Lisbon, Portugal - Day 1

This past weekend I had my first out-of-Spain adventure and it was quite thrilling. A group of five other girls and I decided to go to Lisbon, Portugal for the weekend. I've never really had any strong desire to see Portugal, but it's close to Spain and not terribly expensive so it seemed like a good idea to go for a weekend. I am so glad I went! It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and truly one of the most enjoyable trips I have ever had.

The journey began at the painfully early hour of 4:50AM. Our flight left at 6:55 which meant we couldn't take the metro because it wouldn't open in time for us to make the plane. This was a big bummer because it meant I had to pay for a taxi to the airport. My host mom pretty much saved the day by allowing my friend Natalie spend the night so that we could share the taxi in the morning. This was particularly nice because Spaniards are very private about their homes and do not invite people over with the same ease as Americans. It was really fun to have a friend in the house and we stayed up way later than we should have watching House. I think we got about 2 hours of sleep.

The ride to the airport and the quick flight to Lisbon were uneventful, but the taxi ride from the Lisbon airport to the Backpacker's Oasis Hostel was hair-raising! The streets of Lisbon are narrow, cobble-stoned, and hilly and our taxi driver sped down them as if he were a racecar driver. One of my friends was actually clinging to the door and couldn't suppress a gasp after one particularly forceful turn. I'm happy to report that we all survived and the drama of the cab ride quickly faded once we saw what an awesome place we were living for the weekend. The hostel has won all sorts of awards and is super pretty (wood floors, balconies, lots of windows and a very nice living room, dining room, and bar). We arrived at about 8 and our rooms were not ready (surprise, surprise) so we scarfed down some of the free breakfast and then passed out on the couches in the living room. No doubt, what with our luggage strewn about and the six of us taking up all of the available couch space, we made quite a site.

After a few hours we had recovered sufficiently to begin exploring. Lisbon is not a huge city so we set out from the hotel with our map and began to wander in earnest. The day was beautiful (sunny and over 80 degree) and everywhere we looked there were pretty apartments covered in the ceramic tiles that are a trademark of Lisbon. We hopped on a tram (a ride almost as exciting as the one in the taxi) and got off when we got to a place that looked interesting. We saw an old church, a basilica, and countless pastry shops. Our wandering left us exhausted so we grabbed lunch in a little cafe and returned to the hostel to officially check-in. At this point I felt as though I was ready to collapse from exhaustion and was ready for a nap, but others were rearing to go so after another hellish ride on the tram we agreed that more sightseeing was a possibility if we stopped for coffee and some of Lisbon's world-famous pastry. We entered the first cafe we saw and spent the next hour snacking. It's difficult for me to explain just how good this pastry was, but believe me when I say that my cream-filled puff ball (I can't remember its actual name) was divine. Feeling better, we took the metro to the Gulbenkian Museum. It's an art museum that began from the personal collection of Calouste Gulbenkian, an oil tycoon who came to Portugal in 1942 to escape WWII. The collection was very impression and I got to see artifacts/art from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Eastern Arabs. There were also a lot of European paintings from the 15th-17th centuries and a room filled with all this antique furniture that looked as though it had once belonged to royalty. Definitely worth a visit!

Back at the hostel, we tried to nap, but since my body completely over-reacts to caffeine, the coffee from earlier just meant that I spent an hour and a half on my bed trying to remind myself how tired I was. Oh well. The hostel offers an authentic Portuguese dinner every night for only 5 Euros and we decided we could not pass up a deal like that. Dinner was late, but we commandeered the dining hall table and kept ourselves thoroughly entertained by telling ridiculous stories about our lives before coming to Spain. Dinner was incredible and HUGE. I had a piece of meat/veggie lasagna/mashed potato lasagna that was at least the size of my face. There was also salad and a wonderful almond pie for dessert. The day pretty much ended there. We went out for a bit to try and explore the nightlife, but we were far too tired to make any real progress so we returned to the hostel for a good night's rest and promised ourselves we would do better the next day.

Vamanos a Aranjuez

Last Saturday I planned a (mini) adventure and I think it went quite well. For those of you who aren't quite fluent in Spanish (or choose not to watch Dora the Explorer) the title of this post can be translated as "We're going to Aranjez." Aranjuez is a small town 35 minutes outside of Madrid. I'm a huge fan of my Lonely Plant guidebook and it suggested Aranjuez as an excellent day trip and a pleasant way to enjoy a few hours. Aranjuez is famous because it is the location of the Royal Family's summer palace. While all of my images of Britian conjure up Kings and Queens, I have to consistently remind myself that Spain, too, has a royal family.

In any case, I decided that I wanted to go to Aranjuez and convinced a few friends to come with me. We wanted to take the "Strawberry Train," which is a historic train where people in period costumes hand out strawberries during the journey. Apparently it's very cool. However, the train was full and we couldn't get tickets. I was nearly devestated, but Spain has EXCELLENT public transportation and the real train journeys to Aranjuez every 20 minutes for only 6 euros round trip. So, I got over my disappointment and we took the metro to the next stop and hopped on one of the high speed trains.

Aranjuez is very dry (everywhere we looked there was dirt without grass), but the palace is HUGE and draws a ton of madrilenos looking to get out of Madrid for the day. I don't think it's super popular with foreign visitors because most people choose to stay in Madrid or, if they really want a day trip, go to Toledo. It felt very authentically Spanish (whatever that means) and we elected to take a guided tour of the palace. We had a bit of time before the tour so we snacked on our "bocadillos" or sandwiches packed for us by our host moms and then explored the gardens. You would never know that Aranjuez doesn't recieve a lot of water by looking at the gardens. There were lots of dirt paths shaded by large trees and surrounded by low hedges. I think it was very English in style, but I don't know very much about gardens so don't quote me. Every 40 feet or so the path we were on would widen and we'd be in front of a small fountain with a statue of a greek god or godess. The atmosphere was very restful and certainly would have been quite a luxury at the time of the garden's construction.

Our guided tour was super interesting, but a bit exhuasting as well. It was, of course, in Spanish and our guide rapidly moved us from room to room as she explained the palace's history. My favorite room was the smoking room - about the size of a south common room, but decorated in an Arabic style. The walls were decorated in mosaic tiles and I think the guide said it was a replica of a certain part of the Alhombra. It was breathtaking and everyone in the room laughed at the thought that such a magnificent room had been built simply to provide the king a place to smoke.

After the tour we were starving and set out to find a cafe/bar outside of the tourist area. Cheaper and more interesting. We wandered for a bit before asking a random woman on the street if she could recommend a place. She was incredibly kind and walked us to her favorite bar. She even gave us the bar's history, telling us that it was owned or in homage to (couldn't quite follow the whole story) by a musician who just happened to visit Aranjuez and liked it so much that he decided to stay for a bit and created a song named after the city. The bar proved to be a good choice - yummy and inexpensive and we all recieved a free piece of chocolate from the nice bartender who laughed good naturedly at our inability to decipher the menu and then, after we knew the options, to make a decision.

All in all, a good trip.

Sparknotes version of weeks 1 and 2

It has been so long since I've posted! So much has happened that if I tried to give each new event the description it deserved, I would be here for days. Since I need to go out and experience even more new things, I'm going to give the short account of the last two weeks. First off, I left for orientation on Saturday, September 5th. The group traveled together in a large tour bus. We were accompanied by Pablo, our fearless driver; Soledad, the director; and Paco, the assistant director. The trip was a bit of a whilrwind. We saw the cities of Leon, Oviedo, Covadonga, Santander, Comillas, and Burgos. I should note that for some of the places we visited "city" is an overstatement. In any case, they were all beautiful. Each town had an old center, where the buildings were hundreds of years old and the streets were still made of cobblestone. All had little cafes and every cafe had tables with pretty umbrellas where you could sit and enjoy a coca-cola, cafe con leche, wine, or beer. We had lots of "free lunches" where we were given money and could go off in small groups and find the cafe of our choice at which to eat. One of my favorite dishes quickly became the "platos combinados" where you could get fried eggs, french fries, and your choice of meat for a pretty low price. Sorry if I seem to be spending a lot of time describing the eating options. Much of the trip revolved around food and since a lot of it was dishes I had never tried before, it made an impact.

One of my favorite meals was in Oviedo, the capital of the region of Asturias. Oviedo is one of the cleanest cities in Spain and is known for its sidra, or hard cider. There is a whole row of restaurants in Oviedo where tourists (and probably natives too, on occasion) come and enjoy the sidra. The waiters have a special technique for getting the sidra into your glass. They hold the bottle above their head and the glass at waist level, stare straight ahead, and pour. It's quite a sight! It's easy to tell when you're near the sidrerias (cider-serving restaurants) because the streets have small rivers of cider where the waiters missed the glass a bit. Hamilton took everyone in the group out to a sidreria and we all enjoyed the new beverage and the 6 or 7 course meal. It was ridiculously large, but delicious.

We also saw two beautiful cathedrals. One in Leon (our first city) and one in Burgos (our last city). They were incredible! I've never seen a European cathedral before and was blown away by both their age (both were built around the 14th century) and their magnitude. They were similar in design, but obviously each one had its own specialties. The one in Leon had incredible stained glass windows and the one in Burgos had all these amazing little (or not so little) side rooms that rich families at the time of the construction had sponsored so they could have their own private chapels. So many other things happened, but, as I said, I don't have time to share it all now. If you're really interested you can check out my pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019885&id=1389000077&l=61ecf624df.

I got back from Orientation on Saturday, September 12 and that evening got my first taste of Madrid nightlife. Quite fun. It's true that the people of Madrid know how to party. The streets were full as full at 3AM as they had been at 10PM. I also successfully navigated my way home using the night bus, and I was quite proud. Sunday afternoon I went to my frist bullfight. Now, I was expecting it to be bloody and gruesome, and it certainly was, but I have to admit I was fascinated. I can see quite easily why my guidebok called it Madrid's most controversial pastime. Monday I started classes and so far, they've been super interesting. It's a bit exhausting to listen to that much spanish, but I believe that I am slowly adapting. I'm taking a class on Cervantes' Don Quijote and the professor is marvelous. He recites poetry to us in Spanish, English, and French. I'm terribly impressed with him and like the idea of reading such a masterpiece in it's original language. Up next is the history of modern Spain with another great professor. His speech is peppered with both English and Spanish and sometimes it takes me a moment to figure out whether I'm understanding him because my Spanish is improving or simply because he's speaking my native tongue. On Tuesday I had a grammer class (slightly boring, but useful) and a class titled "The Modern Social Conscience of Spain." This mouthful boils down to a practce-based class where I will have the opportunity to learn about NGOs in Spain and spend at least 60 hours volunteering at a non-profit. Needless to say, I am very excited although a bit scared to interview at the potential site. I'll keeep you updated.

Whew, I'm exhausted from all this typing. Bye!

Today was my first full day in Spain and it was, as was expected, full of new experiences. I slept so soundly last night that I had no idea where I was when I awoke. After running through the two most likely locales, home or Hamilton, I finally remembered, "oh, I'm in Spain." Not going to lie, the thought of leaving my room was a little overwhelming. My Spanish leaves a lot to be desired and making conversation is work, but I finally psyched myself up enough to head out for breakfast. Before this, of course, I had to get dressed (or at least I felt I had to get dressed. I'm unsure whether or not it's appropriate to go to breakfast in your pj's). I stood before my dresser a good 8 minutes before I picked something out. Pants? Too hot. Dress? Too colorful. Shorts? Too American. Since my options were exhausted after those three options I cycled through them at least 10 more times (coming to the same conclusions each round) before I gave myself a stern talking to and finally decided pants would be fine.

After breakfast, chocolate milk and toast, my senora and I headed out to explore the neighborhood and do a little shopping. I live in the barrio (neighborhood) of Arguelles, but in the district of Moncloa. The streets were full of people at 11:30AM and Elvira showed me the metro and we did some window shopping at the many shoe stores and European fashion boutiques. Elvira is definitely a discout shopper. Many of the shoes we saw were dismissed as "caro" expensive, but we did stop to look inside a store that offered shoes for only 7 Euros. I picked up some champu (shampoo) and locion (lotion) at a local drug store and, after paying, we left it with the saleslady because Elvira assured me that I wouldn't want to carry it on the rest of our travels. After grabbing some groceries, we returned for my purchases. I don't think you could do that in New York!

Seeing the neighborhood with Elvira just made me want to explore more, which was perfect because this afternoon I met up with some other students on the program. We spoke in English (sort of a no-no), but justified it by agreeing that the program hadn't officially started yet. In any case, it was delightful to see other Americans and swap stories about our plan rides, jet lag, senoras, and more. After meeting at el centro (the place where we'll have classes) we went to El Parque de Santender. It was beautiful with a track, driving range, playgrounds, squash courts, batting cages, a fountain, and more. We spent several hours there just talking and enjoying the sunshine. It was the kind of afternoon that made me feel good about being in Spain and excited to spend the next nine months in this beautiful city!

I'm here!

After almost 20 hours of travel, I've made it to Madrid! My (three) flights went smoothly, except for the mysterious two hours spent sitting on the runway in Heathrow waiting to take off for Madrid. The captain may have explained this delay, but my body thought it was 6 in the morning and I was in no state to translate his rapid spanish. My attempts at Spanish with my taxi driver were much more successful. He probably cheated me, but we chatted happily about the best things to do in Madrid and he pointed out many places of interest.

My host mom's apartment is very nice. It's long and narrow with rooms off a single hallway. I have a fairly sizable room to myself that looks out into an unremarkable courtyard. I feel very metropolitan! Unpacking left me exhausted, but it's great to be connected to the internet and have access to e-mail and, of course, facebook. Elvira, my host mom, seems great. She has a little bird that she keeps in a cage and it keeps chirping. It's charming, but a bit unsettling because I'm not used to having birds quite so close. Elvira welcomed me in and fed me lasagna and salad, which was really nice because I'm pretty sure those are not native Spanish dishes. She tried to feed me more, and only after several assurances that I was full and promising to eat some more detras (later) did she let me go!

Tomorrow the plan is to go shopping for some items I didn't have room to pack (shampoo!) and meet up with some of the other kids from the program.

I can't believe I'm in Madrid.