Lisbon, Portugal

Last Friday morning, bright and early, we met (after being slightly lost and late, along with 50% of the group) to depart for Lisbon, Portugal. It took around 6 hours to get there and it was an incredibly long and uncomfortable bus ride. Because of the laws here, bus drivers get to stop every couple hours or so, so as soon as we would get comfortable they’d make everyone get off the bus for a 45 minute stop. Very frustrating when all of us just wanted to get there! We arrived in the afternoon and some people went to walk around the city – I took a wonderful and much needed nap. 

Later than afternoon we had a little tour of the city which included a visit to Castelo de São Jorge, a Moorish style castle which overlooks basically the entire city. It’s been changed and renovated many times since it was built around the 2^nd century and is now one of the main attractions in Lisbon. Portugal is extremely beautiful (I like Lisbon a lot better than Aveiro, which is where I went in Portugal the first time) and the sights from the top of the castle were incredible. Our directors took us for a walk around the city after the castle, and then we dispersed for the evening by the river underneath the giant clock tower. 

We departed in the evening to try and find a place for dinner, which turned out to be quite difficult. I asked a porter at the hotel where he would recommend (somewhere close, inexpensive and with good food) and he directed us to the “Arkoth Café.” So we followed his direction and walked for FOREVER until finally we asked someone how much closer it was. Turns out he was sending us to the Hard Rock Café! (Which was neither inexpensive NOR close.) We ended up finding a little place alongside the street and all 15 of us piled into this tiny glass hut with a huge pumpkin adorning the entryway. The food was pretty good and the servers were nice. We had to speak in English while we were there – a lot of them speak English. And Portuguese is, in my opinion, NOTHING like Spanish. Also, apparently if you speak Spanish in Portugal, they will hate you. It took all of us a little bit of adjusting.

After dinner we went out to Bairro Alto, which means “Higher District” in Portuguese and is in the center of Lisbon – it’s the “heart of Lisbon’s youth and culture.” The streets were PACKED with people!!! Every street you look down seems absolutely impassable. There are tons of bars and clubs along the streets, but being social and drinking in the streets is much more common than people actually going into the bars. We sampled a couple of the bars but ended up just walking around for a long time, going to an 80’s club (which was surprisingly fun), and left around 3am (things start to close down around 2am).

[Side Note: While we were there we had a lot of people try to sell us drugs (which we were warned about ahead of time, though they were more persistent and frequent than expected). Apparently violent crime isn’t uncommon in Lisbon and drug trafficking, graffiti and vandalism is a problem in the city. Found that out after I got back. I didn’t feel unsafe in the city, but I’m definitely glad I wasn’t out alone at night.]

Saturday morning they had a Cathedral tour scheduled, but a lot of us were tired from the night before so we decided to skip it and sleep in. I woke up around 2pm – before almost everyone else – and began what ended up as one of the BEST days of my life! We slowly assembled and then finally found a little café for lunch (after unsuccessfully attempting to eat at multiple other places and not getting service. A lot of the Portuguese people were actually very unkind and unwilling to help us. You could tell it was an American thing). The food wasn’t that great but the conversation was so it turned out to be pretty fun :)

The streets on Saturday were lined with tons of tables, with vendors selling everything you could think of – art, jewelry, clothing, antiques, trinkets, etc. After lunch we spent a couple hours meandering through the mass of people from table to table. The weather was beautiful and I got some great souvenirs :) We stayed until the section started to close and then decided to walk down to the river to watch the sunset. Randomly, on the way to the river, we encountered the Spanish National Rugby Team!! One of them asked us where McDonald's was and while we were talking suddenly more and more of them kept coming, until we were completely surrounded by probably the most attractive Spanish men I’ve found since I've been here. They invited us to join them, but unfortunately McDonald's wasn’t the most appealing option, so we continued our walk to the river. It was very peaceful and we sat on the rocks in the sand and watched the sun go down over the largest suspension bridge in the world (which has a very similar color as and is often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge).

On our way back, we stopped into a Fashion Week expedition and walked around for a while, which was interesting and fun. We also re-encountered the Rugby team sitting in the main plaza outside McDonald's! We talked to them for a while but had to run to meet the rest of the group to go to dinner at 9. For dinner we chose this little place called “Os Tibetanos” which was right by our hotel. We found out when we got there that it was vegetarian, and we couldn’t read anything on the menu, so we just chose a bunch of food and tried a little of everyone’s…and it turned out to be the most delicious meal ever!!

After dinner we went out again for the night, with a smaller group this time, and found a little bar where some guy with crazy hair was playing guitar. After a couple drinks, one of the girls in our group got up and asked the guitar player if he knew “The Girl from Ipanima” – then she took the microphone and sang it!! And it was beautiful! We were all floored. It was so much fun! After she finished one of the guys in our group and I wanted to dance so we started dancing – and then EVERYONE started dancing (in this tiny little bar)! It was a great time. We stayed out pretty late and I ended up getting back around 6am.

The next morning the bus left at 11 (after a pretty unappealing breakfast) and we had another long ride back. We stopped at the same place for our 45 minute break, and I didn’t have any money left so I laid outside in the grass and enjoyed the peace and the warmth of the sun. It was kind of dry, there wasn’t much around and the trees were crazy looking – I said I felt like I was in the Lion King and then everyone started singing songs from the Lion King. Great way to end a great weekend :)

It’s surprisingly comforting to be back in a country where I can read the signs and actually communicate with people. Portuguese isn’t very appealing to me, so its music to my ears to be hearing Spanish again. Oh, by the way, YESTERDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY! It was so exciting to celebrate it with my friends in Spain. My Madre here made me a huge and delicious lunch and this incredible apple pie type thing to celebrate – it was so special. The girls and I went to dinner on the river to celebrate and then we sat on a ledge and drank wine and ate my birthday pastries. A bunch of other people from the group came by to hang out and wish me happy birthday too. I couldn’t have asked for anything better!

...and TOMORROW we head to Paris!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

It's officially October 6th in Spain, and since I can’t be home with you on your birthday, this post is for you :)

Dad, since I was a little girl, you have always been the person that I admire most in this world. You are my rock. You are my core. You raised me to know the importance of hard work, to be confident in myself, and to never limit my aspirations. You have given me all the most valuable things in life that I could never find through success or money or achievement. All the fun things we have done have enriched my life in so many ways and I have such exciting and wonderful memories with you :) You give me the best advice, which I do and will always listen to, and you have always supported me in anything and everything I have ever dreamed of doing. Because of you, I am strong enough to be where I am today. And because of you I am the person that I am today! You are my heart - I love and I miss you so very much! Happy Birthday to my strong and handsome Daddy!

WITH LOVE from,

Your Baby Girl

Settling into Sevilla

I have to admit - I'm absolutely awful at keeping up with a blog. It’s just so hard! It’s been almost a month since I wrote last and SO much has happened. I’ll try to keep the details to a minimum!

I did get to go to the fire station at the Jerez de la Frontera airport for an evening, which was great fun. Richard gave us a tour of the station, showed us the control room, demonstrated how to slide down the fireman pole, and took us for a ride in the fire truck (I got to spray the water!). We also met all of his firefighter friends and I got to dress up as a firewoman. When he answers the phone in the control room, he always says, “Bombero, Dígame!” So now it’s a joke between the two of us and every time I see him I say it – except, of course, I am “BomberA!”

My fourth day in Sevilla, Richard invited me to dinner with himself and his girlfriend and his two best friends. One of the friends was Joaquin (who hails from Brazil). The place where we ate was very fancy and they kept ordering food and food and more and more food and I was thinking "OH MY GOSH how am I going to pay for my part of this?!" and then “la cuenta” came and Joaquin paid for all of it. Turns out that his dad is the secretary of the largest and most successful bank in Spain and he is, for lack of a better term, loaded.

Also turns out that he has lots of different residences...including an apartment on the beach in Málaga. I had mentioned that I wanted to go to the beach since I had nothing to do before school started (before I knew he had a HOUSE on the beach) and he convinced Richard and Estelle (Richard's girlfriend) to stay at his place there for three days. So we did! The apartment is part of a hotel so the boys got a separate hotel room and we girls stayed in the apartment. It had such a cozy bed and the most comfortable pillow I've ever used in my entire life.

We got there at like 4 in the morning and went for a walk on the beach, which was very peaceful and the stars were incredible with all the lights turned off. Then the next day we had lunch at the port and the bill was 180 Euros. WHAT!? For lunch!? And that's how the entire three days went. Incredibly fancy restaurants, some of the best food I've ever eaten in my entire life, and the most delicious desserts and amazing wine. We slept in late every day and went to a movie one night (which was in Spanish…and excellent!). The boys didn’t like being on the beach very much because they said it was too hot so usually it was just me and Estelle. It was such a luxurious and fun three day vacation and I returned tan (maybe a little burnt), full of good food, and exhausted.

After Málaga I went back to Madrid to meet my new group for the Sevilla program. We did all the same things and I did when I first arrived to Spain – visited the Prado, went to Toledo, toured the Cathedrals. I thought I would be bored but I actually enjoyed it way more the second time. The tours were in English so I understood everything about the history of the paintings and the buildings and we got to see things that we didn’t the first time around. I like my group a lot and the ISA directors in Sevilla, which should come as no surprise, are fantastic and extremely helpful (and fun!).

We started school last Monday, and I am taking three advanced level language classes (though I consider myself by no means advanced in Spanish) and an International Marketing class. It’s rough having class for three hours straight every morning, and then two hours every other evening, but siestas help a lot and we don’t have class on Friday so the weekends are wonderful. My marketing teacher got his degree in the States and is one of the smartest and most funny teachers I’ve ever had. Makes two hours of class go by much faster… (well most days).

Last weekend a group of us went back to the beach at Cádiz. I feel so experienced because I’ve already been to all of these places and know exactly where to go! :) It was, again, a lot of fun. Not as many topless women this time. The water was freezing, but good company can compensate for just about anything.

Last Sunday a group of us booked plane tickets to Paris and Amsterdam for 6 days! Here is my travel schedule (basically every weekend) for the rest of the time I’m here:

-Lisbon, Portugal (this weekend)

-Paris and Amsterdam

-Morocco (5 days sleeping in a tent - or in the dunes if we prefer, which I’m DEFINITELY doing - and riding camels and 4 wheelers)

-London

-Córdoba and Granada

-Ronda

-Italy, Greece and Germany (TBD)

Some of the students here are doing a whole year abroad. I have had a great time but after being here this long, I know I wouldn’t be able to do it. I haven’t really felt homesick yet, but I was extremely homesick in a dream the other day…strangest thing ever…and it was the most awful and hopeless feeling. I know I’m going to enjoy every minute of the rest of my time here – I have SO much still to look forward to – but I’m definitely going to be ready to be home with my family and friends at the end of the year!

More after Portugal!

Day at the Beach!!

Because I arrived in Sevilla early and without any sort of itinerary for the next two weeks, I have been constantly on the lookout for opportunities to do something fun. I was in the ISA office the other day and when they suggested that I go to the beach, I thought – what a great idea! They suggested Cádiz because it has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and I was told that the train drops you right off on the beach. So last time I wrote I had just gone to the train station and bought my ticket…and yesterday was my day at the beach!

I woke up around 9am and, prepared with a towel, sunscreen, music and my bocadillo, I set off for the train station. I left kind of late and had to walk fast to get there, but as long as you arrive more than 2 minutes before departure you can still make it. I was kind of surprised when no one checked my ticket (and wondered how easy it would be to catch a free ride – until the ticket checker came around 45 minutes later at some random stop. The station there looked pretty shady…I would hate to have been kicked off there!) 

The train station in Cádiz is pretty tiny and the only service booth that was open (other than one for food) was a car rental station. I saw the lady giving maps to people renting cars so I went up and asked her if I could have one. She smiled at me and said no. I asked if there was anywhere around there that I could find a map. She said no. Very helpful. Defeated and hopeless, I walked out of the station with the mass of people, expecting to easily find the beach (since the train was supposed to drop me off "right on the beach"). Not the case – there was a port and some water but no beach anywhere to be seen. I walked for a little ways until the sidewalk ended, stopped, slowly turned around and then stood there for a minute wondering what on earth I was going to do.

I found a couple at a bus stop that looked pretty touristy and had a bus map in one hand and a city map in the other and they were speaking English. Perfect. I asked if they knew where the beach was and they said they were trying to find it too so we hopped on a bus and headed for Playa de la Victoria. The couple didn’t know what stop to get off on so I asked the lady to my left if she knew where it was. She said two more stops, and then the man to my right began arguing with her that it was three or four more stops. We just waited until we saw the beach and then got off the bus. Scott and Mimi were the couple with the map – they were from California and on vacation hopping through cities in Spain. I thanked them for letting me tag along and we parted at the bus stop.

The beach was beautiful! I got there pretty early so I found a great spot and wasn’t bothered the whole time I was there. The water was cold and there were tons of topless women walking, swimming, bouncing and sunbathing. I couldn’t believe how normal it seemed to everyone. I saw a couple men in some decorative Speedo’s too. After a few hours I left the beach and decided to walk around the city to see if anything was open (again, stuff usually closes between 2 and 6 and then opens back up for the evening). 

Except on Saturdays. 

On Saturday, I discovered, if a store is open it is only open in the morning (until 2) and doesn’t reopen for the evening. So I figured I'd walk around the city and see if, by following the bus stop maps scattered throughout the city, I could find my way back to the train station. It wasn’t too hot outside and there was a lovely breeze and the city was very quiet so I thoroughly enjoyed my walk. The buildings in the certain areas of the city look very, very old, a big contrast to some of the newer buildings that I found in other parts. I looked it up later and found that Cádiz is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in possibly all of southwestern Europe. I stopped at the Plaza de España, which was different than most other plazas in Spain that I’ve been in but it had some beautiful architecture (it’s dominated by a monument to the Constitution of 1812 - effectively Spain's first constitution). I also explored around the commercial center. At the edge of the city I saw this beautiful opening of blue water so I walked up to it and discovered one of the most peaceful and enchanting views I have ever witnessed in my life. To my left was an antique building with borders of ancient design, to my right was a little rocky cove where you could hear the sound of the water sweeping through the boulders, and far in the distance was the shady outline of the entire edge of the opposite side of Cadiz. Straight ahead was blue water as far as I could see. There was no one around and I sat in a little corner and just enjoyed the peace and the breeze and the sound of the water. 

I found my way back to the train station and was kind of early so I read a little bit of a book that I had come across in my room (the only thing in English). By then I was STARVING and when the train arrived back in Sevilla I quickly walked back to my house where I found a delicious dinner waiting for me. What a perfect day!

Tomorrow and Tuesday I have to do a little research for my honors thesis that I’m working on for graduation. And then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday = more beach time! Richard is a firefighter and works at the airport so one of these days (soon) I get to go with him to see what he does. He said I get to have VIP status for a day. How fun!

Hasta Luego Todos!

Survey of Spain

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written – this month has gone by so quickly I can’t believe it! I have a lot to catch up on, so unfortunately it’s going to be a long one. Ready?

Last time I wrote I was just beginning class in Salamanca. And now it’s over! Summer school was awesome because the teachers teach a little differently over here…it’s a lot more interactive and the classes are pretty small. By the end of the month I really didn’t have to study for my finals because I remembered everything we went over! Also I think ISA knows that, yes, we’re here to learn a new language and to experience a new culture, but everyone also wants to have a good time…so maybe they don’t make school very hard on purpose :) My classes in Salamanca were kind of scattered all around the little city so it was fun to get to walk around between each class. Most of the time, everywhere I went I saw people that I knew. We got to experience the history, language, and school in Salamanca, but we didn’t really get to experience much of the ‘people of Spain’ (other than our host families) because most people that normally live there leave in the hot summer months for vacation and such. The city was full of study abroad students and I made tons of friends from all over the world – but sadly not many from Spain. In my next program in Sevilla all of my classes are in the ISA office and not in an actual school, which is kind of a bummer, but at least the city will be bigger and filled with more Spanish people!

Our excursions last month included a weekend in Aveiro, Portugal and some time in Ávila and Segovia (Spain). When we got to Portugal it was rainy and kind of dreary outside, but it cleared up pretty quickly and we went on a beautiful gondola ride along the canal. Portugal is sometimes called the “Little Portuguese Venice” because the canals and buildings have an Italian-like feel. The second day that we were there was spent on the beach swimming in the freezing cold water and watching the boys in our group play soccer. It was so much fun – such a great relaxing day. 

Ávila is a city in Spain that’s pretty close to Salamanca and is also located in the Castilla y León community. It has beautiful and famous complete Romanesque medieval city walls and has many churches and cathedrals and a big statue of Santa Teresa. We spent the day walking around the city and had lunch at a little restaurant that had barrels for tables.

Segovia was our last excursion site for the Salamanca program and is very close to Ávila. In 1985 Segovia and its Roman Aqueduct were declared to be a part of World Heritage, which signifies a site of special cultural or historical significance. In such places as these, the community is asked to preserve the site, as they are “sites that belong to all the peoples of the world.” The Aqueduct was constructed around the early 2^nd century and its granite blocks are miraculously held together without mortar. We also visited the Alcázar of Segovia which is one of the most distinctive castles in Spain due to its unique shape. It is one of the most popular historical sites in Spain. Someone told me that the castle was used by Disney to model the Magic Kingdom castle at Disney World. They look very similar so I believe it! We walked up to the top of one of the towers – a spiral staircase that was NEVER ending – and at the top was the most beautiful view of the city. We also got to see the Segovia Cathedral, in the city square, which was built in late Gothic style and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is a magnificent building. 

The same day we went to see The Royal Palace of La Granja, located in the small town of San Ildefonso, which is not far from Segovia. The palace was built in a “restrained baroque style” and is surrounded by extensive French gardens with incredible decorative fountains that represent different mythological themes. The palace used to be used by the Kings of Spain as a summer residence and housed many events such as weddings, political events and state treaties, but it is now open to the public as a museum. We toured the building and then had free time to roam throughout the gardens. Only a couple of the fountains are currently active - all of them are turned on only twice a year during holidays. When they are, I was told that the gardens are filled with people and it’s an unforgettable show.

We had a farewell dinner the night before our last night in Salamanca with our group and with our directors. I had such a wonderful month getting to know everyone, both in my group and in my classes. I met some really incredible people that will forever be in my memory and hopefully some that will forever be in my life. I miss you guys all so much already and it wouldn’t have been such a great experience if it weren’t for each and everyone one of you. I wish you all the best of luck! :)

Our bus left Salamanca at 2am and we had a long overnight bus ride back to the airport in Madrid where I met my PARENTS! They flew up for a week to visit me in Spain and experience a little of the culture I’ve been living in. We went straight to the train station and caught a train to Sevilla (the trip is about 2.5 hrs by train / 6 hours by bus). Sevilla is the financial, artistic, historical and cultural capital of southern Spain, and is also where I will be living for the next 3 months. As soon as we got there we saw big signs that said “Welcome to the South!” (in Spanish, of course). That’s what I like to see!! We stayed in Santa Cruz, a big time touristy area, and got to see a Flamenco dance (which was spectacular) and tour the Alcázar. Sevilla is beautiful!! It has a very distinct culture and personality due to the multiple influences over the years – heavy Arabic influence and Moorish designs, lots of Jewish history (Santa Cruz area), Christian influence and of course, the Spanish Castillian influence. We took a long walk around the city and ate at a cute little restaurant by our hotel and took a paseo along the Guadalquivir River (the second longest in Spain, its name is Arabic and means “The Great River). 

After Sevilla we headed to Barcelona for a couple of days. The city of Barcelona is FILLED with tourists and touristy things and all the signs are first in Catalán, second in Spanish and third in English. The culture seems to be more “European” rather than really Spanish.  It was tons of fun and is a beautiful and exciting city, but I’m very glad I decided to study in Sevilla instead (for a place to live, I like the feel of Sevilla a lot better). We stayed at the Hotel Continental which is right on Las Ramblas, a stretch of multiple streets that lead you from the central Plaça de Catalunya to the giant Columbus monument at the harbor. According to Rick Steves’ it is supposed to be one of the best places to people watch in the world. We definitely enjoyed sitting high up on our hotel balcony and looking at all the strange outfits, hairstyles, costumes, performers, and our never ending quest to find someone being pick-pocketed (and we DID find a pick-pocketer, I know it, but we didn’t get to catch him in the act). While there we visited some of Antoni Gaudí’s famous works, including Park Güell and the giant Sagrada Família Temple, which is one of the most visited monuments in Spain. Both have such a unique style and perspective and I enjoyed every minute exploring them. Gaudí took a lot of his inspiration from nature, so both the park and the temple have great curvature, beautiful stained glass and vibrant colors, and giant arching and sloping ceilings. We spent our last night eating pizza and drinking a little wine and talking and watching the tangle of people sweep down Las Ramblas – it was one of my favorite nights of the trip thus far :)

After Barcelona we went back to Madrid for a few days so my parents could see a little bit of the capital of Spain. I have really enjoyed both times I have been in Madrid. It is a very big city but parts of it have a small town feel…if anyone is looking for a place to study in Spain, Madrid is definitely one of the places I would recommend. There is so much history and beauty there. My parents went to see the Royal Palace the day after we arrived but I had already been there (and am going again in a couple of weeks) so I decided to stay behind and sleep in a little. Later we went and saw the Temple Debod (but missed the open hours so we just walked around it) and walked through the Almudena Cathedral, which is right next to the Palace. This was the second time I had seen the Cathedral (but first time I had been in it) and I noticed this time that they had recently added some Moorish-style rounded sculptures to the top of the steeples on part of the building. It was easy to tell that they were new because they were pure white and stood out compared to the rest of the building. This begs the question – How different are these buildings that we’re seeing now than they were when they were actually built? So many have been remodeled time and time again with different influence and different creative ideas. The perspective of history is ever changing.

My parents left early Saturday morning to catch their flight and I got to sleep in a little and eat breakfast and then I took the Metro to the train station and caught a train back to Sevilla to meet my host family. With map in hand, I walked from the train station to the home. What an adorable home it is!! And the family is incredible. They’re so kind and welcoming and make me feel so comfortable here. I have been here for 5 days now and my Sevilla program doesn’t start for two more weeks, so I get to sleep in every day and take long walks and I have plenty of time to relax. There’s a lot more to see here than in Salamanca and often times I’ll just walk and walk and get myself lost and then use the map to find my way back. I’m actually learning the city quite well that way! Today I bought a train ticket to go to the beach on Saturday (a round trip ticket is surprisingly inexpensive) and then next week I’m going to stay with some friends for a few days at the Costa del Sol in Málaga. It’s going to be a great couple weeks of vacation :)

Now that I am around internet I should be able to update this a little more frequently. I miss everyone back home and hope all is well!

<3 Ariel

Week 1

Buenas Tardes!

First, I must say – Spain is the most beautiful country ever! We arrived in Madrid on the 28^th and it didn’t look like anything too different from a big city you would find in the U.S, though it was surprisingly clean. Spoken Spanish sounds pretty different here and it has taken a couple of days to adjust to. After we checked into our hotel (which was very nice) we went to get our money exchanged. People here are pretty nice - most of them are very kind and willing to help but once in a while you run into someone who doesn’t like tourists or just isn’t very friendly in general. We spent the day walking around Madrid and ate in a cute little café, went to the Real Madrid stadium, took the metro, and bought some delicious gelato on the way back. One of the students in our group was “tricked” into pulling out his wallet (not a very good move) and had 60 euros stolen from him. That’s a lot of money! But if anything, it was a good reminder for the rest of us to be extra careful. We took a panoramic tour of the city on the bus in the evening and then met some new members of our group. We all get along so well! Our director is awesome and ISA is the BEST program provider I could have asked for – ¡Qué suerte! To end our first night in Madrid we went and got a couple drinks at an outside restaurant and watched the sun go down (which is shockingly around 10pm).

We met in the morning the next day and had a tour of the Museo del Prado. This museum has one of the finest collections of European art and is based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. It’s one of the most visited sites in the world. We saw the most famous paintings in the Museum – those by Velázquez, Francisco de Goya and El Greco. After the museum we had free time for lunch and then had another tour, this time of the Palacio Real de Madrid which is the official residence of King Philip V (the King of Spain) though it is only used for important ceremonies and the family does not live there. The palace has 2800 rooms and is the largest palace in all of Europe. It was beautiful and magnificent both inside and out. After the tour we had free time for dinner again so we rode the metro back and I took a nice two hour siesta. We’ve been told many times that “¡Una siesta no es dos horas… sino que es veinte minutos!” I love Spanish culture and am happy to adjust the way I do many things but I’m not sure that twenty minute naps will suffice. But our family is used to having Americans here so they don’t seem to mind. And my two hour nap was much needed – because at night we went out Spanish style! We left the hotel around 1am and returned around 5am. When I was going up to my room I ran into my roommate, Andrea, who was in a previous program in Granada and had just arrived in Madrid. She told me she was proud of me for “Doin’ it up the Spanish way” the second night here!

Then, two hours after I fell asleep, we got our wakeup call – which is when I realized then how important those afternoon siestas are! We got on the bus and it took about 2 hours to get to Toledo. The scenery was pretty but quite similar to what we had seen…until we got into the city. Toledo absolutely took my breath away. We were given a tour of the city by the best tour guide ever (of course all tours are given mostly in Spanish). We got to see the Synagogue of El Transito, the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes, and the Museo Sefardí that displays Spanish and Jewish art. For lunch we went to a little restaurant right next to the downtown area. There are a lot of differences in the style of eating here – they don’t use butter or salt, everything has olive oil and tuna in it (you’d be surprised all that you can do with tuna) and if you get water it is always bottled. The tap water is fine to drink but it’s rude to ask for it and no one does. We got back on the bus after a little shopping (not much was open though because everything shuts down during the hottest part of the day, usually between 2 and 6, when people go home to eat lunch and take their siestas) and then we went to our incredible hotel which was called hotel Beatriz. We had an excellent view of the entire city from our room and they had a giant sparkling blue pool and great food! The rest of the evening was pretty relaxed and I had time to catch up with my family and friends, which was much needed.

We arrived in Salamanca the next day and met our host family after a short stop in Avila and a tour around the city. Our family is SO NICE! We were shown the house (which has no air conditioning or internet, similar to most Spanish homes) and we had some time to unpack before they took us for a tour around the Plaza Mayor, something like to a downtown square back home (but much more grand and beautiful and there is always music playing and tons of people out). Our Senora is an excellent cook and takes great care of us. She speak very quickly and uses big words so she talks more to Andrea, who has been here for three months already and is much better at speaking than I am. Her husband is a little more soft spoken and doesn’t talk as much or as fast, so he talks to me. It works out very well :)

Our placement tests were the next day. While waiting for our results we had a walking tour of Salamanca, went back and took a nap, got some lunch, and met again at the ISA office to talk about our classes. We went out until about 2am…which is kind of considered going out but not really “going out.” They hand out lots of coupons for free drinks so it’s easy to bar hop and end up not spending more than 1 euro for the night. Such a good system! Yesterday and today were the first two days of classes, and I LOVE my classes. The teachers are excellent and do such a great job. Class is from 9 am to 2 pm and there are many international students in all of my classes – in fact, I’m one of like two students from the States in each class. Many of the students don’t speak English, so in Spanish is the only way we can communicate. It’s actually very, very cool! I love hearing Spanish around me at all times of the day, and I think I’m picking it up surprisingly fast. I can’t wait to see where I am at the end of this month!

A couple little cultural differences to note before I end:

• There are co-ed bathrooms in a lot of the clubs and, as I have read, people in Spain seem to be quite open about issues like homosexuality and self expression. 
• Greetings in Spain consist of “dos besos” or two kisses on each cheek. If you extend your hand as most do in the States it is seen as an insult because you are forcing separation between yourself and the person you are meeting. 
• It’s not necessary to travel with your passport on you at all times in Spain, but if you are in a touristy location and try to buy something with a credit card they won’t let you buy it without showing your passport or some form of ID. 
• They clean the streets, scrub the walls and power wash the sidewalks every day, but they do nothing about the rampant and un-artistic graffiti that is scattered throughout the city.
• They have the cutest shoes ever! 
• Those international students that have been to the states primarily have been either to Florida, California or Texas - and they all want to live there. Which is crazy to me because I want to live HERE! The grass is always greener I suppose. 
• Breakfast consists of coffee and a piece of toast or a pastry around 8am, lunch is a huge three course meal around 2pm, and they have medium sized dinners around 9 or 10pm. The fruit is incredible! 
• People here are huge on conservation of things like water and electricity. They are very careful to turn everything off as soon as they are finished using it and don’t seem to waste much.

I am thinking about changing my fall program from Barcelona to a program in Sevilla. If I am able, I think I will have a much better experience. Sevilla is in the south of Spain and has beautiful scenery, culture and history. After meeting people that have traveled through Spain, I think the Catalan they speak in Barcelona will be difficult for me and I won’t learn as much. There are also a lot of tourists in Barcelona so it would be too easy to get around speaking English, and there is quite a bit of anti-government sentiment because people in Catalunya want to have a separate country with Barcelona as their capital. We’ll see how it works out but if I am able to change, my fall program won’t start until three weeks after this program ends – so I’ll be able to travel around Europe for two weeks before AND after school! I’m PUMPED!

I loved everyone’s comments – thank you for reading!! :)

Ciao!