So it has almost been a month since I lasted posted anything, and TONS has happened during that time that I´m having trouble remembering everything.
I had forgotten what NICE people were like until I went to Lisbon, Portugal awhile ago. Even though my friend Bridget and I couldnt speak Portuguese, everyone was so sweet and helpful, even if they couldnt speak English. We needed directions to get to a market that was a ways out of town, so thjis little old lady with no teeth tried to give us directions. Her son kept telling her that we didnt speak Portuguese, so she just talked louder and used hand motions. It was so funny and so cute. We still didnt get her directions, but it was a great experience none the less. Lisbon had the first Christmas lights of the year...the whole town was stocked with them. And the weather was GORGEOUS! Blue skies all weekend , even though it was a bit chilly.We walked around the Alfama, Barrio Alto (where all the bars are..which was cool. People went out in sweatchirts and crappy jeans and everyone just hangs out in the sreets. The bars werent big enough to spend any amunt of time in them, so they just give you a plastic cup and away you go), we saw the oceanarium, which was thge 2nd largest in the world, ate amazing portuguese pastries in Belém, and just hung out. It was wonderful.
People were also very nice in Dublin when I was there last weekend. Cat and I decided to go on Sunday night, we bought tickets on Tuesday, and left Thursday. Our hostel was the old recording studio for U2, Van Morrison, the Cranberries, and more people that I dont remember, so it was really cool. Nicely decorated. Terrible dirty bathrooms, but what can ya do_? Can´t win them all. We had stopped to ask for directions and the person was so nice to us...shockingly odd considering we had been living in Spain where people are not nearly so friendly. We stayed right on River Liffey by teh ha'penny bridge, 2 minutes from temple bar, o'connelle street, and 5 minutes from Trinity College and Grafton street. Took a tour of the guinnes factory and had a beer at the top at he Gravity Bar, a big glass room with an outstanding view of Dublin) Got coffee to go (so shocking because it doesnt exist in Spain) and Bewley´s, the home of my first coffee so many years ago. Originally we didnt want to leave Spain on our last long weekend in the country, but we´re just plain TIRED of seeing Cathedrals. Straight up. I dont care anymore. They´re all looking the same. And it worked out well because there were lots of Spaniards at our hostel, so we made friends and got to practice! It all worked out in the end.
And I´m such a lucky girl because I´ve had such wonderful visitors! My family was here for the week, and we Spent some time in Madrid, Bilbao, and Burgos. It was cold, but I hope yáll enjoyed yourself! Good wine, good tapas, good company. That was a very exciting week because the President Dunn, of WMU, came to visit to celebrate the programs 10th year of collaboration with the University of Burgos. So the family got to participate, too, and all the faculty were so happy to meet thm. President Dunn was recruiting Caitlin HARD CORE (go broncos!). We´ll see =). Buuuut anyways. There was a nice brunch with coffee, OJ, and typical Spanish brekfast foods (sugary croissants and bread), during which the Presidents of both univserities spoke and said nothing but nice things. Then we had ameeeting with the Mayor of Burgos, although he seemed completely unenthused with us, in his office. It was intersting to a point, but at the same time, it was obvious he had no idea we were even IN BURGOS, and that he had plenty of other things to do. In the offfice, there was a crucifix on the wall with Jesus wearing a lime green skirt and he had 5 eggs t his feet. I asked Hermana Paula about it later on and she laughed saying ¨Cristo de los Huevos¨but couldnt explain it to me. So i´m still clueless. Maybe I´ll google it... But moving on. Later that night was a ncie little ceremony with all out profs and the presidents and all that good stuff, where they said every nice thingin the world about us, although they really had no idea. Most of our teachers think we´re idiot americans,mso it was funny when the VP of INternation Relations kept saying that we are the ¨best students inthe US.¨ It was sweet of her regardless. Following was a concert that should have bee STRAIGHT out of Monty Python that draggedon and on, but afterwards was a reception with free appatizers and wine. It was wonderful. All teh servers were like ¨come o! drink more! why not? its free!¨so we did. Most of the Michiganders were drunk. We are wondrful representations of American students, let me tell you. Also, my professor, Diego,looks JUST LIKE my brother, Dan. So we asked him to be in a replacement for him in our family pic, which he did, and thought it was quite funny. The next day, the Cheevers cooked Carmen and Elena Thanksgiving dinner (a day early) because we´d be on the road during the real thing, and beacause they had never experieced it! We had turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce from a can, ensalada de Carmen, croissants, corn...tons of good stuff. We educated Carmen on the wonderful dessert that we call Brownies, which she fell in love with. She had never had them before, and of course wanted the recipe. Funny thing was though, is that it was from a box, and i dont know how to make brownies from scratch. By the time I confessed that it was from a box (frowned upon in Spain) she had already googled a recipe. Overall, i couldnt have asked for a better time. My biological family with my Spanish family: Carmen, Elena, and Catherine. I got to practice translating, too! Mom, Caitlin, Cat, and I went to the homeless shelter one day, and all the hermanas just LOVED them Seriously. They still ask how they´re doing. That Friday, we met Kim in Madrid, took a bus tour of the city, and saw an incredible famenco show. Overall it was a vry porductive week.
Then Kim was here! And the snow! We just hung out, walked around Burgos, went t class, and caught up. It was terrible weather, but we trekked through it and had a darn good time.
So that´s basically been my life. I had 2 finals this week, which i did well on. We had out little goodbye ceremony today, got my diploma, and that IT. I´ve spent a lot of time at the homeless shelter befause I´ve gotten pretty close with some of the people. The hermanas made Cat and I lunch today and so ate with them in their little kitchen. 8 nuns and 2 american girls. It was incredile, I couldnt ask for a better experience with them. They´ve taught ups so much and have been such a huge part of my experience here. We hug out with them after eating conejo (rabbit...all i could think of was our bunny rabbit PJ...but it tasted good!), took some fotos, had coffee and chatted. Tomorrow is the last day,and I will probably bawl my eyes out. A ver.ç
Then I´m home Sunday! I cannot believe how fast the semester has gone...like a blink of an eye. But! I´m excted for the xmas season at home, and see all my friends and family. It´s definitely a mixed emotion.
Welp, that´s all for now. And that´s alot. Hope you´ve enjoyed. See you soon!
Love,
Cara
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
my how time flies when you're having fun!
I just ate that. Calamari. That I watched Carmen dismember and fry. And then as I nervously popped one (and I mean the ones with 8 legs) into my mouth, one of the little legs curled around my lip, and I had to suck it in to my mouth. YUCK. Carmen likes to offer me gross, new things to eat because she knows I promised to try everything, at least once. (Bad idea). But then again, I've started to like Octopus, Murcilla...and TOMATOES. (gasp!)
Ok, sorry for grossing you all out with that picture. It's really quite disgusting to look at.
The semester is winding down! Class for about 3 more weeks, and then exams, and then home! 1 month and 2 days, to be exact.
I went to a Real Madrid Futbol game last weekend and let me tell you...those people are NUTS. We walked up to a parking lot FILLED with motos and overweight men wearing leather pants. And they though they looked a lot better in them than they really did. It was against Malaga, who is the purple team, and we passed one dude wearing a purple frilly dress. If you're ever seen Greenstreet Hooligans, you get the idea loud and clear about the enviroment at a game. We sat in the Malaga section because those were the best seats available, although they were still in the nosebleed section. People were chanting in spanish and I just couldnt understand a word. Cat, Ernesto, and I went, although none of us know how to play soccer, so we just cheered and booed when everyone else did as a general rule. There was one play that everyone was cheering for, so we did too, but when I asked Cat what happened she replied saying "i dont know! but everyone else is clapping, so I am too!" and it turns out the guy sitting nect to her could speak English, and he thought that comment was pretty funny. Belly-laugh funny. Before the game, Cat and I realized that we didnt know what color Real Madrid is, so we had to make sure we figured that out before the game actually started. They're white. Just so you know.
So I havent mentioned the Spanish point of view on the Obama victory!!! It was so funny. After being interviewed for the newspaper, and on TV (let me tell you, that was SO awkward. I felt like SUCH an idiot. SPanish media is so strange.), another woman called me to ask if I'd come down to the TV station for a live interview on an american student's perspective of teh elections, and sit in the little chairs and everything for the interview. But I had class, and I'm afraid to miss it because Lena is scary and crazy. That would have been cool, but I would have been crapping my pants in fright. But everyone is so happy Obama won! When I walked in to the homeless shelter, all the nuns greeted me and Cat and the door saying "ganas! ganas! ganas!" "you won you won you won!" we proceeded to jumped up and down and squeel for a few moments like little girls in the lobby of the shelter. I wish I had had a camera. Even the gentlemen and lunch kept talking about it! And still do! The would ask us "Have you voted? Have you voted? For Obama?" Which I thought was cool. Especially from one man who had just spent 7 days on a rowboat in the ocean traveling from Africa to Spain (it normally only takes 3, but he had gotten lost)...between our questions of how he got here and what not, he kept talking about OBAMA! it was magical. I couldnt believe the pics I saw of Grant Park. If I had been in teh states...I would have been there, too!
Family is coming in 10 days! I'm so excited. Can't wait to show everyone around Burgos and Madrid. And make you eat fun things like octopus and calamari...but I'll treat you to some excellent patatas bravas and croquetas, too. And then Kim comes the following weekend! I cant even believe how fast the time has gone. Lisboa this weekend, family, then Kim, then Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, and then I fly home Sunday of that next weekend! It's crazy!
Ok well i'm exhausted. I'll see you all, soon though!
Besos,
Cara
PS: more pics up!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Back from Barcelona! So pretty! We saw lots of Antonio Gaudi, went to Park Guell, La Pedrera, saw Casa Batllo, and the Sagrada Familia. Saw the Olympic Stadium from 94 and hung out in the barbor. It rained all day, almost everyday, but regardless it had lots of life and energy.
Before we left, Kiah and I were interviewed by the newspaper in Burgos regarding the presidential elections (all in Spanish obviously, a bit nerve-racking) and it was in elMundo, one of Spain's largest newspapers. She misquoted me a bit, but in reality, I sounded better after she fixed it, haha. I know most of you cant read it, but its still cool:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/11/02/castillayleon/1225637921.html
Before we left, Kiah and I were interviewed by the newspaper in Burgos regarding the presidential elections (all in Spanish obviously, a bit nerve-racking) and it was in elMundo, one of Spain's largest newspapers. She misquoted me a bit, but in reality, I sounded better after she fixed it, haha. I know most of you cant read it, but its still cool:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/11/02/castillayleon/1225637921.html
Monday, October 27, 2008
Camino por la Sierra de la Demanda
So instead of studying for the exam I have today or working on the 4 papers that I have due in the next 4 days, Carmen and I went on 25 km hike in the mountains. And let me tell you, it was more than worth it. We took a bus with about 40 other Universidad de Burgos students/faculty to the Sierra de la Demanda, about 45 minutes outside of town. Here are a few pictures:
After 14 kms, we had lunch at the top on some rocks overlooking the valley
The first Cara and Carmen picture on record. She's so cute.
Doesn't matter where they are, Spaniards take a siesta after lunch.
Angela and I at the top!
Crystal
The pretty colors of Fall
You can see Burgos in the distance
This is at the first peak - and a picture of the first snowfall in the province of Burgos.
And this is how close we got to those mountains. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but the other picture was zoomed. It was far, trust me.
Overall, pictures don't really do it justice, but that seems to be a general trend. It was just plain incredible!
So now Carmen and I are in incredible pain. We keep wobbling around the apartment like old women, so I'm sure it's pretty funny for Elena to watch. We were zombies afterwards, asleep by 9pm. And today, we're recuperating by cleaning and catching up on TONS of homework. Wish me luck with week!
After 14 kms, we had lunch at the top on some rocks overlooking the valley
The first Cara and Carmen picture on record. She's so cute.
Doesn't matter where they are, Spaniards take a siesta after lunch.
Angela and I at the top!
Crystal
The pretty colors of Fall
You can see Burgos in the distance
This is at the first peak - and a picture of the first snowfall in the province of Burgos.
And this is how close we got to those mountains. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but the other picture was zoomed. It was far, trust me.
Overall, pictures don't really do it justice, but that seems to be a general trend. It was just plain incredible!
So now Carmen and I are in incredible pain. We keep wobbling around the apartment like old women, so I'm sure it's pretty funny for Elena to watch. We were zombies afterwards, asleep by 9pm. And today, we're recuperating by cleaning and catching up on TONS of homework. Wish me luck with week!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
La Vida Buena
So I will be home in less than two months...and that makes me heart hurt a little. So much to learn and see still!
On that note, Rome was fantastic. Seriously. It was a trek from hell - literally, hell. After the 8 hour bus ride, we ended up in Barcelona thinking we could catch the next bus to the airport, which was 1.5 hours away. Turned out the next one wasnt til 6 hours later, at 330 am. So we just sat around the bus station (there was a group, dont worry) until we got kicked out at 1am so they could clean. So we wandered around Barcelona for 2 hours with all out bags, exhausted and pissed off, until we could buy our tickets. Then we got to the airport, checked in, and slept til our flight left at 8:30 am. Then in Ciampino, we waited in like for 2 hours for a bus to take us in to Roma. It turned out to be 48 hours of traveling (both way) for 72 hours in Rome. And 200 euros in transportation when all was said in done. So lesson learned: Ryanair SAYS its cheaper, but in the long run - NO! f-you ryanair. you suck.
In the end, it was worth it. Rome, when we got there, was AMAZING. Seriously. Amazing. I think I was in shock just about the entire time. We saw the pantheon, roman forum, colosseum, vatican museums, sistine chapel, the baths of caracala, st. peter's basilica, and we saw the pope say mass on sunday morning in saint peter's square! it was so cool! i just about crapped my pants with excitement when I saw michaelangelo's pieta and the birth of adam. and the Dali and Marc Chagall paintings, and all the scultpures in the vatican museum, and the trevi fountain, oh yeah, and the colosseum. and everything else. everytime i turned around there was something else AMAZING to see! Cat and I ate gelato at night by the pantheon and had a fantastic pasta dinner by the Pizza de Navarro. Fettucine with pesto. The best of my life. And when we were eating, drinking wine, and chatting, a music group came up and played music in the street. i was like out of a postcard. And then we asked for our bill after sitting there for 2 hours, and our waiter told us to finish our wine, first! As servers ourselves, it was an odd experience to be denied our bills in such a manner. And then, after we payed, he basically kicked us out because he wanted our table. It was a funny experience to say the least.
Some of the girls I went to Rome with outside the Colosseum!
Inside the Colosseum
Lauren and I haning out on a 2000 year old pillar. Cool.
I was just loving these guys.
Here am just about crapping myself with excitement after seeing Michaelangelo's Pieta.
The Birth of Adam in the Sistine Chapel. Its a big no-no to take pictures, but i snuck one it.
Cat and I hanging out in St. Peter's Square just after mass.
So there are a few highlights - the rest are online with the rest of my pictures.
Burgos has been good. We're resting/getting ahead with schoolwork this weekend, as we did last weekend. When one person gets sick, its like a tital wave of illness with out Western group. So we figured its a good time to let our immune systems rest. Lena, the crazy crazy crazy professor Lena, has loaded on papers and exams all of a sudden, so thats cool. Its not like I'm here for school or anything =) I got a 'notable' on my first exam, which kicked just about everyone's butts, so i can't complain about that. It was just plain hard. Spanish grading is a bit confusing and completely different that in the US. I got a 7 out of 10, but thats considered really really good. So thats good, I guess. Who knows.
Lately, I've been hanging out with Elena, the Chinese student who lives with us. She's really cool, and has been teaching me a little bit of Chinese! I've learned "north" "south" "capital" "hello" and "thank you" -- i figured ya gotta start somewhere! And i've been volunteering 3 times a week serving lunch at the homeless shelter, so thats been a lot of fun. All the sisters LOVE us, and we're getting to know the people who either live there or frequent it. And I started doing this intercambio where us WMU students work with small groups of spanish students our age who want to learn english. Its been cool getting know more people my age abd learning about spanish culture. Plus then I'm not the one making an ass out of myself everytime I open my mouth. It's a nice change =)
I'm just happy as a clam. Life is good. I'm so excited to meet Lauren in Barcelona next weekend, and then I think Cat and I are heading to Toledo, then to Madrid to see a Real Madrid soccer game. Then we're thinking about going to Lisboa, Portugal for the weeked, then parents are here! then kim! then we're going to Galicia to see Santiago de Compostela and A Coruna. The exams, then home! I can't believe how fast the time is going.
Well, its almost 2am, and I'm tired. Goodnight, love you all.
On that note, Rome was fantastic. Seriously. It was a trek from hell - literally, hell. After the 8 hour bus ride, we ended up in Barcelona thinking we could catch the next bus to the airport, which was 1.5 hours away. Turned out the next one wasnt til 6 hours later, at 330 am. So we just sat around the bus station (there was a group, dont worry) until we got kicked out at 1am so they could clean. So we wandered around Barcelona for 2 hours with all out bags, exhausted and pissed off, until we could buy our tickets. Then we got to the airport, checked in, and slept til our flight left at 8:30 am. Then in Ciampino, we waited in like for 2 hours for a bus to take us in to Roma. It turned out to be 48 hours of traveling (both way) for 72 hours in Rome. And 200 euros in transportation when all was said in done. So lesson learned: Ryanair SAYS its cheaper, but in the long run - NO! f-you ryanair. you suck.
In the end, it was worth it. Rome, when we got there, was AMAZING. Seriously. Amazing. I think I was in shock just about the entire time. We saw the pantheon, roman forum, colosseum, vatican museums, sistine chapel, the baths of caracala, st. peter's basilica, and we saw the pope say mass on sunday morning in saint peter's square! it was so cool! i just about crapped my pants with excitement when I saw michaelangelo's pieta and the birth of adam. and the Dali and Marc Chagall paintings, and all the scultpures in the vatican museum, and the trevi fountain, oh yeah, and the colosseum. and everything else. everytime i turned around there was something else AMAZING to see! Cat and I ate gelato at night by the pantheon and had a fantastic pasta dinner by the Pizza de Navarro. Fettucine with pesto. The best of my life. And when we were eating, drinking wine, and chatting, a music group came up and played music in the street. i was like out of a postcard. And then we asked for our bill after sitting there for 2 hours, and our waiter told us to finish our wine, first! As servers ourselves, it was an odd experience to be denied our bills in such a manner. And then, after we payed, he basically kicked us out because he wanted our table. It was a funny experience to say the least.
Some of the girls I went to Rome with outside the Colosseum!
Inside the Colosseum
Lauren and I haning out on a 2000 year old pillar. Cool.
I was just loving these guys.
Here am just about crapping myself with excitement after seeing Michaelangelo's Pieta.
The Birth of Adam in the Sistine Chapel. Its a big no-no to take pictures, but i snuck one it.
Cat and I hanging out in St. Peter's Square just after mass.So there are a few highlights - the rest are online with the rest of my pictures.
Burgos has been good. We're resting/getting ahead with schoolwork this weekend, as we did last weekend. When one person gets sick, its like a tital wave of illness with out Western group. So we figured its a good time to let our immune systems rest. Lena, the crazy crazy crazy professor Lena, has loaded on papers and exams all of a sudden, so thats cool. Its not like I'm here for school or anything =) I got a 'notable' on my first exam, which kicked just about everyone's butts, so i can't complain about that. It was just plain hard. Spanish grading is a bit confusing and completely different that in the US. I got a 7 out of 10, but thats considered really really good. So thats good, I guess. Who knows.
Lately, I've been hanging out with Elena, the Chinese student who lives with us. She's really cool, and has been teaching me a little bit of Chinese! I've learned "north" "south" "capital" "hello" and "thank you" -- i figured ya gotta start somewhere! And i've been volunteering 3 times a week serving lunch at the homeless shelter, so thats been a lot of fun. All the sisters LOVE us, and we're getting to know the people who either live there or frequent it. And I started doing this intercambio where us WMU students work with small groups of spanish students our age who want to learn english. Its been cool getting know more people my age abd learning about spanish culture. Plus then I'm not the one making an ass out of myself everytime I open my mouth. It's a nice change =)
I'm just happy as a clam. Life is good. I'm so excited to meet Lauren in Barcelona next weekend, and then I think Cat and I are heading to Toledo, then to Madrid to see a Real Madrid soccer game. Then we're thinking about going to Lisboa, Portugal for the weeked, then parents are here! then kim! then we're going to Galicia to see Santiago de Compostela and A Coruna. The exams, then home! I can't believe how fast the time is going.
Well, its almost 2am, and I'm tired. Goodnight, love you all.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Update: I'm heading to Rome for about 4 days! And let me tell you, once I get passed the stress of GETTING there, I'm sure I'll be incredibly excited.
I'll be leaving my apt in about 20 mins for a 30 minute walk to the Bus Station. Then its an 8 hours bus ride (yuck) to Barcelona. Then we have to find a bus that can take us to the town of Girona, a "suburb" of sorts of Barcelona, and hour and a half from Barcelona, to catch our plane tomorrow morning. We're sleeping in the airport tonight because we dont want to waste money on a hostel that we'll spend less than 10 hours in. Our flight leaves tomorrow morning and we'll be in Rome Ciampano tomorrow at 10am. And then we have to figure out how to get to Rome. And then our hostel, haha.
But it'll be worth it, let me tell you!
And then the escapade starts again on our way HOME monday night. Bus ride to Ciampano, flight to Girona, bus ride to Barcelona (then we're staying in a hostel Monday night), then 6.5 hour train ride back Tuesday morning with and hour to spare before class at 4:30. Phew! How great.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
All the pictures are up from the South! Look at them!
Besos, Cara
I'll be leaving my apt in about 20 mins for a 30 minute walk to the Bus Station. Then its an 8 hours bus ride (yuck) to Barcelona. Then we have to find a bus that can take us to the town of Girona, a "suburb" of sorts of Barcelona, and hour and a half from Barcelona, to catch our plane tomorrow morning. We're sleeping in the airport tonight because we dont want to waste money on a hostel that we'll spend less than 10 hours in. Our flight leaves tomorrow morning and we'll be in Rome Ciampano tomorrow at 10am. And then we have to figure out how to get to Rome. And then our hostel, haha.
But it'll be worth it, let me tell you!
And then the escapade starts again on our way HOME monday night. Bus ride to Ciampano, flight to Girona, bus ride to Barcelona (then we're staying in a hostel Monday night), then 6.5 hour train ride back Tuesday morning with and hour to spare before class at 4:30. Phew! How great.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
All the pictures are up from the South! Look at them!
Besos, Cara
Friday, October 3, 2008
i suck at blogging
ok! so i'm not so great with keeping this updated. but there has just been too much stuff going on to possibly write down everything! This is going to be a long one.
first and foremost - exams went well. good news Mom and Dad. =)
Second - The week in the south of Spain was HA-MAZING. I LOVED the south. It was warm and exactly the Spain that I imagined with the small, wind-ey streets, and Arabic influences in the food and arquitechture. I took over 700 pictures in one week, holy cow. The people were so friendly, too! But they spoke with a very Andalusian accent, completely no pronouncing the "s" and shortening words all over the place. Catherine and I were sitting on the Roman bridge in Cordoba and a group of people came up to talk to us and it was like a foreign language. We took an 8-hr overnight train from Burgos to Cordoba (Hell. The most uncomfortable kind of hell, without reclining seats). But I took a Tylenol PM and was out in minutes. We dropped off our luggage at the hostel when we get there at 9am, then went to see the Mezquita de Cordoba. OH. MY. GOSH. it was better than I imagined. The red and whtie striped pillars were gorgeous and it was like we we had studied in class. The Catholics ruined it a bit when they invaded and turned it from a Mosque to a cathedral. But the catherdral was very pretty, too. We also saw the Alcazar where the Catholic Kings stayed when in Cordoba and all that good stuff. We ran in to some type of religious parade with women dressed up and an altar of gold and an army following behind. i have no idea what it was celebrating, but it was very-spanish anyways. Catherine and I ate salmorejo for dinner, which is liek gazpacho, but thicker and richer and tomato-ey-er. Very good. We stumbled across a massive outdoor concert in Cordoba, too. The first band was good, but it was followed by a white, Spanish wrap group. Easily the worst thing I'd ever heard in my life, and it all culminated when one of them, wearing an oversized white t shirt and completely blinged out, grabbed his crotch and said "palabra." (word).
From Cordoba we went to Malaga, a beach town on the Mediterranean Sea. We went to the Picasso Museum and saw where he lived and all that, but overall, Malaga was not so great. The beach we were near was basically sand/dirt and all rocks about 15 feet into the sea. But we can still say we swam in the mediterranean sea so i can complain! The best part, without a doubt, about Malaga was the hostel. It set my standards SO high...we met so many cool people from all over the world. England, Australia, New Zeeland, South Africa, Ireland, and lots more. We all just hung out together on the terrace overlooking the mediterranean sea talking, drinking, eating, doig nothing. The second day were were there we all went to the beach together and then out for a nice dinner, watched a flamenco show, and went to the bar later on. We hung out by the sea afterwards, both nights, after the bars. Our friend Matt, from New Zeeland, played the guitar for all of us on teh terrace - coldplay and john mayer. how wonderful. The whole experience was just so cool.
From Malaga we went to Granada. The Alhambra was one of the prettiest place I've ever seen and is known for having one of the best views of the world. and for good reason. you have to book your tickets days in advance to be able to enter and we thought we were too late, but the taxi driver told us we could get up early and buy them at the alhambra itself. So Cat and I woke up at 6:30 am, tracked down a bus (not easy), and got in line to buy a ticket when the doors opened at 8am. we werent even close to the first in line. i cant even express how pretty it was - you'll have to look at the picture that i'll be putting online at that website. but even the pictures dont do it justice. I loved Granada in general. When you go to a bar and order a drink, you get a free tapa. Its a marvelous system, really. We went to a tapas bar called Poe and all took a shot of absinthe (160 proof - green fairy brand, bright green, diluted with water, and mixed with sugar that had been set on fire. burned by chest for about 1 half hour afterwards. no hallucinations, dont worry Mom and Dad) and we had some AMAZING tapas there, and had fun talking to the bartender. Then we went to an arabic tapas bar, which makes sense because Granada was thelast Arabic city to fall to the Christians in 1492. I dont normally like arabic food, but this stuff was GOOD. The hostel was really hard to find in Granada, even the taxi driver didnt know where it was, and they were diong some SERIOUS construction at 7am, when my head was basically out the window. Oh well...we met people from France, Italy, Germany, and some countryt that ends in "vakia" that i dont remember. One night we were all hanging out together and at one point there were about 5 different languages being spoken. It was a cool experience, let me tell you.
From Granada we went to Sevilla, which was my favorite place by far. We spent 4 days seeing the sights, eating, drinking, taking pictures. The first night we went on a tapas tour with the hostal (which consisted of 1 terrible tapas bar) and then went to a flamenco show that seemed to be in someones basement. There was a HUGE room filled with picnic table and a huge bar, and a small stage. This dance was BIG and SCARY with passion. I was kind of afraid of her. There were 3 guys seeing/playing the music that she was dancing to, and one woman started tapping her toe and clapping in the front row, completely throwing off the beat. This woman had no idea though, and I thought the guy seeing was going to kill her. He had to little yell at her frmo the stage to shut up - i was scared for this old woman. The next day we went to the Cathedral and saw where Christopher Columbus is buried (cool, despite the fact that he was a terrible person). Saw the Real Alcazar which had some beautiful gardens in it. It started to rain on Saturday until sunday, which was a bummer. We had tickets to see a bullfight - we literally planned this entire vacation AROUND the bullfight - but it had been raining all day. We were assured it would not be canceled, though, so we trudged through the rain across town to the Plaza de Toros, went in, were sitting down waiting for it to start, teh sun shining at this point, when all the matadors entered on to the field to check out the conditions. The must not have like when they saw, because about 20 mins later a man ran around the edge of the ring with a sign that said "something, something, suspendida" and then everyone stood up, PISSED OFF, and started throwing their seat cusions on to the ring below and yelling curse words. I've never seen so many angry spaniards. Needless to say, the show was cancelled, and it was like our experience with the Price is Right all over again. So close, yet so far away. The price is WRONG, Bob. We did get our money back, though.
So that is a very brief synapsis of my week in the south. A lot of walking, a lot of sangria, and a lot os sightseeing. Classes started monday, and they're already kicking my ass. No joke. I've turned in a few papers already and have another big exam on monday, so im pretty excited about that. Not. But we've been studying Human Evolution because theres a site just outside of burgos where they found human remains from over a million years ago, and mammoths and saber tooth tigers and stuff. The figured out that these were the first humans in Europe, so thats pretty cool. But anyways, we'vebeen studying all that and I had to write a paper about it - human evolution is hard enoguh in ENGLISH, then throw a language barrier in there. And I checked wikipedia for some facts (they love wikipedia here) and our professor was one of the sources listed. That was pretty crazy - so there was quite the pressure to write a good paper on that one.
***Side note: people know A LOT more about the US than I do. Never have a felt like such an ignorant american - EVER. When we were in Malaga, people from New Zeeland and Australia wre like "oh, your from MI? isnt michael moore from MI? Flint, right?" and Cat and I looked at each other like ..."Uhhh..sure?" more than one person knew that. And Matt knew the exact years of Abe Lincoln's presidency. And people would KILLLLLLL for teh right to vote for the American president. No joke. Everyone was like "ARE YOU VOTING? GOOD! FOR WHO!? OBAMA?! OH GOOD!!!!"
*****Another side note: I watched Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric and laughed. A lot. Then I feared for humanity.
Ok...i had a pretty bad day the other day, and to cap it off, Carmen greeted me with fish. Still on the bone. And a face. Awesome. And WMU is amazing and making registering for classes next semester as difficult as possible - thank you Western, you suck.
When I came back from the South, we had another student living with us! Elena is from Beijing, China and will be here for an entire year. Yikes. She volunteered at the Olympics - isnt that cool? That're rhetorrical, you dont have to reply.
It has gotten tremendoudly cold here in Burgos. Its dark when class ends at night, so took ocupy ourselves, Catherine and I listen to Dane Cook on her Ipod on teh walk home. We must look like complete tools because we walk, huddled together, laughing hysterically over sometihng no one else can here.
I'm headed to Segovia this weekend to visit our friends Sarah and Alfredo! Im excited. And free lodging =) Catherine and I are headed to Rome next weekend for 4 days, and then we're meeting LAUREN SAPITA (!!!!!!) in Barcelona the weekend of Halloween! I'm SOOOO EXCITED!!!! Still trying to fit in Paris, Santiago de Compostela, and Toledo. And a friend and I were tossing around the idea of Greece today.
I'll uplaod all my 700 pics, soon. Girl scouts honor. Miss you all!
first and foremost - exams went well. good news Mom and Dad. =)
Second - The week in the south of Spain was HA-MAZING. I LOVED the south. It was warm and exactly the Spain that I imagined with the small, wind-ey streets, and Arabic influences in the food and arquitechture. I took over 700 pictures in one week, holy cow. The people were so friendly, too! But they spoke with a very Andalusian accent, completely no pronouncing the "s" and shortening words all over the place. Catherine and I were sitting on the Roman bridge in Cordoba and a group of people came up to talk to us and it was like a foreign language. We took an 8-hr overnight train from Burgos to Cordoba (Hell. The most uncomfortable kind of hell, without reclining seats). But I took a Tylenol PM and was out in minutes. We dropped off our luggage at the hostel when we get there at 9am, then went to see the Mezquita de Cordoba. OH. MY. GOSH. it was better than I imagined. The red and whtie striped pillars were gorgeous and it was like we we had studied in class. The Catholics ruined it a bit when they invaded and turned it from a Mosque to a cathedral. But the catherdral was very pretty, too. We also saw the Alcazar where the Catholic Kings stayed when in Cordoba and all that good stuff. We ran in to some type of religious parade with women dressed up and an altar of gold and an army following behind. i have no idea what it was celebrating, but it was very-spanish anyways. Catherine and I ate salmorejo for dinner, which is liek gazpacho, but thicker and richer and tomato-ey-er. Very good. We stumbled across a massive outdoor concert in Cordoba, too. The first band was good, but it was followed by a white, Spanish wrap group. Easily the worst thing I'd ever heard in my life, and it all culminated when one of them, wearing an oversized white t shirt and completely blinged out, grabbed his crotch and said "palabra." (word).
From Cordoba we went to Malaga, a beach town on the Mediterranean Sea. We went to the Picasso Museum and saw where he lived and all that, but overall, Malaga was not so great. The beach we were near was basically sand/dirt and all rocks about 15 feet into the sea. But we can still say we swam in the mediterranean sea so i can complain! The best part, without a doubt, about Malaga was the hostel. It set my standards SO high...we met so many cool people from all over the world. England, Australia, New Zeeland, South Africa, Ireland, and lots more. We all just hung out together on the terrace overlooking the mediterranean sea talking, drinking, eating, doig nothing. The second day were were there we all went to the beach together and then out for a nice dinner, watched a flamenco show, and went to the bar later on. We hung out by the sea afterwards, both nights, after the bars. Our friend Matt, from New Zeeland, played the guitar for all of us on teh terrace - coldplay and john mayer. how wonderful. The whole experience was just so cool.
From Malaga we went to Granada. The Alhambra was one of the prettiest place I've ever seen and is known for having one of the best views of the world. and for good reason. you have to book your tickets days in advance to be able to enter and we thought we were too late, but the taxi driver told us we could get up early and buy them at the alhambra itself. So Cat and I woke up at 6:30 am, tracked down a bus (not easy), and got in line to buy a ticket when the doors opened at 8am. we werent even close to the first in line. i cant even express how pretty it was - you'll have to look at the picture that i'll be putting online at that website. but even the pictures dont do it justice. I loved Granada in general. When you go to a bar and order a drink, you get a free tapa. Its a marvelous system, really. We went to a tapas bar called Poe and all took a shot of absinthe (160 proof - green fairy brand, bright green, diluted with water, and mixed with sugar that had been set on fire. burned by chest for about 1 half hour afterwards. no hallucinations, dont worry Mom and Dad) and we had some AMAZING tapas there, and had fun talking to the bartender. Then we went to an arabic tapas bar, which makes sense because Granada was thelast Arabic city to fall to the Christians in 1492. I dont normally like arabic food, but this stuff was GOOD. The hostel was really hard to find in Granada, even the taxi driver didnt know where it was, and they were diong some SERIOUS construction at 7am, when my head was basically out the window. Oh well...we met people from France, Italy, Germany, and some countryt that ends in "vakia" that i dont remember. One night we were all hanging out together and at one point there were about 5 different languages being spoken. It was a cool experience, let me tell you.
From Granada we went to Sevilla, which was my favorite place by far. We spent 4 days seeing the sights, eating, drinking, taking pictures. The first night we went on a tapas tour with the hostal (which consisted of 1 terrible tapas bar) and then went to a flamenco show that seemed to be in someones basement. There was a HUGE room filled with picnic table and a huge bar, and a small stage. This dance was BIG and SCARY with passion. I was kind of afraid of her. There were 3 guys seeing/playing the music that she was dancing to, and one woman started tapping her toe and clapping in the front row, completely throwing off the beat. This woman had no idea though, and I thought the guy seeing was going to kill her. He had to little yell at her frmo the stage to shut up - i was scared for this old woman. The next day we went to the Cathedral and saw where Christopher Columbus is buried (cool, despite the fact that he was a terrible person). Saw the Real Alcazar which had some beautiful gardens in it. It started to rain on Saturday until sunday, which was a bummer. We had tickets to see a bullfight - we literally planned this entire vacation AROUND the bullfight - but it had been raining all day. We were assured it would not be canceled, though, so we trudged through the rain across town to the Plaza de Toros, went in, were sitting down waiting for it to start, teh sun shining at this point, when all the matadors entered on to the field to check out the conditions. The must not have like when they saw, because about 20 mins later a man ran around the edge of the ring with a sign that said "something, something, suspendida" and then everyone stood up, PISSED OFF, and started throwing their seat cusions on to the ring below and yelling curse words. I've never seen so many angry spaniards. Needless to say, the show was cancelled, and it was like our experience with the Price is Right all over again. So close, yet so far away. The price is WRONG, Bob. We did get our money back, though.
So that is a very brief synapsis of my week in the south. A lot of walking, a lot of sangria, and a lot os sightseeing. Classes started monday, and they're already kicking my ass. No joke. I've turned in a few papers already and have another big exam on monday, so im pretty excited about that. Not. But we've been studying Human Evolution because theres a site just outside of burgos where they found human remains from over a million years ago, and mammoths and saber tooth tigers and stuff. The figured out that these were the first humans in Europe, so thats pretty cool. But anyways, we'vebeen studying all that and I had to write a paper about it - human evolution is hard enoguh in ENGLISH, then throw a language barrier in there. And I checked wikipedia for some facts (they love wikipedia here) and our professor was one of the sources listed. That was pretty crazy - so there was quite the pressure to write a good paper on that one.
***Side note: people know A LOT more about the US than I do. Never have a felt like such an ignorant american - EVER. When we were in Malaga, people from New Zeeland and Australia wre like "oh, your from MI? isnt michael moore from MI? Flint, right?" and Cat and I looked at each other like ..."Uhhh..sure?" more than one person knew that. And Matt knew the exact years of Abe Lincoln's presidency. And people would KILLLLLLL for teh right to vote for the American president. No joke. Everyone was like "ARE YOU VOTING? GOOD! FOR WHO!? OBAMA?! OH GOOD!!!!"
*****Another side note: I watched Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric and laughed. A lot. Then I feared for humanity.
Ok...i had a pretty bad day the other day, and to cap it off, Carmen greeted me with fish. Still on the bone. And a face. Awesome. And WMU is amazing and making registering for classes next semester as difficult as possible - thank you Western, you suck.
When I came back from the South, we had another student living with us! Elena is from Beijing, China and will be here for an entire year. Yikes. She volunteered at the Olympics - isnt that cool? That're rhetorrical, you dont have to reply.
It has gotten tremendoudly cold here in Burgos. Its dark when class ends at night, so took ocupy ourselves, Catherine and I listen to Dane Cook on her Ipod on teh walk home. We must look like complete tools because we walk, huddled together, laughing hysterically over sometihng no one else can here.
I'm headed to Segovia this weekend to visit our friends Sarah and Alfredo! Im excited. And free lodging =) Catherine and I are headed to Rome next weekend for 4 days, and then we're meeting LAUREN SAPITA (!!!!!!) in Barcelona the weekend of Halloween! I'm SOOOO EXCITED!!!! Still trying to fit in Paris, Santiago de Compostela, and Toledo. And a friend and I were tossing around the idea of Greece today.
I'll uplaod all my 700 pics, soon. Girl scouts honor. Miss you all!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
1st Semester = Done!
So I've taken 1 of my 2 exams, and that concludes my 1st six weeks here in Spain. I CANT BELIEVE IT! It's gone by too fast already! I cant even remember what I've been doing...which means I need to fit 1000 x more cool stuff into the next 2.5 months.
Speaking of...I leave for Andalucia tomorrow night at midnight. My friends Catherine, Ernesto, and I are taking a midnight train to Cordoba to see the Mezquita, and then we'll be spending 2 days in Malaga on the Mediterranean Sea, 2 days in Granada to see the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the Alhambra, and then 3 or 4 in Seville - where we'll be catching a Bull Fight! It'll be such a great, crazy week, and I absolutely cannot wait. Last weekend some girls and I went to the Basque Region for the weekend and I felt like I was on heaven on earth, which is ironic because that particular region is known for violence in attempts to gain independence from Spain (google ETA for more info =)). But not only was San Sebastian the MOST beautifulplace I had ever seen, but the people were friendlier than in Burgos. Much more so. (side note: spain has 4 national languages, one of which, Euskera, is only found in Basque country. Its roots are unkown and its unlike any otehr language - Carmen says she cant understand a word of it, and that it sounds like jibberish). One of the store owners we stopped in knew we were not Spanish (duh) and taught us how to say "hello" and things like that in Euskera. I don't remember now, though - bummer. Australian people must love Spain, because we met TONS of Australians there - at the Hostel there was a group of 22 of them (LOUD) in one group, then a few others, and people from Ireland, Rome, and England. Very interesting - the Hostal experience was fun, too, and I'm excited for more. It was like a bunch of strangers living in 1 apartment sharing 2 tiny bathrooms and 1 messy kitchen, like we'd known each other for years. It was located in the oldest part of town with more bars per square block than anywhere else in Spain - so it was loud - but also lots of fun! We went to this place to try some tapas that were specific to the region and have some wine - S.S. is known for their vino blanco. We had a salad for the vegetarian, a rice/clam dish, some type of meat with guacamole that we couldnt identify, one other that i don't remember, a beef dish served with strawberry ice cream and dark chocolate (HA-MAZING - my favorite by far), and a flaky white fish that was pretty darn good. I liked everything. All in all, S.S. is known for their beaches, but of course it rained the ENTIRE weekend. But it was still gorgeous and I'd go back in the rain in a heart beat. We went to the top of a mountain and took pictures of the bay, and you can see EVERYTHING - it's amix of beaches, mountains, pine, and green. and colorful little houses with red roofs. I loved it. Then we went to Bilbao to check out the Guggenhiem, which was very interesting and I'm excited to go back with mom, dad, and caits. The 3rd floor was closed down because they were in between exhibits, so it'll be like I hadnt even seen it. Juan Munoz had a modern-very-different-but-very-cool exhibit going on, but i dont think it will still be there in December.
Our program directors have really stepped it up lately as far as class excursions go. We had a workshop on Spanish cooking, in which we learned to make Paella, Spanish Tortilla, and Gazpacho. It was experience! I tried ALL of the seafood on my plate, even though most of it still had eyes. I'm growin up as far as being picky goes! The tortilla wasnt cooked all the way, but I didn't get sick, so that's cool. I got to flip to tortilla, but almost dropped it on the floor. Go figure! t was fun though, and there are pictures online that you all can see - (http://picasaweb.google.com/cara.cheevers). Then we visited Atapuerca, a site right outside of Burgos that hsa the oldest remnants of human bones in Europe - and the first identification of human life in Europe in the evolution process. It was incredibly interesting, despite the rain, and there are a FEW pictures online as well. But there wasnt a ton to take pictures of except for het layers of dirt, clay, and mudd, that had been their for literally MILLIONS of years. The actual bones are in labs being tests and all that good, scientific stuff. And then on Friday, we visit the San Miguel Brewery. San Miguel is the main beer here in Spain - they dont have bud, bud light, and all that jazz. So we got to see how it was made, take a tour of the packaging plant, and then at the end of the tour there were 2 tables set up for us completely STOCKED with every kind of beer they make for us to try. This woman just kept bring more and more 6-packs for try out. Some were flavored "cerveza claras" with little or no alcohol, so we got to try a whole variety, complete witrh bar stacks like peanutes, crackers, little sandwiches, and everything. Keep in mind, this was at 2 in the afternoon. =)
I've made a group of Spanish friends! But they're all leaving for their own universities this coming week, so we're all going out tonight as a farewell celebration. Alfredo (yes - like the cheese) invited some of us to stay with him in Madrid, and we have a trip to Segovia planned to visit Sara in october. Funny story about Alfredo - Catherine and I went over to his parents house to watch the Little Mermaid in spanish with him and he good us pasta with a cheese sauce. Catherine and I sat their laughing to ourselves that Alfredo had made us Alfredo pasta without even realizing it, since they dont call it Alfredo in Spain. I was loving it. And they all think my name is weird! (My name literally translate into "face" in spanish, or "expensive." So when I introduce myself to people and say "my llamo cara" its literally like saying "my name is face" or "my name is expensive." Alfredo, and another friend named Cesar (which is funny, too - like ceasar dressing), were like "you have a very pretty name Cara, but its kind of like saying "My llama codo, or me llama tobillo" - "my name is elbow, or my name is ankle." Like I said, I get a lot of funny stares like "this girl is onnnnn something" when i introduce myself. Carmen even mentioned she thought my name was a little different the first time saw is, haha.
Speaking of Carmen - she is fantastic about teaching me new vocab and testing me on what I know and all that good stuff. Well one day she asked what words I had learned in class and on that particular day it HAPPENED to be that we learned a bunch of bad words. So I told her so and she was like "oh great! tell me what you learned!" really enthusiastically. Well, i reinforced that they were "palabras malas" and she told me to say it anyways, so i did. So its lke 11:30 after dinner and we're sitting in the little kitched and I'm listing off all the words like "joder, mierda, hija de puta, puta madre" and all the really terrible words I know, and she repeats them back to me so I can get the pronunciations right. It would have been the funniest thing to watch, I bet. And then I educated her on all the curse words in latin america that i knew, that are everyday, normal words in Spanish-Spanish. She didn't know they meant other things and was pleased to learn something know. hahaha, well...might as well go the whole 9 yards, right?
On another note. Uncle Denny: I had my first political discussion the other night with some Spanish friends. It was great! They asked if I liked Obama, and of course, my eye must have twinkled. They absolutely LOVE him and were like "the whole world wants obama!" and mentioned how many people traveled to Berlin just to see him speak and all that jazz. They flipped out when I told him how I've shaken his hand before, and how I've seen him speak twice, and all that good stuff. They were jealllouuusssss. That conversation must have opened a floodgate because I've had about 2 or 3 since with more Spaniards and a couple Australians. I've definitely realized exactly HOW MUCH of an impact the US has on teh rest of the world - like I knew, but i didnt KNOW. People would kill for the chance to vote for the US president because it affects them almost as much as it does us (almost) and how many US citizens throw away their vote? It's infuriating to think about. Speaking of which: Still waiting for my absentee ballot.
Weather has been beautiful - but I'm thinking about all y'all in the US who have been sitting under terrential rains. Jerry mentioned that it's been clearing up, so thats wonderful to hear. Hopefully everyone is safe and has power!
You can see ALL of my pictures online now! It's much easier than trying to load them on here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/cara.cheevers
thats a good representation at least! miss you all!
Speaking of...I leave for Andalucia tomorrow night at midnight. My friends Catherine, Ernesto, and I are taking a midnight train to Cordoba to see the Mezquita, and then we'll be spending 2 days in Malaga on the Mediterranean Sea, 2 days in Granada to see the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the Alhambra, and then 3 or 4 in Seville - where we'll be catching a Bull Fight! It'll be such a great, crazy week, and I absolutely cannot wait. Last weekend some girls and I went to the Basque Region for the weekend and I felt like I was on heaven on earth, which is ironic because that particular region is known for violence in attempts to gain independence from Spain (google ETA for more info =)). But not only was San Sebastian the MOST beautifulplace I had ever seen, but the people were friendlier than in Burgos. Much more so. (side note: spain has 4 national languages, one of which, Euskera, is only found in Basque country. Its roots are unkown and its unlike any otehr language - Carmen says she cant understand a word of it, and that it sounds like jibberish). One of the store owners we stopped in knew we were not Spanish (duh) and taught us how to say "hello" and things like that in Euskera. I don't remember now, though - bummer. Australian people must love Spain, because we met TONS of Australians there - at the Hostel there was a group of 22 of them (LOUD) in one group, then a few others, and people from Ireland, Rome, and England. Very interesting - the Hostal experience was fun, too, and I'm excited for more. It was like a bunch of strangers living in 1 apartment sharing 2 tiny bathrooms and 1 messy kitchen, like we'd known each other for years. It was located in the oldest part of town with more bars per square block than anywhere else in Spain - so it was loud - but also lots of fun! We went to this place to try some tapas that were specific to the region and have some wine - S.S. is known for their vino blanco. We had a salad for the vegetarian, a rice/clam dish, some type of meat with guacamole that we couldnt identify, one other that i don't remember, a beef dish served with strawberry ice cream and dark chocolate (HA-MAZING - my favorite by far), and a flaky white fish that was pretty darn good. I liked everything. All in all, S.S. is known for their beaches, but of course it rained the ENTIRE weekend. But it was still gorgeous and I'd go back in the rain in a heart beat. We went to the top of a mountain and took pictures of the bay, and you can see EVERYTHING - it's amix of beaches, mountains, pine, and green. and colorful little houses with red roofs. I loved it. Then we went to Bilbao to check out the Guggenhiem, which was very interesting and I'm excited to go back with mom, dad, and caits. The 3rd floor was closed down because they were in between exhibits, so it'll be like I hadnt even seen it. Juan Munoz had a modern-very-different-but-very-cool exhibit going on, but i dont think it will still be there in December.
Our program directors have really stepped it up lately as far as class excursions go. We had a workshop on Spanish cooking, in which we learned to make Paella, Spanish Tortilla, and Gazpacho. It was experience! I tried ALL of the seafood on my plate, even though most of it still had eyes. I'm growin up as far as being picky goes! The tortilla wasnt cooked all the way, but I didn't get sick, so that's cool. I got to flip to tortilla, but almost dropped it on the floor. Go figure! t was fun though, and there are pictures online that you all can see - (http://picasaweb.google.com/cara.cheevers). Then we visited Atapuerca, a site right outside of Burgos that hsa the oldest remnants of human bones in Europe - and the first identification of human life in Europe in the evolution process. It was incredibly interesting, despite the rain, and there are a FEW pictures online as well. But there wasnt a ton to take pictures of except for het layers of dirt, clay, and mudd, that had been their for literally MILLIONS of years. The actual bones are in labs being tests and all that good, scientific stuff. And then on Friday, we visit the San Miguel Brewery. San Miguel is the main beer here in Spain - they dont have bud, bud light, and all that jazz. So we got to see how it was made, take a tour of the packaging plant, and then at the end of the tour there were 2 tables set up for us completely STOCKED with every kind of beer they make for us to try. This woman just kept bring more and more 6-packs for try out. Some were flavored "cerveza claras" with little or no alcohol, so we got to try a whole variety, complete witrh bar stacks like peanutes, crackers, little sandwiches, and everything. Keep in mind, this was at 2 in the afternoon. =)
I've made a group of Spanish friends! But they're all leaving for their own universities this coming week, so we're all going out tonight as a farewell celebration. Alfredo (yes - like the cheese) invited some of us to stay with him in Madrid, and we have a trip to Segovia planned to visit Sara in october. Funny story about Alfredo - Catherine and I went over to his parents house to watch the Little Mermaid in spanish with him and he good us pasta with a cheese sauce. Catherine and I sat their laughing to ourselves that Alfredo had made us Alfredo pasta without even realizing it, since they dont call it Alfredo in Spain. I was loving it. And they all think my name is weird! (My name literally translate into "face" in spanish, or "expensive." So when I introduce myself to people and say "my llamo cara" its literally like saying "my name is face" or "my name is expensive." Alfredo, and another friend named Cesar (which is funny, too - like ceasar dressing), were like "you have a very pretty name Cara, but its kind of like saying "My llama codo, or me llama tobillo" - "my name is elbow, or my name is ankle." Like I said, I get a lot of funny stares like "this girl is onnnnn something" when i introduce myself. Carmen even mentioned she thought my name was a little different the first time saw is, haha.
Speaking of Carmen - she is fantastic about teaching me new vocab and testing me on what I know and all that good stuff. Well one day she asked what words I had learned in class and on that particular day it HAPPENED to be that we learned a bunch of bad words. So I told her so and she was like "oh great! tell me what you learned!" really enthusiastically. Well, i reinforced that they were "palabras malas" and she told me to say it anyways, so i did. So its lke 11:30 after dinner and we're sitting in the little kitched and I'm listing off all the words like "joder, mierda, hija de puta, puta madre" and all the really terrible words I know, and she repeats them back to me so I can get the pronunciations right. It would have been the funniest thing to watch, I bet. And then I educated her on all the curse words in latin america that i knew, that are everyday, normal words in Spanish-Spanish. She didn't know they meant other things and was pleased to learn something know. hahaha, well...might as well go the whole 9 yards, right?
On another note. Uncle Denny: I had my first political discussion the other night with some Spanish friends. It was great! They asked if I liked Obama, and of course, my eye must have twinkled. They absolutely LOVE him and were like "the whole world wants obama!" and mentioned how many people traveled to Berlin just to see him speak and all that jazz. They flipped out when I told him how I've shaken his hand before, and how I've seen him speak twice, and all that good stuff. They were jealllouuusssss. That conversation must have opened a floodgate because I've had about 2 or 3 since with more Spaniards and a couple Australians. I've definitely realized exactly HOW MUCH of an impact the US has on teh rest of the world - like I knew, but i didnt KNOW. People would kill for the chance to vote for the US president because it affects them almost as much as it does us (almost) and how many US citizens throw away their vote? It's infuriating to think about. Speaking of which: Still waiting for my absentee ballot.
Weather has been beautiful - but I'm thinking about all y'all in the US who have been sitting under terrential rains. Jerry mentioned that it's been clearing up, so thats wonderful to hear. Hopefully everyone is safe and has power!
You can see ALL of my pictures online now! It's much easier than trying to load them on here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/cara.cheevers
thats a good representation at least! miss you all!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
PULPO
ohhhh my gosh. so i told some of you about my "pulpo" story early last week. a brief rundown is that Carmen pulled out a massive, raw octopus from the fridge, put it in the sink, and started preparing it for dinner that weekend, all 8 legs flopping around, tentacles and ink and all. she laughed when she saw my absolutely disgusted face. well she prepared it for the weekend because i wouldnt be there (she doesnt ever make fish even though she loves it, because she knows i dont like it. apparently pulpo (octopus) is her favorite.) but had some left overs for when i got home tonight to go along with the pasta. great combo, first off.
but back to what im trying to say through all the rambling... I ATE OCTOPUS! and it wasnt terrible once i got passed the idea that a/ i was easting octupus and b/it had little sucker things on it still. she prepared it with peppers and onions so it didnt taste completely like fish. it was pink, too. apparently when you poil octopus in water, it turns pink, fun fact!
Santander was beautiful! we fit 4 people in a 2 person hotel room to save on money. it was trashed when we left. teh beach was HA-MAZING. many women do not where their tops at the beach. i was wondering why no one had tan lines!
the mountains were remarkable, too.
but back to what im trying to say through all the rambling... I ATE OCTOPUS! and it wasnt terrible once i got passed the idea that a/ i was easting octupus and b/it had little sucker things on it still. she prepared it with peppers and onions so it didnt taste completely like fish. it was pink, too. apparently when you poil octopus in water, it turns pink, fun fact!
Santander was beautiful! we fit 4 people in a 2 person hotel room to save on money. it was trashed when we left. teh beach was HA-MAZING. many women do not where their tops at the beach. i was wondering why no one had tan lines!
the mountains were remarkable, too.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
ohh Tomatina
Today is the day that i SHOULD be at the Tomatina in Buñol. As in the festival of throwing tomatoes. Literally chucking them at other people. It was one of the things I'd been looking forward to most this semester, however it is over 4 hours away and I have class in the morning, and there are no trains back in time. Sigh. Thank you Google-Spain for reminding me of that every time I go to your webpage. My friend, Ernesto, told me I could throw rotten tomatoes at him tomorrow if I really wanted to, so at least I know the option is out there =)
So even though I will not be able to participate in throwing tomatoes I HAVE been doing tons of cool stuff. Last weekend we took a class trip to Avila on saturday, although it was a pretty boring. It was a 3-hour bus ride each way with a driver who was absolutely determined to make us all vomit and about 5 hours spent walking around the old city looking at churches. So far, Spain has been a lot of churches and monasteries - pretty, but they're beginning to look the same. It did have a FANTASTIC view though since its perched on a hill, so that was neat. My camera batteries died upon arriving to Avila, so I'll probably just steal everyone else's off of facebook. We had about 4 hours of free time, although it was entirely during the siesta. So EVERYTHING was closed. We walked around, ate our bocadillos from home (carmen makes some mean spanish-tortilla bocadillos), and chatted in Spanish. bueno!
Afterwards was probably the craziest concert I've ever been to in my entire life. A few of us went to this all night techno concert - called Electrosonic - around midnight and got home around 6am. And we left the concert much earlier than everyone else. There were two nights of teh concert, which took place in an open field with 3 of 4 tents with different DJs playing and strobe lights flashing, so people came from all over. Barcelona, Madrid, Paris - we met a group of people from Australia, too. All in all, we decided the craziness was a bit out of our league after a few hours and peaced out - although it was an absolute blast.
Spent the next day sleeping, but I woke up in time for lunch. Carmen greeted me with calabaza-patata-queso soup (pumpkin, potato, and cheese. gee, thanks). I don't even like touching the pumpkin guts when carving pumpkins at Halloween, much less eat them after being pureed in a blender with potatos and cheese. I ate what I could, but I think she knew I wasnt a huge fan. It was followed by fried veal. yummay. And another thing! I think I conveyed incorrectly my feelings toward murcilla (blood, meat, and rice packed into sausage form) because Carmen thinks I love it. When in reality, it was better than I thought and I kind of liked it. Today was murcilla soup and yesterday was murcilla links for an appatizer course before lunch. The food is not as bad as I make it sound though! Carmen has caught on to how much I love chocolate, having bread with everything is amazing, and spanish tortillas are delicious. I'm just craving some seriuos Jimmy Johns or Pizza Hut. We caved and went to telepizza the other night, and it was the best, worst pizza ever. loved every bite.
classes are great! out professor, Diego, is hilarious and incredibly patient. I've learned a ton without even realizing it. Carmen is good about correcting me and helping better my spanish, too. we sit in the kitchen after dinner and name off the cooking utensils and kitchen appliances. I tihnk she's going to help me find a cooking class to take, too. She must think I'm a moron, though. The other day walking in to class, I meant to say that it looked like it was going to rain. however i said "me parece que va a llorar" which tanslates into "it seems to me that its going to cry. whoops. She looked at me, laughed, and made fun of me for a few seconds before I realized what I said wrong and corrected myself. llover, not llorar. I'll never forget that again.
big news! today, Jose's (my spanish brother) girlfriend came into my roomand started up a conversation. That confused me in itself because she never really talks to me, but asked about the concert and our plans for traveling, and about a book that was on my desk that she had read. well at the end of the conversation, she invited me to go out with her around burgos sometime which is HUGE b/c people in Burgos just don't really do that. They'll even admit that people in the castilla y leon region are much more cold and unfriendly. Too bad I didn't understand her the first time around, so I felt like and idiot when I did get it. I'm still excited, though!
We're headed to Santander to go to the beach this weekend, Friday to Sunday night. Madrid is the weekend of Sept 6-7, then we have a week off before our week long trip down south. I think that 3 other people and I are going to go to cordoba, granada, sevilla, and morocco if there's time. We just booked our flights for Rome on the weekend of October 9-14. I think some girls and I are going to Paris the weekend after, and then Barcelona for Halloween weekend. After that -who knows? There's still tons to see.
When we were walking home tonight, some old guy yelled at us that we should pay taxes. He heard us speaking English because we were making plans, and thought that we were immigrants. Which is funny because we do pay a certain amount of taxes on everything that we buy, yet reap none of the benefits. Maybe next time he should think about things like that before passing judgment - or yelling at strangers.
I'm starting to miss everyone! Kalamazoo seems to be much more lively with everyone returning to school, as do other college campuses. Hope you all are doing well!
Love, Cara
go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatina
So even though I will not be able to participate in throwing tomatoes I HAVE been doing tons of cool stuff. Last weekend we took a class trip to Avila on saturday, although it was a pretty boring. It was a 3-hour bus ride each way with a driver who was absolutely determined to make us all vomit and about 5 hours spent walking around the old city looking at churches. So far, Spain has been a lot of churches and monasteries - pretty, but they're beginning to look the same. It did have a FANTASTIC view though since its perched on a hill, so that was neat. My camera batteries died upon arriving to Avila, so I'll probably just steal everyone else's off of facebook. We had about 4 hours of free time, although it was entirely during the siesta. So EVERYTHING was closed. We walked around, ate our bocadillos from home (carmen makes some mean spanish-tortilla bocadillos), and chatted in Spanish. bueno!
Afterwards was probably the craziest concert I've ever been to in my entire life. A few of us went to this all night techno concert - called Electrosonic - around midnight and got home around 6am. And we left the concert much earlier than everyone else. There were two nights of teh concert, which took place in an open field with 3 of 4 tents with different DJs playing and strobe lights flashing, so people came from all over. Barcelona, Madrid, Paris - we met a group of people from Australia, too. All in all, we decided the craziness was a bit out of our league after a few hours and peaced out - although it was an absolute blast.
Spent the next day sleeping, but I woke up in time for lunch. Carmen greeted me with calabaza-patata-queso soup (pumpkin, potato, and cheese. gee, thanks). I don't even like touching the pumpkin guts when carving pumpkins at Halloween, much less eat them after being pureed in a blender with potatos and cheese. I ate what I could, but I think she knew I wasnt a huge fan. It was followed by fried veal. yummay. And another thing! I think I conveyed incorrectly my feelings toward murcilla (blood, meat, and rice packed into sausage form) because Carmen thinks I love it. When in reality, it was better than I thought and I kind of liked it. Today was murcilla soup and yesterday was murcilla links for an appatizer course before lunch. The food is not as bad as I make it sound though! Carmen has caught on to how much I love chocolate, having bread with everything is amazing, and spanish tortillas are delicious. I'm just craving some seriuos Jimmy Johns or Pizza Hut. We caved and went to telepizza the other night, and it was the best, worst pizza ever. loved every bite.
classes are great! out professor, Diego, is hilarious and incredibly patient. I've learned a ton without even realizing it. Carmen is good about correcting me and helping better my spanish, too. we sit in the kitchen after dinner and name off the cooking utensils and kitchen appliances. I tihnk she's going to help me find a cooking class to take, too. She must think I'm a moron, though. The other day walking in to class, I meant to say that it looked like it was going to rain. however i said "me parece que va a llorar" which tanslates into "it seems to me that its going to cry. whoops. She looked at me, laughed, and made fun of me for a few seconds before I realized what I said wrong and corrected myself. llover, not llorar. I'll never forget that again.
big news! today, Jose's (my spanish brother) girlfriend came into my roomand started up a conversation. That confused me in itself because she never really talks to me, but asked about the concert and our plans for traveling, and about a book that was on my desk that she had read. well at the end of the conversation, she invited me to go out with her around burgos sometime which is HUGE b/c people in Burgos just don't really do that. They'll even admit that people in the castilla y leon region are much more cold and unfriendly. Too bad I didn't understand her the first time around, so I felt like and idiot when I did get it. I'm still excited, though!
We're headed to Santander to go to the beach this weekend, Friday to Sunday night. Madrid is the weekend of Sept 6-7, then we have a week off before our week long trip down south. I think that 3 other people and I are going to go to cordoba, granada, sevilla, and morocco if there's time. We just booked our flights for Rome on the weekend of October 9-14. I think some girls and I are going to Paris the weekend after, and then Barcelona for Halloween weekend. After that -who knows? There's still tons to see.
When we were walking home tonight, some old guy yelled at us that we should pay taxes. He heard us speaking English because we were making plans, and thought that we were immigrants. Which is funny because we do pay a certain amount of taxes on everything that we buy, yet reap none of the benefits. Maybe next time he should think about things like that before passing judgment - or yelling at strangers.
I'm starting to miss everyone! Kalamazoo seems to be much more lively with everyone returning to school, as do other college campuses. Hope you all are doing well!
Love, Cara
go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatina
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
hola todos
(top left - view from the middle of nowhere on a sunday afternoon exploration. Top right - door and cute old man who kept walking in circles around the small plaza at the monasterio de las hueglas ((old people are even cuter here)) Bottom left - one of the many peregrinos (pilgrims) who make their way through Burgos on their trek following the Walk of St. James. It goes from France to Galicia, and St. James stopped in Burgos which makes it a key tourist spot and pilgrimage area. The trail is marked with conch shells, so its cool to walk around town following the trail. Bottom right -my gato espanol named Tambor - like a drum. He LOVES being around people and is constantly taking naps on my computer.
***So i heard about the plane crash at the Madrid airport this morning . I dont really watch a lot of the news here, although I think I'm going to start. 153 people were killed when there were problems taking off, caught on fire, and then blew up. Incredibly sad, and incredibly scary.
Lot's of cool things have been going on lately...let's see.
Well last week, we didn't have class because it was a religious holiday so I went to Carmen's (my Spanish mom) mom's 91st birthday party. Her entire family was there, all 5 siblings and their kids and one au pair, and we sat outside at the big table and shared HUGE pans of Paella. Of course, it was full of shellfish that still had their heads attached, but i DID try the calamari. I didn't really like it, but I tried it! Carmen laughed when she saw my face, chewing it, and told me not to eat anymore if i didn't like it. So I just ate the rice with the chicken, roasted red peppers, and whatnot. Then it was followed by dessert (tiramisu!) and coffee and sitting in the sun. Afterwards, we all went to another cafe to drink more coffee (i like these people) and talk - everyone was impressed with my speaking/understanding abilities, so that's cool! One uncle kept saying something about the "americana," but i couldnt understand what it was...haha. oh well. And they knew SOME english, because every once in awhile, one of the older family members would say a phrase in english and it would throw me off guard - like "Let's rock!" And he made fun of my big ol' grandma sized purse...so I think they like me! haha. The Spanish women, in particular, age incredibly well. There was one niece that I thought was 22 or so, and it turned out she was 29. And about half my size - I just don't get it.
I went to mass at the Cathedral on Sunday and it was gorgeous. I understood some of the mass, too, between gaucking at the gold altar and marble walls. After church we went on a little adventure around the city, eventually walking out of town, and finding a great view of the cathedral, castle, and rooftops. I'll post a pic if you're lucky.
As you all know, Michael Phelps is a big deal with his 8th gold medal around his neck. Inhuman, dare I say. Well no one seems to care about the upcoming US presidential election, or that a black man is in the running. But everyone loooooves MIGUEL PHELPS! We'll be walking down the street and people will yell "MIGUEL PHELPS! MIGUEL PHELPS! MIGUEL JORDAN! LABRAN JAMES!" because we're obviously American and they love American athletes. For instance, at coffee with Carmen's family, conversation kept creeping back to what Phelps eats for breakfast, and how wide his arm-span must be (8 eggs and 8 pieces of toast - and more, but i couldn't understand it). Then they'd look at me for verification like I'd know how much the man eats off the top of my head.
Oh another thing about la familia - they crack me up because they are just like the Cheevers'..Not only do they bicker at each other like any other family, my sister RARELY smiles and generally just looks unhappy, like Caitlin! (I love you, Caits) and there was a Chris Cheevers moment at the bday party...they have this really cool blue bottle that they keep their water in the fridge to keep cool, like we do with milk cartons, except prettier. And I kind of always wondered where they got them, but didn't care enough to ask. Well the same blue, glass bottles were at the restaurant filled with water to refill our glasses when necessary, and when one was finished, Jose grabbed it off the table before the waitress could see it was empty, and stuck it in Carmen's purse. I laughed a little, thinking of the time mom put that extra steak in her purse, and Jose goes "i didnt see anything, did you?" winking, and smiling, of course. And now there are two blue glass bottles of water in the fridge.
What else? School is officially in full swing - i turned in my first paper today. I'm sure it will be ripped to shreds. classes and homework everyday, although not hard, and it will only get more intense. We have workshops in the evenings to learn more about music, food, cinema, etc, which are always interesting. The walk to campus from the apartment is 5o minutes or so if I walk fast - so i'll be making that trip 4 times today. I think I'm starting to lose weight from all the walking!
We're going to Avila this weekend, and Madrid in 2 weekends. More is being planned for the near future, though! Well that's all for now, and I need to start heading back to campus.
Love you all!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
WMU represents in Burgosssssss
http://www.diariodeburgos.es/noticia.cfm/Local/20080812/ubu/michigan/consolidan/exito/curso/cultura/espa%C3%B1ola/B349E793-1A64-968D-5927D96CE37F0C25
none of you can probably read this, but its a pretty big deal. we are being celebrated for being the 10th class from WMU to attend UBU for language classes/workshops.
This might be one reason EVERYONE looks at us funny, although I think it's mostly because it's obvious we're Americans, and they just don't like us. HA
none of you can probably read this, but its a pretty big deal. we are being celebrated for being the 10th class from WMU to attend UBU for language classes/workshops.
This might be one reason EVERYONE looks at us funny, although I think it's mostly because it's obvious we're Americans, and they just don't like us. HA
Monday, August 11, 2008
comida comida comida
My bedroom!
The plaza outside my apartment complex. There's a cafe/restaurant and a park that little kids play at all the time. We live about a wedding - gown shop.
Drying your clothes - Spanish style
The view from my bedroom window.
La plaza mayor -the cathedral spires are behind it - muy muy bonita. And everything is so colorful! I love it.
So, I definitely thought I was getting used to the food - at least it wasn't terrible. But I have since reconsidered that thought. Not complaining here, just distinguishing the differences in foods from here and home.
Por instancia: I can only describe it as a ham and cheese grilled sandwich, minus the bread. And not grilled, but fried. In egg batter. I had two thick slabs of ham with some creamy cheese between, and the ham was battered with scambled eggs. I'm guessing she then fried it in a pan. The first few bites weren't bad, but let me tell you. It's MUY DIFICIL to eat a large "sandwich." On another note: i tried another piece of fish! It was fried shrimp, which isn't at all exotic, but i step in the right direction.
Today we had our first day of school. We met at the Arco de Santa Maria and walked about 15 minutes to campus (campus is about a 4o minute walk from my house). We took a placement test for our grammar classes, then had an orientation with the foreign study coordinators. The press was there because we're the 10th class from WMU to come here - there was an article in the newspaper today, and will be another tomorrow. I'll pick some up, don't worry, Mom. =)
By the way, campus is b-e-a-utiful, as is the walk to campus.
Funny story about last night: As I was eating the fried-ham-cheese-sandwich, my whole Spanish family was in the kitchen with me. At first, Jose was surprised that I "liked" the food (i didnt want to be rude), but the conversation evolved into trying to get the dog, Curra, to take her pill. It made me think of Mom and Dad trying to get Daisy to take her pills by shoving them into hot dogs because Jose kept shoving them into croissants. It was a funny process because Curra would stuff the croissant with a pill in it in her cheek and wait for him to look away, then try to spit it out. They had as much trouble as we did and was definitely an interesting process.
That's about it. My legs are tired from all the constant walking. It's ejercico bueno and i'll need to walk off all of the bread they keep making me eat! Mas pan? Mas pan?
Besos para todos.
Cara
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Estoy Aqui!
Hola Todos -
I arrived this afternoon at about noon (Spain-time), which felt like 6am. ouch. I got a few hours of uncomfortable sleep on the plane, so at least I had that behind me. And let me tell you - I knew I loved the Spanish. 1 word: SIESTA. Smartest people alive. I took the best 1.5 hours nap ever when I arrived at my Spanish family's apartment. We live on the 4th floor of the complex that overlooks an ADORABLE little parque where kids play and restaurante and outdoor patio. My madre, Carmen, and I chatted it up for awhile (she was impressed with my Spanish skills!). After unpackign she made me paella for almuerzo - DAD YOU'D BE SO PROUD OF ME! I ATE A CLAM! It wasnt horrible, either. Salty, and I ate it with paella, so i didnt have such texture-issues. Carmen is great, though. We're about to go on a walking tour of Burgos. I'm about 15 minutes from the viejo Burgos, which is considered in town and full of statues, monuments, and where the catedral is located. Then campus is another 15 minutes or so from there. (Carmen works on campus, though, so she said she'd drive me! LUCKY!)
I also have a Spanish 'brother,' Josewho is 22. He goes to school in Madrid during the school year, and a sister who is 20 (but i can't remember her name...).
All is well! I sound like a blabbering idiot when I try to speak Spanish, but practice makes perfect.
Love you all!
I arrived this afternoon at about noon (Spain-time), which felt like 6am. ouch. I got a few hours of uncomfortable sleep on the plane, so at least I had that behind me. And let me tell you - I knew I loved the Spanish. 1 word: SIESTA. Smartest people alive. I took the best 1.5 hours nap ever when I arrived at my Spanish family's apartment. We live on the 4th floor of the complex that overlooks an ADORABLE little parque where kids play and restaurante and outdoor patio. My madre, Carmen, and I chatted it up for awhile (she was impressed with my Spanish skills!). After unpackign she made me paella for almuerzo - DAD YOU'D BE SO PROUD OF ME! I ATE A CLAM! It wasnt horrible, either. Salty, and I ate it with paella, so i didnt have such texture-issues. Carmen is great, though. We're about to go on a walking tour of Burgos. I'm about 15 minutes from the viejo Burgos, which is considered in town and full of statues, monuments, and where the catedral is located. Then campus is another 15 minutes or so from there. (Carmen works on campus, though, so she said she'd drive me! LUCKY!)
I also have a Spanish 'brother,' Josewho is 22. He goes to school in Madrid during the school year, and a sister who is 20 (but i can't remember her name...).
All is well! I sound like a blabbering idiot when I try to speak Spanish, but practice makes perfect.
Love you all!
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