it's still raining

pretty much having papa' here has been fabuloso and i don't want him to leave! i can't believe i leave for MOROCCO tomorrow night...so wild. monday after i blogged it ended up clearing up for a bit (miraculously), so we were able to go to el retiro and walk around! it was beaautiful. it felt very much like fall, and we got to spend some time watching the ducks and fish and birds, and the way cute kids feeding them with breadcrumbs. we ended up walking back in ther rain which was enjoyable nonetheless, and headed out to cenar at el botin with jenny & katy, which was a lot of fun.

papa' and jenny talked acid reflux the whole time because jenny is just faaascinated. we talked and sat for such a good while, it was really nice. that's been my favorite part of this trip--obviously there have been great meals, but even better has been the time at the table...the waiters don't bring la cuenta until you ask, and even then it takes a good 45 minutes til the bill actually gets to you. so different from the rushed service we get in the states--it's like they actually want you to spend some time there.

tuesday after school i met papa' at the hotel, and we got a bite at pans & company, which i thought was just delicious, then headed out on el autobus for el escorial--the beautiful monastery/palace/basilica that sits on a hill 45 minutes outside of madrid. it was raining and raining, which sort of put a damper on things, but it was a fun trip nonetheless. we ended up paying for the guided tour instead of the audioguide, but it was only a group of 4 so it was pretty personal and interesting. the room with the marble caskets blew my mind--i couldn't believe there were real kings and queens in there... and the basilica was just beautiful. we sat in there for a good while and just took in the walls and images and the thoughts they provoked. it was really beautiful. it was pouring as we left, and we got back to madrid and got ready for dinner.

after looking for some free internet for a while, we met up with jonathan, nicole & jen for dinner (which was eventful, as well--some confusion with metro stops!) and ended up at a mexican restaurant near plaza espana. it was pretty good, and a lot of fun to be in that kind of setting with friends...talked about home a lot, things we were used to, how much we love mexican food, etc. another long meal and really great conversation and company. after such an unsuccessful night of finding a free internet cafe we got back to the hotel and i decided to call the front desk and ask about their internet (the computer just wouldn't connect to the wireless) and they said sure! come down for a cable. awesome... can't believe we didn't ask the first day.

wednesday (today) papa' came to school with me! sooo great. it was fun having him see what it was all like, and get a better picture of what i'm really learning over here! he LOVED my international relations class (as do i) & enjoyed teatro espanol as well. i gave him a little tour and he even had a cafe con leche and pastry in our cafeteria. it was pooouring while we were at school, but the walk back to the metro was really beautiful with all the green trees in the park near the school & the clean air.

lunch with marina, ana & jenny today since papa' hadn't met marina (my host mom) yet because she was out of town this weekend and they have such a crazy work schedule. lunch was really enjoyable, and i'm glad papa' had a chance to meet them. we walked around for a while after that and then went to ISA for a bit for a meeting. back to the hotel at 7 and took a 2 hour nap...we were just sooo tired. papa' slept until 10, when i woke him up to see if we were going to get dinner! we headed out like true madrilenos at 11pm for a bite to eat and got a small plate of paella and manchego queso with pan. delicious. we're back at the hotel now at 115 and i should get ready for bed. tomorrow's my last day with papa' and i'm off to morocco. i don't really want him to go home. i suppose less than 2 months left til i'm hooome. but obviously i'm having a great time, and i've loved re-discovering madrid with papa' here. wish you were here, too.
<3

speaking of papá

i´m having a great time with papá...it´s still soo exciting that he´s here! saturday was sort of recooperation day for him, as he was pretty tired from traveling, so we didn´t make it to el escorial as planned, but we did see an awesome play saturday night called "el caratero de neruda" about the friendship between pablo neruda & his postman...with some political stuff thrown in there as well. it was a realllly enjoyable play, especially because i could actually understand all that was going on! after that, papá and i had dinner at my host family´s house, which was so delightful. lots of pizza, lots of laughing, (lots of español of course) & lots of this hilarious game called "tienes un clip?" that ana taught us. it was good times, we stayed until 130 am, then woke up the next morning to go to "el rastro", madrid´s biggest flea market.

two & a half hours later all we´d bought was an umbrella. but it was fun nonetheless & i´m sure i´ll go back and leave with something other than an umbrella. after that we headed to my house to have lunch with my host family--homemade pasta, which was AMAZING, to be followed by a game of canasta! soo much fun. 5 people & 3 decks, it was great. papá actually brought in the win, and i came in 2nd. holler, montoys! after that we napped for an hour then headed off to to "loco por el fútbol"--a bar-club-restaurant type place whose name says it all. jonathan met us there & the three of us got to watch the end of formula 1, which was actually really fun to see, and the barcelona-real madrid game. real madrid scored within the first 3 minutes of the game and i couldn´t believe it. it was awesome...the place erupted. the place was really fun--plasma screens all along the walls of the 2-story place, and big screens above those. we had a good time. we left surprised that real-madrid held down the win--2-0! awesome. we were pretty disappointed that the streets weren´t filled with fans, though--the rain does that, i guess.

today i had class, then met papá back at the hotel and we got café con leche and some sopa & enjoyed some quality time to just sit and talk... it was really nice. the rain is sort of draining us. haha, no pun intended. but. it puts a damper on things because i wanted to do some more fun stuff outside, like row boats in the park. i suppose we´ll make do. tonight we´re off to the oldest restaurant in the world--el botín--founded in 1725! (goya worked as a plate cleaner there in 1765) with katy & jenny...i´m excited.

miss you all...abrazos y besos

speaking of spain...the past two weeks in a nutshell

I’ve got to sit down and write because tomorrow my DAD arrives!!! Which means that there will be a whole new whirlwind of activity and I will just get further and further behind in telling you about the last couple of weeks. Geez I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I went to paris. It seems like so much longer with all that’s happened in that time. I feel extremely fortunate to be experiencing and seeing all that I am. It seems like everyday I feel more and more comfortable here, yet I still can’t believe I’m here…and at the same time, I am growing more homesick. I am so excited to see my dad, but hope that it doesn’t make me even more homesick when he leaves!

So in the past 2 weeks I have started 4 new classes, been to Toledo and back, and Barcelona & back, met lots of new people, . I will attempt to unravel each…

Classes are amazing. I am really happy to be at nebrija (my university)…it is a new private school and the teachers are so great and invested, and we have actual interaction with them. I wasn’t so certain about my class load the first week, so I went and talked to the person in charge and he was super helpful and helped me switch out of one of my classes and find a more suitable one for me, which now happens to be my favorite class! teatro espanol—we are reading & watching a few important plays in the class, and discussing the importance of theatre within the context of spain’s history. The first few classes, we discussed the difference between poems and plays and had to transform a poem into a play and make a ficha for it (basically an ad) & write a page of dialogue out. we weren’t required to act it out, but obviously we did and my teacher LOVED it. it was pretty much professional quality. We transformed a dramatic lorca poem into comedy. Wish you were there.

I’m also taking gramatica (grammar) and I LOVE my teacher—she explains everything so well. and then there’s espana diversa, which hasn’t been my favorite class in the world, but it is picking up. it is essentially a history class about Spain, focusing on its autonomous communities & how they came to be. Lastly I have international relations in English, which I really really really am enjoying.

So 2 wkends ago our ISA group went to Toledo, which was lovely. It was a beautiful little town, with lots of hills, some of the TINIEST streets (width-wise) I’ve ever seen, built in stone, and famous for el Greco, its production of swords (it actually is home of the swords used in lord of the rings and troy) and mazapan (marzipan), which is absolutely delicious. We even had a fun surprise of running into the mayor on our walking tour, and he was kind enough to stop and take a photo with us. Swell. El Greco’s highly acclaimed piece—The Burial of the Count of Orgaz was absolutely incredible to see up close…I was in awe.

It was also really fun to visit Toledo because in our Espana Diversa class we had just been discussing Isabelle & Ferdinand, which had great influence in Toledo, so it was great to have even more contextual basis for the experience.

Barcelona was absolutely incredible this last weekend…I had a great time. It was also an ISA trip, and we left Friday morning and got back Sunday evening. It was just so nice to be by the water. And Gaudi’s work was so unique…I loved Park Guell, which is essentially a garden with all of Gaudi’s incredible architecture. It was so interesting to learn about his interest in creating art from nature, and seeing how that manifested in his work. I loved Barcelona and you should absolutely check out the photos if you haven’t yet. It was also a great weekend to get to know the other ISA kids, since all the sessions of kids have arrived. I would really like to return to Barcelona and spend more time at park guell & at the beach—saw the beach, but didn’t get to spend much time there. Oh and I almost forgot…la sagrada familia. The 2^nd most visited site in Spain, and Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece. It’s a cathedral and has been under construction since 1890. it was left unfinished when Gaudi died, and is still not done! They predict it’ll be finished in 20 years. Apparently Gaudi requested that all work be done on it with funds raised by people visiting/coming to worship in the cathedral…that plus the complication of being ultra careful in what they add to Gaudi’s masterpiece has let the construction to endure so much time.

I have been missing my family lots and lots. It is extremely hard not to be home right now while my grandpa is sick. I just want to be there with him. I am so lucky I got to spend some time with him before I left. I am really happy my dad has gotten to spend more time with him the last few weeks, and that juan carlos is there with him now while my dad can’t be.

It’s Saturday morning now & I just got back from picking my dad up at the airport and spending some time with him. he needed a nap, so I ran to my house to pick up some things and post this blog…

Whooaa I heard a loooud procession of people and a parade and thought it was a couple blocks away, in Sol (the most central part of Madrid) but I just looked out the window and the parade is outside my house, stretching all along my street—it’s a parade for socialism in cuba and against imperialism.

The signs read: Abajo el imperialismo con la revolucion; libertad para los 5 cubanos presos en los EEUU por luchar contra el terrorismo; catalunya para cuba; contra imperialismo construyamos socialismo.

I didn’t expect to encounter something so eventful in the two-block walk from my house to my dad’s hotel so I don’t have my camera with me—what a bummer!

I’m off to papa’s hotel, then we’re off to el Escorial—this beautiful monastery in the mountains. I’m exciiited. Will write more along the week of my adventures with papa! Miss you and love you.

other fun random stuff from the past 2 wks:

-went over to my friend, selena's house the other day to watch the last few episodes of this season's "the office" with our other friend emily. HILARIOUS...she has a "season pass" on itunes so the new episodes automatically download as they come in, isn't that brilliant?

-had a personal training session at the gym and LOVED it...love the cool stuff she taught me.

-it's been raining the last couple of days! it's nice, spain's had a drought & is hard-pressed for water... and i have been walking around with a broken umbrella sort of opened above me. haha...

speaking of paris... (the longest post you have ever seen)

my trip to paris was unbelievable. paris really is more than I could’ve ever imagined it to be. It was beautiful and interesting and exciting and peaceful and delicious all at once. It was really weird coming back to spain—it was like I was going back to “normal” after traveling, but really I was going back to MADRID, which is still new and exciting. i was even super excited to go back to speaking spanish--bonjour. merci. au revoir. s'il vous plaît... was about all i knew around those parts...It also made me really thankful to have a great host family that I feel really comfortable and “at home” with. (obviously there is nothing like being at home home…but this was a great consolation prize.) it was neat to come back and sort of look at madrid in a new way—seeing paris helped me to notice things that are particular about Madrid…the architecture, the feel, the food. it was great to have more exposure to Europe so that I could learn more about the intricacies of each country.

Katy and I got into orly airport at around 11am Thursday morning SO excited to be in france. Katy has a friend aurelie who she met online doing an exchange type correspondence program during high school & they have kept in contact for four years, but have never met in person! Aurelie offered to pick us up from the airport and take us wherever we needed to go—what a treat. She and her brother drove us an hour into the city & we looked out the window in awe at the bright city and beautiful buildings. Madrid is so colorful and has so much red—paris has pretty much all white buildings. We drove through the main streets—down the champs elysees, passed the arc de triumph…it was a great little tour/preview for the next four days. We were shocked that they came to the airport to pick us up, drove us all the way across town, AND had bought us metro passes for our first ride. So so kind.

They left us at spencer’s, which was in the 14 area (northwest) just a little ways beyond the arc de triumph. We had 45 minutes to kill before spencer got home from school, so we explored his beautiful neighborhood, where we saw the first of many “la boulangerie’s” & stumbled into a gorgeous church (which is in the photos). We met up with Spence & Tia (his awesome gf) after that and went to a market and bought a couple baguettes, smoked turkey, hummus, apple juice, brie and sat out in the park near his house. it was one of my favorite times all four days—SUCH delicious food, a beautiful day, an awesome park. It was so nice to just chill outside and soak it in. mmm. The food is unbeatable. After lunch, Tia & Spence had to head back to school so katy & I walked from his house down to the arc de triumph & all the way down the champs elysees to the monument park near the louvre. Katy and I were thankful for having walking legs from Madrid, it was so much more enjoyable to be out and about all day instead of stuck in the metro…The whole walk was just amazing…we walked for a good 4 hours that afternoon. The arc de triumph was beautiful, it was so much fun to see up close…soo many tourists everywhere. We walked home and made it ¾ of the way there by memory, then got lost. The good thing was we got to see ALL of spencer’s neighborhood in case we hadn’t already… we finally made it to spencer’s, where we hung out with his friends there for awhile, then trekked out into the paris night. we walked by the Moulin Rouge & were SO disappointed to not have our camera. We just walked around that night, got falafels at a yummy restaurant & watched some golf in a bar for awhile—what is it with bars showing golf?

The next day (Friday) Spence, Tia, Katy & I made it to Versailles…which was super incredible. The place is just ginormous. It’s like what were you think king louis XIV? But really all the rooms were crazy and we couldn’t believe how ornate they were. It was really a treat to see after having seen spain’s palacio real just earlier that week. Inside was swell but my favorite part of Versailles (& one of my favorite parts of the whole trip) was walking around out back in the gardens and near the ponds & fountains out back. We were in search of marie antoinette’s quarters and never really found them, though we walked for a good while and enjoyed the green pastures & beautiful trees. We even saw sheep & horses! It was just so beautiful out there—soo so green and rich. We started to head back after a few hours as it began to rain…but on the way back the rain stopped and the sun came out and it was one of the most beautiful sites—check out the photos for sure.

From Versailles, Katy & I were to meet Aurelie at her house as she was so excited to have us over for dinner with all her friends. We ate potluck style with pizza and pasta salad and salad & her friends were SO SO nice & super fun. From there, those girls were going out to a club in the city so we trekked with them on the metro to the center of the city (aurelie lives in the outskirts of paris—in the southeast corner, which is the absolute opposite end of spencer, who lives in the northwest corner). Katy & I made it back safely to spencer’s house after that & we woke up early the next morning for a long & full Saturday…

Saturday we woke up & walked back down the champs elysees to eat at the delightful café, PAUL, which looked delicious & was an obvious stop. J it was really good & lots of fun to take back the little sugars wrapped in paper that says PAUL on it. hehe. We walked all the way down to the champs elysees back to the louvre, which was SUCH a great time. it was like the biggest place ever with the most amazing art pieces ever—Grecian pieces, German, Dutch, French, Egyptian. Everything you could think of—& of course the classics: la venus de milo, the mona lisa (I snuck a couple photos, even though I definitely wasn’t supposed to…), winged bull…everything was beautiful & just so diverse. It was so neat to see so much amazing art in one place that was from so many different places. It was like 4 floors of wing after wing after wing of art. We spent the bulk of the morning there, then our bellies led us to get a couple of crepes to share and eat along the seine. It is so lovely eating along the river—it was gorgeous. The notre dame is just on the other side of the river, so we went there after lunch, which was a lot of fun as well. it was humongous and beautiful. The stained glass was gorgeous. after spending some time inside, we walked along the seine and visited the shops along that area—saw the outside art and such. We wrote some postcards along the river and watched this crazy rollerblading show that some kids were putting on. Some of the craziest tricks I’ve seen…very impressive. As it started to get darker (& started to rain) we hopped on one of the boats to take the boat tour, which was really fun to take, especially since it beat getting wet/being inside somewhere. We saw the Eiffel tower & dusk had just rolled in, so it lit up just as we parked the boat at that stop. Later that evening aurelie & her brother and his friend romain picked us up at the notre dame for dinner, which we ate in the city. After that we headed to a club for some dancing & it was the funnest club I have ever been to. It was like they played actual music that made me want to get up and dance…literally. It was very casual and informal, and there were some legit dancers in there. It was called “barrio latino” & I really wanted to get my bros+paul a shirt there but it was a little over my budget. [foto] we had a really good time, then they drove us to aurelie’s aunt’s house where katy & I slept for the night.

Sunday morning aurelie’s aunt was there to make us breakfast (we had stayed there alone) & I asked her how her trip was (thinking she had been away for the weekend) but she had just gone to sleep at aurelie’s house so we could have a place to sleep! I couldn’t believe it. she was incredibly hospitable and so so nice (just like aurelie). After breakfast, katy & I headed off to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, and totally took the wrong metro stop…we thought it looked like such the perfect stop from the map, but saw metro stop after metro stop as we got closer and closer the sacre coeur. I was really thankful for the “mistake” b/c we were able to see a totally different side of paris—the run-down, poverty stricken side. It offered a more complete & realistic view of paris. It is really interesting how in paris all of the affluence is in the heart of the city, and the minorities live on the outskirts (so often it is the other way around). So we got to walk through some different and interesting neighborhoods Sunday morning, and the streets were lined with the most ethnic foods I had seen the whole trip. We didn’t see anything that resembled anything French until we got to the bottom of the hill near Montmartre. We climbed the long set of stairs to the highest point in paris…WHAT a site!!! Sacre Coeur/Montmartre was easily my favorite part of the trip. The basilica was incredible and it was so pleasant to sit there on Sunday morning and be absorbed by the peaceful ambience. We spent a good while inside, then walked to the fun artist area behind the cathedral. Katy made the mistake of buying a beret that morning, and consequently got bombarded by artists who just HAD to draw her with her beret on! Some were actually very upset when she refused…we ate a delicious bruschetta tomato “pizza” on a sidewalk on the streets of Montmartre and were able to escape the of-&-on rain that kept rolling in. After that we walked down the front side of Montmartre (we had come in through the back) & walked down that neighborhood to see the coolest shops…I couldn’t get enough of that neighborhood. Every shop was so unique! As per Katy’s request, we walked the path from Montmartre to the café in which the movie Amelie was set…so cute. Katy was ecstatic. We walked a little further and were so surprised to stumble onto the footsteps of the Moulin rouge! We couldn’t believe it was so close! We were pretty happy that we had a second chance at photos, since we had forgotten the camera the first time by. After that we headed to the pompidou (modern art museum) to meet Lauren, a friend from Stanford. It was great to see another familiar face, and to peruse the crazy museum that had exhibits like a row of seats covered with carpets for the public to sit in—that was “art.” Or a white room with a red car that was crashed. There was also some Warhol & Matisse, which was cool to see as well. it was a fun time & it was free, as it was the first Sunday of the month! (can’t believe it’s already October…) Lauren gave us some good pointers on places to stay for the night (as we miscommunicated with aurelie—she thought we were staying at her aunt’s friday & sat & we thought sat & sun)…so we headed over to the notre dame area, as just south of that area is sort of “university central” & she thought we’d be able to get some good deals. We got pretty nervous when the first places we went into were 130 Euro a night…but luckily we found a hotel pretty soon after for less than half of that. Not a bad deal to split. Plus it had free laundry & breakfast. Mmm. We decided that we would have a menu dinner (a dinner that comes with an appetizer & dessert) as Lauren also filled us in that we could find specials for about 10 euro! Pretty rad for an appetizer, entrée & dessert. We found a spot which wasn’t that awesome but still fun, then headed off to climb the Eiffel tower at night! I really didn’t anticipate it to be as “breathtaking” (to be melodramatic) as it actually was. It really was incredible. The air was cool & the view was so so clear. I even met a couple who said they were from California, & when I said I was from the central valley they guessed Fresno. It was a perfect way to end the trip.

The next & last morning (Monday) we enjoyed our free & surprisingly delicious breakfast at the hotel, of super fresh baguettes + jam/cheese/nutella (not all at once) & a huge cup of a mocha-latte. We walked around near spencer’s school & tried to figure out how to make it to the airport…his program’s secretary lady was awesome enough to tell us that not far from there we could catch a bus that went straight to the airport for 6euro. Not bad. we made it back to madrid in an hour and forty-five minutes. crazy.
The trip was amazing & I was sooo glad to have taken it.

Things that struck me about paris:

-It was a beautiful place to experience fall with the changing trees and the brisk air

-Parisian drivers are horrific—it was just as scary to cross the street as it was to ride in the backseat of a car!

-It was super expensive—even the metro was twice as much as madrid’s, & it was best to stick to the basics: baguette, brie, walking (although with walking you have to allot a good amount of time to get anywhere) & do some research beforehand on when museums are free/discounted!

-I am capable of eating more bread than I ever though I could…and I probably ate as much as I ordinarily eat in a yr…but it was the best bread I’d ever had.

-the metro is super complex—15 times more complex than that of Madrid.

-Parisians are SO helpful. That day we were lost on the way to spencer’s, everyone we asked tried to help us. And at one point, the person we asked didn’t know so they asked someone else walking by, who also didn’t know, so they asked somebody else walking by…and the three of them all tried to help us together. Haha.

-The view from everything we climbed was incredible.

It was all in all delightful and enjoyable :)