Yesterday was a long and quite amazing day! Our Civilization and Culture class (well, all the girls from it, anyway) took a day trip to Madrid to see some of the sites that are pertinent to our class. I wasn’t sure at first whether it would be worth riding 10 hours on a bus in one day just to spend a few hours in Madrid, but as I was happy to discover, it definitely was!
Before stopping at the first place on the docket, we drove around the city a bit. What a great place! It rivals Barcelona for beauty, in my opinion – what little I’ve seen of it, anyway. After my longer trip there this weekend, I’ll be able to give you a more definitive answer. Anyway, the first stop was the Senado, which is the building in which Spain’s senate meets to do their thing. This ended up being my favorite of the places we went to. I wasn’t really sure what to expect here, but I was very pleasantly surprised with big-as-life paintings, some very Spanish-y looking portraits, and some cool statues; some of the most expressive I’ve seen so far here. And of course, all the furnishings were very posh. My favorite part was the little library inside – it was full of beautiful old books, and you all know how obsessed I am with that sort of thing. And the architecture was so neat; two floors, with all the books behind metal doors with big glass panels. I’m having a hard time explaining it…but believe me, it was cool. And when we left the Senado, the tour guide gave us all a gift! We each got a wooden box that had a pretty journal and a little bag with a pencil, eraser, and sharpener inside! I was excited.
After the Senado, it was time for a lunch break. We headed to our next stop, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, and just chilled in the front yard and enjoyed the sun. I never saw the temperature, but it felt close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit! Absolutely wonderful. We had the very agreeable problem of being too warm! Kristen M. and I even bought some delicious Haagen-Dasz ice cream, feeling very celebratory about the summery-ness of the day.
Once we’d had enough calories to spur us onward, we went into the Biblioteca. This place is essentially the equivalent to our Library of Congress in the States. It was pretty interesting, though not really what I was expecting. It was a lot more ordinary-looking than I thought it would be. And we actually didn’t even really see that many books, though we did get to see a display of some really cool facsimiles. There was a tiny book full of illuminations and miniatures, which I of course loved, as any of you who know about my English project last semester can very well guess. There were even two of Leonardo Da Vinci’s design books, which sported his famous backwards handwriting! And beyond these, it was nice to enjoy the quietness of the library (it’s a rare moment when I find myself in complete silence in Spain) to see all the old-fashioned rooms and such. We took a look at their old card-catalog system…that brought me back a few years, since I haven’t used one of those since about the third grade. And it made me think about how weird it is that I’m old enough to remember when libraries didn’t use an internet cataloguing system.
When our tour of the Biblioteca was through, we were starting to get rather fatigued, but we pressed on. Our last stop was a quick trip to the Museo de Antropología. We only had about an hour or so to spend here, since our library tour had run long (our tour guide was good, but she seemed to really enjoy talking…that’s okay, though, because we learned a lot). We were kind of glad that it wasn’t any longer, though; there wasn’t a ton to see there. What was there was fascinating, though! We saw the Dama de Elche, a statue which is apparently the most famous/recognizable piece of Iberian art. All that remains of it is the head and shoulders, though the experts think that it was originally a full-body statue. There were lots of other cool things in the museum, like some Grecian urns (which of course made me think of Keats), some incredibly detailed ivory sculptures – my favorite was the one of God kicking all the fallen angels down to hell…so intricate and intriguing – lots of old coins, a few statues, and other things of that sort. It was nice that there wasn’t a ton there, because we had the time to really look at things, which one doesn’t always get in big museums because one feels as though it’s necessary to see as much as possible in the little time there is, which ends up as a focus on quantity, not quality. That’s all right in its own way, but it’s nice to be able to take the time to really ponder what’s going on in a piece of art.
After the museum, it was time to head home. We took one last turn around the city to see a few more places of interest. Lauren and Kristen M. are so excited to go back this weekend and see some of those places up close and personal! They look astounding. We didn’t spend too long with this, though, since we were more than ready to get back to Pamplona to rest. The bus ride was rather long, but not too boring. We watched our second movie of the day (the first had been a cute Spanish chick flick called Mia Sarah…might have to look for that one on the web or something), which was a fun little Audrey Hepburn flick by the name of Sabrina. Besides the fact that the movie was really cute with lots of funny moments (many of which were due to over-acting), it was the first movie I’ve seen in English since before I left for Spain! That was exciting. It was nice to not have to strain to understand it the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, watching Spanish TV/movies is probably my favorite way to practice understanding the language, but it’s nice to have a break.
And now I’m off to try to remember what productivity is! We have tomorrow off from school, but there’s a lot to do today before our weekend trip to Madrid, Segovia, and Toledo. But more about that later. I’m so excited to see yet more wonderful Spanish cities!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Bellisima Barcelona
I’m back from my adventure in Barcelona! There’s a lot to say about this beautiful city. Lots of images are crowding my head right now and I want to pick all of them at once, but let’s start from the beginning.
On Friday, we all skipped class to get a good start on the weekend. About 15 of us from the Pamplona campus (mostly girls) met the bus of about 17 students from the San Sebastian campus (mostly boys, and all from the engineering program). At the typical half-hour after the predetermined time (and after John – our group leader – proved his love for the bus’s microphone once again) we were on the bus and heading east to Barcelona. And one pleasant, though long, bus ride later, we were there! We were struck by the impressive architecture and overall richness of the place. Just like in Paris, everything was art. In any direction I looked, I saw sculptures and spires and statues. Oh my! And I couldn’t help but notice that there were more signs in Catalán than there were in Spanish. Catalán is the language spoken by many people in Cataluña, the province in which Barcelona is located. It’s basically Spanish, with French influences, so if you know Spanish you can generally understand what a sign in Catalán is trying to tell you without any trouble. Definitely intriguing, though.
The first thing we did was head to our hostel to unload. And what a hostel it was – despite the paintings of creepy children with huge eyes (from some recent exhibition, apparently) in the entryway, we were immediately impressed by the curvy marble staircase and the general posh-ness of the place. Our rooms were quite nice – the guys and girls stayed in different hostels (a requirement of Opus Dei, I think, which is the conservative Catholic organization that funds the university), so I was in a room with several other girls. The beds were comfy, and the room had a great view of a gorgeous building beside the hostel. The only issue was that there was only one toilet and one shower for about ten girls. But I woke up early to take a shower both mornings, so it worked out fine. Anyway, it was a great place – they served a delicious breakfast (with toast and cereal! I hardly ever get those here, so I was excited), and we felt safe and comfortable there the whole time. Which is more than I can say about our Paris hostel – but then, I think this one was a little more expensive. You get what you pay for sometimes, I guess.
Once we were settled in our hostel, we met in the gorgeous Plaza de Catalunya, where there were huge, beautiful fountains and some obligatory classical statues. Oh, and about a million and one pigeons. I’m beginning to really dislike those things – they’re so dirty and nasty, and they’re everywhere in cities. Sometimes a big flock of them would fly up suddenly, causing us girls to shriek and shield our eyeballs. Alfred Hitchcock, anyone (Okay, so I haven’t actually seen The Birds. But still.)? But I digress. After the boys came, we headed out on a little tour of the main parts of the city. We went to Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona, which has all sorts of vendors, a market, and lots of other interesting things to see. We were surprised to see lots of booths that were apparently miniature pet shops, sporting cages of birds, rabbits, and other little animals. Sooo weird. Not the souvenir I would choose, but whatever. There were also people displaying their talents in hopes of collecting money from passersby. These people were everywhere – way more than in Paris, even. However, this may have been because it was frigid and not very street-performer-friendly when we were in Paris. But it got to the point where, whenever I saw someone doing something out-of-the-ordinary, I could pretty much assume that they were doing it to get money. There were men making extremely life-like bird noises with their mouths, gypsy women wheedling away at people, and men throwing glow-in-the-dark objects high into the air to get people’s attention. And my favorite, the living statues; Las Ramblas was lined with people standing stock-still on platforms, wearing elaborate costumes and paint. I took a few pictures of them, enchanted. As a chronic fidgeter, I can’t imagine standing so still for twenty minutes, let alone hours. Some of them did move, though, in order to get into their character more. For example, a guy dressed up as Edward Scissorhands had Johnny Depp’s facial expressions down to a tee. It was definitely the coolest way to solicit tourists that I’ve ever seen.
We also went into the huge market for a bit while walking down Las Ramblas. They were selling every kind of food you could imagine – meat, gorgeous and exotic fruits (both fresh and dried), exquisite chocolates, and a dazzling array of colorful gominolas (gummy candies). I was sorely tempted to buy some of the candy, but I figured it was rather too rich for my blood, so I went for a delicious ice cream cone instead. We went to another plaza after that, with yet another pretty fountain and lots of cool buildings. There was a guy sitting in one of the upper windows, playing guitar and singing enthusiastically, but not very beautifully. You come across the most random people sometimes!
Next, we headed down to the port, where we saw the harbor and a ton of little boats. We crossed the gorgeous bridge and watched a big yacht coming in to dock. I even caught a couple whiffs of ocean air! Pretty soon, we were off to find some dinner. At the first bar/restaurant, the kitchen was closed, but we had something to drink – water for me, as I was feeling severely dehydrated at this point – and sat talking for a while. After waiting for another group leader (who we seemed to be waiting for during most of the trip), we left to find another bar, deeper within the city. It was really cool, because we were probably the only tourists in there, so it was very authentic. It was a seafood bar, and they had their specialty – octopus – lying around on the countertop in a bin, still intact. We all ordered our food and drinks and sat talking at a long row of tables in the back. I wasn’t very hungry and I had a sandwich with me, but it was one of those situations where I felt obligated to order something, and I couldn’t very well whip out my bocadillo (sandwich) in the middle of a restaurant, so I got some little breaded shrimp-like things. Still not sure what they were, but they were good. They were a lot more than I was expecting to pay, however, which made me kind of angry. And I paid even more because I felt I couldn’t say no to helping the group pay for a bunch of little things that we all went together on. And besides, I wanted some of the octopus pieces and the wine (which was delicious). But if there’s anything I’ve learned throughout my travels thus far, it’s that sometimes you just have to let things go. Sometimes you’re going to have to pay more than you thought you would or wanted to. Sometimes you’re going to miss out on something you wanted to see. Sometimes you’re going to run out of time before you get to everywhere you want to get to. But you just have to let it go.
After the bar, it was time for us tired travelers to go to bed, so we went to the hostel to get some rest for the long day on Saturday. And it certainly was quite a day. We started off with a tour of the old Gothic part of town. We had a tour guide who was the friend of one of the leaders, and I’m sure she did a great job, but I have no way of knowing because I could hardly hear a word she said the entire time – she was great at leading us around, but a normal speaking voice that doesn’t carry at all just didn’t work so well for a crowd of thirty kids who are sometimes talking amongst themselves. Oh well. We got to see an amazing Gothic cathedral, so I was happy. I wasn’t really paying attention when we walked in the door, so when I looked up to see a huge arched ceiling, a looong aisle, and a bunch of gorgeous stained-glass windows, I was taken completely by surprise! I think I almost liked it better than Notre Dame. It didn’t have the same sadness that seemed to hang over our dear Parisian cathedral, and the clean, elegant simplicity of the place was breathtaking. After the tour, we walked a little on Las Ramblas and down towards the port again, where some of us girls got crepes at a booth we had been eyeing the night before. Not as good as the ones we had in Paris, but still worth it. With the insides of our tummies sufficiently sugary, we basked in the sun for a while as we decided what to do next. I ended up going with a few of the girls to find the beach. It was a bit of a walk, but we made it! My first view of the Mediterranean Sea was a fantastic one. And I couldn’t resist taking off my shoes and wading in the cold, cold water. So worth it! I’ve learned to take full advantage of every opportunity I have to see the ocean or sea, because they don’t come around very often.
By this time, it was nearing lunchtime, so we went to find an inexpensive place to eat. I didn’t end up ordering anything because I was still kind of full from my crepe and I was sick of spending money just then, but I enjoyed the beautiful seaside view! After lunch, we took a different way back to the Plaza to meet the group, and we saw Barcelona’s smaller, red-brick version of the Arc de Triomf (Yes, I know that’s an “f;” that’s how they spelled it) on the way. From the Plaza de Catalunya, we were off to see the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral that Gaudí designed which is still under construction. As Maite said, we had to go, because not seeing it would have been like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. And it was certainly worth it. We didn’t go inside because they were closing soon and it costs 10 euro to get in. And we heard that there’s not a lot to see inside anyway, because it’s still being built. That was fine, though, the outside was impressive enough. However, I still can’t decide whether I liked it or not. It wasn’t so much beautiful as it was striking. It was too out there to be aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion – it looked like a Gothic Catalán cathedral and an aliens’ sculpture museum had a baby. Very weird. But I enjoyed seeing it, at any rate.
Next on the agenda was Gaudí’s house, also designed by him, called la Pedrera. It was also very different-looking, but cool. We had a hard time deciding whether or not to go in, since it cost us six euros, but we ended up going for it. I’m glad we did, because the inside was really neat. There’s not a single sharp corner in the entire place, and some parts were positively labyrinthine. It was cool to see the old furniture in the rooms, as well. And my favorite part was the roof – lots of smooth, twisty stone sculptures looking gorgeous in the light of the setting sun. And the view from the top was amazing! We could even see the Sagrada Familia sticking up in the distance.
After Gaudí’s house, we broke up into smaller groups, and I walked around Las Ramblas again with Megan, Lauren, and Lise. We got some snacks to eat at the very crowded Carrefour Express, and then headed back to the Plaza again. The group was planning to go to a bar called La Oveja Negra (The Black Sheep), but when Megan and I found out that we’d have to take the metro to get there because it was so far away, we decided that we would just go back to the hostel since we were pretty much dead on our feet at this point and weren’t very hungry anyway. We hung out and relaxed on my bunk for a bit, and then headed to bed for some much-needed rest. I slept like the proverbial rock…it kind of scares me when I sleep that deeply because it can be kind of tough to drag myself back out of it. Ah well, I daresay I needed it.
Sunday, our last day in Barcelona, was my favorite day of the trip! We took things a little slower, our only main stop being the Parque Guell, a park designed by – you guessed it – Gaudí. That guy went crazy on that town, let me tell you. Anyway, the park was by far the prettiest of his designs, in my opinion. It was full of mosaic walls and stone tunnels and palm trees and buildings that looked like they were straight out of Candyland. Of course, we all started taking pictures of everything. After a few minutes of this, Megan and I realized that it was going to take forever if we went with a big group, so we decided to go explore on our own. After a little direction from John as to how to get to the coolest parts, we were off. It was such fun to walk around and see all the outstanding architecture and gardens, enjoying the sun and the different types of music floating around the park – every time we rounded a bend, we heard something different: a mandolin, a classical Spanish guitar, a Chinese dulcimer, a digeridoo (which I have no idea how to spell), a reggae band, etc. So fantastic! And there were more of the ever-present living statues, of course.
After a while, we ended up chilling in the sun for a while on the rooftop of one of the structures, which had another wonderful view of the city. We could even see the Sea from up there! And the roof was surrounded by wavy mosaic walls – I’ve seen a picture of them on the back of one of my high school Spanish textbooks. Little did I know back then that I’d be seeing them in person one day! I was rather impressed by this.
A bit later, we met up with the group again here, and found out that it was time to split up for lunch. Megan and I had been thinking of going with a bigger group of girls, but we had already decided that we wanted to go to Las Ramblas one last time to look for souvenirs and gifts, since we hadn’t had time to do that before. And since we knew that waiting for the group would probably mean that we wouldn’t get the chance to do that, we struck out on our own once again. We knew (or should I say, Megan knew…I greatly envy her sense of direction!) where to go, and we got to our destination without any problems. We had about an hour and a half to make some very satisfying purchases (one of them being the most delicious gelato I’ve ever had in my life), and then it was time to go back to the hostel, load up on the bus, and head for home.
The bus ride was very pleasant, and I had a great time listening to music and my audiobook, and just zoning out and enjoying the beautiful sunset and landscape. It was funny – once it got dark, it reminded me of any other bus trip I’ve taken in the States, so I didn’t really feel like I was in Spain. But I didn’t really feel like I was in the U.S., either. I just felt like I was in no-place. It wasn’t unpleasant, really, but definitely a little bit strange. And after about five hours in the bus, we were all quite ready to be back to Pamplona. It had been a fantastic time, but I was excited to eat homemade dinner and crash in my own (well, sort of my own) bed.
What a great weekend! I’ve fallen in love with yet another wonderful Spanish city. Besides all the beautiful things in it, there’s just something about the atmosphere of the place that just makes you feel really nice inside. It’s almost relaxing, even though it’s a bustling city full of people. I’ll definitely never forget it. But I’m starting to use the same adjectives over and over again, so I’ll leave you with yet another novel, and the wish that you could have been there with me to experience such a great three days.
On Friday, we all skipped class to get a good start on the weekend. About 15 of us from the Pamplona campus (mostly girls) met the bus of about 17 students from the San Sebastian campus (mostly boys, and all from the engineering program). At the typical half-hour after the predetermined time (and after John – our group leader – proved his love for the bus’s microphone once again) we were on the bus and heading east to Barcelona. And one pleasant, though long, bus ride later, we were there! We were struck by the impressive architecture and overall richness of the place. Just like in Paris, everything was art. In any direction I looked, I saw sculptures and spires and statues. Oh my! And I couldn’t help but notice that there were more signs in Catalán than there were in Spanish. Catalán is the language spoken by many people in Cataluña, the province in which Barcelona is located. It’s basically Spanish, with French influences, so if you know Spanish you can generally understand what a sign in Catalán is trying to tell you without any trouble. Definitely intriguing, though.
The first thing we did was head to our hostel to unload. And what a hostel it was – despite the paintings of creepy children with huge eyes (from some recent exhibition, apparently) in the entryway, we were immediately impressed by the curvy marble staircase and the general posh-ness of the place. Our rooms were quite nice – the guys and girls stayed in different hostels (a requirement of Opus Dei, I think, which is the conservative Catholic organization that funds the university), so I was in a room with several other girls. The beds were comfy, and the room had a great view of a gorgeous building beside the hostel. The only issue was that there was only one toilet and one shower for about ten girls. But I woke up early to take a shower both mornings, so it worked out fine. Anyway, it was a great place – they served a delicious breakfast (with toast and cereal! I hardly ever get those here, so I was excited), and we felt safe and comfortable there the whole time. Which is more than I can say about our Paris hostel – but then, I think this one was a little more expensive. You get what you pay for sometimes, I guess.
Once we were settled in our hostel, we met in the gorgeous Plaza de Catalunya, where there were huge, beautiful fountains and some obligatory classical statues. Oh, and about a million and one pigeons. I’m beginning to really dislike those things – they’re so dirty and nasty, and they’re everywhere in cities. Sometimes a big flock of them would fly up suddenly, causing us girls to shriek and shield our eyeballs. Alfred Hitchcock, anyone (Okay, so I haven’t actually seen The Birds. But still.)? But I digress. After the boys came, we headed out on a little tour of the main parts of the city. We went to Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona, which has all sorts of vendors, a market, and lots of other interesting things to see. We were surprised to see lots of booths that were apparently miniature pet shops, sporting cages of birds, rabbits, and other little animals. Sooo weird. Not the souvenir I would choose, but whatever. There were also people displaying their talents in hopes of collecting money from passersby. These people were everywhere – way more than in Paris, even. However, this may have been because it was frigid and not very street-performer-friendly when we were in Paris. But it got to the point where, whenever I saw someone doing something out-of-the-ordinary, I could pretty much assume that they were doing it to get money. There were men making extremely life-like bird noises with their mouths, gypsy women wheedling away at people, and men throwing glow-in-the-dark objects high into the air to get people’s attention. And my favorite, the living statues; Las Ramblas was lined with people standing stock-still on platforms, wearing elaborate costumes and paint. I took a few pictures of them, enchanted. As a chronic fidgeter, I can’t imagine standing so still for twenty minutes, let alone hours. Some of them did move, though, in order to get into their character more. For example, a guy dressed up as Edward Scissorhands had Johnny Depp’s facial expressions down to a tee. It was definitely the coolest way to solicit tourists that I’ve ever seen.
We also went into the huge market for a bit while walking down Las Ramblas. They were selling every kind of food you could imagine – meat, gorgeous and exotic fruits (both fresh and dried), exquisite chocolates, and a dazzling array of colorful gominolas (gummy candies). I was sorely tempted to buy some of the candy, but I figured it was rather too rich for my blood, so I went for a delicious ice cream cone instead. We went to another plaza after that, with yet another pretty fountain and lots of cool buildings. There was a guy sitting in one of the upper windows, playing guitar and singing enthusiastically, but not very beautifully. You come across the most random people sometimes!
Next, we headed down to the port, where we saw the harbor and a ton of little boats. We crossed the gorgeous bridge and watched a big yacht coming in to dock. I even caught a couple whiffs of ocean air! Pretty soon, we were off to find some dinner. At the first bar/restaurant, the kitchen was closed, but we had something to drink – water for me, as I was feeling severely dehydrated at this point – and sat talking for a while. After waiting for another group leader (who we seemed to be waiting for during most of the trip), we left to find another bar, deeper within the city. It was really cool, because we were probably the only tourists in there, so it was very authentic. It was a seafood bar, and they had their specialty – octopus – lying around on the countertop in a bin, still intact. We all ordered our food and drinks and sat talking at a long row of tables in the back. I wasn’t very hungry and I had a sandwich with me, but it was one of those situations where I felt obligated to order something, and I couldn’t very well whip out my bocadillo (sandwich) in the middle of a restaurant, so I got some little breaded shrimp-like things. Still not sure what they were, but they were good. They were a lot more than I was expecting to pay, however, which made me kind of angry. And I paid even more because I felt I couldn’t say no to helping the group pay for a bunch of little things that we all went together on. And besides, I wanted some of the octopus pieces and the wine (which was delicious). But if there’s anything I’ve learned throughout my travels thus far, it’s that sometimes you just have to let things go. Sometimes you’re going to have to pay more than you thought you would or wanted to. Sometimes you’re going to miss out on something you wanted to see. Sometimes you’re going to run out of time before you get to everywhere you want to get to. But you just have to let it go.
After the bar, it was time for us tired travelers to go to bed, so we went to the hostel to get some rest for the long day on Saturday. And it certainly was quite a day. We started off with a tour of the old Gothic part of town. We had a tour guide who was the friend of one of the leaders, and I’m sure she did a great job, but I have no way of knowing because I could hardly hear a word she said the entire time – she was great at leading us around, but a normal speaking voice that doesn’t carry at all just didn’t work so well for a crowd of thirty kids who are sometimes talking amongst themselves. Oh well. We got to see an amazing Gothic cathedral, so I was happy. I wasn’t really paying attention when we walked in the door, so when I looked up to see a huge arched ceiling, a looong aisle, and a bunch of gorgeous stained-glass windows, I was taken completely by surprise! I think I almost liked it better than Notre Dame. It didn’t have the same sadness that seemed to hang over our dear Parisian cathedral, and the clean, elegant simplicity of the place was breathtaking. After the tour, we walked a little on Las Ramblas and down towards the port again, where some of us girls got crepes at a booth we had been eyeing the night before. Not as good as the ones we had in Paris, but still worth it. With the insides of our tummies sufficiently sugary, we basked in the sun for a while as we decided what to do next. I ended up going with a few of the girls to find the beach. It was a bit of a walk, but we made it! My first view of the Mediterranean Sea was a fantastic one. And I couldn’t resist taking off my shoes and wading in the cold, cold water. So worth it! I’ve learned to take full advantage of every opportunity I have to see the ocean or sea, because they don’t come around very often.
By this time, it was nearing lunchtime, so we went to find an inexpensive place to eat. I didn’t end up ordering anything because I was still kind of full from my crepe and I was sick of spending money just then, but I enjoyed the beautiful seaside view! After lunch, we took a different way back to the Plaza to meet the group, and we saw Barcelona’s smaller, red-brick version of the Arc de Triomf (Yes, I know that’s an “f;” that’s how they spelled it) on the way. From the Plaza de Catalunya, we were off to see the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral that Gaudí designed which is still under construction. As Maite said, we had to go, because not seeing it would have been like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. And it was certainly worth it. We didn’t go inside because they were closing soon and it costs 10 euro to get in. And we heard that there’s not a lot to see inside anyway, because it’s still being built. That was fine, though, the outside was impressive enough. However, I still can’t decide whether I liked it or not. It wasn’t so much beautiful as it was striking. It was too out there to be aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion – it looked like a Gothic Catalán cathedral and an aliens’ sculpture museum had a baby. Very weird. But I enjoyed seeing it, at any rate.
Next on the agenda was Gaudí’s house, also designed by him, called la Pedrera. It was also very different-looking, but cool. We had a hard time deciding whether or not to go in, since it cost us six euros, but we ended up going for it. I’m glad we did, because the inside was really neat. There’s not a single sharp corner in the entire place, and some parts were positively labyrinthine. It was cool to see the old furniture in the rooms, as well. And my favorite part was the roof – lots of smooth, twisty stone sculptures looking gorgeous in the light of the setting sun. And the view from the top was amazing! We could even see the Sagrada Familia sticking up in the distance.
After Gaudí’s house, we broke up into smaller groups, and I walked around Las Ramblas again with Megan, Lauren, and Lise. We got some snacks to eat at the very crowded Carrefour Express, and then headed back to the Plaza again. The group was planning to go to a bar called La Oveja Negra (The Black Sheep), but when Megan and I found out that we’d have to take the metro to get there because it was so far away, we decided that we would just go back to the hostel since we were pretty much dead on our feet at this point and weren’t very hungry anyway. We hung out and relaxed on my bunk for a bit, and then headed to bed for some much-needed rest. I slept like the proverbial rock…it kind of scares me when I sleep that deeply because it can be kind of tough to drag myself back out of it. Ah well, I daresay I needed it.
Sunday, our last day in Barcelona, was my favorite day of the trip! We took things a little slower, our only main stop being the Parque Guell, a park designed by – you guessed it – Gaudí. That guy went crazy on that town, let me tell you. Anyway, the park was by far the prettiest of his designs, in my opinion. It was full of mosaic walls and stone tunnels and palm trees and buildings that looked like they were straight out of Candyland. Of course, we all started taking pictures of everything. After a few minutes of this, Megan and I realized that it was going to take forever if we went with a big group, so we decided to go explore on our own. After a little direction from John as to how to get to the coolest parts, we were off. It was such fun to walk around and see all the outstanding architecture and gardens, enjoying the sun and the different types of music floating around the park – every time we rounded a bend, we heard something different: a mandolin, a classical Spanish guitar, a Chinese dulcimer, a digeridoo (which I have no idea how to spell), a reggae band, etc. So fantastic! And there were more of the ever-present living statues, of course.
After a while, we ended up chilling in the sun for a while on the rooftop of one of the structures, which had another wonderful view of the city. We could even see the Sea from up there! And the roof was surrounded by wavy mosaic walls – I’ve seen a picture of them on the back of one of my high school Spanish textbooks. Little did I know back then that I’d be seeing them in person one day! I was rather impressed by this.
A bit later, we met up with the group again here, and found out that it was time to split up for lunch. Megan and I had been thinking of going with a bigger group of girls, but we had already decided that we wanted to go to Las Ramblas one last time to look for souvenirs and gifts, since we hadn’t had time to do that before. And since we knew that waiting for the group would probably mean that we wouldn’t get the chance to do that, we struck out on our own once again. We knew (or should I say, Megan knew…I greatly envy her sense of direction!) where to go, and we got to our destination without any problems. We had about an hour and a half to make some very satisfying purchases (one of them being the most delicious gelato I’ve ever had in my life), and then it was time to go back to the hostel, load up on the bus, and head for home.
The bus ride was very pleasant, and I had a great time listening to music and my audiobook, and just zoning out and enjoying the beautiful sunset and landscape. It was funny – once it got dark, it reminded me of any other bus trip I’ve taken in the States, so I didn’t really feel like I was in Spain. But I didn’t really feel like I was in the U.S., either. I just felt like I was in no-place. It wasn’t unpleasant, really, but definitely a little bit strange. And after about five hours in the bus, we were all quite ready to be back to Pamplona. It had been a fantastic time, but I was excited to eat homemade dinner and crash in my own (well, sort of my own) bed.
What a great weekend! I’ve fallen in love with yet another wonderful Spanish city. Besides all the beautiful things in it, there’s just something about the atmosphere of the place that just makes you feel really nice inside. It’s almost relaxing, even though it’s a bustling city full of people. I’ll definitely never forget it. But I’m starting to use the same adjectives over and over again, so I’ll leave you with yet another novel, and the wish that you could have been there with me to experience such a great three days.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Laughing, Dancing, and Loving Life
So I’ve been meaning to write on here for the last couple of days, but kept running out of time. But I find myself with a free afternoon, so here’s to a little pre-nap blogging! I should be doing literature homework, but oh well. Cortázar is just gonna have to wait.
Last week was alucinante (really awesome)! You already know about my grand adventure in the park and beyond. I’m afraid I waxed a bit maudlin during that post, but I’m sure you’ll get over it. Anyway, we’ll skip to Thursday – what a fantastic day! I kept feeling like I might explode, I was so happy. After our two classes, we Concordia gals (sans Lauren) went to Carrefour to buy some delicious chocolate to give to Lauren, because Thursday was her birthday! After lunch, we all met at the Café Florida to have café con leche and give Lauren her gifts. She loved them, and seemed staggered by the amount of chocolate now in her possession! She’ll be set for a while. And we had such a great time at the café – I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard! What with all the funny stories about host family shenanigans and with Skyla entertaining us with “the Classic” Skyla-expression (I’ll have to get a pic of that at some point…it may be one of those you-had-to-be-there things, though :-P), the other patrons were no doubt wondering what the waiter had slipped into the crazy American girls’ coffee. But we didn’t care; we were having way too much fun! We decided that we definitely need to get together as a group more often – it seems like we’re hardly ever all together, but whenever we are we have a blast.
After our coffee, we headed to dance. It was fantastic, as usual – it was a small group that night, and we always seem to have so much fun when that happens, probably because it’s more casual and we can switch things up if we feel like it. For example, instead of working on the tango, we learned the base for the salsa! That was such fun. It’s pretty similar to the cha-cha, so it wasn’t too hard to catch on. Some of the turns were a little tougher, though – we were struggling with one where the guy (or rather, in everyone but Ruben and Javi’s case, the girl who’s leading) has to put their arm out nearly straight to direct the girl around. This proved difficult for all of us, for some reason, and then Kristen M. decided to really get into the move by thrusting her arm out forcefully, Power-Ranger style, and singing part of the theme song under her breath…oh man. Lauren and I nearly died laughing!
When class was over, Lauren interviewed Ruben for her conversation class, and Kristen M. and I hung out with them since we were going to Lauren’s piso afterward. We all talked for a while, and had fun getting to know each other a bit better. After that, we girls went to Lauren’s and had some delicious tarta (cake) that Lauren’s host mom made for her. So yummy! Julia (Lauren’s host mom) even gave us a little alcohol to go with it, so that was fun. I had something that I believe was peach schnapps, or at least really similar. And I discovered (re-discovered? I’ve had it once before) that schnapps and I don’t get along so well – i.e., I get really red-cheeked and a bit dizzy. Something to remember for the future…Anyway, after a bit, Julia’s daughter Maribel and grandson Iñaki came over to visit, and we had a great time meeting them and talking with them. Maribel is one of the nicest people I’ve met here, and we all seemed to hit it off right away! And I was having one of those moments where I can speak pretty darn fast and well in Spanish. Always a great feeling :-) I’m hoping that will start to happen more often.
Friday was not too shabby either – I recited my poem for literature without any problems, so I was pretty proud of myself. And I got a fair bit of homework done in the afternoon. We seem to be getting a little more lately, but it’s still nothing compared to back home, so I can’t complain one bit. And it’s sort of nice to have something to apply myself to.
Friday evening was a bit of an adventure – Kristen M., Lauren, and I went to a play in which Nerea, our dance teacher, was one of the actresses. She had told us about it a week or so before, and we thought it would be fun to take in some Spanish theatre and go support Nerea. The play was called Lisistrata and was in the theatre in Ansoain, which is a little pueblo just to the north of Pamplona (I think it’s actually what I was seeing when I found that great view on my walk), so we went with Leire (pronounced “Lay-ray,” more or less) and Kova, two other friends from dance, who drove us there in Leire’s car. It felt so weird to be riding in a car – something I hadn’t done since mid-January, believe it or not. It felt kinda nice, though. However, riding on the roundabouts was a rather new experience; I’m just glad I don’t have to drive on them. Anyway, we found the theatre without much trouble and got our tickets (a bit expensive at 10 euro, but we figured it would be worth it). We also saw two other people from the dance class there – Javi and his girlfriend whose name I can’t remember – so that was kinda fun. After figuring out the hard way that the theatre seats were assigned (oops…) – a couple told us that we were in one of their seats, but they were nice about it – we found our spots and waited for the play to begin. Nerea had told us that it was a cabaret-type production, but other than that we weren’t really sure what to expect. The set looked cool, at any rate; it was a Greek theme and had a big curtain with the words “Club Acropolis” painted above it.
The play consisted of five actors – two men and three women – with two other guys who made up the band (one played guitar and piano and the other was on drums). The play was…rather raunchier than we were expecting. We’ll leave it at that. But it was still really fun – we understood most of what was going on, which was nice. It was apparently about soldiers who went off to war at the same time that some feminist ideas were cropping up, and the ensuing tomfoolery. Though we didn’t get some of the jokes - they say that you know you’re really fluent when you start understanding the humor in a foreign language…apparently we’re not quite there yet. But Nerea was such a hoot! We couldn’t believe some of the funny voices and mannerisms that she could affect. It was definitely worth the money just to see her. We laughed so hard! And we decided that Nerea looks like the Spanish version of Kirstie Allie sometimes. And she also has a phenomenal singing voice! That was cool. After the play, we were able to talk with her a little and get a picture with her. She seemed really happy to see us!
On Saturday, we did a bit of traveling – Lauren, Megan, and I headed to Olite for the day. Olite is a pueblo about half an hour from Pamplona by bus. Since it’s so small, it’s not necessary to go for more than a day to see the main attractions, so we decided it’d be a nice way to spend a Saturday. We saw the castle there, built circa 1400. It was so gorgeous! It reminded me of a Disney-ish castle from the outside. And there were lots of spiral staircases, towers, and courtyards inside. We had a great time exploring for over three hours. After a lunch of bocadillos, pastry, and a glass of wine in a cute little café, we headed to the Museo del Vino (Museum of Wine). Olite has a big vineyard, which I’m guessing is the town’s primary source of employment, and so they have a little museum dedicated to all things wine-related. It was really neat – the displays were beautiful and it was a lot of fun to learn more about wine. There was a room with displays about wine and the senses – it told all the different ways that wine affects our bodies, and had a section about the proper way to do wine tasting. There were even little candies in there to show the difference between sweet, salty, bitter, and sour, of which we took full advantage, of course. There were also rooms about the history of wine, different types of grapes, the planting, maintenance, and harvest process, and the methods for making wine. It was all so interesting! Definitely worth our time. And we got free bottles of wine at the end, so that was pretty exciting. After the museum, we were able to catch the 5:00 bus back to Pamplona. And we happened to meet a really nice Australian man when we were waiting for the bus to come. He told us that he’s teaching English for a semester in Bilbao but was visiting Pamplona and the surrounding area for the weekend. It was fun learning a bit about his family and his perspective on Spain. It just goes to show that you never know when you’ll meet someone really neat.
On Saturday night, we went out to celebrate Lauren’s birthday since we hadn’t been able to do so on Thursday. We had tons of fun! I went with Lauren, Megan, Skyla, Silvia, Valentina, and also Davíd and Rafael, who are two of Sivlia and Valentina’s Colombian friends. We also met up with Marion, Saskia, Eva, Ellen, and Janic (I hope I spelled his name right…) later on. Quite a group! We went to a couple three different bars and I decided that Bailey’s is my new favorite drink. Sooo yummy! We talked and danced and just generally had a good time. Most of the group was going strong long into the night, but Skyla and I were ready to leave by around two, so we walked back together. I slept quite well that night, though I only got about 5 hours or so. Ah well, that’s what these long afternoons are for, I guess.
Sunday was fairly chill; I went to church with Megan in the morning. It was pretty nice, and I like that church (and the fact that it takes me like, two minutes to get there), but the fact that the Sunday service is three hours long just seemed a liiiittle excessive to me. Especially since I was fighting sleep for most of it. I probably won’t be making it a weekly occurrence, but I’m glad it’s there when I want it.
And today was…well, Monday. I’ve been feeling none too well, so it’s time for me to take a nap and check out of life for an hour or two. But at least I’ve only got four days of class this week! I’m going to Barcelona for the weekend on a school excursion and we leave on Friday. Can’t wait! Everyone says that Barcelona is pretty much the most gorgeous place ever, so I’m so excited to see it for myself! If I don’t post before then, stay tuned for some lovely adventures in Barcelona :-)
Last week was alucinante (really awesome)! You already know about my grand adventure in the park and beyond. I’m afraid I waxed a bit maudlin during that post, but I’m sure you’ll get over it. Anyway, we’ll skip to Thursday – what a fantastic day! I kept feeling like I might explode, I was so happy. After our two classes, we Concordia gals (sans Lauren) went to Carrefour to buy some delicious chocolate to give to Lauren, because Thursday was her birthday! After lunch, we all met at the Café Florida to have café con leche and give Lauren her gifts. She loved them, and seemed staggered by the amount of chocolate now in her possession! She’ll be set for a while. And we had such a great time at the café – I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard! What with all the funny stories about host family shenanigans and with Skyla entertaining us with “the Classic” Skyla-expression (I’ll have to get a pic of that at some point…it may be one of those you-had-to-be-there things, though :-P), the other patrons were no doubt wondering what the waiter had slipped into the crazy American girls’ coffee. But we didn’t care; we were having way too much fun! We decided that we definitely need to get together as a group more often – it seems like we’re hardly ever all together, but whenever we are we have a blast.
After our coffee, we headed to dance. It was fantastic, as usual – it was a small group that night, and we always seem to have so much fun when that happens, probably because it’s more casual and we can switch things up if we feel like it. For example, instead of working on the tango, we learned the base for the salsa! That was such fun. It’s pretty similar to the cha-cha, so it wasn’t too hard to catch on. Some of the turns were a little tougher, though – we were struggling with one where the guy (or rather, in everyone but Ruben and Javi’s case, the girl who’s leading) has to put their arm out nearly straight to direct the girl around. This proved difficult for all of us, for some reason, and then Kristen M. decided to really get into the move by thrusting her arm out forcefully, Power-Ranger style, and singing part of the theme song under her breath…oh man. Lauren and I nearly died laughing!
When class was over, Lauren interviewed Ruben for her conversation class, and Kristen M. and I hung out with them since we were going to Lauren’s piso afterward. We all talked for a while, and had fun getting to know each other a bit better. After that, we girls went to Lauren’s and had some delicious tarta (cake) that Lauren’s host mom made for her. So yummy! Julia (Lauren’s host mom) even gave us a little alcohol to go with it, so that was fun. I had something that I believe was peach schnapps, or at least really similar. And I discovered (re-discovered? I’ve had it once before) that schnapps and I don’t get along so well – i.e., I get really red-cheeked and a bit dizzy. Something to remember for the future…Anyway, after a bit, Julia’s daughter Maribel and grandson Iñaki came over to visit, and we had a great time meeting them and talking with them. Maribel is one of the nicest people I’ve met here, and we all seemed to hit it off right away! And I was having one of those moments where I can speak pretty darn fast and well in Spanish. Always a great feeling :-) I’m hoping that will start to happen more often.
Friday was not too shabby either – I recited my poem for literature without any problems, so I was pretty proud of myself. And I got a fair bit of homework done in the afternoon. We seem to be getting a little more lately, but it’s still nothing compared to back home, so I can’t complain one bit. And it’s sort of nice to have something to apply myself to.
Friday evening was a bit of an adventure – Kristen M., Lauren, and I went to a play in which Nerea, our dance teacher, was one of the actresses. She had told us about it a week or so before, and we thought it would be fun to take in some Spanish theatre and go support Nerea. The play was called Lisistrata and was in the theatre in Ansoain, which is a little pueblo just to the north of Pamplona (I think it’s actually what I was seeing when I found that great view on my walk), so we went with Leire (pronounced “Lay-ray,” more or less) and Kova, two other friends from dance, who drove us there in Leire’s car. It felt so weird to be riding in a car – something I hadn’t done since mid-January, believe it or not. It felt kinda nice, though. However, riding on the roundabouts was a rather new experience; I’m just glad I don’t have to drive on them. Anyway, we found the theatre without much trouble and got our tickets (a bit expensive at 10 euro, but we figured it would be worth it). We also saw two other people from the dance class there – Javi and his girlfriend whose name I can’t remember – so that was kinda fun. After figuring out the hard way that the theatre seats were assigned (oops…) – a couple told us that we were in one of their seats, but they were nice about it – we found our spots and waited for the play to begin. Nerea had told us that it was a cabaret-type production, but other than that we weren’t really sure what to expect. The set looked cool, at any rate; it was a Greek theme and had a big curtain with the words “Club Acropolis” painted above it.
The play consisted of five actors – two men and three women – with two other guys who made up the band (one played guitar and piano and the other was on drums). The play was…rather raunchier than we were expecting. We’ll leave it at that. But it was still really fun – we understood most of what was going on, which was nice. It was apparently about soldiers who went off to war at the same time that some feminist ideas were cropping up, and the ensuing tomfoolery. Though we didn’t get some of the jokes - they say that you know you’re really fluent when you start understanding the humor in a foreign language…apparently we’re not quite there yet. But Nerea was such a hoot! We couldn’t believe some of the funny voices and mannerisms that she could affect. It was definitely worth the money just to see her. We laughed so hard! And we decided that Nerea looks like the Spanish version of Kirstie Allie sometimes. And she also has a phenomenal singing voice! That was cool. After the play, we were able to talk with her a little and get a picture with her. She seemed really happy to see us!
On Saturday, we did a bit of traveling – Lauren, Megan, and I headed to Olite for the day. Olite is a pueblo about half an hour from Pamplona by bus. Since it’s so small, it’s not necessary to go for more than a day to see the main attractions, so we decided it’d be a nice way to spend a Saturday. We saw the castle there, built circa 1400. It was so gorgeous! It reminded me of a Disney-ish castle from the outside. And there were lots of spiral staircases, towers, and courtyards inside. We had a great time exploring for over three hours. After a lunch of bocadillos, pastry, and a glass of wine in a cute little café, we headed to the Museo del Vino (Museum of Wine). Olite has a big vineyard, which I’m guessing is the town’s primary source of employment, and so they have a little museum dedicated to all things wine-related. It was really neat – the displays were beautiful and it was a lot of fun to learn more about wine. There was a room with displays about wine and the senses – it told all the different ways that wine affects our bodies, and had a section about the proper way to do wine tasting. There were even little candies in there to show the difference between sweet, salty, bitter, and sour, of which we took full advantage, of course. There were also rooms about the history of wine, different types of grapes, the planting, maintenance, and harvest process, and the methods for making wine. It was all so interesting! Definitely worth our time. And we got free bottles of wine at the end, so that was pretty exciting. After the museum, we were able to catch the 5:00 bus back to Pamplona. And we happened to meet a really nice Australian man when we were waiting for the bus to come. He told us that he’s teaching English for a semester in Bilbao but was visiting Pamplona and the surrounding area for the weekend. It was fun learning a bit about his family and his perspective on Spain. It just goes to show that you never know when you’ll meet someone really neat.
On Saturday night, we went out to celebrate Lauren’s birthday since we hadn’t been able to do so on Thursday. We had tons of fun! I went with Lauren, Megan, Skyla, Silvia, Valentina, and also Davíd and Rafael, who are two of Sivlia and Valentina’s Colombian friends. We also met up with Marion, Saskia, Eva, Ellen, and Janic (I hope I spelled his name right…) later on. Quite a group! We went to a couple three different bars and I decided that Bailey’s is my new favorite drink. Sooo yummy! We talked and danced and just generally had a good time. Most of the group was going strong long into the night, but Skyla and I were ready to leave by around two, so we walked back together. I slept quite well that night, though I only got about 5 hours or so. Ah well, that’s what these long afternoons are for, I guess.
Sunday was fairly chill; I went to church with Megan in the morning. It was pretty nice, and I like that church (and the fact that it takes me like, two minutes to get there), but the fact that the Sunday service is three hours long just seemed a liiiittle excessive to me. Especially since I was fighting sleep for most of it. I probably won’t be making it a weekly occurrence, but I’m glad it’s there when I want it.
And today was…well, Monday. I’ve been feeling none too well, so it’s time for me to take a nap and check out of life for an hour or two. But at least I’ve only got four days of class this week! I’m going to Barcelona for the weekend on a school excursion and we leave on Friday. Can’t wait! Everyone says that Barcelona is pretty much the most gorgeous place ever, so I’m so excited to see it for myself! If I don’t post before then, stay tuned for some lovely adventures in Barcelona :-)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
It Is Refreshing, After Sitting for So Long in One Attitude
I’ve been feeling extremely restless lately. It’s gotta be all this walking…it seems sort of ironic – walking a good 4 kilometers every day ought to make me more tired, not less. But now that I’m in good shape, my muscles are often positively screaming for more exercise. When I’m walking, I feel like the Energizer bunny, like I could just go and go and go forever. And when I’m sitting…imagine a wind-up doll that somebody gave a few good cranks to and then held in place with their hand on its head. The ensuing jitters are a good analogy for what I feel like sometimes.
Because of this, I decided to take a nice, long (about two and a half hours, in fact) walk today, not having much else to do. So, with umbrella and mp3 player in tow (I found the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack to be very fitting for the romantic rainy-ness) I set off. And oh man, was it a good decision! I’ve wanted to explore one of Pamplona’s parks, called the Parque de Taconera, for a long time now. It’s really close to my flat, and today I ran out of excuses not to go look around. I’m so very glad I went! The park is gigantic, and so astoundingly gorgeous! I only saw a small portion of it, because I got distracted…more about that in a moment. But what I did see, I loved! There are some of the obligatory old Spanish buildings (the park melts into Casco Antiguo further on), some lovely fountains and statues, and lots of shrubberies, hedge mazes, and such. And there are a ton of little areas with benches or playground equipment where people can go to chill or have a picnic or whatever they please. And there’s even an animal enclosure inside the park! Nothing very exotic, but it was fun to see the mountain goats, peacocks, various fowl, and gorgeous deer. I feel like this park is the kind of place you could spend all day in!
I didn’t go too deeply into the park since I was alone and didn’t want to get lost in all the twisty passageways. I’ll venture farther in another day. I stayed somewhat around the perimeter this time, partly because I remembered a friend of mine talking about this path that takes you all the way around the city, and I’m not sure why but I had it in my head that you can get to it from Taconera, and I wanted to look for it. The outer edge seemed to be a likely place to start.
Anyway, I rounded a bend on the path I was walking on, and there, right before my eyes, was one of the most wonderful views I’ve seen since coming to Europe! The path was perpendicular to a stone walkway lined by a fence. Just beyond the fence was a steep drop-off, and beyond that, a huge section of Pamplona that I never even knew existed was laid out before me! To me, it looked more typically “Spanish” than any other place I’ve seen in town, save Casco Antiguo. All of the roofs were that quintessential rusty red color that evidently appears on houses all over Europe, and there were a few spires and domes and mossy stone bridges. There was even a river, with some kayakers paddling serenely along. Some of the houses dotted the spectacular hills in the background, tucked in among the evergreens that cover the mounds. How lucky their residents are! And the hills themselves made me want to cry with happiness – those dark shapes with their drifting veils of clouds were better than the ones I dream about when the vast, endless flatness of the North Dakotan plains fill me with boredom and agoraphobia.
I kept walking along the path, which appeared to me to be an extension of the Ciudadela – same mossy gray stones, same slanted walls. The whole thing reminded me of the battlements of some old fortress – which may well be what they are. Along the way, there were little paths that lead to sections of the wall that sticks out a little farther (my inner medieval nerd is telling me that there is probably an actual name for these, but I can’t currently remember what it is), where you can get an even better look at the view. The path branches off onto bigger roads as well, and I took these when the fancy struck me. And along the way, I saw a few signs that said “Paseo Ronda,” with a map that gave me reason to believe I had indeed found the path around the city. I didn’t walk the entire length of it, but I did visit a few of its tributaries. One of them led me up to a higher road, on the right side of which were the most European-looking houses that you could wish to see – stucco buildings of different colors built so close to one another that they touch, with the occasional narrow alleyway or wrought-iron balcony. Another path brought me to a place I recognized – a section of the Encierro, which is the route on which those crazy San Fermín-celebrators run for their lives from a herd of angry bulls. I even saw a building or two that looked very much like castles – if I ignored the customary Euskerran (the language of the Basque people) graffiti that appeared here and there, I felt like I had stepped back in time a few hundred years. The beauty and character of the whole area just astounded me! I can’t wait to go back. It's experiences like this that make me feel as though I've stepped into a movie or a novel...sometimes I just can't help but ask myself, "Is this actually happening?" I can hardly fathom how blessed I am.
It still amazes me that I continue to find such gems as this part of the city all the time in Pamplona. It just goes to show that with a little daring (and a touch of boredom as well), there are so many adventures to be had, and some of them are just a few steps away from home!
Because of this, I decided to take a nice, long (about two and a half hours, in fact) walk today, not having much else to do. So, with umbrella and mp3 player in tow (I found the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack to be very fitting for the romantic rainy-ness) I set off. And oh man, was it a good decision! I’ve wanted to explore one of Pamplona’s parks, called the Parque de Taconera, for a long time now. It’s really close to my flat, and today I ran out of excuses not to go look around. I’m so very glad I went! The park is gigantic, and so astoundingly gorgeous! I only saw a small portion of it, because I got distracted…more about that in a moment. But what I did see, I loved! There are some of the obligatory old Spanish buildings (the park melts into Casco Antiguo further on), some lovely fountains and statues, and lots of shrubberies, hedge mazes, and such. And there are a ton of little areas with benches or playground equipment where people can go to chill or have a picnic or whatever they please. And there’s even an animal enclosure inside the park! Nothing very exotic, but it was fun to see the mountain goats, peacocks, various fowl, and gorgeous deer. I feel like this park is the kind of place you could spend all day in!
I didn’t go too deeply into the park since I was alone and didn’t want to get lost in all the twisty passageways. I’ll venture farther in another day. I stayed somewhat around the perimeter this time, partly because I remembered a friend of mine talking about this path that takes you all the way around the city, and I’m not sure why but I had it in my head that you can get to it from Taconera, and I wanted to look for it. The outer edge seemed to be a likely place to start.
Anyway, I rounded a bend on the path I was walking on, and there, right before my eyes, was one of the most wonderful views I’ve seen since coming to Europe! The path was perpendicular to a stone walkway lined by a fence. Just beyond the fence was a steep drop-off, and beyond that, a huge section of Pamplona that I never even knew existed was laid out before me! To me, it looked more typically “Spanish” than any other place I’ve seen in town, save Casco Antiguo. All of the roofs were that quintessential rusty red color that evidently appears on houses all over Europe, and there were a few spires and domes and mossy stone bridges. There was even a river, with some kayakers paddling serenely along. Some of the houses dotted the spectacular hills in the background, tucked in among the evergreens that cover the mounds. How lucky their residents are! And the hills themselves made me want to cry with happiness – those dark shapes with their drifting veils of clouds were better than the ones I dream about when the vast, endless flatness of the North Dakotan plains fill me with boredom and agoraphobia.
I kept walking along the path, which appeared to me to be an extension of the Ciudadela – same mossy gray stones, same slanted walls. The whole thing reminded me of the battlements of some old fortress – which may well be what they are. Along the way, there were little paths that lead to sections of the wall that sticks out a little farther (my inner medieval nerd is telling me that there is probably an actual name for these, but I can’t currently remember what it is), where you can get an even better look at the view. The path branches off onto bigger roads as well, and I took these when the fancy struck me. And along the way, I saw a few signs that said “Paseo Ronda,” with a map that gave me reason to believe I had indeed found the path around the city. I didn’t walk the entire length of it, but I did visit a few of its tributaries. One of them led me up to a higher road, on the right side of which were the most European-looking houses that you could wish to see – stucco buildings of different colors built so close to one another that they touch, with the occasional narrow alleyway or wrought-iron balcony. Another path brought me to a place I recognized – a section of the Encierro, which is the route on which those crazy San Fermín-celebrators run for their lives from a herd of angry bulls. I even saw a building or two that looked very much like castles – if I ignored the customary Euskerran (the language of the Basque people) graffiti that appeared here and there, I felt like I had stepped back in time a few hundred years. The beauty and character of the whole area just astounded me! I can’t wait to go back. It's experiences like this that make me feel as though I've stepped into a movie or a novel...sometimes I just can't help but ask myself, "Is this actually happening?" I can hardly fathom how blessed I am.
It still amazes me that I continue to find such gems as this part of the city all the time in Pamplona. It just goes to show that with a little daring (and a touch of boredom as well), there are so many adventures to be had, and some of them are just a few steps away from home!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Once Begun is Half Done
Another week has gone by, so I daresay it’s blogging time once again!
I can’t believe this is the last day of February. Seriously. Where on Earth did it go? I’ve decided that February went much faster than January - which, in some ways, is sort of nice. I’ve had a number of very homesick moments this month. I want to have good talks with my parents. I want to tell traveling stories to and play Rock Band with my brother. I want to hug and laugh hysterically with my friends from home. I want to eat peanut butter! And mashed potatoes! And ketchup! Not at the same time, though. But really, it gets better when I remember that I only have about two more months here, and I know they’re going to fly by, so I need to enjoy them to the fullest. I mean, I’m in Spain, for pity’s sake. I only have a short time to enjoy being here (and I am enjoying it deeply!) before I have to go back to familiar things. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and home will still be waiting for me when I get back. Not that I know where home is anymore…I sometimes think that if I clicked my heels together like Dorothy, I have no idea whether I’d end up in Pamplona, Moorhead, or Wahpeton. But I guess I’m okay with being a nomad a little while longer.
Anyway, despite home sickness and random food cravings, this week has had a great deal of fun moments. And gosh, Monday seems like ages ago. The beginning of the week was fairly boring, but that’s usually how it goes. I think I’m going to have to make an effort to change that – there’s got to be something else that us Concordia girls (and perhaps some not-Concordia people) can do together during the week besides going to bars and discotecas, though that’s fun to do sometimes. At any rate, the early part of the week had its good points – I got to watch a cool show with my host mom that reminded me of a glorified version of American Idol (a bunch of different singers, with a band and sometimes even props and backup singers! It was slightly epic). It was the final episode, and they were selecting the best singer from a group of Spanish performers. The winner gets to go to Oslo to represent Spain and Eurovision in a worldwide competition, apparently. The guy who won was a cutie named Daniel Diges (I think that’s the right spelling) who sang a really pretty waltz song. And my host mom and I both wanted him to win, so we were happy! I encourage you to look up the YouTube video of the song (called “Algo Pequeñito”...I'm not sure what you'll find it under on YouTube, but I don't think it'd be tough to locate) if you feel so moved. It’s some fun stuff :-)
On Tuesday, I finally got to see a little Olympic skating, which I was pretty excited about. My Olympic-Games-watching skills this time around = Fail. To be honest, though, watching some of the other sports is fun too, but skating is really the only thing I care that much about as far as the Winter Games are concerned. They show some pretty weird sports, in my opinion…I mean really – what is the point of curling? And after a while, the ski jumps and luge runs all look the same to me. So I guess I’m not heartbroken that I’ve missed a lot of it. I think I'd rather watch futbol...mostly because ugly futbolistas do. not. exist. For real.
Also on Tuesday, we had one of the most fun dance classes yet – only five of us showed up so it was really chill, and for the first hour we learned more cha-cha moves. It’s so satisfying to finally be getting it down – dancing gets more and more enjoyable as we continue to improve! Then, for the second hour, when we were technically all supposed to be practicing the tango, all of us ended up sitting on the floor and talking! It was so much fun. And it was great speaking practice, which I never seem to get enough of. Kristen M., Lauren, and I ended up talking with Ruben for most of the time – he’s essentially the only guy in the class (there’s one other, but he hardly ever comes), and he’s really cool. He asked us about the differences between Spain and the U.S. and what we liked better in both. I was glad he did, because I really love those questions; they get me thinking about the comparisons and what I’m learning from the differences, more than I usually think about them. We also talked a bit about the different foods in Spain, and he told us how to make some of the desserts. Such fun! We may have missed out on an hour of dancing, but we didn’t care because we’d had just as good a time and learned a lot anyway!
On Wednesday night, things started to pick up a bit. We girls decided that we were all in desperate need of getting out of our respective houses and doing something fun together. We ended up going to a bar called Singular, right by the Ciudadela. It was so much fun! We all loved the atmosphere, and the fact that there was enough room to dance, which we all did with gusto. It was just so nice to have a great time with the gals and loosen up a bit (without the aid of alcohol, even :-P). I think that Singular is my favorite of the bars I’ve been to here! Definitely planning to go back at some point.
Of course, I was reeeeally tired the next morning, but I wasn’t too worried about it since I always have ample time for a nap here (not to brag or anything…haha), which I took full advantage of. I went out on Thursday night for a couple hours as well – nowhere near as late as on Wednesday, thankfully. That would’ve been a little ridiculous. It was fun, though – there was an open mic night/talent show for the intercambios at a bar called Long Island, and it was so cool to watch Lise play the fiddle song “Orange Blossom Special” on her violin and to see Ellen play guitar and sing with one of her Spanish roommates. They both did a great job!
Friday was simply lovely in many ways. The weather was amazing, for one - nearly 60 degrees, for those of you in Fahrenheit-land :-P. On my walk home, I was too warm! The fact that this happened in February is nearly unfathomable to me. I even went to the middle of the Ciudadela to study for a while by the fountain. It’s so much quieter in there – the big stone walls block out a lot of the traffic noise. And it was so peaceful to sit in the sun and look at the gorgeous old buildings. Gosh, I love that place! Later on that evening, I went to see Valentine’s Day (Historias de San Valentín) with Kristen and Lise. What a great movie! And we even understood what was going on…granted, the dubbed-over voices talked fairly slow, but it was still an ego boost to know that we could understand a movie that’s not in our own language and that we've never seen before! Woot. I guess I am learning, though it feels like I’m doing so very slowly sometimes. Oh, and Kristen and I bought popcorn, which tasted sooo great after not having had it for a couple of months.
This weekend has been low-key, as per usual. Which is just fine with me :-). I went to the mall, La Morea, with the girls yesterday to explore a bit. We found a couple fun little things (there was a jewelry store where everything was super cute and we were powerless to resist…), and then went to the grocery store (or rather, department store…there’s this huge, Wal-Mart-esque place inside the mall. The size of that place is staggering!) to get some much-needed sweets…we eat healthily here, which means that our sweet tooth (teeth?) are always clamoring to be satisfied. Kristen and I split a package of mini Haagen-Dasz ice creams…oh man. That was an excellent decision, let me tell you. Haagen and Dasz may replace Ben and Jerry as my boyfriends...lol!
Today has been mostly filled with homework and a good deal of putzing around. I’ve got a grammar test on Thursday that has me worried, so you can bet I’ll be hitting the books a great deal. Just as soon as I can get myself motivated. Really though, I’ve got to do my best! Now that I have only four classes, I can’t afford to do poorly in any of them. But if I get going on it, I should be okay. It would be a lot easier, though, if Spanish pronouns weren’t the devil’s children…ugh.
The weekend has raced by, but I think I’m ready to tackle a new month in Spain. As ready as I’ll ever be, anyway!
I can’t believe this is the last day of February. Seriously. Where on Earth did it go? I’ve decided that February went much faster than January - which, in some ways, is sort of nice. I’ve had a number of very homesick moments this month. I want to have good talks with my parents. I want to tell traveling stories to and play Rock Band with my brother. I want to hug and laugh hysterically with my friends from home. I want to eat peanut butter! And mashed potatoes! And ketchup! Not at the same time, though. But really, it gets better when I remember that I only have about two more months here, and I know they’re going to fly by, so I need to enjoy them to the fullest. I mean, I’m in Spain, for pity’s sake. I only have a short time to enjoy being here (and I am enjoying it deeply!) before I have to go back to familiar things. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and home will still be waiting for me when I get back. Not that I know where home is anymore…I sometimes think that if I clicked my heels together like Dorothy, I have no idea whether I’d end up in Pamplona, Moorhead, or Wahpeton. But I guess I’m okay with being a nomad a little while longer.
Anyway, despite home sickness and random food cravings, this week has had a great deal of fun moments. And gosh, Monday seems like ages ago. The beginning of the week was fairly boring, but that’s usually how it goes. I think I’m going to have to make an effort to change that – there’s got to be something else that us Concordia girls (and perhaps some not-Concordia people) can do together during the week besides going to bars and discotecas, though that’s fun to do sometimes. At any rate, the early part of the week had its good points – I got to watch a cool show with my host mom that reminded me of a glorified version of American Idol (a bunch of different singers, with a band and sometimes even props and backup singers! It was slightly epic). It was the final episode, and they were selecting the best singer from a group of Spanish performers. The winner gets to go to Oslo to represent Spain and Eurovision in a worldwide competition, apparently. The guy who won was a cutie named Daniel Diges (I think that’s the right spelling) who sang a really pretty waltz song. And my host mom and I both wanted him to win, so we were happy! I encourage you to look up the YouTube video of the song (called “Algo Pequeñito”...I'm not sure what you'll find it under on YouTube, but I don't think it'd be tough to locate) if you feel so moved. It’s some fun stuff :-)
On Tuesday, I finally got to see a little Olympic skating, which I was pretty excited about. My Olympic-Games-watching skills this time around = Fail. To be honest, though, watching some of the other sports is fun too, but skating is really the only thing I care that much about as far as the Winter Games are concerned. They show some pretty weird sports, in my opinion…I mean really – what is the point of curling? And after a while, the ski jumps and luge runs all look the same to me. So I guess I’m not heartbroken that I’ve missed a lot of it. I think I'd rather watch futbol...mostly because ugly futbolistas do. not. exist. For real.
Also on Tuesday, we had one of the most fun dance classes yet – only five of us showed up so it was really chill, and for the first hour we learned more cha-cha moves. It’s so satisfying to finally be getting it down – dancing gets more and more enjoyable as we continue to improve! Then, for the second hour, when we were technically all supposed to be practicing the tango, all of us ended up sitting on the floor and talking! It was so much fun. And it was great speaking practice, which I never seem to get enough of. Kristen M., Lauren, and I ended up talking with Ruben for most of the time – he’s essentially the only guy in the class (there’s one other, but he hardly ever comes), and he’s really cool. He asked us about the differences between Spain and the U.S. and what we liked better in both. I was glad he did, because I really love those questions; they get me thinking about the comparisons and what I’m learning from the differences, more than I usually think about them. We also talked a bit about the different foods in Spain, and he told us how to make some of the desserts. Such fun! We may have missed out on an hour of dancing, but we didn’t care because we’d had just as good a time and learned a lot anyway!
On Wednesday night, things started to pick up a bit. We girls decided that we were all in desperate need of getting out of our respective houses and doing something fun together. We ended up going to a bar called Singular, right by the Ciudadela. It was so much fun! We all loved the atmosphere, and the fact that there was enough room to dance, which we all did with gusto. It was just so nice to have a great time with the gals and loosen up a bit (without the aid of alcohol, even :-P). I think that Singular is my favorite of the bars I’ve been to here! Definitely planning to go back at some point.
Of course, I was reeeeally tired the next morning, but I wasn’t too worried about it since I always have ample time for a nap here (not to brag or anything…haha), which I took full advantage of. I went out on Thursday night for a couple hours as well – nowhere near as late as on Wednesday, thankfully. That would’ve been a little ridiculous. It was fun, though – there was an open mic night/talent show for the intercambios at a bar called Long Island, and it was so cool to watch Lise play the fiddle song “Orange Blossom Special” on her violin and to see Ellen play guitar and sing with one of her Spanish roommates. They both did a great job!
Friday was simply lovely in many ways. The weather was amazing, for one - nearly 60 degrees, for those of you in Fahrenheit-land :-P. On my walk home, I was too warm! The fact that this happened in February is nearly unfathomable to me. I even went to the middle of the Ciudadela to study for a while by the fountain. It’s so much quieter in there – the big stone walls block out a lot of the traffic noise. And it was so peaceful to sit in the sun and look at the gorgeous old buildings. Gosh, I love that place! Later on that evening, I went to see Valentine’s Day (Historias de San Valentín) with Kristen and Lise. What a great movie! And we even understood what was going on…granted, the dubbed-over voices talked fairly slow, but it was still an ego boost to know that we could understand a movie that’s not in our own language and that we've never seen before! Woot. I guess I am learning, though it feels like I’m doing so very slowly sometimes. Oh, and Kristen and I bought popcorn, which tasted sooo great after not having had it for a couple of months.
This weekend has been low-key, as per usual. Which is just fine with me :-). I went to the mall, La Morea, with the girls yesterday to explore a bit. We found a couple fun little things (there was a jewelry store where everything was super cute and we were powerless to resist…), and then went to the grocery store (or rather, department store…there’s this huge, Wal-Mart-esque place inside the mall. The size of that place is staggering!) to get some much-needed sweets…we eat healthily here, which means that our sweet tooth (teeth?) are always clamoring to be satisfied. Kristen and I split a package of mini Haagen-Dasz ice creams…oh man. That was an excellent decision, let me tell you. Haagen and Dasz may replace Ben and Jerry as my boyfriends...lol!
Today has been mostly filled with homework and a good deal of putzing around. I’ve got a grammar test on Thursday that has me worried, so you can bet I’ll be hitting the books a great deal. Just as soon as I can get myself motivated. Really though, I’ve got to do my best! Now that I have only four classes, I can’t afford to do poorly in any of them. But if I get going on it, I should be okay. It would be a lot easier, though, if Spanish pronouns weren’t the devil’s children…ugh.
The weekend has raced by, but I think I’m ready to tackle a new month in Spain. As ready as I’ll ever be, anyway!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Settling In
This week has been pretty low-key, but I feel like blogging, so if you get bored, well…whatever. Come back next week :-P
For the last few days, I’ve just been enjoying the routine and getting to know Pamplona a bit better. After the wonderful but exhausting Paris experience, I’ve been very content to chill out at home. Especially since, as I think I’ve said, I am not nor am I likely to ever be into the party scene. This week especially, going to a noisy, smoky bar to spend money on drinks and possibly get hit on by random guys sounded like the very last thing I wanted to do. And since that seems to be the only way to hang out with a group of friends, things have been quiet for me this week. And if you know me at all, you’ll know that that suits me just fine :-)
I have done quite a bit this week, though, all things considered. I finished the interview part of our project for Civilization and Culture class. I was sooo not looking forward to it because our prof kind of wanted us to survey random people on the street, which sounded way too scary to me. I mean, the people here are nice, but I’ve always hated interviewing with the passion of a thousand fiery suns…and the fact that I had to do it in Spanish with people I didn’t even know made it sound even worse. Thankfully, though, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be (that seems to be the way it always goes with me) – I just ended up handing out the typed-out surveys to some people in the cafetería, and they were quite willing to help me. Still made me nervous as heck, but I got over it. And I got my host sister to do the last one, so that was easy. I’m still glad that’s over with, though!
I’ve also done a little bit more exploring – I went shopping with a couple of the girls yesterday and found some fun little things. And today I was determined to find a pair of boots – both of my other pairs leak now (one pair is cheap suede, and I’ve walked approximately 12 million miles in the other pair so they’re not what you could call watertight anymore), and my host mom said, “You need to get some boots that won’t get your feet wet when it rains!” And I said, “You know what? You’re right.” Besides, what woman needs an excuse to buy another pair of cute shoes? Not this one. So anyway, this led me to look around Casco Antiguo a little bit. By myself. And I didn’t even get lost! Granted, I have been there a few times now, but if you knew how confusing and twisty those streets are, you’d know what an achievement this is for me. Didn’t find the boots there, but I did find some on another street. So, I’m pretty much a legit European now, with my leggings and my boots and my long shirts. Yep.
Also, lately I’ve been enjoying my current state of physical fitness. At home, I had to exercise several times a week to stay in reasonably good shape. But here, I can do that just by living. Like Lauren said, at home we ate because it’s fun; here, we eat to survive. What with the healthy diet, ridiculous amount of walking, and lack of snack times, I’m feeling pretty darn skinny! Although I probably have the beefiest calves this side of the Atlantic, from walking up and down all these hills. For real. But hey, it’s useful, I daresay.
Another thing I’ve been noticing is that my host mom and I have started to become more comfortable around each other (it’s taken me long enough…but then, I’ve never been a fast mover), which has been so nice. One day she said to me “You should talk some more! You’re always so quiet, and you need to practice to learn.” And she’s right – I do practice Spanish with friends and at school quite a bit, but she only sees the side of me that’s still struggling to conjugate verbs correctly and who makes really dumb mistakes, since I don’t talk a lot at home. For some reason, I find it way harder to talk to my host mom in Spanish than with other people. Maybe it’s because I’m trying not to make mistakes, or that I don’t know if it would be rude or too personal to ask this or that question, or that I just can’t think of a good topic. But anyway, after she said that, I started making a conscious effort to elaborate more when she asks me things and even (gasp!) volunteer information. And from that point, it seems like someone flipped a switch somewhere and we got a lot closer. She asks me a lot more details about what I’m up to, my classes, stuff about my family and home, etc. And I’ve been telling her a lot more. It’s been great – it makes me feel like I actually am learning how to speak at least a bit better in Spanish! And it’s made it more fun to hang out with my host mom. She was so cute today – we were eating dinner and watching TV, like we usually do, and the only thing we could really find to watch was Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I like that movie well enough, but my host mom isn’t really into action movies and said it was “un rollo” – which basically means sucky. So funny! And then we were talking about Brad Pitt – she told me “You know, I don’t think Brad Pitt is so attractive. His face is too young-looking. Angelina Jolie looks like she’s older than him. I like George Clooney better; he seems more manly to me.” Loved that! And, as I told her, I agree with her :-D
Also today, I finally got to go to church! My friend Megan invited me to go with her to the Saturday service at an Evangelical church, which, to my delight, is a block from my house! I had no idea it was even there. It’s funny how many things you can find just by going down a new street here. Anyway, it was a cool experience. It was nice to go to a church that wasn’t Catholic – not that Catholic churches are bad, but it’s not what I grew up with so I’m really not familiar with how they work. It was still pretty different (a bit more on the charismatic side), but more like the traditions I’m used to. It felt so good to sing praise songs and listen to the sermon – I felt so at home! And it was really neat to sing in Spanish (and just to sing, period – it’s been quite some time)! Thank goodness they had the words playing on TV screens; otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue about any of them.
Another interesting moment was during the moments that were sort of like the “sharing the peace” times at a Lutheran church. The lady sitting next to Megan and I turned to us once and said to us “Nothing is impossible with God. God has saved you!” (in Spanish, of course) and kissed us on both cheeks. Another time, she said something to the effect of, “God has changed us, do you believe that?” and gave us a hug. It was definitely different, and we weren’t really sure how we were supposed to reply, but it was still kind of neat.
And I was pretty proud of myself – I managed to understand the majority of the sermon! Not as easy as it sounds, since I have to pay attention every second when I’m listening to a big chunk of Spanish. If I zone out for the smallest moment, I get lost. And since I have the attention span of a goldfish, I felt pretty accomplished for staying with it for so long. The service was a little longer than we would have liked – it was only supposed to go from 6:00-8:00, but it ended up going until ten to 9:00. We were ready to get out of there by the time it was over, but it was still a neat experience. I’m hoping to make it a habit to go there! I definitely need the spiritual refreshment, I know that much.
Well, I think the heat has gone off in the piso and I’m getting cold and sleepy. Time to go to bed and sleep late tomorrow morning! Hoping for another good week. I’m having a hard time believing that it’s nearly the end of February already!
For the last few days, I’ve just been enjoying the routine and getting to know Pamplona a bit better. After the wonderful but exhausting Paris experience, I’ve been very content to chill out at home. Especially since, as I think I’ve said, I am not nor am I likely to ever be into the party scene. This week especially, going to a noisy, smoky bar to spend money on drinks and possibly get hit on by random guys sounded like the very last thing I wanted to do. And since that seems to be the only way to hang out with a group of friends, things have been quiet for me this week. And if you know me at all, you’ll know that that suits me just fine :-)
I have done quite a bit this week, though, all things considered. I finished the interview part of our project for Civilization and Culture class. I was sooo not looking forward to it because our prof kind of wanted us to survey random people on the street, which sounded way too scary to me. I mean, the people here are nice, but I’ve always hated interviewing with the passion of a thousand fiery suns…and the fact that I had to do it in Spanish with people I didn’t even know made it sound even worse. Thankfully, though, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be (that seems to be the way it always goes with me) – I just ended up handing out the typed-out surveys to some people in the cafetería, and they were quite willing to help me. Still made me nervous as heck, but I got over it. And I got my host sister to do the last one, so that was easy. I’m still glad that’s over with, though!
I’ve also done a little bit more exploring – I went shopping with a couple of the girls yesterday and found some fun little things. And today I was determined to find a pair of boots – both of my other pairs leak now (one pair is cheap suede, and I’ve walked approximately 12 million miles in the other pair so they’re not what you could call watertight anymore), and my host mom said, “You need to get some boots that won’t get your feet wet when it rains!” And I said, “You know what? You’re right.” Besides, what woman needs an excuse to buy another pair of cute shoes? Not this one. So anyway, this led me to look around Casco Antiguo a little bit. By myself. And I didn’t even get lost! Granted, I have been there a few times now, but if you knew how confusing and twisty those streets are, you’d know what an achievement this is for me. Didn’t find the boots there, but I did find some on another street. So, I’m pretty much a legit European now, with my leggings and my boots and my long shirts. Yep.
Also, lately I’ve been enjoying my current state of physical fitness. At home, I had to exercise several times a week to stay in reasonably good shape. But here, I can do that just by living. Like Lauren said, at home we ate because it’s fun; here, we eat to survive. What with the healthy diet, ridiculous amount of walking, and lack of snack times, I’m feeling pretty darn skinny! Although I probably have the beefiest calves this side of the Atlantic, from walking up and down all these hills. For real. But hey, it’s useful, I daresay.
Another thing I’ve been noticing is that my host mom and I have started to become more comfortable around each other (it’s taken me long enough…but then, I’ve never been a fast mover), which has been so nice. One day she said to me “You should talk some more! You’re always so quiet, and you need to practice to learn.” And she’s right – I do practice Spanish with friends and at school quite a bit, but she only sees the side of me that’s still struggling to conjugate verbs correctly and who makes really dumb mistakes, since I don’t talk a lot at home. For some reason, I find it way harder to talk to my host mom in Spanish than with other people. Maybe it’s because I’m trying not to make mistakes, or that I don’t know if it would be rude or too personal to ask this or that question, or that I just can’t think of a good topic. But anyway, after she said that, I started making a conscious effort to elaborate more when she asks me things and even (gasp!) volunteer information. And from that point, it seems like someone flipped a switch somewhere and we got a lot closer. She asks me a lot more details about what I’m up to, my classes, stuff about my family and home, etc. And I’ve been telling her a lot more. It’s been great – it makes me feel like I actually am learning how to speak at least a bit better in Spanish! And it’s made it more fun to hang out with my host mom. She was so cute today – we were eating dinner and watching TV, like we usually do, and the only thing we could really find to watch was Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I like that movie well enough, but my host mom isn’t really into action movies and said it was “un rollo” – which basically means sucky. So funny! And then we were talking about Brad Pitt – she told me “You know, I don’t think Brad Pitt is so attractive. His face is too young-looking. Angelina Jolie looks like she’s older than him. I like George Clooney better; he seems more manly to me.” Loved that! And, as I told her, I agree with her :-D
Also today, I finally got to go to church! My friend Megan invited me to go with her to the Saturday service at an Evangelical church, which, to my delight, is a block from my house! I had no idea it was even there. It’s funny how many things you can find just by going down a new street here. Anyway, it was a cool experience. It was nice to go to a church that wasn’t Catholic – not that Catholic churches are bad, but it’s not what I grew up with so I’m really not familiar with how they work. It was still pretty different (a bit more on the charismatic side), but more like the traditions I’m used to. It felt so good to sing praise songs and listen to the sermon – I felt so at home! And it was really neat to sing in Spanish (and just to sing, period – it’s been quite some time)! Thank goodness they had the words playing on TV screens; otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue about any of them.
Another interesting moment was during the moments that were sort of like the “sharing the peace” times at a Lutheran church. The lady sitting next to Megan and I turned to us once and said to us “Nothing is impossible with God. God has saved you!” (in Spanish, of course) and kissed us on both cheeks. Another time, she said something to the effect of, “God has changed us, do you believe that?” and gave us a hug. It was definitely different, and we weren’t really sure how we were supposed to reply, but it was still kind of neat.
And I was pretty proud of myself – I managed to understand the majority of the sermon! Not as easy as it sounds, since I have to pay attention every second when I’m listening to a big chunk of Spanish. If I zone out for the smallest moment, I get lost. And since I have the attention span of a goldfish, I felt pretty accomplished for staying with it for so long. The service was a little longer than we would have liked – it was only supposed to go from 6:00-8:00, but it ended up going until ten to 9:00. We were ready to get out of there by the time it was over, but it was still a neat experience. I’m hoping to make it a habit to go there! I definitely need the spiritual refreshment, I know that much.
Well, I think the heat has gone off in the piso and I’m getting cold and sleepy. Time to go to bed and sleep late tomorrow morning! Hoping for another good week. I’m having a hard time believing that it’s nearly the end of February already!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Paris, Part Deux
The next day was our trip to the Chateau de Versailles! The day before, we realized that we had pretty much seen what we wanted to see in the city, and since we had been wanting to check out Versailles but weren’t sure if we’d have time (it’s basically a day trip, since it’s 30 or 40 minutes from the city center and is gigantic). So when we realized that we had plenty of time, we decided to go for it. We took a cheap train (and got to sit on the upper deck!), which got us to the Chateau area pretty quickly. When we got there, we thought we’d have to pay around 15 euro for tickets, and that just to see the palace itself. But when we showed our student visas in hopes of getting a discount, they told us that we could go in, free of charge, to see every part of Versailles that we wanted! And then, we decided we would go pay to get audio-guide headphones that tell the history of the palace as you walk, since we didn’t have to pay for tickets, but again, they were free! The guy said, “Are you under 26? No problem.” So we were super happy after all this. This trip has taught us that it apparently pays to be young! And it got better from there – the palace was absolutely dazzling. The sumptuous rooms were covered in gold, rich fabrics, portraits, and beautiful paintings and architecture on the ceilings. And the Hall of Mirrors was something I’ve always thought it would be cool to see, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Wandering around that luxurious place and hearing about its history was one pleasant way to spend a morning, that’s for sure.
We went to eat lunch after seeing the palace – there was nowhere really to eat in Versailles that wasn’t a snooty-looking restaurant, so we headed down the street to yet another McDonald’s to eat our pack lunches, and we bought a small item each so it looked like we belonged there. After that, we went back to the palace grounds to brave the cold and see the gardens. The grounds were very beautiful, though we couldn’t help thinking that it would have been a lot more pleasant to come in the summer when the fountains are going and all the plants are growing. Also, I lost my hat along the way, which I was sad about, until we decided that we were super thankful that it wasn’t something important/irreplaceable that had been lost. Anyway, we marveled at the sheer size of the place as we walked the long pathway to Marie Antoinette’s personal chateau, the Tairon. It was a bit anticlimactic after the extravagance of the castle, but it was still very beautiful, and it was really fun to imagine what it would have been like to be Marie Antoinette –sweeping along those hallways and garden paths in huge hoop skirts, entertaining friends in the pretty salons, having private balls in the great hall, and waking up to the sunrise every morning in the huge, curtained canopy bed. And the pink marble columns and delicate furniture with pretty colors and patterns made us think that this is definitely where a classy chick like Marie would hang out, though we wondered why she would want to spend so much time so far away from her husband like that. But then, I guess that’s how those arranged marriages went sometimes. I still wish I could remember more about that history! I’ll have to read up on it, I guess.
By late afternoon, we decided we’d seen all we wanted to see of Versailles, so we headed back to Saint-Michel to look around. We found a great store called Monoprix, which has pretty much everything, near as we could figure, including a grocery store where we bought more treats and some milk. Next, we decided it was high time for dinner, and went to a pizza/pasta place that we’d liked the looks of earlier. We knew it would be a little pricey, but we decided we could afford to splurge since we hadn’t paid a dime for Versailles. And oh, my gosh…eating at that restaurant was a fantastic decision – the atmosphere was so cozy and wonderful, and we had the best pasta of our lives there (I really should stop using so many absolutes…but it’s true!)!! I even decided to order some crème brulèe, which was also extremely delicious. And I bet not too many other people can say that their first crème brulèe experience was in Paris, France! And after our longish metro ride, we had some of the treats and a lot of the milk that we’d bought, which continued the gastronomic ecstasy. We were so happy after that we couldn’t stop laughing, neither on the metro, nor when we were getting ready for bed. The people around us probably thought we were crazy, but we didn’t care. Our tummies were pretty much in love with us by that point, and we were brimming with happiness! What a wonderful night.
The next day was our last day in Paris. We had planned on going shopping at the mall at Les Halles since we didn’t really have anything else we wanted to see, but found out that the mall is closed on Sundays, which was rather disappointing – we didn’t even think about that possibility. We heard that there are still shops open around that area, though, so we checked out of our hostel, checked our bags into the secure room for the day, and decided to go anyway. When we got there, there really wasn’t too much open, but we did find a couple of fun things. We eventually made our way to Champs d’Elyseés once again, and discovered that we were right in thinking that there would be more places open there. Apparently that’s one of the few parts of town that’s open on Sunday, because the streets were packed with people – it was kind of intimidating to look down the street and see this huge, undulating crowd of shoppers. But we braved the mob and ended up going into quite a few places. Lauren found the cute pair of boots she’d been wanting, and I found a cool shirt to wear with leggings, for surprisingly cheap, considering where we bought them. And I’m excited to be able to say, “I got this on Champs d’Elyseés!” hehe :-) We also had a fun time checking out the swankiest, most expensive drugstore you can imagine! I felt like I didn’t belong in there, but it sure was interesting to see all the beautiful and/or intriguing things.
After returning to Saint-Michel yet again, doing a bit more looking around, and getting food for dinner and the ride home as well as some last-minute treats at Monoprix, we went back to the hostel to use the kitchen one last time, get our bags, and get ready to go. Even though we’d had the time of our lives, we were more than ready to go home. We were in a weird state of mind – we missed somewhere, but weren’t really sure if it was Paris, Pamplona, Concordia, or our real homes. It sort of felt as though we didn’t really belong anywhere, or didn’t really know where home was. But then, we decided that home is wherever we are. At this nomadic stage of our lives, it’s best to just determine to feel at home in many places.
After a dinner of some yummy microwaved pizza and some more milk, we got our bags, freshened up a bit, and got on our last metro ride of the trip. We got to the train station with plenty of time to spare and got on our train as soon as the platform number was posted. We were excited to see what first class would be like (it was cheaper to go late at night in a sleeper car, for some reason, so we were like, “Why not?”), and it was definitely kind of cool. We each got our own little top bunk with plenty of space for luggage, our own light switch, a little sleeping bag and pillow, a water bottle, and a little pack with earplugs, Kleenex, and a wet-wipe inside. I felt sorta high-class :-P Also, the couple that was in the same compartment with us were really nice, and the lady made sure that we knew how to get in and out and was kind of motherly to us, even though she didn’t speak much English. We appreciated her so much, and were really glad that she made such an effort to communicate with us. And we were excited that we had from 11:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning to sleep! I found it pretty easy to fall asleep (even though I was sleeping in my clothes), what with the comfy bed and the rocking motion of the moving train. It was really disorienting, though – the man in our compartment shut the shade before we left, so I couldn’t even really tell which direction the train was moving in, only that it was moving. So I had a couple of claustrophobic moments, but I made it. And I did get some sleep, which made things look a lot brighter in the morning than they would have. At around 7:30, we got off at Irun, and then caught our TOPO pretty soon afterward. When we arrived in San Sebastian, there was a bus ready and waiting to leave right at 9:00 to take us to Pamplona, so we were glad it worked out so perfectly. A short bus ride later, we were back in Pamplona, happy to hear Spanish instead of French being spoken all around us and to see familiar places! It was a great trip, but it was definitely time to come back.
And so, to wrap up this novel :-P, I have a few conclusions about our adventure to Paris. About the city itself – I love Paris and don’t regret a single second or a single penny that I spent there, but I am not a fan of the people; they just make you feel much less safe than other places, and I’ve lived too long in the Midwest to be able to tolerate the higher amount of rudeness that one encounters. But then, for every rude or unpleasant person we ran across, there was a kind, helpful person who was there for us when we needed them. So, it evens out in the end.
And as Lauren and I talked about on the way home, there are some things that can be drilled into you but that you never truly learn until you figure it out for yourself. One life lesson that we learned through this experience is that God loves us so much and is always there for us – there were so many serendipitous moments that proved this – the fact that getting to and from Paris went extremely smoothly and easily, our perfect timing again and again with our travel connections, the many times when we had to pay less than we thought we would, the random people who helped us just when we needed it, finding the stores that had the things we needed (or even just wanted), getting amazing roommates after the first night, and so many other things. Another lesson is that less is more – it’s great to travel sometimes, but we couldn’t handle doing it all the time; we’ll be content to stay in Pamplona for some weeks now, I wager. A third lesson is that sometimes you have to be tough and not let people mess with you, but that’s much easier to do with a friend. Two people who trust each other are unstoppable! And finally, we learned that we really are confident, independent, capable women, and we are able to go to a new country where we don’t know the language and get by just fine, keeping ourselves safe and sound all the while.
So basically, I can’t imagine a better trip. We experienced so much, walked about a squillion miles (just when I thought my legs couldn’t get any beefier…), learned some important things about ourselves and the world, and just plain had a fantastic time. We made some memories that I know I won’t forget for as long as I live. The only things that would have made it better would have been warmer weather and family members to share our experiences with! I thank God for protecting us and going with us every step of the way on this wonderful trip, and I’m so glad I went. It was a once in a lifetime experience!
We went to eat lunch after seeing the palace – there was nowhere really to eat in Versailles that wasn’t a snooty-looking restaurant, so we headed down the street to yet another McDonald’s to eat our pack lunches, and we bought a small item each so it looked like we belonged there. After that, we went back to the palace grounds to brave the cold and see the gardens. The grounds were very beautiful, though we couldn’t help thinking that it would have been a lot more pleasant to come in the summer when the fountains are going and all the plants are growing. Also, I lost my hat along the way, which I was sad about, until we decided that we were super thankful that it wasn’t something important/irreplaceable that had been lost. Anyway, we marveled at the sheer size of the place as we walked the long pathway to Marie Antoinette’s personal chateau, the Tairon. It was a bit anticlimactic after the extravagance of the castle, but it was still very beautiful, and it was really fun to imagine what it would have been like to be Marie Antoinette –sweeping along those hallways and garden paths in huge hoop skirts, entertaining friends in the pretty salons, having private balls in the great hall, and waking up to the sunrise every morning in the huge, curtained canopy bed. And the pink marble columns and delicate furniture with pretty colors and patterns made us think that this is definitely where a classy chick like Marie would hang out, though we wondered why she would want to spend so much time so far away from her husband like that. But then, I guess that’s how those arranged marriages went sometimes. I still wish I could remember more about that history! I’ll have to read up on it, I guess.
By late afternoon, we decided we’d seen all we wanted to see of Versailles, so we headed back to Saint-Michel to look around. We found a great store called Monoprix, which has pretty much everything, near as we could figure, including a grocery store where we bought more treats and some milk. Next, we decided it was high time for dinner, and went to a pizza/pasta place that we’d liked the looks of earlier. We knew it would be a little pricey, but we decided we could afford to splurge since we hadn’t paid a dime for Versailles. And oh, my gosh…eating at that restaurant was a fantastic decision – the atmosphere was so cozy and wonderful, and we had the best pasta of our lives there (I really should stop using so many absolutes…but it’s true!)!! I even decided to order some crème brulèe, which was also extremely delicious. And I bet not too many other people can say that their first crème brulèe experience was in Paris, France! And after our longish metro ride, we had some of the treats and a lot of the milk that we’d bought, which continued the gastronomic ecstasy. We were so happy after that we couldn’t stop laughing, neither on the metro, nor when we were getting ready for bed. The people around us probably thought we were crazy, but we didn’t care. Our tummies were pretty much in love with us by that point, and we were brimming with happiness! What a wonderful night.
The next day was our last day in Paris. We had planned on going shopping at the mall at Les Halles since we didn’t really have anything else we wanted to see, but found out that the mall is closed on Sundays, which was rather disappointing – we didn’t even think about that possibility. We heard that there are still shops open around that area, though, so we checked out of our hostel, checked our bags into the secure room for the day, and decided to go anyway. When we got there, there really wasn’t too much open, but we did find a couple of fun things. We eventually made our way to Champs d’Elyseés once again, and discovered that we were right in thinking that there would be more places open there. Apparently that’s one of the few parts of town that’s open on Sunday, because the streets were packed with people – it was kind of intimidating to look down the street and see this huge, undulating crowd of shoppers. But we braved the mob and ended up going into quite a few places. Lauren found the cute pair of boots she’d been wanting, and I found a cool shirt to wear with leggings, for surprisingly cheap, considering where we bought them. And I’m excited to be able to say, “I got this on Champs d’Elyseés!” hehe :-) We also had a fun time checking out the swankiest, most expensive drugstore you can imagine! I felt like I didn’t belong in there, but it sure was interesting to see all the beautiful and/or intriguing things.
After returning to Saint-Michel yet again, doing a bit more looking around, and getting food for dinner and the ride home as well as some last-minute treats at Monoprix, we went back to the hostel to use the kitchen one last time, get our bags, and get ready to go. Even though we’d had the time of our lives, we were more than ready to go home. We were in a weird state of mind – we missed somewhere, but weren’t really sure if it was Paris, Pamplona, Concordia, or our real homes. It sort of felt as though we didn’t really belong anywhere, or didn’t really know where home was. But then, we decided that home is wherever we are. At this nomadic stage of our lives, it’s best to just determine to feel at home in many places.
After a dinner of some yummy microwaved pizza and some more milk, we got our bags, freshened up a bit, and got on our last metro ride of the trip. We got to the train station with plenty of time to spare and got on our train as soon as the platform number was posted. We were excited to see what first class would be like (it was cheaper to go late at night in a sleeper car, for some reason, so we were like, “Why not?”), and it was definitely kind of cool. We each got our own little top bunk with plenty of space for luggage, our own light switch, a little sleeping bag and pillow, a water bottle, and a little pack with earplugs, Kleenex, and a wet-wipe inside. I felt sorta high-class :-P Also, the couple that was in the same compartment with us were really nice, and the lady made sure that we knew how to get in and out and was kind of motherly to us, even though she didn’t speak much English. We appreciated her so much, and were really glad that she made such an effort to communicate with us. And we were excited that we had from 11:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning to sleep! I found it pretty easy to fall asleep (even though I was sleeping in my clothes), what with the comfy bed and the rocking motion of the moving train. It was really disorienting, though – the man in our compartment shut the shade before we left, so I couldn’t even really tell which direction the train was moving in, only that it was moving. So I had a couple of claustrophobic moments, but I made it. And I did get some sleep, which made things look a lot brighter in the morning than they would have. At around 7:30, we got off at Irun, and then caught our TOPO pretty soon afterward. When we arrived in San Sebastian, there was a bus ready and waiting to leave right at 9:00 to take us to Pamplona, so we were glad it worked out so perfectly. A short bus ride later, we were back in Pamplona, happy to hear Spanish instead of French being spoken all around us and to see familiar places! It was a great trip, but it was definitely time to come back.
And so, to wrap up this novel :-P, I have a few conclusions about our adventure to Paris. About the city itself – I love Paris and don’t regret a single second or a single penny that I spent there, but I am not a fan of the people; they just make you feel much less safe than other places, and I’ve lived too long in the Midwest to be able to tolerate the higher amount of rudeness that one encounters. But then, for every rude or unpleasant person we ran across, there was a kind, helpful person who was there for us when we needed them. So, it evens out in the end.
And as Lauren and I talked about on the way home, there are some things that can be drilled into you but that you never truly learn until you figure it out for yourself. One life lesson that we learned through this experience is that God loves us so much and is always there for us – there were so many serendipitous moments that proved this – the fact that getting to and from Paris went extremely smoothly and easily, our perfect timing again and again with our travel connections, the many times when we had to pay less than we thought we would, the random people who helped us just when we needed it, finding the stores that had the things we needed (or even just wanted), getting amazing roommates after the first night, and so many other things. Another lesson is that less is more – it’s great to travel sometimes, but we couldn’t handle doing it all the time; we’ll be content to stay in Pamplona for some weeks now, I wager. A third lesson is that sometimes you have to be tough and not let people mess with you, but that’s much easier to do with a friend. Two people who trust each other are unstoppable! And finally, we learned that we really are confident, independent, capable women, and we are able to go to a new country where we don’t know the language and get by just fine, keeping ourselves safe and sound all the while.
So basically, I can’t imagine a better trip. We experienced so much, walked about a squillion miles (just when I thought my legs couldn’t get any beefier…), learned some important things about ourselves and the world, and just plain had a fantastic time. We made some memories that I know I won’t forget for as long as I live. The only things that would have made it better would have been warmer weather and family members to share our experiences with! I thank God for protecting us and going with us every step of the way on this wonderful trip, and I’m so glad I went. It was a once in a lifetime experience!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
