La Comida

ENTRADA PARA CLASE: La comida en España es muy muy diferente que la comida en los Estados Unidos. Por ejemplo: Este es una merienda o desayuno muy popular se llama "churros con chocolate." Es muy delicioso. El chocolate es como chocolate caliente en los EEUU pero es mas denso. Los churros no tienen mucho azucar usualmente, pero en este restaurante hay azucar sobre los. Me gusta mucho :)

La Vida en un Hostel

ENTRADA PARA CLASE: Cuando estaba en Madrid, me quedé en un hostel se llama Las Musas Residence. Este fue mi tiempo primero en un hotel que yo reservé y compré, y con personas que no conocí nada. Llegué a las cinco de la tarde. Las personas que trabajan allí son muy agradables y hablan ingles. Traje mis bolsas pesadas arriba muchos pisos y escaleras (¡que pena!). La noche primera, mis compañeras de cuarto eran dos chicas de Bélgica. Fueron a Madrid para las vacaciones, y hablaron ingles tambien. Muchas personas en Madrid hablan ingles. La noche último, mi compañera de cuarto fue una mujer mayor de Uruguay. ¡Es muy raro para dormir en lo mismo cuarto con extrañas! Las camas en el hostel eran muy incómodas, y la ruida en las calles es terrible en las noches! No me dormí mucho. Para el desayuno tuvieron pan con cereal, mas que otras hosteles pero menos que el desayuno en los Estados Unidos. Mi parte favorito fue el wifi libre... :) ¡Fue un experiencia con cosas buenas y malas!

Estoy en Oviedo!

I made it to Oviedo! It's a very beautiful area. Everything is green because it rains so much here. It's cloudy and rainy right now, and feels a lot like Seattle. I live with an elderly couple in an apartment a few minutes away from the University, and they're very nice. If I understood correctly, they've hosted 10 students so far, so they had a printed list of rules ready for me when I came. It's much easier to understand written Spanish than spoken Spanish. Rules include meal times, how many showers I can take a day, how many rolls of toilet paper I get per week, and I have to make my bed every day! It's nothing unreasonable, so they must have had some problems in the past.

The food here is so different, but much better in Oviedo than in Madrid. This morning for breakfast my host-mom set a bowl (cereal bowl sized!) of hot milk and some little shortbread-like cookies down in front of me. I had no idea what to do with the bowl of milk! I tried to ask, but she didn't understand me and just asked if I wanted chocolate in it. So I ended up just dipping my cookies in it and spooning the rest, and that seemed to be correct...

A lot of the words I've learned for things are not used here. Today I learned "ordenador" for laptop, instead of "computadora portatil." They also say "marido" instead of "esposo" for husband. The "th" sound on c's and s's and z's is very difficult to understand after learning only Latin-American Spanish! But it's been less than a day and it's already getting better. Crossing my fingers that it gets easier!

Oh Toledo... Que hermosa!

Today I woke up at the crack of dawn to catch a bus to Toledo for the morning, and it was so worth it. Toledo is an old medieval town about an hour and a half away from Madrid, set up on a hilltop. It looks exactly like what everyone wants and expects Spain to look like. The streets are tiny and paved with cobblestones, edged by walls of tall apartment buildings and little shops. The apartments have old iron balconies with colorful flowers and pretty designs. It was almost like we'd stepped into a postcard. We arrived around 10am, which was perfect timing. Spanish people are not early risers at all. Most shops don't open until 10 or 11, and the crowds aren't really out and about until late afternoon.

Toledo!

There are lots of wild poppies around Toledo

Todo de la ciudad

Mira! mi apartamento del futuro! :D jk. so many scooters here

We beat the throngs to the old cathedral in the center of Toledo. It was absolutely stunning. It was started in the 13th century, but it took three centuries to finish so there are three different styles of architecture in the building. The inside is full of stained glass windows and intricate statues and paintings.

The main area 

y con yo

details!

We only stayed until early afternoon so we could hit the Palacio Real tour in Madrid before it closed. The rooms are so decadent! We got to see the chambers of King Carlos, the dining room, the royal pharmacy, and other rooms for no particular use. They have an entire room made of porcelain!

No photos allowed inside :( que triste

The Prado and the Reina Sofia

I made it through my first night in a hostel! It wasn't bad. My roommates were from Belgium and spoke English (just about everyone here does..) and they were quiet. Today we got up bright and early to hit the famous Prado Museum right when it opened. We got in line early and really lucked out with that decision. Turns out today is some sort of national museum day, so admission to all museums in Madrid is free for the day. There were a LOT of people there. The Prado is huge, but so beautiful. It's full of the famous works and masterpieces of artists from Spain and all over Europe. My favorites were pieces by El Greco and the depictions of mythology.

Before all the people showed up for free admission..

Next we stopped at the Real Jardín Botanico de Madrid right next door. I loved seeing all the familiar plants. Lots of rhododendrons, peonies, and climbing roses. I just might have to think about a destination wedding... ;)

Pretty roses!

Our last stop for the day was the Reina Sofia museum of modern art. To put it bluntly, I was bored out of my mind. There were very few pieces that I found worthwhile, and all of the staff was extremely preoccupied with letting me know that I could only hold my water bottle in the museum, not drink from it. The most interesting piece was the Guernica, and possibly the works on feminism. Needless to say, I was glad to leave. I finished the night by trying some "paella," a Spanish rice and seafood dish, and visiting the Plaza Mayor at nighttime and listening to some Mariachi in the Puerta del Sol.

 Tomorrow: Half-day trip to Toledo, a tour inside the Palacio Real, and maybe a little shopping.. :)

Day One

After a very long two days, I have arrived safely in Madrid! First flight went great, but the layover in LAX was pretty bad. Just so everyone knows, LAX does not have free wifi! Makes for a very long seven hours. Our flight to Madrid was delayed 50 minutes because of maintenance problems (!) but we made it on eventually. I slept like a baby. Better than the baby some silly parents felt the need to take to Madrid did... and the food wasn't bad either.

Our plane was huge!

It's strange to turn into the minority. English is the second listing on signs and announcements. Everyone on the plane was from different places. My seatmate had just finished an internship with L'ancome in LA and was headed back home to France, and the couple on the other side of me was from Israel. Everyone spoke at least some English though. We landed at 3:30pm, late, but safe. Time for the real adventure to begin!

I'm in Spain?!

We got out of the airport with no trouble at all. Spain has a very comprehensive metro system, all underground, and it goes anywhere you could want to go in the city. We found all our routes, hauled our luggage up tons of stairs, and finally got our first sight of home for the weekend.

and it's adorable! We dropped our luggage in our room at Las Musas Residence, and finished the day by meeting at the Puerta del Sol, a plaza in the center of Madrid, and heading out to check out the Plaza Mayor and the Palacio Real. Tomorrow: bright and early at the Prado Museum

Anxiety

It's one day before I leave for Spain and I can't believe it. I, of course, waited until today to pack everything. The thing I'm worrying about most is using euros and finding my way around. And missing my flights, getting pick-pocketed, running out of money, staying in a hostel, not being able to plug anything in, not having a phone, getting my fiance's camera stolen, etc. The more I think the more things I find to worry about! I'll be glad to be more settled in Oviedo, with a host family and a secure room. I'm excited to see what people are like in Europe. I've heard all kinds of things about how the culture is in Spain, like grocery shopping every day, cheek-kissing instead of a handshake, and not wearing shorts in public. Meal times are odd as well. If I get one thing out of this trip, I hope it's much better speaking skills!