First Week in Spain

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My first week....

Hi all, sorry it took like a million years to write anything...kinda busy.... i actually am in an internet cafe here, which doesn´t have coffee, im blonde, i thought it would,.. 😊

Anyways i thought that i could highlight some of the stuff that has happened so far, like the bull fight and meeting my family and such.

I flew into Madrid, the capital, haha for those of you who didn´t know , and i found my way to a hostel there, called Musas, which was awesome. Arriving in madrid i was overwhelmed by all the change of language and thank goodness there was a man that helped me the whole way that was from amsterdam and understood german english and french. He was very nice and showed me how to buy tickets for the metro etc. Madrid is an amazing city with approx. 5.5 million inhabitants. I was k inda nervous because i was alone but all in all i was totally blessed because there were two girls there that i immediately was able to connect with and hang with the whole time. I was very tired as the time change is 9 hours. I was in madrid for two days and had a blast. I ate my first spanish meals and went to a bull fight and prado.

The first thing i did on tuesday morning was go to Prado, which is the classical art museum in Madrid, Im not sure if it is bigger than the Met in New York but it was amazing. I saw artists like Raphael and Goya. Def. all of the amazing paintings that you see in history books but nevr were interested in haha. Prado was neat but then i went back and took a nap at the hostel and then went to a corrida de toro.....BULLFIGHT.

That was very cool. I have pictures but i forgot to bring my camera here, i´ll have to do it later. but the videos are hilarios and the whole thing is set in this very old ancient rome style stadium and thousands of people go. It´s really fun. I def. would recommend it if you are okay with disregaurding the obvious violation of animal rights.

Hm, so then i spent my final night in Madrid and went to the airport the next morning to meet up with my group from school. From Madrid airport, i went to Segovia via bus= which is about an hour....

I bet my family, Arturo y Esther and the two kids are Rafael and Andres. The family is hilaruos. They are all really nice. They love to show me around the pueblo because the parents are tourists guides and very very popular around these parts. Apparently the dad is a kind of celebrity in thiese parts. He owns or makes wine and is also the administrator at Alcazar which is the castle here. I think we are going on a bike ride there tomorrow and going through the castle. The city is beautiful and the buildings are also very very old and unique. The aquaduct here is so cool. I haven´t taken too many pictures yet, but when i do i will post them.

It´s very difficult language wise, speaking only spanish. I look like such a child because my conjugations are so horrible. But my family is very patient and it helps that the mom speaks fluent english ...the family asked me if i only spoke english and spanish, i laughed, and said of course, apparently all the kids in the public schools there learn english spanish and french. it´s incredible.

As of now that´s about it...
been to a couple of bars, haven´t really liked alcohol so far, except a shot of baileys. but apparently im not a true irish, because i tried a murphys and thought it was incredibly repulsive haha. imagine that.

i guess i should add that the food here is amazing. tortillas espanolas son muy incredibles y ricas.

thanks for all the prayers and thoughts, i def. appreciate it, for being a catholic country, it´s interesting how no one talks about religion. im off to do some homework and find more food ...

love and miss you all.

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Comments

[Munkus]

Day 5.
ahh gosh. i'm so glad you're having an awesome time already. :) fyi - if you come back able to speak four different languages, i'm gonna be mad lol. i'm expecting fluency in only one! i laughed out loud in class when i read about the alcohol hahaha. uuum. :) i love you. across everrrrry ocean.

[Laurie Evans]

Sounds familiar
Hi Amanda! This entry reminds me of Emily. Emily spent the summer in Spain before her senior year, so about two years ago now. She was exhausted by the end of the first week because it was such a switch to "think" in Spanish. However, she'll tell you now that she often does think and dream in Spanish! Her time spent in Costa Rica really was much easier after spending the time in Spain. It is so much more difficult to go over there and listen and speak in their fashion. Good luck! Soak it all up! Mrs. E

[Lisa Nault]

YAY! Amanda en España!!
Hi Amanda! I am soooo excited for you being in Spain right now! This blog entry is incredibly similar to things I did/experienced in Spain when I did study abroad (meet a nice English-speaking Spaniard on the plane that helped me get a cab to my hostel once I got off the plane, went to una corrida de toros y El Prado museo, took the train to meet my family and could hardly speak at first. You'll get better each day as long as you practice it- even with your English speaking friends. Enjoy every single minute of it and definitely go to Barcelona, Granada (to see El Alhambra- but you have to buy tickets ahead of time) and Sevilla. And Oviedo or anywhere in Asturias if you have time- it is so much like Oregon!