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Published: October 16th 2009
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Excuse any missed punctuation, this program seems to dislike apostrophes Im just now finally getting this blog together after being here in Caceres for a month. I decided it would be much easier to have this point of reference for everyone to follow my trip rather than responding individually to everyone and feeling as if I was missing bits and pieces each time I told the same story to someone new. So here it goes!
I arrived here in Caceres the night of September 18th. All fourteen of us spent almost 24 hours travelling from DTW to Amsterdam, then Madrid, and finally to Caceres by bus. It was such a new experience for me. I was getting to know some of the people in my program because we were all together for the entirety of a day, and then as soon as we stepped off of the bus in Caceres, all of our host families were waiting for us. The sleepy atmosphere of the bus quickly turned into a frenzy of unloading luggage, and everyone going their separate ways, destined to speak only in Spanish for the night (along with a lot of body language) until we would all
Sculpture at Museo Vorstell
The title is "¿Por qué el proceso entre Pilatos y Jesús duró sólo dos minutos?" or "Why did the exchange between Ponchus Pilot and Jesus only last 2 minutes? Its meant to make us ponder about the process of making judgments quickly. meet again in the morning to walk around the city and get to know some points of reference.
We spent the first week in orientation, and then the second week was the first week of classes. However hardly any Spanish students came to classes that first week. They were too busy partying all day, and hazing the "novitadas" which are the freshman. It was such a fun atmosphere on campus; no one was in class, but everyone was outside yelling, singing, and writing on each other. That first day of classes 5 or 6 different girls wrote their names on my arms. I think the idea was to remember names because all of the students were drinking so much they couldn have remembered much otherwise.
I live with a host madre here, who is wonderful, and has really eased the transition in this culture. She feeds me so much--but thats the Spanish way to eat. Breakfast is almost nothing, and then you feast at 2-3 and go down for a nap, because you feel like you can move anyway from all of the food you just ate! All of the food at my house is excellent though, its
all "mom comfort food" made fresh everyday with lots and lots of olive oil.
Thus far theres been 3 trips together with the program. One to the Museum Vostell, which is dedicated to the German post-war artist Wolf Vostell, as well as modern art in general. Some of the works there just screamed their messages at you. It was all based on industrial society, with a heavy emphasis that cars and the American auto industry are almost drug dealers, and theyve got us all hooked. One of the coolest art installations was this one outside which is a bunch of Seat (Spanish) cars put together with a Russian fighter jet and some computers.
The other trip was to Merida, a city which was the capital of this region during the Roman Empire, and thus there are lots of ruins. Check the photos. We saw all of the main points of interest there, including the Spanish national museum of Roman art which was intriguing. I wish I had been able to spend more time there definitely. Im heading back to Merida tomorrow, because the soccer team I help coach here has a game there tomorrow and we
e all
Bridges
Roman bridge in foreground contrasted with more modern one in the background gonna hop on the bus and hope to show those Merida kids how we play futbol over here in Caceres. The kids I coach are maybe 11-12 and some of them look like miniature Ronaldos. Its so funny, they
e so cool. For my program over here I have to do an ICRP which is really whatever you want it to be as long as it gets you involved in your host culture, so I lucked out by having a neighbor whose son runs an entire club over here. This hombre Miki essentially handed these kids over to me to coach along with one of his colleagues, and its been a trying experience but its a blast. I love the kids there, and they all look up to me and want to know everything about the United States, and what I think about Spain. I post up some more pictures of the clubhouse and some action shots from tomorrows game another time.
The most recent trip we took as a whole group was to Madrid, which was a blast because I was there right before they announced who would get the 2016 Olympics, and the rally was just full
of energy.....until Rio de Janiero won of course. I also got interviewed for some radio show by a guy on the street right after Chicago got knocked out, because he wanted to know if, as an U.S. citizen, I was sad or upset. I told him no, I was just excited because I was in Madrid and I wanted to be there when it was announced the Madrid had won.
So far the whole trip has felt like a vacation, albeit a vacation where I learn a lot and have to speak in a different language. The first few weeks were so hectic I always came home tired from everything that was happening. This past weekend I went to Lisbon, which i will dedicate an entire post to, but this weekend has been the first that Im staying in town (except for the soccer game tomorrow in Merida). Its nice to slow down a bit and be able to collect my thoughts, as well as get to know weekend life better here in the city.
Anyways from now on Ill try to post up whats going on a little more frequently so everyone can be in touch with
Anfiteatro Romano
Many jokes/references to Gladiator were made here! whats going on with me.
Ciao!
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