Diving Into Spain

My apologies for the lack of posts recently. Spain has sucked me in head first and finally I've gotten a bit of time to breath.

Jared left last Monday and his trip went really well. We had an awesome time exploring Madrid together, spent an afternoon in El Parque del Buen Retiro, and went out to the bars together at night. It was great to see him; it made me miss home quite a bit, but I feel like now that I've gotten some refreshment from him I'm ready to forge ahead with my time here in Spain! Below is a picture of us at Círculo de Bellas Artes (Circle of Fine Arts) where you can pay two euros to go to the top of the building and catch an awesome view of Spain. This picture doesn't do the beauty of the city much justice, but Jared and I are lookin' pretty good.

This week we had midterms which were beastly and I'm still reeling a bit from the last one. The worst of all was Spanish Culture and Civilization. It covered 300 years of Spanish history and when we asked our teacher what, specifically, the 5-question test would cover, he said "todo" (or everything.) Of course five questions did not nearly cover everything in 300 years of Spanish history, but I did my best and we'll see what comes of it next week.

Until then, I'm going to enjoy myself. Tonight Jenn, Parker, Jessica (a girl from CSU) and I head to Barcelona for the weekend. We're staying at HostelOne Sants, which has very good reviews on hostelworld.com so I have high hopes for this one. I'm really hoping to check out Ingenio while we're there. It's a sort-of mask shop that makes giant heads of celebrities, politcal figures and weird looking creatures. You can check it out here: http://www.el-ingenio.com/ Click on Catálogo to see what they have to offer. I doubt I'll come back with a giant head as a souvenir, but you never know...

Marrakech, Morocco: The City of Fabulous Mayhem

Twelve hours ago I left Marrakech, Morocco and my head is still spinning. Granted, that could just be my extreme exhaustion. It turns out Jared and I had the wrong time throughout the entire weekend. A very friendly Moroccan Spanish man who sat by us on the plane ride there said that Marrakech was only one hour behind Madrid, when it is in fact two hours behind. This didn't matter much at all Thursday, Friday, or Saturday since I didn't see another clock the entire time, so I never doubted it. Then this morning, when Jared and I had to be up to catch our taxi at 6am, we sat in the lobby an hour early before one of the hostel's few employees came out and pointed out our mistake. Without enough time to go back to sleep, we spent the hour writing postcards and listening to the first day's prayer which was being broadcast from all of the mosques throughout the city.

There is so much to say about our visit to Marrakech that I feel overwhelmed when even considering where to start in this post. I suppose the best place to begin is with the most basic fact about our trip: Visiting Morocco was absolutely one of the best things I have ever done in my entire life. Despite the brevity of our visit, it was everything I could want out of a trip. This is not to say that it was always comfortable, relaxing, or easy. It's actually quite the opposite. Marrakech is an incredibly vivid and overwhelming place. Our hostel was located a two-minute walk away from the center square, which is the center of this giant market. At every corner, there was someone trying to pull us into their shop to buy their trinkets. Every time we even glanced in the general direction of a street vendor, he'd try to rope us in with his limited English vocabulary.

Our first afternoon there we met a particularly friendly local named Abdul who gave us an impromptu tour of the old market. Jared warned him that we didn't have much money to give up at the beginning, but Abdul insisted he did it only to practice his English. While our host was a bit too aggressive for my taste, (that seemed to be a common characteristic of Moroccan men), he did show us a part of the city we wouldn't have found on our own. He showed us where all of the little trinkets and shoes and purses are made to be sold in the market-- the tanneries, the giant vats of dye, the artisans workshops. We walked with him for an hour or so before deciding to turn back, at which point he seemed to forget how much he only wanted to practice English and asked for a "little gift" in exchange for his time.

Before embarking for Morocco, we had been warned that food poisoning was basically inevitable. This warning had come only twenty-four hours before we took off and left me feeling pretty freaked out. Somehow, our intestines survived, though, and neither of us got sick despite drinking the tap water (don't worry-- we checked online and with our concierge first) and eating a wide variety of rich Moroccan food. The smells and flavors of the kebabs, tangine dishes, and exotic fruits and vegetables were intoxicating. There was one restaurant in particular we visited every day, mainly for their awesome juices. We sampled every one they had to offer, but my favorites were definitely the banana and the avocado.

The in-flight magazine I read on the way to Marrakech described the city as a place of "fabulous mayhem" and I don't think any other description could be more accurate. Every street provided a new set of sights, sounds, smells, and characters I know I'll never forget.

Soria, Escorial, and Bonos

We are only eight days into October and things are already starting to move much more quickly. You may have noticed this since my blog posts have sort of dropped off since the last one in October. Partly this is because of the field trips that are beginning to spring up in our school schedules. For every class there are two required field trips; most of mine overlap, so I have something like 5 or 6, instead of 8, that I have to attend. I'll probably end up going along on all of them, though, since they're an easy and free source of travel once a week. Last weekend's trip was not required for me, but it's been one of my favorite Spain experiences yet. We visited Soria, a small town about 2.5 hours drive away from Alcalá. The town is absolutely gorgeous, and extremely hilly. (I swear the entire time we were walking up hill-- I have no idea how we got back to the bus.) The day was spent walking, talking with other students and teachers, and visiting architectural sites, some of which date back to the 8th century! Near the end of the day we walked to a castle that's built into the side of a cliff (see the picture below) which had one of the most breathtaking churches I have ever seen.

Well, at least it was the most breathtaking church until our field trip to Escorial yesterday (just outside of Madrid. It's a monastery where Felipe II lived during his reign, and also the burial site of former kings and queens.) Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures, and my camera had died anyway, so you'll just have to google that one (or come to Spain and see it in person!) Walking into the church was like being punched in the chest by the fist of beauty. I couldn't breath, couldn't speak, couldn't comprehend how something so beautiful could actually exist in the real world. I am starting to realize that this feeling is going to happen a lot while I'm in Spain.

Today, Jenn and I are going to Madrid to pick up our tickets from tomorrow's bull fight. We recently got our "bonos" (not to be confused with Sonny or the lead singer from U2) which are one-time-payment passes for all the buses, train, and metros in Alcalá and Madrid. Needless to say, gratuitous trips to Madrid are happening more and more frequently. Then it's back to Alcalá for lunch, then to the Festival de Cervantes which started yesterday! I'll try to blog again soon, but my wonderful boyfriend Jared will be here in less than 40 hours (!!!!!!!) so we'll see how that goes.