Pancake Breakfast

Yesterday, school sponsored a pancake breakfast fundraiser to raise money for a needy student who wants to come to SLU. Of course, the American students, upon hearing about a full-out American breakfast (which is not really existent in Spain), were flocking to the snack bar between 10 A.M-2 P.M. to get some orange juice, pancakes (chocolate chip!), bacon, and eggs. Sadly, the power kept shutting off (I think they were overloading the circuits), so one pancake took about 3 times as long as normal... but the wait only made it taste that much better! I must say, it was one of the best breakfast meals I've ever had in my life, and I think it was not only because it tasted good, but because it's been so long since I've had a "home-cooked" breakfast.

I remember that I went through a phase at BYU where I would cook up some pancakes (the add-water only kind) whenever I was out of food or couldn't think of anything better to make. Considering that you only added water to the mix... they were surprisingly good!

Though I miss the American breakfast, I enjoy my breakfasts here as well. Alicia stocks the kitchen with plenty of fruit and pan de leche. Pan de leche is this amazing soft, slightly sweetened loaf of bread. It is SO good! So, I'm glad to have that every day. And to be honest, as much as I love pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc., I sometimes feel sick if I eat too much heavy breakfast food. But luckily at this moment, eating my chocolate-chip pancakes in the courtyard at school, I didn't have a care in the world.

Back to studying for midterms. :-)

Las Canarias

This last weekend, my astronomy class went on a field trip to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are right off of the coast of Morocco, but they are considered a part of Spain, and they are beautiful! We went to see the Teide Observatory, one of the most well-known in the world. The trip had a few glitches (um, not being open the telescope except for a half hour... one kid getting sent home for partying too hard...) but despite some challenges, the trip still turned out pretty well I think. It was fun to get to know the kids in the class better... That's one thing I love about this program, I'm really getting to know my teachers, classmates, etc. very quickly... it really adds to the class atmosphere!

Here are some pictures (not really in order) from the trip:

Here's a picture of us eating lunch with the amazing shore in the background (Sara, me, Janith, and Ana Maria)

The observatory... that's one of the telescopes in the background. James, me, Janith, and Ana Maria. We were freezing up there!


Here's most of the group on the trip... The lady in the red tank top is our professor, Susana. She's so nice! She's from Madrid, and she studied in Madrid, Tenerife, London, Germany, and France...wow.


This picture was taken from on top of one of the telescopes... that's Mt. Teide, the volcano in Tenerife. This picture doesn't do this view justice!


Here's the telescope we got to use... well not much actually. The weather was really humid, so we could only open the telescope for about 30 minutes... humidity can damage it. It was so cool to see the observatory... we ate dinner in the astronomers' residence and the view from the top of the island was AMAZING... the clouds were below us, Mt. Teide was beside us, and the most beautiful sky was above us!


Here's a shot that I took from the National Park... the clouds up here are pretty amazing.


Here is another shot from the National Park near Mount Teide. All of the island was formed from volcanic rock, so the upper region of the island (a lot of it is above the cloudline) is pretty desolate ... there are some bushy plants and a few rabbits running around, but that's about it! This is a shot from an area where the original "Star Wars" was filmed!



Here's a picture of Playa de Socorro. That translates roughly to "Relief Beach." Makes sense, since the waves were HUGE and no one was allowed to swim that day. The lifeguard warned us that if we tried to swim, he'd call the cops! Needless to say, we listened. However, later he started chatting it up with us when he was off guard-duty, so he really is a nice guy, he was just trying to protect people. The beaches are black sand! Though no one was allowed to swim, there was a surfing competition going on that day, so that was really fun to watch. Here's a picture of the beach:

Well, now it's back to school... midterms start next week for me, so the next 3 weeks are going to be pretty focused on school. I'm trying to figure out a way to get to Strasbourg, France to see my cousin the weekend of October 12-15... since we have a 4-day weekend and I'll be done with the first set of midterms... but for now, it's time to stay here in Madrid and STUDY! This weekend is also General Conference for church. Another U.S. girl I met at church and I might watch the conference together online in English (since they broadcast it in Spanish here)... so there might be 3 or 4 of us crowding around Catherine's computer this weekend... taking notes and listening to the prophet from halfway around the world... I can't wait! :-) Have a great week, everyone!

Random Observations

A few random observations...

-I am taller than the average Spaniard. Like, for real. Now, I know I'm a taller American girl too... and I'm totally cool with that and proud of my height and all, but here, I'm even taller!

Example: Today I walked into one of the many "Perfumerias," where I was hoping to find some sunscreen, since I'm going to the Canary Islands tomorrow for my astronomy class. Yahoo! Back to the story... this older woman looked at me and smiled and said, "Tu eres muy alta. Puedes ayudarme?" ("You're very tall. Can you help me?) She asked me if I could reach a bottle of hair mousse on a tall shelf. I helped her with pleasure, feeling proud for a moment that I was a tall American girl. "Gracias nina." (Thanks, girl.) Hehe.

-The average Madrileno is well-dressed. I know city people in general are usually a little dressier, but pretty much everyone is up on style here, which makes the Americans with their flip-flops stick out as the sophisticated Spanish women breeze by in a pair of trendy ballet flats or something. In fact, I would say most Europeans in general are better dressers and are generally more in tune with style... I see a lot of boutiques, jewelry/accessory stores, zapaterias (shoe stores), perfumerias and beauty shops... even the furniture here just looks more stylish. I'm trying to wear my nicer clothes and ditch the hoodies and flip-flops when I can... I already stick out somewhat (tall...lighter hair, accent), so I guess I can avoid dressing scrubby and sticking out even more :-)

-Fast food places here are nicer than in the U.S. I went to McDonald's with my roommate, and we noticed that it was two-stories tall, which is common here for fast food. There was a "McCafe," which was like a coffee shop part of the McDonald's, with coffee and pastry-style desserts. The other McDonald's near me had a place to plug in your earphones to listen to music and internet stations... and the food just tastes better! And yes, they have the Euro menu, which is like the American dollar menu.

-Spaniards are healthy. People here walk more and eat less... they definitely eat in smaller portions and their food seems healthier... less processed junk (no Luncheables...sad. OK, maybe not.) Everyone walks... to the store, to school, to work, and even the older people are all out walking. I guess I'm not used to seeing so many elderly people out and about... but they are all out shopping and sitting on park benches and enjoying life. It's really cool!

-Spaniards enjoy variety shows. There are a lot of game show/variety shows on at night. The other night, on one variety show, these people were blindfolded and had to kiss animals and guess what they were. Then, a guy put a whole box of tarantulas on him and let them all crawl around. Hehe...sort of like fear factor! There's also shows that are comparable to American Idol, Candid Camera, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Class Trip to Leon

Some pictures from this weekend's trip to Leon (with my Spanish Culture and Civilization Class):

Ok, I know this is a pretty "touristy" picture, but once in a while, you have to just be a tourist, as long as you're not too obvious. I guess I'm sort of being obvious here, oops.


Here is the Leon Cathedral. Beautiful!
Last night we ate at an outdoor cafe in the Plaza Mayor in Leon with people from our class. Ok, it was a little chilly, but definitely worth the view.
This is Las Medulas, where the Romans mined during their rule in Spain (around the 3rd century?) They used tons of canals of water to create intense pressure inside the rock, which caused huge parts of the mountains to crumble off. Then, the small pieces of rock could be mined for gold. The Romans didn't find much gold, actually. It looks a little like the Southwest of the U.S. to me! It's weird... there are these big red rocks, and then everything around them is green...

We had a good time, especially since a lot of us in the class didn't know each other that well, so it was good to actually spend time with people, which I think will definitely make class more fun. We have one more trip this semester, which is in late October, to Basque Country in the north of Spain. Our professor is from Bilbao, so it'll be fun to hear him speak in Basque ("Vasco"), which is nothing like Spanish or any other romance language, from what I hear.

This weekend, my astronomy class is going to the Canary Islands to observe the sky from one of the world's best telescopes. I can't wait! After that, things settle down and I don't really have other trips coming up for a bit...

Life in Madrid is starting to feel a little more like life. It still is different and amazing, but with school and church and some of the normal stuff of life in the mix, I at least feel some normalcy in it all. Studying here is a little tough... there is so much else to do, but I know without the classes (especially my Spanish classes), being here wouldn't mean all that much, so I guess I'll have to just spend some time in the library :-)

I signed up for Institute, which is right next to the temple. The temple here is very pretty, and I am impressed with how organized and built-up the Institute is here... it feels like a BYU institute class, with homework, tests, etc. But it's been fun, and a good chance to practice Spanish and meet some of the LDS kids here. Most of them are from other countries... I have met two from Bolivia, one from Sweden, one from Bulgaria... but I'm sure I'll meet Spaniards too... it was only the first week.

Well, I'm pretty tired... we just got back a while ago from Leon, so I'm gonna take a siesta before dinner. Hasta luego!

Dia a Dia

Here's a picture of my room! That bed is Sara's and that other bed that's in the bottom right corner is mine - our room is small but it's actually not too bad... we have a lot of shelves and a table with chairs to study at... it's cozy!



Here is a picture of Toledo. I went on a day trip there with school last weekend. It used to be the capitol of Spain, and it has a really rich history. It was fun wandering the streets and seeing the cathedral. It's cool how every small town in Europe is filled with history - buildings are beautiful and old and they all have stories behind them. Luckily, we had a Spanish professor from SLU show us around - and he knew EVERYTHING. It was sweet.

Topic change - It's funny how the LDS people gravitate to each other... of course ever since I've come to Spain I quickly have been keeping my eyes and ears open to figure out where to go to church, etc. etc. But... it's just crazy how small the world is. It turns out that the dean of St. Louis University-Madrid is the bishop of my ward. Also, another guy who works at the school (and this school is tiny) is in the bishopric of the ward I went to last week.

I've met both of the other SLU kids that are LDS without too much effort, and then today I met two other girls who are here studying through different programs... one's from Nebraska and another is from South Carolina. We all met the bishop together and figured out the institute classes and stuff. I'm looking forward to institute... I miss taking scripture classes, and plus it'll be a great place to practice Spanish and meet some Spanish people my age. My school is mostly Americans, which is fun, but this weekend I realized that I need to make a more solid effort to practice Spanish and to make some Spanish friends. I already can see that time is flying here, and if I really want to get better at Spanish, I need to make as many efforts as possible to speak it.

A final topic - it's crazy how much life changes here day to day. Some moments I'm feeling entirely overwhelmed, others I'm just perfectly content. Yesterday my roommate and I went to Retiro Park to study - it's HUGE. We brought a little picnic lunch and camped out under a tree to study and eat. It was so relaxing! I also have days where it feels like my emotions are on a roller coaster- there's so much to process in my brain - the language, meeting new people, classes, exploring, planning, and trying to keep it all under control is sometimes a little exhausting. But the experiences have been incredible too - every day I see something completely interesting and new. I guess I'm not used to life being so unpredictable. Life seems surreal here - going to class, for instance. It's odd to walk around Madrid and think - I live here. Ok, so temporarily, but still. Going to church all in Spanish. Ordering in restaurants foods that recently I didn't even know existed. Talking about "American Girl" dolls with my SLU friends at a jazz club last night. Going to a Picasso exhibit one afternoon and then eating at McDonald's. Everything is a mix of old and new, the unfamiliar and the comfortable, feeling scared and confident. Somehow, it all comes together at the end of the day. :-)

Language and Embarrassing Moments

My heels are healing nicely... so sorry if I sounded bitter in the "Pies de Sangre" entry. It just wasn't the most pleasant experience. However, afterwards, it was more funny than anything, and I feel its important to document the positive and negative exeriences of being here, because that's more realistic. Things overall, though, are WAY more positive than negative. I'm so glad I decided to study abroad.

A quick story. So, the other night Sara and Justin (both people from my program) and I went to eat tapas at this place close to where we live. We went up to the bar, and I asked a question in what I thought was clear and slow Spanish (I'm trying to speak clear, even if I can't speak fast). The lady looked confused, and told me she had an English menu that might help me. The question wasn't really that important, so I just ordered some tortilla española. She looked confused again, and then handed me a German menu. Luckily, a guy at the bar, who spoke English well, helped me order, and we all had a good laugh.

I was a little embarrassed, but oh well. One frustrating thing about trying to speak a foreign language is that people sometimes just resort to speaking in English to me or handing me over to someone who does. Although sometimes that is a good thing (if I really need something specific), it is a bit of a blow to the ol' ego. I know my Spanish isn't great, but I guess it's harder than I think sometimes to actually communicate clearly and understandibly to natives.

The language is improving though... the first few days, I felt pretty overwhelmed with myself, realizing my Spanish is RUSTY. However, hearing it at school and at home has helped me to remember some of the grammar/vocab that was somewhere in the back of my brain. I'm getting used to just having to be a little embarrassed sometimes... I guess you never learn otherwise. I'll be an expert at embarrassment by the end of the semester I'm sure!

Hasta luego. :-)

Churros Con Chocolate!

Here is a picture of the group I went with on my orientation trip to Andalucia. We stayed in Cazorla for a few nights... we hiked in the mountains (11 miles!), ate nice al fresco dinners each night, got a slight bout of food poisoning (ok, well it wasn't that slight, but it only lasted for a day at least), and did repelling/cliff jumping and horseback riding. I had to miss the repelling/horseback riding due to the food poisoning (sad!) but we all laughed when everyone got back and they told me that lots of people had "gotten sick" during the repelling trip, and people ran off into the woods, ripping off their wetsuits so they could relieve themselves. It wasn't funny then, but we all thought it definitely speeded up our group bonding. Our group had people from a lot of different schools, and it was a definitely a fun way to start off the semester. This picture was taken from the last day, where we drove to a castle and then had this wild boar feast at a local hotel. It seriously was a feast - I was SO full.



Ok, so here is a picture of my roommate Sara and I eating churros con chocolate in a local cafe. We've been hunting churros con chocolate, and we found this place... near the Puerta del Sol. YUM! It was so good. Basically, churros are what we think of in the U.S., except they don't really have lots of rolled sugar and cinnamon on them... and they're fresher. You dip them in this thick, yummy hot chocolate.

I'll add more pictures later! Hasta pronto.

Pies de sangre

My roommate and I went to the Puerta del Sol the other night. Earlier that day, I had stopped (after extensive searching) in one of the several shoe shops near my house. I found a pair of ballet flats that I liked... and since everything is on sale here right now, it wasn't expensive. So, Sara and I got sort of dressed up and bit and for the first time since we've gotten here, we went out to meet some SLU kids to celebrate one girl's birthday. I think our senora thinks we're anti-social or something since we don't stay out every night till 2 or 3, haha. Everyone here stays out till then, even the babies. I think our senora was more excited that we were going out than we were - she even made us dinner early so that we could go to our "fiesta." We walked to the Puerta del Sol, and pretty quickly I discovered that wearing the new shoes without socks was a bad idea. I tried to hide my pain, toughing it out, but by the time we were getting close, I was walking pretty slowly and slightly cringing with each step. We'd gotten there early so that we could walk around and stuff before we were supposed to meet up with everyone. I finally looked down at my feet, and I saw that both feet were bloodly all around the heels!! Blood was everywhere inside one of my shoes. We ran around to find a "Farmacia" and luckily found one open at 10:30... and I then put massive amounts of band-aids on my feet and used my water bottle to wash them off a bit. Onlookers must have gotten a kick out of that. I called a friend and asked her to bring me socks, and so then I had to wear white running socks the rest of the night. We decided that my new nickname might very well be: Pies de Sangre (bloody feet). After hanging out with everyone, we decided taking a taxi would be the best way to avoid further foot damage. However, every taxi in the city of Madrid was occupied. Seriously!! We waited, walking, waited more, and walked. Like 50 or more cabs must have passed, and all were filled. Snap! So we trudged home from Puerta del Sol, stopping at each block or so so my feet wouldn't fall off or something. Of course, with tons of band-aids and the socks, they were doing a bit better. After coming home and cleaning off my feet, I saw that it wasn't as bad as it originally looked when I saw streams of blood all over my feet, but I did have two massive blisters and my shoes got all bloody... I used at least five paper towels and had to scrub a lot to get off most of the blood off the shoes. I don't dare put those very bloody socks into my wash pile and risk having to explain my shoe adventures to my senora. Those, sadly, went straight into the garbage. Madrid lesson #27: Wearing comfortable shoes when walking isn't a suggestion, it is a prerequisite for avoiding "bloody foot" syndrome.