Siguiendo adelante

Sorry to everyone for not posting in a very long time! Like I've said before, not much has been happening lately, so I don't feel like I can write a good blog entry. Yesterday I got to skype my grandparents for the first time since coming to Spain, which was really nice. Last weekend the PRESHCO people took us to the beach in Huelva to make up for the fact that they canceled the trip to Morocco that was supposed to happen last weekend. Next weekend I will be going to Valencia with my two guy friends here, so that should be interesting. It probably will be the only time I end up traveling while here in Spain, if I'm being honest with myself. I know I should plan a trip to the UK since I so desperately wanted to study abroad there. However, when I think about it, we don't have that many more weeks left here in Spain. Over half way till I come home for Christmas. I guess I'll just have to make myself go to the UK another time.

Gloomy Sara now. I've really despaired of ever becoming fluent in Spanish. I now accept it as the unattainable dream that it is. I would have to live in Spain for years with no contact to any English speakers, and that is not realistically going to happen. There are times when I wish that I had just been a Classical Civ/Med Ren double major, since now it seems like my Spanish major is worth nothing. I can speak and understand pretty well, but I would be absolutely destroyed if I came into contact with a native speaker. My Spanish is definitely not good enough to be used in any sort of official capacity, such as any career path that I might end up taking. And this makes me sad because the only thing I've ever known for sure is that I want to be fluent in Spanish. I foolishly thought that a semester in Spain would get me there, but that is in no way true. Oh well. I'm so close to getting my major that it isn't really worth it to stop now.

Visit from Mom

I haven't posted for a while since my Mom arrived last Thursday, and we've been doing lots of traveling the past 10 days. Immediately upon her arrival in Spain we headed to Sevilla together. The photo above is of me in the flamenco dress I bought myself. I tried on 4 different ones before deciding to go with the first one I tried on. The decision ended up being between this dress and a a white dress with flowers all over it, no sleeves, and blue ruffles at the bottom. I ended up going with this one because it is more "flamenco" and I just love red and the sleeves. Proof that I, as a very curvy woman, can totally pull of a tight fitting dress :) In Sevilla we saw the palace and the Cathedral, which has a large tower with a spectacular view of the city at the top. Apparently a "tapa" of Columbus is buried in the Cathedral, since his body has been moved around so much. I love that they call it a tapa of Columbus. I think it was something like 30 bones/13% of his body is in the Cathedral. The palace was pretty cool because it is divided into three sections. One third is the Palace of Isabel and Ferdinand, another is Pedro Tercero, and the last is I think for one of the kings Alfonso. Though I'm a little shaky on the details since it has been a while. What's great is that each of the different palaces has a different style to it. Isabel and Ferdinand's third was a bit more plain, whereas Pedro Tercero's had a distinctly Moorish style to it, and Alfonso's had a lot of yellow tile and various tapestries on display.
Plus, Mom and I found this restaurant that served pasta with saffron and shrimp in it. It was incredible. We went back two nights in a row to order the same thing. Mom usually never allows us to do that because she always wants to try new things, however, she made an exception with this place because that pasta was just so amazing.



After Sevilla we moved onto Granada. Both Mom and I felt that Granada was kind of ugly in comparison. The photo is of me and my mom in the Alhambra, in front of the cool lion fountain. The Alhambra is spectacular, of course. The detail work is incredible. The amount of time it must have taken to chisel out the decorations on all the columns and walls. Not a single wall was left bare it seemed like. And lots of fountains and running water. We walked so much, my feet were killing me. At the end of that day we had dinner in a bar where they were playing the Real Madrid vs. Barca game. The bar was almost evenly divided between Madrid and Barca fans, and the game ended up being an exhibition for the stars of the two teams (Ronaldo for Madrid, Messi for Barca) with both the players scoring all the goals for their team, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw.

We then spent 3 nights in my home, Cordoba, where Mom did all the touristy things while I was in class, which was nice. We got back Monday, and my host mother took us that afternoon to a town called Priego, which is this gorgeous, historic little pueblo about an hour outside of Cordoba. The photo is of me, my host mom Araceli, my host sister Mery, and Mery's study abroad student Kasumi from Japan. All the buildings in the town are stark white, and it just was so cute. My host family has told me that of the students they've had that have no background in Spanish, I speak the best Spanish. These kind of things make me happy. Also, while my mom was here, as long as I spoke, nobody asked me if I wanted an English menu or anything. However, as soon as my mom spoke they would start speaking in English. I'm making my way up in the world of speaking Spanish.

Then this weekend we headed off to Madrid, with a day trip to Toledo on Friday. I have to say, Toledo is probably my favorite city in Spain. It is just so medieval, and they are known for their swords. Any city that is known for swords is my kind of place. I got a shield with two swords crossed behind it that I can hang on my wall. I love it. The shield is the shield of Spain. Something to have with me always. I have no pictures of it, but it is awesome.

Since my mom can bring home things in her suitcase, I have gotten 80% of my Christmas shopping done. I'm so stoked about that. The week I have home before Christmas can be spent relaxing instead of rushing around trying to buy everyone's gifts.

Madrid to me, is the city of desserts. And I have successfully hit all of my favorite dessert places here. Crepes two nights in a row, churros con chocolate this morning, and a napolitana this afternoon. Unfortunately, when my mom leaves I will have to go back to my dessert once a week rule. And I should start running more regularly. I'm going to die when I get back on campus and have to start playing squash for hours every day. The first week isn't going to be pretty. Lots of dry heaving on court I'm sure. Mom did drag me to El Prado, the art museum here. There were two paintings of men riding horses that I loved, one of St. George slaying the dragon, and the other of a Duke of Lerma. However, my dislike of art museums has not faded at all since I was 6 going to art museums on our first Europe trip. So many religious paintings. All of Jesus either on the cross or bleeding from the crown of thorns. I wish there was more variety amongst old paintings. But anything is better than the current trend of modern "art" we have nowadays. Ick.

Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything important. Monstrous sized post I know, but I had a lot of stuff happen this past week.

In a Rhythm

Well, I've been in Spain a little over a month now, and I'm finally starting to get into a rhythm. This of course means that I don't post as frequently because nothing new happens to me. I go to class and hang out with my friends. Today I had a Spanish couple ask me for directions to the Mezquita, and I think I was pretty successful. I've had people ask me for help three different times now. I think this last time I may not have sounded my best, because I had to think of the best way to direct them before I could say anything. I really hate it when I sound like I'm just visiting. I've had a few people tell me after speaking with them that I could pass for Spanish, since I don't have much of an accent. Except when I struggle with what I want to say....Grrr.

The photo above is of me in the Plaza de Tendillas. I go there a lot. It's the main meeting point for all my friends when we want to hang together. It's pretty central. Sometimes if I just feel like going for a walk, I'll make a loop that includes the Plaza and the Roman Bridge. Today I went to the only bookstore I've found in Spain. The tragedy was that all the books there were extremely expensive. The cheapest book I found probably had no more than 100 pages and it cost 7.90 euros. Most of the books cost 20 euros or more....And they were all PAPERBACKS too. I think I spent 20 dollars on the last Harry Potter book, but that was in hard cover, and it was Harry Potter. I may still end up buying a book because the program here allows you to use reembolsos on cultural purchases. I just will have to only pick one book, and make sure I pick wisely.

The photo above is of the Plaza at night. Quite something. I love how they light up different parts of the city after dark. Makes it just as beautiful to look at. I took this photo, because for once I actually took the time to really look at the Plaza. I walk there nearly every day, and I just hadn't taken the time to see where I was. It is nice to be surprised with the beauty of your surroundings every now and again.

My mother comes to Spain the day after tomorrow. It will be nice to have her with me for 10 days. We're going to go to Sevilla and Granada this weekend, and then next weekend we're going to be in Toledo and Madrid. I have to show her all the awesome desserts I've found in Spain :)