Postcard adventure.

Today was very low key--much like yesterday, minus the intense headache thank goodness. We went to school as usual and then went to the park to eat lunch like we normally do. This is where it gets interesting. I won't describe our chicken sandwich to you, I'll save you from that... I will say this... we didn't eat it. SO we ate our apple and went to the Cafe by our house to get pizza... hawaiian pizza.. :) delicious. We then decided to search our side of town for some post cards to send home. We asked one person where to look, they told us one place, when we couldn't find that one we asked another person... then another... and another. Eventually we got on the metro and went to the busiest, most touristy part of town because we knew they'd have them. We walked for miles and miles it seemed like but we were successful and found the post cards. There's a mailbox at the end of our street too! (or so we thought) After all that work getting post cards and stamps... there actually is no mail box. We aren't quite sure what it is but it is no use to us unfortunately. The most interesting thing about our postcard adventure is when we were writing them. We went to the plaza across the street to write them. When we got there, much to our surprise there were at least 30 old men, and by old I mean 80's playing board games at every table and bench... it was funny yet precious and a priceless picture.

When we got back from school today Max, one of the guys we met our first day here came back from Italy. We got to catch up with him this afternoon and had dinner together. It was nice getting to see him again.

After dinner Emily and I met up with some friends and sat a little cafe. It was a very enjoyable, laid back night! Goodnight :)

It's a sunshine day

This morning, Emily and I were on our way out the door to catch the metro and we ran into our little, old man friend who laughs at us for looking at ourselves in the mirror. He so humorously asked us if we’d looked at ourselves yet when we passed him. He introduced himself to us and basically all I got from the conversation is that his name is Pedro and his used to live in Andalucía. I frequently struggle with my conversation comprehension but his accent was out of this world! He’s precious but I just can’t understand him!

We visited El Rastro today, which is what I like to call, a flea market on steroids. It goes on for blocks and it’s just tents with shoes, clothes, toys, purses, underwear (yes, underwear), scarves, posters, pots and pans, pictures jewelry, jewelry, and some more jewelry. It was so cool! So let me tell you about what Emily got. First of all, her passion for Spanish and Spain in general is indescribable, beautiful and incredible, which makes this even better. She loves flamenco dance and this man had these classic looking posters of flamenco dancers and she got her name (Emilia) stamped on it. It’s GORGEOUS. It gave me goose bumps and it wasn’t even for me! Anyways, I’m glad we got there when it first started at 9 am because by 11 we couldn’t move because of all the people! What a cool experience.

Emily's beautiful poster :)

Now, I’m not sure if it’s because I met the castle up close and personal yesterday when I hit my head or not but I’ve had the worst headache today. I tried sleeping it off, I tried Advil and Tylenol but nothing seemed to be working. Emily and I went out to get some fresh air and some coffee hoping that would help—because coffee makes everything better right? It lightened it for sure but I decided to stay in tonight instead of going to church and out to dinner. I got a lot accomplished though. It was so great to skype home yesterday and today. Getting to talk to my parents, some of my siblings, my nephews and my niece was wonderful. Hearing their sweet voices always brings a smile to my face. I got some homework done this afternoon and evening while I rested. My itunes kept my company, no worries I wasn’t alone—Rascal Flatts knows how to heal a headache and John Mayer is pretty good too!

It’s back to school tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy week! I have to prepare myself for the bullfight on Friday… oh boy…

That's what I'm talkin about... SHOES

Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL plates, pitchers, bowls, anything and everything

Some kind of wonderful

I was annoyed when I went to bed last night knowing that I had to get up at the same time would if I were going to school for the excursion today. Little did I know it was going to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Now, my knees hurt from climbing up a castle, my head hurts from hitting it on the castle twice (Spaniards really weren’t very tall at the time the castle was built, so their entry ways are a bit lower to the ground than most, and lucky for me I was at eye level with the top of the door), but at least no concussion (haha), and I cut my finger on one of the stones in the castle. ALL that aside, it was beyond incredible. We drove an hour and a half or less to Segovia which is northwest (I think) from Madrid. We visited Aqueduct, the Cathedral, Isabel and Ferdinands Castle and other historical landmarks in Segovia. The beauty that radiated out of this city town was remarkable. Every angle was breath taking. There were little shops throughout and we got to shop a little bit! Beautiful handmade trinkets and such. We went into a pastry shop and I got a chocolate croissant—a rather large one too. I became addicted to these things when I was in Turks and Caicos but this one blew those out of the water! Emily tried Puche, which she let me sample. Puche is a dessert they are known for.. I have no words to describe how it tasted because it was so unique and interesting but definitely worth getting!

We got home and our sweet madre had dinner on the table for us! She made this pasta like thing... which she compared to Chinese food. She was right and it was SO tasty. We also had a delicious salad which was full of tomatoes, which I eat now by the way. We also, may have gone to get ice cream (again) after dinner. Tonight I had chocolate and strawberry--so good!

Last week was such a long week…by Friday I felt like I had been here for a month. Not that it hasn’t been what I expected necessarily just a difficult adjustment at times which is normal. Today is what made everything seem worth it. It’s seeing such a beautiful creation up close and personal that puts things pack into perspective. Priceless.

TGIF

Friday, what a great feeling. After the 5th day of school, and a visit to a museum Emily and I were extremely tired. School went well today, but it was the trip to Museo del Prado that completely wore us out. It was a beautiful museum but it was exhausting. We decided we were going to treat ourselves to a low key evening. We hustled back to our house to eat right after we saw and analyzed all of the beautiful paintings in the museum. The reason we had to hustle back is because we eat earlier than every other person in Spain. Our friends don't eat dinner with their families until 9 or 10. 8:30 is typically early for dinner, so 6 and 6:30 is unheard of. It has it's pros and cons but only having a sandwich (which I can sometimes tolerate)) and a piece of fruit at lunch doesn't quite cut it... especially until 9 so eating at 6 is good!

Speaking of dinner, it was DELICIOUS tonight. It was some kind of green, rice, vegetable soup and this salad with corn, tomatoes tossed in a scrumptious dressing. It was great! Me gusta mucho.

After dinner Emily and I walked back to Blanco and some other stores down our street. Our final destination for our little walk was the same place we had coffee yesterday... but they were closing so we went to a new one. Let me tell you, this new discovery is our favorite! This place has ice cream, pizza, pastries and more. The pizza smelled fabulous and looked great so we have to indulge in that soon. BUT we had the best ice cream. I had cafe and strawberry. FANTASTIC. I just can't even tell you. I savored every bite! We ate our ice cream and talked there for an hour or so. It was very relaxed and just down the street from our house!

Tomorrow we are going on an excursion to Segovia which is north of Madrid. It should be fun but tiring to I'm sure so it was nice to rest tonight after such a long day and week. We've been here a week from tomorrow and it has felt much longer than that! It's been great but a huge adjustment!

Funny stories and random facts:

- We've seen 2 grown men with disney character backpacks (Hannah Montana and Mickey Mouse)

- Remember how we thought gummy bears were an American treat but then we saw some at a little stand? No, no, there is an entire store here devoted to gummy bears.

-We saw a little, cute, precious baby spit up on a complete stranger on the metro

-We met a Columbian security guard at one of the stores in a big part of town and asked if we were from here. (disclaimer: only because Emily can speak like she is from here. My roommate makes me proud)

-There's a full length mirror downstairs in our apartment so we always check ourselves out before we leave. One day a cute old man was walking by and he chuckled. The lights aren't always on when you enter the building and we passed him taking out his trash when we came back tonight... we didn't turn on the lights and walked past the mirror... he turned them on and chuckled.

We don't need to be on the bachelorette to get a rose.

Emily and I decided to explore the area to the left of our block where our house is today instead of retracing our same steps. Boy, are we glad we did! We found stores that we thought were only in the crazy, busy parts of town! Much to our surprise our little community has the SAME great stores, plus very cute boutiques and a lot less people! It was wonderful. As we were walking we came across a café where they sold beautifully made, delicious smelling, scrumptious looking pastries and café con leche (coffee ;) It was FANTASTIC. We will most definitely be revisiting that side of town!

After our shopping experience we came back to our house for dinner. Garbanzo beans and sausage in a soup… and salad that had some smushed patatoes in it. That’s the only way I can describe it. The soup like thing tasted fine… but hopefully we won’t be having that again anytime soon. Bring back the lasagna and cucumber salad please!!

After dinner we went to Grand via again, like yesterday to look around! We met up with some friends only to find that Mary (the one who missed her flight to Madrid) had her wallet stolen too! :( Poor Mary! Luckily she’s a trooper with a great spirit and is keeping a good attitude.

AFTER that… we met up with our Spanish friends again and went into this music store that I’m pretty sure had at least a million stories. Okay, maybe not a million but at least 6 or something. Kinda ridiculous but great.

Beautiful Spain

Then we went to visit the palace! It was stunning. Emily started talking to a dad and a little girl and I’m pretty sure she was gonna steal her but luckily she refrained. (We both have the urge to bring a Spanish kid home but no worries we will contain our excitement. Kids are expensive.)

Just a small side of the HUGE palace

The last event of the night was visiting the Chocolateria. A group of us went with our new friends and experienced a delightful dessert. Chocolate y churros. It was delicious. While we were here, Esteban, a friend of our new friends… bought all 6 of us girls a rose! It was sweet!

- --

I found Starbucks, 4 of them.

When I woke up this morning the sky was filled with dark clouds. I took a shower and came back to the room, and the sky was practically clear--another, exquisite day in Madrid. It wasn't too hot and there was a breeze. It was perfect weather. After class a few of us went to our usual park for lunch but at at a different spot. This was our view.

Truly breathtaking.

After lunch Emily and I spent some time at Grand via—a different part of town. There are many shops, about 4 different Starbucks’, movie theaters and much more! It was a fun time to explore the shopping life in Madrid. We tried on some clothes but surprisingly we didn’t buy anything!

Now, on to more important things. Dinner. We have dinner at our house much earlier than the majority of Spain. Actually, we have dinner about 4 hours earlier than most people do. Tonight we had to eat even earlier because we were going to a concert but I’m getting ahead of myself. Carmen (our madre) made lasagna and cucumber salad JUST like my mom makes. By far the best meal I’ve had in Spain! I was so hungry, and so excited. I ate those cucumbers like there was no end in sight! It was a beautiful moment for us all. :)

After our scrumptious dinner we went to see one of Samford’s music professors perform in a concert that we thought was going to be in a theaters. No , no, no. It was a tiny little church. However, he has some major talent! It was fun.

Adios :)

Que freaky?

Today started as a typical day… normal breakfast…. sketchy milk… off to school, learned a little bit, at lunch in the park came back to the house for a siesta and to do homework! Somehow we decided it would be a good idea to throw gummy bears into each others mouths. Surprisingly we were quite successful. We just THOUGHT that would be the highlight of our day. After we woke up we decided to walk to Ventas… where plaza de toros is located. For those of you who don’t know what this is… it’s a bullfighting ring. Now, we haven’t gone in it yet but that’s going down another day. However, it’s beautiful. By far the most beautiful building I’ve seen in Spain so far. As we were wandering around the plaza we saw this table full of candy looking things we could buy. We went to check it out and discovered that the American sweets (gummy bears) we decided to buy our Madre are definitely not just American. There were gummy bears everywhere! This was a slight disappointment. Anyway, Emily and I walked around there and met some friends to go visit a church to meet some locals our age to talk with. We got there… but we were the only ones! We were sad. BUT then Marcos came in. Then Carlos, then David (Dave) and Jose! We at dinner at museo de jamon (museum of ham…) and I’m not gonna lie, my sandwich wasn’t that bad! I was impressed. We walked around after that and enjoyed seeing Madrid with new friends while attempting to speak the language we are here to conquer! Unfortunately, I still lack the confidence to speak it all the time… or at all in public but my roommate who is wonderful is my motivation to try and do better!

Good news is, I found 3 new Starbucks’ on our tour! So tomorrow I’m finding my way back there! Trust me. I have a date with Starbucks tomorrow, and there will be a second date I’m sure. I haven’t had coffee since I’ve been here! And if you know me, that is one scary thought! Hopefully being in Starbucks won’t make me homesick. Considering it is my home away from home…

Tomorrow marks the weeks half way point! Classes are enjoyable so far… hopefully it stays this way! That’s all for now :) I have to go listen to my roommate sing her heart out… which she’s doing so well right now…

Adios!!

I had to Americanize the picture in some way...

so this is sassy me in front of Plaza de Toros

Plaza de Toros!

Emily with our new Spanish friends. Marcos, Jose, Carlos y David (Dave) Well... a

little side note. Carlos is actually from Brazil but he's studying in Spain.

Me with our new Spanish friends! :)

And so it begins!

Max, Jake, Emily and Courtney!

(our 2 friends from Washington and Lee)

School day 1 = success.

We woke up around 7 am to get ready. We had our typical breakfast which I haven't mentioned yet. Our breakfast consists of bread, nutella, jelly... and milk. Let me tell you about this milk. It tastes like it didn't come from a cow. I tried putting chocolate powder stuff in it today but... it didn't work. After breakfast we took our sack lunches and headed to school. This time, we have class in a separate building so we have to get on 3 different metros to get there but we made it successfully!

Our classrooms are tiny and the lights flicker on and off all the time but surprisingly the building we are in is in a fabulous, upscale part of town. The grammar class was fine we just went around in a circle and answered questions out loud. I participated a lot but when the second class came around I found my head dropping continuously. This jet lag just won't call it quits yet.

Emily and I went to our usual park for lunch.. this time we knew our meet was chicken but mine was a little funky... yes funky chicken. Oh well. After lunch we came back home and took a siesta for the first time. We slept so hard and so well since neither of us slept that well last night. We had dinner with our new roommates from Virginia Tech and then we all left to go to a school fiesta for all the students. We had a great time mingling but came back here to rest. Once we get in a set routine we will probably develop more of a social life, but for now, this is good.

I'm a little distracted because it appears like someone... somewhere is having fun with fireworks and it is sounding a little crazy outside our window. But it's almost 11 pm our time and our beds are calling our name. Goodnight!

My home away from home, even in Spain :)

The closest thing to a swing I could fine!

2 ice creams later....

I say 2 ice creams later because as Emily and I were getting ready for bed last night we thought that we had experienced at least a weeks worth of Madrid in one day. We got up yesterday with a loud bang on our door from our madre making sure we were awake. Don't worry, we definitely were after that loud wake up call. Thankfully we had about 12 hours of sleep. Little did we know we were going to be just as tired after we were through with all the days activities.

We went to take our placement test (yes, on a Sunday) at 11:00 at our school. Emily and I both tested into the advanced courses and are taking the same classes . We have 2 different professors for our grammar class but we are in the same room for our culture class. We start at 9:00 to 10:30 and then go from 11:00-12:30 and the rest of the day is (typically ours)

However, yesterday we took the placement test and then went with a group of people to eat our packed lunches in the park! Sadly, Emily and I couldn't identify the meat on our sandwich... BUT our apple sure was delicious. We stopped at this little ice cream stand in the park and Emily got a finger shaped popsicle and I got a foot shaped ice cream. I know you're all thinking, why did Courtney get an ice cream shaped like a foot? She hates feet! While this is true... it looked scrumptious. I understand how odd this sounds but it was basically a strawberry milkshake shaped like a foot on a stick. This was ice cream number one.

We came back home after that and rested for half an hour and then left 40 minutes early to meet up with our group at this location that none of us had been before. They said it should only take 20 minutes but we wanted to give ourselves extra time. We came across some other members of our group along the way and attempted to fight our way through the metro to our stop. After the 3rd or 4th circle we went in we got a phone call from another group member wandering where we were. The bus was leaving. we were only 8 minutes late and at this point on the same street as the bus. We turned the corner and watched it drive away. Needless to say the 6 of us were not very happy but we caught up with your group and went on a very long, but beautiful tour of Madrid. We ended the tour by going as a large group to this restaurant where we ate tortilla de patatas. The only way I know how to explain this is a deep dish omelet with potatoes and occasionally peppers and onions. We met some Spanish friends there that we met at church while we were on our tour.

We were walking back to the metro from dinner at 10:00 pm (completely normal time to eat dinner in Spain) when we came across Gelato. I had cafe gelato which is the closest thing to coffee I've had since I've been here. This is ice cream round 2.

It was a very long day, but great nonetheless!

Hola, Madrid!

I never thought I'd have a blog... but thanks to my roommate, Emily I learned how much easier it is to communicate with everyone this way! Plus, I can make it look cute :)

So I'll start from the beginning of our trip! It was quite a journey just getting to Spain! We arrived at the Birmingham airport preparing to leave at 11:00 am but 5 or more delays later we finally made it to Atlanta. Fortunately, all of us but Mary made it on the 7:00 pm flight to Madrid! Luckily she flew in the next day!

There wasn't much sleeping on the plane for me. The girl next to me, a native of Spain spent a few hours of the trip explaining how she did not like America and that's why she was going home. This 17 year old girl told me all of this while clinging to her stuffed animals she held in her lap. I tried sleeping... but was unsuccessful so I watched New Moon and Alvin and the Chipmunks the squeakual!

Due to the lack of sleep from the plane, Emily and I decided to not participate in the Spanish tradition of "siesta" upon our arrival so we would be guaranteed a good nights rest. We met our house mom and came back to the apartment. Much to our surprise there were two guys (Jack and Max) from Washington and Lee who had been staying at our house for the past four weeks. They were in the same program we just started. Since it was their last day and our first they decided to show us around town and taught us how to take the metro to school. We had lunch with them in Plaza de Mayor and we ate tapas together. We are very thankful to have met them. We were sad to see them go but two more girls (Minnie and Ann) came yesterday from Virgina Tech to stay in our same apartment.

We had a great first nights rest on Saturday night! More to come!