Chapter 4: The Best Way to Discover a City.



Me standing in front of one of two  Plaza de Espana towers


I haven't said much about Sevilla. Sevilla is a great city - it is an urban city but has many gardens and parks which create small areas to take a break from city. It has lots of historic buildings and cathedrals. Two of my favorites are Plaza de Espana and La Giralda (a huge cathedral). Yesterday I was heading home by myself and decided to try and take the bus. I knew the C1 bus stopped near my house but had no clue where it went. I decided I would hop on it and take an adventure. Little did I know that my stop was about 45 minutes away, but I realized that hoping on a bus a riding it around is a great way to discover a city. This bus went all over (past the bridge, out near the airport, etc.), but I think I got to see part of the city I normally wouldn't see. It was also interesting to sit among people from Seville and listen to them talk and just quietlly observe the surroundings. Yesterday there were two soccer games here. Sevilla played and Betis played earlier. We were going to try and go to the Sevilla game since it was their last home game, but tickets were expensive and they sold out of the cheap ones. Both teams won, and Betis became the top of their league. People were going crazy over Betis, especially where I lived. As I walked home from dinner, people where on mopeds waving flags, cars honking their horns, and group of people walking restaurant to restaurant singing and cheering. As I sat in my bed last night I could still hear all the commotion along with fireworks. Everything is going well living in the city, however it is extremely hot. 

La Girlada (tower of the cathedral)

Yesterday I ate lunch by myself at a tapas bar because plans with friends fell through. But as I was on my own, it was great to have to fend for myself. Ordering at the restaurant and observing the people was a great experience. I didn't have to rely on someone else helping me. Yesterday we just walked around a lot since nothing is open. Everything besides some restaurants is closed on Sundays. The entire city is shut down basically while friends and family spend time in the parks, etc. They really do value friends and family here and dedicate a lot of time to be with each other. Today was our first day of class. I got the walk to the school down to 25 minutes today. The school is really nice, except the classrooms don't have AC. The teachers are very nice and I think the classes will help me with my Spanish. One class is conversation and grammar. I need help with conversation because the past year I have taken Business Spanish classes so I have forgotten simple vocabulary and phrases needed to hold a conversation. I am also taking a Spanish Art History class that will I am really looking forward to. I think we get to go to some museums as a class. Today we have a field trip to the Giralda which I have posted a picture.  The other day we saw a large, ornate procession which included two marching bands, a moving alter, incense, and a line of nuns.  We later found out it was a First Communion - they do it big here. I'll report on cathedral later.

Chapter 3: Mi Familia y Mi Casa

On Friday afternoon we meet our Senoras for the first time.  She is a very nice, middle aged women who lives alone.  She does have a son that is a cheif in Ibeza and a daughter that still lives in Argentina.  Her name is Doris and she is very nice and personable.  As an owner of two beauty salons, she works six days a week and doesn't come home from lunch or siesta like most people do.  She cooks three meals a day for us, but never eats with us.  She does stand in the kitchen with us and talk to us and joke around with us.  She has a great sense of humor.  She can't pernounce my name so often times I am referred to as Carlos.  She also makes fun of our southern accents.  We have tried to teach her southern slang and it is funny to see a Spanish woman say y'all.  Every night for dinner she goes to get tapas with her friends.  My room mate and I are going to get tapas with her on Wednesday night.  We also have a french girl living here who is studying Spanish at another university.  She has already been here for a long time and is very nice.  All four of us share one bathroom - it is very interesting.  The apartment is small but sufficient. The apartment has a small gallery kitchen, three bedrooms, a living room, one bathroom and nice balcony that overlooks the courtyard of the complex.  There is no such thing as a bad location here.  Every apartment is near a grocery store, meat shop, resturant, and tapas bar. It is further from school than most other student's homes but that is okay.  It is about a 25 to 30 minutes walk to school.  To them, it is a short walk. It goes by fast since you always find new things and new experiences on your way to where ever you are walking.  It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so hot.  Yesterday it was about 104F so it makes for walking during the day uncomfortable.  They have siestas because it is so hot outside.  It is dry heat though, not like the humidity in North Carolina.  There is a nice breeze at times, and the temperature isn't too bad in the shade. It is shocking how much energy is conserved here yet how confortable everyone lives.  Our apartment is not air conditioned, and while it is hot, it is not uncomfortably hot.  They use metal retractable shades to cover the windows during siesta, and turn off all lights and appliances.  Our senora only plugs in the hot water heater when we are taking showers.  Otherwise, it stays off.  It really is a testament to how easy living within our means can be.  It was a big lesson for me. I will be posting pictures soon!

Chapter 2: Golden Arches, Sangria, Siestas

Sorry for the long post but I will fill you guys in.  I will try to add some pictures later to break up all the text. We have accomplished a lot in the past two days.  Yesterday was our only full day in Madrid so we had to make the most of it.  It was a very nice day – it gets hot but there is no humidity so we catch a nice breeze.  Our day started at our favorite landmark: the golden arches.  McDonalds was our key point and we knew how to get most places from it.  The McDonalds was the nicest McDonalds I have ever been to.  The upstairs looked like a night club; the eating area had leather coaches and modern stools.  They even served beer which you could get as part of your meal. We were craving an ice cold drink so that is where we found ourselves in the morning.  The night prior we had eaten dinner at a cool little restaurant that was at the corner of the fork in the main road coming from La Plaza de Mayor.  We want back to the plaza for lunch.  It was relaxing to sit outside in the plaza, share a pitcher of sangria, and watch the activity in the plaza.  For lunch we ordered various tapas (small dishes of food) to share and tried a lot of different dishes in Madrid.  After lunch we found a busy market with variety of fruits, meats, desserts, and tapas.  There were a lot of people there shopping for produce, and having afternoon drinks and tapas with friends and coworkers before siesta.  We then wondered to a small cathedral and sat in on a Spanish mass that was interesting to see.  It was Wednesday afternoon so there were a few older women there.  The inside of the church was very detailed and ornate.  We then walked to the palace and a larger cathedral.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to go into them because the cathedral was closed for siesta or the palace was having official events.  We did however get to see the changing of the guards which was neat.  Later that day we went to an older palace and got to go to the top of the main tower to see the entire city.  Looking out onto the city, I did not realize how large of a city it was without a notable skyline.  There are maybe three or four sky scrapers in the business district.  They pride themselves on keeping their traditional buildings that have a lot of history.  I also didn’t realize how mountainous part of Spain was.  In the distance we could see mountain that still had snow on the top, and when riding the train to Sevilla, I noticed this even more as I passed through much of the Spanish landscape.  I left Madrid for Seville at noon yesterday and got to Sevilla at 2:30 but had to wait for an hour since I rode the train by myself.  My friends couldn’t get a ticket for the same time that I had pre purchased, but it was a good experience to ride the train by myself and figure out what I was doing by myself.  I really got to experience real immersion into a culture.  And speaking of culture, Spaniards are extremely open towards nudity and sex.  The movie they played in the train featured many scenes of naked women while there were about four kids in my cart let alone.  Very interesting to see.  After my friends arrived we went to check in at our hotel provided by the school (which was actually nice), and then walked through one of the many gardens, back through old streets and found a little restaurant to have a glass of sangria and tapas, and of course, followed up with a siesta.  Last night we had an orientation and a group dinner and this morning we meet our host families.  Unfortunately we have to wait until 1:00 because our Senora works at the beauty salon she owns until then.  She moved here from Argentina to be with her two sons.  I will let you know more about the family once I meet here.  It will be interesting to live with her as we are the farthest from school (about a 35 minute walk).  I will keep you guys updated.  Comment with questions!       

Chapter 1: Jet Lag, Metro and Moviles



La Plaza del Sol

I can't believe we are actually in Madrid.  It almost seems surreal that we are across the Atlantic Ocean in another country and not going home for another 8 weeks.  Fortunately both of our flights went well.  We flew from RDU to JFK to MAD and arrived in Madrid about 7:15am (there is a 6 hour difference between here and the U.S.).  The only problems were the difficulty in finding our terminal at JFK since there was no terminal listed next to our flight (had to tram to a different location and go through security again) and only getting one hour of sleep on the plane.  But the excitement of being in Madrid fueled our venturous spirits.  So after we arrived in Madrid we decided to figure out the Metro instead of paying for a taxi.  It should be simple, right?  I’ve had some experience with the DC Metro, but as a Winston-Salem native, I've never really had much experience with public transportation.  After "talking" with the lady at the information desk, we found the best route and paid for our tickets.  The station at the airport was really nice, new and modern.  On our first line, we met some U.S. students from South Carolina who just graduated and embarked on a post graduation Euro trip.  Although it was nice to hear English, I didn't feel different than the majority of the people on the metro.  Everyone seemed so familiar, as if I was riding a bus in Chapel Hill.  The crowd was diverse - young students, businessmen, moms, etc. who all looked like Americans.  It was interesting to see how similar the diversity of the U.S. is similar to a city like Madrid.  We transferred to two other lines to arrive at the train station that we thought was near our hostel, but in fact it was not.  The other problem we encountered was that we always seemed to exit the metro on the side without an escalator or elevator.  We climbed tall stair cases lifting our luggage one step at a time, causing a hold up during prime time as people were heading to work.  We got a lot of strange looks, but we carried on, literally with our luggage.  The metro was a lively place.  While it was a never ending labyrinth of tunnels and stairs, people rushed from place to place, a man played the violin which seemed to gives us a taste of Madrid (at this time we hadn't stepped foot on actual Spain soil), and old, disabled women shouted out prayers to the metro costumers.  It was quite an introduction to Spain.  And since we arrived at the train station that was not near our hostel, we really had to put ourselves out there and ask multiple people for directions.  We finally realized we needed to get back on the metro and head to Sol - a large center near the capital where our hostel was.  We emerged from the underground metro, finishing our last couple of stairs and entered into an active plaza with the sun beating down on us, and people passing us from each direction.  We stood in the middle and the turned it circles to take everything in - we couldn't believe we were actually in Spain.  

The view from on hostel - Calle de Celenque



We finally found the hostel, and left our luggage there since our room wasn't ready yet.  A nice older woman runs the hostel and was very helpful and patient when it came to communicating.  Our hostel is in a great location - near the center plaza, near restaurants and bars, and near the capital.  Everything is in walking distance.  To pass the time we walked to the main shopping street to buy a prepaid cell phone to communicate with each other while we are here, and to call back home.  This really challenged us to use our Spanish as we talked with a sales rep to find the best deal/best program for us.  As we left the store, we realized there was so much we wanted to explore, but we were becoming deliriously tired.  So right now we are sitting in the Starbucks, which seems to be one of the only places with free Wi-Fi, cooling off and emailing our parents.  We are waiting for our two other friends to arrive and then we will check into the hostel and take a short siesta while all the shops are closed.  I am eager to rest up and continue exploring.  There is so much to do in Madrid, and I can't wait to tell you about it.  Until then, ciao!



Forward: I'm Ready to Learn

The Next Page.  I know it may seem like a cheesy theme, but I think the quote above by St. Augustine defines the goal for my trip.  By traveling throughout Spain and Europe, and experiencing new cultures, I hope to discover other pages of the world's book.  I want to go beyond tourist hot spots.  I want to taste, smell, and feel the raw cultural experiences that this trip can provide.  Through this experience, I hope to internally travel to learn more about myself, while collectively learning more about others.  I will be open and adventurous.  

But all this comes at a cost: fear.  Today I embark on my journey and I am feeling anxious and nervous.  Although I traveled to Argentina for a month in high school, I know this experience will further challenge me.  On that trip, the trip detailed were planned by a trip leaders who waited for us at the airport and accompanied us on our trip to the destination city.  This time, it is all on us.  We have our plane ticket and hostel reservation. Nothing else. We are diving into something exciting, yet unknown.  In the past 24 hours, I have found myself fearing the worst.  What if I lose my passport?  What if it is stolen?  What if someone steals my luggage?  What if I miss a train?  But I have realized one thing.  It's not about these worries or these "what if" scenarios, it the reaction that is important.  It is the reaction from which I will learn.

So bring it on Europe.  I'm ready for sporadic rains at inconvenient times.  I'm ready to get lost in bad neighborhoods.  I'm ready to experience language barriers.  I'm ready to embarrass myself.  I'm ready to learn.

First stop, Madrid, Spain