Conclusions

Now that I've been back for awhile now, here are some of my last thoughts on my semester in Pamplona.

I can't believe that I actually was there for an entire 4 1/2 months. I've been working in Moorhead for the last month already, and it almost seems like a dream to have been in Spain... I have the memories and souvenirs and correspond with Peñi and some of my friends from there, so I can't deny that I was there, but it's so hard to believe. I remember planning and thinking about it for so long, and now it's in the past. Some things changed at home while I was gone- one of my friends got engaged, I missed out on fads like Peace Tea, missed another flood in Moorhead, but most things seemed completely familiar when I got back. I was a little intimidated of driving when I got back, but it felt like I had just driven the day before when I did it for the first time. Being in Brainerd and in Moorhead for the first time was bizarre but kind of wonderful... I remember driving down Broadway in Fargo for the first time and just being completely happy! It sounds kind of weird, but it felt so good to be in the area again. Most people just want to get out...

Finals went really well. I ended up doing really well with my final grades, which made me happy and made me feel like I got out of my classes what I was hoping for. After finals, I traveled with my boyfriend around Spain and then went to Belgium for a wedding- it was amazing, and I had a lot of fun. And I brought back a BUNCH of chocolate! The journey home went well, with no problems.

Overall, I'm really glad I went to Spain, and don't regret going at all. I learned so much from it, and met so many amazing people and saw so many amazing places. I learned about myself too, how I work, that I can establish myself in a place completely unknown to me and be overall content there, can learn another language and successfully make friends... I'll miss the food and the people, but I'm glad to be back in the United States. I like how the United States works, and am happy not to live in a socialist country... I'm happy to be back with family and friends, and in a place where I know how to take care of myself and know how things work. I don't think I would go abroad for an entire semester again, but would LOVE to visit, and definitely plan on doing so, soon.

Thanks to all of you who have been keeping up with my blog, and I'm sorry for how late this update got. It meant a lot though to hear back from you, and to know that you were keeping up with me during my semester abroad. I hope you enjoyed reading, and that I gave you at least a small glimpse into what my life was like in Spain!

As for now, I'll be working in the Concordia math department and at Sarello's for the rest of the summer... and now on to the next chapter of my life!

Sos del Rey Católico

Goodbye dinner with the Alcaraz family

Inside the cathedral of Antwerp

At the wedding reception

Nearing the end already ... ?

I can't believe that I only have 9 more days of class left... then finals, traveling, and I'll be home 5 weeks from tomorrow! This semester feels kind of like a dream... and when I get back to the United States it's going to be hard to believe that I spent four and a half months in Europe studying Spanish, traveling to so many amazing places, getting to know and love my family here, meeting friends from all over the world and learning about their cultures, learning a culture so different from the one I grew up with...  I'll be ready to be home though, and have a lot to look forward to this summer: I recently found out that I got a math research position at Concordia for the summer with my adviser!! I'm really looking forward to that. We start on June 1st and end sometime in August, and will publicly present our work in the fall. It will be such a good experience, and so valuable for graduate school. Things in my life are really starting to fall into place and get exciting :)

Spring Break in Andalucia

Overall, spring break (during la Semana Santa, which means the 'saint week' or holy week) was amazing. :) Here's my best attempt to describe it!!

First of all, I regret not being able to put up any pictures at this time... someone stole my camera on the way home, very unfortunately, so I lost all of my pictures :( Kristen told me that I can get some of her pictures though, which are very similar to the ones I took, so maybe I can put those up soon. I feel very fortunate though as my camera was the only thing I lost...

Kristen and I left Pamplona on Tuesday night after classes at around 8 p.m. and took the train to Madrid. I like taking the train there- very smooth and fast, and we even got to watch a movie! (the Painted Veil- a good movie) I miss watching movies, since I've only gotten to see a couple since I got here, so it was a fun way to start out the trip. Once in Madrid (a little after 11), we found our hostel, which was a private double room with a bathroom and tv, and got a good night's sleep.

Wednesday, we took the bus to Sevilla (Seville in English), arriving a little after 3. The weather there was beautiful the whole time we were there (and in fact on the whole trip)- sunny, clear blue skies, and in the 60s and 70s! A perfect way to spend a spring break. In general, southern Spain has lots of palm trees too, and is a very beautiful area of the country. Right after we arrived, we ran into a friend that we had met on the Barcelona weekend!! That was so random... and cool to run into someone I know in Spain! Next we took a taxi to our hostel, which was situated in Casco Antiguo (every city in Spain has one, and it's the old part of the city) and was very nice and comfortable. It was very bright inside with a patio on the roof and a patio on the ground, a nice lounging area, computers, breakfast, a kitchen, individual lockers with keys... I was happy with it. That night we walked down towards the cathedral and castle where the world-famous processionals take place and without even trying we ran into around five of them! The streets were PACKED with people, and I've never seen so many people in my life... but it was good crowd and there were lots of kids there. The processions include hundreds of figures with robes and masks (with a huge, 3 or 4 foot pointed hat; the colors of the costume depend on which church they come from), 2 big 'pasos' (big floats heavily adorned with gold and flowers, one with the Virgen Mary and the other with Jesus), incense, a marching band with very distinct, shrill marching music, and robed people who carry important pieces from the alter. The processions go all through the night, and there are between around ten and twenty each day... I remember reading that one started at 2 or 3 a.m. Friday morning (Thursday night-Friday morning is the most important time for processionals) and went all the way into Friday afternoon. It's quite the spectacle... and an amazing way to start out spring break.

Thursday, we met up with three other girls (Kristen and Lauren, from Concordia, and Megan who we know from Pamplona) at the cathedral. We went inside, looked around, and climbed up its highest tower, where its bells are, on a big spiral ramp that seemed to go on forever... but the view of Sevilla was incredible. After, we had a relaxing picnic lunch in one of the garden parks, rested in the grass for awhile, did some souvenir shopping, and at around 10 headed to a free flamenco show, where up-and-coming flamenco dancers perform! (Seville is the flamenco capital of Spain) Basilio met up with us too, having just arrived in Sevilla. It was really cool to see authentic flamenco- there was a stage with two men (one clapped and the other played guitar) and a female flamenco dancer. Flamenco dresses typically have lots of polka dots and ruffles, and they were in stores everywhere in Seville... the dance itself was really interesting, with lots of really fast movements, tons of quick, intricate footwork, and overall really intense. I can't comprehend how she could move that fast... after, Kristen, Basilio, and I went out and watched more processionals. It was a really fun night :) The energy in the air during the processionals is amazing, and unlike anything else I've ever seen.

Friday, Kristen and I watched one more processional before heading to Málaga, which is on the coast of the Mediterranean in the center of La Costa del Sol (the coast of sun). We spent the evening walking along the beach (which was beautiful) on the west side of the town all the way to the port, and then went to a small café for a menu del día meal that only cost 6 euros. Menu del día is when a restaurant last a list of starters, a main course, and a dessert to for you to choose from, and is very typical in Spain. I had purro, which is a cold soup similar to gazpacho with boiled egg and ham pieces on top (good, but got to be overwhelming...), fresh fried chicken and thick-cut fries that came with a fried egg, and natillas (like pudding or custard) for dessert. We finished the night on the beach at a playground that we saw on the way back to the hostel; it was really fun to go swinging on the sand to the sound of the ocean waves :)

Saturday, we walked to Málaga's Casco Viejo, looked around a bit, and then found the other beach on the east side of the city, and it was sun, warm, clear, and amazing. We had a picnic lunch under the palm tress by the beach, rested for a bit, had ice cream, walked along the shore by the water, walked back, and took a nap! It was interesting, we saw lots of topless women tanning there... not anything I'm used to... ha. Nevertheless, it was an awesome way to spend the afternoon :) The city of Málaga itself isn't really anything special, but the beaches were beautiful. At the bus station when we were leaving for Granada, I heard someone yelling my name, and it was Teresa and her group of friends! Another random incident. We arrived in Granada in the early evening (all the places we visited were within 2.5 hours of each other) and took a taxi to our hostel, which was situated in the center of Casco Viejo and was actually an old Andalucian house turned into a guest house... it was run by a young man from Wisconsin too who visited Spain and just never went back! Again we had a private room with bathroom, and it was really nice. The Casco Viejo of Granada sits on top of a big hill next to the hill the Alhambra is on, and is about 1000 years old! All of the buildings were ancient and white washed with wooden doors, and the narrow, winding streets were made of uneven stones (hard to walk on after awhile by the end...). Two minutes from our hostel was also an outstanding overlook of the city and the Alhambra. So beautiful :) We spent our Saturday evening exploring Casco Antiguo, and it was really fun and really amazing. We also saw lots of gypsies... near Casco Antiguo are a bunch of caves in the hills (the area is called Albacín) where they live, and they come down to town to get water in big jugs... and I've never seen so many dreadlocks in my life before! They've lived up there for hundreds of years, wear baggy and very distinct clothing, and run shops and play street music to earn money. We even got to see some gypsy children... overall, a very interesting experience! We ended the night by making our way down to the cathedral in the newer part of the city, met some Taiwanese friends from school for a little bit, and had some amazing ice cream to finish the day :)

Next, we started off Easter morning with a hot chocolate and pastry breakfast at a famous local café in Casco Antiguo, went to Easter mass at the Granada cathedral. I was sad that I couldn't be home for Easter- it was the first time ever that I haven't been at home in Brainerd for Easter. I've noticed here that I've developed a greater appreciation of things from home, of the United States, my education and musical involvement, and most importantly, my family and friends at home... it will feel so good to be back... after mass, we looked around, grabbed a bite to eat, and climbed up to the entrance of the Alhambra around 4:30 for our visit at 6! The Alhambra is an entire old Moorish walled-in city, and was really cool to see. We saw various buildings and structures, chambers, gardens, ponds and pools... overall, neat to see :) After our visit, we ate a tapas dinner at a café outside by the river and right below the Alhambra (which is beautiful when lit up at night), and walked back to our hostal. What a way to spend an Easter! I probably won't have another one quite like that again...

Monday, we walked around Casco Viejo one more time, and then headed to our last destination, Córdoba, arriving sometime in the early afternoon. When we found our hostal (in Casco Viejo again!), they informed us that we had been moved to another one nearby... at first I was skeptical, but it ended being a hotel and our nicest one yet! And we only had to pay 16 euros per night! (a lot less than the rooms cost...) It was very modern, simple, and clean (they have a cleaning lady to make beds, clean and stock the bathroom, etc), and we had a big soft queen bed, a tv, and a clean new private bathroom. :) After a nap to refresh, we explored. Córdoba is a really neat and cute little city... lots of fun, unique shops (my favorite was a shop called 'Spicey Choc' which had very good specialty teas, chocolates, lots of varieties of sugars, pastries, kitchen things, rosewater, oils, etc) and lots of gardens and flowers. We had a pinchos dinner at a tapas place... I ordered baby lettuce heads with oil and garlic, fried calamari, and gazpacho. All was very good except for the gazpacho... it came in a tall glass, was very liquidy, and upon tasting it I almost died! hehe ... I guess it had a little too much vinegar for my taste... but we had amazing ice cream after, which completed the evening. :) It was a very relaxing and laid-back evening.

Tuesday, we toured the Mezquita, which is a famous cathedral with tons of red and white striped arches inside all around the central worship area, and tons of little grated-in chapels on the outside walls. We also visited the Alcazar (a castle type thing) that had beautiful gardens in the back... a long, square pond, trimmed and shaped bushes, orange and lemon trees (everywhere in Andalucia), and flowers. One other place we visited was La Calle de las Flores- the street of the flowers. The walls are covered in blue and white painted ceramic flower pots on the white-washed walls and is especially beautiful in the summer! Córdoba was a fun and relaxing way to end our trip.

Wednesday we spent the day traveling (12 hours!) and came back to nice, familiar Pamplona and one of Peñi's wonderful homemade meals. Spring break this year was an amazing tour of southern Spain that I'll always remember, and that made me love what Spain has to offer even more :)

Three more weeks of classes and one week of finals! It's going to fly... and once it's time to go home I know I'll definitely be ready, but I'll have a semester full of wonderful experiences and memories to take with me.

Semana Santa

It's SPRING BREAK!!!!! (as of 2 hours ago!!)

Over Semana Santa (holy week) I will be doing a tour of Andalucia, which is an autonomous community on the southern coast of Spain. Here's my itinerary :)

Tuesday (today): Tonight, my train leaves at 7:54 p.m... I am traveling with Kristen Mages, and we will be staying overnight in Madrid in a hostal once we arrive.

Wednesday: Bus to Sevilla leaves at 10 a.m. We will be exploring Sevilla and seeing the world-famous Easter processionals that occur the entire week and that culminate on Friday. It's likely that I'll get to meet up with some friends there too so that should be fun! Leaving Seville Friday.

Friday: Bus from Sevilla to Málaga. Málaga is a beach town on the Mediterranean Sea, and we will be spending one night there. I'm sooooo excited to relax on the beach!! That might be one of my highlights of the trip :)

Saturday: Bus from Málaga to Granada. On Sunday, we will go to Easter mass, find a nice dinner somewhere, and visit the Alhambra (a Moorish palace and fortress) at 6 pm!

Monday: Bus from Granada to Córdoba. Visit to the Mesquita (a really famous mosque) included.

Wednesday: Bus from Córdoba to Madrid to Pamplona. Home sweet home :)

I'll be back next week on Wednesday night. I hope you all have a good Easter; I'll be sure to let you know how mine goes here! ¡Hasta luego!

Barcelona! and March in general...

First of all, I'm sorry it's been awhile since my last blog entry! I suddenly got busy with class projects, orchestra, and trips to Barcelona and Madrid... so here's an update!

Barcelona

Two weekends ago, I went to Barcelona (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) on a trip that the University planned for international students. There were about 35 of us, and 15 engineer students from San Sebastian joined us... they were nice and it was fun to see some new faces! We left on Friday morning, arrived 4 or 5 hours later, checked into our hostel, and started exploring. The hostel was actually really nice- the rooms were really clean and open and the breakfast room was huge with tables and chairs, flat screen tv, computers, and a snack bar. Breakfast was really good and included cereals, toast, fruit, coffee, juice, water, tea, and small breakfast cookies and cakes (common here) ... I was happy with how that turned out.

 

(Kristen Frank in the hostel at breakfast!)

The first thing we saw in Barcelona was Las Ramblas, which is a street with a really wide boulevard in the middle for pedestrians, with all kinds of vendors and tourist shops with palm trees lining the edge. On the sides of the street were shops, restaurants, a huge open food market, and at the end, a harbor with a pierre and bridge stretching out ahead of us. It was dark and the water was beautiful, sparkling in the street lights... we even got to see a big cruise ship come in! For dinner, we ended up at an octopus pincho-style restaurant... it was a local kind of place and they had whole raw octopus waiting on the counter just eagerly waiting to be cut up and eaten... overall though, a really fun first impression of Barcelona :)

The next day, we went on a general tour of the city, going through the gothic neighborhood and seeing one or two cathedrals, narrow tall streets of apartments and shops, and other neat things... I felt like it was a true taste of traditional Spanish-style city. After the tour, a smaller group of us went along Las Ramblas again towards the harbor, stopping at vendors along the way and eventually resting on a ledge by the sidewalk on the harbor and enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. Our next endeavor was to walk to the actual beach, and when we arrived I was so glad we did- it was beautiful. The Mediterranean Sea was a pretty blue color stretching out to the horizon, and the sand beach was perfect. We took our shoes off and went down to the water and took pictures- it felt so amazing. I absolutely loved it :) We ate lunch outside at a café on the beach and made our way back to the main plaza to meet the rest of the group again at around 4. Next, I saw La Sagrada Familia- a cathedral that Gaudi designed that's still being built- it was unlike anything I've ever seen... I can't decide if I like it or not, but it's definitely interesting. It's a giant piece of art, and a religious monument. After was La Pedrera, a house that Gaudi designed that has no perpendicular surfaces and that has a roof that kind of reminded me of wonderland... really interesting. Overall, a good day.

(one side of La Sagrada Familia)

(the other side!)

(on the roof of La Pedrera)

Sunday: after having breakfast at the hostel, we went as a group to this giant park that Gaudi designed that sits on top of a big hill (or small mountain I guess) ... it was originally meant for housing, but at the time people hated it. I can't understand why... it was absolutely wonderful, and it was sunny and at least in the 60s with a clear blue sky. There was a giant terrace at the beginning supported by huge pillars and decorated with tiles and other carvings... and there were winding paths with (good) street musicians for atmosphere. One path led up to one of the highest points of the park and had a rock monument that I climbed up, and at the top had a birds' eye view of the park and Barcelona below. Another path led to a really cool Spanish house which reminded me of class Spain... the park was amazing overall. Next, a smaller group of us went to Las Ramblas for lunch and ate a small Pasta-Pizza Restaurant, and then went home on the bus. Overall, I just loved Barcelona. I have to go back someday... it was an amazing weekend, and my favorite place this semester so far I think.

Madrid

Last Wednesday, I took a field trip to Madrid with my culture and civilization class- we left at 8 in the morning, got there at 1:30, went to the Senate, National Library, and an archaeology museum, left at 6:30 and got home around midnight. The Senate was kind of interesting... my favorite part was this old library, and all of the walls were comprised of dark intricately-carved wood... there was a little balcony that ran along the edge, for access to more books, and two of the corners had spiral staircases enclosed in wood to get to the balcony. There were also newspapers from all over the world in there, including the New York Times from the day before... overall, LOTS of driving for 5 hours in Madrid... I have to go back sometime and really explore. It sounds like it could be a really neat city :)

Orchestra

On Friday, we didn't have class and the orchestra went to Irun to rehearse with the Irun orchestra. For this concert, we're playing together in one big orchestra... we rehearsed for 5 1/2 hours on Friday, for 2 1/2 hours in Pamplona on Saturday, and gave our Pamplona concert on Sunday night! We played arrangements of 1812 (Tchaikovsky), Rakastava (Sibelius), St. Paul's Suite (Holst), and Samson and Delilah (Saint-Saints). Peñi, Antonio, and Antonio's brother Miguel came to watch me, and they really liked it! :) It felt good to give an orchestra concert again- I miss orchestra at home and will really enjoy playing in it next year. Orchestra here's been pretty fun overall, and I've met some really nice and fun people :) Our concert in Irun is on Thursday night.

What else is new?? I have a lot of class projects to do, and spring break is starts next week! Peñi mentioned today that Sunday is Palm Sunday, so we're going to go to the Pamplona Cathedral to see the palm processionals. I can't BELIEVE that Easter is in a week and a half... where has the time gone? It's going to be April before I know it! The weather yesterday and today has been beautiful- 60s or 70 and sunny. It's so nice to not have to wear a coat to school when it's only March.

Well, time to go for now... so hasta luego!!

Half-Way Through

I can't believe that I'm already half done with my Spain experience. I've been here for two months, and finals are in another two months- the time seems to have flown, but at the same time it's hard to imagine my life before I came here and before I knew all of the amazing people I've met, my host family, the culture, Pamplona in general, the language... I'm curious to see how the last two months go compared to the first two. I have a feeling that they'll fly- I'll have lots to do! For example, next weekend, I'm visiting Barcelona through a university-planned trip, the next week I'm taking a field trip to Madrid with my culture class, the next weekend I have 2 days of orchestra rehearsals and then two concerts, and at the beginning of April I have 12 days of spring break! Then, there's only 3 weekends between break and finals. It's hard to believe...

I think I've pretty much got a routine down now- I've noticed that not as much surprises me anymore and that I feel pretty comfortable with life here, which probably means that I've really been learning the culture and adjusting to the lifestyle. Yesterday, I took a nap and dreamed in Spanish for the first time that I can remember- I've heard that once you dream in a foreign language then you really are immersed in it. I can pretty much understand Spanish tv, or radio, and catch most of what Spaniards say to me... it's pretty neat. I know I have a TON to learn still, but I've heard from a lot of people that my Spanish sounds good to them! That's encouraging :) I learn so many new words each day, and a lot of it I think is due to my host family- they're constantly helping me and teaching me new words. I'm going to miss them a lot once I leave...

As far as classes, I've noticed that there are WAY less projects and homework assignments than at Concordia, but what we do have to do is graded more heavily (in my experience so far)... it's interesting because at home I generally been able to practice various skills on homework assignments to learn how to do it well and to know what the teacher expects from me... it's interesting how students here can do well when there's so little out-of-class work. Studying for finals is going to be intense! It might bring me back to how studying for Advanced Placement tests in high school was, where the entirety of the class is scored on one test. I think I'll be fine though :) It's just something different than what I'm used to. I feel like a happy medium between Concordia-style teaching and this would be perfect.

I've heard that there are four stages, emotionally, of studying abroad. First, you're in the honeymoon stage, where everything is new and exciting, and you just can't believe you're actually living in a foreign country! Then you hit the lowest point, and kind of miss your old life and can get culturally fatigued... next, is the stage where things gradually get better and you start to notice things you do or don't like about the culture. At the end, you realize that the culture has become a part of you and leaving might be hard. I feel like I'm in the third stage, where I'm noticing what I like about Spain and miss about the United States. For example, the food schedule (lunch at 2:30 or so, dinner at 9:30 or 10) is ok here, but I kind of miss my old routine because then I'm not so hungry in the morning and early afternoon, and I don't have to go to bed on a full stomach! I also miss doing things like watching movies with friends- so far, I've only watched one movie while I've been here. On the other hand, I love how outgoing and friendly the people here are. I can talk to pretty much anyone on the street if I need directions or something, and they're usually more than willing to help. One time when I needed directions, the lady that I stopped even walked me to where I needed to go... I also love talking with other international students and learning about their culture. For example, earlier this week I was talking to a friend from Taiwan and a friend from Japan and we were all comparing languages... it was interesting to see how Mandarin and Japanese work and are different from more European-type languages. I feel like leaving will be bittersweet- I'll be happy to go home, back to friends, family, Minnesota, and to what I've always known, but at the same time it will be hard I think to leave my host family and all of the new friends I've made here.

What else is new?? I think that's about it for now! I miss you guys at home, and hope you are all doing well.

¡Hasta luego!

Going Out!

This week was fun! I went out Wednesday, Thursday, AND Friday night!! Here's a bit about my adventures.

It's crazy how late people go out to socialize here. In general, going out at midnight is acceptable but kind of early, around 2 is when things really starts, and most places close at 5-6 or so... even on weeknights, before classes the next morning. It's hard to believe, but fun. On Wednesday night I met some other Concordia girls at about midnight and then went to a DJ battle event at a place near the Ciudadela. We hung out, talked, and danced until about 2:15 or so and then Kristen and I took a taxi home, went to bed, and got up at 6:45 to get ready for class! Overall, it was a fun night. There was fun music and a good crowd...

On Thursday night, I went to the international student open mic night at the Long Island Bar near the Yamaguchi park (which is really cool! It has a lake with a gazebo on it,and a planetarium!). I couldn't believe the weather- it was windy but definitely in the 50s with a clear night sky and beautiful... I got to the pub around 10 with my violin and was one of two events that night, playing the Orange Blossom Special :) It's a fiddle piece and is really fun to perform. (For those of you with Facebook, I put up a video of my performance!) There were lots of international students there and I knew quite a few of them. Long Island was sort of reminiscent of an Irish Pub and was more spacious than other places I've been... it was a pleasant change of pace and overall a fun experience.

(Yamaguchi Park)

 

 (at Long Island Bar)

  

(playing the Orange Blossom Special!)

  

 

Last night, before going out, I went to Valentine's Day with some Concordia friends (a movie that takes place in LA and maybe NY? But there's a TON of famous actors and actresses in it!). That was my first movie theater experience here and was really neat. The original English voices were dubbed over with Spanish voices, which was kind of tacky at first, but eventually I got used to it. I understood pretty much everything, and was able to understand so well that I could actually get involved in the plot. It was fun to see places like LA and see actors that I know, and it temporarily brought be back to the U.S. a little bit... kind of a nice break. The movie was pretty silly, but entertaining and really cute :) After going home for dinner, I met a few of my friends from Taiwan at Ensayo along with a few of Basilio's Spanish roommates (I also knew quite a few friends from school there too!) and hung out there for a while before going to a Dominican Republic-Puerto Rican latino bar. It was super fun because they play exclusively latino dance music, versus the normal selection of pop, and had a neat atmosphere. There were a lot of locals who were actually dancing real latino dances too! I learned how to dance Bachata and Merengue- it was a lot of fun. I got home at 4 a.m. I'm thinking that last night was my favorite going-out experience so far :)

(the movie theater)

 

(at Bar Ensayo)

 

(at the latino bar)

Overall, I'd say I got a good taste of the social life here this week- and I plan to take advantage of it before I go home, where people go home at 2 instead of leaving to start the night! It's quite the contrast.

Olite

Yesterday, I took a day trip with some friends to Olite, which is a small pueblo south of Pamplona in Navarra. It only took about an hour (via bus) to get there, and there is a castle from the 1400s in the center of the city. In addition, Olite is the wine capital of Navarra with a wine museum and three major bodegas (wineries). Navarra is the wine country in Spain, and especially in southern Navarra there are lots of vineyards and bodegas! Olite is a really fun place for a day trip!

I went with my roommate Kristen, another girl from South Carlina, and her friend who's from India but is currently studying in France. The bus ride was pretty, and we went by various mountains, rolling hills and pastures, small towns, and vineyards, arriving in Olite around 11:30 a.m. and proceeding to find the castle. We chose the perfect day to visit- it was sunny with blue skies,  and the temperature got up into the 50s in the afternoon! The town was really quiet, so there were hardly any people there and it seemed like more of an authentic experience than the bigger tourist destinations...  The town itself is really small and authentic, with narrow alleys lined with old tall Spanish-style housing and shops.

 (Olite, with the castle in the background)

The castle in Olite is called 'El Castillo Real de Olite (The Royal Palace of Olite) and was built in the early 1400s. Later, it was converted into a palace, but was destroyed in the Napoleanic wars and since has been restored into a castle. There aren't many decorations inside, but all of the walls, floors, patios, gardens, moats, stairs, and towers are made of stone. When the castle was a palace, it apparently was one of the most luxurious palaces of Europe! The castle has three areas: the Old Palace (now a hotel), the ruins of the chapel of St. George, and the New Palace (where people can visit). It was really cool to see all of the areas of the castle (including things like the vaulted chamber, the chamber of arches, various towers, the keep, the king and queen's chambers and galleries, the ice well, and various patios). We had to climb lots of narrow stone spiral stairs to get to the top of the towers, and at the highest points of the castle we had fantastic views of other parts of the castle, the town, and the nearby countryside. It only cost 3.50 euros to get in (about $5) and was a really neat experience! 

 

 

After the castle, we went to a medieval-themed bar for lunch (Kristen and I had tortilla patata bocadillos (bascially an omelet sandwich) from Peñi so we didn't have to buy anything). It was a really neat place, and they sold locally made wine for only 80 cents a glass! There was a couple from the town that came over and started talking to us too- they were SO nice, and curious about what we were doing in Spain and in Olite! They said to come back and say hi to them if we see them. The people here are SO amazingly friendly- I love it.

Next, we waited in an old plaza with a view of the castle for about  half an hour until the wine museum opened after the lunch siesta at 3. The warm sun felt amazing, and it was fun to watch the kids playing on the other side of the plaza and to just relax and take in our surroundings. The wine museum was interesting and went through the history of wine, the process of growing grapes and making wine, and the various aspects of wine tasting. There are so many factors in making a good wine; reading about it will make tasting wine in the future a lot more interesting...

(near the chapel, with the plaza in the background)

(relaxing in the plaza)

(some Navarran wines on display in the museum)

Finally, we visited a small shop with locally made products such as chocolate, preserves and spreads, lotions, pastries, and other authentic items... I ended up buying a bar of chocolate made with honey that was made in Navarra! I'm excited to try it- I've never heard of putting honey in chocolate before! We ended our visit by getting dessert in a pastry and dessert café. The bus left at 5:30 and I was home by 7:00. The whole day didn't cost much at all, and was the perfect weekend day excursion :) I would highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be visiting Navarra!!

 (my dessert at the café!)

The City of Lights

PARIS

Overall, Paris was nothing short of amazing. It's going to be hard to do it justice with words and pictures... it's one of those things that you have to see to believe! Nevertheless, here's my attempt at describing it :)

DAY 1
Kristen and I left Pamplona at 1:45 p.m. on a bus and arrived in San Sebastian around 3:00. We then took a train to Hendaya (in France) and left on the TVG train to Paris at 5:22, arriving in Paris itself at around 11:15. Next, we took the metro to our hostel, which was about 10 miles outside of Paris, arriving at about 12:30. We had amazing luck, with no troubles at all and overall a very smooth journey! Paris is about 560 miles from Pamplona, but surprisingly, it went fairly quickly. Peñi (my host mom) packed Kristen and I a huge bag of food (2 sandwiches, 8 pieces of fruit, juice boxes, water, and extra meat and cheese) so that we wouldn't have to buy so much, so that was nice too! We pretty much went to bed after arriving at the hostel so that we'd be ready to go in the morning!

(a French town I saw from the train)

DAY 2
We left the hostel at about 9:45 in order to get to our walking tour that started at 11:00. Our tour guide was English and really cool. On our tour, we saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower (from a distance), the Arc de Triumphe, la Concorde (an obelisk taken from the Egyptians- and they ask for it back every year but France keeps refusing!), among many other things. The tour was about three and a half hours long, (minus a 45 minute lunch break at Starbuck's) and was really fun :) That specific tour company gives free city tours in many major European cities and asks for tips at the end... I would highly recommend it! After the tour, Kristen, me, and two other Concordia girls that were visiting at the same time went down Champs-Élysées (huge shopping street that ends with the Arc de Triumphe). It was really cool... there were all kinds of shops, from Gap, Toyota, McDonald's and other common European shops, to expensive shops such as Louis Vuitton (selling items such as a 40,000 Euro watch!). Very cool. After, we walked around a bit and ended up at the Musée d'Orsay, which is a really neat art museum in a building that used to be a huge train station. By the time we got through the museum it was time to go back to the hostel. We walked about 10 hours the first day, and Paris was unusually cold during our visit, so we were quite tired. Overall though, an amazing day :) 

(a chocolate-filled croissant)

DAY 3
Kristen and I started out the day at the Louvre. (after finding an amazing little pastry shop for breakfast!) We spent about 2 hours there and got in free, since we're students of the European Union! The Louvre is ... beyond words. It's massive, and the palace itself is a gigantic work of art... I guess it was built about 800 years ago and would take 64 days to see all of the art inside. We saw the Mona Lisa, a small sphinx, mummies, many statues, paintings that were 20 feet high, ballrooms, remnants of the medieval Louvre... it was incredible. And of course, we got to enter the museum through the famed glass pyramid! After the Louvre, we grabbed lunch at the same shop that we bought breakfast at, then made our way to Montmartre, in the northern area of Paris to see the Sacré Coeur basicila and to take a Montmartre tour. I loved the Montmartre area, because it was more reminiscent of traditional French towns than the center of Paris, where all of the big things are... there were Crepe stands, artists, small shops, and restaurants everywhere. It was really neat. The Sacré Coeur was beautiful, and stands on the highest hill of Paris with a beautiful view of the city. At six, Kristen and I started our tour of Montmartre, which included seeing Moulin Rouge, a bit of the Red Light District, Van Gogh's house, Paris's last authentic vineyard, Picasso's studio, and lots of other cool things. The tour ended at around 8 with a glass of red French wine! After the tour, Kristen and I battled the cold and made our way to the Eiffel tower. It's SO huge in person... I had no idea until I got there exactly how big it really is. We could only go halfway up since the elevator to the top was broken, but it was still amazing. We even got to see the light show that happens every hour while we were on the tower itself! It's hard to believe that I actually was in the world's most recognized structure.

(the Louvre)

(inside the glass pyramid)

(a room of statues in the Louvre)

(another room in the Louvre)

(the view from Sacré Coeur)

(Moulin Rouge)

(a view from the back of Sacré Coeur, at night)

(the Eiffel Tower)

DAY 4
On Saturday, Kristen and I started out the day with Notre Dame. First we looked around the inside (which was swarming with people) and then stayed for noon mass, where we got to hear a sample of the cathedral's world-famous organ. The church is beautiful, and it baffles me how it was built... apparently it took 200 years to complete! Next, we went to the Luxembourg park and palace, which was really neat but covered in snow. I imagine that it's absolutely gorgeous in the summer and would love to come back some day to see it. After the garden, we went to a major shopping mall in the middle of Paris, looked around a bit, and got 'peopled-out' ... so we basically spent the rest of the day having a nice dinner at a small French restaurant near the train station, talking about our trip, and going to a McDonald's (a good place to rest for free) to relax and journal about our experiences! My dinner was really good... I had roasted chicken with rice and ratatouille, amazing French baguette bread, and a 'floating island' for dessert! (basically a dish of vanilla cream with merengue 'floating' in the center with a dark vanilla syrup on top!) It was a fun and delicious way to end our journey to Paris. Our train left a little after 11 p.m., and we ended up in a cabin with beds! There were 2 3-level bunk beds in each cabin, and Kristen and I were on top. I actually slept most of the night and woke up around 6:30 a.m. near the French border... it was a quick trip! A small walk and a bus ride later, we were back home in Pamplona around 11. 

(Notre Dame)

(Notre Dame on the inside)

3 days in Paris seemed about perfect. It went slow and fast at the same time, and I will definitely have to visit the City of Lights again sometime in my life... like another guy on my walking tour who's now visited three times said, Paris just never gets old. Everywhere you turn, there's some amazing structure or piece of art... an incredible city and an amazing way to spend a weekend :)

Un día increíble!!!

Today was quite the day...

First, Peñi made hot chocolate for breakfast! Kristen and I have grown quite fond of it... it's thick, unlike in the United States, and much better, in my opinion! To accompany the 'chocolate' we had peanut butter and blueberry jam toast. Kristen's parents sent peanut butter to us this week so that the family could try it for the first time ever. Peñi liked it but said it was really rich and that if she eats more of it she'll gain weight!! hehe, kind of ironic given all of the other food we eat here... but the food generally IS pretty healthy... Peanut butter tasted amazing though, after being so used to it and not having it for a really long time. Very good :)

After breakfast, I made banana bread with Peñi. It was kind of tricky figuring out how to measure ingredients... everything here is in grams or by sight so making banana bread here involved converting cups and teaspoons to grams, translating the entire recipe into Spanish, figuring out all of the necessary vocabulary to successfully communicate with Peñi on how to make it, buying a bread pan (which has different dimensions than the U.S.), hand shelling and crushing walnuts, and guessing how much salt and baking powder to use since a 'teaspoon' and 'tablespoon' is just a scoop using everyday spoons for place settings. (also, the recipe calls for baking soda, and they only have baking powder here, so I had to guess on how much baking powder to put in and hope it would work!) We tried the finished product after la comida (the mid-day meal) and it turned out really well! (minus the occasional fragment of walnut shell) The family just loved it too :) Antonio wants me to make apple bread sometime because he "really really likes apples. Yeah, apples are really good. Apple bread would be really good." hehe he was SO curious as to whether you could make bread with apples instead of bananas... so yeah, overall, success!!!

(Peñi and I with the banana bread!)

David cooked la comida today; his recipes (from his cooking class) were from all over the world. He made quiche (from France), some sort of fried African roll thing with ground chicken, onions, and cognac inside, eaten with powdered sugar sprinkled on top (quite good), and a greek casserole that had veal and potato cubes on the bottom, and cream and cheese baked on the top. Lastly, dessert was American banana bread. SO much food... but fun to try.

After la comida, Kristen and I met Fermín, who I share a stand with in orchestra, and one of his friends near Casco Viejo at 5. Once we finally found each other, we found some more of his friends near this café that has pool and fooseball in the basement where a lot of Spanish kids hang out. We played two matches of fooseball and it was really fun. Fermín seemed to be the oldest (he's 16), and the youngest in the group seemed to be about 10 or 11... so little. I'm amazed at how trusting the parents must be here... next we made our way to a 'bajera,' which is a space that a bunch of kids rent for so much per month where they can hang out if they want to be inside. It's a really interesting concept... you basically rent a store space and put stuff in there like couches, tvs, etc... and the one that we went to had a small skate deck inside!! The place was kind of run down with a lot of random old things in it and wasn't exactly clean, but still a pretty cool place. Kristen and I ended up watching the others skateboard for 1 1/2 or 2 hours; it was pretty fun. Fermín even showed each of us how to skate which was pretty funny, but amusing... I even went down a small hill... haha! The whole thing was a really cool, authentic exposure to the culture here. I got to see first hand what people do, how they act, how they talk to each other. After that, we all went to a 'cybercentro,' which is a room full of computers where you can buy computer time. There, Fermín set me and Kristen up on Tuenti, which is the Spanish version of Facebook! Finally, Fermín, Kristen, and I went to Corte Inglés, which is a GIANT European department store... it has 8 huge floors and all of the name brands, has an entire floor each for women, men, young people, sports, books and electronics, makeup and accessories... it's ridiculous. In the basement there's a full-out grocery store, along with a flower shop and gourmet food market... We looked around the grocery store for a bit, found peanut butter (!), which was about $6 a jar, saw lots of raw fresh seafood (the smell completely reminded me of Pike's Place Market in Seattle), and saw various meats... Fermín pointed out jamón ibérico, which is a high quality expensive cured pork. Some of the pieces were around 400 Euros, which is equivalent to about $600. I will never understand how a piece of meat could possibly be worth that much money, or could taste that good... some of it had been cured for four years. I guess the pieces with a black hoof (versus another color) are the most valuable... We took the bus back home a little after 9:30 to get back for dinner. Overall, a fun experience :)


Lastly, for dinner, Peñi made rabbit liver and onions for Kristen and I to try, to go along with the leftovers... (I wonder where that came from! We had rabbit yesterday or the day before...) I managed to evade it...

I feel like I learned SO much today. Tonight's the big night for everyone to go out and party, but I'm kind of worn out and plan to just sleep instead. Plus, I feel like I've experienced some really cool stuff already today that not a lot of people get to experience :)

¡Hola!

I left for Spain exactly a month ago today. That's hard to believe. It's flown by, but I feel like I've been here forever, and living at home seems like such a distant concept... I'm getting to the point where I'm pretty much used to my routine, to my surroundings, to the meals, to my classes... I've been getting a little homesick, but it comes and goes. I've heard that when you study abroad you usually get homesick too after going through the "honeymoon stage," aka after the first few weeks or months when everything is new and exciting. Then, when everything becomes routine, you might get a little homesick... and later, when it's time to go home, you don't want to leave! It gets exhausting constantly trying SO hard to understand what people say here... at home, I don't even think about communicating as a challenge. Simply talking shouldn't be hard, right?? Right, until you go to a foreign country... but I'm getting better at Spanish and I can usually get the gist of everything that people say to me. I've also heard from various people that I speak well (from the random bookshop keeper that Kristen and I talked to for awhile on Tuesday, from various orchestra members, etc...) so that's encouraging! I've learned SO much, but I'm so used the new knowledge that I don't even really realize I have it... Something familiar would be nice sometime, that I don't have to learn, that I've been accustomed to for a long time. Completely leaving everything you know works for awhile, but it gets to a point where you want some of your roots back... Kristen and I have seen two Domino's pizza shops here and we were joking that we should order sometime, just for fun! And tomorrow, Peñi (my host mom) and I are making banana bread! She hadn't even heard of it before I brought it up... that should be fun. :)

Europe is built for pedestrians. I've walked home from school three times this week, and it's about a 2.2 mile walk each way... it takes about 40 minutes, which is only about ten minutes more than taking the bus. AND it's free. Peñi told us that soon we'll be thin with all of that exercise... I was thinking about it, and America really is kind of lazy... like, I would have never thought about walking 40 minutes to school in Moorhead, but here, it's completely normal. Not a lot of people seem to have cars, lots of people take the bus, and tons of people walk. Even older people with canes walk... it's funny because sometimes in the morning on the way to the bus stop Kristen and I see this old short man with a cane who starts to run, cane in hand and hunched over, to make the bus! It makes me smile :) I guess in Minnesota though, the cold harsh winters make walking kind of impossible. It's not exactly sweatshirt weather there in January like it usually is here... I guess this winter has been a lot colder than usual, and the coldest it's gotten is 25 or 30 degrees! So weather does have an affect on overall health... today was nice (50s probably), and I spent about an hour and a half walking, between getting to school, going to the bookstore to return a book, and walking to the Carrefour (like a Wal-Mart) to get a loaf pan for making the banana bread. It's pretty amazing. I feel a lot more in shape now than when I arrived, and I want to keep it up when I get back. It's a way of life here though, so it's so easy to do...

Paris plans are ready to go for next week!! We leave early afternoon Wednesday on a bus after school, switch to a train around the French border, and have until Saturday night to experience an amazing weekend! We're staying in a well-rated hostel that's really close to most major attractions, and taking a night train, then bus, back to Pamplona on Saturday night. We plan to take the free city tour, visit the Louvre (free for European students!), see Notre Dame, and go to the top of the Eiffel Tour, among many other things! And, we'll get to see the romantic city right before Valentine's Day :)

Recent adventures with food (like, the last couple of days):
Fried, butterflied sardines (skin still on...)
Mussels in the shell
Whole large shrimp, in shell with legs and head
Rabbit stew, with bones and all (Peñi was eating a piece today that still had a rabbit tooth sticking out of it ... and she proceeded to say that she's the only one in her family that will eat the lamb's head when they have it...)
Gula (a substitute for the real thing (made out of eel), is in the form of a noodle, and is made out of fish) (yikes!)

The adventure never ends.


One last thing: I switched my computer's keyboard to the Spanish layout... so I'm still getting used to the different keys! It's nice though, because now I can use Spanish punctuation much more easily... just something random, and kind of funny :)

Pictures to come, especially after Paris!!!

Orchesta, viajes, y otras adventuras...

So, on Wednesday, Kristen and I met Ellen and Miguel Monreal in La Plaza del Castillo to go to the Pablo Sarasate conservatory to see if we can play in the orchestra there!! I guess that Pablo Sarasate (a famous composer that wrote crazy but amazing violin music) lived in Pamplona, and I've heard that he's like the "tierra" (earth) here! That's really cool. I'd love to study one of his pieces while I'm here... anyway, we talked to the orchestra director and I get to play! The orchestra meets Wednesday nights from 7-9, and the conservatory is in a neat old building in Casco Antiguo. There are three levels of conservatories here, and I'm in the middle one for now (the "Profesional" level). My stand partner is a 16 year old violinist who's currently working on the same pieces that I worked on when I was his age! He's amazingly friendly and was really helpful: he taught me the Spanish names for bows and notes- whole notes are "redondas" (rounds), half notes "blancos" (whites), and quarter notes "negros" (blacks)! (I found the names for notes kind of funny...) Anyway, it was funny too because we're supposed to play one of the notes in the piece we played staccato (short), and he wrote "little," attempting to write English for me to make it easier! hehe... Overall, it wasn't too terribly challenging (we played an arrangement of 1812 by Tchaikovsky), and many of the players are 16-17 years old (the concert master is 21 though) but it should be fun :) AND, on the weekend of March 19th, we give a concert in Irun (right by the French border) and two in Pamplona.

Yesterday, we didn't have class (in honor of some Catholic saint... just for students!) so I had kind of an adventure then too! I ended up meeting Bacilio, a student from Taiwan, in Pamplona to cook Taiwanese food! We met at noon, bought groceries at the Chinese store, the supermarket, and the meat market, met up with his friend Isabel, and went to his piso (apartment) to experience homemade Taiwanese cooking! He started out by giving Isabel and I a light green-tinted drink ... he said to guess what it was before he'd tell me what was in it. I smelled it and it reminded me of plants... I guess it was milk blended with avocado and honey! It wasn't actually too bad ... after, we shared a ham and cheese sandwich made with bread that was dipped in egg and pan fried (French style), and then had pan-fried pork with garlic. Lastly, we made Taiwanese "empanadas" (dumplings) which were filled with pork seasoned with five spice powder, green onions, salt, pepper, and soy sauce, and made the wonton wrappers out of flour and water. After we rolled out the dough, filled it with meat, and folded it, Bacilio cooked them covered in a pan with oil and water mixed flour. We ate them dipped in soy sauce and they were pretty good! Bacilio didn't have any recipes either... he said he got them from his "imagination"! It was interesting when we ate the pork, because Taiwanese people pick up the meat whole with chop sticks or silverware, so they weren't sure how I would eat it and gave me a knife and fork. I ended up leaving around 4:30, but they were still cooking something in the style of "red cooking" when I left ... I don't really know what it is, but it takes a lot of time and what he was making involved tofu, an entire cup of minced garlic (he said me, the American, probably thinks Taiwanese people are crazy for eating so much garlic!!), hard boiled eggs soaked in soy sauce, and well-cooked sugar mixed with water (a dark red color) ... I have yet to adventure to this area of cooking!

 

(this is the dessert thing...)

 

(empanadas in the process!)

(finished product :) )

One more thing: traveling. Kristen and I decided today that over spring break we're going to mainly stick around Spain and experience the southern coast area... we're planning to start out with Sevilla to see the world-famous Easter processionals and after, will visit Granada, Málaga (on the Mediterranean coast), and Mijas (a white-washed town near the coast). We might also see Segovia on the way home, where there is a big ancient aquaduct. We also were talking to a girl at the café at school today, and she and another exchange student are going to a British-run surfing camp in Morocco for a week for their spring break. That sounds ridiculously awesome too! There are SO many options for traveling here... it's so hard to decide what to do, since the possibilities are endless, but regardless of what we do it'll be amazing.

That's all for now! More to come soon :)