in the last month and a half or so. Sad that once you get perfectly acclimated to a place, you have to leave... but such is life.
After relaxing some on Sunday, and catching up on lots of exciting work that I had to do, I had another date on Monday to watch El Clasico (football game between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona). Really intense and a big deal here... unfortunately we lost. No, we didn't loose, we got CRUSHED. ugh. Although Christiano Ronaldo is a BEAUTIFUL man, his skills are no match to Messi. Alas, it was still fun and the spirit of all the football fans was pretty exciting.
Today I had an econ presentation, so nice to get it over with, and my last class of Lit. CRAZY. only 3 more days of class and 5 more actual classes to go. Not too much work left before exams, so that's great! Means i get more time to go out and enjoy Madrid while I still can. Starting with some after-dinner drinks with Allison at Mercado de San Miguel, finally!!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
turning into a madrileño
soo since my keyboard is STILL in spanish, im gonna have some fun with accents as i explain my journey to being a madrileño. firstly, apparently the € is doing badly so THAT's great! not that it has anything to do with me becoming more spanish, but its a button on my keyboard now which is kewl ¡¿Sí o Sí!? as our profa Cecilia would say
anywayyyyy, me becoming more spanish. i had a date with a hispanic guy (technically hes colombian but he lived in barca for 7 years and now hes living in madrid, so close enough). we met in a salsa bar/dance club type situation on Thursday (obviously being latin american, hes a phenom dancer which is the BEST TRAIT EVERRR) and then went on a date last night. I was supaaa nervous at first becasue of the whole language barrier sitch but it was totally fine and not hard to speak with him in Spanish... though he can always tell when i pretend to know what hes saying when i actually don't... ¡lo siento Francisco! Things i have learned from him: 1. In colombia, the name Carlota (the spanish version of my name that I tell ppl here bc they legit cant prounounce CHARlotte) means you're from the upper class 2. also in colombia, people with light skin, freckles and red hair (re: gingers) are considered really pretty because they're so rare
moral of the story? I should move to Colombia. Hasta luego estados unidos.
Moving onward, after my date last night, i met up with Allison, and since she has mad Spanish conexiones because of her buddy from our University (Luna), we went to like a Spanish pregame party situation at one of Luna's friends' apartments and then to a club called Moma after.
Suchh a spanish night haha and legitimately I spoke spanish 99% of the night. success.
anywayyyyy, me becoming more spanish. i had a date with a hispanic guy (technically hes colombian but he lived in barca for 7 years and now hes living in madrid, so close enough). we met in a salsa bar/dance club type situation on Thursday (obviously being latin american, hes a phenom dancer which is the BEST TRAIT EVERRR) and then went on a date last night. I was supaaa nervous at first becasue of the whole language barrier sitch but it was totally fine and not hard to speak with him in Spanish... though he can always tell when i pretend to know what hes saying when i actually don't... ¡lo siento Francisco! Things i have learned from him: 1. In colombia, the name Carlota (the spanish version of my name that I tell ppl here bc they legit cant prounounce CHARlotte) means you're from the upper class 2. also in colombia, people with light skin, freckles and red hair (re: gingers) are considered really pretty because they're so rare
moral of the story? I should move to Colombia. Hasta luego estados unidos.
Moving onward, after my date last night, i met up with Allison, and since she has mad Spanish conexiones because of her buddy from our University (Luna), we went to like a Spanish pregame party situation at one of Luna's friends' apartments and then to a club called Moma after.
Suchh a spanish night haha and legitimately I spoke spanish 99% of the night. success.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Disconnected
This weekend we're going on a (mandatory) class trip to Extremadura which is a region in the west of Spain. It happens to be the least visited autonomous community of all of Spain...out of 17. Why they decided to bring us here is a big mystery. While other Penn programs in Spain go to Granada, Madrid, and Barcelona on class trips, we decide to go to the middle of nowhere. In addition, apparently service is really limited. Great. And there's no way for us to escape, so says our tourguide Pablo. This is sounding less and less appealing by the minute, but let the adventures begin!
Other quick updates
-went to a Real Madrid v Muricia football game last night. We won (obviously), and the game was super fun. The stadium, Bernabeu, is reallyyyy nice and has heating lamps so it's not cold at all! so smart. Even though we were literally sitting in the last row, the view was pretty good, and Ronaldo played (google him if you're unfamiliar)
-gave my econ presentation today, wooo! nice to be done with my first real assignment of the year hah
-had a tortilla espanola for dinner tonight- my first one since Sunday sooo that was kinda a long wait for me, but luckily Concha reads my mind.
-almost done with Season 1 of Glee. Score
-computer still in Spanish, not score.
HASTA LUNES!
Other quick updates
-went to a Real Madrid v Muricia football game last night. We won (obviously), and the game was super fun. The stadium, Bernabeu, is reallyyyy nice and has heating lamps so it's not cold at all! so smart. Even though we were literally sitting in the last row, the view was pretty good, and Ronaldo played (google him if you're unfamiliar)
-gave my econ presentation today, wooo! nice to be done with my first real assignment of the year hah
-had a tortilla espanola for dinner tonight- my first one since Sunday sooo that was kinda a long wait for me, but luckily Concha reads my mind.
-almost done with Season 1 of Glee. Score
-computer still in Spanish, not score.
HASTA LUNES!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
thank GOD for la tortilla espanola
so I know I have a lot to be thankful for, but right now, on the top of my list are Fiesta days/ Puentes in Madrid and la Tortilla Espanola. Spain loves to partayyyy apparently because there are TONS of holidays here. Many of which, at least this semester, fall on Tuesdays. This means that Monday is a "puente" (bridge) which in turn means that I have 2 day weeks (no class on Friday obviiii).
Last week we had a fiesta on Monday (dia de todos los santos), and this week we had one on Tuesday (patron saint of Madrid), so I have been busy (mainly with travel, though classes are actually starting to make me feel like a real student these days). So here is a little bit of my extended weekend in review:
Thursday- my computer got a massive virus and needed to be taken to the doctor (PC City) for a little slumber party. Luckily it is clean now (apparently it was REALLY REALLY sucio... probably thanks to me trying to watch Glee online...) though all of my keys are in Spanish (like the symbols are all mixed up/not what my english keyboard tells me they are), and the language of all websites is spanish and programs are spanish etc. But i supposed this is helping my cultural imersion...
Friday- class trip to El Escorial with our infamous tourguide, Pablo (Pabs). Most long-winded tourgide in history, which is unfortunate because he is really smart and some things he says are really interesting, but he has NO IDEA how to cut tours short/ how to not talk about every single artifact that we pass by/how to read people. at all.
Saturday- went down to Andalucia (southern Spain) with Allison: first we stopped in Cordoba to see La Mesquita which was so amazing and definitely exceeded my expectations. Then we went on to Granada that night which was really fun. We didn't tour Granada (going down over Thanksgiving with my parents) but we went to dinner and went out afterwards tapas hopping which was entertaining. Only downside: finishing half a bottle of wine and then drinking 4 canas was PROBABLY not the best thing for an early morning trip to the mountainside... Also, I learned that I, in fact, am not good at drinking beer (have a tendency to spill and drink slowly), while Allison is a pro... must be a midwest thing? (re: Pretty Good at Drinking Beer)
Sunday- went up to the mountains to hike through the white towns. 2 hour bus ride up was the worst bus ride of my life by far. When I say I was clutching to a plastic bag for dear life as we wound up through the mountains at 70mph in a smelly bus, i'm not exaggerating. LUCKILY for us, nothing happened and after about 10 minutes of sitting silently outside when we reached our destination trying not to hurl, we were successful. Furthermore, after we bought fleeces (definitely worth the 14E to stave off the chilly mountain air) and had a tortilla espanola to settle our stomachs. The Tortilla Espanola is perfect for hangovers, settling stomachs, and to put on a bocadillo for a quick and portable lunch. Can't wait to bring these back to BabyB (my house next year). It's a serious love affair. I probably average about 1 every other day (don't judge).
Monday- went to Ronda (old town in Andalucia with lots of Moorish influence), which was quaint and cute but not tons to do there. Among the things we did: see a really cool/huge old bridge; Climb down 60m of stairs into a gorge where we proceeded to take like 2 pictures, and then there was nothing else to do (damn you tourist traps), so we had to climb back up the 60m of stairs.. in casi pitch blackness... dicey. annddd we ate some italian food (typical on our weekend trips). Then I had to wait for my train back to Madrid for like 3 hours in the train station (really overbudgeted time needed in Ronda, but oh well). Came back to my senoras and my lovely fixed comuter, which one of my senoras (Paloma) picked up for me.
Tuesday- ugh real student day, had to do work and prepare for an Econ presentation on Thursday... crazy!!
sooo now I get to prepare myself for an intense 2-day week before going on a class field trip with Pabs to Extremadura (the least visited region of Spain.... great).
Summary: Work load is starting to increase, but this gives me more structure and I feel like a productive human now. Also, I had a great weekend, made even better by the fact that my computer is fixed and Fall is beautiful here!
Last week we had a fiesta on Monday (dia de todos los santos), and this week we had one on Tuesday (patron saint of Madrid), so I have been busy (mainly with travel, though classes are actually starting to make me feel like a real student these days). So here is a little bit of my extended weekend in review:
Thursday- my computer got a massive virus and needed to be taken to the doctor (PC City) for a little slumber party. Luckily it is clean now (apparently it was REALLY REALLY sucio... probably thanks to me trying to watch Glee online...) though all of my keys are in Spanish (like the symbols are all mixed up/not what my english keyboard tells me they are), and the language of all websites is spanish and programs are spanish etc. But i supposed this is helping my cultural imersion...
Friday- class trip to El Escorial with our infamous tourguide, Pablo (Pabs). Most long-winded tourgide in history, which is unfortunate because he is really smart and some things he says are really interesting, but he has NO IDEA how to cut tours short/ how to not talk about every single artifact that we pass by/how to read people. at all.
Saturday- went down to Andalucia (southern Spain) with Allison: first we stopped in Cordoba to see La Mesquita which was so amazing and definitely exceeded my expectations. Then we went on to Granada that night which was really fun. We didn't tour Granada (going down over Thanksgiving with my parents) but we went to dinner and went out afterwards tapas hopping which was entertaining. Only downside: finishing half a bottle of wine and then drinking 4 canas was PROBABLY not the best thing for an early morning trip to the mountainside... Also, I learned that I, in fact, am not good at drinking beer (have a tendency to spill and drink slowly), while Allison is a pro... must be a midwest thing? (re: Pretty Good at Drinking Beer)
Sunday- went up to the mountains to hike through the white towns. 2 hour bus ride up was the worst bus ride of my life by far. When I say I was clutching to a plastic bag for dear life as we wound up through the mountains at 70mph in a smelly bus, i'm not exaggerating. LUCKILY for us, nothing happened and after about 10 minutes of sitting silently outside when we reached our destination trying not to hurl, we were successful. Furthermore, after we bought fleeces (definitely worth the 14E to stave off the chilly mountain air) and had a tortilla espanola to settle our stomachs. The Tortilla Espanola is perfect for hangovers, settling stomachs, and to put on a bocadillo for a quick and portable lunch. Can't wait to bring these back to BabyB (my house next year). It's a serious love affair. I probably average about 1 every other day (don't judge).
Monday- went to Ronda (old town in Andalucia with lots of Moorish influence), which was quaint and cute but not tons to do there. Among the things we did: see a really cool/huge old bridge; Climb down 60m of stairs into a gorge where we proceeded to take like 2 pictures, and then there was nothing else to do (damn you tourist traps), so we had to climb back up the 60m of stairs.. in casi pitch blackness... dicey. annddd we ate some italian food (typical on our weekend trips). Then I had to wait for my train back to Madrid for like 3 hours in the train station (really overbudgeted time needed in Ronda, but oh well). Came back to my senoras and my lovely fixed comuter, which one of my senoras (Paloma) picked up for me.
Tuesday- ugh real student day, had to do work and prepare for an Econ presentation on Thursday... crazy!!
sooo now I get to prepare myself for an intense 2-day week before going on a class field trip with Pabs to Extremadura (the least visited region of Spain.... great).
Summary: Work load is starting to increase, but this gives me more structure and I feel like a productive human now. Also, I had a great weekend, made even better by the fact that my computer is fixed and Fall is beautiful here!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Barcelona!
For those of you who actually follow my blog (aka Hope), sorry I haven’t written in a while… I was sick last weekend/everyone stayed in Madrid because we had a class trip on Friday, soooo I didn’t do anything of real interest. My senoras were so nice to me though and took complete care of me (including giving me special tea for my stomach in an “I <3 NY” mug”—be cuter.)
ANYWAY onto more exciting things!! This weekend I went to Barcelona which was a lot of fun. The art and architecture there is phenomenal and I spent like 2 hours at La Sagrada Familia (thank you audio guides) which is Gaudi’s famous church (/the most visited construction site in the world since it’s unfinished). The insanely long line was definitely worth it. I also saw Gaudi’s houses, Dali’s house (2.5hrs outside of Barcelona, but worth a trip if you have time), the Picasso Museum, Park Guell (Gaudi’s park), walked down Las Ramblas and Passeig de Gracia (like Barcelona’s 5th Ave) and around Barri Gotic/Born—super cute area. I got to see some Penn girls that were also there and also 2 girls from Bronxville which was really nice. Seeing familiar faces in a new place is always so great.
Since it was Halloween weekend, a lot of people were out and about Barcelona at night because “Barcelona is totallyyyy the place to be this Halloween weekend, like it’s gonna be sick” –according to a group of 4 Bostonian guys who were on our flight. Sweet life. We (Allison and I) went to some clubs on the beach after a delicious dinner on Friday night, and then Saturday we met up with a few other Penn girls for some draaanks and the later with a Bronxville friend of mine/her program friends at Chupitos (a shots bar). Chupitos was really fun and quite an experience. It was super packed with people and the shots were quite entertaining (and also good). All in all, a really fun trip with only a few problems. These were: 1. Allison and I had some serious travel fails while trying to go to Dali’s house. Including a 2+ hour gap between when we arrived in Girona (we flew into that airport) and when our train to Figueres was (a quick ride to Dali’s house). This forced us to ‘explore’ Girona- difficult with a large bag- so we ended up at a random Girona fair/carnival? Very strange. Allison has classy pictures from it… 2. I tried to go to the Boqueria (huge market) on Sunday. It was closed. Extremely disappointing, but as Allison pointed out, you always need a reason to go back to a city! 3. I went to McDonald’s 3 times. Dicey. But their cono kit kats are so good! 4. The 10 person room in our hostel was notttt quite ideal—every time people came in, they decided it was acceptable to turn on the lights while they rummaged around in their bags and their lockers and talked with their friends. Not proper hostel etiquette, especially when they popped on the lights at 5:30am, 7:30am and then the next day during a completely acceptable siesta at 6pm. Rude.
Besides those minor hurdles, Barcelona was great. I definitely suggest going there, although be warned that you will speak more English than Spanish (or at least that was the case for me, save for at Chupitos bar). ALSO bank on being exhausted when you return/ try to plan your trip when you have a nice fiesta day for recovery! Thanks for partying, Spain. !Feliz día de los Santos!
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