Picturas

This was our lunch the other day. Pringles and a fried piece of meat. Oh and soup.

It was awesome.

That same day, this was our dinner (for both of us to share btw) If you cant tell what this is, it is lunch meat that is breaded and deep fried. And that was all.

I decided to make a sandwich out of this using random things I found in the fridge, looks pretty good huh?! I thought so too until.....

I found the package of lunch meat in the fridge If you can't tell the expiration is 25/9/09 (September 25). This was on October 18th. SO AWESOME.

Ok enough complaining... Now time for pictures from Segovia.

This aqueduct was built in BC times. There was no mortar used, just giant blocks that fit so perfectly together that they haven't moved for over 2000 years. So cool!

Jill and I on top of the aqueduct

Such a beautiful view!

OH LOOK! ha

A real castle where Princesses actually lived.

Ohhhhh geeze

Inside the castle

We are a good looking group :)

On the top of the castle on one of the towers, this is they whole group Cal Poly students!

Love them :)

Ok so this is not Segovia, this is a fountain near my house. But its just so pretty!

Trends

I think I will dedicate this next post to "trends" that I have noticed amongst Spaniards and how my life has been affected by them...

The first: smoking. I'm sure most of you know that smoking is HUGE in Spain. I was talking to my spanish culture teacher and she said that over 50% of the population smokes! I would have guessed more than that because when I'm walking around the streets it seems like every single person has a cigarette in their hand. No matter what time of day it is. The smell really doesn't bother me too much anymore because I am getting very used to it. The thing that sucks is that when I go inside somewhere, whether it is a cafeteria, cafe, bar, or anywhere really I come out smelling like smoke. You can tell if I have been to a bar or cafe by smelling my clothes even the next day. It's awful! I have to air out my jackets and my jeans before I can wear them again. I guess it wouldn't really matter if I didn't though because everyone smells like that.

The second thing has to do with wine. As many of you know I am a wine major and observing wine trends is very interesting to me. I am actually taking a wine compliance class here (taught by Cal Poly) and have been learning a bit about Spanish wine from that class and also just from tasting it! -----side note: It is SO nice to just be able to go to the grocery store or wine shop and just pick up a bottle of wine, I am getting to try so many different types of wine! I dont know what Im going to do when I get back home and I can't do that for 6 more months!!----- Yesterday we went to a couple wine shops and got to see something that was really interesting to me. The first wine shop that we went to had taps of wine. Underneath in a kind of cellar they had giant concrete tanks full of "table wine", at least 5 different types. People come into this shop toting their empty 5 liter water bottles and pay by the liter to get these bottles filled with wine! The wine is so cheap too, I think the prices were something like a few euro for a couple liters of wine. The people that were mainly coming in were older and had giant jugs for them to fill. I didn't get to try any of this wine, but I'm sure it wasn't very good. Which brings me to my next trend: people like to mix other things with their wine. Whether it is a calimocho, sangria, or wine with sparkling water (which is common for table wine). I have no idea why this is so popular here, you hardly ever see people mixing things with their wine in the US. Any insights to this? I'm thinking its just an economical issue, its cheaper to do this!

Update on the food issue: Still haven't talked to mama, Laurel and I are nervous to do this... but yesterday we had a pretty good meal so that is promising :)

Some weeks and days I feel like my spanish is improving tremendously, others I feel like I am in the exact same place that I was when I first got here. It's frustrating when I can't communicate with people because my vocabulary just isn't big enough. At night time I feel so mentally exhausted from just constantly having to think before I even attempt to talk to someone. Spanish is hard! All the conjugating of verbs is really hard to get the hang of. I am really glad that I am totally immersed though because I am learning soooo many new things everyday.

Going to go take a siesta now!

Love you guys :)

p.s. If there is a specific question you have for me or something you are wanting to know about Spain or my experiences, leave a note! Sometimes I don't know what to write about because I kind of do the same things everyday...

Food is life.

Hello everyone!

Ok so today my roommate and I are struggling with something, let me set the scene for you: Our mama is really really nice. She is always very friendly and asks how our day was, she bought Laurel chocolate desserts for her birthday, we feel very welcome in every part of the house and she is always very considerate. We only have one problem: the food. So its not like the food she cooks is awful, its really not that bad (I mean besides the weird cultural food that she cooks sometimes)! The problem is this. When she goes to work she leaves us food for lunch and/or dinner which is totally fine BUT usually its only like 2 items. For example, today she left us chicken that she cooked on the stove and a pot of green beans. And thats IT. No rice, no bread, nothing else besides that. We are upset because the food that she leaves us is usually not enough for both of us to get full and we have to go searching in the fridge to get something else to eat and usually, there isn't anything in there. Also, we RARELY get vegetables. When I say rarely I mean I think we have had veggies twice since we have been here. The green beans today are a miracle. So this morning we decided that it is time that we say something because we are very unhappy with the way things have been going.

SO we came up with a few sentences to say to her in spanish, just so we would be nice and prepared :) I will let you know how this goes after we talk to her. Im only nervous to talk to her about this because when she responds to us in spanish it is all going to be very fast and I don't want to miss anything that she says! But yesterday I was about to cry because of the quality of food that we have been getting.

Maybe I am just a spoiled American that eats too much food. Its worth a try anyway!

So besides that I have been having a really good time in Valladolid. I have a ton of class though, which kind of cuts in to social time. Spanish class everyday from 9:30 to about 1, then Cal Poly classes 8 hours a week. Then homework and reading on top of that! I'm still adjusting to the times and when things close, etc.

Today is Sunday, and this means that everything is closed. Except for some cafes and restaurants. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Not even grocery stores! This is a crazy concept to me... But I kind of like it. Sunday truly is a day of rest.

Went to Segovia yesterday and it was really cool, I will update with photos later.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Abby

Barcelona!!!!!

WOW! Where do I even begin?! Barcelona was so awesome... Probably one of my favorite trips ever. There are so many things to do there, I don't think I would ever be bored. The city itself was pretty easy to navigate, with metro stops everywhere you would ever want to go. I'm so happy that I got to explore the sights with Nicole, we had an awesome time together. I kept thinking "we are in SPAIN right now, that is so CRAZY!" It was nice to have a little taste of home too :)

Day 1: Got in to Barcelona at 7:30 am after a 10 hour BUS ride. Yes, I took a bus for 10 hours. The worst part was that the worst smelling human being ever sat right behind me the entire time. Honestly thinking back I don't know how I did it. After I got there I took the metro to Nicole's apartment and we slept for another 3 hours which was nice considering I didn't sleep much because of mister smelly behind me. The first thing we did was go to lunch at this place called the "Champagne-aria"? (I spelled it how it sounds because I have no idea how it is spelled). It was PACKED full of people. You could hardly move, and it was standing room only. As you can tell by the name they serve bottles of champagne but they also have amazing food. I got a sandwich with bell pepper, cheese, bacon, and some other type of meat... hah. And we all shared a bottle of champagne. This place had TONS of those little napkins on the floor that I talked about in my previous blog so I knew the food would be good. That meal was probably my favorite meal the whole weekend.

After lunch we took the metro to Parc Guell which is this amazing park that Gaudi designed. There are a ton of things to see that Gaudi designed but I think that this was my favorite that I saw. Basically it is a park with a bunch of different elements designed by Gaudi, but not actually finished until after his death. The buildings were so strange, one of them supposedly designed after Hansel and Gretel's house. The mosaics that he uses in all of his designs are so cool. I have never seen anything like his designs before. The walk up to the park is pretty steep, and that made for a really cool view of the entire city.

After a long day of walking all over the city (we walked to lunch and saw Las Ramblas as well as the port of Barcelona) we needed a nap so we didn't make it out that night until about 1 in the morning which actually isn't that unusual for Spain! Its so crazy that there are tons of people out at 1 in the morning! And its not just people going to bars or discotecas, people just sit at a cafe and drink coffee. That night was really fun, we went out to a bar that Nicole normally goes to and met up with a bunch of her friends.

Ummm... a random mime outside the bar telling people to be quiet. I thought he was

quite hilarious so I had to take a picture.

Day 2: So after not much sleep Nicole and I finally made it out of the apartment by noon with a long day ahead of us! It was nice being able to plan where I wanted to go and do the things that I wanted to do instead of traveling in a big group of 50 people. I had a guide book that I was looking up things to do in and the first place that we went was the Barri Gotic, one of the oldest sections of Barcelona. It is an old Roman city with a maze of narrow streets, all leading to the Catedral de la Santa Creu. The Cathedral is under construction currently but was amazing to see anyway. We actually went in time to see part of the mass that was going on in Latin! The surroundings of the Cathedral had tons of tourists, street performers, and small shops.

Drinking the water from the Fountain of Youth!!! I found it! No just kidding...

they say it's good luck to drink from this fountain, so I did!

From here we went to Parc de la Ciutadella which is in "La Ribera" and this was probably my favorite part of the trip. The street that we walked down had hardly any tourists but it was beautiful, you would never find anything like that in the states. We decided to take a picnic lunch and people watch. The park is giant with tons of fountains, a big pond, a zoo, courtyards, etc. It was just very relaxing and it was nice to do something in the fresh air with not a lot of tourists. This park was the sight of the 1888 Universal Exposition (random fact for you from my guidebook).

I really like posing by myself....

From the park we went to the Museu Picasso. We got into a long line to wait to go into the museum and then when we got up there they told us it was free! Awesome start already. My favorite part was the Las Meninas series. Coincidentally, this was also my favorite painting by Velasquez at the Prado Museum. The museum itself was in a huge old mansion, so even the architecture was cool to look at.

After walking around all day we were exhausted so we came home and.... yup you guessed it, took a siesta! Then that night we went out to a bar that had Karaoke, it was AWESOME. Probably about 90% of the people there spoke english and so all the songs were American songs that I knew. It was still fun despite the lack of Spanish culture.

Day 3: It had been a pretty exhausting weekend with not much sleep so we didn't make it out until about 2 this day. First we went to see La Sagrada Familia. This Cathedral, also designed by Gaudi is still a work in progress. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. It was cool to see but I wouldn't ever describe it as "beautiful". I think the best adjective to describe it would be strange. Plain and simple. But of course I can appreciate the thought and the work that has gone into it. It is still an ongoing project with many different architects and sculptors have been working on it for over 100 years. The original architect, Gaudi, died before he could finish the Cathedral. Its actually a pretty awful story- he got hit by a bus when he was walking on the street!

We decided to get some lunch after that and went over to La Rambla (no pictures for this portion, my camera died). I was on alert the whole time because apparently this is where pick pocketers make their fortune, off of tourists.

Then it was off to the 10 hour bus ride. No smelly people this time, but I still didn't get much sleep anyway.

As you can see, it was an exhausting weekend but it was so amazing! I'm happy to be back in my little town of Valladolid where I feel safe walking around by myself though and don't have to constantly be on alert for people trying to steal my purse. Hopefully while I'm here I can visit Barcelona at least one more time.

Love you guys!

P.s. write me comments so I know someone is reading my blog!!!

Voy a Barcelona!!!!

Going to Barcelona this weekend!!! Can't wait to see Nicole, see another city in Spain, and have an amazingggg 3 day weekend. Its supposed to be warm too, so I am going to bring my bathing suit. YAY! Wish me luck, and don't worry, I will be careful :)

XOXO

I have SUCH a boring life...

I wish I was doing more exciting things so I could talk about them in my blog, but there hasn't been much to say so that's why I haven't been writing!

This is my first full week of school and it's already brutal! My school schedule is pretty full. Monday through Friday I have spanish class until either 1 or 2 everyday. Then make the long trek home on the bus (which can take up to 35 min) and have lunch. Monday, Tues, Wed I have class at 4 for Cal Poly so I have to eat pretty quickly, have about 15 min to do whatever I need to do and then walk to class which takes about 20 min. Spanish class is awesome! It is pretty challenging but these are my favorite classes I have ever taken. The teachers speak to us exclusively in Spanish and they are all extremely enthusiastic about the subject they are teaching. I really like all of the spanish teachers.

Here is a random thing that I would like to share...In a cafeteria or a bar, or any place that sells tapas really... There is a strange thing that the people do here (ok, only strange to people from the US, a better word would be different). When eating tapas or drinking cafe con leche people use paper napkins. What do people do in the US when using a napkin when eating? They leave it on the table for the waiter to clean up. WELL in Spain they drop it on the floor. Yes, on the floor. So by the end of the day there are tons of little paper napkins all over the floor! Why do they do this you ask? Let me tell you... first of all it is because they don't have to clean them up all throughout the day and at the end of the day they just make one big sweep of the entire place. Another reason? When you walk into a place that has tapas if there are tons of these little napkins everywhere you have to think "wow, this place must be popular... lots of tapas are being ordered!" therefore, it is kind of like "street cred" for these places, the more napkins, the better food you have. Kind of interesting, huh? Random fact of the day....

Anyway, this weekend I am going to Barcelona with some people from the program but I will be staying with my friend Nicole who is studying there! I am very excited to get to see the city because I have heard so many good things about it. I leave Friday night and get there Saturday morning and since we have school off on Monday I will leave monday night and get back to Valladolid on Tuesday morning. So that means I have 3 full days in Barcelona to do whatever I want! Does anyone have any "must dos" while I am there? If you have been before what is your favorite thing in the city, I will visit and take a picture for you :)

Also, I have another 3 day weekend coming up that I want to travel outside of Spain for. Any ideas for that one?!

So last Saturday I went on a day trip to Burgos with the Spanish program at UVA (University of Valladolid) It was about an hour and 15 min away by bus and it was such a beautiful city. I didn't get to see too much of it, as we only got to visit part of the city, but I took some awesome pictures.

Just a pretty sidewalk next to the river :)

Catedral de Burgos

Me in front of the Cathedral... I took this myself, I'm good I know

We took this long stairway up here and after a night of going out that was not fun. But the end result was worth it. Overlooking all of Burgos.

A church in Burgos... All of the catholic churches are like this here! Amazing that this is from hundreds of years ago.

Burgos was awesome, I can't wait to go on lots of other day trips just so I can see as much of Spain as I can! Here are some other random pictures:

Inside the Campo Grande, the "Central Park" of Valladolid

This is the giant pond inside the park with a cool geyser type thing. Lots of ducks and geese live here. Inside the park are playgrounds, pathways, gardens, a chicken coop (!) and tons of birds!

Peacocks are EVERYWHERE! Its pretty cool, but they also kind of scare me.

This is actually a cafe inside the park. Tables are set up all around the fountain and you can order a cafe con leche, beer, wine, etc., and sit here and people watch all day long. Its really quite lovely, but such a distraction when you are trying to do homework (which I was).

I still haven't taken many photos of the actual city, but I figured why rush?! I have 3 months to do that, better to keep you guys guessing :)

XOXO,

Abby

Muchas cosas...

Buenos Noches!

Ok so lots to tell... Started classes 2 days ago. My class schedule is kind of intense especially since my classes are pretty far away. Every morning I have spanish class at 9:30. This means I have to leave my house at about 8:50 in order to make it there on time because the bus takes about 30-35 minutes! This kind of sucks, but oh well... at least I get to know the town very well! Then it sometimes goes until 1:00 and sometimes til 2:00. After spanish class we come home on the bus and have lunch waiting for us! As many of you know, lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Its like dinner and lunch for us is switched. Kind of strange but I love big lunches! Let me tell you about some of the things our madre has made for us so far:

Pork with bell pepper in a sweet sauce with garbanzo beans in some sort of liquid (chicken broth?) and then for dessert this chocolate pudding/jello thing

Vegetable soup with potatoes in a sort of clear broth, fried potatoes (french fries) and chicken cooked on top of the stove (dark meat)

Lentil soup in a tomatoe/clear broth, fried fish, fried egg

These things are all for lunch. Usually dinner is a bit more bizzare. For instance last night she made us hard boiled eggs with the yolk scraped out and inside (like a deviled egg) was a tuna mixture with mayonesa (mayonnaise is a bit different here) on top! Tonight she left us rice with two little hot dogs.

Because of the new food here my stomach is kind of perma-upset. I think I just need to get used to the food and the times of the meals. OH! today I had the most amazing pastry. It was like a croissant filled with custard and dipped in chocolate. I'm not sure what it was called I just kind of pointed to it and they wrapped it up and gave it to me. It was only 1 euro!

Thats another thing that I have been noticing... the prices of everything. At clothing stores I have been finding that things are pretty comparable to things in the US. Such as: a pair of cheap heels cost 25 euro. In the US you can totally find a pair of cheap heels for $25. But since the euro is much stronger than the dollar it costs way more for me. But things such as that giant pastry was only 1 euro. In the US you could never find such a giant pastry for only $1! You would probably pay at least $3 for it. So pricing of things are very strange...

Another thing I have noticed (sorry for the long explanations btw, I am kind of using this as my journal so I want to have this stuff for myself as well) is that things really aren't that different here. In my "culture of Spain" class there is a guy that is from India and today my teacher wanted us to ask her "Por que en Espana..." so basically why do they do ______ in Spain? The people from the US were asking questions like why do people always wear shoes in the house etc. The guy from India had 2 questions: Why do grandparents not live with their families. Because in his country his grandparents, his parents and him all live in the same house. His second question: How do people meet and get married? In his country it is all arranged marriages and he didn't understand why or how people have boyfriends and girlfriends.

I guess this just opened my eyes that although I am in a different country and many of the things are different than the US, there are so many more similarities that I just don't realize. These two countries are very much the same, with only a few cultural differences.

Anyway... tonight is my roommates birthday and we are going to go out for the first time in Valladolid. I am very excited! Yesterday I had a drink called a Calimocho, red wine and coca cola! Sounds disgusting right? Well apparently it is very popular among the young people here so I decided why not try it?! It was actually pretty bomb. I guess the sugar in the soft drinks are different here so I don't know if it would be the same in the US. I think I will ask about other popular drinks tonight just so I can try the best of Espana!

Going to eat dinner now... Miss everyone! Can't believe its only been 8 days since I have been gone. HOW WEIRD.

xoxo