Toledo

We've just landed in Toledo where our internet works. That's the reason for all of the successive posts. I have been saving them up for a little while in order to upload them all at once. Don't worry though, once we are back at school with constant internet, I will be able to keep more constant uploads with the correct timestamps. Well, anywho, we've landed in Toledo. My money is dwindling fast lol. There is nothing I can do about that, things just seem to cost more here and I wasn't fully prepared for it. Toledo is a Beautiful Pueblo with Stucco buildings and rolling mountains, and beautiful skies as far as the eye can see. Our hotel has a pool complete with Tiki bar so it looks like all of the students and I will be going down there for the afternoon to enjoy some relaxation after the long Day of museums and driving. It is interesting to see the same cars from America here only all of them are Standard shifts, even the tour bus that we are riding in. I believe that the plan is to go into town tonight for drinks and dinner but honestly, we don't really have any plans here. Everything is so fluid. There is no set schedule, only a concept of a schedule. For some that is a good thing, for others, it may be bad. I kind of like it. It can be frustrating however, when you want to plan ahead. Oh well, Viva espana!

June 28, 2009

Buenos tardes a todos. We just finished visiting El Valle de los Caidos and El Escorial. Both were interesting in their own wasy and added to the historical knowledge that we look for on this trip. El Valle de los Caidos is a monument/tomb in the side of a mountain about 45 minutes out from Madrid. It was built as a testament to Francisco and his followers “los derechos” by the people that fought against him and were taken prisoner during la Guerra civil. The monument triples as an active Catholic Church. The visitors of which, we concluded were likely supporters of Franco. He and his right hand man, Jose Antonio, are buried at the base of the crucifix in the church. To giant cast iron angels guard the entrance to the church and also the tomb of Franco. In the corridor leading to the church are 6 tapestries “tapices” depicting the apocalypse. On the ceiling are statues of some of the Catholic Virgens who also happen to be patron saints of the different branches of his military, army, navy, etc... It was an experience filled with conflict, because it was such a beautiful place but one that was built as a monument to such a horrible man by people who didn’t even like him.

After El valle de los caidos, we visited el Escorial, a monastery, library and tomb of the royal families of Spain. The library at el Escorial is to be the second best in the world second to the Vatican based on quality not quantity. 45,000 books make up the entire library. One of the most beautiful things in this place were the solid wood doors that we made into pictures when they were constructed. Using different types of natural wood, the artists made the most beautiful works of art that seemed 3 dimensional. We stood among the bones of the kings and queens of Spain in their underground family tomb. Glanced at the marble tombs of all of the royal children that died before the age of seven due to illness. An unforgettable experience, surely

Now, after a rather healthy lunch, of paella and beer, we are on the way to Toledo where we will shack up for the night and probably go out and party. ☺

Vaya con Dios.

Let the Museums Begin

June 27, 2009

Today was a HECTIC day! My roommate and I woke up a little early and went and worked out. It was nice to get a good work out in to try to cancel out the jet lag. It didn’t work so well. Probably because of all of the standing around in museums and such. So far, I have spent waay too much on food and a few souvenirs. It’s kind of a problem. I eat as little as possible but 3 meals a day tends to add up here. Anyhow. After breakfast, we met up with the group and our ISA rep led us to the jardin botanico y el museo del prado. En El Museo del Prado we saw different paintings from the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th centuries and learned about how they depicted the goings on of Spain at the time. Our tour guide, Marisol was great! She was very informative and animated and tried to keep our attention as best she could while flying through 300 years in 1 hour.

After El Museo del Prado, we had a little free time where we could branch off and do pretty much whatever we wanted. My roommate, Paul, and I, (I figured I should give him a name since you’ll be hearing a lot from him) stopped at this little outdoor café and had some unique sandwiches. It was the first time that I had tasted a calamari sandwich and also the first time that I had tasted fried calamari without crust. And interesting lunch to say the least. After meeting up with some girls from the program and walking toward our next destination, I experienced one of the most incredible sights in my life. It’s called El Plaza Mayor. Essentially, it is just a gigantic opening in the city enclosed with buildings and garnered with extravagant archways. But inside is completely different. With, lots of little cafés and an abundance of street performers, Madrid comes to life before your eyes. From there, we went to our next tour site, which happened to be a giant Palace. El Palacio Real de Madrid. Was the palace that King Felipe II built and made Madrid the capital that it is today. The enormous marble structure is very impossible to miss. Once inside, Marisol proceeded to tell us all about the royal family and what was done with each room and the customs that came along with having an absolute monarchy.

After all of the excitement, I had to come and lay down. It has been a long day and it’s only 17:30.

Jet lag is NO fun!

33 hours and 15 minutes is how long I’ve been awake now. The sun is kinda tricky and after a couple of Sangrias and one of the best beers that I’ve ever had, I finally went to bed The sleep wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, though the bed was VERY comfortable. I think that my body was trying to revert back to Nashville time and stay awake. After falling and waking up a few times, I finally managed to stay asleep. I hope this doesn’t last too long.

Getting used to it all.

2:30 Local/ 7:30 AM Nashville

I have been up for 24 hours straight to this point.

So, I have landed here in Madrid and everything is great. It feels just like a regular city except that everyone drives a little faster and speaks only Spanish. I’ve been trying to use the Spanish that I know but everyone seems to want to speak English. With that said, I am really looking forward to getting to Santander where it is not so touristy. Once we got off of the bus, we made our way to the Hotel Paseo Del Arte, a very nice place in the heart of Downtown Madrid. After meeting in the lobby and getting rid of all of our luggage, we all took off on an excursion around the city to find some food and drinks. A few of the girls and I, Kirsten, Jill, and Ashley all stopped off for some papas and sangria. We were just hungry and wanted to drink. As of now, I’m back in the room after buying a few souvenirs desperately fighting Jetlag by writing this entry and working on some homework. We’ll see how it all works out. The plan is to go out tonight because, it’s Friday night in Madrid and we are here! What other reason is there?

Arriving in Madrid

Well, the flight is long but is fairly interesting. I’ve met this cute girl, Polly Joniae Smith, from Nevada State who is going to go see her friend In Paris and then do pretty much the same thing that I am doing for 10 days. I’m hoping that I can meet up with her and her friends a little later on. We’ll see. As far as the flight, the seats are cramped. (significantly more comfortable sitting next to her as opposed to a 300 lb Spaniard. Delta has come out with some new equipment for these cross-continental flights that I really like. Everyone has their own touch-screen in front of them that comes pre-loaded with new release movies, some t.v. shows, new albums, and Some pretty cool games. You can even make a playlist of the music if you want. (of course I did) It saved me some power on my iPod because I didn’t have to listen to it. It comes with a rather large variety of songs, artists and genres that is pretty suitable for anyone. I didn’t really explore too much into the T.V. section because, honestly, I watched enough T.V. at home. The meal was good. Polly and I both agreed that it was very filling and well portioned. She had The vegetarian pasta, whereas I had the chicken and rice.

There are five other people from my program on this flight. From what I can tell, I’ll be doing a lot of things on my own. They are nice enough, I just don’t think that I will blend in with them very well. I met my roommate, he is a 5’9” jock(y) kind of guy. It is 8:09 AM Local Madrid time. This flight doesn’t actually land for another 1:30. I think I can make it. It seems that they are passing out a continental breakfast right now. So we will see how that is.

When we land, we have an hour or so to collect our bags and meet the ISA rep and he/she will take us to our hotel and then the whirlwind of city tours begin. Madrid, Toledo, El Escorial, Santander. A drug addiction of tours of information.

Our digital map shows that we are over the Spanish isle and therefore it is time for me to get off. 30 min until landing.

The Beginning!

Today, at 1:00 local time, I began my first solo european adventure. I left Nashville this morning to begin on my trip to Madrid. I left my mother and grandmother joyously teary eyed at the entrance to security. The first leg of my journey has me stopping off in Atlanta at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport where I layover for 3 hours. I suppose that as a 21 year old, I should be nervous or timid traveling without accompaniment. However, I move through the international E Concourse at HJA with the greatest of ease. I know exactly where to stop for the best food, exactly where I'm going, and exactly where to sit to stay away from the droves of people moving about the station. I even know where to find free wireless. :) So, it's 4:10 local time and I'm just about ready to keep going. The nausea that I experienced on the first tiny little plane has all but subsided. I'll go grab a ginger ale and be on my way to the next flight.

Vaya con Dios