I failed to write some sort of conclusion upon leaving Spain mainly because I was having problems with my laptop and was too lazy to head to an internet cafe. Then, when I returned I had plans with friends and family every day for about a week. So here we are, about a week and a half ago I returned from Spain. I have to say that overall I had a good experience in Spain. I learned a lot about myself and it reaffirmed the future that I had been planning for myself and my fiancé. Spain re-taught me the meaning of patience and independence. I also realized, once abroad again, that I had been taking so many things in my life for granted: everything from everyday comforts to friends and family. I found a deep appreciation for my roots in Minnesota and pride for being an American. I could not be happier being back home. As much as I love Spain and plan on returning some day to travel, my home and my heart is in Minnesota. There are many wonderful experiences that I had in Spain and many wonderful people that I met that I will always remember, but my life and my future are in Minnesota and I know now, more than ever, that this is where I belong.
Above all, I feel more confident than ever in my future with Brandon. I am sure there were a lot of skeptics who thought that 8 months and over 4,500 miles apart would somehow break us but it only made us stronger. If we can make it through that than we can make it through anything. When I saw him in the airport with my little sister it was like we had never left each other. I am truly happy and content and could not be more excited to marry this man! I also have so much respect for him for never failing to support me during my whole 8 months. Never saying, "I told you so," when I was struggling to adjust in the beginning and always showing me that his love for me had never been stronger than at that moment. I don't want to turn this into a sappy love post but I guess the point I want to get to is simply that I have never been more confident and happy in a relationship than I am right now. I am so in love and so thrilled to be engaged and marrying him in less than a year.
Being abroad also made me feel pride in being an American. I saw my fair share of anti-Americans, including one of my roomies in Spain, but through it all I learned to really appreciate my homeland. So many people around this world are not fortunate enough to have the rights that I have as an American or the diversity as such a large country. I feel lucky to come from such a hardworking and efficient country. I know that no country is perfect, no history unscathed, but for me, America is the place where I want to live and grow old.
My plans for the upcoming year are to find a good serving job (in order to pay my student loan debt), look for a part-time, fall tutoring or substitute ESL position, do some freelance writing and photography and plan my wedding. It is going to be busy but I could not be more happy being home and being close to the ones I love.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Clases Particulares (private classes)
Though the duration of my private classes has been short here it surely has been interesting. I started in March and was given a few classes by a girlfriend who wasn´t able to fit them in to her schedule. One of the classes on Wednesdays was with a 9-year-old boy named Daniel, the other, on Thursdays was with a 16-year-old boy named Javier. The classes at first were a bit intimidating and challenging to me. The parents would be paying me in cash, 20 euro/hour to help their children become more proficient in English. At first I felt bad, like I was taking advantage of them for how much they were paying me but I soon realized that each class took me time to prep and lots of time to travel to so that I was definitely worth the money I was getting paid.
My class with Daniel only lasted about 3 months and for many of those weeks I either had to cancel because of travelling or conflicts or his mom cancelled for some reason. The family lived only two metro stops from my school so even though the class was at 5pm-6pm on Wednesdays, I usually wouldn´t go home after school ended at 2pm since it would be a long commute back. The classes with Daniel were challenging. His English was terrible...which is why I understood why his parents insisted he have a private tutor. For the first few classes we would go over his homework and lessons, I would help him with his homework and then we would work a lot on pronunciation since his was so very bad. One lesson we were learning about parts of the body and he could NOT pronuonce the word: "muscle." In Spanish it would be pronounced "moose-clay." So he kept saying, "Moose-clay, and then I would say musss-sell," and he would repeat and then a minute later read, "moose-clay." It was very frustrating. Finally I wrote it phonetically how it would be pronounced in Spanish and at the end of the lesson he said it correctly without me correcthing him!
The next week I came to his class though and his mom must have overheard how much I had been emphasizing pronounciation with him and told me, "I discussed with his teacher and she said the only things that are important for him to be working on are grammar and vocabulary. It is not necessary for you to work on pronunciation with him anymore." I couldn´t believe it....this teacher had told his mom that pronunciation isn´t important?! In my opinion, pronunciation is one of the most important things when learning a new language! If someone for example says spicy but pronounces it as "specie" than NO ONE will understand that person. But I realized that this was why it seemed like so many Spanish students were struggling with English because their teachers thought it more important to focus on simply grammar and vocabulary and NOT on pronunciation.
My classes with the 16-year-old Javier were much different. His level of English was high and we did two-hours of conversation once a week. The two hours would always go by so slow....I feel even at a high level of a second language that its hard to have a "personality" or a sense of humor. We would blaze through topics and I felt I was constantly struggling to maintain an interesting and engaging conversation. I started having to search conversation topics online just to have enough material to talk about for the two hours each week that we met. He was most interested in talking to me about sports- preferrably basketball. He was easy to criticize American culture and politics even though he never had visited the states before. I was very adament about refuting his criticisims and making him see another side than what he had seen on TV about Americans.
I guess I would have to say that private classes taught me something very different than working with larger classes. I saw how it takes so much work to help one student alone. I realized even more how important it is to understand a particular learning style of a student. Some are visual, some auditory while others are read-write learners. In a classroom setting it is very challenging to engage all students when everyone seems to have different learning styles. Though I feel with more time at anything I would have been able to adjust to these and found the best way to stimulate all the students through a variety of different activities.
The most valuable lesson to learn about doing private classes in Madrid is the time committment. Madrid is a HUGE city and it takes forever to go from class to class. You end up spending about an hour each way commutting plus time waiting for the class if you don´t want to make the long trek home and then back again. At the end of the day for the money I was making and the number of hours I was putting in to all the commuting it hardly seemed worth it to me. But I am glad I did them because they filled up some of my lazy time here and introduced me to students who were adament about improving on their English. And even after the hours of commute it was still nice to have some extra money in the pocket.
My class with Daniel only lasted about 3 months and for many of those weeks I either had to cancel because of travelling or conflicts or his mom cancelled for some reason. The family lived only two metro stops from my school so even though the class was at 5pm-6pm on Wednesdays, I usually wouldn´t go home after school ended at 2pm since it would be a long commute back. The classes with Daniel were challenging. His English was terrible...which is why I understood why his parents insisted he have a private tutor. For the first few classes we would go over his homework and lessons, I would help him with his homework and then we would work a lot on pronunciation since his was so very bad. One lesson we were learning about parts of the body and he could NOT pronuonce the word: "muscle." In Spanish it would be pronounced "moose-clay." So he kept saying, "Moose-clay, and then I would say musss-sell," and he would repeat and then a minute later read, "moose-clay." It was very frustrating. Finally I wrote it phonetically how it would be pronounced in Spanish and at the end of the lesson he said it correctly without me correcthing him!
The next week I came to his class though and his mom must have overheard how much I had been emphasizing pronounciation with him and told me, "I discussed with his teacher and she said the only things that are important for him to be working on are grammar and vocabulary. It is not necessary for you to work on pronunciation with him anymore." I couldn´t believe it....this teacher had told his mom that pronunciation isn´t important?! In my opinion, pronunciation is one of the most important things when learning a new language! If someone for example says spicy but pronounces it as "specie" than NO ONE will understand that person. But I realized that this was why it seemed like so many Spanish students were struggling with English because their teachers thought it more important to focus on simply grammar and vocabulary and NOT on pronunciation.
My classes with the 16-year-old Javier were much different. His level of English was high and we did two-hours of conversation once a week. The two hours would always go by so slow....I feel even at a high level of a second language that its hard to have a "personality" or a sense of humor. We would blaze through topics and I felt I was constantly struggling to maintain an interesting and engaging conversation. I started having to search conversation topics online just to have enough material to talk about for the two hours each week that we met. He was most interested in talking to me about sports- preferrably basketball. He was easy to criticize American culture and politics even though he never had visited the states before. I was very adament about refuting his criticisims and making him see another side than what he had seen on TV about Americans.
I guess I would have to say that private classes taught me something very different than working with larger classes. I saw how it takes so much work to help one student alone. I realized even more how important it is to understand a particular learning style of a student. Some are visual, some auditory while others are read-write learners. In a classroom setting it is very challenging to engage all students when everyone seems to have different learning styles. Though I feel with more time at anything I would have been able to adjust to these and found the best way to stimulate all the students through a variety of different activities.
The most valuable lesson to learn about doing private classes in Madrid is the time committment. Madrid is a HUGE city and it takes forever to go from class to class. You end up spending about an hour each way commutting plus time waiting for the class if you don´t want to make the long trek home and then back again. At the end of the day for the money I was making and the number of hours I was putting in to all the commuting it hardly seemed worth it to me. But I am glad I did them because they filled up some of my lazy time here and introduced me to students who were adament about improving on their English. And even after the hours of commute it was still nice to have some extra money in the pocket.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Puerta del Sol....still under hostage by protesters
The center of Madrid in Puerta del Sol is beautiful....well it was about a month ago before the protesters arrived. I am all about protesting to get your views across for a good cause.... However, after about a month of protesters camping out in the center and little being accomplished I am kind of over it. Maybe I don't have a valid opinion since I, myself, am not a Madrileño but I checked out the action in Puerta del Sol yesterday and this is what I saw: tents, graffiti, hippies, lots of young people smoking weed, a ping pong table with people playing and one small rally with a speaker. Is this really what has come to a movement that a month ago seemed so powerful? Puerta del Sol was littered with garbage and graffiti. I was disgusted. If you want to create a strong movement you need to RELATE to the general public, get out in the streets and talk to people. This is what it was like about a month ago when it started but now its just become a sit-in for jobless young people to be lazy and smoke. Are they really proving a point by doing this? I think at this point they are just embarrassing themselves. Nobody is going to take a hippie pothead seriously...Get up, get out and DO something or else just go home.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Dubrovnik, CROATIA
My sister Lori and I had discussed about a month ago travelling somewhere on the weekend. She told me a few countries she planned on visiting and asked if I would be interested in any of them. We decided on Croatia simply because it sounded fun and exciting. Before going there I didn´t even know where it was on the map. I figured, "How many people can say that they´ve gone to Croatia?" And I also knew that flying from Spain to Croatia...though not exactly cheap, was a lot cheaper than flying from the U.S. to Croatia. So we booked the hostels and I booked my flight to meet her there.
I left right from school on Thursday, June 2nd and headed to the airport. I finished class around 2pm and had just enough time to travel to the airport by metro and catch my 4:25pm plane. I had bought my plane ticket through Expedia and the cheapest flight to Croatia was long....Madrid-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Zagreb (capital of Croatia) and then finally Zagreb-Dubrovnik. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights to Dubrovnik, you must always fly through the capital first. So even if I had got a direct flight to Croatia I would have had to go through Zagreb too. So there were three fights with only a 45 minute layover between my flight from Zagreb-Dubrovnik which I was worried about missing. Of course the plane that flew from Frankfurt to Zagreb was delayed so we arrived into Zagreb at the TIME that my flight to Dubrovnik was supposed to leave (10:45pm). I was running through the airport and trying to catch it in time. Luckily, since it was a "connecting" flight there were multiple people on that flight also going to Dubrovnik so they held the plane for us and literally started boarding the minute we got to the gate. I was super relieved because I had forgotten to write down the name or phone number of my hostel since I would be meeting someone from the hostel at the bus station and had no way of contacting them had I missed my flight.
I finally got into Dubrovnik around 12:30am- a good 45 minutes later than expected. From here I had to take a bus into the city. The bus waited for another flight to get in before leaving so we were sitting in bus for over 20 minutes. The bus ride to Pile Gate, which is right outside the old city, was about 25 minutes long. From here I was picked up by the hostel owner´s son. It is a service they provide for free (transportation from Pile Gate to the hostel since the city is hard to navigate). The owner´s son (whose name I still do not know...we referred to him at the hostel as "the son") spoke very little English so our conversation was limited. I got to the hostel around 1:30am. My sister was waiting for me on the terrace overlooking the city and the sea. We chatted for about an hour while I literally inhaled cheese and crackers, chocolate and gulped down some red wine. We called it a night and went to bed.
The hostel was called Banana Villa and sat on a hill overlooking the mountains, houses, and the harbor. Probabaly by some regulation almost all the houses on the coast were either white or beige. It was very easy on the eyes. Banana Villa, though, was painted a light blue color. So it was easy to spot on the top of the hill even from a distance. The hostel was a large house owned by a Croatian family. They rented out almost all the the rooms to help pay for the mortage. There was the mother and the father (who we called "the mother" and "poppy"), they were in their late 50s or early 60s I would guess. Neither of them spoke hardly any English. Poppy knew the phrases, "Hello, good morning, nice, sorry, no problem, girl, boy, airport and bus station) whereas the mother seemed to know quite less. The mother did the cleaning and Poppy did the cooking/grilling and helped drive the backpackers to and from the bus station or airport. The son´s only job was to pick up backpackers that arrived in the evening or late at night. Then there was the daughter, named Delores. Everyone went to her because she ran the business and spoke English. It was her that everyone communicated with to find out any information. You often heard, "Is Delores here?" or, "Where´s Delores?" Even when you would approach the mother or Poppy and ask them a question they would go get Delores or call her on the phone to translate.
The next morning we woke up around 7:30am. The door to the terrace from our room had been open all night so the room was bright very early. I peered outside to one of the most beautiful views I have ever
seen. Rolling, mountaineous landscape with white houses dotting the terraine and a beautiful blue sea in the distance. We had a light breakfast, changed into our bathing suits and headed down the hill to the sea! We stopped at a small grocery store and got some snacks for the beach. We went down what seemed like hundreds of steps to get to the beach...I kept thinking, "I don´t want to climb these back to the hostel!" We arrived to the beach, it was kind of like our own private beach- there was hardly anyone there. The water was so clear, dark blue and turqoise. We layed out our towels, globbed on the sunscreen and layed back and enjoyed the sun, the light breeze and sound of the waves. It was like heaven.
We were at this beach from about 10am-1pm. We got some fruity cocktails at the restaurant right on the beach before leaving. Then we headed back up a million steps so she could show me through the old city and then to the other beach near there. The city was beautiful, cobblestones, with museums, churches and restaurants. It also seemed a bit touristy with all the stands selling postcards, jewlery, t-shirts and hats but I was fine with that. We stopped at a stand and each got a large slice of pizza and then a gelato cone. We got to the other beach which seemed more crowded but it was just as beautiful. You could see boats, pirate ships, a cruise ship in the distance and Lokrum island just across the bay. We spent the rest of the day until about 7pm sunbathing and going in and out of the water whenever we started to get too hot. The water was pretty cool but it felt good with the heat. It was so clear I could see to the bottom even when there was about 15 ft. of water below me.
We walked back through the old city to get back to our hostel. It was about a half an hour walk, up many steps but with very stunnning scenery. We got back to the hostel, showered and I ended up taking an hour siesta while my sister wrote in her journal. Around 9pm we left to go find some dinner. We went near the harbor back in the old city and found a nice restaurtant with outdoor live music. We ate some delicious pasta and sat back chatting and getting into some deep conversation. We headed back to our hostel around 11pm and it started to sprinkle a bit. The rain was warm though so it felt refreshing. Luckily, it only sprinkled for about 15 minutes. We finally got back to our hostel and called it a night.
The next morning I woke up and it was perfect weather again! Though this time it felt like it would get in the mid-80s rather than the high 70s/low 80s like the day before. We stopped at the store again and got some snacks for the beach. This time we headed directly to the larger beach near the old city since there had been some annoying teenagers the day before on the smaller beach that we wanted to avoid. We were there for about two hours but we started getting hungry and wanted some real food so we headed back to old city and got some more pizza and then some drinks. We ate near a fountain in the old city and watched the tourists loading the buses to take tours around the city and the many pigeons bathing in the fountain near us. We headed back to the beach after this but it had gotten considerably hotter and a bit humid, so upon arriving, we rented two lawn chairs with cushions and an umbrella (about 15 euro total) and stayed the rest of day until sunset under the umbrella. We both fell asleep for a while and it was so relaxing, simply perfect. On the walk back home we got a bottle of wine, some fresh mozzarela and a loaf of bread. Lori had some dry pasta noodles, marinara sauce and pesto back at the hostel that we were going to use for dinner. We both showered and then made a fabulous dinner and ate out on the terrace. We enjoyed the food, company and conversation and headed to bed around 11pm after finishing our liter of red wine.
In the morning we woke up and yet again, blue skies, light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. We had no more food left at the hostel so we changed, packed our bags, left them at the hostel and headed to a market near the harbor in the opposite directon of the old city. The walk there was long and hot. We stopped and got the necessities for breakfast and lunch and then sat near the harbor eating our food and watching tourists board a cruise ship. Then we headed to the smaller beach. It was actually a shorter walk to the beach then we expeceted but my feet were tired and I had only brought sandals and some flats. My sandles weren´t the best of walking-wear so I ended up getting blisters on the tops of my feet. My sister obliged to change shoes so I could wear her Tevas which were much more comfortable. And upon changing shoes we realized that the top of my foot was smeared with blood from a blister- ouch! But once changing shoes I felt much better. Getting to the beach we spread out our towels for our last afternoon there. I went into the water to cool off and then we layed down and enjoyed being beach bums again for another few hours. We planned on staying longer but decided to head back around 2pm.
It was about 5K from the airport. They were apartments that could be rented out like hotels. Very nice and only about twice the cost of what my hostel was....thought for sure it would be more than that. I relaxed that evening, watched some TV and read my book. I slept-in in the morning and then the ower of the apartments drove me back to the airport. Unfortunately my flight wasn´t until 8:55pm but since I had to check out of the apartment I had no choice but to come early. Had the actual city center been closer to the airport I would have gone back and wandered but it was too expensive and too far away to go back. So I was at the airport for nearly 9 hours. I did some reading, used the computers, had lunch and chatted with a fellow traveler who was also going to Barcelona. My flight back was Dubrovnik-Barcelona and then Barcelona-Madrid. We arrived in Barcelona around 11:30pm and once I got to my gate I realized that everything was closed. None of the check-in stands were open so I was stuck in the area outside of the gates for my 7-hr layover before flying to Madrid. It was super cold and they turned down the lights. Other travelers with overnight layovers were trying to sleep (most unsuccessfully) on the metal chairs in the airport. I read, gazed into space and tried to sleep myself but wasn´t really able to. Finally at 4:30am they opened the gates and I was able to go through security and wait near my gate. It was much warmer and I was able to buy actual food rather than the vending machine selection outside of security.
Finally we headed off to Madrid at 7am. It was a short 1-hour flight but I slept the entire way. It was the only sleep I had gotten in about 24 hours. I arrived to a dreary, chilly and rainy Madrid. Had to take the metro back home and immediately unpacked, showered and headed to school for my afternoon classes. By the time I came home I was a complete zombee with only one hour of sleep in about 28 hours. Minus the last day of my vacation it was absolutely fabulous. The weather was pristine, the company great and it was nice to simply get a break from work and from my life in Madrid. Croatia, from the one city I saw, is an amazing and beautiful place. Even though many don´t speak English there I would put it on your list of "places to visit" because it is definitely worth a trip!
I left right from school on Thursday, June 2nd and headed to the airport. I finished class around 2pm and had just enough time to travel to the airport by metro and catch my 4:25pm plane. I had bought my plane ticket through Expedia and the cheapest flight to Croatia was long....Madrid-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Zagreb (capital of Croatia) and then finally Zagreb-Dubrovnik. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights to Dubrovnik, you must always fly through the capital first. So even if I had got a direct flight to Croatia I would have had to go through Zagreb too. So there were three fights with only a 45 minute layover between my flight from Zagreb-Dubrovnik which I was worried about missing. Of course the plane that flew from Frankfurt to Zagreb was delayed so we arrived into Zagreb at the TIME that my flight to Dubrovnik was supposed to leave (10:45pm). I was running through the airport and trying to catch it in time. Luckily, since it was a "connecting" flight there were multiple people on that flight also going to Dubrovnik so they held the plane for us and literally started boarding the minute we got to the gate. I was super relieved because I had forgotten to write down the name or phone number of my hostel since I would be meeting someone from the hostel at the bus station and had no way of contacting them had I missed my flight.
I finally got into Dubrovnik around 12:30am- a good 45 minutes later than expected. From here I had to take a bus into the city. The bus waited for another flight to get in before leaving so we were sitting in bus for over 20 minutes. The bus ride to Pile Gate, which is right outside the old city, was about 25 minutes long. From here I was picked up by the hostel owner´s son. It is a service they provide for free (transportation from Pile Gate to the hostel since the city is hard to navigate). The owner´s son (whose name I still do not know...we referred to him at the hostel as "the son") spoke very little English so our conversation was limited. I got to the hostel around 1:30am. My sister was waiting for me on the terrace overlooking the city and the sea. We chatted for about an hour while I literally inhaled cheese and crackers, chocolate and gulped down some red wine. We called it a night and went to bed.
The hostel was called Banana Villa and sat on a hill overlooking the mountains, houses, and the harbor. Probabaly by some regulation almost all the houses on the coast were either white or beige. It was very easy on the eyes. Banana Villa, though, was painted a light blue color. So it was easy to spot on the top of the hill even from a distance. The hostel was a large house owned by a Croatian family. They rented out almost all the the rooms to help pay for the mortage. There was the mother and the father (who we called "the mother" and "poppy"), they were in their late 50s or early 60s I would guess. Neither of them spoke hardly any English. Poppy knew the phrases, "Hello, good morning, nice, sorry, no problem, girl, boy, airport and bus station) whereas the mother seemed to know quite less. The mother did the cleaning and Poppy did the cooking/grilling and helped drive the backpackers to and from the bus station or airport. The son´s only job was to pick up backpackers that arrived in the evening or late at night. Then there was the daughter, named Delores. Everyone went to her because she ran the business and spoke English. It was her that everyone communicated with to find out any information. You often heard, "Is Delores here?" or, "Where´s Delores?" Even when you would approach the mother or Poppy and ask them a question they would go get Delores or call her on the phone to translate.
Banana Villa Hostel
stuffed animal "scarecrows" in the hostel garden
The next morning we woke up around 7:30am. The door to the terrace from our room had been open all night so the room was bright very early. I peered outside to one of the most beautiful views I have ever
seen. Rolling, mountaineous landscape with white houses dotting the terraine and a beautiful blue sea in the distance. We had a light breakfast, changed into our bathing suits and headed down the hill to the sea! We stopped at a small grocery store and got some snacks for the beach. We went down what seemed like hundreds of steps to get to the beach...I kept thinking, "I don´t want to climb these back to the hostel!" We arrived to the beach, it was kind of like our own private beach- there was hardly anyone there. The water was so clear, dark blue and turqoise. We layed out our towels, globbed on the sunscreen and layed back and enjoyed the sun, the light breeze and sound of the waves. It was like heaven.
View from the hostel terrace
Almost to the beach!
The beach
looking out at the sea
We were at this beach from about 10am-1pm. We got some fruity cocktails at the restaurant right on the beach before leaving. Then we headed back up a million steps so she could show me through the old city and then to the other beach near there. The city was beautiful, cobblestones, with museums, churches and restaurants. It also seemed a bit touristy with all the stands selling postcards, jewlery, t-shirts and hats but I was fine with that. We stopped at a stand and each got a large slice of pizza and then a gelato cone. We got to the other beach which seemed more crowded but it was just as beautiful. You could see boats, pirate ships, a cruise ship in the distance and Lokrum island just across the bay. We spent the rest of the day until about 7pm sunbathing and going in and out of the water whenever we started to get too hot. The water was pretty cool but it felt good with the heat. It was so clear I could see to the bottom even when there was about 15 ft. of water below me.
Pile Gate outside old city
Gelato
Next beach
We walked back through the old city to get back to our hostel. It was about a half an hour walk, up many steps but with very stunnning scenery. We got back to the hostel, showered and I ended up taking an hour siesta while my sister wrote in her journal. Around 9pm we left to go find some dinner. We went near the harbor back in the old city and found a nice restaurtant with outdoor live music. We ate some delicious pasta and sat back chatting and getting into some deep conversation. We headed back to our hostel around 11pm and it started to sprinkle a bit. The rain was warm though so it felt refreshing. Luckily, it only sprinkled for about 15 minutes. We finally got back to our hostel and called it a night.
The next morning I woke up and it was perfect weather again! Though this time it felt like it would get in the mid-80s rather than the high 70s/low 80s like the day before. We stopped at the store again and got some snacks for the beach. This time we headed directly to the larger beach near the old city since there had been some annoying teenagers the day before on the smaller beach that we wanted to avoid. We were there for about two hours but we started getting hungry and wanted some real food so we headed back to old city and got some more pizza and then some drinks. We ate near a fountain in the old city and watched the tourists loading the buses to take tours around the city and the many pigeons bathing in the fountain near us. We headed back to the beach after this but it had gotten considerably hotter and a bit humid, so upon arriving, we rented two lawn chairs with cushions and an umbrella (about 15 euro total) and stayed the rest of day until sunset under the umbrella. We both fell asleep for a while and it was so relaxing, simply perfect. On the walk back home we got a bottle of wine, some fresh mozzarela and a loaf of bread. Lori had some dry pasta noodles, marinara sauce and pesto back at the hostel that we were going to use for dinner. We both showered and then made a fabulous dinner and ate out on the terrace. We enjoyed the food, company and conversation and headed to bed around 11pm after finishing our liter of red wine.
sunset on the terrace
In the morning we woke up and yet again, blue skies, light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. We had no more food left at the hostel so we changed, packed our bags, left them at the hostel and headed to a market near the harbor in the opposite directon of the old city. The walk there was long and hot. We stopped and got the necessities for breakfast and lunch and then sat near the harbor eating our food and watching tourists board a cruise ship. Then we headed to the smaller beach. It was actually a shorter walk to the beach then we expeceted but my feet were tired and I had only brought sandals and some flats. My sandles weren´t the best of walking-wear so I ended up getting blisters on the tops of my feet. My sister obliged to change shoes so I could wear her Tevas which were much more comfortable. And upon changing shoes we realized that the top of my foot was smeared with blood from a blister- ouch! But once changing shoes I felt much better. Getting to the beach we spread out our towels for our last afternoon there. I went into the water to cool off and then we layed down and enjoyed being beach bums again for another few hours. We planned on staying longer but decided to head back around 2pm.
Harbor
one last time at the beach
We got back and were able to use the hostel showers even though we were checked out. We were given a ride to the bus station by Poppy. Lori bought her bus ticket to Zagreb and I reviewed times that the bus went to the airport and realized I had missed the only time I could take without missing my flight. So I checked out taxi rides and they were less expensive so I thought so I was relieved. We went and got one last meal near the bus station before saying goodbye. I took a taxi to the airport (about a 35 minute ride). I got out and went to check in only to realize that I had actually booked my flight for the next day on accident! When typing in return dates I put Monday and when I saw a morning arrival I assumed it was on Monday when it was actually on Tuesday. I went to information to see if there was a way to change my flight to that day but everything was completely booked so I was out of luck. I paid for an hour of internet to use the computers to email my family, fiancé and school and let them know what had happened. Then I searched for an inexpensive place to stay near the airport for the evening. I found one and wrote down the name and address and then when outside and found a driver to take me there.
saying goodbye
Finally we headed off to Madrid at 7am. It was a short 1-hour flight but I slept the entire way. It was the only sleep I had gotten in about 24 hours. I arrived to a dreary, chilly and rainy Madrid. Had to take the metro back home and immediately unpacked, showered and headed to school for my afternoon classes. By the time I came home I was a complete zombee with only one hour of sleep in about 28 hours. Minus the last day of my vacation it was absolutely fabulous. The weather was pristine, the company great and it was nice to simply get a break from work and from my life in Madrid. Croatia, from the one city I saw, is an amazing and beautiful place. Even though many don´t speak English there I would put it on your list of "places to visit" because it is definitely worth a trip!
Weekends in the crazy city of Madrid
For the past several weeks, since my Spring Break, I have spent every weekend in Madrid with my friends. The amazing thing about Madrid is that it is so large and there are so many restaurants, bars and clubs that it never gets boring. There is always a new place to see and explore. Three weekends ago I spent with my girlfriends. On Saturday we went to Retiro Park and had a picnic all day. The weather was perfect, high 70s (or right about at 80 degrees) and we sat in our sundresses, all us girls, just eating, drinking, chatting and taking in the warmth and the heat of the sun. We were at the park for nearly 6 hours. When the sun started to go down I headed back to my friend´s apartment and we dropped off our things, freshened up and headed back out to the center. We went to one of our favorite spots, Plaza Dos de Mayo. As I have mentioned before I absolutely love how people congregate in plazas here and enjoy the outdoors. You would think that there was a concert going on or a party and yet its just a normal evening in the plaza, packed with kids playing soccer, young people drinking and socializing and dogs running about as if it were a park. After about an hour we headed to one of my friend´s roommate´s concert. It was at a small underground bar not far from the plaza. We walked into some pretty strange electronic/techno music but it was quite exciting nontheless. Finally her roommate came on. He is in a "band" with his friend and they rap together in Spanish. I caught most of the words and it appeared to be somewhat vile language but none of it was taken seriously and the crowd was dancing and repeating the chorus. We left after the show and headed to a place called Vía Láctea.
Via Láctea is a bar that only plays 50s American music. We got some beers and danced the night away with our 50s moves (moves that I learned at sockhops back when I was a kid in Girl Scouts). I have never had so much fun dancing in my entire life. Just us American girls, grooving to some oldies. The Spaniards in the bar looked intimidated by us and all these strange "twist" and "sprinkler" moves we were doing that they´d probably never seen before. Some of the Spanish girls looked embarassed for us but none of cared since we were having more fun than anyone else in that bar. We ended the night around 3:30am and all parted ways to take our night buses home.
I came home so content and so thankful for having such great girlfriends in Madrid. It´s nights like these where I feel very bittersweet about coming home to Minnesota.
Via Láctea is a bar that only plays 50s American music. We got some beers and danced the night away with our 50s moves (moves that I learned at sockhops back when I was a kid in Girl Scouts). I have never had so much fun dancing in my entire life. Just us American girls, grooving to some oldies. The Spaniards in the bar looked intimidated by us and all these strange "twist" and "sprinkler" moves we were doing that they´d probably never seen before. Some of the Spanish girls looked embarassed for us but none of cared since we were having more fun than anyone else in that bar. We ended the night around 3:30am and all parted ways to take our night buses home.
I came home so content and so thankful for having such great girlfriends in Madrid. It´s nights like these where I feel very bittersweet about coming home to Minnesota.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Revolution!
As you have probably already heard in the news there has been large-scale protests going on in the very city that I live in- Madrid. What started as a few small groups of young people protesting against the poor economy and 21% unemployment rate in the country in anticipation of the elections of new municipal councils and regional governments (that took place this past Sunday, May 22nd) turned into a straight out revolution. This past week there have been thousands of people in Puerta del Sol (a huge plaza in the heart of Madrid) protesting not only the bad economy in this country but the high unemployment rate and "real democracy." After just a couple of days there were people staking out for the entire day and then camping in the plaza. Tents were set up, a day-care, a food station and even a place to make signs. The young people in this city made not only national but international headlines. Even after the elections have ended the protests have continued. The city and police have done little to stop it seeing as it would be almost impossible with how many people are involved in these protests.
Even though I have been here for 7 months I see myself as somewhat of an outsider since I don´t plan on staying past the duration of my contract and thus will not have to further deal with the economic situation here. However I do very much agree with this movement and think it is great that the young people in this country are raising their voices for change. Prior to these protests the young people here in my perspective, and to the perspective of much of the older generations here, seemed to have little concern for the future of their country. But now it is clear that they are just as concerned as the rest of the country and even the rest of the world. This single event has shown the strength and dedication of the younger generation here and how it is important to speak and demand change in order for there to be change. Other cities throughout Spain started to lead by example of Madrid and hopefully this will bring about something, if not change in the government than simply change in the opinions and minds of people.
Even though I have been here for 7 months I see myself as somewhat of an outsider since I don´t plan on staying past the duration of my contract and thus will not have to further deal with the economic situation here. However I do very much agree with this movement and think it is great that the young people in this country are raising their voices for change. Prior to these protests the young people here in my perspective, and to the perspective of much of the older generations here, seemed to have little concern for the future of their country. But now it is clear that they are just as concerned as the rest of the country and even the rest of the world. This single event has shown the strength and dedication of the younger generation here and how it is important to speak and demand change in order for there to be change. Other cities throughout Spain started to lead by example of Madrid and hopefully this will bring about something, if not change in the government than simply change in the opinions and minds of people.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Turning 25 in Spain
I was actually sort of dreading my birthday....not because I was turning a quarter of a century old, but because I wouldn't be able to celebrate it with my fiancé and my family. Plus, cake here really isn't that great and all I was craving was one of those amazing ice cream ones from Dairy Queen. However, my girlfriends here managed to make this one of the most special and memorable birthdays EVER.
On Thursday, May 12th, I went to school as normal. Thursdays usually are long days for me because even though I have fewer classes than normal, they are all spread out throughout the day. Therefore, I end up having three free class periods which I usually spend reading or catching up on my world news online. This is usually followed by a three-hour break in the area and then a two-hour conversation class with a 16-year-old. He lives so far away from my apartment but so close to my school that I always stay in the general area of my school without going home. Thursdays, therefore, end up being 13-hour days when all is said and done. I leave at 7:20am and don't return until 8:20pm. Which is why I am super glad I don't work Fridays because I am always EXTREMELY exhausted after these days. Luckily though I had told my two-hour private class the week before that the 12th was my birthday and they told me not to come. So going to school on my birthday didn't seem so bad because I knew I wouldn't have to suffer through such a long and agonizing day. I didn't tell any of my students it was my birthday because they would have gotten even more riled up....and I can barely control them as it is. My fellow auxiliar brought me some chocolate that she had gotten while traveling as a present- and seeing as how much I love chocolate, it was a wonderful surprise.
I went home after class and enjoyed my free late-afternoon and even fit in a short siesta before meeting up with my girlfriends. I assumed that only one or two of them would come out since we couldn't meet up till almost 9pm as it was since some of them had private classes till 8pm and in addition most of them work on Fridays. But my friend Lindsay secretly invited the whole gang of girls out and almost ALL of them came. So not only was it that much more special but it was also a surprise. We met in an area of the center of Madrid called Malasaña- it's where the young people hang out. There are a lot of hipster places to drink and dine. We went to a delicious Italian take-out called La Vita é Bella. We got two pizzas and then stopped at a convenience store and bought a few bottles of red wine. Then we headed to Plaza Dos de Mayo (which is outdoors) and stuffed our faces with pizza and drank some wine. In Spain it used to be legal to drink outdoors WHEREVER and all the time. Today it is technically illegal after 10pm but even if the police come they will simply tell you put away the bottle. So here we were, enjoying some mild but nice weather and sitting outdoors in a plaza in Madrid eating some amazing pizza and drinking some good, red Spanish wine. It was perfect. My three best girlfriends here: Lindsay, Jeneé and Lauren further surprised me by getting me gifts! Lindsay gave me a beautiful card and some jewelry (bracelets and stud earrings), Lauren bought me a gourmet cupcake from a little bakery called Happy Days and some comforts from home at the American Store: Doublemint gum and a Cherry Coke (they discontinued selling this here a while ago because of its lack of popularity) and Jeneé refused to let me pay for anything the rest of the evening....including my red wine.
More girls joined before we finished eating. So in all there was me, Lindsay, Jeneé, Lauren, Blanca, Silvia, Anna, Leah, Grace and her boyfriend. Most of us headed to this hipster bar in Malasaña that plays ALL American 50s-70s music- it's fabulous. We drank a few Coronas and danced the night away. We all barely caught the last metro at 1:30am. We decided to continue to celebrations the following evening (Friday) since no one worked on Saturday.
I came home that evening feeling so fortunate and so lucky to have so many wonderful people here who care about me. They truly helped to make this such a memorable birthday!
On Friday we continued the celebrations by all dressing up. I had bought a cute dress a while back but hadn't ended up wearing it on my actual birthday since we kept that night more casual. So Lauren and I met up at Jeneé and Lindsay's apartment Friday evening around 10pm. We chatted and drank some wine and then headed out near Sol. We went to several different places and overall had a fabulous night- just us girls.
On Thursday, May 12th, I went to school as normal. Thursdays usually are long days for me because even though I have fewer classes than normal, they are all spread out throughout the day. Therefore, I end up having three free class periods which I usually spend reading or catching up on my world news online. This is usually followed by a three-hour break in the area and then a two-hour conversation class with a 16-year-old. He lives so far away from my apartment but so close to my school that I always stay in the general area of my school without going home. Thursdays, therefore, end up being 13-hour days when all is said and done. I leave at 7:20am and don't return until 8:20pm. Which is why I am super glad I don't work Fridays because I am always EXTREMELY exhausted after these days. Luckily though I had told my two-hour private class the week before that the 12th was my birthday and they told me not to come. So going to school on my birthday didn't seem so bad because I knew I wouldn't have to suffer through such a long and agonizing day. I didn't tell any of my students it was my birthday because they would have gotten even more riled up....and I can barely control them as it is. My fellow auxiliar brought me some chocolate that she had gotten while traveling as a present- and seeing as how much I love chocolate, it was a wonderful surprise.
I went home after class and enjoyed my free late-afternoon and even fit in a short siesta before meeting up with my girlfriends. I assumed that only one or two of them would come out since we couldn't meet up till almost 9pm as it was since some of them had private classes till 8pm and in addition most of them work on Fridays. But my friend Lindsay secretly invited the whole gang of girls out and almost ALL of them came. So not only was it that much more special but it was also a surprise. We met in an area of the center of Madrid called Malasaña- it's where the young people hang out. There are a lot of hipster places to drink and dine. We went to a delicious Italian take-out called La Vita é Bella. We got two pizzas and then stopped at a convenience store and bought a few bottles of red wine. Then we headed to Plaza Dos de Mayo (which is outdoors) and stuffed our faces with pizza and drank some wine. In Spain it used to be legal to drink outdoors WHEREVER and all the time. Today it is technically illegal after 10pm but even if the police come they will simply tell you put away the bottle. So here we were, enjoying some mild but nice weather and sitting outdoors in a plaza in Madrid eating some amazing pizza and drinking some good, red Spanish wine. It was perfect. My three best girlfriends here: Lindsay, Jeneé and Lauren further surprised me by getting me gifts! Lindsay gave me a beautiful card and some jewelry (bracelets and stud earrings), Lauren bought me a gourmet cupcake from a little bakery called Happy Days and some comforts from home at the American Store: Doublemint gum and a Cherry Coke (they discontinued selling this here a while ago because of its lack of popularity) and Jeneé refused to let me pay for anything the rest of the evening....including my red wine.
Jeneé and I with our gourmet cupcakes
(Jeneé celebrated her birthday the week before)
More girls joined before we finished eating. So in all there was me, Lindsay, Jeneé, Lauren, Blanca, Silvia, Anna, Leah, Grace and her boyfriend. Most of us headed to this hipster bar in Malasaña that plays ALL American 50s-70s music- it's fabulous. We drank a few Coronas and danced the night away. We all barely caught the last metro at 1:30am. We decided to continue to celebrations the following evening (Friday) since no one worked on Saturday.
Lauren, Anna, me and Lindsay
Grace, Jeneé, Lindsay, me and Anna
I came home that evening feeling so fortunate and so lucky to have so many wonderful people here who care about me. They truly helped to make this such a memorable birthday!
On Friday we continued the celebrations by all dressing up. I had bought a cute dress a while back but hadn't ended up wearing it on my actual birthday since we kept that night more casual. So Lauren and I met up at Jeneé and Lindsay's apartment Friday evening around 10pm. We chatted and drank some wine and then headed out near Sol. We went to several different places and overall had a fabulous night- just us girls.
Lindsay, Jeneé, Lauren and me
Celebrating my birthday in a foreign country with some awesome girls made me realize just how hard it will be to leave these people in a month and a half. The bonds you grow with people living abroad are so different and so strong. Its hard to explain but I think sharing experiences abroad with people makes you grow closer and understand one another in a way thats different from people back home. I am certain I will always remember each and every one of the wonderful girlfriends that I have met here since they have truly touched my life.
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