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 :)

It's time for another update!!

On Sunday, after our second meal at Manolo's (this time, I ordered pan-fried pork instead of whole fish- much better!), Peñi and Antonio showed Kristen and I Itaroa, which is one of the two malls in town. It's ridiculous! It has most of the popular stores plus others (H&M, Zara, Mango, Bershka, Ulanka...  y mucho más), but that's only the beginning... upon entering, we saw a big movie theater and upstairs there's a food court (which includes Burger King and KFC), a huge bowling alley, an arcade, some kids' rides, a kids' playland, and a small kids' indoor amusement park (parents often take their kids there on Sundays for entertainment). Then, just outside, you can see over to an ice skating rink, an indoor pool, and an exercise center. We also went down a stairwell from the main level and saw an indoor go-kart track! The mall wasn't even overly huge, but it had everything imaginable. We even saw a "Salon de Juego," which Kristen and I have seen various times throughout Pamplona... they all have giant fruits on the front, so we just assumed they were a smoothie or juice shop (juice is "jugo" in Spanish). Well, we mentioned this to Peñi, who laughed a lot, because juego means "game" ... so a "Salon de Juego" is actually a casino ... hahaha

It's interesting how SO much of the popular music here is American... I guess about half of the top songs are from the United States, and half are Spanish. I've heard music by Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Mika, All-American Rejects, Lady Gaga, and other pop artists in stores, markets, restaurants... places I wouldn't have really expected that kind of music to be played. It's amazing how much the United States' culture influences other countries...

Classes are still pretty easy. Conversation and grammar are my favorite because my professor for them, Miguel, is wonderful. He might be one of my favorite teachers of all time ... he always has so much energy, uses sound affects to try to explain what a word means to us (like for horse, he galloped and neighed! hehehe), explains things really clearly, and is just a lot of fun to be around. Yesterday in conversation we played sharades! I had to act out "... estaba en el zoo, haciendo fotos a los elefantes y las jirafas." (I was in the zoo, taking pictures of elephants and giraffes) Such an awesome way to spend a class period. :)

Everyone here is so skinny and in shape, but I'm starting to understand why... they eat a lot, but the food is really healthy, they rarely use butter and use lots of oil, don't eat many sweets or desserts, and walk EVERYWHERE. After class today Kristen and I walked towards Casco Viejo to register for a Chachacha, Bichata, and Salsa dance class at La Casa de Juventud and then went to the bus station to buy bus tickets (explanation to come) ... by the time we got back home, we had walked about three hours and hardly even noticed. I've noticed that my jeans seem looser, and it's not just me who's noticed...

So Kristen and I decided yesterday that we want to go to Paris and booked tickets last night for the train!!! We're leaving after class on Wednesday, February 10th and are taking the overnight train back on Saturday night (February 13th). We'll take the bus to San Sebastian on the way, then the Topo train to Hendaya, then another train to Paris. On the way back we'll do something similar... we're going to book hostels soon for three nights. I can't believe I'm going to France! Paris, "the city of lights," will be breathtaking. Especially around Valentine's Day... I can't wait :) AND, we booked all of our transportation for about $75 and hostels will be about the same. When else could you go to Paris for a long weekend for about $200??

Here are some random photos!

(where Kristen and I sleep)

(this was at an "American party" that took place on Friday...)

(Maria folds and irons all of my clothes... it's ridiculous. She even wanted to iron my t-shirts... here's how I found my pajamas and socks yesterday when I got home from school. I have NO idea how she folded my socks that way... )

(Peñi gave Kristen and I each a handmade pin to put on our jackets as a "welcoming gift!" Mine consists of a red and blue flower each made of cloth, y ambos con lunares! She knows I love "lunares" (polka dots) so thought of me and gave me a flower pin full of them :) The red one even matches my red polka dot umbrella that I bought for the weather here...)

I can't believe I left familiar Minnesota 3 weeks ago. It's gone so fast... and yet being home seems like a lifetime ago. Like, how could I not have known about this lifestyle that I'm so immersed in now? It's quite amazing.

La Universidad de Navarra

 (I took this picture on the walk to school ... it was a view from the edge of campus)

La Universidad de Navarra (The University of Navarra) is the school that I go to, and is bigger than the public school in Pamplona. It's run by Opus Dei and is the highest ranked private school in Spain! I've heard that it costs about 10,000 euros to attend, which is somewhere around $15,000 ... it's really expensive for here and many well-off students attend. I am officially taking Spanish Grammar, Conversation, Spanish Culture and Civilization, English-Spanish Translation, and 20th Century Literature through ILCE, a program within the school designed to help international students learn Spanish. All of my classes are completely in Spanish, and I start at 8:30 or 9:00 every day (I have to leave half an hour before in order to make it there on time, between the bus and walking the last part of the journey to my classes). I am done around 11:00 or 2:00 every day, depending on the day! Sometimes the professors let us out 15 minutes early, so a few of the classes only end up being about 45 minutes! I still haven't really had to do any homework, and when I do it shouldn't be too incredibly time-consuming ... it's such a nice break from the chaotic schedule that I left behind in the United States. Everything here is so much more laid back; I feel less stressed, am content, have lots of time to do things, and don't have a whole lot to do in my free time! It's going to be hard to jump back into my old routine at home. The campus is nice ... everything here is really green and on my walk to El Edificio Central, where my classes are, I pass a patch of blooming pansies! It was in the 50's yesterday and was absolutely amazing.

Here's how today went, and isn't too far off from my other days so far:
Got up at 7:00 a.m.
Ate breakfast downstairs at 7:45
Left for the bus at 8:00
Got to class at 8:30
Finished class at about 10:45
Went to La Morea, a big mall, with Kristen Frank (a Cobber!) on the bus (we had to walk through an industrial park at the end to get there since we took the wrong bus!)
Got home around 3 just in time for lunch
Went upstairs around 4
Checked email and did other random things for awhile
Went to the plaza near my house with Kristen to make some copies at a shop and to buy some snacks
Took a nap
Internet again
Dinner at about 9:30
Blog
Bed around midnight (after this!)

Easy, nice day :)

Overall, I'm content here. I know where things are now, how to get myself around, more or less what to expect... and Spanish is getting easier every day! When I listen to the radio or watch Spanish television, I can usually pick up most of what is being broad-casted... and yesterday I was talking to Maria, a Spanish student that I met at the University, and at one point she said a word in English and proceeded to speak in Spanish. For a moment, I honestly couldn't remember if we were speaking in English or Spanish... it's really neat to be at the point, in a foreign country, where it starts to feel familiar and maybe even like home.

My suitcase finally arrived on Monday!! After 13 days of surviving without any of my things, in a foreign country without my close family and friends, I now know that I can survive through basically anything with basically nothing.

San Sebastian

Yesterday, I went on an excursion for international students to San Sebastian for the day! San Sebastian is a city on the northern coast of Spain, about an hour by bus from Pamplona. There is a small gulf of turquoise colored water that a good part of the city sits on called La Concha (the seashell, pictured below). It was a fun day :)

We left the University at 9:30 a.m. and arrived in San Sebastian around 11:00 a.m. We started out with a brief walking tour of the city and then broke up into smaller groups to do more specific activities, like eating, shopping, hiking, etc. I chose to go with the group that went up a small mountain on the far end of La Concha. First, we went to a small cafe to get a snack, and then we walked along the entire length of the beach to get to our destination. The beach around La Concha is beautiful and when we walked by, there were kids playing soccer on the yellow sand, people and dogs walking along near where the big ocean waves were washing up onto the sand, and in the middle saw a spa that sits right on the beach and is one of the most expensive spas in the world! (La Perla) Once we got to the end of the beach we took about an hour to relax and look at the ocean and the city.  It was so amazing! It was about 60 degees, windy, and smelled like fresh ocean air :) There were some interesting rocks to look at, and the stone dock that we were standing on was next to a steep rock wall of the mountain that we were about to ascend. There was a marching band in uniform that included small children posing while we waited, for some sort of celebration specific to the area. After enjoying the view, we took a gondola up to the top, where we saw breathtaking views of the city and beach! There was an old fashioned kids' amusement park at the top (closed due to the season), so it was interesting to see the old rides and buildings as well. After absorbing the fantastic views, we walked down the mountain, back past La Concha, and to Casco Viejo (the old part of the city) to find some pinchos. San Sebastian is famous for pinchos (called tapas in other parts of Spain) and supposedly has the best in Spain! Pinchos are "little bites" of food that can be found at bars, and include items such as small sandwiches (many with jamón ibérico, a thin cured ham similar to prosciutto, and a personal favorite of mine!), tortilla de patata on bread (Spanish omelet), meats, seafoods, additional delicacies, and various other foods. The rest of the day was spend exploring, shopping, eating, and visiting a cathedral (La Catedral del Buen Pastor, aka "The Good Shepard Cathedral"). Most of the day was walking, so I was exhausted by the end! Unfortunately, it was raining for the second half of the day. Overall though, it was fun :)

Well, it's time for me to get ready to go to the local outdoor market! (And after, to a restaurant the my family frequents every Sunday, and then to meet a Concordia grad at Café Iruña where the famous American author Ernest Hemingway used to drink coffee!!)

No suitcase still, but I was able to borrow some pictures from friends for my post today. Enjoy!

One Week In!

I can't believe that I've already been living in Pamplona for a full week. It feels like the time has gone so fast, and yet at the same time I feel like I've been here forever! I'm adjusting quickly and learning tons of new things every day.

Classes. I will be taking the following this semester: Advannced Spanish Grammar, Conversation, English-Spanish Translation, Hispanic Culture and Civilization, and 20th Century Spanish Literature. All of my professors are Spaniards and don't use any English in class. I've already started to understand native speakers better since I arrived here ... for example, yesterday, I was able to successfully get directions to the post office from random people walking on the sidewalk! It's exciting to be able to both speak and understand a foreign language and makes me feel a little better about being in such a different place.  Sometimes too I mix up my Spanish and English grammar and forget English words and spellings ... going back home will be an interesting experience! I am taking classes through an exchange program called ILCE, which has been around since 1964 and this semester has about 120 students. I've made friends from Norway, Japan, Taiwan, and met people from France, Germany, Italy ... it's fun :) Most of the students though seem to be from the United States, surprisingly... and many are from Taiwan.

The family. Maria, my host mom, goes by Peni (I think it comes from her full name). She's so nice, and takes care of me and my roommate, Kristen, amazingly well. She does our laundry (minus underwear- we hand wash that), changes our sheets every week, comes and tidies up our room every couple of days, restalks the bathroom regularly, cooks a TON (everything is homemade- from french fries to roasted red peppers to soup base), and has been calling the airports many times every day about our luggage. She also sets out breakfast for us everyday before we get up and go to school ... it's amazing! She even sewed the hole in my glove while I was at school. And whenever we go outside, she and Antonio (my host dad) are always so worried about us slipping on ice, or getting wet from the rain, or other small things that don't really seem like a big deal to me... Sara, my host sister, works as an auditor and is 22. She speaks English, so that comes in handy sometimes! She studied in New Mexico two years ago. David, 28, is a computer programmer. Both live at home and work full time. Lastly is Kuky, the pet dog. She is really cute, but during dinner whines for food! I've never heard a dog whine quite like that before ... so between Kuky, the 3 pet birds, the tv, and the family all trying to talk at once, things can get kind chaotic at meals! Always fun though.

Public transportation. The public transportation here is amazing- it's safe, clean, widespread, and accessible... I take the bus to school everyday, and it's really easy to use. It takes about half an hour to get from house to school... once it's nicer out, we'll probably walk to save money and get some exercise! Everyone here walks, and everyone looks really good and in shape. Rarely have I seen anyone that's overweight. It's surprising considering all of the food that they eat... Northern Spain and Pamplona are really expensive cities to live in (a pack of basic bic pens costs about $5 at the Carrefour which is like a Wal-Mart ... and most everything else, minus food, is expensive too), so walking sounds quite appealing...

Still no luggage... living off of nothing is getting kind of old. (I bought a shirt yesterday though at a fashion store called Mango, so that should help a little!) I guess the Madrid airport was closed for a few days due to the snow, and hundreds of people have lost their luggage.  Between that and the extra security after the bomb scare a couple of weeks ago, no wonder my suitcase is still missing... but as soon as my "maleta" (suitcase) comes, there shall be pictures :)

So long for now, more to come soon!

I'm Learning SO Much, Already...

I've only been here for a few days and I've already learned SO much about the Spanish culture... Here I'll focus on the layout of the city and meals.

The city: the map above is of the city of Pamplona! I live in Barañain, which is labeled in the left center of the map, and my school (La Universidad de Navarra) is about in the center of the map, below the main part of Pamplona. The center of the city is the small green section above my school. Northeast of the green center is Casco Antiguo, the oldest, most historical part of the city (not labeled on the map). Most other exchange students live in big apartment buildings somewhere around the center.  Everyone walks everywhere in Pamplona, since, by European standards, it's a "small" city!

Meals: breakfast is normally cereal with warm or cold whole milk (which comes in a carton and doesn't need to be refrigerated until open) and/or toast with chocolate spread and/or cookies with chocolate spread and/or croissants... there's also a chocolate powder similar to Nesquik to put over the cereal!

Lunch is at 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. and is the biggest meal of the day. My family eats two courses plus dessert, and my host mom makes EVERYTHING from scratch. It's pretty amazing... lunch is usually salad or vegetables, pasta, or something similar, and bread for the first course, meat(s), potatoes, and other foods for the second course, and fruit (and sometimes yogurt) for dessert.

Dinner is around 10:00 p.m. My family has a tradition of eating soup (and bread) for the first course (since it gets cooler at night), then meats etc. for the second course, and fruit for dessert.

Today: I had European hot chocolate (VERY thick and rich- half a teacup was plenty) with a croissant for breakfast. Lunch was spaghetti with two meats, bread, fried pork skins, meatballs, homemade french fries, and small slices of cured thin ham and sausage. Dessert was fruit and some sweets left over from Christmas. Dinner tonight is in a little over an hour! Last night for dinner, we had soup with star noodles in it (homemade broth), bread, salad with oil and vinegar (first course), leftover shrimp (still in the shell with head and legs), empanadas (fried meat and tomato-filled pockets) (second course), and for dessert a sampling of many things: queso fresco (comes in a yogurt-shaped container), other thin slices of cheese, truffles, chocolate, marzapan, turrón (special for Christmas- contains mainly ground almonds, honey...) and a sampling of Pacharán (an anise flavored liquor famous to Navarra)!

My luggage should be here tomorrow, hopefully, and then I'll have my camera's cord so I can upload pictures! :)

Pamplona ... Finally

I'm finally here! It's so surreal... it took soooo long to get here and it's hard to believe that I'm 4287 miles from home.  I keep having moments where I'm in disbelief about actually being here... It took 28 hours to get from Brainerd to Madrid, and a car ride, walking, 3 planes, a train, buses, a taxi, subways, lost luggage, and 3 days of traveling after leaving home I'm in Pamplona! Me and the two other girls that I traveled with stayed overnight in Madrid. I had a Spanish omelet (tortilla de pincho) for breakfast with  European hot chocolate and then left on the bus for Pamplona.  My host family is really nice and lives in a narrow 4 story house (versus an apartment like many people in Spanish cities).  They live in Barañain, which used to be a town next to Pamplona and is now connected.  The city of Pamplona has 250,000 residents and the University has 11,000 students.  I start orientation tomorrow.  I've already had to use a lot of Spanish, and it's fun to actually use the language I've been learning for so long!  I have to get to dinner now ... pictures to come soon!

Two Days Until the Adventure Begins!

I can't believe that I leave on Tuesday! Spain has always been this vague journey in the distant future, but in only two days I'll be flying over the Atlantic Ocean. I'm almost finished packing but I don't know if I'll ever feel totally ready for this... my life will be changing so much so soon! I'll be living with a family I've never met before, eating Spanish cuisine, studying at a school that doesn't speak my native language, leaving all of my friends and family, and essentially starting over ... I'm looking forward to it though (in spite of being scared out of my mind) and am sure that once I'm there, it will be amazing. It will show me that I can create a life for myself no matter where I am in the world and in life. It will be a chance for me to grow as a person and to learn about the world around me, to learn about other (real) lifestyles and cultures, to expand my horizons. I'm excited to meet all of the people who will soon be a big part of my life and to make many friends from all over the world. And, I will be back. Four months seems like an eternity, but is nothing at the same time.

So Spain, here I come!!!