Geeking out in Madrid on Sunday.

First off, for this weekend I did not plan any trips just to stay here in Alcalá the last weekend and try to enjoy it for what it is worth. On friday night I just stayed in Alcalá and we ended up just hanging out behind the shool talking and watching life go by in the plaza behind the school. We played soccer with some local kids behind the school as well as watch a guy get rejected from a good night kiss, a dispute erupt in a restaurant near the school, and some drunk teenagers (shame on them). It was pretty hilarious see the police come back with this insanely angry Spanish man, and a guy shouting from his balcony at them to shut up. On Saturday, I went to the pool with one of my classmates and we meet some other students at the pool and had a good time talking, of course only in Spanish, and later we went to his house and drank some wine and made Italian food. Sunday, I spent 6 hours geeking out at the Prado with an audioguide, it was bliss because I was by myself and didn´t have to have anyone rush me. I certainly took my time because I know that I´m not going to come back anytime soon. I used my Alcalingua student ID to get a 4 euro discount yes! and I got an audioguide for 3.50 euros. I enjoyed listening to the commentary because you don´t notice some of the stuff one your own without someone telling you. For me, I like to geek out with historical audioguide, I certainly did enjoy learning about what a creep Goya was, but Velasqúez seems like a normal type of guy. If I had to pick a favorite part of the Prado I would choose the 0 floor where all the Midevil paintings are, they have the most interesting stories behind them to me, well the audioguide had the most interesting stories in the basement. I learned a lot about Fransico Goya and his early to late works, I prefer his earliest works the most because they are very jovial and consist of stories and they were created when he was working for the royal tapestry factory. His paintings were to be made into tapestries for nobles´ houses. His dark period pinturas negras are insane, some you may know might be ¨Colosus¨ or ¨Saturn devouring his children¨, this guy was insanely disturbed, but that is most likely because he was sick two times in his life and not to mention he was sordo or deaf. I found some goodies for my older brother Jameson, its going to be a surprise for his birthday I think. That is it for my weekend. I had two tests today which I hope I made good marks on because I studied 4 days in a long way without distrations for my grammar test.

Coming home in 3 days, but I´m going to miss this place!

New Granada picture

To the left is a preview of my Granada pictures. This pictures turned out suprisingly well because I was just playing around. So Mom here is a picture to put on your mantle if you like.

MY "you know you're in Spain or Alcala when..."

1.You see a Mercedez-Benz garbage truck collecting trash
2.You think the streets smell at first and then grow accustomed to it.
3. Topless women at beaches use to bother you but now it is not such a big deal to you.
4. You come home at a normal hour for example 12:00-1:00 in the morning
5. You see kids in bars with their parents until this hour
6. Kids are walking around at 12 or later either playing in the streets or a paseo with their mothers.
7. You take siestas in the afternoons
8. You to go Madrid at least 2 or 3 times a week
9. You take a bus, train, or walk everywhere.
10. You have no AC (air conditioner) in your bedroom and you therefore want to sleep naked or in your underwear
11. You see your underwear hanging from the balcony of you apartment
12. Grow accustomed to NO free refills
13. Bums pass out photcopies in color on the train saying "i'm poor....."
14. Guys or Girls pass you and call or shout at you "guapa" meaning pretty
15. You see women breast feeding publicly on trains (still have not got use to that one yet)
16. You think you speak English to your American friends and it comes out in Spanish
17. When your house mom tries to feed you squid in its own ink (other students)
18. Your clothes have not been washed in 3 weeks (other students)
19. You get excited about free refills from hard crock cafe in Madrid
20. You get SUPER excited about seeing Harry Potter and Transformers 2 in English
21. You go to McDonalds and cheat the one euro system by ordering a euro ice cream cone without the KitKat making it 80 cents
22. You plan trips at the last minute
23. you Eat tapas as meals because your house mom wants to fatten you up at lunch
24. You grow accustomed to eating at 3 and sleeping until 7.
25. You think you are going to die 10 years earlier from all the second hand smoke
26. You never grow accustomed to how some people stil smell Yuck!
27. You ride the Madrid Metro just for a cheap 1 euro thrill as one person said "it's like a roller coaster that stops"

Need a New update about school and San Sebastian

We have exams on Monday of next week and the grammar is getting so confusing. I feel like I am learning alot more with my teachers this month than last month. The Chinese kids are as cool as ever and I am ready to go home to Starkville or wherever, to start real school and let things get back into reality. This weekend I will be studying trying to made good grades even though it is only pass or fail. Last weekend we went to San Sebastian where it rained and shined. We did not want to leave at all at first we had this expensive hotel room booked, but later we canceled it so that we could stay for 34 euros in an international youth hostal. It was really fun and we all had a positive experience, not to mention we got to get a real international experience sleeping in a room with 18 girls who probably all spoke more than one language. That night we went out to see some things and walk streets and find a place to eat. We ended up at this place we call "disco burger" even though that is not even close to its name. In San Sebastian there were many English speakers which suprised me even more. I expected French to be spoken more but it really was not. John Mark and Whit ended up renting a scooter to go around town with and the winde ended up blowing it over which they had to pay 90 euros for eek, poor guys. What I enjoyed the most was kiyaking in the big blue bay, it was so much fun and there were a few islands that you could row to and get off. The beach was beautiful and the weather was not to hot, not to cold. It was warm enough to get into the water and not freeze, and it was cold enough not to sweat while walking a long distance. I have the idea of buying a sail boat and just living in the bay of San Sebastian instead of renting an expensive flat or apartment. I would definatly want to go back. The Basque region is really pretty, somewhat temporate, and the weather certainly beats Alcala. I would rather have school in San Sevastian than here in Alacala, but at least Madrid is close to us. We took the bus to San Sebastian and back, it was not as great on the way back because the AC in the bus decided to break and we were stuck at a bus stop for an hour waiting for a new one.

Granada

So I went to Granada this weekend and I took my skip day off on Thrudsday. We took a five hour train ride over and it was SO long, but the landscape was ok. So I tried to sleep most of the time. When we got there we walked around and found a great place to eat which we got a three course meal for 10 euros. I had Paella and it was the best I had so far. Granada is definatly different from what I've seen and the people aren't as in such a rush. The next day we walked up to the Alhambra in the morning at about 9 and took time seeing the sites when we got there. There was a palace to see, a fort, many gardens, and Charles the 5th's palace. It was very impressive my favorite part was the general life gardens which were really beautiful. Everything was pretty, but my favorite was the garden part. The palace was not as impressive because you had to pay to get into a museum and I wasn't going to do that when ticket in were 12 euros. The buildings were very pretty and I enjoyed staying were we did, we were close to the Alhambra which made the walk up a little more bearable. The train ride on the way back was much better because we didn't have to stop as long. The Nazarines was beautiful there were intricatly detailed walls with moorish architecture of course lots of tourist in all my pictures. We returned from Granada around Sunday and took the train to Toledo the same day to see it again.

Quick post before my quest to Granada this weekend

So, I came up here early at the school to use the computers since it is hard to use during school hours, always crowded with Americans checking their facebook... not me during school hours. We are going to Granada as in some of us to check out the Alhambra and see some other sites like the burial place of Queen Isabel and her consort, but not king Ferdinand. It should be really interesting, I hear that it is full of gypsies that live in caves, beware! Gypsies aren´t really dangerous but they will certainly rob you in a ¨New York minute¨. My watch has finally decided to come back to life after a dip in the public pool in Alcalá, which makes me happy because I don´t have to buy another one and get ripped off at some China store on the Plaza Mayor. I am leaving for Granada to take a train at about 7¨ tonight and then we will not be coming back to Alcalá until Sunday afternoon. On the way, we are going to see Toledo again because I got shut out but nuns, an archbishop, a rabbi, and last but not least the people at the art museum in Toledo, whose name I am not able to recall. Shut out as in ´Lo siento estamos cerrando´. Tough luck eh? For those who actually do read this blog without comments, what would be prefer to hear more about? I have gotten good reviews from some colleagues and of course my parents.

Hook handed guitar Player

Hotdogs, 4th of July, and Madrelano Movies

Well a lot occured this weekend, it was not terribley boring. First off on Saturday we celebrated the 4th of July by eating hotdogs at a place on calle Mayor it was so cheap and good. Then followed by the dining festivities we went behind the school and told stories while some had drinks and others like me just listened to some freaky stores. It reminded me of telling ghost stories around campfires. We had Erin May who really wanted "Jimmy" to quit telling scary stories because it was night and the moon was shining beautifully on the old church in front of the school. Jeremy's story consisted of a girl who was babysitting who childen, whom after fell asleep she began to pick up toys. After a while she called the mother of the children to see what time she would be home and what do to with this clown toy. After the mother heard about the clown toy she told the girl to get the kids and run because this toy was actually a midget living in the house and playing with the children. Freaky no? After that I went home but I also got to go to the pool to work on my tan which isn't really developing. The next day, we go to Madrid to see some stuff and go to El Rastro just because its Sunday and we are there. John Mark Skinner buys a nice looking soccer jersey and I ended up buying a nice leather purse, I love it. We went in search of a movie theatre with Transformers in English, after searching for one near Grand Via we found it, but they did not have Transformers. After giving up there, we walk back to the one we find near the Plaza Mayor and BINGO! We were able to watch Transformers in English and it was amazing.

More Videos of the cancion in clase de gramatica

Mexican food and a long bus ride to the Hipercor

Today, I went to the Corte Ingles to find some mexican food to cook for my family. I went to the supermarket around my local area to get what I could for some cheap prices like tomatoes for .25 cents for two and some meat for 1.60 for half a kilogram. So I took that home, and next I took a 40 minutes bus ride all the way to this super grocerystore to find my mexican food. It was great when I got it all cooked and finally got to eat it. It was easier than I thought it was to cook even though the instructions were written in Spanish. Other than that I have ben sitting her bored, just waiting for school to start. And I found out tomorrow that I don't have class. Terrible, I will be bored. I guess I'll just have to go to the pool tomorrow or get around to seeing some museums that I have been wanting to see like the house of Cervantes or this archeological museum that is round the cardinal's palace. I am putting up videos for everyone to see of Alcala, one is of the Plaza de Cervantes at night and the is us singing in our Grammar class.

New Hair Cut

For those who want to see my new hair cut, its in my profile picture. If not good enough, see facebook later.

Friday night in Madrid and Monday Graduation and Salvador Dali

This weekend was a nice quiet weekend here in Alcala, I decided to stay the weekend here to save my skip day. On Friday night, Saul, Caroline, and I decided to go to dinner at a great restaurant in Madrid where we got a 3 course meal for 10 euros. It was amazing food and we left Alcala about 9:30 and arrived in Madrid about 10:15 and it was about 10:30 by the time we made it to the restaurant. When we finished at about 12:00ish we walked to the Plaza Mayor to see what was going on and to meet with other students. While we were there we encountered an Arabian festival where we sampled some of their desserts. It was quite entertaining, at about 2ish we get tired of walking about and catch a taxi to go to the Avenue de la Americas where we caught out bus home. No one was drinking and we had a fun time without trouble. On Sunday, I went to El Rastro and bought some really cool coins for some good prices, as well as a suprise for my elder brother. I bought Jamara the fans she wanted and Aimee Nagy bought some posters and gifts for her parents, it was very fun! Also on Saturday, I got to go to a free Salvador Dali exhibition, which was amazing, because A it was free, and second, we just finished a class at school about Dali. I felt like I could appreciate Dali's work more after having the class and understanding more about his work and the symbols he puts in his art.
Finally, Monday, we have our graduation but we had to watch a movie in Grammar class, it was insanely disturbing. It was about this girl who has different lives and they keep hypnotizing her to see more of the cause of her pain, but she lives in a artist's school with alot of other people and has this boyfriend named Said. It was filled of course with sex, nudity, and frightening convulsions coming from this girl named Ana, again, I did not much care for the movie dispite my trying to keep an open mind. In conversation class with Jesus, we went to a coffee shop that was cleverly hidden off Calle Mayor. There we just talked about what we were going to do after classes were over and plants that grow in different countries that are expensive to by in Spain, Brazil, or in the USA. At 1:30 we had our graduation where all the MSU students passed, or so I think. Attendance, was laking but they were all taking their grand trips to Granada, Portugal, Rome, or some other place. But me, me quedo en Alcala. I stayed in Alcala because I am going to have my grand trip in two weeks to Granada.

Choa,
CDM

Michael Jackson :(, Merengue in Grammar Class, and sexual movies

So I found out that Michael Jackson is dead, I was like No, that was so sad! I really loved his music and odd public antics. Rest in peace and may your lawsuit troubles be laid to rest. Now on to a more happier note. I got to use my "mad hot ballroom" skills in class and started teaching the Chinese kids how to dance, it was so much fun. I have a recording that I will put on up youtube for all to see the song we sang in class. I do have some dance pictures but not any videos, sorry guys. It was a fun day of school. After grammar class we went to Jesus's class of conversation... well we just watched a movie with the level 4 fluent kids which are ALL Chinese with the exception of my Morracan friend Unaz. The Chinese kids are really cool they actually do go out and watch soccer games with us in the Irish Pub. The the movie we watched in conversation class was in your face culture shock. You have all these Chinese kids who think nothing about it and the American kids sitting in the back covering their eyes from all the nudity. It was a musical about cheating couples, I found it quite wierd and definably not my cup of tea. I guess the thing that I have a hard time getting over is the casuality of sex on TV, even the news shows naked people and dead people on TV with blood gushing everywhere. Americans are definably very conservative in comparision to Spain.

International Relations Simulation Game- Spanish Style and USA FIFA victory against Spain

Yesterday, we had class as always, it was ok. Then, for our last class of the day it was culture class, which we just finished up a art section about Dali and how he was a classic painter as well as surrelist painter and all the symbols in his artwork and what they mean. After that section we began the history of Spain and since we only have three days to talk about it we played a turn table game including the guardia civil, socialistas, comunistas, El Rey juan carlos, and another group which I am not able to recall. Our teacher, which is this really Spanish macho guy with a big boombing voice, think of the Man in the Iron Mark characters. All this man lacks is a long ponytail of curls. So we proceeded to "negociate" between these polical groups, I was in the communist group and we either had the optoin to work with King Juan Carlos, or either start a revolution. The year is 1975 or something and we proceded to start a revolution since the government was weak and the socialistas wanted some change of government so we said why not. But all of this was done in Spanish of course. So after that class I went back to my casa and took a three hour siesta and studied until about 8:30, from that time until about 10:4o ish I go to this Irish pub to watch the soccer match between Spain and the USA and have a drink with a group of MSU students. It was insane! You had Spainards yelling for their side and all the Americans which were many cheering for their side after we made goals after goals. After that I went back to my casa and studied some more until about 1:00ish and went back to sleep!

Toledo, land of the valient

On Sunday we decied to make a trip to Toledo the train tickets were about 15 euros for a thirty minute train ride. I know that I dropped alot of money in Toledo on 22 yr old Jameson a little gladius sword almost 2 feet long and mom some jewelry, as well as some gormet caramel squares for Dad. I got to use alot of my Spanish on the trip and it felt great to be able to easily communicate and understand everything . First off, when we got off the train we took the thirty minute walk up to the Plaza, it was worth it, I really think we went the wrong way but we ended up making it alright anyways. The views were very very beautiful, and the plaza had a nice shade to it. When we got to the plaza we tried to decide what we wanted to see so how about El Greco's house? NOPE didn't get to see it, shut down to rennovation. Also we tried to go to the synagoge across the street, totally got down out of that one too because it closed at 2. After that we were thinking, well lets go see the cathedral, it was shut up so tight, so I asked on of the guys telling postcards what was going on and if the cathedral was always closed or something. He told me that it was closed for a religious event, which happened to be the installation of the next Archbishop of Toledo. After that we go back to the plaza thinking damn, we aren't going to get to see anything, so we had two last ploys that being going to the FREE Santa Cruz museum or go to a monestary with a tour given by nuns. We didn't make either, but we did get to go into the Cathedral, we were going to stay for the installation but we decided that it would be better if we left so we could catch the train. We did take picture, we probably weren't supposed to but we did anyways and left. I still think the one in Segovia is better but then again i didn't know its history. Next and lastly we tried to go to the Santa Cruz museum because it was on our way out, that totally didn't happen and we ended up taking a detour over the old ancient bridge we wanted to walk over on our way to the train station. We got some really good pictures and that was my favorite part of the trip, I loved the moorish architecture. The only real official site we got to see was Sao Tome, which was fine, but it was just a piece of art in a chapel. I can say it is my favorite El Greco painting, and the trip to Toledo was fun because I got to load up on some treasures, some cheap other moderate. I think I will take a trip back to see the official sites. THE END.

Water Parks and The Amazing Race

There was a car bombin in the Basque region of Spain on Friday which caused an interupption in the palns of some of the student here who wanted to go to San Sabastien. Well anyways on Saturday the 20th, we went to the water park to have some good American fun instead of see sites. To get to the "huge" water part we had to take the train, Madrid subway aka "metro", and a bus to get there which took us all two hours. It was a crazy bus ride on the way back because this Spanish girl was playing American music and everyone got excited, even these British guys on their bachelor party. So when Taylor Swift started playing you know half the Americans on the bus started singing even the Spanish folks, it was insane. It felt like we had to compete in the amazing race because there was a big hype in making it on time to the water park so we could have fun and when we had to take the Madrid Metro it was go go go go , the subway wasn't going to wait on you and of course shady characters, so everyone needed to watch their purse/backpack/pockets. It was really interesting if I had to take the Metro by myself I would miss every single stop, well not everyone. I felt like since I've been here I have mastered train stations and how they work. Also, when I arrived here I spoke about 4mph and now about 20-25 mph. We have exams today and tomorrow, Necessito estudiar.

Theatro de Cervantes y La Estrella de Sevilla (The Star of Sevilla)

So last night I went to see a play called the Star of Sevilla, it was incredible. The theatre was beautiful and I got to sit in a private balcony on the first floor box 12 I felt really rich!!!! The set was contemporary and the costumes simple. All of it was of course in Spanish. I was proud that I was able to understand what was going on. Starting out all the actors were kneeling down downstage. Behind them on a raised platform was the sinister ruler and a man close to him. They talk of this beautiful woman who is the star of Sevilla and how the ruler dude wanted to marry her or take her home for his doing. As the scene progresses, the brother of the star talks about her lover Sancho Ortiz and if they are going to get married or close it or not, and their relationship. There is also another woman named Natilde who betrays the star and her brother by trying to get to obtain her freedom by selling them out. So after all the drama Natilde end up dead because she wasn't discreet enough in her actions to dig up dirt on the star. So generally what happens is the star´s lover ends up killing her brother because the King man is jealous and seeks to advance to the star though her lovers actions. In the end, the king man is the loser, the end. I enjoyed going to the theatre and plan on going again this thursday.

El Escorial, the best gem of my trip thus far!

SO at about 10:20 I left my house Sunday morning and walked to the train station and met Anna and another sutend Amanda. The train ticket was about 5€ to and from our destination. IT was a big long going but on the way coming back it seemed quick. When we got to the train station we walked outside and took a bus about for 1.20€ and we rode up to the palace. We bought our admission for 3.5€ instead of the regular 8€, what a great student discount right? We also bought the audtio guide which was so worth it! I learned so much from the audioguide. After we purchased the guides we began our tour which started in a room full of tapestries from the chruch made by artist from the Flemish schools and then following that area was a museum of architecture which showed various plans and methods of constructions s well as various tools used. After that one entereed a series of champers which made up an art gallery with a few El Grecos and Velasquez as well as other artist from several different countries. Most noticebly they all consisted of religious artwork with the exception of a few florals or family portraits which is most befitting considering this is a monastary. My third favorite room is next and that was the hall of battles, which depicts a whole scene of battles on land and sea. If one is clever enough to notice, at the top of the art are nails painted to make the painting look like a tapestry. After exiting gown a corridor of stairs you reach the queen´s chamber which had a double bed, not a queen size as well as a room for her desk after that one reached rooms that were used by the royal family to congregate and spent time together with a room for dining in for King Felipe II. After that you see the King´s chamber which I expected to be a lot bigger and he had the same layout as the queen. When Anna, Amanda, and I walked down a long grand marble staircase we knew we were going to the royal crypt because it was getting reallly cold and I had a creepy feeling. The main crypt contained 12 kings and 12 queens who became the mother of kings. I noticed that there were three empty tombs, one should have been filled by now because they have to wait for the body to decompose. The lst person died in 1964, any day now. After stairing at the magnificant craftsmanship and grand chandelier we made it to 9 other rooms full of dead royals. Some white marble tombs were noticebly smooth, waiting for a body to be laid to rest alongside the others. The ones that were filled had a family crest above, as well as engraving on the top of the tomb. There were probably about 10+ ones that were not filled. The most saddest room to me was the children´s crypt because kids under 7 who died before thier first communion were paced here. It looks like a carosel with three levels and each level has crests adorned above the name, there are some teenage royals laid to rest on the side and religious icons guard the room from evil as one exists to four other rooms of crypts. From there one reachers and end with several rooms used for religous purposes and for cardinals with gobs full religous paintings. After that you come to ¨the patio of evangelists¨ it was pretty and there were paintings going all round this huge porch starting with the birth of Christ through the Ascension with a staircase leading to the basilica of the complex. Next is probably my 2nd favorite part, that being the huge stone staircase with a beautiful fresco that took seven months to complete, don´t worry I got pictures without a flash. The tour was pretty much close to an end ant the basilica was closed because of restoration. The only thing left was the patio of the kings and the library. The library was huge and had 45000 books with the earliest being from about 60s AD, I was able to read the book written in Spanish that taught you how to play chess and it even had pictures to hlept explain the moves. There was an interesting astroglove from about the 1560s-1570s and it was quite impressive. Our tour of 4 hours ws over after that and we cuaght the train to go home. All in all, I was really impressed but I wish I could have made it to the Valley of the Fallen, where Francisco Franco is buried.

That´s all folks!

Salamanca- Scaling a Cathedral and 2000 year old Roman bridges

So we finally made it to Salamanca. We walked from our train stop all the way to the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca which looked very close to the one in Madrid and there were pink dummies in the plaza around balconies which I think had to do with the International festival, which was the last day. On our way to the University of Salamanca we passed as always tourist shops and we made it to the University of Salamanca and we took the Spanish tour I understood what I could hear over an annoying little kid-brat who was old enough to shut up. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I dislike little children so much. Grayson being not so bad because he´s my brother. About the university: if one did not get accepted into Salamanca or started off on a bad foot, they went to the University of Alcalá which is where I go to school. Also, those who got their doctorate from the university wrote their name in bull´s blood on the walls of the university but only those of important stature like religous leaders or other important people were alloted their space. After we left the university we went to the ¨new¨cathedral which was built in 1513-1733, it was beautiful but I believe that the one in Segovia is much more impressive, I was able to take pictures without a flash. WOOT! There was a hand or relic of a saint, the date on the box was 2007 and that seems kinda fresh right? Anna told us that to be considered a cathedral, the building had to have a relic from a saint whether it was hair or some bodyparts. We observed a bride on her wedding day taking pictures outside the new cathedral, that wasn´t the only bride we were to encounter that day. After we exited the new cathedral we walked outside and the next thing we know we passed another wedding party, there were gypies dressed and they did some little maypole dance underneathe the arch and all the girls in or group were like¨we want to get married in a cathedral in Spain.¨ It was pretty after that we got to go inside some old passageways of the Old Cathedral built in about the 1200s. It was pretty sweet because we got to scale the thing! there were many winding staircases and balconies as well as religious texts dating to the 1300s and 1400s. So after looking at a few of these things we went out onto the roof of the cathedral ner the clock and belltower. I hope to got some good pictures because my battery in my camera died on me as I was ontop of the cathedral :(. But it was amazing to see the whole city from the top of the Cathedral roofs. After taking some photos and staring long at the edifices and other intricate designs on the cathedral we descended down the stairs. I am proud to say that I didn´t spend alot of money on this trip about 25€ on food, water, postcards and a fridge magnet for my collection. We went to the bridge after we left the cathedral it was a roman bridge across a tiny tiny river, not deep at all a foot at the most. The roman bridge has 26 arches and it was built by emperor Hadrian ( same guy as Hadrian´s wall in England). We thought it would be a good idea to go get in the river so all 12 of us decided to wade near a 2000 year old roman bridge. ALL of the boys made it far enough to sit on a tree trunk that crossed the river water felt so good, no one fell but I did get some pictures, look on a facebook near you. The mountains are really beautiful on the train ride. After the river we went back to the Plaza, had a drink, and booked it to the train station. I need to decide what to get my family at home, I bought Grayson some nice children books that we will grow into that mom and dad SHOULD be able to read. I also need to figure out what to bring back Jameson. This about sums up my trip!

Courtney
next post will be better

Corpus Christi and Chinese Food

First off let me start out by saying yesterday was a holiday called Corpus Christi, I am not sure of its significance but when I was about to go to school mi ama de casa was like "seriously Courtney you are going to school?" I tell her "Yes, I have to go EVERY day, Holiday included. She's like Ok, but when you come home from school with no one there I will be laughing. Also, about 12 of us went to the Chinese food place to eat, it was a little on the expensive side but the good news: it was great! 12 euros for all you can eat worth if you go back 5 times like some of the guys. After we all finished eating we went to the plaza to hang out and there we watched a few guys do tricks on rollerblades and some fool do A flip, one on the plaza. Then after that we observed some insanely dressed guy as Jamara in our group said "he was trippin major!". Even more after that there was a home alone quote war between John Mark (Juan Marco) Skinner and Erin May. John Mark proceeded to win with the famous "I'm gonna pump your guts full of lead." He left nothing out and when he laughed EVERYONE in the plaza looked at him, I died lauging for all those who know John Mark.

School and bus stops

Last night we went to eat tapas last night at Indalo and El Rudeo, a new favorite with the group. Food at el ruedo is amazing and the best. On Saturday night me Elisa, Aimee and I all went to Burgerking to have some real american food and MAN was it great! I thought I would talk some more about my classes, all of the classes are only in Spanish, there are a variety of student here and well as different levels. I am in level 3 which is the Advanced level, level 4 is for people who are fluent, which is not even close to my skill. There are two other Chinese girls in my class who have only been studying it for 3 months, man do I feel stupid because I've been studying it for about 7 years, four in high school, two in college, and one in junior high. I had a harder time getting use to the accent and then now I'm good, I'm not having any problems with the language. I feel a lot more confinant talking to the chinese girls or other people in my class than locals on the street. Probably because I am not as confidant in the language to talk to locals. Speaking of the bus, I tried to get on it last night and well that just didn't work. I havn't taken the bus because I like walking and neither do I like wasting money on a trip. BUT now I know its not a waste at night. The night before yesterday some African guys were looking me up and down, kinda creepy, and they asked me if I spoke english. OMG, I think I tried to pull off the best accent I could and I was praying to God ohhh help me. So after that little encounter I walked behind a family until I reached home and quickly unlocked the main door to get to the first floor where I lived. Culture class sucked yesterday because it was only about poetry and this guy was speaking 100 mph and even the Chinese kids who are in the superior class were like woah! We have this old french man in our class who will just talk the whole time and like dominate, its kinda annoying even the Chinese kids get all intimidated and that´s lik crazy. Chinese kids aren´t supposed to get intimidated they are supposed to be like super driven and such. But they are really really nice, happiest kids inthe world. I have enjoyed getting to know the other international kids here, they are pretty cool.

Segovia, Madrid, and weird art museums Part 2

First off let we left Alcala in the morning and got off at Atoche stations were we were right outside the Reina Sofia. We went into the Reina Sofia which is a comtemporary art museum and let me tell you how it went! People who appreciate this type of art would love it, the most impressive thing was Picasso's Guernica. I try to like all type of art but really I was dissapointed in this museum because I guess I don't know how to understand the art or nor did it tell a story like the Prado Museum. After about two unbearable hours in the Raina Sofia we go to the Plaza Mayor.... big deal just a square, the one in Alcala is much more beautiful. After we look at Plaza Mayor I go check out El Rastro.... nothing wonderful about it reminds me of Oktoberfest back home (mom you get this one right?). So after wasting some time there we meet back at Plaza Mayor and watch this fat spiderman do nothing except people laugh at him. SO after that we all walk over the the Prado Museum where sadly I had only two hours to visit it but the good news was that is was FREE! This was the gem of the whole trip! They had some beautiful works by Goya, Velasquez, and several other Spanish painters as well as some from around the world. My favorite painting was of King Louis (forgot which number so many) the husband of Marie Antoinette. He was garbed in the traditional robes of blue and cream with pretty fleur de-lis' . I think it was my favorite painting because its from one of my favorite times and is part of one of my favorite stories in history that being of Marie Antoinette. Wish I had the time to visit Retiro Park, I'll hit that one up next time I go back, and I will also spend more than 3 hours in the Prado just to not be rushed. Hope you all enjoyed the Segovia Post because I will not post another that long, my hands hurt by the time I was done. Here is a link to some pictures http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2013708&id=1285680068&ref=nf if that doesn't work then I'll try to put it on photobucket or some website. I have more, this is only what I had time to put up, e-mail me if you have problems courtneydebian@gmail.com

Segovia, Madrid, and wierd art museums Part 1 Segovia

First off, let me make a correction, it was not an archdiosis or however you spell it. It was Archbishop, yep thats it! This post is going to take a while so I´m going to talk about Segovia in this post, then Mardid and its interesting splendors in the next part. So first off we went to Segovia which is a very small, quaint town. You can still feel the midevil atmosphere I love it! So Let us begin my narration. On June 6th we sent to Segovia to visit an Alcázar, Cathedral, and aquaducts. The first thing that one cannot help to notice are the views, everyone where I look the view is wonderful. We took a bus and right after we arrived we went to the Alcázar or castle. We are greeted at the gate by a large statue and beautiful gardens before going across the drawbridge. Looking over the wall surrounding the gardens one can see a town in a valley between two mountains, and if you are brave enough to look down you see many cliffs and trees. I am not brave enough to look down, I have a thing about being pushed over the end of a cliff by someone joking around. Moving on, the castle does have a moat which you can observe by looking down over the wall facing the castle before crossing the drawbridge. The Alcázar was built about the 1400s if not earlier and burned in the 1500s but later restored soon after. We toured the Alcázar and its interesting rooms, the most interesting to me being either the room with all of the kings and queens encircling the room at the top of Spain that were only Castillean. The edifices had coat of arms, names, and a brief history of their reign and a few years. They all looked down at you and it ended with Juana la Loca, or Joan the Mad who was Isabel the Catholic and Ferdinand´s daughter who was married to Phillip the Fair. Rooms that we toured include a thrown room, armory, king´s chamber, some meeting hall, an antecamber, and a pinecone room (named so because of the ceilings) our tour came to an end. Later we climbed about 150ish or more stairs to the top of the castle to see the views and they were magnificent. I recommend to anyone to visit the Alcázar it is worth seeing. Now, moving on to the cathedral , this was the first cathedral I had ever seen and it was beautiful, I could not stop staring and my neck began to hurt because I was absorbing it all. This place was HUGE. If anyone was interested in was 3€ to enter the cathedral, but lucky that came with the price of my trip. Construction on the cathedral began on June 8, 1525 under Bishop Diego Ribera and then was fully consecrated in July 16, 1768. To save expenses and such the baptismal frount, choir, and cloisters were salvaged and put in the new church after it was burned. The Cathedral of Segovia is considered the last Gothic cathedral but it does contain several midevil peices. The oldes piece of art that I noticed dates back from the 1200s when Christianity was making it big. There were several side rooms to the cathedral and artworks and huge alter pieces in each. There were also old bishop robes dating back from the 1600s in a side room. The stain glass pieces were beautiful each depicting a scene of Christ or his apostles as well as other major stories in the bible. No technology can be used in the cathedral ie no pictures, not even with flash, but I still saw people sneak them, that pissed me off a bit because its not very respectful for time and history if we want to save it. Anyways, the final place we went to were the aquaducts, which start very tall and were built without mortar. I thought the aquaducts were not the best, perhaps if I saw them first I would appreciate them but I did not find them amazing but it was still cool to see a 2000 year old structure still standing. Segovia is turely an amazing town that stands out because it is a beautiful, quiet, quaint town despite the bustle of a few tourists coming to see the alcázar. there are some very touristy shops that I avoided but only went it to buy some postcards or pictures of the inside of the cathedral because I didn´t take any. Out of all the shops and I went one, one stood out the most and that was a shop with some special things make my local artist in Segovia or around the central region of Spain including Toledo and Madrid. I cam across some jewelry that I had never seen anything like it before it was handmade by an artisan from Toledo mostly from some sort of metal substance. I decided to get the ring, earings, and bracelet because I knew I wasn´t going to go back I got a pretty sweet deal for 58€ for all three based on all the other prices I saw throughout the day. The owner was a very intelligent and refined Señora who talk to Elisa and I about how everything was made and where it originated from. I also bought some small hand painted prints made by an artist in Segovia for my apartment next year. All in all, if I ever had the chance to return to Segovia i would! If you ever get the chance to go to Spain you must see Segovia. It makes an easy day trip from Madrid for those who get tired of a huge cosmopolitan area.

Enjoy this post because the next one won´t be as long!
Courtney

a little history of Alcala

Finally I have had enough time to get around to talking about the history of this town and the university. First off, Alcala is very famous for the writer Cervantes who wrote Don Quijote the man of la mancha. We were given a tour of the school on about Monday or something and what makes up the University of Alcala is several old small school that existed in about the 1500s or the 1600s. The libraries that we went to were old cathedrals that got torn up to be libraries etc etc. The bulding here are very well maintained and are very modern to say the least. We also went to the main cathedral that was restored. It is really beautiful, a gem. Inside there are very OLD painting of i believe an archdiocis of the catholic church. The tomb takes back to the 16th century to say in the least and contains the body of the holy man himself. I will go back and takes pcitures for all of you to see, ha when I get back. I also learned that there is a destoryed cathedral where Cervantes was baptized because of the civil war in the 1930s during the facist rule of Spain. The republic and Francisco Franco are still very touchy subjects today. For our culture class we are watching a movie called La lengua de las mariposas, which translated mean the language of butterflies. We havnt finished it yet, but I will do a spìll about it later. Tomorrow we get to go to Segovia on Saturday, which has aquaducts built nearly 2000 years ago that are still standing, I should get some amazing photos. Then on Sunday we are goin to Madrid to the Prado Museum, Reina Sofia museum of comtemporary art, and the Royal Palace. Again, more photo opps for amazing pictures. Hopefully in the next few weekends some of the people around here will want to go to Toledo to see some fine swords and wonderful history, I´m a dork, can´t help it.

TO MAMA: Need a new hellokitty alarm clock, mine is fried like my straightner, but I bought a 10€ straightner, its not too bad. And also harem pants are VERY much in style.

Manpris, Mullets, y Bob Ross

So today was the first day of clases it was not too bad. We have classes from 9am to 2:30 pm of course with no lunch breaks because Spainards eat about 2 to 3 pm. Last night we found some what I like to call ¨local flavor¨ we had lomo y patatas, the steak was amazing!! We usually just pick something off the menu to try and if we don´t like it eat it anyways or pass it to someone who does. I went home by 10:30 and again my family was asleep, I must be living with some strange Spainard because everyone else´s family stays up very very late like 1 to 2 in the morning. Also note to all people back home if I havn´t mentioned it before Spainards watch more TV than Americans. Also, Everytime that I sit down to eat they tell me I need to engordar (get fatter). Now, let move on to more about classes, I had a grammar, conversation, and then culture class last. My conversation maestro es mi favorito porque el es muy simpatico y comico. He´s kinda a young guy, funny. For all of you who know Bob Ross well my culture teacher looks like him! He has huge curls and we´re learning about fine arts so I think it goes together. Other notes to mama: my straightner is dead or so I think it is so my hair is going to be ugly the whole trip and will be pulled up. There is a lot of graffiti here but noticeably not on walls. Mullets and Manpris (capris that guys wear) are the huge hit here, look for them in an America near you. Finally for all of those who are wondering NO we don´t have AC. Its crazy right, we all have to open our window in the day and close it at night. ¡Que rediculo!

No siesta today

First off this morning we took our test to place us in a class to see which ones we will get. Then I went back home to eat, Carmen, my ama de casa, house mom, cooked me some egg with tuna... at first i was like YICK, i´m not going to eat that, and I wonder if that showed on my face. Well to be nice I ate it to try something new, I can now say that I do not dislike eggs and tuna, but I don´t love it. Last night all of us hung out at the plaza at about 6 and I left and went back to my house at 10:30 it was just getting dark can you believe it? I had a beer in a small cup it wasn´t that bad, and had a sip of tinte de verano, which is actually a good drink, it is a watered down wine with fruit in it, but its not to be confused with Sangria. We went and ate at a pizzeria last night about 6 of us went, it was pretty good we got 3 pizzas for 25 euros and shared them between six people so it wasn´t too expensive. Today we have a tour of the school in about.... 45 minutes. The walk to my house from the Plaza de Cervantes is really interesting, you go from nice stores to chinese stoes, shoe stores, tons of watch/jewelry stores as well as specific places to buy food like bread and meat. I think my favorite part of Alcala is the calle mayor and a little green shaded area with a statue of Queen Isabella. There are also lots of storks that live in the cathedrals and their nests are huge, the bird is the size of a man at least to say. Everyone smokes here, you can tell who the smokers are, I wonder what the life expectancy here in Spain is...I wish that I got to take a siesta today :( naps are wonderful, I wish we had them in the USA. Does anyone know if there were any survivors from the plane crash coming from Brazil to France? Other Spanish customs watching T.V. Spainards in Alcala watch ALOT more T.V. than Americans and they eat more, just only healthier.

Alcala de Hernares

So we finally arrived in Spain, it is so beautiful. The most interesting thing that i saw coming into aeroport was el zona de fumardores. Then we went to some place where we were picked up by our families. My family is really nice they have a daughter my age. Then later I had a siesta and work up, put my shoes on the wrong foot as we were walking out the door, it was funny. My family walked me to the Plaza de Cervantes and we walked around the Calle Mayor and other things. This town is so beautiful! I will write more when I have time. I miss talking to Chris but at least is only 8 weeks instead of six months.

Trip Over

Tomorrow my flight leaves out of Memphis International at 12:05, it feels like I'm able to be a big girl now because I am able to fly without either parents. Big step for Courtney small step for Mom and Dad. From MEM to Houston we fly over to Newark and plane change over to Madrid. How nice it would be to have a nonstop flight, but that is just dreaming. I hope I will have enough electronic access to update my blog and send e-mail to those I promised to send e-mails to its going to be hard without a laptop. Once we arrive in Spain we will travel over to Alcala de Hernares where we will meet at the Plaza de Cervantes and meet our families. Then we go off with them and our first task is to meet back in the Plaza at six. Sounds like a mini Amazing Race. Finally, for those who are interested, the time differance is 7 hours. Madrid is +1 hour from the Greenwich line. Wish me a buen viaje.

Creation

The goals of this blog is for me to keep up with my travels in Spain as well as allow other MSU students, etc to view a trip through my eyes. I got this idea from another student in the International Business program who went to Spain last year for eight weeks and I read and got to imagine in my head what Spain would be like for me. I will not be taking a computer with me at all (my how I will miss technology). As far as a phone goes, I'm not sure about that either. I officially leave May 29th and arrive sometime back in August 1st maybe. Wish me bon voyage.

Courtney