February 24

Today is February 24. That means I´ve been in Spain for a month! It´s kind of hard to believe. In some respects, it feels like it´s been longer than that, especially the first couple weeks. (Although when I look back at that, it seems like it´s been much longer than just a month.) But in most ways it´s gone by really fast. This is a good thing and a bad thing, I suppose. I am just as glad now to have the time go by fast, so that I can come home and see all my family and friends sooner. But I´m sure once the time comes, I won´t want to leave. I also feel a little guilty because I had intended to start speaking Spanish with my friends after the first week, and it hasn´t happened yet. And now all of the sudden it´s been a month! We to speak in Spanish every once in a while, and I´m finding that even when I´m speaking in English I sometimes incorporate a little Spanish, either in a phrase or sentence construction or something, but I had far better intentions. So that´s going to be my goal for the next month. Hopefully less than a month. It´s also weird to think that I´ve known the people I met here for only a month. Since we´ve done so much together it seems like I´ve known them for much longer. I still don´t know them all well, but it seems like it´s been more than a month.
Barcelona plans are well underway. We´re taking the bus Friday night, and we decided this morning to for sure take a flight back on Monday morning. Our hostel has a 2 night stay minimum, so we figured we´d take advantage of that and then catch an 7:30am flight back and get back around 8:30 or 9. Then I can have some time to sleep before classes start at 4. That´s the wonderful thing about having Monday mornings off! Janny gave me some recommendations of Gaudi sites to see there, so I think we´re going to take advantage of most of those. I´m getting really excited, I´ve heard Barcelona is one of the best cities in Spain.
I´ve hit a snag on my spring break planning. I can´t remember how much of this I´ve told before, so I´m going to briefly sum it up. Jen and I were going to fly to Budapest, then take the train to Vienna and Salzburg, and then fly home from Salzburg. Later that night (after we bought the tickets), she decided that would be too much money, so we decided to cancel those tickets and do a round trip from Budapest, and from there a round trip bus to Vienna. We would scrap Salzburg entirely. I found out last night that my ticket home from Salzburg is nonrefundable. So I either have to absorb the 164 euro ticket and buy a new one, or find a way to get to Salzburg, probably on my own. I´m not really sure what I´m going to do yet. I messaged Jen but haven´t heard anything back yet. This whole planning thing is so complicated!! It´s so much easier when someone else plans and I just tag along! But I guess it´s a good learning experience. And if I do have to travel alone, it´ll be practice for June when I think I´m going to end up going from Athens to Madrid to Chicago on my own. So I´m trying to think positively.
I can´t think of anything more of interest that´s happened lately, so I´m going to go catch the bus home now. Bye!
Bethany

February 22

Hi all
This morning we went to the Rastro, which is this flea market type thing in the streets. There were about 3 or 4 streets with stalls on both sides filled with all kinds of things, most for really cheap. It was fun to see, but we only spent about 30-45 minutes there because Jen had to leave to go to mass with her senora, and so we all left. Katie and I walked back to Sol via the Plaza Mayor, where there was supposed to be some kind of celebration for Carnaval. All there was was a man who was doing something with a backhoe. I think it was supposed to be some kind of dance with the man and the backhoe. He was in the scoop and it raised up, and then he hung from it and then curled up, and it was weird. It was kind of boring so we just walked by and didn´t stay. Katie and I went to Corte Ingles to get shower shoes for our hostel next weekend in Barcelona, but the cheapest flip flops we could find were 15.50 euros! I wasn´t about to pay that much. Maybe once it gets closer to summer I can find something cheaper. I´ll figure something else out in the mean time.
I came to the internet cafe today to post pictures on Facebook. I got my email for the first time since Thursday, and there were two from my aunt. For those of you who don´t know, which I assume is most of you, my aunt Janny has been at the Mayo clinic for the past week and a half or so. They found out that she has amyloidosis, which is a blood disease that involves the heart, nervous system, and skin. Without treatment, she could die within 3 years. With treatment, which involves a lot of chemotherapy or bone marrow transplant, the time of survival is 5-10 years and growing with each passing year. But there´s a 1 in 3 chance of not surviving the first year of treatment. Her disease is still in the early stages, even though the symptoms have been going on for 5 years. The doctors said she probably wouldn´t have problems with the transplant, and that it could happen as early as April. The danger would be that the treatments wouldn´t work and it would continue to spread. (If I´ve mistaken anything here, please correct me.) So that was a blow. I started crying in the middle of the internet cafe. Fortuanately, I don´t think anyone noticed. It´s a scary thing to find out someone you love may not have as long to live as everyone expected. She´s got an amazing attitude about everything; far better than I would have. She said she knows God is looking out for her, and that whatever happens He will be there. (Great, now I´m starting to cry again.) All of this really makes me wish I weren´t halfway across the world. I would like nothing more than to be with my family now. But obviously that can´t happen. So there´s really nothing for me to do other than pray. Any good wishes you would be willing to will toward Jan, whether it´s in prayer format or not, would be appreciated.
I don´t have any more plans today other than homework. It´s not due till Tuesday, though, so maybe I´ll just do a little and then curl up with a book and try to forget about the world for a while.
I´ll write again soon,
Bethany

February 21

2-21
We went to Segovia today! It was a beautiful city! I think it might be my favorite of the cities we’ve visited so far. Either Segovia or Toledo. We took the train, which took about 2 hours and 15 minutes because it stopped at every single station on the way. But to take a direct train we would have had to use the Ave high speed train, which costs a lot more. So we got into Segovia around 12:15. We took a bus into the city center where the Roman aqueduct is. It was amazing; there’s a huge section of an aqueduct from the Roman Empire still standing and in almost perfect condition. It was enormous, and all put together without mortar and at a time without modern engineering. I don’t know how they got the stones that high up in the air. The wonders of slave labor, I guess. There was a place where you could go up near the top and get a view of the whole city and the surrounding countryside, bordered by mountains. Beautiful! After that we went to the Alcázar, which is the palace/fortress thingy where a lot of the old kings and queens lived or stayed. It was built around the 12^th century; at least, that’s when the earliest documentation of it is. But it could have been around a lot longer since the city obviously existed during the Roman Empire. It has nine rooms that visitors can see, where the royalty lived. There’s the throne room, the royal bedroom, the chapel, and various other places. In one, called the Room of the Monarchs, there are little busts of all the kings of Asturias, Leon, and Castilla lining the walls just below the ceiling. I’m not when it was built, but there are tons of them so it had to be a little later. The brochure says it was commissioned by Felipe II, and if I knew my Spanish history a little better I might be able to tell you when he ruled (I just looked it up, and I actually did know! I just had a brain-fart. We studied him in class last semester. He was the king of Emperor Carlos V and he ruled in the late 1500s). The rooms were all really lavishly decorated, of course, with lots of red velvet and tapestries and paintings. We were actually allowed to take pictures here! I need to get to the internet café to post a bunch of pictures. (Stupid school won’t let me download ActiveX to upload them. Hrm.) In addition to the courtly rooms there was an armory, which was exciting. It was a lot smaller than the one at the royal palace in Madrid, but it had some cool stuff. And, again, I could take pictures! There was also a museum of the Royal Artillery School, which had a bunch of information about artillery and science from 1764-1862. There were lots of little models of cannons and guns and stuff, and actual examples too. They had some antique ammunition, too. I took lots of pictures of the guns and stuff for Dad, but they were all in glass cases, so I’m not sure how much of what you can see is the display and how much is a reflection of me taking the picture. The last thing we did there was climb the tower of Juan II, which had 152 steps to the top, most of which in a Judson Tower-like spiral (except the stairs were a lot taller here). It was a breathtaking view, though. You could see the whole city, plus the empty plains and hills beyond, and then the snow-covered mountains in the distance. My favorite was the view of the cathedral and it’s domed steeple, with the mountains in the background. Beautiful!
We found a kebop (sp?) restaurant to eat at that had a great view of the aqueduct. It’s funny: I’m in Spain and I’m eating Turkish food! They’re delicious, though. We discovered them in Granada. And they’re cheap, which is a big plus. They’re only 3.50 or 4 euros, as opposed to 8-10ish at most restaurants.
After lunch we went to the Catedral de Segovia. I love these cathedrals! They’re so delightfully European! This one is technically the last Gothic cathedral, but it has a lot of the Renaissance aesthetics, with it’s concept of space and luminosity. I’m looking at the brochure as I type this, in case you couldn’t tell. J This cathedral wasn’t nearly as opulent as the one in Toledo, having been built at the beginning of the Renaissance rather than later in the Baroque era. But it was still beautiful. There was a simplicity in the walls and ceilings that contrasted the ornate sculptures and artworks. There wasn’t that feeling of being draped in gold when you walked in. The stone walls were plain, and the columns not carved or painted or anything. It’s so cool to walk into a huge building that’s hundreds of years old, with the ceiling towering over your head and gold statues and paintings everywhere. It makes me wish I had brought Pillars of the Earth with me so I could have finished it. It’s all about building a cathedral in the Renaissance. I’ve actually seen it here in Spanish and contemplated buying it. But it’s not worth it. I do which, however, that they would turn on the heat a little in these cathedrals. Ancient stone buildings are cold! I think it was colder inside than it was outside. Of course, it was very sunny today.
After the cathedral it was getting late-ish, so we checked the bus schedule to get back to the train station. We had about a half hour before the bus came, so we wandered around some of the streets, going in tourist shops and stuff like that. We took the bus back at 5:30, because we thought the train left at 5:57. But it turns out we were looking at the arrival schedule, not the departure schedule. The train didn’t leave until 6:55. So for 45 minutes we wandered around near the train station, which is on the outskirts, and only has these little cheapo stores that have a bunch of crap that no one would actually buy. Then we went back to the station and sat in the warm until the train came. It was a quicker trip on the way home than the way there. I think it took less than two hours to get back into Madrid, and then a little longer to get to my stop. But I got home earlier than I had expected, which was nice, because I’m tired!
Tomorrow we’re going to the Rastro, which is a big flea market in Madrid. It’s also Carnaval until Wednesday, so we might go to Plaza Mayor to see some of the celebrations. Rosaura said there’s a parade in the afternoon that goes to Plaza de la Cibeles, so maybe we’ll catch that. It’s cool being here during the fiestas! Carnaval is a lot like Halloween; all the kids dress up in costumes and walk around. Adults dress up too, and have parties. Apparently in a lot of the smaller towns everyone dresses up and parties in the streets, but it’s less of a big deal in Madrid since it’s such a big city. But it should still be fun. All I can think of is the Simpsons when they’re in Brazil and Bart gets swallowed by the python and you can see his body shape inside the snake, and he says “Don’t be sad; it’s Carnaval” and starts to dance. Ok, it sounds weird when I describe it, but I know Danny at least is cracking up right now, and maybe Brent too. It’s sad: I don’t have anyone here to share in my Simpsons quotes. That’s one show that Katie doesn’t watch. So I have to contain myself and laugh in my head.
Well, I don’t have anything more to write about now, and I’m really tired, so I’m going to bed. I’ll write tomorrow about the Rastro and Carnaval.
¡Hasta mañana!
Bethany

February 20

2-20

Today I met with Jeannette to plan our trip to Austria and Hungary over spring break. We had originally planned to go to Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg, but now it’s looking like we’re going to skip Salzburg. *tear* It was too much money to do all three. So maybe I can still go to Salzburg in May/June. But anyway, we’ve got at least part of the trip planned out.
I also had my first choir rehearsal today. Patricia met me at the train station and drove me the rest of the way. We were a little late because I had to come all the way from Jen’s house (almost an hour away) and then we got lost driving there, but we got there around 6:30. I had a mini voice test so the director could see my range, and then I jumped into the choir. I would guess there are about 50 people in it, both students and community members. We’re doing all Handel music for this concert in honor of the 200 or something-th anniversary of his death. I was happy to find that out; I wasn’t sure what kind of music to expect. And I just did a concert with all Handel, so I’m nice and practiced up. Even though it’s been over two months since I’ve sung seriously. The music is all in Latin or English, which is kinda funny. I go to Spain and sing German music in English. Go figure. It’s cute to listen to the choir singing English in their Spanish accents! There’s a concert at the end of March that’s held in a cathedral in Leganés, which is the town where the rehearsals are. It’s just south of Madrid. I’m not sure if I’m going to be in the concert or not, since I’m jumping in in the middle of the rehearsal process, but I’d absolutely love to sing in a cathedral! I think I will be able to do it, though, as long as I’m not traveling. Apparently a lot of the people in the choir don’t read music, so one of the directors was talking constantly about how important it is to learn your parts and listen to the music and stuff. So I’ve already got a leg up on them, being able to read. I didn’t sing perfectly, but I was probably almost as good as some of the people who’ve been singing this music for a while. So I don’t think there’ll be a problem with learning it. There’s a part in each reahearsal where groups of 2 or 3 go up into a little room for a vocal technique session with another teacher (who’s from England, so she speaks English!). Basically, it’s just to go over any problem sections. I went with the girl sitting next to me and her friend. They are the kind of singers that will sing when someone else is singing with them, but not on their own. After a 10 minute session, the teacher was telling them to sit by me and listen so they can learn their parts better. That made me feel pretty good about myself! J I got to talking with the two girls that sat on either side of me. Both of them told me that I could speak English with them if I wanted, and they were both talking to me in English the whole time. One of them was translating a lot of what the director said, which wasn’t really necessary most of the time, but it was nice of her to do. She made sure I knew where we were and everything, too, which was good because sometimes when they say where we’re starting it’s all a blur and hard to catch. The rehearsal is four hours long, which I thought was going to be atrocious, but it wasn’t too bad. There’s a long warm up time, then sectionals, during which we go out to our vocal technique things. Then we take a break and come back with the whole choir. So it’s pretty well broken up. It went faster than I expected.
The director arranged for someone who lives near me to show me how to get back home, since I had come in a rather circuitous route. She was a very nice woman who talked to me about lots of different things and gave me her phone number in case I had any questions. We took the train home, but the director drove us to the train station, so I’m still not sure how exactly to get there. Next week we’re going to take the metro and compare travel times. I think the train would be faster, but it’s kind of far from the campus.
When I got home at a little after 11, I found that Patricia and Jen had been calling and calling, worried about where I was. I realized that Rosaura and Manuel had forgotten I was going to choir. I had told Rosaura I would be back in the afternoon, but the planning session with Jen took a lot longer than I expected, so I went directly to choir. Yesterday Rosaura asked me if I was going to choir and I told her I was going today, but I guess I didn’t tell her what time. They were apparently waiting for me to eat, and Manuel called Patricia, which made her worried, so she called a couple times, then she called Jen, who then got worried and called me several times, and it was a big mess. Plus I got another scolding from Rosaura for not calling and letting them know I wasn’t going to be there for supper. Another one of those ‘you need to use your head and have some sense’ talks. I apologized profusely, but she kept going on, and there’s only so many times I can say I’m sorry. Especially when she did know I was going to choir. Yes, I should have made sure she remembered, but we did talk about it yesterday. Of course, when I told her I thought she knew because we had talked last night, she said she didn’t remember. I sometimes remember if her memory is all there, because she tends to ask me things several times. So I should have taken that into account and made sure she knew. But I didn’t. And I got scolded. Whatever. I’m not taking this one to heart.
So yeah, that was my night. I have to get up early tomorrow so I can meet the girls at 9:15 to go to Segovia. I’m excited; it’s supposed to be a beautiful city. I’m sure I’ll have lots to talk about tomorrow!
Good night,
Bethany

February 19

Hola
It´s been a few since I wrote a blog, so I thought I´d catch you up on my life. Not much exciting has happened since the Granada trip. Just school as normal. It´s the end of the second week of classes, and things are settling into a nice little routine. I suddenly got loaded with homework on Tuesday, but most of it isn´t due till next week, so I´ve gotten it all done already. Which is good, because I don´t want to have to worry about it this weekend. I think my favorite class so far is Spanish. We´re learning phrases and expressions that are actually useful in everyday life. How to invite someone somewhere, how to ask for things at stores and restaurants, that sort of thing. The professor is really nice, too. She´s the one who teaches Colloquial Spanish, which I wanted to take but couldn´t, so she knows all the modern phrases and stuff. I also like cultural studies. We watched La lengua de las mariposas yesterday, which means The Tongue of the Butterflies or something like that. It´s a movie about a boy going to school during the second republic in Spain, right before Franco. It was really good, but had a sad ending. The professor in that class is really cool too. In literature we started reading a book called Sonata de Otoño (Fall Sonata) that´s from the beginning of the 1900s. It´s really flowery and romantic and hard to follow. Luckily, it´s pretty short. We had to read half of it for next tuesday, and i finished that yesterday. Not sure I understood all of it, but hey, that´s what class discussion is for. History, the class I was most excited for, has turned out to be kind of boring. I like learning about the history of Spain, but it´s nothing but lecture for 3 hours a week. We just got into the middle ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire. Maybe once we´ve gotten into material I know more about it´ll become more interesting. My last class is film, and we´re studying surrealism now. We´ll be watching Un perro andalúz (An Andalusian Dog) today. He gave us a sheet with a synopsis, and it makes absolutely no sense. I don´t think I really like surrealism. Maybe I should hold back judgement until I see the movie, but I don´t have high hopes.
Tomorrow I´m getting together with Katie and Jen to plan a trip to Segovia this Saturday. It´s about an hour and a half bus ride away, so we´re going to do a day trip. Jen´s host mom is going with us. Apparently she knows a lot about the city and where we should go. I´m looking forward to it. We´re also going to plan to go to Austria for the beginning of spring break. I´m really excited for that! I´m glad I´ll be able to go then instead of in May because it didn´t sound like Brent and Danny were that interested in it, and then we can spend more time in places where they really want to go. I really want to see Vienna, Salzburg, and the Alps. I think we´ll go for 3 or 4 days, depending on when Jen´s other plans start. Katie will be in London, so she won´t go with. I don´t know yet what I´m going to do for the rest of spring break. I have yet to figure that out. I´m thinking about spending a day or two at the end of Holy Week in Toledo or Segovia or somewhere close by so that I won´t have to pay for a hostel. All the hostels are probably sold out already anyway. Holy week is a huge deal here. They have processions all day where they take the statues out from all the little churches and march them down the streets of the city to the cathedral and back again. It´ll be interesting to see, but I don´t necessarily want to spend two days looking at processions.
This weekend is Carnaval. Patricia´s sending us a link to the website that has all the activities. I want to check out some of the parades and stuff. A lot of the bars and stuff have free drinks, and I´m not really sure what other things there are going on. I think it´s not like Brazil where everyone dresses up everywhere. Some people dress up, but not as many.
Next weekend I´m going to Barcelona with Katie and her friend! I´m very excited!! Her friend is studing in Germany, I think, and he wants to see Madrid. So they´re going to hit the Madrid hotspots on Friday, then we´re taking the midnight bus to Barcelona and staying there till Sunday night. It´s about a 7-8 hour bus trip. Katie´s dad knows someone whose sister or something has a hostel in Barcelona, so we´re hoping to stay there for cheap or free (cross fingers).
Well, I´ve got to go to class. Ta ta!
Bethany

February 16

2-16
Warning: this is a long blog. Very long.
We just got back from Granada last night. Wow, what an experience that was! It was a student-led trip from the university, and it had to be one of the worst-planned and organized trips I’ve been on. I enjoyed the city and what we saw, but it was just so disorganized that it would have almost been worth it to go on our own instead.
We left Madrid on a huge double decker coach bus at 8:30 Friday morning. It was a 5 and a half hour bus ride, and we drove south through all of Castilla La Mancha into Andalusia. Those are two of the autonomous communities, in case you didn’t know. Granada is in Andalusia, which is the southernmost of the communities. It’s close-ish to the sea, but doesn’t have any coastline. It’s warmer there than Madrid, too; it was about 65 or 70 in the sun every day, but much colder in the shade. The scenery was beautiful; lots of rolling hills and fields. In some of the fields there were the ruins of little buildings with half a wall or no roof or something. I don’t know if they were ancient or not, but they looked like it, and in Spain you never know when something is 500 years old! When we were driving through Castilla La Mancha, there were a couple of times I saw Don Quixote-like windmills on a hill in the distance. They weren’t the windmills from the story (I think there’s a place where the supposed real ones are that you can go see), but it reminded me of it. And it was in La Mancha, so it was very cool. On the bus, we met three Italians that we hung out with for a lot of the weekend. There were two girls, Alessandra and I think Maria, and a boy, Riccardo. It was Riccardo that we hung out with most. He spoke English, but the girls only spoke Italian and Spanish. It was cool; they spoke Italian with us and we spoke Spanish with them, and we all understood each other! I knew that the languages were very similar, and I had heard that you could communicate using different languages, but it was a lot easier than I expected, and it was cool to experience!
When we got to Granada, they dropped us off at our two hostels. In the email they sent, they had told us we would be staying in hotels. I wasn’t sure if that meant a real hotel or a hostel, so I brought shampoo and soap and a towel just in case. But most of the other people in AYA who went were expecting a real hotel with all the accommodations included. Ryan (one of the guys in AYA) even said he expected there to be an iron and everything, which I thought was a bit much to expect even from a hotel. So they were all really upset about that miscommunication. The hostel we stayed at was down a narrow alley and it was a little dingy. It was pretty clean, but we were still wary. It was weird; when you walked in the front door it led into a kind of courtyard with an open roof and little balconies on the windows of the rooms above. It was pretty cool, except that the main area was then cold because it didn’t get much sun.
When we got there, they gave us a few hours to eat and do whatever we wanted before we took a walking tour of the city center. We didn’t know where we were or where to go, so we found somewhere close to eat and then met up for the tour. It was led by a student who seemed to know quite a bit about the various places, and I took lots of pictures. Granada was where the Muslims lived before they were kicked out in 1492, so there’s a lot of Muslim architecture and influence, with mosaic tiles and intricately worked plaster-ish stuff on the walls. A lot of the tourist shops had Arabic stuff in them. Granada also was the place where Christopher Columbus got permission from Ferdinand and Isabel to voyage to America. There’s a big statue of Columbus and Isabel in the Plaza de Isabel la Católica, which we used for a meeting place all weekend.
After the tour they dropped us off in the city center and gave us some more free time. We didn’t really know where we were or where the hostel was. This whole weekend, if we asked how to get somewhere the leaders told us to just ask someone on the street. They didn’t know how to get anywhere. So we just wandered around for a while and then eventually found the meeting place. We took a bus to this flamenco thing that was on our itinerary, which I assumed was at a theatre, but it wasn’t. Well, first the bus took us to the Almaycin, which is the ancient Muslim neighborhood with all white buildings were there’s a famous view by the church of St. Nicholas where it drops into a valley and you can see the Alhambra on the next hill, all illuminated at night (it was about 10:30). It was pretty, but it was freezing and we didn’t need to stay there long. Then the bus took us to the flamenco. Ryan described as an underground speakeasy, which is kind of what it seemed like. It wasn’t covert or anything, but it was in a small, low-ceilinged, long, narrow room where we sat around the perimeter so there was a kind of runway in the middle of the room. There were people that danced flamenco individually or in pairs, really close to us. It was kind of cool; we could see all the fancy footwork. It was like a kind of tap dancing; they would stamp out intricate and very fast rhythms with their feet, using their toes and their heels alternately, sometimes with guitar and singing, and sometimes with just people clapping. It was very loud in that little room, what with the stomping and at least two people clapping all the time.
We left the flamenco a little after midnight. On our itinerary, it said there was going to be a party at a club called L’Scandalo starting at midnight. Instead, we went to another club first, until about 1, and then moved on to L’Scandalo. I have no idea why they changed plans, but no one told us about it. We stayed at the other club until about 1:30, and then we wanted to go home, because we didn’t know where to go and we had a full weekend ahead of us. So all the AYA people and quite a few other people told the leaders that we wanted to go back to the hostel, and they sent one of the leaders with us. Only, he didn’t know where to go. We were wandering around the streets with a map, asking random people on the street how to get to our hostel. I think that if you’re going to be organizing a trip for students, you need to at least know how to get back to where you’re staying. That’s a must. It was ridiculous. It took us about a half hour to get home, and at one point when we were getting close, we got to a point that Ryan recognized and knew how to get home, but the other people thought it was the other way, so we split up. They ended up getting there a few minutes after we did. By this time it was 2 in the morning and we just went to bed.
The next morning we got up and went to the breakfast provided by the hostel: toast and jam. Really gourmet, but whatever. At 11:30 we got on a bus to go up to the Alhambra. I don’t think our bus driver knew where he was going, because we turned around at least 3 times, and it took us like a half hour to drive there (it only took about 20 minutes to walk back to the city center afterwards. Granted, there are a lot of one way streets and stuff, so that’s probably why it took so long). I don’t know how much everyone knows about the Alhambra, so I’m going to give a brief description. It’s an ancient city where the Muslim sultans lived in the 1100s. It was a city, but it’s really quite small, and all encompassed by the city of Granada today. It took only 20 years to build, which is amazing, because it’s several large buildings, and it’s very intricate. There were about 2000 people living there when it was used for that purpose. It’s got a main palace complex and then extensive gardens called the Generalife. When the Muslims were expelled from Spain in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabel were in Granada, but they didn’t live there. Their nephew, Emperor Charles (Carlos) V was going to make it the basis of his Spanish empire, and he lived there for about 6 months. During that time he had it added on to, making a round, Romanesque plaza sort of thing with columns where today they hold concerts and parties. It was only because Carlos V built onto it that the Alhambra wasn’t destroyed. All the other mosques and Arabic buildings were demolished in an attempt to wipe out all “heathenism.” After 6 months, though, Carlos decided that it was too far away from the hub of things to make it his home, so he moved somewhere else and abandoned the Alhambra. So, the Alhambra is one of the best and most famous examples of Muslim architecture in Spain.
It was beautiful. There were tiled mosaics on the walls and ceilings, and intricately carved plaster or something, I’m not really sure what it was made of. There were even some original carved wood shutters that were preserved by rubbing oil and dust into them. The ceilings were tall and pointed so that the middle was taller than the sides, and there were arches everywhere. The Muslims had tapped into a water source somewhere at the top of the hill and brought water into the complex where it had previously been all dry. They had some fountains, but also a lot of courtyards with pools of water that run so slowly that it looks like the water isn’t moving at all, so there’s a perfect reflection of the building. It was really cool. After the palace part of it, we went into the Generalife, which are the gardens. It’s on a hill, so there are different levels, and it has tall hedgerows that you can walk through and pathways with fountains and flowers (cheerily blooming in the middle of February!) There was even one huge bush I saw that had the middle carved out of it so you could walk inside! The Generalife was filled with all sorts of things that look like a stereotypical palace garden. It was beautiful. At the end of the tour, we walked down a street, I think it was called the Paseo de los Tristes or something like that, that is one of the oldest streets in Granada. It was downhill on cobblestones with small steps every few feet, and loose stones and very treacherous, so we couldn’t really look around at the buildings, but it was still cool.
When we got back to the city center (at about 3:30), our student leader was like: now’s free time, go do whatever you want. But again, we didn’t know where we were or how to get back, so we wandered until we found something familiar. The next thing on our itinerary was a party at a bar called Mae West, which said time to be determined. We realized after we separated from everyone else that they hadn’t told us what time we were supposed to meet. Of course. We assumed that it probably wasn’t until midnight or so, since that’s when the party the night before was, so we didn’t worry yet. We looked around some of the tourist shops, but once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, so we decided to go back to the hostel to shower and rest for a while. We managed to find it on our own this time (yay!) and so we were there for about an hour when the rest of the people from AYA came back. We hung out in the hostel for the rest of the afternoon. We found out from our Italian friends that the party was going to be at 12ish, so we had a few hours. The club we were going to was supposedly a dress up one, so we put on our nice clothes and Ryan did everyone’s hair and Jillian did everyone’s make up and it was a fun little makeover session. We found out at about 11 that there had been a pre-party party at 10:30 that no one had told us about, but I’m not sure if that was for everyone or just a smaller group. But it didn’t matter. We were having fun in our hostel.
We didn’t even all meet to go to the club together. They had given us the name of it, but no directions or address, so some of the people in our group went on the computer downstairs in the hostel to MapQuest it and find out where the heck we were going. Right before we left, the Italians told us that they heard we were going to a different club first, that was close to Mae West. We all went together, which was good, because none of the AYA people knew where we were going. The first club was small and crowded, and I kept getting bumped and jostled, and it was annoying. They played some American music, but there was also some Spanish music, which is different from the other clubs I’ve been to. I actually tried to dance and have fun, and it was pretty ok for the first hour or so. But then I just got bored. Around 2:00, all the Erasmus students were herded out of that club, counted, and then taken over to Mae West. It looked like it was in a shopping mall. It was weird. But there was a huge flight of stairs that people were climbing and waiting in line to get in, and there was also an elevator. I don’t know why, but we all got in line for the elevator. Which took about a half hour longer than it would have if we had just climbed the stairs. That’s when we also got our coupons for two free drinks. There were basically two rooms to the club, off of a mall-like hallway. The bar part was absolutely packed; you had to wade through people, shoving them out of the way to get anywhere. It was ridiculous. We got our first drinks in there (I got a lemonade and vodka, which pretty much just tasted like lemonade even though there was a lot of vodka in there) and then went over to the pub. That was less crowded. Relatively. You could stand up on your own with a little bit of personal space. They played American music in there, but it wasn’t the normal bad club music. They played some Bon Jovi, and a Spanish version of “I Wanna Be Like You” from the Jungle Book, and Greased Lightning, and some other fun music. I decided that I might as well use my other drink ticket, because it was free and I couldn’t imagine two drinks would kill me. So I got vodka with orange soda. Again, a lot of vodka in that little glass. I’ve never had two drinks before in my life. I was a little dizzy, but I’m not sure how much of that was the alcohol and how much was the fact that it was going on 4 in the morning and I was about to fall asleep on my feet. I was feeling completely lucid, though, and perfectly fine other than that. When it was almost 4, the AYA people started talking about leaving. We all met in the hallway to make sure we had everyone. There were two people who had decided to go back into the bar, so we were trying to call them to let them know we were leaving. One of them didn’t have her phone on her, and the other one picked up, but we weren’t sure how much she could hear. Finally we got through and said we’re leaving, and she said ok, but we didn’t know if it was an ok you can leave or ok we’re coming. So Ryan went around the bar like 4 times looking for them, and finally we decided just to leave. We walked home with no incidents or getting lost (which was a huge relief) and got back to the hostel about quarter to 5 in the morning. I was so tired. Apparently the other girls got back about 15 minutes after we did, but I was asleep by that time. It was way past Bethany’s bed time.
The next morning we had to be out of the room by 10:30; a cruelly early time for us. Five hours of sleep just isn’t sufficient. But we did it, and then found out that there was no breakfast waiting for us. No idea why. So Katie and Jen and I went out into the city and found a little bakery/café where we bought breakfast. We were going to go to the Corte Ingles to buy some supper for the bus ride home, but it was Sunday, so it was closed. The Corte in Madrid is open on Sundays, so we weren’t expecting it to be closed, but I guess Madrid’s is just open because it’s a bigger city. Almost everything in Granada was closed except tourist shops and restaurants. In Spain, everything is closed on Sundays and often Mondays. What is open those days is generally closed from 2-5 for siesta. So the reason we were staying in Granada until the afternoon with nothing to do? I have no idea. We wandered around for a while, then got lunch and sat there at the tables outside in the sun for 3 hours (it took almost that long from the time we got there to the time we got our check; we only sat out for about a half hour after we paid). After that we found another bakery, bought food for the bus, and then sat on a bench along the street for another couple hours. We went back to the hostel to pick up our bags and found the rest of AYA there, so we chatted with them for about a half hour before it was time to meet up to go home.
The original email we had gotten said that we were going to get back to Madrid in the afternoon, so I told my señora I would be home for supper. But when we got there we found out that we weren’t leaving until 4. The bus was supposed to pick up the people from the other hostel at 3:45 and then come get us at 4. Of course it didn’t arrive until 4:30. But then we got on and drove home. I tried to sleep for the first part, and I think I almost succeeded, but not quite. I just listened to my iPod for the rest of the trip. We got back to Madrid at 10:15, and by the time I got home it was about 10:40. I talked to my parents for a while and then went to bed, glad to have a real bed again. I don’t have classes till 4 on Mondays, so I was able to sleep in this morning. I slept until 11:30, and by 2:00 I was ready for a nap! But I forced myself to stay awake and finish some homework. Now it’s 10:30 and I think I’m going to go to bed soon. 5:00 in the morning really is too much for me!
Oh, one more thing about how disorganized the trip was. Two girls from our group had a class on Friday morning, so they bought their own bus tickets to come after class. They arrived around 5:30 or 6. The Erasmus people had put them on a list of the hostel rooms so they would for sure have a room. I know they did that, because when we were all signing up for rooms, we switched one of them out so they would be in the same room (they had been in separate rooms) and I would take her place with my friends. Then the Erasmus people put up a big stink because they said we couldn’t switch it like that, so we put it back the way it was. When the girls got to Granada, they called the leader and were told to just ask people how to get to the hostel. Luckily they had picked up a map from the bus station. They found the hostel and then were told that there was no room for them there. So they went to the other hostel and were split up. One of them was told that she was going to have to room with 5 boys she didn’t know. I’m not sure how she got out of that, but I wouldn’t have done it either! Somehow they ended up together in a room full of strangers, but I have no idea how their hostel got changed. They said there were people there sleeping on the floor on mattresses, so I guess there weren’t enough beds for everyone. Then they didn’t know where we were or where we were meeting when, so they wandered around the city for a couple hours. They just happened across us when we were all gathering to go to the flamenco, and we left 5 minutes after they found us, so if they hadn’t been walking by at that exact time we would have left them. I couldn’t believe that the leaders were that irresponsible with two of their group. It was inexcusable that they weren’t given a place to meet or a time, and that their housing accommodations were changed without telling them, or that they weren’t given directions, or anything. The girls were almost in tears when they found us because they had no idea what they were going to do. It was unbelievable.
Anyway, that’s my rant/story about the weekend. All in all it was a good trip, just badly planned and organized. I’m glad I got to see Granada, but I wish we could have gone with Patricia instead. She would have made it a great trip. But whatever. It’s over now. And I’m going to bed.
G’night!
Bethany

February 11

I. Hate. The. Internet.
I tried for 45 minutes today to connect to the wifi on campus so I could Skype mom. I went to 4 different places with varying degrees of connectivity. Even when it said I had excellent connectivity, it wouldn´t connect. I got the internet to come up a couple of times, but only for a minute. Skype never connected. I have no idea why. I thought since there´s wifi on campus, surely I would be able to tap into it and use Skype. But no. I have no idea what´s going on, and frankly, I´m very angry. I don´t know if it´s my computer or the connection here, but somethign isn´t working. I´m inclined to think it´s my computer, because as far as I know other people are able to connect on their laptops just fine. I ran a diagnostic thingy on Internet Explorer and it said I couldn´t connect with HTTP or HTTPS or something else, and it may be related to my firewall settings. I tried turning the firewalls off, I tried turning them back on again, nothing worked. I don´t know what to change and I don´t want to screw anything up. Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?
Bethany

February 10

2-10
Second day of classes. Everything went really well. I think they’re all going to be interesting. My film professor is a little hard to understand because he speaks more quietly, and he has huge powerpoint slides that I’m trying to read as he’s talking, which never works out well. But in general, it was good.
I have another tiny señora story. Nothing bad, just a little odd. For my Spanish class we’re talking about introductions, and I had to speak with a Spaniard and get some information about them to write about. I decided I’d ask Rosaura, since I seem to talk more with Manuel in general. I waited until after supper because I wasn’t sure if she would want me to ask about homework at the dinner table. I went into the kitchen and asked if I could ask her some questions for homework. She said oh, you should have done that when we were all at the table eating, and then she called Manuel in to answer my questions. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that per se, but I just thought it was weird that she couldn’t do it herself. It was just a few questions about them growing up and where they went to school and simple stuff like that. But she had me wait while Manuel finished brushing his teeth and came in from the other room to do it. I don’t know if she didn’t understand that it was that simple, or if she didn’t want to help me, or if that’s just Manuel’s job to help with homework, or what. But it was a little strange. Oh well, the homework’s done, and now I know that if I need any homework help I should go to Manuel. Lesson learned.
I would like to take this opportunity to make a few cultural observations and comment about differences between Spain and the US.
1. PDA is everywhere! People make out on the streets, metros, busses, parks, stores, restaurants; everywhere! It’s weird. That’s private, please go find a room.
2. A lot of people have dogs and walk them down the streets. (That’s not the difference!) Half of the dogs aren’t on leashes, and a couple of them don’t seem to have owners anywhere nearby. Also, they are allowed to poop anywhere they want and the owners don’t pick it up. So there’s dog crap on the sidewalks. Gross.
3. Notebooks aren’t lined; they’re grids. I had such a hard time picking out school supplies because I didn’t want to write on a grid! There are notebooks with really big lines, that are for kids learning to write. So now I have vertical lines going through my words. I’m not sure how this is going to work out. Notebooks are also really expensive. The cheapest one subject I could find was 1.80 euro! Also, I couldn’t find any folders. Anywhere. The closest I got is this little portfolio thing held together with an elastic band. I’m a little nervous about it because the papers aren’t held in place by pockets or anything; just that little elastic band. I hope nothing falls out! If I’d known school supplies would be so hard to come by I’d have brought my own!
4. This one isn’t really a difference between countries, but more between big cities and little ones like Ripon or Oconomowoc. People don’t wait for the walk light to turn green before crossing the street. If there’s not a car coming they just go. Or sometimes even if there is a car coming they run. It was very unnerving at first, but I’m getting more used to it now.
5. The siesta is very annoying! All the little shops (not the big department stores and things like that) and some museums and other touristy things are closed from 1:30 or 2 until 4 or 5. That’s some of the prime shopping/touristing time during the day! It would be nice if I worked in a shop to have a time off, but when I’m trying to give them money and they’re closed, it’s frustrating. It’s also a little eerie, because the streets are sparsely populated during that time and I sometimes feel vulnerable when I go out then.
6. According to Katie’s señora, professors are rarely on time to class. I’ve had mixed experiences with my two days of classes. But I think in general Spaniards tend to be late for things.
7. Everyone always talks about how Americans eat so much and have such huge portion sizes. These people have not been to Spain! Each meal has 3 courses: a vegetable, a meat, and dessert. Usually I have a plate of steamed spinach (I told her I liked it the first time we had it and now she’s made it every day except one for a week! Ahh!), fish or meatballs or beef, and cheese for dessert. Plus a side salad. The other day I had eaten the salad and spinach, and she was giving me fish filets. She put two on my plate and when I said I didn’t want a third, she asked why I wasn’t hungry that day. Because I didn’t want three fish filets! Maybe their portions are a little smaller (it depends on the day and the food for me), but instead of Americans going back for seconds, they just have more courses. It’s a lot of food!
8. Along the same lines, Spaniards don’t snack. At least, not in my house. If you want something to eat between meals, you cook it. They do have chips and stuff, but I think a lot of people don’t buy them. I think they’re more popular among the younger people.
9. There are no dryers. People hang everything out on a line. This gives the streets a very quaint feel. But I’m used to fabric softener. My clothes feel stiff and rough when I put them on. I like dryers. But on the other hand, the clothes don’t shrink up, so they fit bigger. Which makes me feel like I’ve lost more weight and I need to go shopping for new clothes.
10. After washing, people iron everything. Ironing in itself is different from most Americans. But they don’t just iron shirts or dress pants or things that are wrinkled. I’m talking about jeans, pajamas, even underwear!! It’s awkward enough having a stranger wash my underwear, but when she irons it too, that’s just beyond weird. She makes so much more work for herself than is necessary! Who’s going to know or care if your underwear is ironed, anyway? I think this trend is mostly with the older generation. I don’t know how much ironing the younger women do.
11. I feel like in general people on the street are more amiable than in the states. If you stop someone to ask directions they’ll do it willingly and kindly. If someone sits next to you on the metro they don’t sit on the very edge of their seat as far away from you as possible and stare in the other direction as if you don’t exist. It’s common to greet people on elevators, or your bus driver, or other people you encounter. It makes me wonder if I seem rude if I don’t acknowledge someone I pass on the street. There are some people that don’t fit this description, but for the most part, people seem nicer here.
I can’t think of any more right now. I’ll add to the list as they come to me.
Well, I’m going to go to bed. G’night all!
Bethany

February 9

2-9
I just finished my first day of classes! It was actually a pretty easy day. My first class was from 4-6 and then I had one from 6-7. I got to campus before noon, though, to sign up for a trip to Granada hosted by the Erasmus Student Network for this weekend. That should be fun. Then I had 4 hours to kill, so I spent a lot of time on the internet emailing and researching plane tickets and hostels and the like.
My first class was Spanish Literature. It’s taught in two different sections, depending on the language ability of the students, but for this first week the professor who teaches the lower one, which is the one I’m in, is on vacation, so we were all supposed to meet with the other class. Of course, almost everyone forgot. There were like 15 or 20 of us waiting in this classroom for 15 minutes before we figured it out. So then we all trekked over to the other building. The class was pretty interesting. We talked about the pre-war genre of decadent literature. Then we started reading this weird book about a Countess whose daughter is supposedly possessed by the devil. It’s called Beatriz, and I’m not sure who the author is. They gave us a photocopy that didn’t have the title or the author on it. I thought that was strange. Anyway, our homework was to finish reading the handout, which was only about 5 pages. I’m already done.
The next class was History of Spain, which I’m pretty excited about. It covers all 3000 years of history, but very quickly. He wanted to know what periods we were interested in so that we could cover them more thoroughly. Most people said Franquismo, (the era of General Franco) or the Inquisition, which would be what I’m more interested in. I have a feeling we’re going to be spending more time on contemporary history rather than ancient or modern (modern meaning since the Renaissance), which would be more where my interests lie, but it will still be interesting. Well, I suppose we will spend a while on at least part of the Ren if we talk about the Inquisition. Anyway, I like history, so it should be good regardless.
Tomorrow I have 4 classes, but they’re all an hour or an hour and a half, so it won’t be too bad. I have one at noon, and the rest are all clustered from 2:30-6. I like not having classes early in the morning, especially since it takes 40 minutes to get there, but then I feel like I don’t have as much time at night to do homework, so then I feel like I should get up and do it in the morning. But I’m too lazy for that! I’ll have to see what the work load is like.
So, it’s looking pretty good! I’m really starting to feel settled here. It’s been a few days since I last wished I could go home right now! I’m so glad it’s getting better! I still miss everyone, of course, but it’s more tolerable now that I’m getting used to being a madrileña! (That’s a citizen of Madrid, in case you couldn’t figure it out.)
Chao!
Bethany

February 8 again

2-8 again
Manuel and I were talking at dinner about the universal health care system in Spain. Well, mostly he was talking and I was trying to keep up. He said that everyone, including immigrants, gets free health care, or at most they have to pay one euro, and many people bring their families from other countries here to be cured and then leave again. People also bring boatloads of people from Africa who are dying. He said they pay 4% in taxes for the health care system, and that way there’s plenty of money to keep up with the most up to date health care. He said people in Spain would rather pay more in taxes to provide health care for everyone else who needs it, rather than save money and deny health care to anyone. It was kind of funny, because he was getting more and more adamant and started talking faster and faster, and between that and Rosaura washing dishes and the radio playing American music I was having a hard time understanding everything. But it got me thinking about that difference between Spain and America. That willingness to give of your own money to help people you don’t know who are dying just doesn’t seem to be as present in the US. Maybe I’m just being cynical, and I’m sure Dad will call me out on this, but it seems like Americans would rather not pay taxes to save lives, and the health care businesses would pull their strings to keep it from becoming universal. Now I’m not going to pretend that I know a whole lot about the health care systems of these two countries. But it seems to me that health care is something that everyone is going to need at some point in their life, and I don’t think people should have to choose between getting cured and putting food on the table. A little compassion for others when it comes to your pocketbook would go a long way if we could get this system in place. I told Manuel that this was one of the big issues in the election, and that Obama wanted to start moving toward universal health care. I said I didn’t know if it would happen, but it was being talked about. He said that Clinton wanted to do that too, and it obviously didn’t happen, and he was very skeptical that it will happen under Obama. He said it was the cowardice of the US government that would keep it from happening. At that point my American patriotism got a little offended, but he was so adamant that I didn’t want to say anything and get pulled into a conversation way over my head, politically and language-wise. But regardless, I think the opportunity to have free, or at least cheap health care would be invaluable.
I wish I hadn’t left so soon after the election. I don’t know anything that’s happened with Obama since he froze the government salaries. In the airport in Philadelphia they were making a big stink about the music at the inauguration that was taped instead of live, and I was like seriously? This is what you’re worried about? Who cares? But I don’t watch TV here, and most of the news is Spanish or European anyway. Whenever there is news about America on the radio, I can’t really understand what’s going on. I feel very out of the loop with our new government. I suppose not a whole lot has happened in only 2 weeks, but still I wish I knew. This coming from me, who usually doesn’t care much about news or politics. Maybe when I’m on the internet tomorrow at school I’ll look up cnn.com or something like that.
Sorry for the political debate. It just got me thinking.
Bethany

February 8

2-8
So after all that hype about the seven story club we were going to go to last night, it ended up not happening for me. It’s kind of a long story. Jen had told me on Friday that we were going to meet at Sol at 10:00 last night. I got there 10 minutes late and no one was there, so I called her. She said she had sent around a message that it wouldn’t be until 10:30 or 11 that we met, and if Katie hadn’t called to tell me that, she might not know either, so would I call her to make sure. So I called Katie, and she said she knew, but she had just gotten the message a few minutes ago and had forgotten to call me. So I figured by that time it was only 15 minutes till 10:30 so I would just wait there. I was going to go inside a store to wait and get warm, but they were all closed, so I just waited outside. A little after 10:30 Katie and Sara showed up, so we were all waiting for Jen and her boyfriend. Then we get a text. The club doesn’t open till 12:30, so let’s meet at 12:15. After we’re all there already. So we have almost 2 hours to burn. So Sara and Katie and I sat in a restaurant drinking juice for an hour and a half. I was hoping to leave the club by 12:30 at the latest so I wouldn’t miss the metro home, because I did not want to take a taxi. And Sara said it cost 15 euro to get in, which wouldn’t have been worth it if I was only going to be there for an hour or so. So at midnight I decided to go home. As I was leaving, we got another text from Jen saying that she’s there and what’s happening. We’re all like: we have no idea; you’re the one calling the shots. So I just got on the metro and went home. So, all that came out of last night was a nice conversation with Sara and Katie for an hour and a half while we waited. I felt kind of bad not going to the club since it was for Jen’s birthday, but I feel like we already celebrated that last weekend when we went around and saw the Andalusian horses and all that, and I wasn’t feeling the greatest to begin with. When we were going to be getting there two and a half hours later than I expected, I just wasn’t willing to do it. And I was a little frustrated with the lack of organization involved. So I went home, read Harry Potter, and went to sleep.
I didn’t wake up this morning until quarter to 12, and then I lay in bed for another half hour. I shouldn’t be as tired as I was, but I didn’t feel like getting up. So now it’s 12:40 and I think I’m going to get some tea from the kitchen. I don’t have any plans with anyone today. I was thinking about going to some of the shops around my house. It looks like some of them have some pretty good sales. And I don’t really feel like doing anything big today. I’ll see what happens.
Bethany

February 7 again

2-7 again
Katie and I just got back from the Royal Palace a little while ago. It was beautiful! There were three sections open to the public: the pharmacy, the armory, and the official rooms. We went to the pharmacy first. It was a huge collection of ceramic and glass jars that held all manner of herbs and liquids and remedies and spices and stuff like that that were used by kings in the past. I think most of them were from the 17- or 1800s. Most of them were labeled in Spanish, but a good few were in Latin. There was also a reproduction of a distillery, where there was a juice press thingy and lots of flasks and stuff like that. It was interesting, but one room was much like the next so there wasn’t a whole lot to see.
Next we went to the armory, which was awesome! The first room was dedicated almost exclusively to the armor of King Carlos V and his son King Felipe II. In case you don’t know, Carlos was king in the mid 1500s, and then obviously Felipe was right after him. It was weird to see things that belonged to people from history that we studied in school. There were swords and shields and helmets and gauntlets, as well as tons of plate armor for the people and their horses. I don’t know how many sets of armor each king had, but there was an entire wall dedicated to each. I would guess there were probably 10-15 sets for each wall. Not all of them were complete, but most of them were. There were also about 8 life-sized horse-and-rider models showing how the horse armor was worn over the cloth thingy whose name I can’t remember embroidered with the lord’s pattern, and the human dummies wearing full armor carrying lances. It was really cool to see. I was surprised at how ornate the armor was. There was some that was inlaid with gold, some with patterns etched into it, some with little scenes etched or painted on. It seemed a lot of work for something that’s going to be destroyed in battle. But they were beautiful. In that room were also a bunch of huge tapestries that were made for the kings. The room wasn’t well lit, and they were so big that you had to stand far away, so it was difficult to see them clearly, but they were amazing. I can’t imagine the work it would take to make something that huge! The biggest was probably 30x50 feet. It was hard to judge, though, because they were high up on the wall. There was another huge room with a bunch of smaller displays of armor and weapons that belonged to other nobility from the 1400s to the 16-or 1700s. There were even sets of armor for the princes; they were so small that they couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years old! No child that young should have need of armor! But there were more horse and rider displays of stunning armor, and tons of swords and shields and guns. (The following description is for Dad J) There were some really cool ancient guns, inlaid with gold and ivory. Some of them were small enough to be held in one hand, but there were some that must have been 10-15 feet long! But they didn’t look like canons; they looked like rifles with really, really long barrels. Even I was fascinated by them. I wish they would have allowed pictures so I could show dad, but of course, like every other cool place, pictures aren’t allowed. They also had an extensive display of really ornate saddles, with paintings or etchings of mythological scenes and courtly stuff on them, and lined with brocade or velvet. They were beautiful, and in amazingly good shape for being so old. I think the armory was my favorite part of the royal palace.
Last were the official rooms, which were breathtaking. I can’t imagine actually living in these places! Although, I should mention that the current king and queen don’t live there; they live in a more modest palace somewhere else in Madrid. Modest palace, ha! Anyway, this building is just used for state functions. It’s mostly set up in the way that Kings Carlos III and IV had it back in the late 1700s and early 1800s, although the building was used by kings up until 1931. Anyway, enough history lessons. The point is, that it was extravagant and beautiful, but hardly a place where anyone should feel comfortable living. There was a fresco on every ceiling, glass and crystal chandeliers, huge mirrors, damask and velvet wall coverings, tapestries, paintings, brocade curtains, marble floors, statues, you name it. We saw the drawing room, the throne room, what used to be the king’s bedroom and the room where he ate lunch (which looked nothing like a dining room and had a huge circular bench in the middle of the room with a giant golden statue on the pedestal in the middle), the dining hall, which used to be three rooms of the queen’s chambers but was converted at some point, and several other rooms. There was also a room displaying their silver collection, including dishes and silverware, but also decorative stuff. It was really funny, because there were a couple little silver cups with barcodes on the bottom! I don’t know if they were bought more recently, or if they were reproductions, or what, but it was strange. In one room was a model about a foot and a half high of Cellini’s Perseus, which is the statue Tiffany and I presented in our Renaissance class last semester. It made me miss Tiff! It was cool to see, even though it was so small, because it’s hard to get an idea of a statue from flat pictures. It really is a gruesome statue! There were lots of Romanesque statues too. There was a tour in front of us so we heard some of that as we were walking through. An English woman behind me said: ‘these people have all this bloody money and meanwhile the people outside are starving . . . it’s sick.’ Which is totally true; I can’t imagine how much money it must have taken to build the palace. Way more than I’ll ever see in a lifetime, that’s for sure! But it was amazingly cool to see.
After the palace Katie and I went to El Corte Ingles so I could buy some school supplies. Holy cow: their notebooks are expensive! The cheapest I found for a one subject was 1.80 euro. And they all have grids instead of lines, which I don’t understand. I ended up getting just one 6 subject notebook for now. And I couldn’t find any folders, so I got a little portfolio thing with dividers. But I think that’s going to bother me because the papers are just stuck in loose only being held in by the elastic that holds the binder closed! Grr! Had I known school supplies would suck so much here I would have brought my own from home!
Anyway, that was my day. I came home and tried to take a nap, but never actually fell asleep. Now I’m waiting for mom and dad to call. I’ve got to go to this club tonight, which I’m kind of dreading, but I don’t want to not go since it’s for a friend’s birthday. Maybe I’ll just duck out early. I don’t know how late she wants to stay, but I heard something about taking a taxi home, which means it would be after 1:30 when the metros close. Then she was talking about sharing a taxi home and splitting the cost, but I’m on entirely the opposite side of the city from everyone else. And I’m not willing to stay out that late two nights in a row. I had a bad enough experience last night to keep me away from late night excursions for a while.
Well, there’s nothing more really to say. I’ll write again soon.
Bethany

February 7

2-7
Last night we went out to the Ballet Folclórico de Madrid, which was a sampling of folk dances from all around Spain. It was amazing! There were so many different kinds, and yet all of them were distinctly Spanish. Each region had its own costume, with lots of bright colors and fringe that fanned out when they spun. There were also tons of castanets (I think they call them castañuelas or something); almost every dancer had them in every dance. I’m still trying to figure out how they play them. There was such control with the precise rhythms, and everyone played exactly in unison. Patricia told us the theory behind how to make a sound: you hang them from your thumb and shake your had to get it to click, I guess. They also made a sound like a drumroll, where you run your fingers along it really fast, which sounded really cool. But she said it’s really hard to master. All I know is that every time I’ve tried I haven’t been able to do it. Maybe now that I’ve seen it done and tried to study the technique I’ll be able to do it better. There was a group of musicians along the back wall of the stage that played for all the dances. It was mostly guitars and bandurrias, which are lute-like instruments, and a regular lute, but there were also accordions, drums, tambourine, a string bass, and singers. It all sounded very Spanish. There was one set of dances that used a bagpipe band! It was so cool, albeit unexpected. There were two bagpipes, but they weren’t the traditional Scottish kind with three drones and all. These had one drone that stuck up over the shoulder, and there was one thing that looked like a drone that came off near the chanter part on the bottom. I don’t know if there’s a specific name for that kind of bagpipe. They were fantastic, though. I’ve never heard bagpipes play so well in tune, whether they were playing unison or harmony. They played with a drum and . . . and . . . oh, what was the other instrument? Crap, I can’t remember. Maybe some kind of stringed thing. That along with the castanets, of course. It was really cool.
The first half we had to sit up in the nosebleed section (which actually wasn’t super high because it was a pretty small theatre) because we came in late. This makes me mad: we were waiting on one of the girls, Katie, who’s always late. We were supposed to meet at 7:45 for an 8:30 show, and by 8:30 she still wasn’t there. We actually forgot about her at first and started walking to the theatre, and then someone realized she wasn’t there, so Patricia and a couple other people went back for her and the rest of us went on. Around 8:30 Katie called one of the girls in our group and said she was at the metro station but didn’t know where Patricia and the others were. She said she was late because she was drinking with a guy who kept begging her not to leave. And she said she hadn’t taken into account the time it would take to travel to the theatre. My two cents: if you get lost or something that’s one thing. But if you’re going to be late because of something like that you need to call so that the rest of us can go in and watch the show. It wasn’t fair for her to ruin it for everyone else because her drinking buddy didn’t want her to go. So we called Patricia and she came on back with the tickets so we could all go in, and then I think she waited for Katie outside. We were only about 5 or 10 minutes late, but it was still frustrating. And then we got stuck up at the top. Which was actually not too bad, because we could see all the cool formations of the dance. It seemed like a lot of it was based on different shapes. There were some that worked primarily with circles, and different ways of manipulating the circle while still all holding hands. Another dance involved mostly straight lines and squares. That was the set with the bagpipe band. We were still close enough that we could see most of the details, but far enough away to see the big picture, too.
The second half we went to the seats on our tickets, which were first and second row! I was in the front. It was harder to see the formations from there, but it was really cool because we were probably 10 feet away from the stage so we could see everything! The stage was low enough that we could see the dancers’ feet and everything, along with the details of their costumes. I spent a lot of time trying to see how they played the castanets, but it mostly just looked like they were flicking their hands around.
At the end of each dance, or even in the middle of them after something particularly good, people in the audience were shouting things like ‘ole’ or ‘guapo,’ just like all the stereotypes of bullrings and stuff. It amused me. Also, sometimes the dancers would shout things too, while they were dancing. It gave it a very informal, folksy feel. Which I guess is the intention.
So after this night of amazing dancing most of the group decided to go to a black and white party that someone’s friend was having. I was the only one who didn’t want to go, so I got to take the metro home all by myself at like 11:30 at night. The theatre is at the north end of the city, so it took like an hour. And all the while, there were getting fewer and fewer people and I was getting more and more nervous. Finally I got to the last time I had to change metro lines, and the sign that normally says how long until the next metro said the next metro will not admit passengers. Oh no! So I wasn’t sure if there was going to be another one after that that would, but there were a few other people waiting so I decided to wait. No metro ever came that wasn’t admitting passengers, so I don’t know what that was about. But I had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one to come. I was so relieved when it did, let me tell you. There wasn’t really anything shady going on, and there were enough people waiting that I didn’t feel really uncomfortable, but I was so ready to be home. And then of course when I got off there was a guy puking in the metro station. Gross. Anyway, it wasn’t a pleasant metro ride home.
Today I’m going to the Royal Palace with Katie. (Not the same Katie that was late.) I’m excited; I’ve seen pictures and it looks beautiful. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Bethany

February 6

Hi
I just got my final(ish) schedule for classes. I´ll put it on here in case anyone cares to know.
Monday I have Spanish Literature from 4-6 and History of Spain from 6-7.
Tuesday I have Cultural Studies from 12-1, Language from 2:30-4, Film from 4-5 and Spanish Literature from 5-6.
Wednesday I have Cultural Studies from 11-1 and History from 4-6.
Thursday I have Language from 2:30-4 and Film from 4-6.
Friday I have completely off!! Except if I decide to join the college choir, which meets from 6-10 Friday nights. I ´m going to go this Friday to check it out and see if it´s something I want to do.
So that´s my week. It´s nice I won´t have to wake up early any days, but it kinda sucks that they all go into the evening. Oh well, you can´t have it all.
Tonight we´re going to a show that includes a lot of different types of Spanish dances, including Flamenco, Fandango and some others I don´t remember. It should be fun.
Tomorrow night we´re going to this club that has 7 floors and is supposed to be really cool. It´s for Jeannette´s birthday. I was under the impression that we had celebrated her birthday last weekend, but she was like: I´ve been telling you about this! I don´t remember ever hearing about it. Anyway, we´re not meeting until 10, and she doesn´t know how long she´ll stay. If it´s past 1:30 when the metros close I´m leaving early, because I´m not taking the late bus home! She sort of said ´you´re coming, right?´ as if it were assumed, and I felt weird saying no, especially since it´s for her birthday. And she´s one of my friends, so I want to celebrate with her, just not really in that way. Hooray, another club. . . .
I´ve been thinking about spring break the past couple days. Jen´s pushing us to make plans, and I´m having a hard time thinking that far ahead already! I want to see some of the Spanish celebration of Holy Week, but maybe only for a day or two. I was thinking it would be a great time to do some traveling around to places we´re not going to in May, or to places where we were going to go mainly for me that the boys aren´t as interested in. I was thinking maybe I could go to Austria then, and maybe the Neuschwanstein castle and Munich. Jen was trying to get a group together to go to Rome, which would be cool, but that´s one of the places we´re definitely going to in May. So I kinda want to go somewhere else. But I also don´t want to go by myself. So I´m trying to find out what other people are doing.
I finally got both my Carlos III and Ripon emails working!! I had 81 new emails on my Ripon one!! I guess that´s what happens when I don´t check it for two weeks!
Well, I guess that´s all for today!
Bethany

February 5

2-5
Hi everyone,
I’ve been slacking a bit on the blog front. There hasn’t been much to tell the last few days. I had my oral placement exam yesterday and it went pretty well. It was really easy; just ten minutes or less of her asking about me and my Spanish experience. Patricia sent an email with the results of our placement testing, but obviously I didn’t get it. One of the other girls told me I´m in the high advanced level. The different levels are intermediate, advanced, high advanced, superior, and 2 levels of bilingual. I’m going to the university tomorrow to get the schedule for classes. I’m also having trouble activating my Carlos III email, so I’m going to try to figure that out too.
Yesterday afternoon I didn’t have any plans so I popped Shrek into the computer and watched it in Spanish. It’s funny to hear how they try to get the voices close to those of the original actors. Shrek was pretty good, but Donkey was kind of annoying. After that I started reading Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. That’s right; I have Harry Potter in Spanish. I am just that awesome. I was going to buy the other ones when I was at a bookstore here, because I only have the first one, but the only ones I could find were in English and French. I suppose that’s because I was in the international section. It doesn’t make much sense to look for Spanish books in the international section of a Spanish store . . . . Oh, I did find them in another place, too, but they were hardback and too expensive. So I’ll have to look around. I know, I’m nerding out a little, but hey, I’m ok with that! J
Today I met with 4 other girls to be touristy. We were going to go to the Planetarium, but it was closed when we got there at 2:00. Stupid siesta. It wasn’t going to open again until 5, so we decided to save it for another day. We decided to go to Goya’s tomb instead, so we went to the metro stop closest to where it was, and then were trying to figure out where to go. This nice old lady saw us looking at the map and helped us (in English!) find where we were headed. She also gave us recommendations of places to go, like a couple of convents and stuff. We were heading toward Goya’s tomb, but we were all really hungry, so we found a restaurant to eat. They have 2 course meals here, with dessert and drinks included for a pretty reasonable price, so we did that. But there was only one person that we saw working there, and the service was really slow. It took us at least an hour and a half to eat lunch, if not more. By that time we were getting kind of tired and decided just to go to the Plaza Mayor (which was really close) to shop. We did that for a while, and then we went to another part of the city where there were lots of stores. It was getting late-ish and we were done shopping around 7 so we just went home. So I don’t feel like we really did much today. But that’s ok; we have plenty of time for sight-seeing.
I’ve been listening to piano music today. Currently playing: Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major, movement I (Allegramente). I had iTunes on random and then a Billy Joel piano piece came on and I got in the mood for piano music. I went through all my music and made a playlist of just piano solos and concertos. Oh, and I think there’s a duet in there somewhere. Good stuff. And I figure at least the instrumental music doesn’t get me thinking in English. I need to buy some Spanish music to listen to.
Manuel was encouraging me today at supper to find somewhere to teach English. I am still torn about that. I had thought about it before I left, and there was a time when I felt really strongly that I should and wanted to, and then I felt like maybe I didn’t want to and it would be too much. I think he was talking about a private tutoring kind of thing with just a couple students. I don’t know; it might be good, but on the other hand I don’t know if I have enough time I want to give up for that. I have classes into the evening almost every day, and I don’t really want to give up weekends. I don’t know! I’m torn. (Danny, are you thinking what I’m thinking? A certain song just popped into my head and I know it’s all your fault! J)
I found another, closer internet café on my block and then another one right next to my house. I don’t know how I missed them before. I just walked past, so I haven’t tried it out yet, but the closest one looked pretty nice just judging from looking in the window. I have to check that it’s still 1 euro an hour. But that was a nice surprise that it’s right next door!
I feel like I’m starting to get a cold. That sucks, because I was just recovering from one when I came here. I’ve been congested and runny since yesterday afternoon. (Side rant: How is it possible to be congested and runny at the same time?!?! It makes absolutely no sense and should not be physically possible!! Pick one so I can take the appropriate medicine and get better! Sorry, just had a little moment there. . . .) I hope it’s just allergies. Hrmmmm.
I think I’m going to read some HP and then call home.
‘Night all,
Bethany

February 2

2-2
Today was the first day at Carlos III University. We took a written placement test first thing in the morning, and then had a welcome reception. They served alcohol, and there are a few people in our group who apparently can’t control themselves. I’m sorry, but it is not necessary to have at least 4 glasses of wine at school. It’s school, not a bar. In the afternoon we had the professors from half of the classes come and present their topics. There are a few classes I’m really excited to take, like history of Spain and cultural studies. I think I’ve decided not to take the art class. Even though it would be really cool to have class in the museums, I have enough other classes I want to take more, and that would be the only class on a Friday. Otherwise I’m done at 6 on Thursday until Monday afternoon. I’m not sure of a definite schedule yet (I’m waiting for the other half of the presentations tomorrow to decide) but I think I’m going to take cultural studies, history of Spain, Spanish film, the mandatory Spanish grammar class, and either Spanish literature or short stories. I was thinking of taking a colloquial Spanish class, which I think would have been really good, but it conflicts with film. Stupid scheduling conflicts. I have an oral placement exam on Wednesday or Thursday. After tomorrow, it looks like there’s not much on the orientation except the oral exams. So the rest of the week should be easy. And it probably will drag on endlessly. Fun.
Today was all in Spanish, and I understood almost everything! Well, I guess that’s a lie. We still spoke some English among the AYA group. But there was a ton more Spanish today than ever before. And I knew what was going on! The professors are mostly easy to understand, and it seems like it’s not going to be any harder than the Spanish classes at Ripon. There will just be a lot more of them. I think the majority of the students studying at the study abroad section of Carlos III are Americans. At least, I heard a lot of American English. I’m not sure how many of them are going to start speaking seriously in Spanish. The professors stressed a lot today that you need to attend your classes, so I guess they’ve had problems with students skipping out and not being there to learn. So I wonder how many of the people there are just looking for an extended vacation. It makes it sound so intimidating when they’re talking so much about how important it is to be in classes, and how your grade will suffer if you’re not there, but then I remember that that’s what I do all the time anyway. They just make it sound like a big deal.
I’m tired. Concentrating so hard on what everyone is saying all day is exhausting. There’s probably not enough time for a siesta before supper, but maybe I’ll go to bed early. I feel like I say that all the time since I got here! Being in a foreign country is tiring!
Well, nothing more on my end tonight. Later, y’all.
Bethany

February 1 again

2-1 #2
I just got yelled at for having my slippers on the couch. I was lying down reading and I had my feet up. I don’t even think the soles were touching the couch. She came in to tell me supper was ready and freaked out. She was like: don’t put your slippers on the couch, it costs a lot of money to wash and iron it (there’s a cover on it that I’m pretty sure she washes every week anyway because there was magically a different one on it today), you’re too used to the university but in a house you need to take care of things, put your slippers on the floor when you are on the couch, yadda yadda yadda. Then she rushed over to smooth out the couch cover, as if having slippers touching it would wrinkle it more than a person sitting there. Calm yourself, woman! They’re just slippers! They’ve never been outside; I only wear them in your freakishly clean house. It’s no different than putting socks or bare feet on the couch. I actually purposely put the slippers on because I thought she might not like my bare feet on the couch. Obviously I was wrong. I understand that she doesn’t want slippers on the couch, and that’s fine. But she could have just asked me not to do it instead of freaking out. I don’t remember the last time I was scolded like that. It doesn’t help that I’m super tired and a bit on edge. I wanna come home! No, I don’t. Only a little. I just won’t ever wear slippers on the couch again and it’ll be fine. I hope.

February 1

2-1
Katie and I went to the Museo del Prado today. It’s one of the three major art museums in Madrid. Again, no pictures allowed inside, but I got some of the outside. That alone is beautiful. It’s a huge museum. We were there for four and a half hours and only saw one floor. By the end we were like: this is too much art in one day! I know Janny would be shaking her head in disgust at us! J But it was really cool to see all these famous paintings and sculptures. Today we mostly saw late Renaissance and a lot of Baroque paintings, and some Classical-era sculpture. It was hard to believe that what we saw was 2000 years old and still in as good shape as it was! I wonder how many of the exhibits are originals and how many are copies. There are probably a lot of copies, especially with the older pieces. We saw a lot of Goya, and his Black Paintings. I think that’s what they were called. They were all really dark and grotesque. We saw some of his other stuff too. We saw Velazquez, el Greco, Rubens, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Murillo, Van Dyck, Poussin, and tons more. There were also a whole lot of portraits of royal families. I wish I was more into paintings. I like them a lot, but I know many people who would have gotten a lot more out of such an amazing collection. There were a lot of the paintings that were really beautiful, but there were some really horrific ones, too. There were two of Saturn eating his son. The first one, by Goya, had the head and arm already gone and Saturn was biting off the other arm. That one was weird, but it wasn’t as terrifying as the other one I saw. I don’t remember who it was by; I think I was concentrating more on looking away after I saw it. Saturn was holding his son on his lap and taking a big bite out of his chest. It was so disturbing. If anything would give me nightmares it would be that. Ew. Anyway, Katie and I are going to go back another day to see the second floor. I think that has more of the earlier paintings, like the Italian Renaissance ones that I’m eager to see. It’s nice because the map of the museum they give you has a long list with thumbnails of masterpieces to see. So if you want an abbreviated tour of the museum the highlights are all right there. But we want to see all of it, of course! And I’ll have plenty of opportunities to see the museum because the art history class I want to take is held in the Prado! So that’ll be cool.
Today was tiring. I slept till 11, and it’s only 7:40 and I’m exhausted. It was funny; my señora was asking last night what my plans were for today, and I told her that I wanted to sleep in this morning. I got up at 11, took a shower, and didn’t even emerge from my room other than that until noon. She came in and asked if I wanted tea, and then she told me she was surprised I was up so early! Here I was thinking I slept the whole morning away. I wonder how late I would have to get up in order for her to consider it sleeping in.
Not much more to talk about now. Tomorrow I start school stuff! I’m looking forward to seeing what the classes are all about. This past week has been nice to explore the city and all that, but I want a set schedule. Then I’ll know how to plan my time and when I can talk to people on Skype!
Bethany

January 31 again

1-31 again
I forgot to mention that while we were out we made our way to the Plaza Mayor, where we stumbled across a show of Andalusian horses. There were tons of people there, so it was hard to see, not to mention the fact that there was a giant flag on a pole in front of us. But what I could see was interesting. I’m not really into horse shows and all that, but they did some crazy things. The horses danced almost in time to music, and did tricks. They reared up on their hind legs and jumped, and Katie said one of them clicked their back hooves, but I didn’t see that one. They also had a couple of the horses hop across the ring on their back legs like kangaroos. I wasn’t sure if it was cool or cruel. But anyway, I got to see a Spanish horse show in Spain! Jeannette was really excited because that was on her list of things to do and we just came across it accidentally.
The rest of the day we just shopped and looked for boots for Jen. Nothing exciting. But the horse show was kind of cool.
Bethany