He should also sell socks

Today in my grammar class we were learning about sentence construction for giving advice.  In order to practice, our teacher told us to get in groups and give 6 different pieces of advice to Zaptero, the Spanish Prime Minister on how he should deal with the economic crisis.   [For those of you who haven't taken any Spanish classes, zapatero means cobbler/shoemaker]  Anyway, each group had to go around and read out their 6 pieces of advice­­­–most were silly (he should get a new job; he should talk to Obama; etc, etc) but the third group had some very interesting suggestions.  They started out by saying there should be more rebajas (sales) and we all though it was a strange suggestion to give the PM but we were willing to let it slide. There second suggestion was that he should hire more employees and at this point everyone was genuinely confused. When they said that he should start selling socks in addition to shoes, we were all struggling to hold in our laughter. The group (there were 3 of them) was completely clueless that we were all talking about the PM and not a cobbler! The teacher was really gracious and admitted that while we were all talking about the PM, the economic crisis does affect everyone, including shoemakers.

I was seriously embarrassed to even be in the same class as these people.  Even if they didn’t know who Zapatero was before coming to Spain, knowing the name of the leader of the country in which you are currently living is a rather important detail, at least in my humble opinion.  But I’ll let you be the judge. 

José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spanish PM        

vs.    

a zapatero, ie: cobbler

No wonder she could write Harry Potter–the magical city of Edinburgh

Leave 4pm Friday; Bus ToledoàMadrid; Metroàairport; Madrid airportàDublin airport; sleep on Starbucks’ couches in Dublin airport; flight to Edinburgh (delayed); Bus airport to hostel; arrive 9 am Saturday.

We finally made it!

After checking into our hostel, Anne, Dani, Kaitlin and I went to find some breakfast before going on a walking tour of Edinburgh.  The breakfast was really tasty, the walking tour was a bit too long.  It would have been fine except that Edinburgh really isn’t a very big city, so it was more of a standing-in-the-cold tour, with a little bit of walking thrown in there. It was really cool to walk around the city and recognize things that I saw last time I was in Scotland with my family (7 years ago?).  I didn’t recognize most of the city, but certain parts really stood out in my mind–namely, the castle.  Later that night we went and got some dinner at a pub and watched the Ireland/France rugby game, although we had a hard time understanding much of the game.

The weekend we were in Edinburgh just so happened to be the Six Nations Rugby Tournament (France, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England) and two of the games were actually being played in Edinburgh.  No one was too riled up about the Ireland/France game, but the next day Wales played Scotland, which was a big deal.  

On a walking tour

No explanation needed!

View of city and mountains

View of castle from below

The other side of the castle

Sunday we had a pretty laid back morning–cooked ourselves some eggs and toast and then went for a walk around the city.  We walked down the main drag (The Royal Mile) to the Queen’s official Scottish residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and then up and around the city. There is a hill in the city that has all sorts of monuments built on top of it, including a model of one corer of the Parthenon, and there is a great view of the city. From one angle you can see the old half of Edinburgh and from the other you can see the new half of the city, with a view of the water behind it. Very beautiful.

Scottish hillside

New part of Edinburgh 

The Palace of Holyroodhouse

After our walk we went down to the grass market–the main pub spot–and got some lunch. We ate fish & chips and haggis!!! Surprisingly, the haggis was not bad at all–better than the fish & chips. We watched about half of the Scottish/Wales game while eating lunch then at half time headed next door to a more popular pub.

We just had to–needless to say, after this picture was taken the pay phone jammed into my back really started to hurt

There were actually a lot more Welsh fans that Scottish fans, and I was never quite sure if most of the them were Scottish people who like the Welsh team better (Scotland’s team is “rubbish”) or if they were Welsh people who had just come up for the weekend.  We did meet one man in particular who was quite a riot. His name was Gordon, he was about 5 feet tall, wore a kilt w/ a Welsh jersey, looked about 65 but was actually only 52 and called us bonnie lassies. It was super fun being surrounded by a bunch of drunk Scottish and Welsh men and women of all ages, everyone celebrating regardless of which team won.  Keep in mind that this was all happening between 3 and 7 in the afternoon on Sunday.  Once we decided we needed to get dinner, the four of us left (although I think the party was just getting started) and walked back to our hostel singing and dancing in the snow.  We cooked dinner in our hostel and were able to have a relaxed night, but still felt like we had gone out and partied. 

Celebrating in the pub

Our friend Gordon (the Welsh/Scottish/leprechaun man)

Gordon so kindly let me wear (ie: put it on my head) his leprechaun hat

We just got accepted to Hogwarts!

The castle by night

Cooking dinner in the hostel

Monday was our last day in Edinburgh, and we spent it by first going to the National Museum of Scotland to see Dolly the cloned sheep’s body.  The museum was awesome, although we never made it outside of the kid’s section.  After we realized that we were all 20/21 years old, we decided to get lunch at the Elephant House Café, which is where JK Rowling first started writing Harry Potter.  We got the best table in the house, with an amazing view of the castle coated with a light layer of snow.  Not to diminish JK’s skill, but I think anyone who had that view would be hard pressed not to create a world of witchcraft and wizardry.

Yes, I am 21 years old

Dolly the first cloned sheep!!!

High Street/Royal Mile after it snowed

Enough said

View from our table in the Elephant house

That afternoon we headed to Glasgow by train.  Not an impressive city, but Kaitlin and Dani had a concert to see there.  Anne and I went to see Revolutionary Road (only go see that movie if you are in the mood to be very depressed) and then we all had a pretty relaxed night. Unfortunately, Anne and I had to leave our hotel (we had a room just to the four of us!) by 3:45 am to catch our flight. 

Busàairport; GlasgowàDublin; DublinàMalaga; BusàGranada; home by 5pm

Cinderella's Castle and Marzipan

From Monday the 2^nd of Feb to the Friday the 6^th, our group had an excursion planned to Madrid/Toldedo/Segovia.  When we first got to Madrid we went to the Reina Sofia museum, which is Madrid’s modern art museum. Anne and I sprung for and audio guide, which ended up being the best decision we could have made.  While art is always interesting to look at, it is a whole lot more significant if you actually understand the painting. We spent nearly all of our allotted 3 hours on one floor of the museum looking at the painting by Dali, Picasso and many other well-known artists.  This museum houses Picasso’s Guernica, which is an absolutely unbelievable piece (and it's gigantic!) that reflects the horrible consequences of the Civil War. 

Picasso's Guernica 

One artist that I had never heard of but really enjoyed was Juan Gris. He had a very refreshing perspective on still-life (abstract) painting.  I still don’t understand the artistic value of a white canvas with a stripe of black paint, but for the most part I really enjoyed what I saw at this museum. 

  Juan Gris–Front of a Window

The next day we took a walking tour of Madrid, which was a great way to get to know such a big city (and our tour guide looked the Spanish version of Kramer).  

Gonzaga group in Madrid

These bulls are all over the city of Madrid

Afterwards, we went to the Museo del Prado, which Anne and I had already been to. I wasn’t too excited to go back and look at paintings of Saints again, but it just so happened that there was a Francis Bacon exhibit that had just opened that day.  His paintings were very interesting, although most were dark and sad. 

Francis Bacon–Three Studies For Figures at the Base of the Crucifixion 

On Wednesday our group took a trip to El Escorial and el valle de los caidos (valley of the fallen).  El Escorial is a palace/monastery outside of Madrid in which nearly all of the past kings and queens of Spain have been buried since King Felipe II commissioned it in the 16^th century.  The kings and queens, however, are not buried in a cemetery but are rather in coffins (elaborate ones!) on the bottom floor of the palace. It was very strange to be in a room with 24 dead Spanish kings and queens. 

After leaving the palace, which represented Spain’s most powerful years, we went to valle de los caidos, which represented Spain’s worst years.  There is a huge basilica (bigger than St. Peter’s), commissioned by Franco and built by his prisoners, built into the mountain.  While basilicas typically are beautiful, this one looked like a prison (which I guess is rather appropriate).  In addition to the dark appearance of the building, the mountain is the final resting place of 30,000 known and at least 10,000 unknown people who died in the Civil War (from both sides).  Franco is buried in the floor in front of the alter.  Above the basilica on top on the mountain is a gigantic stone cross.  Especially considering that it was a super foggy, rainy day, the cross just seemed really creepy.  Although I’m not religious, I can usually appreciate religious symbols if for nothing other than their artistic value. This one, however, did not seem like a symbol of hope and beauty but rather of darkness and domination. 

  Valle de los caidos–the basillica is in the foreground 

The next day we went to Segovia.  I guess it is usually one of the coldest places in Spain, but we had excellent weather! We took a walking tour and went to the castle, which Disney used as a model for Cinderella’s castle! It’s a small city– very quaint and very beautiful.

The aqueduct in Segovia

Gonzaga girls in Segovia

Anne and me in front of the castle in Segovia (ie: Cinderella's castle!)

My knight in shining armor 

View from the top of the Castle

On Friday we went to Toledo, which is also a small city with a lot of personality (it is famous for marzipan and weaponry).  Whereas Segovia was described to us as a “feminine” city, Toledo is a “masculine” city–a labyrinth of narrow streets, hills and old buildings.  I can’t wait to go back to both of these places with my mom and sister in June! 

View of Toledo

The perfect storm

Thursday the 29^th of January became known as the perfect storm for some very good reasons.  First, it was the last day of intensivo classes, which meant that we had a break before content classes started.  Second, two of my best friends from GU, Dani and Kaitlin, were getting into Granada that day to spend the weekend with Anne and me. Third, it was my 21^st birthday.  I’ll let you do the math.

  Reuniting 

After an awesome reunion at the bus stop, Dani, Kaitlin, Anne and I went to find the hostel that Dani and Kailtin were staying in and then went for a “quick” (2 hours) drink and tapas.  Needless to say, we had a lot to talk about after 5 months of not seeing each other! To start off the birthday celebration in style, Dani and Kaitlin brought me chocolate in the form of Bueno! bars, which have been appropriately re-dubbed nutella babies, and a very pretty scarf. 

Eating Nutella babies

Hanging out with my amigas

Later that night, we went out to get tapas and drinks and a few of my friends from school joined us.  Afterwards we made our way around to a few more bars and stopped in at a dancing bar.  We definitely brought the party! There was plenty of singing along (Rihanna’s Umbrella, anyone?) and dancing and overall merriness. Eventually we went up to a club in the Sacromonte called Camobrio, which usually has a great view of the Alhambra at night, but unfortunately it was not lit up that night.  Again, more dancing, singing and drinking.  

  Why drink one glass of sangria when you can drink two?

After a long but really awesome night we made it back home around 6 (latest yet!).  It’s really strange to think that when I get back into the US I will be able to drink legally. 

Needless to say, the next morning was not quite as fun as the night had been. I had to get up to take a practice test at school, and 4 hours of sleep usually isn’t the best way to go into a test (although it turns out that I did really well!).  Anne and I met Dani and Kaitlin at a café and it turned out to be one of the most beautiful days we have had in Granada thus far. After our test, Anne and I took D and K up to the Mirador de San Nicolas and it was absolutely beautiful.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the Sierra’s were perfectly covered in snow, and there was a guy playing the guitar. We brought up some brie, bread, and apples and had a perfect picnic. 

Mirador de San Nicolas

Later that night was equally as fun.  D and K’s hostel was hosting a paella night, so for 5 euro we each got a drink and all you can eat paella. It was super awesome to watch the woman cook the paella—she had a pan that was probably 4 feet in diameter.  Needless to say, it was really tasty (this paella was much different from the kind our host mom cooks. It had veggies and seafood in it = yum!).

  Paella

We weren’t quite as lucky with the weather on Saturday.  The rain, however, didn’t stop us from taking a walking tour of the Albayzin. Although this was something that Anne and I had done, it was nice to get a new perspective (in English!) from a much younger, funnier tour guide.  When he was describing the Sultans that lived in the Alhambra, he very eloquently put it: Anything can happen when the Sultan’s crunk.  So true.  In order to emphasize how Catholic Isabel and Ferdinand were he told us that if you took all the past popes and wrapped them into a little pope bundle, they still wouldn’t be as Catholic as Isabel and Ferdinand.  I think that should give us all an idea of how much Catholicism is ingrained in the Spanish tradition.

That night we went back up to our favorite cave bar and were planning on just getting a pitcher of sangria, but our plans changed when a guitar playing, flamenco singing gypsy walked in and fell in love with Dani.  

Gypsy men-the one on left is the one that fell in love with Dani

Now, you may think I am kidding but this is not an exaggeration! This 60-year-old man came in and immediately professed his love for our friend, and when he realized that she didn’t speak Spanish he decided to serenade her.  We thought it was some sort of routine (pick a girl, sing to her, get on with the show), but four hours later when he was still singing only to Dani we could not stop laughing.  After every song he would try to say something to her, seemingly having forgotten that in the past 5 minutes she probably hadn’t learned to speak Spanish. To make things even more difficult, he spoke “gypsy,” so Anne and I could barely understand what he was saying half the time.  One thing we did catch: he said Dani was como un tren (like a train), which in Spain is actually saying that someone is beautiful (lost in translation?).  Really hilarious night.

Sunday was our last day in Granada for a while.  Anne and I had a group trip planned to the Alhambra and D and K bought tickets for the same day.  As amazing as it is to see the Alhambra from the outside, it is a whole other experience to see it from the inside.  First of all, the gardens outside the palace are really beautiful (I can’t wait to see them in the spring when the flowers are actually in bloom!).  There are fountains and pools all over, which reflect the importance of water, and orange trees all throughout the gardens which are there simply to bring color to winter gardens. 

The inside walls of the palace are carved with intricate details, have inscriptions from the Qur’an and beautifully painted tiles.  Luckily, the Catholics didn’t change too much when they took over the city (but they did make sure to put a cross on top of the tower). The Alhambra is really a beautiful place, if a bit much to absorb in one visit.

 

So that concludes weekend number 1! Sorry if it’s a bit long, but there is just so much to say!