2011

I have been in Spain for 5 months, and I have 4 months left! Here’s a recap of what I’ve been up to in 2011:



Winter Vacation: I had fun with friends, and then my host family and I went to Madrid!

 Jan 6: Día de los reyes magos (Day of the Magi Kings). Although Spain celebrates Christmas for the cultural tradition, the 6th of January is when the Magi come and leave presents for all the children. I got some beautiful earrings from my host parents, and we had a great time in Madrid with my host dad’s family.


January: School started again. I now understand 99% of daily conversation, and have very few problems communicating. I am hesitant to use the word ‘fluent’ until I completely understand a few elusive grammatical concepts, but I’m almost there! Almost bilingual! I’ve made some good friends, and heard a lot of interesting questions about America along the way. Some of my favorites are: “Does the most popular girl in your high school drive the most expensive car?” (No one really cares what car you drive). “Does everyone have a gun?” (No.) And, “Do you really have high school graduation ceremonies with robes and everything?” (Yes!).


Every Wednesday and Friday: I, Caroline, have joined a marching drum group. However, these kinds of drums are much more samba or tribal than a high school marching band. And at the moment I am playing the tambourine. But everyone in the group is very nice, and the music we make is so fun to dance to! We are playing in a parade for Carnaval this Sunday, and I have a little tambourine solo that I’m pretty excited about.


In other news, I am done with all of my college applications (13!!!), and now I am waiting to find out where I’ll be accepted. Wish me luck!

The view from Altea's beach.

Yay for Tourism!

I had a long weekend, so my host family took me to Madrid for 4 days! I had a great time being a total tourist, and I got to see Segovia, Toledo, and Cuenca.


Segovia!

It’s about an hour north of Madrid, and we stopped in the mountains to go sledding! I was freezing, but we had a good time. Before Segovia, we visited a little town that’s home to an old royal summer palace. It was awesome to see the grounds covered in snow!

The town of Segovia has a 2,000 year old Roman aqueduct running through the town; it looks like they just finished building it. We walked around the old town, and went on a tour through Segovia’s castle… apparently this castle was one of Walt Disney’s inspirations for the Disney Castle!

The next day, we walked around Madrid… I love that city!

Holy Toledo!

Apparently, Toledo used to be the swords-crafting capital of the world… so of course there were all of these awesome sword shops lining the streets. Although some had cheesy movie replica swords, others actually had original swords from the 16th century! We tried some mazapan, which is a delicious Spanish dessert. It’s a great thing that I’m not allergic to almonds, because almost every dessert involves them in some way.

Cuenca!

Although not as famous as Segovia and Toledo, Cuenca is known for its “hanging houses.” These buildings, some of which date back to the 14th century, are built just over the cliffs of a canyon. Unfortunately, the day we went was about 40 degrees and raining, so I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I could have. We ate lunch at a cute little Spanish restaurant, and I ate pig’s ear! It was actually really good, although a bit fatty. My host parents were afraid that I wouldn’t eat it if I knew what it was, but I told them I’ll try anything. They then suggested that I try pig’s blood one day, which is apparently a delicacy. That might be pushing my limits, but what the heck; I’ll probably have a taste.

Random anecdotes from the past few weeks:

-Last Saturday, I went with another American exchange student, Eva, to go see the new Harry Potter movie. Though it was dubbed in Spanish, I understood about 99% of the dialogue! It was funny to hear the Castilian ‘lisp’ instead of British accents, and I think I prefer watching movies in their original language.



-I got my haircut! I was nervous (especially after my mom’s German perm story), so I just asked for a trim, but everything went well! I was honestly frightened that the lady would misunderstand me and chop off all my hair or something… crisis avoided.


-It’s so cold! I’ve been drinking a lot of tea and wearing mittens and slippers indoors. Consistent 40 degree temperatures are something I am not used to, but people are telling me that I need to wait until January until it “actually gets cold”… uh oh. On the bright side, this means there is snow in Madrid! I’m going to Madrid next weekend, so I hope the snow stays.

-This past Thursday, as I’m sure you all know, was Thanksgiving. Spain doesn’t have a similar holiday, but a Rotary member invited Eva and I for a delicious dinner instead. It was weird not being with my family and eating turkey and pumpkin pie. I’ve had to explain to several people what Thanksgiving is and why it’s a holiday; upon hearing about the feast with the Pilgrims and Indians, my friend said in all seriousness, “ I thought the Pilgrims killed the Indians.” I told her, “No, no, that was after they taught the Pilgrims how to survive…”

More to come next week about my 5 days in Madrid!

10 Things

Aside from my wonderful host family, here are my 5 favorite things about Altea:
   1. The Mediterranean Sea (it's bluer than the sky, so gorgeous)
   2. The plaza and old church
   3. Spanish food! Specifically flan, chorizo, and Spanish tortilla
   4. White buildings + flowers + cobblestone streets + blue skies = postcards
   5. Harry Potter in Spanish! It's good practice, plus it's great to read about "Quien-usted-sabe" and "Dumbledore"

And, to be honest, here are the things I miss most about my home (not including friends and family)
   1. Mexican food. Seriously. I have a perpetual craving for Celinda's chips and Chipotle burritos
   2. My car, or rather, just being able to drive myself around
   3. English movies! So much is lost in translation, and watching National Treasure without Nicolas Cage's voice just isn't the same...                                                                                              4. My high school (I never thought I'd say that!). I miss the football games, teaching style, and huge student body, but I do love studying only classes I'm interested in here in Spain!
  5. Singing. Not that I was ever a fantastic singer, but I miss just being able to sing to my iPod in my room, without fear of thin walls and disturbing the neighbors.

So far, I've been in Spain for a little over 2 months, and my exchange is going really well. I'm making friends and though I'm not fluent yet, I can understand a lot more now.

Madrid!!

So. I’ve neglected my blog for over a month. Shame. From now on, I’ll try to write more regularly.


This past weekend, I went to Madrid with a friend to visit my host sister, who’s studying in a university there. I had a fantastic time, and now Madrid is tied with London for my favorite city in the world! (Second place: Rome, Third place: New York). Here is an overview of the trip, complete with some pictures:

Friday: Mariajo and I take the bus to Madrid after school. For some reason, I neglect to pack jackets heavier than a sweater.

Saturday: Maria (my host sister), Mariajo, and I go sightseeing. We walk all around the city, and I fall in love with Madrid’s history, beautiful buildings, clean streets, complicated Metro system, and horrible weather (45 degrees Farenheit + rain).

Plaza Mayor:

Me: so, is everything really old, or is it just made to look old?

Maria: This is Europe. Everything is really old.

 

Me in front of the Palacio Real

Catedral:

Spanish McDonalds!

Cibeles:

Notice that I was freezing, so I went shopping and bought a winter coat! (The shopping in Madrid is fantastic, though expensive. Everyone on the streets, including men, dresses as if they’ve just stepped out of a magazine… Not just cute jackets, but cute jeans, scarves, boots, and accessories to match. <3)



After a full day of walking, we go out later that night. It’s the night before Halloween, and we see some pretty crazy costumes! In America, girls tend to dress “cute” on Halloween, but here, the goal seems to be having the scariest costume.



Sunday:

After I sleep in and go to a cyber café to submit some college apps, we take the Metro to a famous dance theater, Teatros de Canal. Mariajo is friends with a professional ballet/tango dancer, and he is able to get us tickets to see that night’s performance of “Wonderland.” Fantastic!! Also, he introduces us to the choreographer/founder/owner, Victor Ullate, who is apparently very famous in Spain. Because it’s Sunday, all of the stores are closed; this wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that we have no food in the house… we end up making pasta haha.

Monday:

We take the Metro to Madrid’s beautiful park, El Parque de Retiro, which is where Spanish royalty have spent their leisure time over the past four or five hundred years. For me, el Retiro is even more beautiful than Central Park. We buy fresh bread, and eat sandwiches (bocadillos) on the grass.

Because we leave el Retiro a little too late, and because we overestimate the Metro, Mariajo and I miss our bus back to Altea. To summarize a long and stressful ordeal that includes sprinting through the Metro with all of our luggage, a journey that takes 4 hours by car takes us a grand total of 15 hours. We arrive the next morning at 9am, and then, good student that I am, I go to school.



If you ever have the chance to visit Europe, definitely come to Spain. And once you’re in Spain, stay at least two days in Madrid. I didn’t have the chance to see the El Prado Museum, but I’ve heard it’s fantastic. When my host family and I go to Madrid for the holidays, I’ll tell you all about it!