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...