Short & Sweet Updates

Sorry it's been 17 years since I've blogged! I feel like I've finally settled into living here in Madrid, so there's less new, fun, and exciting things to talk about- it's starting to feel more like home to me now. But in a good way! Here are a few updates from the past week or so!

1. I finally started working out! I went on an hour long bike ride in the park on Saturday morning and went for a run Sunday and Monday. Feeling much better in the exercise department :)

2. I went to a Real Madrid soccer game! It was so much fun-- such an exciting atmosphere! Plus, we won!

3. I went to a huge flea market early Sunday morning called El Rastro. It was crazy and so much fun. I bought a scarf (I'm so Euro) and three little owls (repping the Chi O, always). So much to see- I'm definitely going back next Sunday!

4. Lindsey and I are officially COUCH SURFING in Rome next weekend (Nov 5th-8th). Our host is named Vincenzo, so classic, and we are so excited! He lives in the center of the city, just two metro stops away from the Colloseum. It's going to be such a fun experience, I absolutely can't wait!

5. I started teaching tonight :) My little girls are so sweet! They don't speak much English so it's going to be a bit more of a challenge than I expected. I'm anticipating a lot of High School Musical, Hannah Montana, and Justin Beiber. Luckily, I happen to love all these things! But if you have any tips on teaching a second language, fill me in!

6. We have yet another roommate in our little apartment and that = five girls now sharing one bathroom. Her name is Patricia and he's from Brazil, so she speaks Portugese. Hopefully I can get her to teach me some!

7. I'm going to Cordoba this Saturday on a daytrip for my art history class. There's going to be so much cool stuff to see- I can't wait!

Soy Profesora :)

I am going to start teaching English classes next week! I got the job through CEA and interviewed with two of the sweetest Spanish mothers! They have two other friends who wanted English tutors for all of their children, so here I am! I'll be teaching two hour-long classes on Wednesdays and one on Thursday- five little girls in all :) Wish me luck!

Rough Patch

This week has not been my best here in Spain! I think that it's starting to hit me that I'm not just on vacation... that I'm actually going to be living here for the next couple months. Not that that's a bad thing, AT ALL, it's just starting to become more of a reality and less of an "I-love-everything-and-everything-is-beautiful-and perfect" study abroad trip.

I've been feeling a little frustrated about a number of things... (disclaimer: you don't have to read this, I just wrote it out to get it all off my chest!)
1. Registering for my classes for winter quarter. But, good news, the ever-fabulous Suzi O'Hare stepped up and registered for me on Monday morning since I was in class here in Spain-time during my enrollment. Thank you, thank you. So much weight lifted off my shoulders!
2. I have a serious addiction to chips. So far every time I've bought a bag I've finished them in less than 24 hours. Maybe I'm missing salt or something? Or am just obsessed? Not sure... In addition, I never work out. And I know I walk a lot but I feel bad about the ridiculous amount of carbs I'm eating, even though they are gluten-free, without actually MOVING throughout the day.
3. I feel like I'm missing out on so much with Chi O :( I got a little sister and a triplet, which is SO EXCITING but I hate that I won't be in Chicago for all those fun moments leading up to and after big/little reveal.
4. I feel like my Spanish isn't getting any better. I know I've only been here for three weeks, but ugh. All of the things I'm learning in my grammar class are things that I already know but when it comes to actually using them in my everyday life, I CAN'T TALK. It's so much harder than I expected to be in a bilingual environment... one second I'm speaking in English, the next I'm speaking Spanish. I know it's a good thing, but it's frustrating at times.
5. I miss alone time. I love that we have a big group of students that are here from DePaul and I love my roommates and my host mom and having connections to so many people that I have something in common with here in Madrid. At the same time, I miss the independence of being to go out with just one or two people- I feel like it always turns into a huge ordeal since there's so many people studying abroad. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, I'm just the type of person who likes alone time and small groups once in a while. So finding that balance has been something I've been struggling with too.
6. I miss my family. I miss my siblings and my parents.

And it's not that everything is horrible-- not at all! Like I said, I just feel like Spain is starting to become more of a reality and obviously, not everything can be perfect. I'm looking forward to this weekend, though. I have a lot of fun plans: Real Madrid soccer game, a huge flea market, maybe biking in the park, a tour of the city and a visit to the Prado with CEA... Good things to come :)

Best Weekend Trip EVER!

I just got back from CUENCA!

It was an overnight trip organized by CEA and it was PERFECT. We left early Friday morning, in a group of about 50, for the city of Cuenca. It's a small, ancient city about two hours from Madrid, tucked up into cliffs and mountains. The modern part of the city is in a valley and the ancient part is built literally on top of cliffs, with houses that hang off of them and a bridge that spans the river that winds through the city. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!

The pictures I took don't even come close to doing this city justice!

We got into Ciudad Encantada mid-morning. I expected it to be a city (ciudad) but instead it was more of a national park type of space filled with huge, ancient stones in the shapes of a dog, a man's face, etc. One looked just like Pride Rock from the Lion King ;) The altitude there was pretty high so the weather was more more chilly than here in Madrid! But it was nice to be out in nature- I've been in the city for a while and I miss open spaces!

We toured around for a couple hours then headed to our hotel for lunch. On a sidenote, the bus rides up and down the mountains and cliffs were a little scary! The roads were very skinny and wound around a lot. But we made it! The hotel that was stayed at was AMAZING. It used to be a monastery, and has since been converted into a hotel. We had lunch, dinner, and breakfast the following day there. The best part about the meals was that they were free, but also that the staff was so accommodating in regards to me being gluten-free. They even brought me gluten free bread. DELISH. The hotel was so cute and picturesque, I just loved it!

After lunch at the hotel we headed into the city of Cuenca for a bus tour through the modern part and up the mountains, a walking tours of the ancient part and of the church in the Plaza Mayor, and a tour of the art museum that happens to be housed in the largest hanging house on the cliffs in Cuenca. Beautiful sights and views! We had a couple hours of free time after to explore (and have a cup of coffee, of course) and then it was back to the hotel for dinner and bed. Get ready for a picture overload...

The ancient castle in Cuenca

View from the castle

Entrance to the city

Winding roads, labyrinth like according to our tour guide. Yikes!

More of the hanging houses

Another beautiful view across the river

Plaza Mayor in Cuenca

The church-- happens to have one of the three smiling angels statues in all of Europe

This is where a little detour brought us, right before sunset. SO PRETTY.

And pretty again! Little path

Clock tower. Wish we could have climbed up but it was under reconstruction.

We woke up bright and early this morning, Saturday, to have breakfast in the hotel (first time I’ve had eggs for breakfast since I’ve been here!), check out, and hop on the bus for our outdoor activities, which were either horseback riding or cliff jumping. Obviously, I chose cliff jumping! We had to wear wetsuits, which were so hard to get on, but super warm, which was good because it was FREEZING this morning.

Lindsey and I rockin the wetsuits! We still had a jacket, gloves, and a helmet left to put on!

After getting all dressed and looking pretty good if I do say so myself, we took a van up into the hills to get started with cliff jumping! We had to take a twenty-minute walk through three separate tunnels and a gravel path before getting into the water. I was in a group of about 15 or so and I had decided that I had to go first, otherwise I would get entirely too scared. I jumped in the water (FREEZING) and we practiced how to cliff jump off a small rock. I was a pro, for sure ;) There were natural slides built into the river, so after our practice jump we slid down, going straight underwater, and popped back up for our first jump.

At first I didn't think I was going to be able to do it-- the first jump was about 15 feet high. But I did and I loved it, and each jump got steadily higher and higher. When we jumped off each one, our guides told us to yell "capon" which is apparently some Spanish word similar to "yeah" or "woo-hoo." Who knows. I was too busy screaming like a little girl to even try to say it. On each jump I felt like I was falling for SUCH a long time, especially the last two (we did about six jumps, I think), and the water was so so so icy on my face, feet and hands. We floated slash swam slash tried not to drown moving down the rivers and waterfalls as we made our way between jumps. Then we had to climb up the jagged, steep rocks to get to each jump, which was such hard work. I was exhausted by the end, especially since that was the most physical activity I've gotten since I've been in Spain. But it was SO worth it. And our guides were GREAT!

Cliff jumping was honestly one of the most fun, invigorating, exciting experiences of my whole life! I'm so glad I decided to do it! I wish I had pictures-- the river and surrounding cliffs were incredibly beautiful and I'm sure I had some great facial expressions throughout the three-hour extravaganza. We took some on an underwater camera, so hopefully I can get my hands on them eventually. SUCH AN ADRENALINE RUSH. One of the best days of my life, probably the best since I've been in Spain.

Afterward we had lunch and headed home on the bus. I was starving and immediately lapsed into a food coma after eating and totally crashed on the bus. I'm still tired and have a feeling I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow. But all in all, AMAZING, LIFE-CHANGING weekend! I can't say enough good things about Cuenca!!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Two-Week Mark & Travel Plans

I totally forgot to mention that Tuesday was my two-week mark here in Spain! I was so wrapped up in the holiday that I completely forgot! It actually feels like I've been here for waaaay longer than two weeks and, good news, I have yet to have a low point!

In other news, Wednesday was the complete opposite of Tuesday. Where Tuesday was slow and lazy, Wednesday was fast-paced (well, fast-paced for Spain anyway) and productive! Lindsey and I woke up early to get our metro passes-- they last for the duration of the month and give you unlimited rides on the train and buses. SO GREAT. We made copies of our passport for just-in-case scenarios and got school supplies- just one file folder. We also made a stop at the ATM... ouch. Then we had class later that afternoon and did SO much homework that night. It really got me back into the swing of doing homework and going to class, which was definitely something I needed since classes only started last week and we were out and about all weekend in Valencia. Blanca also made the best dinner EVER last night. I ate like a pig, as usual. Due to this constant eating, Alex and I are seriously and for real going to start running in the park. Monday morning. See you there.

Today I had my two favorite classes: art history and Spanish literature. CEA bought lunch for us in-between. It was a pizza lunch for everyone else but I got chicken instead, which turned out to be a good thing because the pizza had a bunch of strange toppings... tuna, gorganzola cheese... hmm.

When we got home from class, I packed for the overnight trip in Cuenca, which we leave for tomorrow. Cuenca is a small town an hour and half or so from Madrid and also the town where I will be CLIFF JUMPING on Saturday morning. SO EXCITING! Wish me luck!

Lindsey, Alex and I also booked our flights to ROME just an hour or so ago-- we'll be there Friday, November 5th till Monday the 8th. I can't wait! It will be my first trip outside of Spain!

Other than that, not much is new!

BESOS!

Doce de Octubre

So today, October 12th, is the same day as our street name- la calle de doce de octubre! Well obviously it's going to be a great day!

Plus today is a holiday in Spain, el Dia de la Hispanidad, which=no work, no school, sleeping in, and eating a ton of food. I woke up this morning at 11:30, had a super delicious breakfast of toast, yogurt, and the best pear I have ever eaten in my life, then promptly went back to my bed. I played this game called Sporcle with Lindsey (it’s a listing trivia type of game online- you should check it out!) for literally three hours until lunchtime. We just sat in my teeny bed together in our pajamas and laughed the whole time. Note to Sophie- I knew all of the countries in Disney Epcot. I did you proud, sister! Anyway, lunch is later on holidays, kind of like Thanksgiving where we have a late lunch around 3 or 4, at least in my family we do. We had this super yummy comfort food soup with bread and the closest thing to steak that I’ve had since I came to Spain. And I freaking LOVE steak. So obviously, it was delicious. I had another pear, probably the second best in my life, and now am planning on taking a nap. Gosh dang I love Spain.

Later tonight...

Lindsey and I FINALLY got up and around and headed out to meet up with Pam and Alex. The streets were so empty and the city was totally dead-- everyone else obviously is inside eating and drinking and sleeping just like we were all day! We went to the Real Madrid (the soccer team for those of you who don't know) Stadium. We couldn't go inside but we walked around and went into the store to check out the jerseys and other things they have for sale there. I decided I really want a jersey and I'll have to get it before i go to a game. That's something that's definitely on my bucket list here in Madrid!

On the way home Lindsey and I were talking about yummy american foods that we miss and I got the WORST craving for a candy bar! Since it's a holiday most of the stores were closed... But on the third try we went to a store right down the street from our casa and totally splurged on snack food: gum, snicker bars, m&m's, ice cream bars... and the best part? SALT AND VINEGAR CHIPS. Oh my gosh, SO GOOD. I pretty much just ate the whole bag. YUM.

Now I'm about to start on some homework for my art history class then its off to bed!

Last Thursday, October 7th

My blog is a little out of order, but I'm trying to catch up from last week!

Last Thursday=best day of class ever! I'm totally in love with Jose (my literature professor). I'm not sure what it is about his voice, but I just love it. He started off class talking about how being born is nothing more than the beginning of death, all intense and philosophical that sounds meaningless in English and AMAZING in Spanish. I just love the way that people here form words with their lips and the way the language comes out of their mouths... it's so much more beautiful and elegant than English. Then we did some sort of literature exercise where we had to read a passage aloud full of words that we had never heard before, which is pretty common in language classes in order to practice pronounciation and fluency. Anyway, turns out we were awful and reading and didn't understand anything because the passage was extremely vague and didn't mean much of anything- it was just an exercise. But when JOSE read it aloud it became this beautiful piece of writing about love and two people coming together.... AHHH he's just the best.

And that night we had dinner with the entire group from CEA, the study abroad program that DePaul is partnered with. We ate a tapas bar in Sol. It was the first time I've really eaten tapas here in Spain, another landmark for me. It was really different food but very good! Plus it was fun having dinner as one big group!

Lindsey and me in the Plaza before dinner!

After dinner some of the group headed out to a jazz bar. That's also something I've never done before and I really loved it! Very different venue and type of people, but definitely something that fit my personality better than a club. One of the girls in our group, Devin, actually got up and sang with the band. It was so much fun, a very good night in general!

Weekend in Valencia!

On Friday night we got into Valencia around 11:30pm. We took all of our luggage to class and left straight from there to the train station. For the majority of the trip it was dark, but the first hour or so was really fun because we could look out the window and see the countryside in Spain. It was so surreal to be on a bus driving through SPAIN. I know I keep saying things like that, but I just can't get over how cool it is to actually BE here! The land is pretty hilly and we passed by a little valley with a small town tucked into it. All the lights in the town were on and it was all nestled into the valley with the hills around it. So beautiful.

Valencia is a lot more tropical than Madrid, since it's on the coast rather than the middle of the country. There are palm trees, a beach, and its super humid. Therefore, my hair looked EXCELLENT the entire time... so great.

We took a cab to our hostel-- my first hostel ever, definitely a landmark in my life! Especially because hostels are kind of known for being dirty... And if you know me I'm a huge clean freak so I had a little bit of a hard time knowing that I was sharing a shower and mattress with ten million people. But overall I was pleasantly surprised with the hostel. We had three sets of bunk beds in our rooom- six in all- and five of us to share. We had one random roommate the second night so when we walked in on Saturday morning there was a Chilean girl sleeping in one of the beds. It was kind of weird but she was nice! Anyway, when we checked in they gave us clean sheets, which made me breathe a little easier, and I brought my own towel from home to shower with. So all in all, not bad. And we were lucky not to have any bedbugs (like two of the other girls from our program... YIKES) or weird encounters with the other people staying at the hostel.

The front door to our hostel

Friday night we walked around the town for a little while, just to get our bearings of where we were staying. We probably should have planned the trip a little more in retrospect, but there's a first time for everything! Luckily our hostel was situated in an amazing part of Valencia- La Plaza de la Reina. I could try to describe it but there's just no words for how beautiful and full of history it was!

We went out to a few bars and afterward Julian and I, one of the boys from the program, went to a kebab restaurant, which basically has the same type of food as greek gyros. I had seen the restaurant earlier and fortunately for us, it was still open! This was the beginning of my ridiculous amount of eating this weekend. We sat in front of this super old building on a little bench- so pretty!

The next day we all woke up bright and early at 8am. I only had four hours of sleep, but I had a lot of energy just from being in a new place. We explored the Plaza and took lots and lots of pictures, got some coffee, then headed to the beach where I played in the water of the Mediterranean Sea. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?! It was cloudy on Saturday but warm and nice all day long.

We ended up sprawled out on the beach to nap a little in the sun after eating a super yummy lunch from this tiny takeout restaurant- grilled rotisserie chicken and patatas fritas (Spanish french fries). Late afternoon we took a bus back to the hostel and I napped some more- I was so tired! I was dead to the world for a few hours but felt a lot better when I woke back up! Then we all got ready and headed off to dinner together. Orginally we were going to try to find a paella restaurant, since paella is a traditional Spanish dish and I hadn't eaten it yet, but it started pouring rain. So we ended up in a Italian place just about a block away from our hostel instead. I ordered four cheese risotto- DELICIOUS (again with the food, sorry!). Ever since I've been in Spain I get so hungry at mealtimes but I never feel like I overeat. Who knows what that's about! After dinner we went to a few bars again, like we had the night before, and Julian and I went back to the kebab restaurant... again. If I start to look fat in my pictures, somebody please tell me! Obviously all I did this weekend was eat! I was exhausted by the time we finally went to bed, but I slept like a baby Saturday night.

Sunday morning we woke up, packed up, and checked out of the hostel. But we left our bags in a storage room there, which was really nice since our bus didn't leave that night until 11pm. Sunday was seriously one of the best days I've had in Spain! Me and three other girls- Alex, Lindsey, and Pam- started out the day at a cafe where we had chocolate con churros. Definitely delicious. Churros are kind of a cross between donuts and funnel cake and each of us had a cup of chocolate to dip them in and coffee, of course. Not gluten free, but I couldn't resist!



Before...



And after!

 The four of us ended up sitting outside at that cafe, just talking and relaxing (something that I feel like I'm finally learning how to do here in Spain) for three hours. Lovely. Savoring life. Great conversation with my favorite girls :) Then we walked around and shopped around for a few hours. I bought an owl necklace and owl earrings, and matching earrings for Blanca too since she collects owls. Then we stopped for paella- how we were hungry again I'm not really sure. We went to a place with a great lunch special- sangria, three appetizers to share, paella, and dessert for only 11 euro. YUM! I ordered seafood paella, which was pretty good, but the shrimp in it were WHOLE shrimp. Like eyes, legs, everything. I could picture the shrimp just crawling off my plate and jumping into the ocean, which kind of freaked me out (actually it really freaked me out) but it was still good. Next time I think I'll stick with chicken though...

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the appetizers before we started demolishing them...

Paella! See those shrimp...?



DESSERT!!

After this fabulous meal we sat in the Plaza and people watched for a couple hours. Pam happens to be hilarious so I pretty much spent the whole afternoon in the plaza just laughing and talking. Then we met up with the rest of the group back at the hostel to get our bags then walked to the train station. I got another meal from another kebab place... good God. And then we were on our way.

First travel weekend in Europe=success :)