If You Ever Navigate With Me, Please Note

With a map--  a being of power and direction. Without one-- lost forever. Spanish life lesson 24: If I ever have an instinct about which direction to go and it doesn't come directly from a map, GO THE OPPOSITE WAY. ALWAYS.

Barrrthelona

WHOA.

Greetings from Valladolid, a safe and pretty city! Whirlwind weekend in Sitges/Barcelona. I don't know how to start this. Let's go with the tried and true "chronological" method.

Wednesday: A few people from the group head up to Barcelona early. A backpack containing a passport is promptly stolen. Spanish life lessons gleaned from this: (22) Don't hang out in touristy spots (Americans in McDonald's are candy for pickpockets) and (23) When in cities, one hand on your bag at all time. 

Unofficial lesson: Trust no one.

Thursday: On that happy note, we left Valladolid after tests by bus to airport, plane to Barcelona, metro to bus station, bus to Sitges, feet to Swedish man who gives us our hotel keys, stumps to our apartments (our feet had been worn off at this point). Sitges is a funny little beach town, very pretty, very flamboyant (and apparently the gay capital of Spain, the ratio was 60% gay (men), 40% straight people. Gladys has a sense of humor). After eating a decent but grossly overpriced dinner (however, it was like manna from heaven as I had not eaten since breakfast) we planned out the next day and hit the sack. 

I forgot to take pictures in Sitges.

Friday: We awaken bright and early and a small group of us hops on the train to Barcelona. Jake and some others head to the American consulate to obtain a new passport. Cheyanne, Leah, and I begin our adventure. We walk around Barcelona (extremely paranoid) and are frustrated by our inadequate maps and everything touristy. Additionally, Leah and I are extremely cranky due to the previous day's stress. Cheyanne has a great attitude - props to you, Cheyanne! Leah drinks a coffee and I eat some pastries and we feel much better. We seek out the Picasso Museum and are handsomely rewarded - easily the highlight of my weekend. If you are ever in Barcelona, FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE AND GO SEE PICASSO! 

After la Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, it is rather late and we have grown weary.

Favorite thing.

Gaudi formal

Gaudi fun!

Saturday: Beaches (funnier when Gladys says it in her lovely thick accent - hint: rhymes with Sitges).

Sunday: Despite needing to leave at  6AM and three minutes of panic when we can't find the bus right before it is expected to leave, the day goes extremely smoothly. Bus rides are very relaxing, especially with castles and mountains in the distance.

Overall - Barcelona has quite a bit to offer, but there's no place like Valladolid.

Porque Esto Es Africa

I am becoming more and more Spanish everyday as I get swept away in their obsession for Shakira. Spanish life lesson 21: Waka Waka is universal.

The Juan, The Only

Spanish life lesson 20: Some of the very best moments of study abroad are spent lying in bed, giggling with your weird roommate.

Museums of Madrid Hate Me

Sunday! Get up and go go go! Powerwalk to the bus station on the other side of Valladolid (Ashley and Brenna were too cool to run) and get there approximately three minutes before the bus leaves. Assure the lady selling tickets that we KNOW the bus is just about to leave, and YES, we still would like to buy the tickets, preferably AT THIS VERY MOMENT IF POSSIBLE DUE TO SHORTAGE OF TIME. Get on bus! 

Madrid is a different story from the other Spanish cities I have visited due to its size, significance, and amount of tourists. Okay, let me clarify from Segovia's post--I don't really mind other tourists so much as tourists traps. Please don't try to sell me weird useless things when you hear me speak English, and please please PLEASE don't try to frighten me by popping out of your box, you weird performance artist you. Besides this and that all Madrid's AWESOME art museums close freakishly early on Sundays, I like Madrid. I met up with my friend Caitlin, a recent CSB graduate, and we walked around a bit with our new friend, Natalie, a British girl who works in the same language assistant program as Caitlin. Otherwise... we didn't really do anything. Minus that some of us attempted to catch the 10:30 bus back (2.5 hour drive back to Valladolid) so we had to do quite a bit of running through the city (and we ended up either taking the 11:30 or 12:30 due to shortage of seats, a very late night). I shouldn't have been worried about exercising in Spain. 

Pickpocket prevention

Sprinting Through Segovia

Saturday excursion number three brought us to the town of Segovia, briefly preceded by popping into the gardens of La Granja (muy bonita). The city of Segovia is quite hilly and has the best (? I could be making that up) preserved aquaduct in Europe. This is impressive especially because it stays just rock on rock without the assistance of cement or anything. Besides that, it has this enormous church that looks a bit like a tan city of the future, a neat glass-making school, and the castle off of which the Cinderella castle was based! I, being of royal blood, felt quite at home within.

"Quack," says the Aquaduck

Welcome to my home

When walking around Segovia made me realize one of the things I loved about Valladolid the most: there are no tourists. Segovia wasn't swarming with them, but I was taken aback upon seeing other groups of Americans. Before signing up for this program, I had never heard of Valladolid (nor had anyone else even though it is one of Spain's largest cities), but I appreciate its lack of touristy things and English speakers. It is Spanish and doesn't really care who you are, which is how an immersion destination probably should be. In Valladolid, if I see other Americans it is because they either go to my language school or the other one (Minnesota, Texas, Iowa, and Pennsylvania represent!). 

Multiple sources from the Segovia study abroad group had instructed us to go to a cafe called El Oso Blanco to get Spain's (and possibly Europe's) best sangria.

Unfortunately, we were primarily there during siesta, hence everything was closed. However, as we gathered to get back on the bus at about 6:10, we were informed we had about 20 minutes of free time so a group of us swiftly walked back to El Oso Blanco where we flattered the bartender into racing against time to make us the fancy sangria. He was seriously running back and forth in preparation, as all the fruit was cut up on the spot and he had to mix like four different drinks to make it.

The man is a wizard, to be certain!

We all downed our fancy sangria and Connor ran in, telling us that we had to be on the bus NOW. Naturally, I found myself frantically running up and down the busy streets of Segovia dodging people left and right, street musicians serenading us as we sprinted past one at a time. It was definitely a scene from a movie, minus something evil chasing us.

Or was there?

IN SPAIN, IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE DOLLS.

Notes on Spaniards

In light of last night's event, it is necessary to say a word or two about Spaniards and everything they are. 

First of all, we had a required Spanish movie last night entitled "Tetis" which is Spanish for "thesis." As soon as the teacher set up the movie and left the room, we hijacked the remote and turned on subtitles so we could have a clue as to what was going on. Turns out, watching people get sawed to pieces needs no translation. When our teacher walked back in at the end, we demanded to know WHY we were subjected to watch this! She said she and the other teachers thought it was good. If you would dearly like to know what it is about, just ask our pal Wikipedia. Spanish life lesson 19: Don't trust Spaniards' taste in movies.

Anyway, now general Spain-ish things: 

1) Spaniards are mega chill. This is evident in their schedule and culture lacking physical self-consciousness (see Spanish Life Lesson 14).

2) Spaniards' days are essentially set up as followed:

Get up 8ish

Work/school about 9

Siesta at 2--the whole city closes (minus bars/restaurants) and pretty much everyone goes home for lunch

Back to work about 5-8

Come home, the evening is young and yours

Dinner at some point between 8 and 11

If I had to pick a thing about Spain that really rattled my system, it just might have to be meal times (and yes, I did just pick that over toptional beaches). These are times that I might eat at home, but do so with the knowledge that this Is Not What Normal People Do.

3) Spaniards can really set up a city. Whoever thought of plazas (squares for socialization and shopping) was brilliant, as they seriously bring people together as places to meet, to hang out, to shop, to eat, to be entertained, and to gather politically. I cannot even think of equivalent places in America (parks do not compare). Streets are narrow, which requires cars to be small and efficient and drivers to be well-trained (much more difficult to get a license here, which is probably not a bad idea). In any case, driving is not really necessary because you can go pretty much everywhere on foot or by bus (which happily isn't sketchy)! People can walk from their houses to work, church, grocery stores, etc. Plus, every place is BEAUTIFUL and all the architecture is awesome. 

3.5) This does not apply to everywhere in Spain so it doesn't get its own number, but Valladolid is a super cool city because it's SO SAFE! Apparently there's virtually no crime and I feel way more comfortable walking down a street here at night (obviously not by myself, I was raised to be paranoid) than I do walking down Main Street in Hutch or around campus. The main issue here is that the streets are confusing even with the ever-constant help of a map, so we ask many directions from residents. While Spaniards are not the sort to randomly smile at you on the street, they've always been accommodating in helping us find places, if not leading us directly to the place (which is really the more effective method with language barriers and everything).

4) Spaniards love their bars, and have them every twenty feet. People don't get drunk, but can pop in at basically any time of day (typically during siesta, after work, or durante the evening) for a drink or TAPAS. Tapas is Spanish for snacks, but are in general fancier. A Katarina y yo nos encanta tapas, specifically in the form of croquetas which are these things like if you were to take a glob of mashed potatoes and plop it into a deep frier (but again, fancier than it sounds).

5) Spaniards love their bread. Pan pan pan cada día. Baguettes are like 40 cents. This means bakeries are errwhere, which means PASTRIES UPON PASTRIES! 

6) Spaniards smoke like chimneys. Despite this, they'll probably still outlive us due to all the walking and the lack of processed/fast food (but seriously. There are NO obese people here. Katarina y yo saw our first one on Sunday, and we strongly suspect that she was American).

7) People in Spain love their bodies. They dress themselves well (and I mean EVERYONE) according to their own shape and size-- and I think that more important than the price of the clothes is just the sheer effort put forth in the morning. Could this dressing for success be why everyone seems happier all the time?

8) Congratz, you read all the way to number eight. You get a prize!

In conclusion, Spaniards-- To know them is to love them. Same goes for churros con chocolate. Om nom nom nom nom.

Life In 3D

Yesterday, we had our second excursion to the national park thing of Hoce del rio Duratón. Near Segovia, this little paradise had a long path down to the very old church de San Frutos (yes, St. Fruits) and a majestic river. Location duly added to very favorite places in the world. Seriously, everything was so beautiful it was unreal: the weather, the ruins, the view, the slight breeze with a hint of moisture from the river, the smell, AHHH. Spanish life lesson 16: No matter how fantastic human-made architecture and art is, nothing compares to straight-up natural magnificence. Please book a ticket immediately to Spain because I'm really doing an inadequate job of explaining.

Surriously unreal

Finding inner balance

After spending some time pondering life while sitting on a cliff overlooking a river (apologies for the pretentiousness), we made our way back to the bus and onto the small Spanish city of Sepúlveda where we spent a lovely afternoon exploring the town, taking the wrong trails, etc. Spanish life lesson 17: No jumping pictures until the end of the day, lest you twist your ankle so you can't walk anywhere and have to go to the hospital (sorry, Ashley). 

Blondes, beware

Gladys had told us that there would be a futból game in the evening, so we all pounced on this opportunity to see the (potentially) last game of the season for Valladolid. Getting back to our city, we all had about forty minutes to go home, shower/change/eat/etc, and get to Plaza Mayor, and as walking anywhere takes at least 10-15 minutes minimum, you may imagine the mad scramble that ensued. Katarina y yo ran from our house to the Plaza (very typical. We are the only people ever running anywhere in the city) and after some frustrations with the buses, we found the correct one and hopped on. 

Due to the bus confusion, we arrived a little bit late so when we approached the stadium, we heard the crowd's roar of "GOOOOALLLL!" As we went to buy tickets, we learned that instead of the anticipated £5, it was going to cost £20, which is like $30. Now, if you know me, you know that I don't love sports enough to pay that much for mediocre seats for not even a whole game, so it seemed that we were skunked. Just then, a shady scalper slunk out of the shadows with the offer of four tickets at £15 each. Too rich for my blood, I rejected the offer, though those tickets were quickly snatched up by a few members of the group. Some of the girls were talking to  other Spaniards who were also fans and they all kind of wandered off, while Ashley (a different one than the previously mentioned ankle victim), Leah and I assessed our next move (food, naturally). Just then, the scalper returned, this time with the offer of tickets ten euros each. We were very skeptical, but we gave it a chance with the agreement that the guy had to come with us in case the tickets didn't work. They didn't (invalid for resale) but we fortunately got our money back. This was just an irritating situation as we had worked hard to get there with the running and the bussing and the botched scalping, so we went to fetch the rest of the group so that we may eat our woes away. 

We walked the perimeter of the stadium to see the other girls clustered together. We started to tell them about the scalper and that we were going back to the bus, but they interrupted, buzzing excitedly that the three fans they were talking to got them on the ins with an important-looking man in a suit who worked there. They were going to let us in! Suddenly, we were all rushed in through a back door and up the stairs (don't worry mom, I was constantly on the defense and ready to fight; you have taught me well to fear white slavery in Europe, especially with a bunch of blondes in company) and arrived in THE STADIUM! So after being this close to giving up, we were sitting second and third rows to this awesome game FO' FREE. I could not get over the excellence of the situation.

He gets knocked down, but he got up again (Valladolid is purple anyway)

VALLADOLID WINS! 

In summary: Nature. Beauty. Jesus. Singing. Hiking. Small Spanish cities. Parkour. Racing against the clock. New friends. Futból. Victory. Spanish Fanta. Waka waka. Ladies dressed like Sevillanas who give you broken fans that you can make into fancy headdresses. Duncan, a frightening but kind British boy dressed like Michael Jackson.

What a glorious day. 

What a glorious day.

Salamanca

On Saturday, we took a day trip to Salamanca. The city was pretty. I ate some ice cream. Weird people were running around in teams because it was the day of the Barcelona vs. ManU game. We saw some churches and museums. At one church, we were allowed to go out on an upper level and it looked like a scene from The Tourist, but there was no Johnny Depp hotfooting across the rooftop. Well, that's all about I have to say. I don't want to write anymore and you probably wouldn't care about further details. Let's end this now and save everyone some grief. Love you.

Life lesson 18: Don't ask Gladys for history lessons. Inquire for more detail.

Rain in Spain and Other Cliches

Yesterday, Katarina and I FINALLY went to the bank in la Plaza Mayor to exchange our money after putting it off for days. Promptly after we made our transaction and were organizing our things, the sky started to downpour. At first we were going to show our hearty Minnesota roots by just toughing out the storm, but then we decided to hold back and wait for it to subside (for the sake of our laptops of course). After waiting ten or fifteen minutes with the stylish Spaniards, we grew weary of hanging around and chose to be troopers. Girding our loins, we grabbed each others' hands and sprinted out into the monsoon. 

After running and singing for about a block, some Spaniards beckoned us into an enclave of a restaurant, mentioning something about lightning. They were pointing out a man on balcony nearby and we realized he was putting out a mirror. Por que? No se. After a minute, we again grew restless so, being already pretty wet by this point, we said "Hasta luego!" and bolted again. (In Spain, we are constantly saying "Hasta luego" because "adios" is apparently pretty formal and can sometimes kind of mean "Goodbye forever." However, "Hasta luego" means "Until later" which is an odd thing to say--especially when accompanied with a little salute--to a group of people you'll definitely never see again before running away.)

Resuming singing, we covered obvious classics such as "Singing In The Rain" and "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"; let me tell you, there is a great deal of joy found in sloshing through deep puddles of fresh rain while it violently pelts your head as you are yelling "BOOM DE YADA BOOM DE YADA" and amused Spaniards look on. Spanish life lesson 15: Rain on Spanish architecture makes for great acoustics (and umbrellas are totally optional).

I love the whole world! My preferred version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0

The world is just awesome.