¡CUMPLEAÑOS FELIZ!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI!!!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

I love you so much!

Long time, no blog

¡¡¡HOLA A TODOS!!!

¡Mucho lo siento!

It has been quite some time since I have updated my blog and while not too much has happened since then I am sorry for keeping you all in the dark! Basically, I actually had to start doing work for school. Midterms and papers are just finishing up now so hopefully I will not be so distant again. (Haha, get it? Distant?) Anywho, on to the update!

I think three weekends ago now marks the beginning of my story. It was the weekend of Carnaval (what they call Mardi Gras) and a few of my friends and I made a trip to Ciudad Rodrigo. Ciudad Rodrigo is one of the few places that celebrates Carnaval with "Encierros de toros" or as we like to call this tradition, "Running of the Bulls". That's right! I got to see dressed up drunk people get chased by massive mammals with horns!! So entertaining. Oh yes, for Carnaval everyone dresses up. Actually, for practically any special occasion/feast day/holiday in Spain, they dress up. My friends and I just bought some masks and wore them around all day. I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone traveling to Spain, it's a huge part of the culture and it is a great experience. However, if you are an Animals' Rights activist, then I highly do not recommend you go. It's pretty sad the way the taunt the bulls and rile them up during the encierros, but it's even more sad when they kill these majestic creatures in the corrida de toro (bull fight). I did not get to watch the corrida, I decided to save money and not pay to see that part of the culture of Spain (besides I can watch it on TV here for free! There's a whole channel dedicated to it.) and bawl my eyes out. All in all, the trip was a major success.

Other than that fun little excursion, I really have not been up to much. I actually started doing work and had to study for midterms and write papers and all this stuff I was really trying to avoid. It's funny how much life in Spain really isn't that different from life at home. I get up, eat breakfast, go to class, eat, study, workout, study, eat, go to bed. It's just cooler because I'm in Spain and studying in a library that used to be a palace and eating homemade Spanish cuisine like Torjillas (a french-toast-like dessert that they usually eat during Semana Santa). Oh which reminds me, the other night we went out for paella with my program. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! We went to this nicer restaurant and the dueño (owner) was so nice and welcomed us and explained what we were going to eat and everything. We started off by pouring some tinto (red wine) and enjoying some artesian bread that had been toasted. The bread was SO GOOD though because before eating it, you took a clove of garlic and cut it in half and then lightly rubbed the garlic on the bread to "perfume" it. Then, you took this tomato sauce and spread it over the bread, added a little salt and drizzled some olive oil over it. Familia, we will def be trying this when I get home. The paella was a paella mixta, so there was chicken, mussels, calamari, shrimp, and probably some other stuff that I could not identify. Best paella I have ever had in my life! Ok, so I have only had paella three times in my life now. One that I made (so it wasn't really Spanish and prob tasted nothing like real Spanish paella) and one my host mom made (unfortunately, it just couldn't compare to this paella). For dessert we had this sort of vanilla pudding dish and we got to caramelize the top of it ourselves. Literally, I poured sugar on top of it and was handed a mini-blow torch. Yeah, I totally want one of those now.

Let's see, I don't think there is anything else to update you on so far. My next big trip will be to Portugal in the first week of April, so until something exciting happens or until then...

¡Hasta luego!

I miss you and love you all VERY VERY much.

Hope

I semi-crashed a "Despedida de Soltero"

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. I got sick of writing about my life there for a bit, but I am better now. So here's what you've missed on...GLEE!! haha. No, here's what has been going on in my life lately:

Last weekend I stayed in Salamanca, but was exposed to a new part of the Spanish culture. My friend and I went out for tapas last Friday night and while we were eating this huge horde of men comes bursting into the tapas bar. Normally, this would not surprise me so much. However, the man in the blue wig and wet suite with a hula skirt and pink lacy panties did surprise me. In fact, my friend and I sat there looking so incredulous that one of the men from the party asked us where we were from. We had a nice little chat with this man, who happened to be the brother of the man looking like a fool, and turns out, it was a bachelor party!! Or in Spanish, a "despedida de soltero." Yes, apparently, the tradition in Spain is to completely humiliate your friend/family member who is getting married during the bachelor party. You bar hop around and there is a list of things that he has to do throughout the night. It was so funny! I was so upset that I didn't have my camera with me though. Anywho, so later that night I went out with a couple of my friends and I ended up running into this whole bachelor party again at this bar!! Salamanca is a small town after all.

This weekend we had a program excursion to Madrid! Unfortunately, it was only a day trip so I didn't get to see much of Madrid at all. Our first stop was the Palacio Real. King Felipe V built this palace after the original one burnt down in 1734. It is huge. Seven floors and 2800 rooms. And we only saw 12 or so of them. My favorite room by far was the dining room. The table in this room can seat 124 people. Now that is what I call a dinner party. After visiting the palace, we had some free time to explore a little and eat lunch. Some of my friends and I walked to a park and enjoyed our bocadillos (Spanish sandwiches) in the beautiful 64 degree weather. Then we found a café where we could sit at a table outside and enjoy the weather with the Tinto de Veranos that we ordered. Tinto de Verano is a Spanish drink of red wine mixed with sparkling water. So refreshing! After our little descanso (break), we visited the Reina Sofia, an museum dedicated to Spanish art. I am in a class on Surrealism and so my classmates and I met our teacher there and had to go through the museum completing little activities on all the works we had been studying in class. It was so cool to see the originals of what I have been studying and actually understanding what the painting was about. Because, trust me, if you do not know anything about Surrealism, there is no point in going to look at it. It is pretty bizarre. The Surrealist movement was all about fighting against the norms of society and thought a good way to do this through art was to incorporate dreams and the subconscious into their work in various ways. Despite their bizarreness, it was awesome to be able to see the original work of famous artists like Dalí and Picasso. Yes, I did see Guernica. Yes, it is amazing.

Then, this morning I went to Mass with some of my friends at the Cathedral. It was awesome. There was chanting and incense, I felt like I had been transported back in time. After Mass, we went to a cafe and ordered some tea and coffee (I opted for a blueberry muffin) and we had some good conversation. Then, my housemate Julia, our friend, Mia, and I went and saw a an exhibit of the photos of Robert Capa and Gerda Taro from the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the second Sino-Japanese War. Wow. It was really moving. All these black and white photos of refugees from Spain, and of the D-day invasion...really incredible.

That pretty much sums up how life is going here in Spain for now. I miss you all dearly and hope you are all doing well!

Love and prayers,

Hope

What I miss the most about America: Breakfast.

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

I hope everyone is doing well!

It's been another fantastical week in Salamanca, Spain.

For the most part I have just been going to class, which is interesting since I am learning a lot about Spanish, Spain, and Spanish culture. I also have started going to the gym!! YAYAYAYAY!! To all of you who know me, I am sure it does not surprise you that I joined a gym while in Spain. I like to alternate days by going for a run and then going to the gym and doing exercises with free weights. I got a discount at the gym because I am an IES student so that was definitely a plus, AND I can also take salsa and flamenco lessons there now because I'm a member! So yes, I think that was a rather good decision on my part. Besides trying to stay in shape, I am also trying to experience as much of the food culture here as possible (hence, the reason why I need to go to the gym and run...haha). There is this lovely Croissantería near where I have class and this week I decided to taste test the croissant con frambuesa y queso (raspberry and cream cheese filling). ¡AY, QUÉ SABROSA! OM NOM NOM.

The most interesting thing I did this week, though, was take a day trip to Ávila with a few of my new amigas. Yes, Mom, Ávila as in the birthplace of St. Teresa of Avila. Ávila is absolutely adorable. It's this cute little quaint town about an hour away from Salamanca. It is surrounded by this huge medieval looking wall they built to keep the Moors out. We got to climb up the wall and walk around it. The view was amazing with snow-capped mountains in the background. I also visited the Basilica of St. Vincent and toured the Cathedral, which is actually built into the wall so it's like this fortress/castle/cathedral. I also saw where St. Teresa was born and raised. I mean her house isn't there anymore, the convent of St. Teresa was built on the site, but still ¡qué guay! (how cool!). Also, in Ávila there are these famous pastries called "Yemas de Santa Teresa". Yema is spanish for "yolk", which is what these are made of, egg yolk and sugar. And yes, they were delicious. We also sampled some other cookie items while we were there. And I have no clue what was in them, but they were also very om nommy.

Speaking of Spanish food, I have some fun stories to tell you about the food my host family sometimes cooks. Most of the time, my host mom makes delicious dishes all of which I enjoy. Julia and I like her lentil soup with ribs the most for lunch and salad with lettuce, tuna, pomegranate, dates, walnuts, carrots, tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar and olive oil the best for dinner. Breakfast, however, is a whole other story. I have decided that they do not like breakfast here in Spain. When we first got here all they gave us for breakfast was two pieces of white toast with butter and jelly with either a cup of coffee or hot milk. Now, I am not one to complain, but being the health freak that I am I could not help but notice the lack of nutrients in this, the most important meal of the day. Also, I don't drink milk for breakfast. And actually, I do not enjoy hot milk at all (unless combined with hot chocolate mix, which I still only drink sparingly). Julia and I raised this to our host mother's attention in the most amiable way possible. And she, being the wonderful woman that she is, will now give us wheat toast for breakfast, and if we are lucky there are days where we get yogurt with granola or avena (which is oatmeal crushed up and she just puts that on the table and we are suppose to just mix it into our yogurt uncooked). Also, she stopped making me hot milk and now gives me yogurt because she noticed that I just didn't really drink the hot milk. Anyways, so one of the first mornings we were there, she had set out on the table two bowls of dry frosted flakes for us and gave Julia a cup of hot coffee and me a cup of hot milk. That was all that was on the table. Julia and I both looked at each other and were like, "Ok, where's the milk to put in the cereal?" Well, you guessed it. I had frosted flakes with hot milk and Julia had frosted flakes with hot coffee. It was an interesting experience to say the least. And then the other morning this week, my host mom put the crushed up oatmeal on the table and two empty bowls. Well, now I get a yogurt almost every morning instead of the hot milk, so I just mix it in with my yogurt. But for some reason, she had not given Julia a yogurt as well, which she usually does with the crushed oatmeal. She then told Julia to mix the crushed oatmeal with her hot coffee. So, Julia poured the hot coffee in with the crushed oatmeal and ate that for breakfast. WHAT IN THE WORLD? It's not even real oatmeal flakes and she didn't even get to microwave it or anything to cook it! Not to mention the whole coffee part. So....yeah. Breakfast isn't big here.

Also, I just want to give a shout out to Scott's mom, HAZEL!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAZEL!! Hope it was wonderful!!

Well, I miss you all!!

LOVE AND PRAYERS,

Hope

Do I have to start studying?

Well, my winter break has officially ended. Classes started this week and now I actually have to start studying. I guess I will survive. I am taking five classes, four through IES and one at the University of Salamanca. At IES I am taking Political Systems of Spain and Portugal, Gender in the Mediterranean, a Spanish grammar class, and a Surrealism class. My university class doesn't start until Tuesday and it is called the History of Spain in the 20th Century. WOOT WOOT! I think my favorite class is going to be the Spanish grammar class. The professor is really cool and for the past week we have just been learning all the stuff you would ever want to know about what to say in Spanish to Spanish people. For example, if you are chilling in the street here and run past a friend here is the conversation that would probably ensue:

"¡Hola! ¿Qué tal? ¿Cómo estás?" (Hey! What's up? How are you?)

"¡Hola! Bien y tu?" (Hey! I'm good, what bout you?)

"Muy bien. ¿Qué pasa?" (Pretty good, what's goin on?)

"Pues, nada. Estoy matando un rato." (Nothing really, just killing time.)

"Bueno, pues, voy a comprar pan para la comida." (Good, well I'm gonna go buy bread for lunch.)

"Ah, bien. Hasta luego. Adios." (Ah, very good. I'll see you later. Bye.)

"Ciao. Hasta luego." (Bye, later.)

Our professor has taught us that repetition is very important if you want to sound like an españole. So when you see someone you do not say hello once, but at least two or three times. If you answer yes to a question, mostly never will you say yes only once. It's "Sí, sí, sí, claro."

We also learned some slang and other useful words to help us sound more Spanish. Did you now that the "f" word here is not really considered a "bad" word. I guess it really depends on the context, but they use it ALL the time! Kids use it all time. It's so funny! You could compare it to the way we use the word "dang" or something. Like if you go outside and it's super cold we would say something like, "Dang! It's freezing!" They say, "¡Jo, qué frio!" ("EFF, it's cold!". HAHAHAHA! I find this hilarious. So yes, I am learning more about the Spanish culture and how to be more Spanish each and every day.

Also, BIG NEWS. I joined a club through my program. And when you join this club you can only speak SPANISH for the REST OF YOUR TIME HERE! AHHHHHHHHH!!! I know, I can't believe I did it. But, I really really really want to become at least semi-fluent while I am here and it's way to easy to slip into using English, especially when you are hanging out with your American friends. But now, my American friends and I all speak Spanish together! YAY! Of course, in dire emergencies and when I am talking to family and friends from home I can speak English. But I am wearing my little red bracelet that signifies I am part of this club and now am only speaking Spanish from here on out. AHHHHHHH!!!! Hopefully, though, this will help my Spanish really improve. A lot of American students come over here and hang out with kids from their program and just talk English a lot and come back and say they haven't really improved in their speaking Spanish abilities. I do not want that to be me!

¿Qué más, qué más? Oh, yesterday was "La Fiesta de Santa Águeda." The feast day of Saint Agatha. St. Agatha is a martyr who was tortured and had her breasts cut off because she refused to marry this Senator because she had dedicated her life to Christ. She is not Spanish, she was actually Sicilian, so I am not sure exactly why her feast day is such a big deal in Spain. Anyways, what happens on her feast day, Feb. 5th, is the women get a day off. They dress in traditional Spanish-style clothing and go out in the streets and dance and go do their own thing all day while the men stay at home and take care of the kids and clean the house and cook and do all the things the women would normally do. And if the women catch a man out in the street, they give him a really hard time and I think he is suppose to give them money or something. Anyway, I think it's an awesome holiday that we should start in America.

The weather here has finally improved so Julia (my housemate) and I have been able to explore the city a little bit more. Yesterday, we walked to the Plaza Mayor and just sat there and did some reading and homework for a while. This is a very Spanish thing to do. A ton of people go to the Plaza Mayor during the weekend and just sit on the ground everywhere and eat and chill and talk. It reminds me a lot of the quad on Carolina's campus. So we did that for a while, then we went to a café and had some tea and coffee. And then we just walked around the city exploring for a while. It was a beautiful day and the sun was finally shining. I cannot wait for the Spring! Salamanca is going to get ten times more beautiful!

I hope all of you are doing well!

Know you are in my thoughts and prayers!!

All my love,

Hope

Flamenco y Chupitas

¡Hola a todos!

It has been a week since I have last written so I have much to update you all on!

For the past week I have been taking an intensive Spanish grammar class with my fellow IES students. The class was taught by a professor from the University of Salamanca. We pretty much reviewed a lot of vocabulary, learned some new Spanish phrases, and found out more about the culture of Spain. So for the most part of each day this past week, I was in class. However, we did have some fun activities this week! We learned how to Flamenco and played some fútbol!

Flamenco was pretty interesting. I thought it harder than Salsa, but that's probably because I have no rhythm and when I don't have a partner who's keeping the rhythm for me, I sort of fail. But it was still fun all the same. My favorite part of this week though was playing fútbol with some real españoles!! We had a little indoor tournament with some students from the university. It wasn't us versus them or anything, the teams were mixed. Unfortunately, my team lost. However, the españoles were very impressed that I could actually play soccer (I hear that if you are American and can dribble they are surprised) and called me "Messi." BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I wish.

Anyway, but we made some new friends and they took us out to a more "Spanish" bar that night and then later to a discoteca. YAY for Spanish friends!

Yesterday, we went to Toro and Zamora. Toro is famous for its wine and so we went to the place where they make the wine, were given a little tour, and did some wine tasting! Needless to say, we all enjoyed that very much. It was really cool. They have this big machine that crushes the grapes and then the juice goes into this HUGE metal vats, and after they are in their for a while at the right pressure and temperature, they transfer the wine to barrels and let it age before they bottle it up and let it age some more. We tried red, white, and rose wine. I liked the white the best. Had more of a citrus fresh fruity flavor. After that, we drove to Zamora, a cute little rural town where one of our IES leaders is from. He gave us a tour and then we went to lunch. Lunch was a very interesting experience. First of all, we drove to the outskirts of Zamora where there is like nothing and walked down this little dirt path almost out in a field. The restaurant was underground so there was this door sort of built into the ground that you walked down to get to the restaurant. The restaurant in itself was a really cool place. The ambience and the food reminded me of barbeque. Actually, that's exactly how I would describe the food - Spanish barbeque. You could tell all the meat had just come off a grill or something. We ate chorizo, some kind of pork/bacon thing, and then ribs. And they had this sauce that you dipped the ribs in that reminded me a lot of Eastern-style bbq sauce. It was definitely vinegar based. At the end of the meal they brought out "chupitas." Chupitas are shots taken after dinner to help with the digestion of the meal. We were given these little shot glasses in the shape of tiny beer mugs and you poured the liquor in (I have no clue what kind it was) about halfway and then there was a flavoring that added to it. You had two choices the green, which tasted like green apples, or the red, which tasted like cherries. I tried both. It was pretty good. I'm sure it made the shot easier to take at least.

So yes, that is what has been going on here for the past week! I hope you are all doing well.

I miss you and love you all!!

LOVE AND PRAYERS,

Hope

¡Cumpleaños Feliz!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT PATSY ALL THE WAY FROM SPAIN!!