Preparing for Las Fallas

On Friday, after classes, I am going to Valencia with a large group of my fellow engineers. We have a three-day weekend and it so happens that there is a huge festival in Valencia. The festival is held in honor of St. Joseph's Day. It is massive and takes over the whole town. There are huge firework displays everyday, floats consisting of papiermâché sculptures, concerts, bullfights, parades, cooking competitions, and street parties. The grand finale of the festival consists of burning all of floats at midnight. Unfortunately, we will not be able to witness it because we have class on March 19. 

I'm excited for this weekend, but I'm also kind of nervous. I've heard that this festival is crazy. There are going to be tons of people everywhere. The fireworks displays are deafeningly loud and so powerful that they literally shake the city. I think I'm going to need earplugs!

El Escorial

This past Friday, I went to El Escorial with my civilization class. San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a town about 45 kilometers northwest of Madrid. Half of the kids in my civilzation class don't have class on Fridays because they aren't in the engineering program. They met at the Institute at 1:00 pm and took a charted bus to UAM, where they picked me and the other engineers up after our classes. The drive to El Escorial took around an hour and a half because of traffic. When we finally got to the town, we toured the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which is a palace that was built for Phillip II of Spain. The tour lasted around two hours. Honestly, I didn't really enjoy it that much because I was exhausted after a busy week of school. Also, the weather was very gloomy; the sky was grey and the weather was cold and very rainy. However, I was impressed by the size of the palace. It contains a school, a library, a church, and of course living quarters for the families of the monarchs that one resided there. Today, the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is open to the public for tours and it no longer houses Spanish royals. After the tour, we all loaded back onto the bus and headed back to Madrid. The trip was short, but it was enough for us to be able to put into context the history we've been learning about for the past month.

Things I've noticed...differences

I apologize for being the most inconsistent blogger ever. These past two weeks have been insanely busy and not in a fun way. School has been intense with homework, exams, and three hour long bio labs everyday for the past two weeks. I love studying abroad but it would be so much better to just be abroad, without the studying.

Anyways, I've been meaning to write this post for almost two months (basically since I got to Madrid). There are so many differences between the US and Spain. Some big, some small. Having never been out of the United States before I came to study abroad in Spain, I expected to experience some sort of culture shock. That really hasn't happened but it has been fun noticing all the differences between the United States and Spain.

• In buildings, the ground floor is considered zero, the basement is negative one, and what would be the second floor in the US is considered the first floor.

• Street signs are located on the sides of buildings, not near the traffic lights.

• Everyone smokes. In Colorado, not that many people smoke. In Boston, a lot of people smoke. In Madrid, EVERYONE smokes

• Cars are much nicer to pedestrians and actually yield, unlike in Boston

• The Metro is really nice. It's clean, efficient, user friendly, and has good coverage of the city

• Old ladies wear big, long fur coats. Not just some old ladies, all old ladies.

• You must ask for the check at a restaurant otherwise they'll never bring it to you

• Another restaurant one: you tip, at the VERY MOST, 10 percent. Waiters are actually paid normal wages and don't live off tips like in the States

• Dog poop everywhere. It's like no one cleans up after their animals.

• You pay for water here. In the States, if you ask the waiter for water they'll bring you a free glass of tap water. In Spain, they'll bring you a bottle of water unless you specifically ask for tap water

• There are roadside gas stations. They are literally located on the sidewalk and cars pull up in the right lane of the street to fill up.

There really are so many more but I'm too exhausted from these past two nightmarish weeks to think of more. I'll post a part two with more differences in a few weeks.

Grenada

Last weekend I went to Grenada with my study abroad program. In civilization class, we learned about the period of time when Muslims controlled the Iberian peninsula from 711 to 1031 AD (they weren't expelled until 1492, but after 1031 their control started to decline). Grenada was a very important city for the Muslims because it was a military stronghold in the 11th century and in the 13th century, the royal residence was established in Grenada at the Alhambra.

We left as a group on Friday afternoon. We traveled by bus, which is not my favorite mode of travel. It took around five or six hours to get there. After checking into the hotel, we walked up steep winding streets to get to a good view point of the Alhambra. The Alhambra is the palace where Muslim leaders lived starting in the 13th century. The view was gorgeous. It was dark so we got to see the whole city lit up.

On Saturday, the group went to see Grenada's cathedral and the tomb where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel (famous for funding Christopher Columbus' voyage across the Atlantic) are buried. I forgot to mention that I was sick this past weekend. When I woke up in the morning I wasn't feeling well enough to get out of bed so I slept in while the others explored. By the afternoon I was feeling up to getting out and about. I met up with the group at a market where we explored for a bit. I bought a few souvenirs: some tea, a scarf, and an evil eye. Then we had tapas for lunch. After lunch we went to the Alhambra. It is quite an exquisite building. The decoration is intricate and stunningly beautiful. The Alhambra is very large so it took us many hours to explore all of it. When we finished our tour of the Alhambra, we had an hour or so of downtime before going to see a flamenco show. I really enjoyed the show. The music was great and the dancing was very impressive. It reminded me of tap dancing with more hip shaking.

Sunday we checked out of the hotel at 10:30 am and got back on the road. After a few hours of driving we stopped for lunch. Then, we went to go see the famous windmills of Consuegra. Miguel de Cervantes made the windmills famous after publishing Don Quixote. It was very windy and quite cold, but it was worth it because the windmills were very cool.

Grenada really is a great city. I only wish that I wasn't sick and that I got to experience the nightlife. Hopefully one day I will be able to go back.

    

          

  

  

Birthday Weekend

*I meant to post this on February 10th when I wrote it, but I totally forgot to upload it.

This weekend (Feb 7-9) was a lot of fun. I would have to say that my birthday weekend was a success. I already wrote about what I did on Wednesday, my actual birthday. However, Wednesday is a boring day to have a birthday, so of course I had to celebrate some more this weekend.

Thursday night (Feb 7), I went with two friends to a club. Initially, we were going to go to Kapital, the seven story nightclub, because we heard it was free for girls on Thursday nights before 1 am. That is false. It was not free and my friends didn't want to pay to get in on a Thursday night. If we had to pay, they would rather go on a Friday or Saturday. As we were walking away from Kapital, we came across another club, Faena, where girls did get in for free, so we decided to check it out. Faena was okay, but not great. The music was decent but the club wasn't nearly full enough for it to be fun. By 3:10 am, my friends and I were ready to leave. 

Friday night (Feb 8) was a lot more fun. Me and six friends started off at El Tigre del Norte (highly recommend!!!) where we got six heaping plates of tapas and drinks for six euros each. El Tigre was packed and we were barely able to squeeze around the table, but it was great. I loved the atmosphere. Then, we went to an Irish Pub/Disco. It sounds like a really weird combination but it was actually pretty great. We all got in for free, which is always nice. The place was full of people, meaning it's a good place to be. Also, the music was fantastic! I definitely plan on going back to that place soon. When we left the Irish Disco, we then headed to a club. The girls got in for free (I felt sort of bad that the guys had to pay...but only sort of). The club was called Moondance. Sadly, it was a total bust. The club was basically empty and the music wasn't great. We left pretty soon after entering. We ended the night at an Irish Pub (no disco at this place). 

  

Saturday (Feb 9) was the birthday of one of the guys in my program. He told his parents that my birthday was three days before his and in the birthday package that his parents sent him, they included a tiara for me. So sweet! I most definitely wore that tiara the whole night! A group of us (around 11 people) started off the night at Cien Montaditos, a place that sells cheap food. I didn't eat anything there, but some of the guys did a food challenge. Then, we went to a restaurant (I forget the name), and split gnocchi and ravioli. Yum! By the time we finished eating, it was time to go to Kapital. I'd heard a lot of mixed reviews about Kapital. Some people love it, others hate it. It's definitely more of a tourist trap than anything, but it was an experience and if you're in Madrid you have to go at least one time. I had a lot of fun at Kapital. My friends and I explored all seven stories. We danced and sang and had a great time. By 4:30 am, I was so tired that I decided to call it a night. Maybe one day I'll be able to stay out until the metros reopen at 6:00 am like a true Madrileña. 

This weekend was a lot of fun. Madrid is a great city to celebrate a birthday. If I couldn't be home for my birthday, I'm glad I was here.

Birthday!

Cheers to 20!

Today is my birthday. I am 20 years old. That is so weird. I'm in my twenties. I am officially in my twenties. No longer a teenager. I'm not sure I'm okay with that. Growing up is so weird. For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to grow up, to be older. But now that I am growing up, now that I'm older, I just want it all to slow way down.

Don't get me wrong. Growing up has it's benefits. Getting older is fun. I have more freedom. But with freedom comes more responsibility. There's always a trade off.

Anyways, I think 20 suits me. I like 20 so far. It has only been one day, but 20 is good.

Today was a decent day that ended really well. I woke up early this morning and video chatted with my mom and brother. That was the first highlight of my day. Since it's Wednesday I obviously had class. In the morning, I had electric circuit theory lecture for an hour and then discussion for an hour at UAM. Then I went to the Institute to study for my Spanish Civilization exam (of course the exam had to fall on my birthday). In the afternoon, I had Spanish class and then the exam. Luckily, the exam wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be (I still should have studied more though).

After the exam, I went to get ice cream with Jennifer. This was the second highlight of my day. Although it's the middle of the week I couldn't not celebrate my birthday just a little bit. If I had just gone home right after the test then it would have been just like any other day. But today isn't just any other day. Today is my birthday! Jennifer and I went to a cute little chocolate shop/cafe near my apartment. I ordered Oreo gelato (DELICIOUS! Unlike any kind of Oreo or cookies 'n cream ice cream you'd ever find in the States) and Jen ordered Moscato sorbet. Then, because it's my twentieth birthday, I ordered a glass of champagne. Yum!

The third and final highlight of my day has been reading all of the wonderful happy birthday wishes people are leaving for me on my Facebook wall. So sweet! Thanks, guys!

I did feel a bit of the birthday blues today. Getting older always makes me a little sad, and it's also sad not being with family on my birthday. However, I'm not as traumatized about getting older this year as I usually am. Also, going out for ice cream and champagne cured my birthday blues immediately.

This coming weekend is labeled "Jasmine's Birthday Weekend" and my friends and I are going to celebrate! We're gonna go out, party, dance, and have a blast. (We're also gonna study a bit because we have a bio exam on Monday). Can't wait!

Overall, this has been a good birthday. I've had the chance to reflect on my 20 years on this planet and I'm happy with what I've accomplished so far. I'm thankful that I have the life that I do and for the opportunities I've been given. I look forward to another 20 years as good as the last.

Making Friends

The other day, my friend Ryan made a friend in the metro. Ryan asked a stranger for directions and then saw the same person the next day in the subway station. The guy who gave him directions is named Josh and he's from Spain. On Friday night, Josh invited Ryan over to his apartment and said he could bring some friends. Ryan invited four friends, including me. Everyone was really nervous about going to a stranger's apartment, except for Ryan and me. I wasn't worried because there were five of us and there is safety in numbers.

Everyone has been telling me I need to make Spanish friends and Friday night was a good start. We arrived at Josh's apartment at around 11:30 pm. There were around 15 people crammed into the living room of a tiny apartment. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming, and Josh was a great host. I had a lot of fun  getting to know these strangers. We all spoke in a mix of Spanish and English. It was a good time.

Most of Josh's friends were from different parts of Spain. However, there was a girl, Nadine, from the Netherlands. She is in Madrid studying geography until July. Another person I met, Sergi, is going to the United States in April to backpack for 3 months. He's visiting Hawaii, California, Arizona, New York, and Miami.

Friday night was one of the best times I've had in Spain so far. It was really great to spend some time getting to know new people. I'm so glad that Ryan met Josh. I'm pretty sure we're going back next weekend.