Week 4/5 in Santander

This week my class and I went to Bilbao.

• We saw the Guggenheim museum which was very inspiring! Kapoor (the guy that did the Bean in Chicago) had a HUGE exhibit there! Insightful and visionary. Can't wait to see more art in the following weeks in Madrid and Barcelona!
• We then got the chance to go to a Bull-fight. Pretty gruesome but definitely an experience. Found out later that our matadors were not the best. Perhaps, I will go again in Sevilla!

I finally finished a paper about monuments of Franco, so now I have one more full day to enjoy Santander. I can not believe that this part of my experience is over. I have had so much fun in Santander! Today I walked along the coast and starred at the boats in the ocean. I have become so comfortable that I keep forgetting thats its possible I will never be here again. We had to say goodbye to our DU professors today and it hit me that this is the end of an amazing experience. Very Bitter-sweet. The water sparkled from sun and all I could think about was wanting to stay here just another week and eat ice-cream from Regma.

In the next few weeks I will be traveling through Europe. Not sure if I will get many chances to blog, but I'll try! Besos de Espana...

Week 3 in Santander

This week has also been very chill. Earlier in the week I went to a poetry reading/flamenco performance at school. A woman sang one of Federico Garcia Lorca's poems while two men acted/danced it out. It was special because the last time the piece was performed at the Palace was when FGL's acting crew performed it. Pretty cool. After the performance, there was this fiesta that the school puts on every week. It was so much fun dancing and hanging out with some kids from my spanish class. This weekend I also took my first official trip to ZARA. Very exciting, would have bought the whole store, if I could have.

A big thing I did this week was book ALL of my transportation for my 3-week european adventure. I will be starting in Madrid then going to Barcelona, Paris, Brugge, Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan, and Rome! Very excited. If anyone has any tips for me or will be in the respected places during the month of September, please let me know!

School has been okay. I have a test tomorrow and a huge research project coming up. My topic is Monuments of Franco. I think this will be a very interesting topic, just because of how controversial it has been. The problem is whether to leave these monuments up in historical significance or taking them down in respect for those who lost family during Franco's regime. It has been interesting to learn about the history that really surrounds my everyday life here. I am very excited but also nervous to visit Madrid. El Valle de los Caidos (The valley of the fallen) is where Franco is buried. Ironically though, prisoners of Franco were the ones who were forced to build it. Trying to commemorate both sides that fell, in a place that is already controversial? I don't know. So far, I am a little lost on how people feel about Franco. I had an interview with mi madre but I could tell she was uncomfortable, responding to each question with si, or no. Hopefully, I will be able to find out more.

I hope everyone is doing well! Besos de Santander.

2nd week in Santander

This second week has been a lot more comfortable and a lot more simple. I have been going to the beach a lot and eating a good amount of Regma. For my excursions, this past week I went to the Plaza de Magdalena and Picos de Europa. The Plaza de Magdalena is this actually fairly new 100-year old castle that is owned by my University. Pretty cool. Picos de Europa is a mountain-range that is in northern Spain. We got to gaze at the mountains, take a nice hike, and hang out at a near by small town the whole day. Another exciting thing thing this week is, me and some girls from my trip met three other Spaniards. We had fun talking, and they decided to take us out that night, to show us the ropes. They introduced us to Calimochos which are drinks with wine and cola, not my favorite, but they were okay. We also went to this discoteca where we danced as we heard some familiar, must mostly foreign music! We also did Tapas for the first time this week, which was a fun experience, I will do again. Strangely enough I have also learned that Spainards really like Mayonnaise, just different.

This week I have started to notice how the United States is just different. From using pounds and feet to never learning vosotros, class has been kinda hard. After taking Spanish for so long I was very naive in thinking, I knew a lot. I can definitely say that I can get my point across to anyone. However, its been frustrating when I try to explain far-off ideas to my new foreign classmates. On the flip-side there are kids from Italy, Germany, Austria, and even VIETNAM, just in my Language class! I definitely am being challenged, but I now know that I have to work on my Grammar.

As for things at my new home, I could not be any happier. I love my family, especially mi madre. She has been so patient and accommodating. She listens to what I have to say, but also mentions when I make mistakes. The one thing I don't like about her is how little she wants me to do. Almost every Sunday night, Diane and I make dinner together and it is so much fun! Here, she never even lets me lift a plate. She has never really let me help her cook, but I have put things in the dish washer without her knowing! I'm pretty sure she loves me though.

As much as things have gone better here this week, I have been homesick especially in the last few days. This past weekend, James's cousin, Jamie, was in terrible accident in Lake Michigan. Although I only met Jamie a few times, he was a welcoming and enthusiastic person. What really kills me is not to be able to be there with James and his family this coming week. For anyone who reads this blog, please keep James's family in your thoughts and prayers.

Till next time, Sincere love from Santander.

First Week in Santander

My first week in Santander has been so busy! I met up with some girls in DC and we started our 7 hour journey to Madrid together. The flight went pretty well. A boy who was part of some school group decided to go sit by them so I ended up getting two seats. There weren't any great movies on the flight, but two great episodes of Sex and the City! As the sun came up, we landed in Madrid. 5 very tired girls made their way through customs and got to the train station. We were all pretty slap happy at this point.

The train was 5 hours from Madrid to Santander and when we got to Santander it was beautiful. We were picked up by our families at the University and this was the "O shit" moment. As soon as I got in the car, mi madre whipped out the Espanol. It was good though and I definitely held my own. We talked for a little and got to the apartment which is literally 2 seconds from the beach!

On Monday I walked around town with some friends in the morning and had lunch with our teachers in the afternoon. Santander is a small city but its really beautiful! The city is right on the coast and is always really clean. On Thursday we went on an excursion to las cuevas where we could see prehistoric paintings on the wall. We then went to Santillana del Mar, where we studied Roman Architecture and hung out. On Friday we went to the Santander Cathedral and una casa de perigrinos. Basically there is this walk that people can do along the northern coast of Spain, el Camino del Santiago. It takes about a month to complete and people from all over the world come to test their wits. There is a religious background to this el camino, but most people there want to test themselves and see the beautiful coast.

So far Santander has been really great. Everyone in my group is really nice and we have all been trying to speak Spanish 24/7. In fact its actually been kind of hard to write this blog in English! We constantly are filling our sentences with some spanglish, but most of the time we can follow each other in Spanish. As for my house, its been an adventure. I love mi madre but there are definitely some cultural differences. She never really wants me to clean or help out with the cooking. Its been really tough but, I think I'll make it. I talk to her in Spanish everyday. The first week her two grand-daughters were here and yesterday the rest of the family arrived. Its been kinda loud, but its kinda nice to have all these people around. Mi madre has been a great cook but again cultural differences. The milk is usually warm, and she uses like 4 plates to serve me an entire meal. I've been eating well but I have been walking a lot too. There are two routes to the city and some friends and I always walk the longer one. The other day we walked at least 7 miles. Its been really is nice to have these long walks so we can look around and people watch. It has taken me some time to adapt to life in Spain, but after a week here I definitely feel more comfortable. Till next time, Adios!