Advertisement
Published: September 26th 2007
I’m in Madrid with my host family but I’ll get to that later. Time to play catch-up.
I didn’t get to see much of Valencia. There was a really modern part of town that was created for the 1992 World Fair. It’s a must see! The buildings were so futuristic and it was an entire area of town so it worked out really well. We walked around that area for a bit before departing on a paella experience. Paella was invented in Valencia so it’s necessary to eat paella there regardless how little time you have in the city. Before we ate our paella we went out on a boat tour through the rice patties in Valencia. It was very cool.
We spent a couple days in Barcelona but like Valencia, I didn’t feel like we had near enough time. We ate dinner at a beautiful restaurant the first night and then walked around the city a bit. The next day revolved around Gaudi, which can be expected in Barcelona. His park (Gaell Park? Yo peinso…) was the coolest thing I’ve seen in my 3 weeks in Spain. I really enjoyed that. My only complaint is that there were too many people crammed into the park. That is kind of my only complaint about Barcelona as a whole.. too many tourists. Everyone I encountered there spoke English, which is the complete opposite of Granada. After that we checked out Gaudi’s church that will be completed in 2025ish. I wasn’t a huge fan of the church, but it was definitely worth seeing. From there we walked around Barcelona for the day and then got dinner on the waterfront. The next day (Tuesday) we went to Salvador Dali’s museum. It’s one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been in because a) how many artists get to design every detail of their own museum and b) even if you took away all the paintings the rooms and sculptures alone are worth a viewing. By the time we got back to Barcelona from that day trip, it was time to eat dinner again on the waterfront. That pretty much sums up my stay in Barcelona.
Now I’m in Madrid with my senora. I’m living with another girl in the program, Christina. I’m not really sure what I think of the living situation so I’m going to hold off before I make any judgments. However, I am alive and unpacked in the place I will be based all semester. Tomorrow we’re having orientation and going to the Prado museum with our art history professor. We leave for Greece and Turkey in a week! Can’t wait! More to come soon.
24 hours later….
I felt an advantage going into this study abroad program because I am relatively open-minded and completely aware that there are days that are going to test me. Since I’ve only been speaking Spanish for about 2 months I knew that there was a greater chance I’d get frustrated or deal with culture shock. I still think that my awareness to the circumstance has helped me, but today was my first of one of those days that may test my ability to adjust.
My homestay is bad. I hope that all of you who are reading this blog know that I am not one to get stressed out or worry too much when situations get rough. So when I say that my homestay is bad, I mean that most people would not have stayed the entire 24 hours that I have stayed here. There are people on this trip who complain if they aren’t served enough bottled water at dinner or if the temperature of the bus isn’t just right. I haven’t had a complaint in the world until I came to live here. I LOVED Granada.. my host parents, my dog, my professors, my classmates. My senora is nice enough. However, her apartment is the equivalent of me living in a hostel for the semester. Mi casa is dimly lit, creaky, and best of all it reeks of urine from her one-eyed dog. Last night my roommate and I watched as she prepared dinner and her dog urinated on the kitchen floor. We were silly to think that she would clean it up. This morning the puddle was still there. Several times I woke up in the middle of the night last night because the smell of urine was so strong.
Several hours later….
My roommate, Christina, and I escaped the hostel (our house) to meet up with some friends tonight after dinner. We came home at a reasonable hour and quietly entered the apartment in the most respectful manner. I changed into my pj’s and went to brush my teeth. I didn’t close my door all the way. This was the biggest mistake I’ve made in a long time. After brushing my teeth I returned to my room with my one-eyed dog squatting, mid-pee, about a foot away from my suitcases. At this point I was not happy.. especially since I’d spent over 12 euros earlier today buying several air freshners and carpet cleaner. I ran into the hallway and started loudly whispering Christina’s name telling her to get to my room ASAP. By the time she got there she saw our dog swaggering out of my bedroom, his marked territory. I’m currently waiting for the carpet cleaner to soak in for the third time today. I’ve already cleaned every inch of my rug and set up a few air freshners but none of it has had the slightest effect. Christina entered my room today and said, “My god, your room is where all the smell is coming from.” I was disappointed that my trip to the grocery store to stock up on supplies was pronounced worthless.
I can’t believe I just watched the dog pee in my room, his personal litter box. I can’t believe I forgot to close my door all the way. I’ve learned my lesson for the next week. I’m here until September 27th and then I’m in Greece and Turkey for 10 days. Mari Carmen, our program director, asked that we wait it out a week. I happily complied. I understand why she would ask me to wait it out and I am perfectly fine with the request. I pray with all my little heart that somehow the stench of urine magically disappears from my room, but with two air freshners and one can of carpet cleaner almost gone, I don’t have much hope. Chances are when I return from Istanbul on October 7th I’ll be living in a new house. I hate to be a burden but I know without a doubt that no one else in my group would even tough it out for the week.
September 23
Living in this apartment has certainly been an experience. Everyday when I get together with classmates they huddle around and ask to hear my daily anecdotes that come with living with the one-eyed pisser and my senora. The walls are crumbling, there’s dim lighting, it’s so creaky, it reeks of urine, there are urine stains all over the carpet, and everything is filthy in general. Christina, my roommate, and I have tried to decide what we mind the most out of four main categories: how scary it is here, our crazy senora, the one-eyed peeing dog, or our deteriorating health due to living here. I’ve decided that what bothers me the most is how scary it is.
The first night I didn’t sleep here because the smell was so strong. The second night, after I watched the dog pee in my room, my bedside lamp kept flickering on and off so I turned it on and then turned it back off. It kept flickering for another few minutes so I unplugged it. As I held the unplugged lamp in my hand I watched it continue to flicker on and off from 5am-7am. When I describe what my Spanish home looks like I tell people to picture the house in Fight Club. The past two nights I’ve slept well and I give credit to my mom for that. I unpacked her framed picture and put it facing me and I think she’s been protecting me from the one-eyed peeing dog and whatever scary ghosts are haunting my room. Also, she keeps me constantly positive and laughing about my situation, instead of crying about it.
Yesterday, Christina and I doubted how bad our homestay really was. We were worried that maybe we were being too high-maintenance or prissy. So, I invited a very rational, level-headed friend of mine over to see our apartment. After she left she said she wouldn’t have made it past the first night and she said she couldn’t believe either of us did. When a few of our friends met up last night I asked one of them if she had heard that our friend, Becca came over to see my house. She said, “Yes, and she said that everything you’ve been telling us in the past few days hasn’t been the slightest bit exaggerated.. it really is as bad as you say it is.” This made me feel a lot better about the situation. I realized that I probably wasn’t dreaming up the terrible, hostel-esque living situation I’m in.
Another positive note from yesterday is that I overheard Christina saying to a friend of ours, “I don’t see how Megan is so nice and well-mannered to our senora.” This was reassuring because even though I’m counting down the days I have to live here, I’m trying to make it as pleasant as humanly possible. Kudos to my parents for teaching me to have good manners and to respect my elders because there are times when our senora is unwilling forcing food down our throats that Christina looks like she’s going to kill her, but I just laugh. Even if we say, “No, thank you,” she still makes us eat more and more food and if whenever we quit getting more and more helpings of food she tells us that she’s “muy triste” (very sad) that we won’t eat more. No good. One theory a kid in our study abroad group has is that she’s fattening us up so she can feed us to here dog. The main reasons I’m recording all this is because my classmates say that I’ll want to have stories about the one-eyed pisser and the haunted house for the rest of my life. So, apologies for all the complaints. I promise it’s more comical than anything else but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I know I won’t be living here much longer.
Let me update you on all the fun stuff that’s been going on in Madrid! We took a quick, introduction tour of the Prado with our art history professor. Supposedly we’ll go a few more times this semester. Last night was SO awesome because it was el noche en blanco (the night in white). It was a city-wide party that went from 11pm-7am and all the museums and gardens stay open really late and there are performances and concerts all over the place. From 11-12 my friends and I walked in the streets with tons of people to see how they decorated all the buildings for the night. There were people spotlighted, spray painting art work 10 stories up and concerts all over the place. Huge screens were set up all over the city that played movies all night. After walking around in the main area we settled in one of the main parks for a bit. From there, we walked through the botanical gardens because we missed the time frame in which the Prado was open (until 1am). We wandered out of the botanical gardens around 3am and watched a huge skateboarding show organized in the streets. From there we got a bite to eat and went to the center of the city to meet up with more friends. Around 5 we decided to try out a late-night, Spanish specialty, churros y chocolate (basically fried dough and melted chocolate). By the time we finished and made it to a metro station the trains were already running again. It was so fun staying up all night to welcome in the new season with the Spaniards.
Classes (finally) start tomorrow (Monday) at 9am!
September 26
Classes are great. I’m taking a Mediterranean politics that focuses on Islam in the area. I’m pretty excited about this because I don’t know much on the subject and it’s certainly something that would help increase my awareness to my surroundings, especially as I travel to Muslim countries (Turkey and Morocco) throughout the semester. I’m taking a basic Spanish class and supplement conversation class. My art history class seems fairly straight forward. So far we’ve just discussed Dali, Picasso, and Gaudi, all interesting guys. My seminar is six credits because as we go on excursions across Europe we’re expected to be learning and taking notes so it’s not just all fun and games.
We take off for Greece and Turkey tomorrow! Here’s my itinerary:
September 27-Athens
September 28- Mykonos, Greece
September 29- Kusadasi, Turkey (Ephesus) and Patmos, Greece
September 30-Crete and Santorini
October 1-Athens and Delphi
October 2- Athens
October 3-4-Istanbul
October 5- Bosphorus, Turkey (the Asian side)
October 6-7-Athens
Advertisement
Tot: 0.234s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0502s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Carla
non-member comment
Wow Megan. I'm constantly amazed how easy going you are. When others would complain, you just smile and laugh. This is beyond that. Your tolerance leaves me awed. I would have been out of there faster then you can say SEE YA! But at the very least you'll have some amusing anecdotes. Barcelona sounds lovely! And I think the noche de blanco sounds AWESOME and amazing. I wish we had something like that here in dc!! We have so many museums it would be so much fun! Alright chica, I love you so much!!