So, my dad says that since I am home I need to let all of you faithful readers know, otherwise it's like writing a story without an ending. I got a little busy in my last few weeks in Madrid that I didn't keep this blog very well updated. But I will say that this experience has been well worth it, although it feels great to be home and back with family and friends. At least the jet lag was A LOT better this time around than on the way to Madrid. I am busy packing up my things, and I am heading out to Nashville early Monday morning. Thanks for reading!

Cutest thing ever...Maria just told me that Eloisa said she was going to miss me a lot when I leave because she likes my voice when I speak in English! Ha so adorable :)

This past Thursday, I went into Weber to speak with the Director of Consumer Practice. We discussed a Powerpoint outlining the agencies credentials in both English and in Spanish. It was amazing to see the American influence in this presentation – a presentation that is used to convince clients that they should choose Weber for their PR needs. He told me that the style of speech used comes directly from that used by the U.S., and is designed to make an impact in the Spanish market. There was quite a bit of Spanglish intermixed such as “2000s”, “Do-ers”, “ranking”. For example, it might say that “Tenemos lo mejor ranking del mundo”. At this point, I wanted to find out what do those who know little to no English think about these types of presentations. He called these “Anglocismos”, and then described to me how there are different groups of Spaniards according to their understanding of English. He said that for many of the people, the words just become something they just associate with a particular brand or meaning, even if they don´t know English. He told me a funny story about the airline company, Vueling, who uses a lot of Spanglish in their marketing. He says that when people start using Spanglish, the Spanish say “Estás haciendo Vueling”, basically that they are acting like Vueling! Kind of funny to me. It was a great experience and I am excited for our five remaining sessions. He also invited me to join the online community, Internations.org, a group for internationally minded people. You can join a network within the community (for me, Madrid) and learn about activities coming up that are open to people of all nationalities. He invited me to go with him that night to one at Santiago Bernabeau, the futbol stadium, but I was babysitting and unable to make it.

Other than that, I went to a few clubs this weekend and really can see why they call Madrid the city that never sleeps! Today, I went to the pool with my host family. Maria´s dad is a retired corporal of the Spanish army and belongs to a military club that has a pool. It was a great time just laying out and relaxing in the sun! And it just continues to blow my mind how smart Eloisa is. She speaks Spanish so well for only being three years old, and the things she thinks to say can be so funny! Also – I forgot to mention before – Francisco has learned how to walk in my time here! When I first came, he crawled everywhere and you could sometimes get him to take a step if you held his hand. I got to see him take some of his first steps and now he walks absolutely everywhere. The kids are precious! So weird that I will be leaving everyone and everything in 18 days. I miss everyone back home, though, and am ready to see you all!

I made it to the Running of the Bulls! We found a good deal on bus tickets to Pamplona so a group of us took the 5 hour trip on Saturday. The bus ride wouldn´t have been too bad but about halfway through there was literally no air circulating and we were all roasting! It was absolutely miserable to say the least because yesterday was really hot in Spain. We met some other Americans on the bus and went together to cool off with some Sangria once we finally got to Pamplona. Of course, the FIRST thing we actually did was buy these red scarves that they were selling on the streets. I couldn´t believe how many people were in Pamplona for the festival of San Fermin, all dressed in red and white. We had some friends who ran with the bulls that morning so we were planning to meet up with them later to see how it went. Someone died the other day (the fifteenth person in the history of the run) so I definitely knew I would rather watch than participate!

We decided the best use of our time and money would be to buy stuff to make sandwiches and drinks at Corte Inglés. This place was an absolute MADHOUSE and I would say we probably spent a good hour at minimum trying to decide what we wanted to get. It was actually pretty funny to watch 7 people decide on things like how many packages of ham we would need for sandwiches. After spending about 60 euros at Corte Inglés, we picked an open spot in a grassy area to sit and eat. We made Calimocho, a signature drink that is half red wine and half Coca-Cola. The atmosphere in Pamplona was unreal. There was live music and parades, but really it was just a lot of drunk people roaming the streets! Pamplona is a really small city so there aren´t enough rooms to support the festival. It´s either pretty pricey or there aren´t any available, so everyone just goes down there without a place to sleep. It was pretty funny to see people asleep in every area of the city, but mostly the parks. We decided we were just going to stay up the whole night until the run the next morning so that we didn´t have to worry about finding a safe place to sleep. The actual run was scheduled at 8am (we only had 45 minutes from there to make it to our bus back), and my friend actually saw a man get gored a few times! I would say that this was one of my favorite experiences so far in Madrid. I felt like I got to see a really important part of Spanish culture and it is something that I doubt I will ever have the chance to do again! If you are ever in Spain over this time, you can´t miss it.

Nothing much new has happened here in Madrid. I have met friends for dinner a few times this week. We found a place called 100 Montaditos that was super cheap (although the food wasn´t incredible). They served 100 different kinds of mini sandwiches of Spanish flavors all for between 1 and 1.50 euros a piece. Three of us shared a sampler platter of 12 montaditos and then we each got a jarro (mug, basically) of beer for only 15 euros! What a steal, seriously.

This week is San Fermines aka the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. I have watched a little of it on TV, and know a few people making the trip this weekend. I think that would be so fun to go down there! Of course, I wouldn´t run or anything (most of the people who get hurt seem to be tourists) but it would be an experience.

Maria has been working from home most of this week so we have had the chance to eat lunch together and chat as usually I am by myself all day until I pick up Eloisa at 3:30. She went to the library and got me a book called La Tesis de Nancy (the thesis of Nancy). It is well known in Spain, and is a collection of letters written by an American girl about her time living in Spain. It is translated into Spanish so I have been referencing my dictionary quite a bit, but it is a good read. It is over 50 years old, but it is so funny to see how many of the things she noticed I have also noticed as an American living in Spain. Some things never change, I guess!

The other day, a commercial was on for Disneyworld and Eloisa told me that when she learns English she wants to go there. I told her that she has to learn it very well so she can talk to all of the Princesses. She seemed to like that! And yesterday, she informed me that she wants to go to Japan (Japón in Spanish, which somehow made it even cuter) because that´s where Hello Kitty lives. I said she would have to be a lot older, and she thought 10 years old sounded pretty good. Looks like I have a world traveler on my hands!

Happy (late) 4th of July! This was my first time being in another country to celebrate the birth of America. On Thursday, I went to the 4th of July party at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid. As I walked up, I was amazed at how many policemen were standing guard around the building and adjoining house. One person on the street even stopped to ask me what was going on, so I felt kind of important that I was able to go in! At the party, they had traditional American food (perpetuating the stereotype I suppose!) of hamburgers, hot dogs, donuts, ice cream, and even Starbucks. It was fun to be able to celebrate there and enjoy some food I would have back home. I also got to meet the other Embassy interns that I had not met yet, and we all went out for a little bit afterwards.

On Friday, I had to wake up early because I had to leave the house at 8am and had still not packed my suitcase for Valencia. I was pretty tired but knew I had a 4 hour bus ride ahead of me to catch up on sleep. The bus station was pretty big, and it was interesting to see just how much this form of public transportation is used to get around the country. I REALLY wish that we had better public transportation that was clean and safe to use so that traveling around the states would be a little easier. We arrived at the Purple Nest hostel around 130pm after an interesting (local) bus ride. We followed the directions to get on the right bus but it made SO many stops that we really had no idea if we were ever going to get there. Stops were not announced so we had to watch very closely to make sure we got off in the right place. To make it even harder, many of the signs are printed in the native Valencian which looked a lot more like French than Spanish. Once unpacked at the hostel, we went over to the RED Nest hostel for free sangria and paella (the traditional dish that originated in Valencia). It was unbearably hot, and a lot more humid than Madrid, so it didn´t take long for us to decide to go to the beach. We spent a few hours at the beach and waited for our French friends to get there. We all went to dinner together at a trendy beachside lounge. It was a running joke that we kept asking our waiter how much stuff cost that he ended up giving us most of it for free because it was easier than looking it up! He also gave us coupons for free paella which we went back to eat the next day.

We noticed a lot of differences between Valencia and Madrid. Although Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, it seemed like there were never any people in the streets! In Madrid, you are never alone on the streets but we felt like we were a lot in Valencia. It was actually pretty funny, and we kept joking about how we were the only ones in the whole city and that no one actually LIVED in Valencia. It seemed like everyone we stopped to ask questions to were tourists as well! The Metro system is very simple in Valencia, but there are so many corners of the city that it doesn´t reach. We found this to be a challenge in planning our activities because in Madrid you can get literally anywhere by train. The four of us had our own room in the hostel and the whole place was actually quite nice. I had never stayed in a hostel before but it had a bar and a guest kitchen, and we even had a balcony that overlooked a beautiful church where, in our short stay we saw probably three weddings take place. The hostel boasted about its air conditioning, which is a luxury for hostels, but they only turned it on at night and it was FREEZING!!!! I could hardly sleep because I only had a sheet to cover myself.

Saturday was another beach day. The Purple and Red hostels had organized everyone to meet in one central location, they paid for our bus ride to the beach, and then we could pay 3 Euros if we wanted beer which was a good deal since there was no limit. It was fun to hang out with everyone from the hostel because there were people from Ireland, Sweden, Australia, England, etc. and you got to meet a lot of people with diverse backgrounds. The hostel staff was also fun to hang out with, and overall we had a great day at the beach. That night, we decided it would be a good idea to try out one of the clubs which Valencia is also famous for. We kept seeing one called Luna Rossa so that was our ultimate goal. We also wanted to find El Carmen, which is another place with clubs and bars but our map definitely did not take us there. We finally gave up on searching for the neighborhood and a place to eat, and hopped on a metro towards the beach clubs. When we got to the beach, there were fireworks! That was actually pretty cool considering it was the Saturday of the 4th so I felt at home. It was almost midnight and we were starving so we grabbed a slice of pizza from a corner store before we decided to go to a Middle Eastern themed bar. We kept wanting to go to Luna Rossa which was right across the street, but knew it wouldn´t be busy until after 2:00. When it finally became late enough to leave we decided that we should stay where we were because we were all running out of money. After paying cover at Luna Rossa, some of us wouldn´t be able to buy anything else! Saturday was another fun and late night, check out at 11am came way too early.

The hostel let us keep our bags there since our bus didn´t leave until 7 at night. We planned to spend the day exploring the city. The map we had been given was completely wrong and we ended up going in the wrong direction multiple times as well as spending a lot of time looking for Metro stations since we had purchased a pass earlier in the weekend. We needed to get our money´s worth! It was kind of a funny day because we felt like we were never actually seeing anything, just wandering around in the city (alone of course). It was sweltering hot so I am assuming everyone was at the beach! We did get to see the former location of the river, which is now a park because they manually moved the river, as well as La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias which is an area where the Aquarium, etc. are and the buildings have unique architecture. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted with the little sleep that we had so we did a little shopping and just sat around until it was time to get on the bus. All in all, it was a really fun weekend. Viva Valencia!

I have some fun news to share!

I had an appointment at 9:15 this morning with the Director of Consumer Practice in the Madrid office of the public relations company I had an internship with last summer in Chicago. Just my luck that the Madrid office also has a large food and nutrition practice. The director and I had exchanged e-mails a few times, but so far had been unable to figure out a way I could get some experience in a Spanish company without a work permit (legal, health issues, etc.). We decided to meet today just so that I could hear about what the company is working on and learn about their clients.

I was a little nervous at first because I have only been in more informal settings so far in Madrid, and didn´t want to make a bad impression. I arrived at the reception area and stated that I had a meeting at 9:15 (all in Spanish, very proud!). The Director had not yet arrived, so the receptionist took me to a conference room so that I could wait. She gave me a newspaper and some water while I waited, and was so courteous to me and even offered to speak to me in English if I wanted. But I told her Spanish was just fine! When the Director came in, he had a spiral bound packet of information to give me about the office. It was so interesting to see how the companies they work with here differ from those in the States. He said that the Consumer Practice team was very excited to learn that I wanted to come there because they wanted to also be able to collaborate with someone from another country that would have different views.

The office is a lot smaller than the one in Chicago, but that is also because the Chicago office is the North American hub for consumer accounts. For example, in Madrid they only have 7 people on the consumer team with about that many accounts. There are three other practice areas with about the same amount of people in each. In Chicago, the company occupied three floors of a building! The Director and I spoke in a little English and a little Spanish so that we could fully understand each other. I can not emphasize enough how nice he was, and I didn´t feel in the least bit intimidated when I was talking to him. It really made me feel better because I was pretty nervous this morning! He introduced me to the Consumer practice group and they (like in Chicago) were all pretty young. Some of the girls looked at me with an "oh isn´t the little American girl so cute" look haha, they all seemed super friendly. And of course they all said HI instead of HOLA to practice English!

Apparently during the year, an English teacher comes into the company and offers lessons, but it stops in the summer. Since I want to improve my Spanish and the Director and others in the practice group want to improve their English, we decided that it would be best for me to come in a few hours a week to help out. I will be able to observe what they are doing on the accounts and talk with the employees in Spanish and then help them with their English. We will talk mostly about work and industry-related things, but I´m sure we will discuss other stuff too! I think this will be a really neat experience for me to be inside a Spanish company and also a way to meet more people here in Spain.

Well, I´m out to meet a friend for tapas. Hasta luego!

While I have been here, I have gotten a chance to know the woman who cares for Francisco (the baby) and helps with the housework. Her name is Maria as well. Another woman who I have only met once, Marta, also comes in and cleans sometimes. Yesterday, we found out that Marta has received word that she has to return to Ecuador because she is here without her papers. It is interesting to see that immigration is a big subject in countries other than the United States. Lately, Spain has had a huge influx of immigrants from South America.

Mom and Molly, you will enjoy this - I was stopped in a "mall" today by a man selling lotion at a kiosk and it reminded me exactly of the guy who works at Oak Park. He used exactly the same techniques, and I even tried to pretend like I didn´t understand Spanish. Turns out he knew English too :)

Today, I explored the area around the bullfighting stadium. I still have yet to see a fight but I hope to soon. It has been SO hot here lately that it was getting pretty miserable to walk around. I also went by Santiago Bernabeu, the futbol stadium. Although it is the off season for Madrid, they still offer tours of the facility which I think would be cool to do one of these days. For dinner, we had ham and honeydew melon - apparently a hugely popular dish to enjoy in Spain. I would never pair the two flavors together, but it was actually pretty good!

Only five and a half weeks left in Spain – I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown. I have been continuing to have a lot of fun, but it amazes me how fast money goes here. I wouldn´t say that it´s necessarily all that expensive to live in the city of Madrid (unless you eat at the really touristy places), but it just adds up quickly!

The family that I am living with went to Valladolid this weekend. They are both from that Spanish city and have a small apartment there they so they went to visit family and friends. I stayed in town because I had planned a trip to Segovia on Saturday with some friends. It was quite the adventure getting to the RENFE train station on Saturday. We all took the Metro from different stations and decided to meet at Chamartin, the train station. Of course we all left later than we thought we would, one of our group members forgot to print her boarding pass, we never found one of the girls who was supposed to meet us there, and someone else hopped on the train one minute before they closed the doors! Segovia was a very small, traditional Spanish town with some impressive sights that included a massive aqueduct and the Alcazar, the castle upon which Cinderella´s castle was based. This was my favorite part as the inside of the castle still looked like people lived there. It had the big tall chairs where the rulers sat as well as a dinner table for the royal family. There was even a room with cannons and all sorts of weapons and none of it was behind glass or anything. We climbed the 152 stairs to the top of the tower too. Before we left, we had to stop off for lunch so a few people could order cuchenillo (basically, baby pig) which is the traditional dish of Segovia. I decided to pass since it was quite expensive.

Saturday night was another new experience. Because no one goes out until at least 1:30am here, it is typical to enjoy a botellón before going to a bar or club. It basically just consists of a group of people having some drinks in a park or public place. The five of us decided to go to El Parque de Oeste and the Templo de Debod, the Egyptian temple here because it overlooked a beautiful part of the city. The park was PACKED and I felt like we were doing a very local Spanish thing so that was fun. Then we took a VERY crowded Metro around 1:20 to the big club, Kapital. It is definitely a tourist attraction as I felt like I heard more English there than Spanish, but it´s one of those things you have to do once while you are here. The club has 7 stories with distinct themes to each one. The top floor was an open air terrace with comfortable couches and a lounge atmosphere, another was a smaller dance floor that played American rap, and the main floor was a HUGE dance floor and a stage with performers. There was even a karaoke floor where three of us (horribly) sang Can´t Fight the Moonlight. The layout of the place was really impressive and we had a lot of fun there, it reminded me of the clubs in Vegas or Mexico. But it was expensive, about 12 euros for a drink! But we ended up staying until the Metro opened up again at 6am

Right now in Spain, the big rebajas are going on. These are just massive sales at all of the stores. You can find some pretty good deals, but I don´t really have the money to spend on that! I have a pretty fun week ahead of me. On Wednesday, I am going into the Weber Shandwick office in Madrid (the company I interned for in Chicago) to meet with the Director of Consumer Practice. They also have a nutrition communications division in this office so we are going to see if there is anything I can do there while I´m here. It will be interesting to spend even one day in a Spanish company though. On Thursday night, I am going as the guest of my friend Alyssa to the 4th of July celebration at the U.S. Embassy. She is an intern there and each intern is allowed to bring a guest. We also booked a trip to Valencia, Spain this weekend and will be leaving Friday morning around 9am to take a 4 hour bus ride. It will be another weekend lounging on the beach and enjoying the city that made paella famous. I am going with three other girls – Alyssa, and two girls from France, Marie and Élodie. Today and tomorrow I don´t have to pick Eloisa up until 5:00pm so I have a little more time during the day for sightseeing. Today, I went to the Botanical Gardens next to the Prado.

Besos! (Kisses)

This week, I met some friends for paella after work and then met up with a friend who was visiting Madrid that I went to school with. Wednesday was the big day, however, because the United States beat Spain in the Copa Confederaciones soccer game. That means we are moving on to the finals which is on Sunday. I can´t wait to watch it and be able to cheer for America! Of course, I was rooting for America the first time around but the bar we watched the game at was full of intense Spanish guys so we didn´t want to be too vocal. One of my friends who works at the Embassy and I are planning a trip to the beach in Valencia, Spain over 4th of July weekend with two girls from France. We went over to one of the girls´apartments last night to plan and cook dinner - we had pizza, cookies, and chips ha I felt like I was at home. I also found out that in France they use salt to clean up red wine stains! A trick to take home.

This weekend, I think we are going to try out some of the bigger Madrid clubs. They are a little pricey, though so it should be interesting! On Saturday, we are also going to make a day trip to Segovia and wander around the city. There is a gastronomic (food) festival at the Plaza Mayor this weekend so I may try and head that way too. I was absolutely exhausted yesterday from walking so much - I did two walking tours in my guidebook and walked nonstop from about 230 to 530 in uncomfortable shoes. I explored all of Puerta del Sol, Gran Via, Huertas, Chueca, and Malasaña. I just have one more walking tour left. I like doing them because it helps me see everything ïmportant¨in the city in a short period of time and also helps me find my way around a little better. I even got to see the Egyptian temple that is in El Parque del Oeste. Overall, things are picking up over here!

I am sure you have all been waiting anxiously for an update from me. I have finally settled back in after spending ten days on the beaches of Southern Spain. The night before leaving, I met a friend for some tapas and drinks so I was a little tired when I had to get up at 6am for the drive. I figured this would work to my advantage however so that I could sleep on the long drive. It is about 6 hours from Madrid to Puerto Real, where we were staying, but I knew with two kids we would need to make a few stops. I was right! The family made sure, however, that our stops were in places that we could explore. This was definitely different than our culture where I expected maybe a 20 min bathroom break and fast food, we actually got out and sat down at a restaurant and then explored the city. We were probably there for an hour and a half! This was my first glimpse of how modern Madrid truly is compared to the rest of Spain. I saw the first of many castles, old churches, and monuments in Trujillo and also indulged in a traditional Spanish breakfast of fried churros. The rest of the trip went by smoothly and the landscape was breathtaking. All of the pueblos are visible from the highway, there are mountains galore, and even palm trees. Spain is truly a unique country, and Maria and Javier reinforced this by telling me how Spain is the vacation spot for all of Europe. I also learned a lot about the Spanish conquests and they told me all about how different the various regions of Spain are based on the influences there, for example Celtic influence in northern Galicia. We saw areas where towns were small and close together and others where they were sprawling and far apart, all based on the speed of the conquest. Maria had packed some snacks and bocadillos, little sandwiches, to eat on the road and I noticed that even the chips like Cheetos and Bugles taste different here! A little more bland…maybe they add less sodium or other processed things but I´m not sure.
The first day in Puerto Real was spent at the pool with Eloisa while Maria, Javier, and Francisco traveled to the market to buy food for the next few days. We stayed at Maria´s father´s two bedroom condo. I shared a room with Eloisa. A few times during the night she got scared because she didn´t remember where she was and woke up in an unfamiliar place. She even ended up in my bed a few times! We ate lunch out every day on vacation and had a home cooked dinner…funny again because opposite of what I would expect on a vacation! Although we stayed in Puerto Real, we took advantage of the proximity of other towns in Andalucia, the southern region of Spain. We visited Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Arcos de la Frontera, Chiclana de la Frontera, Jever de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa Maria, and Conil de la Frontera. Apparently, all of the Frontera names are in reference to the areas that were used for defense. All of these towns were up at the very top of large hills with large walled areas. Cadiz is on a peninsula and was very large compared to all of the other places we visited. It is the oldest city in Spain, I think. I also enjoyed seeing the American influence in Puerto de Santa Maria because it was one of the ports used by Christopher Columbus…the word America was used in a lot of the street names as well as massive ships in the middle of the rotundas named after the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Seeing this side of Spain made me realize how unique it is that there is such history in Europe. We just don’t have anything near that old in the United States. My host family pointed out that is one of the reasons why America is on the forefront of so many things, since we are so new in respect to the other countries. We didn´t have to deal with existing traditions within royal families, feudalism, etc. I thought this was an interesting way to look at it.
Of course, a trip in Spain wouldn´t be complete without trying new foods. One day in particular, we ordered a feast of seafood. We had lobster, calamari eggs, shrimp, langostinos, etc. etc. The three of us could barely even begin to eat all of it. The best part was that it was of excellent quality and cheap because we were right next to the Atlantic.
One day I took the RENFE train to Sevilla by myself. The city is a must-see in Spain but it was just too difficult to take the kids. The ride was about an hour and a half and only cost 15 euros roundtrip. I spent the whole day from 9am to 6pm exploring the city and it was absolutely breathtaking. Sevilla is the sister city to Kansas City so I was excited to see that the train station was located on Avenida (Avenue) de Kansas City. The Country Club Plaza is modeled after Sevilla and this was evident when I visited the impressive Plaza de España with its colorful tiles and brick as well as the Giralda Tower of which there is a replica on the Plaza. This was a fun experience for me, but I was definitely more than EXHAUSTED after walking all day. I impressed myself though by showing up alone, grabbing a map, and seeing everything I could see. I still have my KState ID so I end up getting in a lot of places free or for reduced rates. After the end of 10 days, I was sad to leave the beautiful beaches be cause I had yet to spend any time laying out in Madrid. On the way back, we stopped in Merida which is known for having the most well preserved Roman ruins in Spain. The sites were definitely impressive…I cant explain it all in words but I promise pictures will come! The trip was good for bonding even more with the family and the kids. We were around each other 24/7 instead of only after they got off work and it was very enjoyable. I am feeling a lot more comfortable communicating solely in Spanish. I am getting very adept at understanding the tv shows and news even though sometimes I still like to have Spanish subtitles so I can read them simultaneously.
A few more observations I have made over here in Spain: Everyone recycles. Even on the streets and playgrounds there are separate compartments for plastic, paper, glass. They love sweets! I think I mentioned before that there are Nestle ice cream stands on just about every corner but even McDonald´s sells donuts and cakes that they just don´t have in the U.S. because postre, or dessert, is a big thing here even though fruit is often chosen. Also, American culture definitely permeates. I would expect that in other Spanish speaking countries that are closer like Mexico but I have been surprised just how much here. Spaniards speak a lot in commands, which at first comes off as abrupt. I have just realized they don´t sugarcoat as much as the English language. We might say “Would you mind holding this for a minute?” Whereas they simply say “Toma”, or Take It. It kind of caught me off guard for a while wondering why no one was being polite! But I just realized that they don´t bother with the extra words and sometimes I imagine that I try and insert too many words when asking for something in an attempt at politeness when really I just need to cut to the chase and say what I need!
Oh, and I have made some friends who work at the U.S. Embassy so I am finally getting able to go out to the bars and clubs which has been fun. I definitely got a lot of sightseeing done on my own time but it has been a bit of a relief to have time to just speak freely in English. You never realize how much you take for granted even the ability to communicate without thinking about it! I still miss everyone back home and can´t believe I only have 6.5 more weeks here.

Today, I am exhausted. I am finished packing my suitcase and bought last minute items for the beach. This evening, we went to the Tombola at the school which was basically a little carnival with a raffle. All the parents donated something to the raffle and then for 10 euros you could buy a pack of tickets. Some of the tickets had numbers on them indicating the prize and others didnt. Apparently only one in ten tickets had a prize and I think that was about how many came in a pack. Eloisa was lucky and one three prizesª They were pretty funny though...a wallet set, a plastic watch, and a hat with colored pencils. I saw one little boy carrying around a gold purse haha. I have noticed at the park a lot lately that families will come dressed with their kids in the EXACT same outfit head to toe. Even if there are three or more of themª I wondered what that was all about and Maria said it is actually a status symbol. If they can buy three of the same item for all their kids it demonstrates that they wont be handing down their clothes, etc. Well I could see how wealthy the kids at the school are at the Tombola..typically when I go to pick up Eloisa at school everyone is in uniform but today there were COUNTLESS families all dressed identically. It is so bizarre to me. Why would you buy three pairs of bright blue shoes to go with that outfit for all three of your kids+ It seems like it kind of limits their personality, and I would feel like I was wasting my money buying three of the exact same thing in different sizes. Ah well.

TOMORROW around 7am we leave for the beach for 10 days. I will blog all about it when I get backª

Another postª

I never knew there were palm trees in Madrid, but I saw some downtown the other day. I am sure I will be seeing a TON more when we leave for the beach at Cadiz. We are leaving this Thursday and coming back the following Saturday June 20th. I am so excited to lay out and get somewhat of a tan. The city pools are pretty far away so I have yet to do any of that. I am also looking at planning a trip or two with the friend I made on the airplane ride to Madrid. She is in Barcelona, but we are looking at our options. Its SUPER cheap to fly from Madrid to Paris so that could be fun.

On Sunday, the family and I went to the Palacio Real again. I got a better look at the courtyard and I was so amazed with the view they had overlooking a beautiful park at the top of the hill. I was just imagining what it was probably like for those who actually lived there. Its so interesting to me. Today, I went to El Monasterio de Los Descansos Reales, where there are still nuns living. It was very old and historic. I didnt get there in time for the English guide but I was fine listening to Spanish for an hour. I am getting so much better at understanding. It was funny because there were a few other U.S. families there and their sons were translating everything the guide said for them. I am guessing they didnt show up in time before the English tour closed.

Oh, and today I got hit VERY hard in the face by a ball at the park. Yay...ready for the beachª

I continue to be amazed with how late people stay up around here...I was going to go out last night until it was almost midnight before any concrete plans were made. The clubs stay open until like 5 but I didnt really feel like taking the Metro that late, paying for a cab ride, and especially not paying 20 euros to get in the place. So...I cozied into the West Wing of course.

Today and yesterday both were very chilly. I ended up having to buy two sweaters because I didnt bring anything with long sleeves. Of course, I dont object to buying new clothes. Maria said that with all of my new items from Zara I am a real Española haha.

Oh, and I finally bought a calling card the other day so that I could talk to my family. It was soooooo nice to have some sort of connection that way. I paid 5 euros for supposedly 150 minutes but I DEFINITELY didnt get that much time. I will keep buying them though so let me know if you would like a call...or if you happen to purchase an international calling card thats just as well. Also I have been trying to find WiFi around here but I keep hitting dead ends...I hear the Corte Ingles has it in the cafeterias but I went to one today and it was a full fledged restaurant. I felt a little odd pulling out my computer there so I am going to try the one on Calle Serrano tomorrow. I am hoping this way I might be able to use Skype but who knows.

Today, Marias mom and aunt came into town so we all met at a restaurant for a nice lunch. I ordered a tropical salad because I thought fruit sounded good but it was covered in different kinds of seafood and some weird creamy pink sauce. I wish the description had included that because I felt bad not eating it. Its just weird because when you order the primero plato and segundo plato with the menu del dia, its like having two meals. I mean a seafood salad and then turkey with potatoes...who needs both.

Also today I found a little theater that plays movies in their original languages. Which means I was able to see Angels and Demons in English. Such a great movie and I highly recommend it. It also made me realize just how much history there is in Europe and how I would like to see more of it, at least eventually. Im glad I was able to find a theater where I could watch it in English because since it uses complex terms I figured a lot might be lost on me in Spanish. Spanish is the one language that almost all American shows and movies are dubbed for, which means you can watch the movie and listen to it in Spanish but the characters mouths actually move with the words. American shows are really popular, that is pretty much the majority of what plays at the movie theaters and I have seen Hannah Montana, Arthur, etc. all playing on TV. And a lot of kids wear shirts with English phrases on them but who knows if they even know what it says haha. I dont have any big plans yet tomorrow but I am getting excited because we are going to the beach on Thursday. I doubt I will have Internet access so my updates may be lacking for about a week.

Yesterday I went to the Plaza Mayor. It is a really touristy place with a huge central plaza that is lined with shops and places to eat. It was in the old Austrias district which is the oldest area in Madrid and highly influenced by Moorish architecture. In my opinion, it was BEAUTIFUL! By far my favorite sights that I have seen so far I can´t wait to share pictures. I had a self guided tour in my guide book that I did that day which was perfect to see everything like the old Royal Palace.

Today, I had my first semi fiasco. There aren´t really a lot of open air pools in Madrid, who knows why bc it´s so hot, but I wanted to swim and tan a little so I found a few options in my guidebook. I chose one and got directions using the Metro. First of all - I guess the renovated parts of the Metro are the nice clean ones but I used some of them today that were very sub par. Ick. So then I got off at my stop and had some complicated instructions on how to get to the pool. Let´s just say after walking up and down the streets for about 20 minutes I gave up. I came back to shower and went shopping instead! The most popular store around here is ZARA so that´s where I headed. I think they have it in the U.S. but I have never heard of it before. Anyways, I loved it and bought a new dress to wear.

Another note to mention - here in Spain they pronounce their C´s like ¨th¨so I am having to get used to that. Grathias...lol. It made it even harder to understand everyone at first because I thought their words were trailing off. Oh yeah and for dinner tonight another interesting thing - we had thistle. The plant. Seriously. But it was good! And I got really excited when Maria showed me they had the entire 8 seasons of the West Wing in English. I have never watched it but it is comforting to know if I am ever bored I have something to watch that is familiar to me other than the Spanish television!

Tomorrow, I have the whole day free without any English lessons so we will see what kind of adventures I come up with!

This morning, I took my first exercise class at the gym that was taught all in Spanish!!! Kind of an accomplishment, at least I think so. It was kind of funny because a lot of the music was American or at least in English. Apparently they like it even though many can´t understand what they are saying. I also met a girl in the class who seems pretty young (I didn´t ask her age) that has been living in Madrid less than a year. She is from Alicante, near Valencia, Spain. We laughed a lot during the class because she wasn´t very coordinated and I couldn´t understand some of the things the teacher was saying and we stayed to talk after so maybe she will be a new friend! Also, kind of funny, I went and sat in the room and felt like people were staring at me (which seems to happen a lot here, I think my hair color is a dead giveaway I´m a foreigner) but then I realized I was sitting in the front of the room and not the side! Whoops! I definitely did NOT want to teach the class haha.

I went to the book fair at Retiro Park today to look for some souvenirs. I ended up buying two recipe books. The directions are all in Spanish so we will see how I do with that! I had my first English ¨lesson¨(alone that is) with Eloisa today and it went well. They are getting their windows changed so we had to be at the park from 3-7 and it was really hot so it was hard for both of us I think. Plus we had to walk quite a ways to get to the park and she got pretty tired. I mean, she is only 3 years old!

Of course for dinner we had something unique again. Calamari (not fried) over rice. It was okay, but not really my thing. I mostly just ate the rice. Ah well. They have lots of interesting things in their cabinets - liver pate, foie gras, and even cow stomach in a can (it has some sort of Spanish name). Of course they never make me eat anything I don´t want to and there are plenty of things that I do like. It´s so funny how tastes are formed by what you grow up with because Eloisa will eat pretty much all of this stuff. I was really exhausted from the day so I settled in to watch some TV. I have gotten into two shows here - Madrileños X the World (people from Madrid who live other places now) and some show about Spaniards who are shipped off to live with tribes. They are both pretty funny...only in Spanish of course so I´m sure a lot of the humor is lost on me. Tomorrow I think I am going to do one of the self-guided tours that is listed in the Madrid guidebook I bought before I left and possibly a bullfight this weekend.

I have been slacking a little on the updates so this might be long. On Saturday, Javier and Maria had some friends in from out of town for lunch (although we didn´t eat until almost 4). I couldn´t believe the amount of food we had for a mid-day meal! We had octopus and olive bread as an appetizer, pumpkin cream soup, tomato salad and more bread followed by steak and then they bought a designer cake for the occasion. Needless to say, Javier didn´t cook dinner that night! The couple had two children so we all hung out at the home and at the park together. It´s interesting to hear the accents of all the different people in the area.

On our way back, I commented on the cars and Maria pointed out that since most of them are European brands they are not considered luxury. Makes more sense now! They also told me how all of the cars are manual and run on diesel, gas is even more expensive here than in the States. We figured out that it would be equivalent to about $3.30 per gallon. On the subject of money, THE DOLLAR TAKES YOU NOWHERE HERE! I am so glad I am being paid in Euros because the price in Euros is the amount it costs in dollars plus half the original amount. For example, when I bought my gym membership I paid 165 euros whereas it would have cost $230 if I had run it through on my card. Crazy! Another thing I have noticed - haircuts are really cheap here! You can pay about 17 euro at an upscale looking peluqueria...nothing like Great Clips back home.

Today I went to El Museo del Prado. It is a hugely famous museum mostly filled with paintings and some sculpture. I finally got to see the Las Meninas painting that I read about almost every year in my Spanish classes. I found the works of El Bosco (Bosch) to be the most interesting as well as a specific painting, The Triumph of Death by Brueghel. Of course, Goya is the most widely represented here and Velazquez is another artist to check out. They had a few by Rembrandt, Raphael, and other artists who although I have never heard of I don´t doubt that I probably should have. I started to read a book called The Story of Art a few nights ago and I am really enjoying learning more about European History. Wow...I sound old.

Finally, having kids IS A LOT OF WORK! I don´t have younger siblings so I have never lived with kids before. But waking up to a crying 10 month old and a chatty 3 year old is very new to me. The kids are so adorable, I just know it´s a good thing I don´t plan to have any of my own for quite some time! I am enjoying every minute of my time here in Spain and have been quite adventurous on my own. It is kind of lonely not really knowing anyone my own age, but I am actually starting to meet a few people that I can hang out with so that is nice. It´s a little harder than I anticipated not going through an organized program! Oh well, I wouldn´t trade doing it this way for the world because I feel like I am getting a true Spain experience since I never speak English except with Eloisa. Well, it´s getting late and I´m tired - ADIOS!

P.S. It´s really hard not to start writing things in Spanish or at least in Spanglish...I consider that a good sign.

Well...I was FINALLY able to get settled into a gym here which will be a nice way to spend my mornings. Maria had to come with me to help me get it set up, but I really like the looks of everything there it is very modern.

She worked from home today so we ate lunch together at a restaurant. Same deal as before with the ¨menu del dia¨. One thing I definitely like about Spain is not having to tip! Not the waiters at restaurants, the bartenders, or even the taxi drivers.

We picked Eloisa up from school and headed straight to the park. One thing that I have found to be true is that Madrileños live in a culture where they always ¨busca el sombra¨, which means look for shade. It gets scorchingly hot here in the summer (although it is more bearable than Kansas because it is dry) and they are outside a lot so they want to be in the shade walking down the street, in the parks, etc. Maria was giving me directions to a store (El Corte Ingles - a big department store where they have EVERYTHING) and she even told me which side of the street to walk on because of the sombra! Another interesting thing happened at the park...Eloisa needed to use the restroom and so we took her to a corner of the park and she went right there. Apparently not only is that legal, but it´s common, and there were people everywhere. It is certainly a different culture but I am enjoying seeing how others do things.

Javier met us at the park and I went with him to el mercado (essentially, a market). It is underground to keep it cool and different vendors sell their food - fish at one, meat at another, produce still another. We went to each one to pick up a few things for the next couple of days. I really liked the market because everything seemed so fresh as opposed to walking up and down the aisles of the grocery stores with tons of processed foods. Of course, with my dietetics background and food safety training I couldn´t help but think about how the butcher was not wearing gloves and that he was alternating between touching meat, his face, money, etc. Of course the meat will cook off any germs but I was wondering if someone was going to get sick by using that money or if he would get sick by having raw meat by his face! Afterwards, we went to a strictly German store to buy beer. I didn´t try any of the German beer but I did have a Spanish variety called Mahao which I liked pretty well. Of course, I requested peanut butter so we stopped to get some. They don´t really eat it so he wasn´t sure whether or not it needed to be refrigerated! Anyways, for dinner we had sardines (I know, can you believe how adventurous I am being?) and white asparagus with mayonnaise (I chose to forgo the mayo...) and of course oranges for dessert. Another wonderful day here in the city of Madrid!

Day 3

I thought I was adjusted to the time change but couldn´t get to sleep until 3 am last night! My room is really just too quiet, I am used to having a fan going at all times. I am learning how to do the little things around the house like set the alarm when I leave, run the laundry and dishwasher, and use the stove. It seems easy enough but it´s just different than what I am used to! Í´m not sure if I mentioned it before but all of the laundry hangs on a line outside my window that connects our flat to the one across the way. When Maria was showing me how to do the laundry, I asked what we were supposed to do with our underwear. She laughed and said that I was supposed to hang it out there too. FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE! I think I may figure out my own solution lol. I made my first meal today using stuff I found in the kitchen which was pretty interesting...I figured a safe bet was noodles, onions, and tomato sauce. I was right! They didn´t have spaghetti sauce so I literally used tomato sauce. And, Molly, they don´t refrigerate their milk because it´s the kind that doesn´t have to be cold! Hmmmm.

Today, I picked up Eloisa from school. The school is MASSIVE, it is just a few blocks away from their flat and is so beautiful it looks like something out of a movie. I can´t believe it´s a public school! All the kids wear uniforms, though. A ritual that I find interesting is that everyone heads straight to the park after school (it lasts until 5pm during the year, 3pm in the summer which starts next week). The park is insanely packed with little kids running around, strollers, and moms sitting on the sidelines chatting. I have never seen anything like it, it´s so hectic around there! And all of the moms seem to watch after all of the kids which is nice. It´s much more a sense of community even in the big city. I started my first day of speaking English with Eloisa while we were at the park and a little girl about 6 years old was fascinated by me because she was bilingual too! So cute. Eloisa is very bright and actually knows quite a lot more English than she lets on. She understands what I am saying but will pretty much only respond in Spanish. I think by the end of the summer that will change. We had dinner around 8pm (fish...hake, apparently. I have already had that and bass since I have been here and liked them both!) and then I read Eloisa the Cinderella (Cenicienta) book I gave her in English. She told her mom that she really enjoyed it so I am glad! I guess that is all for me today, I hope you are enjoying reading this.

Parte Dos

I just had to write a few more things as I can´t quite go to bed yet!

I took the Metro for the first time today (their form of public transportation) and I felt very comfortable with it after taking the El so many times in Chicago. The stations are much bigger though with really long wide hallways that connect the different lines and everything is underground. They are also very clean and many of them have been recently renovated. Each line is designated with a color and number and the signs list every stop made on that route. I have a feeling I will be using it a lot more in the near future as I continue to explore what the city has to offer.

I also met a few students participating in the Syracuse University study abroad program and we went to an Irish (go figure) bar to watch the big futbol game between Barcelona and Manchester. The bar was PACKED. And when I say packed...that is an understatement. Wall to wall people with barely any room to see the screens. It was a great atmosphere though! The audience was mostly Spanish guys but there were people from the UK too. Most Madrileños didn´t want Barcelona to win because that is their rival so the place wasn´t too happy when they won. I have never seen a bar so crazy over a sport before..not even big games back home! It did make me miss the smoking bans back home. Seems like every other person in Europe smokes!

Finally, I haven´t been able to set up Skype yet. My host family informed me that they only have 3 G of downloads each month with the Internet so I am waiting until tomorrow to ask permission. So be patient and soon we can chat :)

Buenas noches!

My first impressions

Hola a todos!

I have landed safely in Madrid and finally overcome that jet lag. It really only took a day but it was a rough adjustment. My first flight was out of KCI at 12:30 and I arrived in Madrid at what was 1am our time but was really 8am in Spain so just in time to start the day. I didn´t sleep at all on the plane and made it through the day until I took a brief siesta around 3:30. I had to go to bed at 9:30 because I was SO tired and tried to sleep in today too.

I thought a good way to start this blog would be to give me first impressions of the city-

The Family
They welcomed me with open arms! My room was decorated for me, including pictures my host mom (Maria) had framed of my family and friends back home. It felt very welcoming. The apartment is a flat in the city. It is on the 5th floor so we use the elevator and it is so tiny! It barely fit me and my suitcase, so if the whole family is there they need to take two trips. The two children are ADORABLE. Eloisa is 3 years old and extremely talkative. She was shy when she first met me, but she has quickly opened up. She is super smart and LOVES Hello Kitty! Francisco is 10 months and always smiling. He is much calmer than Eloisa but loves trying to push things so he can walk. Maria and I spent most of the first day together so we got to chat a lot. She is very interested in me learning as much Spanish as possible which is great! Javier is the father and the cook of the family. He works until at least 7pm so we didn´t get to share as much but he is also very friendly and warm. I feel very safe and well taken care of with this family.

The Lifestyle
Today I got to explore the city, but mostly just the area in which I live (it´s called Barrio Salamanca). I had read before that it was a ritzy area but walking around here I really see what they mean! The streets are narrow and seeing all of the cars parked is incredible...nothing but BMW´s, Mercedes and the like. A few streets over is the most "exclusive" street in Madrid - Calle Ortega y Gasset. It is lined with only stores like Dolce and Gabbana, Rolex, Prada, Chanel, etc. Nothing I can ever afford so I guess walking up and down will do! The Madrileños are stylish. I´m glad I didn´t bring a ton of t-shirts because those will definitely not do me well here. It was in the 70´s today but most everyone is still wearing long sleeves and pants! I didn´t bring much of that but it doesn´t matter to me because the weather is beautiful. I feel very safe in the city, it reminds me a lot of being in Chicago because I have already squeezed in a ton of walking. The taxis and buses are even cleaner than they were there! Once I take the Metro for the first time, that will be the real test. The only thing to watch is for pickpockets in the tourist areas and on the Metro but I bought a fully zippered bag that I can wear across my body and hold onto as I walk.

The Food
The first day here, Maria and I walked to downtown (Sol - the center of the city). We stopped around 10:30 am for a ¨cafe¨which is typical because lunch isn´t until later. She had a drink made with almonds that she said is very popular and I had a sweet lemon drink - basically lemonade but apparently with lots of sugar! It was so sweet (dulce) that I couldn´t finish it. We went to a restaurant around 1pm but they didn´t serve lunch until 1:30 (typical lunch time, usually even later) so we waited around and sipped on water. The Bardem family is really famous in Madrid, and the mother of Javier Bardem (of No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona) was dining at the table next to us! The menu was set with bread and mussels for appetizer, a first course, second course, and dessert. I chose the zanahorias (carrots) and tried some of Maria´s gazpacho. The gazpacho was delicious and is very popular in the summer. I then chose the fish for my second course and was a little surprised to see them pretty much only skinned and the heads still on with the eyes cut out! I have never eaten anything like that, but it still tasted good. I have a feeling that I will be eating a lot of seafood here - apparently Madrid is one of the top consumers of seafood in the world. Even my carrots had shrimp in them. Dessert is very common to be fresh fruit. Maria had melon, but I of course chose the chocolate mousse. Javier made dinner that night, which was a variety of sausages (including chorizo) and rice. We had crusty bread and a hard cheese for an appetizer. The flavors are very different than what I am used to and I am still adjusting. I may end up losing a little weight over here after all :) For dessert we had oranges and a sweet wine, which honestly tasted like raisins! And I can´t quite figure out what the Spanish foods in the pantry are, the family said I could write down any requests for the grocery store so I may just take them up on that. Today I went exploring and decided to have my lunch at Starbucks which was a nice reminder of home.

The Language
Not many people in Madrid speak English according to Maria, so I can´t fall back on that much. I have been taking Spanish for 9 years, which is evident in my knowledge of grammar when I read and write but it is still challenging to communicate. Madrileños speak very clearly (thank goodness I am not in Barcelona, where they speak Catalán and is a very different version of the Spanish I know) but quickly. Yesterday was the hardest for me because I took this past semester off from Spanish and we jumped right in talking only in Spanish which had my head going a little crazy when I had no sleep. Everyone is very understanding and helps me learn new vocabulary and doesn´t mind when I have to add in a little English. My host parents know English but they want me to immerse myself in Spanish so we only speak in Spanish. I think Maria could tell I was getting a little out of it over lunch yesterday and we spoke in English which was a nice break. The most challenging part is that I can´t passively listen to conversations, I have to listen intently to each word spoken and process and translate in my head and then do the same when formulating a response. I have a feeling I will improve a lot by the time I leave! I went around Madrid today to see if I could afford to join a gym while I was here and went to 3 places, communicating only in Spanish. It actually went over really well and I feel very proud that I was able to do that! The gyms were pretty spread out and I got lost a few times because the street signs aren´t on the stoplights, they are on small blue signs on the outside of buildings on the street corners. This means that it is easy to not be able to find these signs so I ended up passing the streets I meant to turn on a few times. Oh well, it was a learning experience and not too stressful because I had a map and was used to that feeling in Chicago.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I am enjoying myself a lot, and of course am missing everyone back home a lot.

Katie

Keep in touch!

This blog is to keep my friends and family updated on my travels in Spain this summer as I stay with a family in the center of Madrid.