This past week has been one of the best. The big event that stands out is when Landri (another girl from my school) and I snuck into a COLDPLAY CONCERT. This sounds bad and is possibly illegal, but in my opinion, it was completely worth it. Here is the story: Coldplay had a concert in Madrid last Wednesday in La Plaza de Toros, which is where they hold the bull fights. Some of my friends and I decided it would be fun to sit outside the arena and just listen to the music. So, Joe, Meredith, Landri and I are sitting there when we see people start to run into a side door to the arena. So, naturally, I follow. Landri and I are together running into the arena. We separate from the other people that also ran in and go up a few flights of stairs. We start walking around, not fully believing that we just walked into a Coldplay concert for free. We were in the hallway on the outside where we couldn't see much of the concert, so we decided to walk into one of the sections pretending like we knew where we were going. So that's what we did and it worked. No one said anything to us, and we got to watch Coldplay sing about 5 songs. Singing along to "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" with 30,000 other people while it is raining in Madrid is a moment I will never forget.

The weekend before this, our group went to a small town about 3 hours northwest of Madrid called Toro in the province of Zamora. We went to a bodega (winery) called Liberalia. I've never toured a vineyard so I don't know if it was anything special, but I thought it was pretty cool. The man who owns the winery is also a painter so we got to see some of his paintings, including the one that is on the label of some of their wines.

This Thursday after class, Lauren, Ryan, and I went to Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen) which is about an hour away in El Escorial. This monument, which was finished in 1958, was built for all those killed in the Spanish Civil War and as a national act of atonement. There is also a basilica there where Francisco Franco (Spain Prime Minister from 1938 - 1973) is buried. Antonio Primo de Rivera (leader of the Fascist party) is also buried there. It was a little weird and eerie seeing the tomb of Franco because he has so much controversy surrounding his dictatorship. Still, the monument was very impressive. There is a plaza outside of the basilica with a great view. The weather that day was foggy and rainy which added to the eeriness of the whole place.

"Caídos por Dios y por España" = "Fallen for God and for Spain"

This weekend, my roommate is in Portugal so it's just me and Señora. We don't have class on Monday or Tuesday (they call the long weekend a "puente" which means bridge), so a lot of people are traveling. I decided to stay here because I'm traveling a lot in December and there is still so much I haven't seen! I'm a little nervous about being here with just Señora because communication is still a little rough, but I'm sure it will be fine. Señora is awesome. She bought me and Lauren scarfs this week, and is always asking me if I'm cold or need anything. Whenever we have day trips, like when we went to Valle de los Caídos, she packs us a lunch to go. She always packs 2 whole baguettes (one for each of us which we never finish), a bunch of cheese and meat, apples, and tortilla española (omelet with potato). The meat always kind of freaks me out. For example, yesterday we got what I think was bologna with random white spots and turkey with fruit in it. It was actually pretty good, but I'm never sure what I'm eating. Anyway, I'm looking forward to my puente in Madrid and some good conversations with Señora!

23/10/11

Big day: It rained in Madrid today for the first time since I've been here.

Barcelona

Inside La Sagrada Família

This past week, we went to Barcelona for five days. It reminded me a lot of Madrid, but with more modern buildings. My favorite part was the church “La Sagrada Família.” It was designed by Gaudí who is this really modern architect that has designed a lot in Barcelona. The church is still under construction though and when it is finished, it will be the tallest in the world. From the outside, it looks like just a normal church, but when you walk inside it is like a work of art. There are windows all around made of different colors of glass. It was the most colorful church I have ever seen and a nice change from all the other ones that we have been seeing.

Another cool thing that we went to was the Boquería, which is a big market on the main street, Las Ramblas. It had tons of fruit, candy, fish, meat, and more. I got a kiwi coconut drink which was delicious. One day, we went to a Monastery at Montserrat which is up on a mountain. It had some really pretty views. A few of us also went to the beach one day. I walked in the Mediterranean so it was a little chilly, but still worth it. It was different than the U.S. People approached us every 5 minutes trying to sell massages, drinks, and food, and I saw more than a few topless people even though it wasn’t a nude beach.

Overall, I’ve been asked if I like Barcelona or Madrid better by multiple people, and I think would have to choose Madrid. I really liked Barcelona, but the Spanish culture wasn’t as strong there. It was very touristy and almost everyone spoke English. I’m still excited to go back there in December when my parents come to visit.

This past Tuesday, I traded in my Titans jersey for a Real Madrid one when some of the group went to a Spanish fútbol (soccer) match. I had always heard that soccer is like a religion here, and it dominates a lot of the news so getting to go to a game was awesome. [Side note: One of the churches we went into in Barcelona had the Barcelona fútbol team’s logo in one of the stained glass windows - that is how big fútbol is here.] Our seats were in the third row from the top, but we still had a great view of the field. They had this section, kind of like the student section at college games, that cheered the whole time. People definitely got into it. Someone told me that they don’t sell any alcohol at the games, because if they did, people would get too rowdy. It was a ton of fun, and I am hopefully going to go to another game before I leave.

Monteserrat

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

Last Thursday, a few of us made a trip to El Escorial which is about an hour outside of Madrid. It is the historical residence of the King. It reminded me of Versailles in France because it had gorgeous gardens all around it. It was basically a museum inside with a bunch of different paintings and tombs of past Kings.

Last Friday, we had our first of five trips to the Prado. One of our teachers from school came and talked about the paintings by El Greco. It was really nice to have her with us because she pointed out a lot of the symbols and characteristics that I would have never known.

On Saturday, the whole group left for Salamanca for the weekend which is a city about two hours outside of Madrid. The same teacher who went with us to the Prado, came along on the trip. We visited the oldest University in Spain, the University of Salamanca. We also saw the Old Cathedral, which is right next to the New Cathedral. It was neat because they had a pathway around the towers on the top of the Cathedral so you could climb to the top and walk outside. We learned a lot about the architecture and history of the Cathedrals.

Yesterday, we had a flamenco lesson after school. We learned the history about it and some basic moves. It was a lot of fun. Tomorrow we are headed to Barcelona for five days. My whole house is sick right now and I think I have a little bug. So hopefully, I'll get better before we leave!

Londres

Tower Bridge

London Eye on the right

View of Big Ben and Parliament from the Eye

London was amazing!! It seriously was one of the best trips I have ever been on, and it only lasted for two days. Our flights were both at about 7 in the morning so we ended up spending the night in the airport twice. I do not recommend this ever. Sleeping (ok, laying down with eyes shut) on a conveyor belt is not comfortable. Also, the airline only allowed one bag for free, so I packed everything in my school backpack and carried that around with me all weekend. Still, it was worth it. We walked, walked, and walked some more and saw most of the important sights: Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, National Gallery (Velázquez, Monet, van Gogh), British Museum (Rosetta Stone, mummies), Sir John Soane's Museum, St. James Park, Hyde Park, Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter (except it was closed when we got there), and Abbey Road. Abbey Road was probably my favorite. It was really difficult to get the classic Beatle's picture because it was a busy street and there were lots of other people waiting for their turn to get a picture. But we got a few, and they are hilarious.

Abbey Road Picture

Other great things about London:

1. Accents

2. Children with accents (actual quote: “Daddy, this park is so lovely. Can’t we just stay a little longer and talk with the guards?”)

3. People speaking in English (even though it still sounded like a different language sometimes)

4. Cars driving on opposite side of the road (this makes crossing the road confusing because I ALWAYS looked the wrong way at first)

5. Free museums (sorry, I didn’t donate)

6. Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace

7. Picnic in Hyde Park (What is better than Nutella and fresh bread?)

8. Mexican food

9. The London Eye (It is kind of like a huge ferris wheel with great views of the city)

10. The classic red phone booths

The Sunday we got back, a few us went to a bullfight (corrida de toros) at the Plaza de Toros in Madrid. When we got there we decided to ask this man who was sitting near us about some of the rules because none of us knew much about bullfighting. He was an older gentleman who used to be a torero (matador). He sat with us the whole time, answered our questions, and explained everything. There were a total of six bulls and three toreros. One torero was actually a woman, but she got badly injured within the first 10 seconds so we didn’t get to see her do anything. It was a lot grosser than I thought it would be, and I quickly learned when to close my eyes. It was also stressful to watch because the toreros stood so close to the bull. One guy got trampled by the bull and was rushed off to the hospital probably pretty close to death. Our friend we sat next to explained that bullfighting has actually been banned in a lot of cities including Barcelona because of all the controversy surrounding it. But it was still interesting and definitely one of those moments when I thought, “Ok, yeah I’m in Spain right now - no doubt about that.”