¿Hablas el castellano?

This weekend I went to alicante to spend time with my aunty gleyns and my uncle monty. Now, i’ve never met either of them, but nonetheless they are family and I couldn’t be happier to be around family. i boarded my 6 am ave to madrid after having returned from going out with my friends. i passed out for the entire ride to madrid. and then had to switch for another train to alicante. (ill just omit my spiel about how it makes no sense to go all the way north to madrid to come back all the way south for alicante).

  anyways i arrived in alicante to find my uncle and aunt as well as his sister and brother in law. we strolled through the city, along the beach, and stopped in a bar for my signature beer and my aunt’s signature gin and tonic. dinner was my fave- all you can’t eat chinese food. it was delicious. we would then see Sam and Michelle off to the airport and I feel asleep on the drive from Alicante to Biar, where Glenys and Monty live.

  It was so refreshing to be in a HOME. a home with photos on the wall of people i knew. a home where the shows playing on tv were in english. a home where there was no hesitation in communication. a home,

  on saturday, after the most grand breakfast I had in weeks (cause the spanish don’t believe in grand breakfasts), we would talk a stroll through biar. met some of glenys and monty’s friends and saw the beautiful city. after returning home for a quick beer, my uncle and i spent some quality time together. we went up to the castle that overlooked all of the city. and he told me stories of his childhood, of him and my late uncle, and his life now. he and my aunt plan to build up their place here in spain so that they can just relax. i very much loved spending time with my uncle. i never knew anything of him nor his other siblings, as my uncle never really brought them up. and while it is so sad that my uncle is no longer with us, im glad that i was able to make a new relationship.

  on our last night we went out with my aunt and uncle’s 2 friends to a tapas tour. essentially for 2 euro you get a drink and a choice between 2 tapas. its a competition really, and at the end of the night you choose what was your fave. 5 bars, 5 beers and 10 tapas later it was time to head back home. the taxi ride home i spoke in spanish to the driver and we had a blast. he was amazed at how well i could speak, and i loved treading the line between spanish with him and english with my aunt and uncle.

  the view from my bedroom window, the lilac purple of the other guest room, the golden and pearl hair clip, sam & tasha, and a bathroom with every product you could possible imagine..

i found a family in biar-i found a home. and i sure do hope ill be able to return soon.

If words could describe to you how much I LOVED Berlin….

Let me just go ahead and say it: I LOVE BERLIN

Vid and I arrived pretty late at night on Thursday. Let’s skip over the fact that he almost made us miss our flight by confusing gate numbers (#oops)-- I’ll never let him live it down that I saved us both. We got to the gate just as they were boarding.  But then again, he wont let me forget how he single handedly saved my cine essay using bluetooth with the 5 minutes of battery I had left on my laptop. So maybe this means we’re even? Anyways, we land in Berlin, and it’s raining. We both quickly convince ourselves that we want to cab it to the hostel (as opposed to train and walking),  so we do. We get to the hostel and find that our lobby is a bar (its so cool). Not going to lie--it took us about 5 minutes to realize that it was the lobby. We kept thinking how do we get INTO the hostel. There Nicole, Seb, and Heidi were awaiting our arrival; oh yeah and they thought we died having got our flight times confused.

  That night we took a walk around Berlin, looking for la marcha (as Miguel would say) but it was no where to be found. We then realized the next night that we walked in the wrong direction; but no worries. The following day we went on the most amazing walking tour of Berlin and saw EVERYTHING. And I mean, everything. Our British tour guide was the best; not to mention his cool style and killer ponytail. Afterwards, per Vid’s request, we hit up Wok to Walk. This was my first time, and it was yummy! Post browsing in a couple stores, Vid, Nicole and I decided to stop in little a cafe for some tea/coffee and pastries. We sat outside as the day turned to night and talked about everything. the candles on the tables were lit and the street lights turned on, and we were soon sitting in a night of skinny black dyed jeans. We walked back to the hostal to grab the rest of the crew for one last hurrah before Seb and Nicole returned to Penn (<yes they came to Europe from Philly; talk about some GREAT friends, Vid). The night that would follow would be a night that I’ll never forget.  In Alexanderplatz we stumbled upon a beer garden that brought me right back to Oktoberfest. It was incredible! We played so many games, sang songs, and befriended the older folks at out table. Lessons from the night: 1. Even though a club may be “the hardest to get in” and “not even worth your time trying”; where there’s a will theres a way! 2. So what if you forget your ID? 3. Water.

  Saturday, after Nicole and Sebastian left, Kini, Vid, Heidi and I went to Butter (no not where Jenny ditched Blair for her 17th birthday) for brunch. It was delicious. We kind of ended up staying there for a while just chatting and marveling at the fact that we were in Berlin. We later walked back home, through a neighborhood that reminded me too much of Brooklyn (really, with a mix of SF) to not return. There were all these cute stores that I wanted to go into but decided that I could do it on Sunday. For dinner, we went to the best restaurant, to the point that I couldn't move. I dont even know how to classify it- I think Indian-Mexican fusion? whatever it was- it was delicious.

  Heidi and Kini would leave on Sunday, except Kini missed her flight and would join Vid and I for our last day in Berlin. Seeing as how nothing opens on Sundays, the stores were closed. Instead, we wandered around Alexanderplatz until the sunset and then grabbed dinner at a thai restaurant with a side of intriguing and thought-provoking conversation, to say the least.

  Monday, determined to purchase an item, I woke up early to head back to the street with the cute shops, only to find that they were all closed. I later learned that shops are only allowed to open for 8 hours, so many store owners wait until later to open their stores’ doors. I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to pass some time and stumbled upon some really cool houses. I, of course, found a building that reminded me so much of New York, and teared up a bit (#typical). With much luck, I later stumbled into my last store only to find the most beautiful necklace to take home with me. The owner said she’d been there since 2003; she was a gorgeous blonde with skin that reminded me of tropical sand and blue eyes like that off the coast of a caribbean island. And she had a gray feather in her hair.

We would then make our trip back to Madrid only to find that there were no more AVE tickets back to Sevilla. After taxiing to the bus station where there were also no tickets left for the bus, we stayed in Madrid for the night. Dinner? Why wok to walk of course! And we would make our way back to Sevilla the next day. Let’s not forget how traffic seemed to pop out of nowhere allowing us to make our train by 9 minutes when we originally left about 20 minutes of spare time.

  I’ll never forget my time in Berlin.

Vid- this was one hell of a birthday present. Glad that I could be there to celebrate with you.

Berlin-ill be seeing you.

  xx

MCP took us to Ronda today. It’s such a small quaint and breathtakingly beautiful city. The weather was gorgeous, with the sun high in the sky, and we spent our day walking through the city. While climbing some of those inclines was a challenge (<maybe all that flan is starting to take a toll>), I had so much fun. I love that our program takes us around Spain, because I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be visiting these cities otherwise. It always surprises me how small Spain is but also how different the regions and cities are.

The amount of time between this post and my last post is horrendous. So instead of complaining or explaining I’m just going to jump right into it.

Oktoberfest was one for the books, but not one filled of the best quality photos :-) So you’ll just have to believe me when I say that it was an INCREDIBLE time.

Lagos was a super fun trip. With beautiful weather and beaches, sangria cruises, and kayaking (<<aka watch out for the rocks or you’ll die) what more could I ask for.

  I’ll always remember Whites Bar, where we always seemed to end up after dinner but before going out. Something about the atmosphere and the musical selection-while I couldn’t name you a single band, think Lumineers meets Beyonce-was perfect. On the last night for dinner, 2 of my friends and I, Jon and Vid, ventured to eat pizza (<yes, so American) and we stumbled across an Indian restaurant right across the way. So we promised to return to the Indian restaurant for lunch the following day. Needless to say, it was so refreshing having food that not only reminded me of home, but also that was not spanish cuisine. I don’t mean to say that I don’t like Spanish food, rather it was refreshing to change things up.

But above all, my favorite memory was hands down the sunset on the edge of the world. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Hace 2 fines de semana, fuimos a Cádiz, una ciudad pequeñito cerca de la playa. Aunque el programa solo había reservado un dia de estar en Cádiz, un grupo pequeño y yo decidimos quedarnos hasta que el domingo. Este fin de semana fue mi favorito de todo el viaje.

  Lo interesante es que no hicimos nada muy espectacular. Paseamos el tiempo en la playa, andamos por las calles, cenamos...pizza (yo se-- muy americano), pero me divertí mucho. El ambiente fue muy positivo y relajado. En particular, había un momento cuando me di cuenta de que de verdad estaba en España...y voy a quedarme aquí por 4 meses. Antes de que llegue a Penn, sabía que quiera estudiar en Europa durante mi tercer ano, pero ya es el tercer ano y no puedo creer que está pasando tan rapido.

  Pero también, pues es difícil explicarlo en general, y más en espanol. pero voy a intentar hacerlo:

  Había un parte de Cádiz, específicamente cerca de la playa que me recordó de Nueva York-- yo sé, ¿Como Cádiz puede recordarme de Nueva York? Específicamente-Battery Park City donde vivía uno de mis mejores amigos de la secundaria. Es que normalmente camino por el West Side Highway a su apartamiento que afronta el Rio de Hudson. Y casi directamente detrás de su apartamiento está One World Trade. Alli, en Cádiz, caminé por la calle a lado del agua, como el West Side Highway, y la vista me parece mucho como la de Nueva York. Habia los apartamentos y todo, y lo mas impresionante fue que en vez del One World Trade habia un torre de Movistar, mucho más alto que los otros edificios, como One World Trade. Así fue como si estuviera en Nueva York y España a la misma vez. Fue un momento muy meta.

  Cádiz- gracias por un fin de semana muy increíble...y emocional (desde reirme hasta que lloré a querer llorar por los recuerdos de mi tiempo en Poly en el campo de juegos)

Pues, hay algunas fotos del nuestro viaje.

Wow-- I think it has been about 3 weeks since I’ve posted...aka way too long.  I realize that if you tell yourself you’re going to wait until another time to post what actually ends up happening is that you have lots of post in your queue...but you never end up posting them. It’s a catch 22--you’re always perpetually behind. The same happens with uploading photos to facebook...but thats a different story. So I’m going to be playing catch up this week as I don't have any big trips planned until next weekend.

    3 weeks ago (I know...it’s been so long) we visited Madrid for the weekend. Madrid, the capital of Spain, is, of course, way more metropolitan and touristy than Sevilla. Needless to say it reminded me so much of…. New York (I know...NYC seems to come up in everything I say: #nycproblems) . Our hotel was practically on the “42nd Street” of Madrid; el rey de leon-the lion king- was right across the street from us. I wish we could have seen it. I saw the Lion King on Broadway about 6 years ago and it was absolutely incredible...I cried (but I guess that doesn’t really say much seeing as how the ratio of the amount of times I cry is seemingly high in comparison to others.. oh so I’ve been told :)

  I spent my time in Madrid admiring the art at the Prado Museum and La Reina Sofía- Las Meninas por Velázquez y El retrato de sonia de klamery, condesa de Pradere fueron mis favoritas, in the stores along Gran Via and La puerta del sol-waddup Zara flagship, and sightseeing around El palacio real y La catedral. It was nice to be in a bigger european city just strolling through the streets and admiring the beautiful architecture. While it was for only a weekend, I definitely enjoyed the change of pace of a bigger city.

*Note: This post is approx. 1 week late due to technical issues. Grr Tumblr

Hasta que las clases empiecen, estamos viajando por España para que aprendamos sobre la cultura española y la de Sevilla también. Ayer, fuimos al catedral Giraldo y hoy, en la mañana, fuimos a los reales Alcázares de Sevilla. Los dos son hermosos. Permitiré que los fotos hablen por sus mismos.

Some of these posts are going to have to be in Spanish (I apologize in advance for those who don't speak castellano)…after all, when in Spain right?

El lunes, me mudé con mi señora, y todo está muy bien. Nos pasamos un buen tiempo por todo. Aquí en Sevilla, ella va al supermercado cada día para comprar la comida para cocinar en este día. Es que todos las verduras, el pan, y todo son frescos. También, ella me dijo que poner las hormonas en el carne es prohibido; todo es muy diferente aquí, incluso la psicología de la comida, pero eso es otro tópico.  Ella cocina cada comida cada día, el desayuno- tostada con aceite y miel, almuerzo- lo mas grande comida del día, y la cena.

El sábado, fuimos a la piscina con sus hijos (un hijo y una hija), sus parejas respectivas, y su nieto, Javi que ya tiene 2 anos. ¡Él es lo mas guapo en el mundo! Pasemos el día en la piscina con mucha comida, muchas conversaciones, y algunos momentos de confusión. ¡Que gracioso!

I’ve only been in Sevilla for 2 nights, and I can tell you two words that sum this city up perfectly- la calor* y las tapas.

  La calor: Today was 104°F and yesterday was 102°F, Yeah, no typos there- 104°F and 102°F.  While I thought I met the worst in Philly with all the humidity, never have I experienced la calor like this. Today, our instructor explained to us that one of the reasons nightlife is so big here- when I say nightlife I don’t only mean los jovenes rather los adultos y los chicos también -is due to the weather. At night, it’s much cooler (read bearable), and so people choose to spend that time, late at night, out. More on nightlife later…

  Las tapas: No matter what restaurant you go to you can always find tapas. Tapas are a Spanish dish, but even more specifically they originate in Sevilla, so you literally find them everywhere. Tapas are small dishes that are meant to be shared with the whole party. Sometimes, I don’t want a little bit of everything; sometimes I just want a lot of one thing- maybe it’s the American in me? So we often walk around looking for what we call “real restaurants.” Another huge adjustment is the eating schedule. Spaniards tend to have a light breakfast as early as 7:30am, a huge (and looonnnnggg) lunch at 2pm (inclusive of appetizers and dessert), and a smaller dinner closer to 10pm. So it feels like I’m either always hungry or always eating-abroad 15 anyone?

  We move in with our families this Friday, so we’ll see how that changes the routine.

  Until then, time for la siesta**.

  *Normally calor is masculine but when the heat is this unbearable, Spaniards tend to use the feminine form

**Yes, during the middle of the day, stores close and people really do nap-I’m not even kidding. No wonder Spaniards are amongst the happiest in the world, behind the Danish of course.

I really can’t believe it! After my beyond incredible summer on the West Coast-I’ll forever and always be an NYC girl at at heart- it was time for me to pack everything back up and switch time zones (again). And now, 1 one-way ticket, 2 flights, and 3 maletas later, I’ve finally arrived.

I wanted to start writing to create a space to reflect on my time here.

Here are my photos from my first 48 hours. Check back soon for updates!