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!