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

Mi numero de telefono

I just got a cell phone in Spain and the number is:

+34-622-147-129

Just thought I would post this on here in case anyone has an international calling plan or something and wants to call me! Or in case of emergency... Either way :)

Its free for me to receive calls and texts so if you want text me that is always another option! just make sure you tell me who you are, since I have no phone numbers in here.

xoxo

Mi casa en Valladolid

Buenos Tardes!

So today is Wednesday, my first full day in Valladolid. Unfortunately I slept horribly last night because my bed is extremely springy and every time I turned a different way I got a spring to the rib. hah... OH WELL! Guess I will have to learn how to handle that. Today we woke up and went straight to the student union at the university which is about a 30 min walk. Then we took a spanish placement test to see which class we will be in. There are some other international students here as well, some from Wisconsin and others from all over the world. I met someone from Germany, from China, and from Sweden. That will be fun to get to know those people!

After we took a tour of Valladolid and our professors from Cal Poly pointed out important places to us such as the post office (be expecting post cards soon), Plaza Mayor, the book store, etc. This place seems kind of confusing now but I know that soon I will be able to navigate my way through the streets. We still haven't figured out the bus system yet but tomorrow I think we are going to take the bus to our language class.

Talking to some of the other Cal Poly students we are lucky that we have internet in our house because a lot of them don't! So you all should be excited as well :)

I took a few pictures of the house so you could see where I will be living for the next 3 months... It is really cute!

This is the kitchen, its small but has everything you would need: refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, oven, microwave, and the washer is in here too!

This is the living room where I can get the internet but I can also sometimes get it in my room too

Hallway by the front door and my roommate Laurel!

Hallway leading to all of the different rooms. I am standing right outside my door and at the end and to the left is the kitchen/living room. The first door on the left is my bathroom, the doors on the right are my madre's room and her daughters room.

My room! My bed is on the right next to the window which actually looks into the laundry room... so no windows to the outside. We each have our own small closets and those are on the wall to the left.

Finally, Valladolid!!!!!

Buenos Noches mis amigos!

So I haven't updated in a few days... I have been very busy and haven't had time to do everything that I want! But now I am officially in Valladolid. So excited to be here as well :)

Before I talk about Valladolid I will tell you a bit about Madrid. We went to the Reina Sofia which is a modern art museum with works by Picasso and Dali. It was very cool. We also went to a small town near Madrid (I forget the name right now, Ill look it up later). I loved it there! There were so many cute buildings and they were all so colorful. The people were also very nice. We walked around and visited a palace/basilica/library from the 16th century. The people in Madrid were not very nice... I dont know if that was because we were 45 americans in a large group going everywhere or what. I hope that the people of Valladolid are nicer and more patient.

Now about Valladolid! We got here about 5 pm, a lot later than we were supposed to so our families were waiting for us at the bus station for a long time. It was because all of our luggage didn't fit in the bus! So we had to rent a separate car in order to fit everything. I could have told them that everything wasnt going to fit in the beginning! 45 people with 2 giant suitcases each... UGH! Anyway, we got off the bus and our mama was there waiting for us when we got off the bus. It all happened so fast! We met, she helped us with our luggage (My roommate Laurel and I) and we drove to her apartment. At first glance Valladolid is very clean, metropolis kind of city. They have big apartment buildings and there are lots of people! Her house is on the top floor of a big apartment and she has the entire floor. Its a very big place with lots of rooms. Laurel and I are sharing a room and we each have a closet and one window that is actually just a window to another room! but it will be fine. I will take pictures later and put them up on here to show how the apartment looks.

Mi mama es muy simpatica. She is 41 years old and has one daughter who is 24. I haven't met her daughter yet, I think she said she was at work or school or something. She does live here though. She has 9 brothers and sisters! most of which live very close to her. One of them lives on the 3rd floor of this apartment. She has lived in Valladolid her entire life and has been hosting exchange students for 9 years. So she knows pretty much exactly what we need/want which is very nice. She is also very patient with us and our spanish. It has already been a challenge communicating with her about certain things. I dont even know what we are doing tomorrow and how we get to the school! I guess I will just have to learn as we go... She is a nurse and works either in the night or in the morning so sometimes we will be on our own for dinner/lunch but she said that she will leave stuff out for us when she has to work.

I still cant believe I am here!!!! THis is crazy! I said to my roommate as we were unpacking our suitcases, "what are we doing in this foreign country again?!" We start school tomorrow, which will be weird getting into again because I haven't had school in so long. We will be taking a test to see which spanish class we will place into and then after taking a tour of Valladolid.

I do miss home a lot, but I think once I get into the groove of things everything will be a lot better. I just wish I knew more spanish! Oh well... I will learn, thats for sure!

Love you guys :)

Mi viaje a Toledo y Museo del Prado

Buenos Tardes! So these last few days have been amazing. After the fiasco with my luggage was all taken care of (I received my luggage last night after returning from Toldeo) I have been having a very good time. Yesterday we went to Toledo on a bus about an hour away from where we are staying. It is a very big tourist city and a very historical one as well. It was beautiful, but I was exhausted so I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Mi parte favorito fue el Catedral de Toledo. It’s huge! The 3^rd largest Cathedral in all of Europe. It is in the center of the city and it is also considered the “heart of Catholic Spain”.

Catedral de Toledo

We have our own tour guide that travels with us everywhere we go, telling us about the historical significance of all the different buildings, streets, architecture, etc. That is very nice to have because otherwise I would be walking around looking at all of these beautiful buildings with no idea about why they are so important to Spain. The walking tour of Toledo yesterday was very informational, but like I said I was just really exhausted and still jet lagged so I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

Me!... I know I'm such a dork

The Toledo skyline

The food. Ok so most of the food I have been eating is with my 50 person group at various restaurants and I have yet to have a quality meal. I am so down to try new things, however, when the quality of the food is poor I don’t like to venture too far out of the box. I think we haven’t had very good luck with the food yet just because we are such a large group and the places have been mass producing the food. I am really looking forward to going out on my own for Tapas etc so I can really experience some good food.

Last night was the first night that I went out. I was still tired so I ended up just going to a small bar and getting a beer. We met up with some friends of friends that are also studying in Madrid but have been here for about 3 weeks so they know their way around the city pretty well already. So that was fun!

So far I have found the people in Madrid have not been super friendly, but not necessarily rude either. I think its because we have been traveling in a large group (50 plus people) that people aren’t that friendly.

Hoy, fuimos a Museo del Prado. This was a very cool experience. Although I am not a huge art fanatic it was interesting hearing about the history of the different paintings and artists. My favorite were all of the Velazquez paintings. The history behind them and the style of paintings he does are right up my alley. We also had a guide there to tell us about the different works of art.

I have been making friends in the group but not necessarily sticking with one group or person, which is fun because I am getting to know everyone. I can’t wait to get to Valladolid to meet my host family and get settled! I am really enjoying myself but of course I am a little homesick. I miss everyone a lot! I think I am going to take a siesta now, because I only got like 4 hours of sleep last night because we had to wake up so early. Anyway, love you all J

Xoxo

Abby