Toledo y mucho más

Alright, a little confusing but we are reminiscing back to St. Patricks day and the following weekend in Spain..

On St. Patty’s day (17th) we went to an Irish Pub and it was so much fun! They played an incredible mixture of American tunes. There were some great oldies like “Think”, classics like “Sweet Child of Mine” and then “Single Ladies” with “Umbrella” in the background…hahah it was all so much fun! We had face paint and everyone wore green and it was a very good celebration!

Friday was a pretty busy day: I woke up to teach and then did some shopping with Katee. After that we sat at Tomate un Café Aquí (drink a coffee here- the name of the café) and sat in the sun. Dani took a vacation starting on Wednesday for a week, so Marta is home with me during the days now and it is very different but fun to be able to talk to her more. After lunch I had a group presentation and then I went for a run with a couple of girls. It was the most beautiful run around the city. We went up a hill and saw the sun setting from behind the aqueduct and the whole city with the mountains in the background. It was absolutely breathtaking and that plus the run put me in such a good mood the rest of the day. After a little bit of homework at the school, a few of us girls went to get tapas at El Sitio. I had a caña (small beer) but cerveza limon (beer mixed with lemon fanta) it is really different tasting but nummy! Then for my pincho (the food) I got calamari. After that, we walked by the churro stand and it was open, so we definitely did not pass that up! ☺ That night I stayed home alone because the family went somewhere up north with a group of friends. Marta left me out all of the ingredients to make a pasta salad: bowtie pasta, olive oil, vinegar, corn, tuna, red peppers and salt. I did an AMAZING job mixing it all together!! I really hope I can recreate that in the states when I come back…it was so easy and soooo goood. I spent the rest of the night doing homework and then I was able to skype my family on video and actually see them from Jorge’s computer!
On Saturday we left early in the morning to the gorgeous city of Toledo! The whole weekend it was beautiful weather, but of course this was the weekend I chose to not pack anything fun and summery that I have been waiting to wear. Oh well, hopefully it will get nice soon in Segovia. Anyways…. Toledo is about two hours from Segovia and is surrounded by a river with mountains and hills all around. We saw lots of hiking trails and bridges and it looked like one of the most beautiful places to live or study. (I think if I was not in Segovia I would want to be in Toledo because it still has a small town feeling)
When we got there we first visited the Puerta de Bisgara, which is a door in the front of the city. The city is surrounded by a wall so the door is actually necessary! The city was designed to shade the people so the streets are very narrow and curvy, and the buildings block the sun in most of these areas.

We walked to the Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, Hospital de Santa Cruz ( which had paintings by Goya and El Greco) and La Catedral. In this catedral there was a huge window that shines it light on a painting of Jesus and also creates rainbows on the ground. It was gorgeous, but I learned the hard way that pictures are not allowed in this church. After the tours it was time for lunch and all we wanted to do was sit in the sun!! We sat there most the afternoon and ate, but we also had to walk around and buy the famous dessert that Toledo is known for, Mazapan. It was verry sugary and different textured but it was nummy of course. Toledo is also known for its swords! I really wanted to bring some back for my guy friends, but I thought that would be a little hard to get through security…the cool ones were also pretty pricey!

After our morning in town we drove to our hotel, which was out a little ways. It was the nicest hotel we have stayed with a huge room, balcony, pool, discoteca and the best breakfast!! When we got to our room we had to check out the balcony right away….and apparently so did everyone else in the hotel (which happened to be 110 guys from Sevilla) we walked out our door and in every direction there were guys staring at us….from the floor below, above and to the sides ..it was crazy!! They definitely were not shy. We quickly learned that the pool was closed until summer ☹ but we took advantage of the weather anyways, put on our suits and laid out by the pool! After catching a few rays we did some yoga!
I attempted to go out with some of the people from the group that night, but ended up feeling too sick and had to take a taxi home…I don’t know what is wrong with me, but once I laid down and rested I felt a lot better.

On Sunday we woke up and went down to a huge amazing breakfast buffet! It was gorgeous weather once again and we started the day at Santo Tomé to see the painting “El entierro del Conde de Orgaz”. In this painting, which is huge, there is a little boy, who is the painters son, and he is pointing down to something. There is also a man who is dying in the picture and for years people were not able to find his body. But, it was later found under the painting and under the ground in a tomb right where the boy was pointing. After that we went to Museo Sefarí ( a synagogue), San Juan de los Reyes (catedral) and Puente de San Martín ( a beautiful bridge). During the day we also stopped and looked at some views of the city over the river…so beautiful and also did some more shopping. Anna and I got popsicles, mango flavor and boy were they amazing! ☺

When we got back to Segovia it was about 6 pm so I decided to take advantage of this nice weather and gorgeous night and go for a run. It was 71 degrees out and it felt amazing!

Later in the week Marta made paella and I don’t think I have ever eaten so much in one sitting (3 huge platefuls! We ate the whole pan). She said this dish is typical for men to make, but she did a wonderful job! The kind we had was rice with lots of seafood. There were so many different surprises in it (seafood creatures). It is so different to have to take the heads (with eyes) and tails off of shrimp ah!

I learned how to eat an orange with a knife and fork …it was a fracaso (failure) juice was going everywhere. I think I will go back to the old way…just peeling the skin. I think both are equally as messy for me hah.

I cannot believe I only have 2.5 weeks left here…. I have so much I still want to do and so much homework and projects I should be doing as well. This week is going to be crazy busy!
Although I feel better that I am a little more caught up with the blogging!
Hope everyone is doing well and that the snow is melting ☺
Ciao
Morgan

Un día increíble

Buenos Dias!!

I know I am very behind, but I want to tell you about my day today and then I will get caught up on everything else!!

Today was Daylight savings so I lost an hour of sleep last night and am very tired! I woke up and caught the 9:30 (actually 8:30) bus to Madrid to meet mi familia! They spent the weekend there and invited me to come hang out with them on Sunday (today). It was a lot of fun J

First, we went to a very famous place to get churros and boy was it packed!! We ate churros with chocolate and had coffee.

 Marta was in a class all day for wedding planning, so I was with the two boys, Jorge and Emily, a girl who lives in Madrid and was a student of Jorge and Marta’s a few years ago.  It was really fun because she and Jorge together were able to show me a lot of things in Madrid that I did not see when I went there with the group.

After that we went to El Rastro, which is a humongous open air flea market that is only open on Sundays. It had everything you could imagine. After walking around for a while we got in the car and toured some areas further from the central part of Madrid. I saw where Jorge went to college and grew up.  Also, we went to an American Store!! It was soo fun to see all the American food and things.  Of course the first thing I saw was cinnamon toast crunch….when I looked at the price though i immediately put it back! It was 9 euros for a small box of cereal!! But Jorge ended up buying me that as well as a small thing of peanut butter J 

We also stopped by the Sushi shop and Jorge picked up our dinner, which I am anxiously awaiting right now !!! While we waited in the car for Jorge to come back with the food, I witnessed a boy getting chased by 4 police…it was absolutely crazy!

We met Marta for lunch at VIPS. I had a club sandwhich with chocolate cake and mango ice cream for dessert that I split with Jorge.  When lunch was over we got back in the car and drove to the suburbs of Madrid.  We saw where certain girls “work”. It was very weird to see them in the middle of the day on a Sunday. On the way to the suburbs we went through a tunnel that was enormous…I even got a little claustrophobic.  But it was really cool because instead of having roads above, they put a huge park and all the cars pass underneath. I told them that in the US, or maybe its just my family, we hold our breath and make wishes in tunnels. The boys and I tried to do it on the way home, but we were in the tunnel for about 10 minutes (we breathed through our noses....its a trick ;) ) 

The weather today was not very good. It was very cloudy and rainy but at one point while we were in the car there was some sun and we saw a huge arco iris (RAINBOW!) I tried to take a picture but it did not work to well!

We wanted to go to a movie but everywhere we tried was sold out!!

Marta (mi madre) with the sea creatures!

Oh my goodness we just had a huge dinner full of seafood! We had another one of those huge boxes, called the black box, of a mixture of sushi…all amazing! Then, Carmiña brought us back some seafood from Galicia. Galicia is known for its sea food since it is in the northern part of spain on the atlantic.  Marta and Jorge said I was very lucky to have the opportunity to eat these creatures, and that people die to get them! They also explained that they are very expensive…so I tried to eat them as well as I could, but it was really hard because they all had heads and legs and tenticle things. there were also some eggs, hairs and eyeballs on a few. It tasted very good, but it was hard to get over the appearance. After eating them I went upstairs and looked up the English words of what I was actually eating. I guess I ate spider crab… which I had to remind myself has nothing to do with actual spiders…. Ah. I also ate some really good shrimp (marta says it is the best shrimp there is) and crawfish/crayfish.

Today has definitely been one of my most memorable days in Spain because I was able to spend a lot of time with the family, enjoy the culture and learn a lot! It was intimidating to be with Emily because she looks and talks like a Spaniard, but she is from Wisconsin…. However it was very fun because I learned a lot from just listening to her talk and also the dialogues between her and the kids, as well as her and Jorge. 

I am sad because I didn't get any pictures with the family today and it would have been a great time to do it! But we spent a lot of time in the car or eating and it was raining when we were outside, hopefully next weekend!! 

“El mundo es un panuelo”- I learned this phrase tonight at dinner. It means the same as "it’s a small world" basically. (a panuelo is like a handkerchief or small scarf)

Hasta luego

Las Aventuras en Andalucia

March 14

Buenos días! It has been gorgeous here the past two days and it is really a mood booster! Everything looks so different with a little sunshine J

I just spent Wednesday through Sunday in Andalucia, which is in the southern part of Spain. The first day we were in Granada. We got to the hotel at about 2 o’clock and it was very rainy everywhere, which was bad luck for us because it is supposed to rarely ever rain in Andalucia.  We had our first tour at the Capilla Real, which was very interesting because we saw the tombs of los Reyes Católicos (The Catholic King and Queen), Isabel of Castile and Fernando of Aragon.  Juana la loca (the crazy) was also buried there, which I found exciting because I did a project on her! Since it happened to be Ash Wednesday, a group of us found a nearby catholic church and attended an 8 o clock mass.  Overall the mass was pretty similar and easy to follow along. The big difference is how they get in line for communion (everyone just jumps up when they want to, there is no filing into line row by row).  The rest of the night was pretty low key; my roomies and I caught up on glee and chatted. We also ate a whole box of Frosties! (Frosted Flakes) I was VERY excited to discover those in the market that we went to J I have missed snacking on cereal 

            The next morning we woke up and went to the Alhambra, which is the main attraction of Granada. It is a huge area with parks, gardens, museums, ancient ruins, chapels, castles and a gorgeous view of the whole city. The next morning we woke up and went to the Alhambra, which is the main attraction of Granada. It is a huge area with parks, gardens, museums, ancient ruins, chapels, castles and a gorgeous view of the whole city. 

After that we drove to Seville, which was about 2 hours away. When we arrived it was really rainy and gross outside.  Some of the girls left to explore some areas of the city, but I stayed back because I was not feeling well. I didn’t mind though because walking through the rain didn’t sound to enjoyable to me. Also, since I stayed back I was able to watch Connor and the Edina hockey team on my computer!! (all i wanted was to be at the xcel with my family and a maui wowi in hand! )

            On Friday we started the day with a walking tour and then went to the Alcazar and the Cathedral. It is a gorgeous city and if I had the chance to return to Spain I would definitely want to go back to Seville. After the tours for the day a group of girls and I ate pizza and pasta at a restaurant (two things I have been missing!) 

 Later that night a small group walked to an area called the Plaza de España.  It was a big open plaza with a little river where you can rent sailboats, some bridges, beautiful architecture (of course) and a square tile for each are in Spain. We of course walked around until we found Segovia! We went during the night so everything was lit up and gorgeous! On the way back we got a little lost, but it was a beautiful area so it didn’t matter. That night I watched a movie with a few girls and then watched the next hockey game at 1 am.  It was against Duluth East and one of my friends here has a brother on that team, so that was pretty exciting and it turned out to be a great game, Connor played amazingly and I am so glad I was able to watch it (although my computer did cut out in the last 2 minutes during overtime..)

            On Saturday we took the bus to a nearby city called Itálica where we saw ancient Roman ruins.  The day turned out to be amazing…finally!! Anna and I spent the afternoon roaming Seville trying to find somewhere to eat outside and soak up some rays at the same time.  I wasn’t feeling well so I treated myself to a smoothie from starbucks…but it was not the same.  I have found out, slowly, that the smoothies they make in Spain are basically ice with some flavor mixed in. I cannot wait to get some jamba juice when I get home! After our relaxing time in the sun we did a little shopping. I am really going to miss all these stores!! (Bershka, Sfera, H&M, Mango, Mossimo Dutti, Zara….the list goes on).

 After shopping we went back to the hotel to get ready for the night! Some girls went to a FREE flamenco show at a nearby bar. It was extremely packed inside and we ended up standing on the side all smushed together. The show only lasted about a half hour, but it was very fun to see, especially since Seville is known for its Flamenco.  It consisted of one guy keeping the beat and singing, another playing guitar and then the woman who danced. I don’t understand how someone can stomp so much and so hard and not hurt their feet, knees or even back! It was incredible!  After that we went to a discoteca called Budha. It was three levels, with each level having a different type of music. There were a ton of people there and I even ran into some girls from Edina! (small world again!)

            On Sunday we got on the bus early and went to Córdoba where we saw the Mezquita-Catedral. It is one of the biggest cathedrals in the world and it was amazing. I think it is my favorite building so far because it was very different from all the others. There are Islamic and Christian influences mixed together. After that we had a 7 hour busride and arrived back in Segovia to rain and cold!

Mil besos,

Morgan

Carnival y galletas

Buenos Días!

           It is Wednesday morning and I am on a 7 hour bus ride down Andalucia (southern part of Spain).  Everyone is fast asleep because last night was Carnival! It is a big weekend celebration that ends with Tuesday night before Ash Wednesday.  All weekend there were people in the streets with costumes and there were also a few parades.

But rewinding back to last week….

During the week I was able to watch the Edina hockey game online (it got too late to watch it live, but I caught up the next day!) I am bummed I will be in Andalucía with lots of activities during the state tourney, but I am going to try to watch the game…or at least read and watch the reviews. Have so much fun Connor J !! I cannot believe you are a senior, its crazy!

            On Thursday it was the birthday of Amy, a girl in my group and we all went out to dinner at Bon Apetit! I was so excited to get the pasta Andy got when we went there together. That and my brownie with ice cream was an amazing dinner. After that we went out for the night and had lots of fun dancing and celebrating!

            On Friday I did not have to teach because the kids had a fiesta for Carnival at school.  We toured another church in Segovia, this one had nuns living in it and was a little smaller than the others we have toured. It was equally as impressive though with all of the gold and detailed pieces. That night was lower key because it was raining like crazy and nobody wanted to go out. Dana, Anna and I got together and hung out in a bar for a while. It ended up being super fun and we did a lot of talking in Spanish! Later, we met up with a couple guys from the group and went dancing.

Coque outside!

            Saturday was a big day!! In the morning, Dani, the boys and I went outside until lunch time. The boys rode on their bikes, I sat and watched them while enjoying the sun and Dani did a couple of errands.  She got the ingredients we needed to make the chocolate chip cookies and we started those when we got home. It was hard because I had to convert all of the measurements into grams and on top of that, they don’t own any sort of measuring utensils, so we ended up using glass cups. Dani ended up doing more then I did, even though it was my intention to teach her haha. I think she realized I am not the greatest cook or baker! The boys also helped mix a little and stuff. There were no chocolate chips anywhere, so we chopped up a chocolate bar instead. The cookies were good, but definitely did not taste anything like my moms, or any other cookie that is made in the US haha. I taught them all how to eat them warm out of the oven and dip them in milk J they all loved that! 

After we had lunch we all went to a movie, Rango. It was in Spanish and it was pretty cute! That night we got masks for Carnival and wore them out! There were some pretty great costumes that we saw in the streets and people usually dress up in groups. In the Plaza Mayor there was live music and people dancing all over! We joined in the fun and even sang the theme to Bob Esponja (Sponge Bob).

Dani and I with matching glasses

            On Sunday, Dani brought Coque (Jorge), Didi (Diego) and I to her apartment. It was about a 5 minute walk and the boys rode their bikes. On the way Dani took us to a Bulgarian market and bought us some goodies to try. At her place we met her mom and husband. They are both soo sweet. “majo” is the word she used to describe her husband, which means something like, all around great person. Dani had given her mom a pair of my socks that had holes in the toes, and her mom sewed them up for me. I thought that was the funniest thing! She asked if I liked them and I just started laughing and said yes of course! On the way home we stopped and let the boys play at a park. The boys fight a lot and Dani gets super frustrated. She always says she is too old to do this (she has two sons, 27 and 24). When we got back I spent the rest of the day studying for my test in Cine (cinema). We had to know 9 different Kings from Spain and be able to write a page about them, then our teacher picked two for us to do in class. It ended up not being too bad, but I did study a lot!

            It was really great to get to spend the weekend with Dani. I spoke a lot of Spanish and wasn’t nervous because I knew she wasn’t judging me too much. She came here 5 years ago and learned Spanish here. She also taught me a few different recipes this weekend, which I am hoping I will be able to make when I get home. She showed me how to make tortilla, the hardest part will be flipping it in the pan! She also taught me how to make crema de calabacin, which is my favorite soup! She showed me a few other things too, like how they make fried egg and vegetable soup.

Friday night carnival celebration

            After class on Tuesday I started feeling very sick! I spent the whole day in my bed and couldn’t even get out to pack. Coque and Didi went out with Dani, dressed as Batman and Spiderman. I really wanted to go out with them, but I could not move. Although that was really unfortunate, Andy and I got some flights booked for April.  I am starting my trip in Dublin for two days to meet up with Andy’s family and I am sooo excited to see them!! After that Andy and I got 12 euro flights to London. I am glad we have gotten a few things figured out, but I have no idea how I am going to only pack in a carry on for over two weeks. For this weekend alone I have a suitcase and a back pack :/

I finally made myself get up and out of the house around 8. I met some people and we watched the parade! It was the most people I have ever seen in the streets and everyone was dressed up so crazy!! The parade had a lot of different groups in different costumes. They definitely did not throw out candy like in our parades at home, instead there was one lady who handed people one mini ritz cracker haha. The last group in the parade was dressed as zombies. They had crazy makeup and looked super scary. After that I had to go back home because I still wasn’t feeling well. I couldn’t eat dinner and I stayed in. I was bummed I missed the Carnival celebration that night, but I am glad I am feeling a little better now.

 Ciao for now!

Morgan

Cata de Vino, Salamanca y ávila

I am in shock that it is already March 1^st! The past week was of course another wonderful one! Although, at the beginning I had 2 papers that were due and a grammar test that was pretty hard. But, I am proud to say I did very well, even for the difficult grading they do here in Spain (a letter grade of C is considered good, so the teachers are not too generous with grades much higher). However, everyday I feel like I am learning so much and that is what matters, right? ;)

Ive been enjoying many things in Spain that I never try or do in the United States, like for instance: tuna fish, cauliflower, not putting salt of everything, going for runs, watching a lot of tv, eating lots of different fish and seafood, napping in the middle of the day and not stressing so much about grades (I wonder how much is stay with me!)

After dance on Wednesday, we have been learning the chachacha and merengue, I tried another semi new thing... I went to club volleyball! Lets just say its been a while since Ive done any sort of competitive sport. I was not used to the yelling and intensity and I felt bad for letting my team down a few times… but I am going to go again this week (it’s the only way I can improve!) haha I am just hoping to not pop any more blood vessels in my arms.

On Thursday night we went out to celebrate Luke’s birthday!( a guy in my group) and on Friday we toured the Cathedral of Segovia. It was very beautiful inside, but I almost like the outside more. That night after getting churros, a few of us went to this outside tent called La Tierra de Sabor (Land of Taste). It had lots of people who were selling all different foods, from jamón to cheese to sweets. There were lots of free samples and it was fun to try all of the different things.

Katee, Me, Anna and Dana at the Wine tasting

At the wine tasting with one of our new friends

Bridget’s host mom was putting on a wine tasting event at a nearby restaurant later that night. There were about 10 of us from the group that went to support her company, which is a Flying Doctor’s Program and is nonprofit. It was such a blast, definitely one of my most memorable nights so far! We were taught how to properly test the wine by looking at the color, spinning it, smelling it and all those things haha. There were two different types of Red wine and we learned about how they were made and the differences between them. One was more fruity and younger, while the other had been stored in a wooden barrel. The presenters at the event were very funny, however we didn’t always understand their jokes..and they made fun of us for that. There were also these long toasts everyone would recite, but we had no idea what they meant! After the presentation was over they brought out some “pinchas” (little bits of food, like appetizers more or less) and we were able to socialize. There was olives, bread, jamón, cheese, empanadas and the best chorizo I have had thus far! We spent most of the night conversing in Spanish with different people at the event and Bridget’s parents! I was really excited to go home and talk to Marta and Jorge about my fun experience, but we ended up staying longer than I thought and by the time I got home they were already asleep.

I woke up early the next morning before anyone was awake in order to get on the bus to Salamanca. The bus ride was around 2 hours and I slept a lot of the way. The town was beautiful and full of people because the central attraction is the University of Salamanca, which is the oldest and one of the most prestigious universities in Spain, so there are tons of students. In Salamanca we toured a few cathedrals and convents, Convento de San Esteban and La Catedral Nueva y Vieja. They were all very beautiful and detailed, but they are all starting to look very similar to the rest of the churches and convents we have toured.  It was still fun though! 

Plaza Mayor filled with people

It was a gorgeous day out, so during our free time for lunch we sat in the Plaza Mayor to catch some rays and enjoy everything around us. There were tons of people at outside restaurants and sitting in the Plaza. I absolutely love the outside patios and seeing so many people enjoying the city and weather! J On our excursions we get packed lunches from our padres. I had a bocadillo de tortilla and another de jamón (bocadillo is like a sandwich and they wrap them up in tinfoil…everyone has them) The tortilla one is really good but it always feels like it shouldn’t be inside a sandwich! While eating I did a lot of people watching. I have become very obsessed with the fashion here in general.  I love seeing all the girls walk by with their cute boots, tights, skirts, flowy tops and an awesome accessory to top it off.  It makes me want to go shopping all the time and put together new outfits, but I am really trying to hold back and I think I am doing pretty well.  After my fashion watching, we did some walking around and shopping before meeting again. I got a pair of heels that hopefully I wont be too nervous to wear, since I never wear heels! J

Our hotel in Salamanca was outside of the central area, but very nice. We didn’t want to spend money on dinner so we took the city bus to a market and bought our own ingredients to make something cheap. I ended up getting a salad and some chips and guac to share with my roomies (Anna and Dana). We ate in our rooms and watched the german version of American idol, which was super funny. They sang all American songs, but ones you would never see on our American idol (For example: Billionaire by Bruno Mars, with the naughty words included). We took taxis that night to the Plaza Mayor and went to a few bars and clubs around the central area. It was really fun since there is such a young population that lives there. One of the bars played a mixture of all the songs from the movie Grease and we had fun with that! Then we went to a club that only played techno music with no words, we kept waiting for some fun American stuff to dance to, but we ended the night there a little disappointed. However, when leaving I noticed the name of the club was “Morgana” so, of course I had to take a picture in front of the door!

Wall around Avila

The next morning we had to wake up early to eat breakfast. At breakfast there was French toast, fruits and scrambled eggs! (I got very excited) There was also lunch meat and bread, so most of us sneakily made our lunches for later that day. We took the bus to ávila, which is another town an hour closer to Segovia. I started out the morning in tights and a dress with a cardigan, but when we got to Avila we found out it was one of the coldest towns in Spain, with a brutal wind. I managed to overpack (like normal) so I put on jeans, socks, 2 sweaters, a coat and scarf…but there was no way I could get warm enough that day. It was so windy and I came home with windburn. The city was gorgeous though. There is a wall that stretches around the whole town. We got to explore on top of it and we also went to some more convents and cathedrals. During lunch we stopped for some tea and coffee to warm up, and Brian and Theresa (our director and his wife) bought Luke ..and all of us..cake for his birthday. I was so tired when I got home and so was Marta that we weren't even able to finish our episode of Los Protegidos.

This week I have some more papers and I also need to study for a test. Marta and Jorge are going to the Canary Islands on Wednesday and I am soo jealous…I want them to take me with them (especially since it is super cold and snowing here). Dani is staying with the boys and I for the week though, so that should be fun! She is going to teach me some recipes and I told her I wanted to teach her something (although I am not much of a cook). I tried to explain warm cookies from the oven to her, but she said that would make her too fat with all the butter. I also don’t know if they have all the ingredients like vanilla extract. If anyone has any good ideas you should send them to me via email (megirard@csbsju.edu)!

Mil Besos!

                        Morgan