Back from Vacation

Once again, I have returned home to Spain and my oh my, does it feel nice! It has been one heck of a week! I enjoyed everything that we were able to see, but I’d be lying if I said that it was easy! ;)

I left Valladolid early on Thursday morning (the 21^st) to go to Madrid, where I met up with the group from East. I really enjoyed seeing them and spending the day with them, and I also enjoyed my first little taste of true independence—traveling alone. It was also my first taste of Madrid, as I had only seen it’s bus station and airport before. It was a gorgeous day and I appreciated the opportunity to see a little bit of Madrid with a group of cool people.

On Saturday morning I met Katie at the airport for our 7 a.m. flight to Rome, and when we arrived at the Rome Ciampino airport, it was raining. Little did we know, we would be in Rome for only about 5 hours when it was NOT raining! We checked into our hostel and headed to Vatican City in hopes of seeing St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, but unfortunately both closed early due to the preparations for Easter. We were fortunate, however, to find some cool ponchos that we sported for most of our time sightseeing! We looked like tourists, but we were pretty dry! ;)

After the Vatican, we went to the Colosseum, which was pretty amazing. I found it sort of funny that all of the ruins and famous sights in Rome were in the middle of modern-day society, in between apartment buildings and stores, or in the case of the Colosseum, immediately outside a metro stop. We stood in line for a while and finally made it inside, and while it was still raining cats and dogs, it was a really cool experience. The first of many on this trip that just seemed sort of surreal—standing inside of something that is, first of all, so old and has stood the true test of time, and second of all, so famous and known around the world. We took a bunch of cool pictures, and walked around inside of it for a while, and then decided that it was time to call it a day. Thankfully our room in our hostel had a radiator that we could use to dry our wet clothes and shoes!

On Sunday morning we were back to the Vatican before 8 a.m., and to our GREAT surprise, we got seats in real chairs really quite close to the altar. It didn’t rain for the first hour or so that we were there, but of course, as we sat waiting, it started storming about 45 minutes before mass started. Everything went on as scheduled, but it was quite cold and VERY wet, and the view through the umbrellas wasn’t quite what we had planned for! We were happy that even though we didn’t get to see St. Peter’s Basilica or the Sistine Chapel, that we did attend Easter mass given by the Pope!

Thankfully shortly after that rainy ordeal, the rain ceased for a few hours and we were able to see the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. We were on a really good streak until we were at our last sight of the day—the Roman Forum—and we were caught in a relatively violent hail storm. By the time it was done, there were broken umbrellas EVERYWHERE, and we were ready to go back to the hostel and be warm and dry! Unfortunately we didn’t see hardly any of the Roman Forum, but the storm was an experience in itself.

On Monday we traveled to Florence, where the weather wasn’t any nicer to us. We stayed in a Camping hostel, meaning that we slept in a tent. That wasn’t really a great idea, although if the weather would have been nicer it would have been absolutely perfect. We again braved a storm to go see the Duomo, and then on Tuesday morning we woke up and went to see Michelangelo’s David, which was incredible. We had good luck getting in to see that, as well, we hardly had to wait in line, and then for some reason there was no admission fee! We definitely didn’t complain! ;)

On Tuesday afternoon we took the train to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was yet another surreal experience. It was the first time we saw the sun, so we laid on the lawn next to the tower for a while, and then strolled back to the train station and ate delicious gelato. Tuesday night was much more comfortable back at the camping hostel—the temperature was a little bit higher, we took a long walk and then nice hot showers before bed, and we asked for more blankets! Although the first night in the hostel was less than ideal, the hostel was in an amazing location—on a hill very close to Piazza Michelangelo, which is famous for having the best view over Florence. Very, VERY pretty, especially at night!

Wednesday was a day of travel—we took the train to Milan, and then I took a bus to the airport, flew to Barcelona, took a bus from the airport into the train station, and then the metro to the hotel where I again met up with the group from East. It was a long day and I was very glad, once again, to be safe and sound and warm (with people I knew) at the end of the day! I spent most Thursday on my own walking around Barcelona, and then ate dinner and spent the evening with the group. I think that day was probably my favorite of the whole week! Katie flew in late Thursday night, and we were both pretty exhausted.

We really enjoyed Barcelona—we had a very nice hostel, we went to the Picasso Museum, La Boqueria (a really cool market), the Chocolate Museum, the Olympic Stadium (which was probably our favorite part of Barcelona, even though the Olympics were there a good 16 years ago!), the Sagrada Familia (a church designed my Gaudi) and other Gaudi Houses, Parc Guell (also designed by Gaudi and very cool), and the FC Barcelona stadium (soccer, for those who don’t know!), where we saw Ronaldinho, a very famous soccer player in Spain. He was working with a trainer on the team’s practice field, and he smiled at us and we got pictures, so we were pretty darm excited.

Although we loved Barcelona we were very glad to head back to Valladolid—we took a 10 hour night bus on Saturday night and got home around 9:30 yesterday morning. It was a loooong and uncomfortable ride, and I was mighty glad to see the bus station!

I started classes again—and I only have NINETEEN days of them left! I have only 48 days left in Spain—19 days of class (no classes on Mondays, how nice), 13 days of traveling, 2 school excursions, a big paper to write, and a week of exams. Incredible, really, how fast it has all gone. And there’s still so much left to do! Unfortunately there is no longer internet in my house—I’m not sure if it will return or not, but at the moment it’s looking unlikely. I will get pictures (at least SOME pictures) up as soon as I can, but it might take a little while. I leave for Ireland on Thursday, so there will definitely be another update and even more pictures to share after that.

I hope that everyone had a great Spring Break and a very Happy Easter! Hasta Luego!

What? It's already March 20th?

Apparently so! But it's so hard to believe!

We have now been with our host family for almost three weeks, and we have quickly settled in and come to feel, once again, like we are at home. It was easy to love right away--we have our own bathroom, we are a lot closer to the center of town, and there is internet! But even after our great first impressions, we've come to realize the other great things about living here--the excellent cooking, watching the news during dinner and discussing important topics, and Edita and Julio's wonderful sense of humor and the genuine interest they take in our conversations with them. We decided pretty quickly that we were content staying here for the rest of the semester!

Nicar had his surgery two weeks ago, a week later than originally scheduled, and is now recovering at home. We visited them about a week ago and he was still in a fair amount of pain, but was at least finally out of a hospital bed. They had a doctor's appointment yesterday in order to find out what type of therapy or rehabilitation he will be having. We are very glad that he's finally at home and that the whole ordeal is close to being over with for them! We will be staying here with Edita and Julio for the rest of the semester, as it was a lot of work to move only one time! Plus, we will both be traveling every single weekend between now and the second week of May! We will continue to visit them, of course, and will miss them just as we'll miss this family when we go back to the US.

My spring break started last Friday, and while all of my friends took off right away, I have been in Valladolid all week. I went to some Holy Week processions with my host parents, slept a lot, walked around the city and explored, and really just relaxed and took it easy.

Today is a day of packing and cleaning, as tomorrow morning at 6:30 I will get on a bus and head to Madrid, and from there, to Italy! In Madrid I will be meeting Jody Krieg and a group of students from Wausau East--I am SO excited to see some familiar faces! I will spend the day with them and spend the night in Madrid, and then meet my friend Katie at the airport to catch our flight to Rome early Saturday morning. We will be in Rome until Monday when we will go to Florence, and then to Pisa and Cinque Terre, and then to Milan. From Milan we will fly to Barcelona where we will finish out our trip, returning to Valladolid via a 10 hour bus ride on the 30th. Ay! It will be busy, but hopefully, HOPEFULLY everything goes as planned and we will arrive back in 9 days with awesome pictures and all of our belongings still with us!

I will go to school for three days the week after that, and then on Thursday the 3rd I will be on a plane once more with my friend Ashley, on our way to Ireland! My host mom just laughed and rolled her eyes when I told her how soon I'd be leaving again! ;) But I can't wait.

Well, I have a lot of packing to do, but I thought I'd update after much too long to let everyone know what I'm up to.

Hasta luego! And Happy Easter! ;)

almost settled in

Ay, how crazy it has been around here!
We moved to a new host family on Sunday night, and I think I am feeling pretty much settled in and comfortable there. It helps that we already know our way around town, and are used to Spanish cuisine. It was still an emotionally (and physically) rough transition, but we have managed and now life continues. One of our professors came to pick us up...in a taxi, and between the both of we had at least four large suitcases, backpacks, bags, and really just a ridiculous amount of things. It was an adventure!
Our new apartment is bigger than the last one, we have our own room and then our own bathroom, as well, which is really nice. My new host parents are Edita and Julio--they are very nice and funny, Julio likes to use English words and also likes for us to teach him new ones. They are about the same age as Leo and Nicar, and have a grown son and daughter and two granddaughters. We eat a lot later now, which is a change--lunch at 3:00 (1:30 with Leo and Nicar) and dinner at 9:30 (7:30 with Leo and Nicar), the last two nights I have been ready to go to bed before we even eat dinner! I will get used to it, though.

My new address is:
Allison Seubert
C/ Panaderos 35, 2A
47004 Valladolid
Spain

I am not sure if we will return to Leo and Nicar's house, or if we will stay the remaineder of our time with this family. So far I like them both equally! We haven't heard any news about Nicar's surgery, but as far as we know he did have it yesterday, and we will go visit him sometime this week. They were all very nervous about it, so I hope very much that it went as well as could be expected.
So with that, the move is over, like is back to normal, and exams are already next week! I have to get studying!

Hasta Luego!

Oh! And pictures from Salamanca (and two videos from other things) are on Webshots!
(http://community.webshots.com/user/seuberaj)

...and everything changes

Tonight, my roommate and I have to move to a host family. We thought that we were in the clear, and our host dad is having surgery tomorrow, so we were sure that he would have the surgery, recover, and then things would be back to normal. Our host mom told us on Thursday that she feels too bad that she isn't able to care for us (cooking, doing laundry, etc.) and that we would, indeed, need to move. On Friday one of our professors called around and found a family, and tonight we will move.
This is definitely not something that any of us planned for, and it is a very difficult thing to deal with. We love Leo and Nicar and are not interested in going anywhere, but at the same time we understand that what is most comfortable for them is the best decision. There is a chance that when Nicar is recovered, we will be able to return, but it all depends on when that is and how much we like our new family! hehe.
I will post my new address when I know it, and of course I will write about my new family and how the change is going later in the week.

Everyday Life in Spain: Part 1--Food and Daily Schedule (plus an update about Nicar!)

To me, the things that happen day to day are just that, things that I am used to and that are just part of a routine. I don’t think to write about them because they already seem pretty normal to me, but I’ve realized that those are the things that most people are probably most curious about. I’ll start by telling you about my daily schedule and the food we eat, as our daily schedule sort of revolves around meal times.

My class day begins usually at 9:30 each morning, and goes until 1:50 at the latest. Before school, we eat a small breakfast of ColaCao (like hot chocolate, it’s mixed with warm milk, and I love it) and either toast with butter and jam, galletas (cookies/crackers, but more like cookies), or muffins. The muffins, or “magdalenas,” are my favorite. It’s not common here to snack between meals, but I can’t make it to lunch without a snack (most of the American students have a hard time with that), so I typically take crackers or a mandarin orange with me to eat between classes. Our classes run for an hour each, and we could have up to 4 in one morning, although typically we have less than that.

At 1:50 my roommate and I walk back home (a 35 minute walk, it’s longer if you’re really hungry!) for lunch. Our host family eats at 1:30, and then our host mom sets the table for us and waits for us to get home. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day in Spain, consisting usually of 2 courses and then a dessert or fruit. In our house, we typically have a soup of some sort as our first course, and then some type of meat and red peppers as our second course. Then, for dessert, we have our choice of fruit (I prefer pears, but the oranges are extremely good, too). It was hard to get used to having fruit for dessert, but now I think I will eat fruit after my meals when I return to the states. Interesting how that works! We also have bread for every meal, just cut from a giant loaf that sits in the middle of the table. We always drink water, too, which was also hard to get used to. They drink milk usually only at breakfast, because they don’t drink fresh, cold milk like we do in Wisconsin! Their milk is processed so that it lasts for a long time and doesn’t need to be refrigerated before it’s opened, and I think that’s strange! It is packaged in boxes, so you can buy boxes of milk in bulk.

After lunch is “siesta,” which seems to be pretty well-known around the world. From the hours of 2ish until 5ish, all of the stores (with the exception of maybe a grocery store and the kiosks that are on the streets) close so that their employees can go home to eat lunch and rest. After siesta, most of the stores reopen until 8:00 or so. I usually take a little bit of a nap, and then around 5 venture back out to take a walk and window shop, or to explore a part of town I haven’t seen before. I return to my apartment by 7:30, as we eat dinner between 7:45 and 8.

Dinner is typically a smaller meal than lunch, but in our house it’s usually about the same size. Much like lunch, we have a soup as our first course, and our second plate consists of salad and another food, like fried ham and cheese sandwiches, tortilla española, croquetas, or empanadillas. I think that dinner is usually my favorite meal, because I have really come to like all of those foods!

After dinner is when most young people get ready and go out on the town for a drink or, in some cases, lots of drinks. I usually prefer to stay in on school nights and watch TV with my host parents and do homework. Even on the weekends, when it is typical to stay out literally all night (until 6:30 or so, as the discotecas here don’t even open until around 3), I am more commonly found sleeping safe and sound in my room. The night life here is probably the thing that, as of now, I will miss most. But the night life consists of more than partying---every night, people of all ages, all of your friends and neighbors, are out going for walks and gossiping and playing in parks. They think it is very silly that after work and school in the states, that we just go home. And now when I return I will think that it’s silly, too!

The doctors told Leo and Nicar today that the source of his pain is a herniated disk in his back, and that he will be having surgery. The date of surgery is yet to be known. This is good because instead of just taking pain medication for weeks and weeks, he will hopefully have a solution to the problem and be able to recover and get back to normal life. (That is, if the surgery is soon, and I'm not entirely sure how likely that is.) Leo hasn't mentioned anything yet about us leaving, so hopefully she is thinking that it won't be so bad having us there after all. Our host grandma is staying with us now but will leave on March 1st, and then my roommate and I will be traveling for our spring breaks, and things should calm down. Now it's tough because Grandma is very high maintenance, hehe. So yes, I am very glad to hear that hopefully things will get better from here on out, and that hopefully things will be back to normal (and healthy) soon. I really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers! He appreciates them, as well.

Until next time, hasta luego!

how time flies

I definitely planned to be updating this a little more often than I have, but time is going fast and access to the internet is a little more scarce than I had planned! But anyway, here I am with a little bit of an update.

Currently, times are a little tough because my host dad, Nicar, is in the hospital. He's had a really bad pain in his leg for about two weeks now, and went into the hospital on Saturday so that he's there for all the testing they want to do, so that they can give him strong medication, and so he'll be a lot more comfortable than he would be at home. Depending on what the results of his tests are, it is possible that my roommate and I will have to move to a new host family. This would be devastating for us both. We are hoping for Nicar's quick recovery so that he will no longer be in pain and so that we can stay with this family that we've grown to love so much in such a short period of time. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

We took a trip for school this past weekend to the ruins of two different castles and to a museum of Roman Villas, which includes the actual excavated remains of a Roman Villa that dates back to the later period of the Roman Empire (when the Romans lived in this region of Spain). The castles were cool, but not nearly as cool as the Roman Villa! The original mosaics are still on the floors of the villa that has been excavated--it was just incredible. I really enjoyed it. I have a few pictures from the trip but not many, so I will put them up when I get a good selection of pictures from random times and places. Our next school trip is to Salamanca, the weekend after this coming one.

We have two and a half weeks of school left before our week of midterm exams, and then we have two weeks of spring break. I will keep everyone updated about my host dad and about my living situation.

Hasta Luego, and GO BARACK! ;)

you ain't much if you ain't dutch :)

Whew! What a vacation! I have now returned from Brussels and Amsterdam and am feeling strangely glad to be back “home” in Valladolid.

The trip began in the wee hours of Thursday morning when Katie, Ashley, and I took a three hour bus ride to the Madrid Airport, waited in the airport for a few hours until our flight left at 7:20, and then took a bus from the Brussels airport (the tiny one which is about an hour out of town, not the convenient big international one) into the city to find our hostel. After almost 12 hours of traveling and not sleeping, we were very glad to see that our hostel was very clean and comfortable! The weather that night in Brussels was extremely gross—windy, cold, and rainy—but we braved it anyway in order to get our first taste of such a beautiful city. We had our first Belgian chocolates and hot chocolate (you should try this at home…put chunks of chocolate into the bottom of a mug, steam milk, pour it over the chocolate, and then mix it. Oh heavens, is it delicious.), and then returned to our hostel to get a good night of sleep. We roomed with two girls from Australia who had already been traveling for about three months, and they gave us good tips about staying in hostels.

The second day in Brussels was full of sightseeing, we saw a large Flea Market, the Manneken Pis statue, the Palace of Justice, Delirium (the bar that holds the world record for number of beers available, 2004 different kinds from all around the world), several comic walls (Brussels is the comic book capital of the world, and the home of the Smurfs), and the Atomium. We also didn’t have a problem finding more chocolate stores, and we ate delicious Lebanese pitas for lunch. That night we roomed with two guys from Brazil (who spoke Portuguese and thought it was funny that we couldn’t understand them). We never found out their names, but we decided that Raul and Javier sounded appropriate!

The next morning we got up mighty early and hopped on the metro in order to get to Belgium’s Royal Palace and to the headquarters of the European Union. We then took a bus with a tour group to Brugges, a little city about an hour away from Brussels. It was the most adorable city—we ate our first genuinely Belgian waffles, did some shopping, saw Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, and ordered hot chocolate to go at a restaurant that has a menu including 44 different kinds of hot chocolate. On the way back on the bus we chatted with a man from Chicago, and encouraged him to make his children study abroad. Back at the hostel we made frozen pizzas for dinner, and then fortunately had the opportunity to meet three hilarious guys, one from the States (Texas) and two from Holland. We went with them to Delirium for several hours and had a great time, and then they rode the train with us the next day to Amsterdam. We have no doubt that we will see them again in the future. That night, because Raul and Javier had left, we roomed with two (drunk) girls from Barcelona.

After about four hours of sleep we boarded our train to Amsterdam, and arrived there about three hours later. From there we took a tram to our hostel, and after we settled in (and napped) we headed to the Anne Frank House. It was a long walk from our hostel, but it was way more than worth it. The museum includes the warehouse in which Otto Frank worked, and then the secret annex in which the family hid. It was so emotional. The secret apartment is empty—the Nazis took all of their possessions when the annex was discovered, and when it came time to turn the house into the museum, Otto Frank requested that it not be reconstructed; that it stay as it looked when they lost everything they had. The museum includes letters that were written from the Frank family to relatives, orders that Meep sent out for food and other supplies for the family, and Anne’s original diary. The only things about the apartment that have remained from when they lived there are markings on the wall to show how tall the girls were, and pictures from magazines and newspapers that Anne cut out to decorate her room. There really aren’t words to describe how it felt to walk behind the bookshelf and into a place where a family lived in hiding—so afraid of the outside world and what would happen if they were to be discovered. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to visit it and to gain a new motivation to fight for what is right and what is fair in the world.

We also went to the Red Light District, which was definitely an experience and a half. While there are other places in which prostitution is legal, Amsterdam is truly proud of that fact and flaunts it at every possible opportunity. Surprisingly enough, we didn’t feel uncomfortable or unsafe walking down the main street in the Red Light District, and considered it a learning experience! It is definitely, DEFINTELY, something that you would never even dream of seeing in the United States.

On our last full day in Amsterdam we visited the Van Gogh Museum, in which more than 200 of Van Gogh’s works are displayed. Starry Night isn’t there, but The Potato Eaters is, as well as Sunflowers, The Bedroom, and most of his self portraits that are very recognizable. It is a very cool museum—it displays his art but also tells all the stories behind his works, what inspired him, and what his tragic flaws were. While I have studied Van Gogh before, I still learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it. For the rest of the day we just wandered the streets of Amsterdam, shopping and just enjoying ourselves. When we went back to the Anne Frank Museum to visit the gist shop again, we saw the boys from Brazil that we roomed with in Brussels. What a coincidence! That night in Amsterdam we roomed with three boys from Australia—one of whom, Nathaniel, went with us the next morning to the train station and waited with us until our train came. He taught us a lot about Australia, had an adorable accent, and was extremely cute! J

Tuesday was a long day of travel—we took a three hour train to Brussels, an hour bus to the airport, a two and a half hour flight to Madrid, and a two and a half hour bus ride back to Valladolid. Finally seeing my bed here at my house was such a nice feeling! While I am very glad to be back in Valladolid, I am very happy that the entire trip went smoothly and that we accomplished so much. We could have gone to a beach (like most of our classmates), but instead we took on two new countries, three new cities, two new languages (French and Dutch), rode on five different modes of transportation, had nine different roommates from three different countries, saw several incredible landmarks, made new friends, and became much more comfortable using a map and asking for directions! We encountered so many generous and nice people, as well as some people who didn’t hesitate to makes jokes about George Bush. All in all, we learned so much, had a ton of fun, and are ready for our next adventure!

The pictures are on Webshots! Hasta Luego!