Spain Fall 2005

Italy

2005-12-06T12:23:00.000-05:00

Dec 7
My trip to Italy may have been one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life (I feel like I say that every week.) We began our trip by taking a train into Florence. After checking into our hostel, we celebrated our arrival with hot chocolate and gelato.

We got an early start to our day on Friday, exploring beautiful Florence by visiting the Uffizi museum and the spectacular Duomo cathedral. We spent many hours walking around small picturesque side streets and ducking into cute cafes for coffee and gelato. Among the hours of exploring Italian street markets and googling at Italian men, we headed out to a classic Italian dinner – pizza and pasta – and spent the night at a bar called Faces.

Saturday morning we took a train to a Perugia. Ashely McGreevey (Rocky River!) is currently studying abroad in Perugia and gave us a guided tour of her town! It was exactly how I pictured Tuscany with the majestic fall leaves and the uphill-winding side streets. After our purchase of the very famous Perugian chocolates, we rode our train to our final destination: Rome.

They say a lifetime is not enough in Rome, and 2 days – even less. However our short time in Rome did not deter us from seeing everything we possibly could. We began with our night tour of the Colosseum – stunning. Sunday morning we got up bright and early to see St. Peter’s Basilica. Words cannot express the emotions I felt as we walked the street leading to the Vatican. After attending mass in the basilica and admiring the Pieta, we left the Basilica in search for lunch. However, as we exited the basilica, we noticed a large crowd staring up into a Vatican building. I casually asked a security guard what was going on and received the astonishing answer that the Pope was about to speak. So there I was, simply by chance, standing in St. Peter’s Plaza, watching the Pope address a crowd in Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, German, and French. Right place, right time? I am still in shock.

After being blessed by the pope, our amazing day continued with visit to the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain (for lovers), Plaza Spagna, and Plaza Navarro (open street market.) The entire day was exhilarating to the point where we would leave one location to visit another, and when you though the city couldn’t get any more amazing – somehow it did.

Monday morning we visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Once again I was dumbfounded. We ended the day by returning to St. Peter’s Basilica and climbing the dome for the most beautiful view of Rome. I cannot even talk about Italy without becoming overwhelmed. This trip was the perfect climax to our traveling adventures.

Less than two weeks and I feel like I just got here. As excited as I am about going home, I know it is going to be extremely difficult to leave behind this amazing semester and return to reality.

Parents visit!

2005-11-26T11:42:00.000-05:00

Nov 26

I had such a blast hanging out with my parents in Spain. I felt so blessed to be able to show my parents my world in Madrid and introduce them to the amazing people I have met here.

Together we enjoyed such delicious Spanish food, watched a flamenco show, visited the Palacio Real, took a trip down to Sevilla, and got to catch up after almost 2.5 months of not being together! They even had a chance to visit the Esocobedos. I even got to take my parents out and experience the unreal Madrid night life! I was so proud to show them my city :)

Greece

2005-11-26T10:28:00.000-05:00

Nov 26

Despite minor delays in Milan due to fog we arrived at our wonderful destination, Athens Greece. Home of the 2004 Olympics. Such a historically vibrant city that just echoes ancient ruins and the thoughts brilliant of philosophers.

We were so lucky to be traveling with our little Greek girl, Christina. She was our wonderful guia for the weekend through the Parthenon, night life, coffee on the beach, and Delphi. We even had the pleasure of staying at her apartment for the trip.

I have to mention food considering that half of this trip was spent eating. Our travel group of 8 could not get enough feta cheese, meats, veggies, and CREPES! One day we literally got up to drink coffee and watch the sunset on the beach. Overall another amazing trip!!

Paris

2005-11-13T08:08:00.000-05:00

I fell in love with Paris.

Definitely comes very close to Madrid as my favorite city. I traveled with the lovely Francesca to Paris on Thursday where we stayed in the 6th arrondissment with my cousins Lola and Max. The whole weekend was filled with non-stop french fun and amazing memories.

Thursday night we headed to the Eiffel Tower where we were greeted by Emily (Francesca´s friend who is studying abroad in Paris). We drank french wine while waiting till 11pm for the Eiffel Tower to sparkle. Every night the Eiffel Tower literally turns into a dazzling christmas tree on the hour for about 10 minutes and can be seen throughout the city.

Friday morning after a quick incident of being locked in the apartment, Francesca, Emily, and I explored the streets of Paris including scattered shopping, french cafes, Notre Dame, La Louvre (of course we saw the mona lisa), Les Jardins de Tulieres, and la Place de la Concorde. At night, Max and Lola took us out for fabulous french cuisine followed by a crazy night of dancing at a french club. I´ll just briefly mention key words about the night including Francesca, Madonna, Material Girl, and Euros.

Saturday afternoon included a visit to Montmarte and La Sacre Coeur. Here we were able to meet up with my other cousin Sacha and Pat (friend of Katie Donnelly´s also studying in Paris.) Montmarte is a bit bohemian and encompassed everything french you can imagine. We even got amazing creapes!
Towards the evening we went out for drinks (and bread & cheese.)

Saturday morning, Fran and I went to a french farmer´s market to buy ingredients for our big american pancake breakfast we planned to make for our wonderful hosts. We had tons of fun trying to speak french and . . . we ate more creapes! I love french food. However, our american breakfast was quite a success.

This weekened was wonderful not only because I was in able to enjoythe city of lights and practice my french, but I also had the opportunity to spend time with family I hadn´t see in way too long. After being in withdrawal from lack of cheese, bread, pastries, and NUTELLA, I return to Madrid for 2 days before leaving for Greece on Tuesday!

Cordoba and Granada

2005-10-27T12:22:00.000-04:00

Oct 27

Well . . . last weekend was our BU group trip to Cordoba and Granada. We stayed in Cordoba from Thursday to Friday morning and headed to Granada for the rest of the weekend. What a crazy trip! In Cordoba we went to see the Mezquita, and in Granada we saw the Alhambra. Both of these were AMAZING. It was just overwhelming.

This weekend we also had two 21st birthdays in the group – Alec and Mark! We took part in the “Botellon” in Cordoba, and the university night life in Granada. On our way home we also stopped at the Don Quixote Windmills.

Mallorca

2005-10-18T17:26:00.000-04:00

Oct 18

This past weekend I traveled to Mallorca (island off the coast of Spain) with Aileen and Baylee. We were invited to go by Javi (a Spanish friend who we met through my cousin Astrid.) His uncle was so kind and put us up in a hotel with an ocean view! Not to mention Javi took us out to fabulous lunches and dinners at historical European homes and hotels. Unfortunately it rained all weekend on “the island where the sun always shines,” however this gave us a unique opportunity to explore the island instead of just laying on the beach (our original plan). On Saturday we played in Castle Bellver, exploring every inch of it and taking fabulous pictures from the top of the castle.
After the castle, we drove to a small town called Valledemosa which lies in the mountains of Mallorca. The town was so cute and also had an incredible view of Palma de Mallorca.
Night life in Mallorca was a blast – especially since we had access to all of the clubs currently “de moda”. Overall just another amazing weekend!

P.S. Since my last post I have decided to travel to Paris and Greece in November and to Italy in December!! And . . . my parents are coming to visit in November! So happy!

Salamanca

2005-10-02T06:47:00.000-04:00

Oct 2

After our Real Madrid night (and a long day of classes and work), we went out to celebrate our friend Baylee’s birthday (Northwestern). We went to a famous restaurant called Gula Gula. This restaurant had amazing food and was followed by a very interesting show . . . a drag show. Yes, this was my first experience and I could not stop laughing the entire way through.

This past weekend we went to Salamanca from Friday morning to Saturday night. Salamanca is about 2.5 hours away from Madrid. We took our bus there Friday morning, found a cute hostel, and took our siestas till about 6pm. Salamanca is pretty much a college town, famous for its night life supported by the students. Our night out was fabulous – making it our 3rd consecutive night with less than 3 hours of sleep. The next day we explored much of the historic part of Salamanca including the gardens of San Esteban, the Cathedral, and the Convent. Such a beautiful European city, I loved it.

REAL MADRID

2005-09-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

Oct 2

This past week has just been non-stop jam-packed full of Spain craziness. We started things off right by attending our first Real Madrid soccer game. We went all out supporting our home town team with the official jerseys and we only pay $25 for seats that were 10 rows back and had the most amazing view of the game. Real Madrid won (of course!) 2-1 against a Greek team called Olympiacos. I can’t believe I live on the same street as the stadium. Our street becomes crazy with the 64,000 fans that were there, I would almost compare it to Fenway Park except it feels like every game is the World Series here. Just an amazing experience – can’t wait to do it again (I might just become a Real Madrid addict).

Last week I also attended a Flamenco show. It was called Tarantos, a Romeo and Juliet type romance but through the beautiful dance of flamenco. You have no idea how tempted I am to take flamenco classes here!!

Toledo

2005-09-24T14:42:00.000-04:00

Sept 24

Friday was our first BU program trip. We went to Toledo (about an hour and a half outside Madrid) to look at some of the topics we've been discussing in our classes. Our bus first stopped outside the city so that we could take a look at the view of the entire city. Incredible.

We arrived in Toledo and took a giant escalator up a mountain to the main part of the city. Since Toledo used to be Spain's capital until 1560, it has a lot of historical significance including the most important Cathedral in all of Spain. Amalia (my history professor) gave us a guided tour of the cathedral. We then had free time for about 4 hours which we spent exploring the beautiful narrow streets of Toledo. After free time we met up at the church of Saint Tomes that houses one of El Greco's most famous works, "El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz." It was so neat being able to see it in person and know that it's the REAL one.

After the church we head to a Jewish synagogue called synagogue of the transit. Overall, it was such a great day for just exploring and learning. The great thing about being here is that we will sit in class one day and read about a cathedral, and the next week we will be inside staring up at the amazing structure. I still feel like I'm on vacation - it hasn't quite hit me that I will be here for 3 months!

Barcelona

2005-09-20T06:31:00.000-04:00

Sept 20

Oh wow what a crazy week! This week I began my classes and my internship at the Women’s World Bank. Classes have been going great. I am taking 3 classes including History of Spanish Culture, Contemporary Spanish Novels, and Spain & the EU. All of my professors are wonderful. They are so passionate about what they teach and these classes are so interesting because everyday I am learning something new about the wonderful country and world I am in!

My internship at the Women’s World Bank has also been quite an experience. I am working directly for the president of the organization; however my first week was a bit frustrating. This first week has involved lots of secretary type work, such as answering the phones, which is quite difficult considering how fast the Spanish speak! It is one thing to be able to talk in Spanish to someone in person, and quite another to try to take down phone numbers, names, and address over the phone. Although I was very overwhelmed at first, I feel I have definitely improved and this second week has been more of what I hoped I would be doing at WWB. I have been doing lots of translating from Spanish to English of partner’s websites as well as using my French! Soon I will be helping to plan for a big WWB Conference in November. I am very excited to begin working on that!

This past week was INCREDIBLE. A group of 8 of us decided last minute to head to Barcelona (before it starts to get colder). The group included BU, Northwestern, and Michigan students. We took a 9 hour train ride from Madrid to Barcelona, where we laid in train beds that were the size of about half a normal twin size bed. We left at 10pm on Thursday night and arrived in Barcelona at 7am on Friday morning. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience but definitely worth the ride, especially when we arrived to beautiful Barcelona and headed directly for the Beach!! It was so hot and just gorgeous. We spent the day at Port Vello and enjoyed swimming in the Mediterranean. Later in the afternoon, we left the beach and checked in at our Hostel. The Sun and Moon Hostel was surprisingly very nice! We had one room for the 8 of us, and we shared one private bathroom. It was like going to summer camp . . . Friday night we went out for a little but were extremely exhausted from the trip and had an early night.

Saturday morning we awoke to LOTS OF RAIN, so we decided we would head to the Picasso Museum. The Museum was great, and I ended up buying lots of postcards – my favorite part of the museum was seeing Picasso’s renditions of Velazquez’s Las Meninas. Saturday night we went to a club called City Hall. We arrived at 2am (considered early for the Spanish) and since we didn’t know where we were going in the club we accidentally walked into the V.I.P. room. We ended up being able to sit all night out on this gorgeous balcony and pretend we were really important. We had a blast and didn’t sleep all night – we ended up having to go back to our room and having to check out of the hostel. I would do it over again in a heartbeat.

After checking out of the hostel on Sunday Morning, a couple of us decided to go to church at Barcelona’s Cathedral Basilica. The cathedral was beautiful and gave us all goose bumps. The entire mass was said in either Latin or Catalan. After mass, we walked around Barcelona, watched street performers, stopped at Farmer’s Market (they had chocolate cheese and spicy chocolate), and had a small lunch. We then headed to La Sagrada Familia designed by Antoni Gaudí I have never seen anything more impressionable in my life. Gaudí worked on the cathedral for 40 years of his life until he died in 1926. The cathedral is still unfinished, and as you can tell by the scaffolding – it still has a long way to go. We walked all the way up the stairs through a tiny winding staircase and had the chance to look at the amazing view of Barcelona. After taking a billion pictures of la Sagrada Familia, we went to Park Guell, the home and park designed by Gaudí. The park looks like a crazy fun land with beautiful mosaics and homes. From the top of a hill at the park we had an incredible view of the one of the things Barcelona is most famous for: the contrast between the mountains, the ocean, and the huge city – all together. We were speechless.

After a wonderful weekend in Barcelona, we headed back for a 9 hour train ride arriving in Madrid at 7am . . . and going to work at 9am. Running on almost no sleep but definitely worth it! Thank god for the Spanish siesta ;)

Paseo por Retiro

2005-09-11T12:54:00.000-04:00

Saturday night was quite an experience. My cousin Astrid, who lives in Venezuela, gave my email address to her Madrid friend Javi. After tapas (small Spanish appetizers), we met up with him and his friend David. They took us to a Spanish festival/carnival right outside Madrid. We had a great time just riding the rides and mingling with the locals. After the carnival, we went to a couple clubs, called Ciao and Graduado, where Javi and David are involved with public relations. The clubs we went to were very high class and supposedly many of the Real Madrid players go there to party. Although we had a great night, the most difficult part was finding our way home. Since we had only been to our home stays once, and mostly just knew the street names, it became quite an adventure trying to find them. Not only was locating our homes difficult, but getting into them (we have about 3 different keys to unlock 4 different doors) turned out to not be so easy as well. I’m pleased to say that we all safely made it into our homes . . . eventually.

Sunday morning, our group met at El Parque de Retiro. This park is comparable to New York City’s Central Park. It is just beautiful. We walked around the park for awhile and then traveled to El Museo del Prado. Amalia (one of the directors) gave us a bit of history on the places we saw. After our group outing, I returned to my home on the metro for a delicious lunch prepared by Menchi (that’s what my Senora Carmen wants me to call her!) Tonight will be lots of relaxing and preparing for classes that begin tomorrow. I also have my first meeting at my internship. All VERY exciting! Time for a siesta – I love the Spanish life.

Housing

2005-09-10T08:05:00.000-04:00

Sept 9

Friday morning we had our housing meeting. At this meeting we discussed cultural differences and expectations for our home stays. We will only be able to take 1 QUICK shower a day, two loads of laundry (1 dark, 1 light) a week, and our “Senora” cooks us 3 meals a day. We do not receive dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, instead we receive a 20 Euro stipend for the two meals on those days. I should also mention that the BU program is all about reimbursing its students for travel expenses such as the metro (100 Euros a semester) and for cultural activities (6 euros per activity). Not bad!

We received our housing assignments, directions, and a map. I will be living with Senora Carmen Menchi González de Ubieta Larrainzar and her 26-year-old daughter Marta. My new address for the semester will be:

Avenida General Perón, 6 - 4◦C
28020 Madrid
SPAIN

The number for the home is 011.34.91.571.59.70. Tomorrow we will move into our new homes!

Tonight, our group of 11 girls went out for a traditional Spanish dinner. Spanish dinner is typically around 10 or 11pm. We found an alley that had restaurants full of people. We had wonderful Paella (a typical Spanish dish of saffron rice and assorted seafood), and we spent hours just talking about our new city. After dinner we went out for “chocolate y churros”, which is fried dough dipped in warm chocolate. The Spanish typically enjoy this treat during the early hours of the morning after returning from the clubs.

Sept 10

Ahh! I couldn’t sleep at all last night because I was so nervous about my home stay. I must be the luckiest girl in the whole world! I have the best home stay ever. Senora Carmen is amazing. She is so young and energetic. She has 6 kids (all grown up and married). Her daughter, Marta, just moved in with her boyfriend. She has been having students for more than 12 years. She has been living in this apartment for about 15 years; I think she started housing students after she split from her husband. She even works near the institute. I am so excited about finally getting settled in!

My room is perfect! I have a twin size bed, a desk, and a very good size closet. I even have my own bathroom!! Not to mention that I connected my computer and for some reason I have wireless internet – I couldn’t ask for anything more!

The apartment is very nice! I can see the Real Madrid Stadium! The neighborhood is perfect too. It’s busy, but not too loud, and full of stores, restaurants, and bars. So cool! Right now we are about to have lunch together outside on the balcony. A graduated BU student Senora Carmen housed is even coming to eat with us. The BU student loved Spain so much she decided to come live here for a year after she graduated. I am a lucky, lucky girl.

Departure & Arrival

2005-09-10T07:58:00.000-04:00

I began my trip flying from Cleveland to New York, and then taking the group flight from New York to Paris, and finally one final flight from Paris to Madrid. I left at 3:30pm on Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Madrid at 2pm Wednesday afternoon (Madrid is 6 hours ahead). The flights went well, especially on Air France where each seat is equipped with a personally controlled television as well as delicious French food and wine. After the flight attendant handed me my sleeping mask, I spent most of the flight in deep sleep.

Arriving in Madrid, our group was met by the director of the BU program Ray Green. Although very excited about arriving in Madrid, we did run into a small travel problem. Because of the short time connection between Paris and Madrid, not all of the luggage had made our flight. Thus, I was stuck in the same clothes for 3 days, without a single item. You cannot imagine my happiness when I finally received both of my bags Thursday afternoon.

From the airport we took a giant bus to our hotel, Hotel Paris, and were given our roommates and our rooms. We did some exploring around the Puerto Del Sol area, and I got a SIM chip for my cell phone. My new Spanish # is 011-34-697-402-166 (In Spain, all incoming calls and text messages are free – so call me!!). Later that night, we began our 3 day orientation session with a meeting for our internships followed by dinner at the Hotel Regina. I LOVE Spanish food!

Later that evening, although extremely jet-lagged, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out the Madrid nightlife. A few of us went to a bar called Don Belayo, and spent the evening there.

The next morning, we woke up, had a traditional Spanish breakfast, and headed to the International Institute where we will be taking our classes. We had many more meetings, picked out our classes, and explored our new school. The International Institute is compromised of 4 universities including, Boston University, Syracuse University, SUNY, and Accent. In the BU group, we have students from BU, Northwestern, Rhodes College, University of Michigan, Stanford, Brandeis, New School, and Wake Forrest. The classes I will be taking this semester include the internship, Spain and the EU, History of Spanish Culture, and Contemporary Spanish Literature. I have my first meeting with my internship supervisor on Monday morning at El Banco Munidal de la Mujer.

After orientation, a small group of us decided to walk back to the hotel and check out the sights of Madrid. What a beautiful city! The architecture is just breathtaking. I cannot wait to do more exploring.

We had our Spanish dinner at the hotel followed by a crazy night of exploring some of Madrid’s finest clubs including Cibeles, Dreams, and Palacio Galavario. It was also one of the girls’ 21st birthday. (I have noticed I am the youngest person here, most of the students are juniors and seniors and will be turning 21 while in Madrid this semester). Overall, we met many Madridenos and were able to get tons of Spanish practice.

Welcome!

2005-08-24T22:02:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my Spain Fall 2005 Blog! I will be posting descriptions and pictures of my study abroad adventures in Europe this fall. I will be leaving Cleveland, Ohio on September 6, 2005 and returning December 16, 2005. Along with taking 3 classes at the Boston University International Institute of Spain, I will be participating in an internship at the The Women's World Bank (see link). I will be missing everyone from home and BU! I hope this site will be a great way for us to keep in touch!

¡Bienvenidos a mi Blog de España en Otoño 2005! Con este Blog, podré poner descripciones y fotos de mis aventuras estudiando en Europa. Me voy de Cleveland, Ohio el 6 de Septiembre 2005 y regresaré el 16 de Diciembre 2005. Además de tomar 3 clases en el Boston University Instituto Internacional de España, participaré en una pasantía con el Banco Mundial de la Mujer (vea el link). ¡Todos de mi hogar y BU me harán muchísima falta! ¡Esperó que este Blog ayudará a mantenernos en contacto!