Back to the Beginning

       If there was ever a phrase to capture my trip to Toledo; it would be none other than “déjà vu.” My friends were asking how much longer the bus ride was going to be, and with a glance out the window, I knew we were about five minutes from the outskirts of the city. I was going back, back to my love of Spain began, 4 years ago.

       We began our day by being driven to the panoramic view of the city, which for me had been a 3 hour walk one of the days I had been there my Junior year (the day after the Ravens won the Superbowl to be exact). That view was as breathtaking as it was the first time, and I was immediately glad I had decided to go on the trip.

       The panoramic view was then followed by a tour of some of the most famous religious buildings in the city. We visited San Juan de los Reyes church, which was the church that Queen Isabel had constructed to thank God for her and King Ferdinand’s conquest of Ganada. We then went to the Museo Sefardí-Sinagoga del Tránsito, where we learned about how awesome Toledo was back in the day. Toledo was split into three separate sections, the Jewish quarter, the Christian quarter, and the Muslim quarter. This basically meant that Toledo harbored all religions peacefully, which was basically unheard of back in Medieval times. Like I said: awesome.

       We then went to la iglesia de Santo Tomé, where we got to see one of El Greco’s most famous works, “El Entierro del Señor de Orgaz” and we got to learn about what a genius El Greco was. Most artists at that time focused on working for the royalty and nobility, so work was scarce. El Greco was smart enough to see all the new churches popping up during that time, so he did most of his work painting religious scenes and people for the Church (which was almost as powerful as the royalty at that time).

       We then went to my favorite place in Toledo, la Catedral de Santa María. I’ve seen that church three times now, and every time I walk in, my jaw still drops at the sheer architectural beauty (and also because there’s gold everywhere). Our tour guide gave us an excellent tour of the Cathedral, but I was very surprised he did not point out that the Cathedral is believed to have a piece of path that Mary supposedly walked on. The stone is very small and hard to miss, so everyone else in the group walked by it without a second glance. I, knowing what it was, stopped to brush my fingers over the stone for good luck, as thousands of people have done before me.

       We then went to the town square, Zocodover, and were set loose for two hours to shop and eat. Emily and I went to a cute restaurant that served a three course meal for relatively cheap, and then I took Emily to see my second favorite view of Toledo. This one I saw almost every day I was there my junior year, because it was between the school I went to and Zocodover. Emily and I then went and shopped. I bought a fantastic black dress (the one I wore the day I went to the Eiffel Tower) and a gold ring to replace the one I had gotten the last time I was in Toledo. I also introduced Emily (and reintroduced myself) to the majesty that is mazapan. Mazapan is small pieces of sweet bread that taste like heaven. I still haven’t sent the box I got for my mom to her yet, and the box gets more and more tempting every day it sits here.

       And thus ended our day. Going back to Toledo felt like going home in a way. It will always be my favorite city in the world. If I had not gone there my junior year of high school, there is no way I would be sitting in this apartment in Madrid writing this blog post, the same apartment I will be in until the end of May. Toledo was where my love of travel and adventure began. I will always be grateful to the city that changed my whole life, and I will always consider it home.

panoramic view

Rose Window in the Cathedral

More Portugal and France Pictures

Tomb of Napoleon

Louvre

walked 7 miles in those heels for this picture

Versailles

Gardens of Versailles

Paris failed to sweep me off my feet

Portugal and France

       This past weekend was probably the longest weekend of my life. I woke up at 3 on Saturday morning and met up with my friend Emily to take a taxi to the airport. We got through security surprisingly fast. Europeans travelling around Europe obviously isn’t as big a deal as Americans flying from state to state. Our friend Keshanté then met us at the airport, and we were on our way!

       After a 45 minute flight, we touched down in Lisbon, Portugal and the adventure began. We started at the beach in an area called Carcavelos. It was incredibly beautiful, with bright blue water that glittered in the sunlight and sand so soft we kept sinking into it. Emily wiped out on a rock near the harbor, and Keshanté captured the moment on her phone while the two of us died laughing. We then got on the train to check in to our Airbnb. An Airbnb is basically a room that you can rent for however many nights you want that also has a kitchen and bathroom. It is one of the cheapest ways to travel, and there are tons of reviews that helped us find the ones that worked best for us.

       The Airbnb in Portugal was amazing. It was right next to a grocery store and a souvenir shop, and we were able to save money by buying breakfast at the store and cooking ourselves pasta one night while we were there.

       The next day we went to the Museum Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, which had an enormous amount of artifacts from Ancient Egypt and Greece. We then went to Oceanario, which is Lisbon’s aquarium. The whole aquarium is built around the main tank, which holds hundreds of fish and even a few sharks. There were also sea otters, penguins, and other artic birds. Those exhibits only had glass up to your waist, so the birds were flying over-head, which I thought was extremely awesome. The best part was the temporary exhibit, which was called Forests Underwater. It consisted of 78 tree trunks from Scotland and Mayalsia, 10,000 freshwater fish from 40 different species, and 46 species of aquatic plants. The tank was enormous and the tiny glittering fish swimming in the sea grass was quite breathtaking.

       Sadly, our Portugal adventure ended after the aquarium, and the next morning we were on the move to Paris, France! If I had to choose one word to describe Paris, it would be either dirty or expensive. The first day I got to see the Tomb of Napoleon, the Louvre (home of the Mona Lisa), the Eiffel Tower, and the Moulin Rouge. The Eiffel Tower was surprisingly anticlimactic and far more brown than I had imagined. Our Airbnb in Paris was okay, the only problems were that the shower was cold and the beds were hard. However, it was close to the Metro, which helped make travelling easier.

       The Metro however, is a different story. Maze is an understatement. Walking from one line to another took at least 5 minutes, and the Metros themselves were smelly and dirty.

       The best part of the Paris trip was definitely Versailles. I like to believe that I’m a princess, so seeing how actual royalty lived and what they spend their money on is fascinating to me. I had never seen so many marble busts and statues in one place in my life! And don’t even get me started on the gold!

       After Versailles, we went to a café and had crepes and macaroons, which were fantastic! Then, we hoisted our backpacks back onto our shoulders and began the last smelly, gross, expensive metro ride to the airport.

       All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, and in my next I'm finally going to talk about my trip to Toledo, since I actually have time to blog about it!

The Fall

Photos Week 2

Catedral de Toledo (never fear Toledo blog coming soon)

Home away from home

Parque Retiro (Madrid)

Rowboats and Pretty Monuments

What is Homework?

       I know, I know: Why talk about school when I’ve been trekking all over Spain? This had to come eventually, so I can talk about nothing but the fun stuff after this. I am attending Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, which is about 50 minutes by metro from where I’m staying (which is about as long as my commute from my house to Towson is). For the past week and a half I have been taking what is called an intensive course. I was placed in the intermediate language level, and I have had 3 classes every week day. The total duration of these classes is 4 hours, so I have had an overwhelming amount of grammar and culture reviews.

       I had two professors, Mari Angeles and Paula. Mari Angeles focused on grammar and verb usage, while Paula taught us about culture. There were about fifteen kids in my class, all college students, with 4 out of the fifteen being a part of my ISA program. Two of the students were Chinese, one was Italian, and the rest were from somewhere in the US. Paula had fun talking to all of us about our different cultures and what a culture shock Spain has been for us.

       I wouldn’t say the class was hard, it was more of a review of everything I have learned in Spanish thus far crammed into 10 days. I also received my class schedule at last! I have grammar, Spanish language, and Spanish cinema and society on Mondays and Wednesdays and I have conversation and composition and a panoramic view of Spanish literature on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Notice how I didn’t say I have class on Friday, no one in my program does! Nebrija understands that we want to travel while we’re here, so they try to give us Friday off so that we can.

       Homework is actually quite laughable here compared to the states. I have had about fifteen minutes of homework every night. I’m sure by now you’re buying your ticket over here to save yourselves from the hours slaving away over your desk at home. However, be warned, you have other homework besides the homework assigned. As international students, our homework is to immerse ourselves in the culture. This basically consists of going to museums, palaces, and other cities in Spain while speaking Spanish all the while.

       Okay, I guess as far as homework goes I’m living in a fantasy land, but I’m learning new things every day about this culture. For example, my shoe size here is a 41 (I’m an 11 in the states) and people eat ribs with a fork and knife. I went to the oldest restaurant in the world this week and was quickly labeled as a slobby barbarian for using my hands to eat suckling pig ribs.

       But yes, the oldest restaurant in the world is in Madrid, its name is Casa Botin and it was opened in 1725. How did I dress for such a nice restaurant? Why in a T-shirt that says “Queen of Naps” and sports shorts of course since I had spent the afternoon exploring Parque Retiro with the ISA. I stuck out like a giant American thumb, but I personally was far more focused on my food than my attire. The meal was fantastic, and now I can boast to all of my friends and family that I was in the restaurant that is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest restaurant in the world!

Photos Week 1

El Palacio Real (Madrid)

Catedral de la Almudena (Madrid)

Fernando 

(aka the Catholic King in charge of the Spanish Inquisition)

views like this make me never want to leave

Surviving Week 1

       It’s hard to believe I’ve been here a week already. As oh so typical of my friends, they were late picking me up from the airport so it was them who waddle-ran crying to hug me. The first day was honestly overwhelming, so I was glad I was with them because they were very understanding of me falling asleep all over their house. To be honest, I think their mom, Macarena, was most excited to see me, and she was very understanding of my sleepy, broken Spanish. The next day she drove me to meet my host family, who after only one week, have become so much more than a host family to me.

       The mom’s name is María, and she is wonderfully sweet. She has an 11 year old daughter named Alba who is extremely cute and very funny. Neither of them speak much English, which I’m honestly thankful for because it forces me to speak Spanish with them all the time. María quickly learned that I will eat everything known to mankind so she spent this first week re-introducing me to all of my favorite dishes as well as some new ones. I had paella, one of the most famous dishes, which is rice with different kinds of seafood and chicken in it. I’ve also had gazpacho, which is a cold tomato soup that tastes wonderful after a hot day, tortilla Española, which is a kind of thick omlette with potato and onion, and fuet which is a long rod of ham that tastes like heaven.

       The eating schedule is a lot different here. Breakfast is extremely light, a muffin and some coffee or juice and maybe some cookies (yes I have had Chips Ahoy for breakfast here). Lunch, or comida, is at 2:30 and that is their big meal of the day. It normally consists of salad, the some type of meat with a vegetable, and then a dessert which here is a piece of fruit or yogurt. Dinner is at 9:30, and is another meat and vegetable combo, only it is a lighter portion than lunch.

       To answer your question, yes siesta exists here, and it is magical. Comida is basically like Thanksgiving every day; you eat until you're stuffed then you either lay around and watch TV like a slug or you take a short nap. Everything is much slower paced here. No one rushes around to get places like in the United States, and showing up late to everything is pretty much expected.

       To conclude: Spain is amazing, my host family is wonderful, and I never want to come home. In my next blog I’ll try and talk about school, and the intensive course I’m taking, but let’s be honest, food and siesta is far more important! ¡Hasta luego!

How to Properly Prep for Adventure

       Tomorrow’s the day! My entire life has been packed away, I have my student visa, I’ve said most of my goodbyes, and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

       Packing pro tips! Make a list before you pack anything. Be super detailed, down to which type of shoes you need to pack and breaking down the clothes into seasons. Of course, I packed lots of pictures of my friends and family, two journals to write in, all of my Ravens and Orioles shirts, a Maryland flag, and Old Bay (bet you can guess what state I’m from).

       Space bags are crucial for packing clothes, so much so that I still have room leftover in one of my suitcases. I recommend getting a small passport holder with a strap that goes around your neck so that you can tuck your passport and the majority of your money under your shirt for safekeeping, but also have the passport available for easy access when walking through customs. Carry a small amount of cash in a wallet that you keep in your pocket or your purse so you can buy a snack while waiting in the airport.

       Speaking of money, definitely research banks to find the one that is best for you. I have found that Bank of America has sister banks in multiple countries in Europe, which means that although there is still an exchange fee, you do not have to pay the $5-$10 transaction fee every time you take money out of an ATM, just make sure you take money out of the sister bank’s ATM and not any ATM you come across. Anyway enough of the boring, but important stuff, let’s talk landing details!

       My flight leaves at 6:30 on August 27th, and then I get to sit through a glorious 8 hour flight and land in Spain at 8:30 in the morning August 28th. Spain is 6 hours ahead, so technically speaking, it will feel like I arrive at 2:30 in the morning, and then my day begins. The family of the two brothers I have hosted are picking me up from the airport. I have daydreams of the slow-motion movie run into the arms of two of my best friends, which will probably end up being me awkward waddle-running with my 4 bags while ugly crying with joy at seeing them after all this time apart. I have no idea what else is going to happen that day, but I am going to try and stay awake all day so that I can adjust to the time difference. Unfortunately, that means that my friends are going to have to deal with the troll that I become after being awake for 30 hours straight because I can’t sleep on airplanes. My next post will be full of details of my reunion with them as well as details about me meeting the rest of the ISA group and my first week in Spain! Adios America, time for Expedition España to officially begin!

Where on Earth am I Going?

       Well, I guess I should give you some background on myself. My name is Amanda, I’m a sophomore, and I will be spending the next academic year studying abroad with the ISA at Universidad Antonio de Nebrija in Madrid, Spain. I am a triple major in Spanish, International Relations, and Criminal Justice and will be completing credits for Spanish and International Relations while abroad. I have been to Spain twice before in my life: once my junior year of high school for a three-week exchange and once the summer after my senior year of high school to visit all my international students. I have had 5 international students from Spain, three from Toledo and two brothers from Madrid. The first time I went to Spain, I fell in love with the language and culture and since then I have been waiting tables to attempt to scrape up enough money to study abroad for as long as I could there.

       I will be living with a host family in a cute little apartment in the center of Madrid. My host family is a mom and her 10-year old daughter. I’ll be taking 4 classes per semester in Spanish. By now you’re probably wondering if I’m crazy and I’m pretty sure I am because my Spanish is decent but I have no clue if it’s decent enough to handle living with a Spanish family and taking classes entirely in Spanish for two semesters. But whatever I have 22 days to figure it out before I’m there so yay! And even better, I haven’t even thought about how I’m going to pack 9 months of stuff into two suitcases a duffel and a backpack. Spacebags are going to become my best friend over the next few weeks and I cannot wait to utilize my family members as weights to help me close my suitcases.

       Ah yes speaking of my family, how did I convince them to let me go? I convinced them to go the summer after my senior year of high school so they could see for themselves why I fell in love with Spain. They were able to meet the family of the two brothers who we hosted from Madrid, and they know if I ever get into any trouble while I’m there (which I would never dream of doing of course) that I will have a family there to help me. Well that’s enough background for this post so get excited because next time I’m going to teach you how to pack for nine months of travel!