Markets, Mérida, and Mountains

I've been so busy lately it is crazy. Last week we had orientation activities in which they told us about all the cultural faux-pas we've all been making since we got here. Some interesting facts: you NEVER are barefoot at home (always wear slippers), hands above the table as you eat, always say hello and goodbye when you enter/leave rooms, Spanish people don't say please or thank you as much as Americans (it is much more serious), people from Extremadura (the region I'm in) are extra impossible to understand, and much more.

We also got placed into our Spanish classes, and chose our University classes. My first day of class is tomorrow because today there is a general strike in Spain and the buses are not running. My first class is Archaeology of Rome (a University class with no one I know in it!) at 9 tomorrow morning-- school again? What? I'm also taking Teaching English as a foreign language with the University. My K classes (with only other students from my program) are Art and Culture, Images (some sort of culture class), and Spanish.

 On Wednesdays during the summer there's a huge outdoor market that happens, where they sell food, clothes, shoes, fabric, and jewlery. All the vendors are constantly shouting for your attention. "¡Un Euro, Un Euro, Un Euro!" (One Euro, but when they say it, it ends up sounding more like oon-eh-oorow-oon-eh-oorow-oon-eh-oorow).

All the food at the market looked so good. They had rows upon rows of fruit. Spanish fruit is so good. I don't know what's so different about it, but I've had the best peach of my life, and the sweetest melon ever here.

 They also had tons of vegetables (note the giant peppers), all sorts of breads and pastries, and of course jamón, chorizo, and queso (ham, sausage, and cheese for all my non-spanish speakers out there).
I actually went back to the market today and bought a ring and some cough drops (knock on wood I'm not getting sick).

We took a trip out to a contemporary art museam, el Museo Malpartida, created in an old wool washing facility by the German artist Vostell. The museam is out in the campo (countryside) and it was really refreshing to see some new landscape. There were also a ton of sheep, which was kind of cool to see. Vostell's art focused on critisim of today's consumer driven world, and the installations were very dark and mechanical. We then followed the docent out a door and suddenly found ourselves standing at the edge of a giant resevoir looking out over a stormy sky and beautiful rounded boulders. It was really breathtaking. It was the first day it wasn't overwhelmingly hot, and I was sad that we didn't have time to walk the path around the lake.

On the way into the museum.

Am I still in Spain?

On Saturday we had our first mini excursion to a town called  Mérida, which is only about 45 minutes away. Mérida is home to some of the most well preserved roman ruins around. It was so cool. Words probably can't do it justice, so I'll just show you:

Aquaducts

Second longest roman bridge

Amphitheater (interesting fact: sometimes they would fill it with water and have ship battles)

Theater

Me, Colleen, and the goddess of cereal (no joke)

Ruins of a GIANT roman house

Flan. My new obsession.

Among other things we did in Cáceres over the last week was to climb the mountain that overlooks the city. It isn't a mountain in the sense that you need gear to climb it, rather just a very large hill, but in Spain's flat landscape it's pretty impressive. The street winds up and up for a long time past gorgeous villas and endless landscape until you reach the top where there's a church and a huge statue of the patron saint of Cáceres, Santa María. There were tons of people walking up the mountain, and apprently there are many who get up and climb it at 5:30 every morning. I imagine the sunrise is amazing from up there.

You can see my university from the top. (Very small, but it's the lighter colored building just above the brick one in the middle right hand side)

Cáceres

View of the old city on the way back into town

The pictures I promised yesterday!

First view

Park-ish space that we walk through to get to town

Typical street

Plaza outside my apartment

Mi cuarto!

The view outside my window (another apartment building with a plaza in front)

First Impressions

It's hard to believe I've only been here two and a half days. It already feels like forever. Yesterday we had a quick tour of the city with our resident director and then all went home for la comida. After my siesta (I am whold-heartedly embracing the spanish lifestyle) I called up my vecino (neighbor) Lara and we walked around town for a bit. I was wearing some cute flats that I've worn before but never very far, resulting in gaping holes in my toes and bleeding heels. Ouch. I need to go buy some bandaids pronto.

Spaniards eat "cena" (dinner) at around 10, although my family doesn't really eat together, just when they're hungry. My padre cooked me some sachichas, which turned out to be hotdogs. After, I met up with some friends in el centro (downtown basically) and we went in search of bars. After much wandering, we eventually found one that was playing music and was full of young people.

As we were leaving the bar, we somehow got talking with a group of university students who knew one of last year's international students at K. We were a big hit with them, probably becuase we're foreign and therefore a novelty. They told us to come with them to a club and shouted out to all their friends "¡Estado Unidos!" (United States!). After walking all the way across town to the club, the line was way too long. At this point we though we'd just go home since it was 3 in the morning, but our new spanish friends convinced us to come to a different club. We came to a plaza filled with bars and clubs, but decided at that point to go to bed. Apparently the club they had been thinking of didn't actually open until 5 IN THE MORNING. Yes, that's right. This club opens after the others close. Then they serve breakfast around 9. (And thus the logic behind the siesta).

Today we had the day off so me and Lara wandered around and found a really pretty park. It was super hot, and we were really tempted to go swimming in the pond, but we figured that would be highly frowned upon so we restrained ourselves. We then walked to a greenspace that runs along the main road into town and met up with two other K girls. Everyone sits on benches here (mostly old people, but others too) and we ended up sitting for almost four hours talking.

To make this incredibly long post even longer, here's some pictures:

Just kidding, they're taking way to long to upload and I have to get up early tomorrow to go tour the University. I swear I'll post them soon.

¡Estoy aquí! Now when will it start to feel real?

We made it safely to Spain! Our flight from Philadelphia was late because we sat on the runway for over 2 hours waiting for other planes to take off. Of course I got no sleep so now I'm exhausted but it's ok because after la comida (lunch) is siesta. Yessss this is my kind of country.

We got through customs and met with our resident director to take a bus to Cáceres. Turns out it's a 4 hour bus ride (who told me it was 2??) but we stopped half way for noms and they gave us our orientation packets (FINALLY). They also gave us cell phones which was really nice but minutes are sooo expensive here so I don't think any of us will be using them much and definitely not to call home. The first thing I thought when I looked out the window on the plane was that everything was brown. This is true, but there's also a ton of really awesome trees and here in town there's actually some big parks and lots of palm trees.

When the bus pulled up all the padres (parents) were waiting on the sidewalk and called out our names as we got off the bus. They had already known who we were but they were unknown to us. Probably one of the most terrifying moments of my trip thus far. Mi madre Carmen greeted me immediately and introduced me to Paco (who I'm assuming is her husband although that was never officially stated). We then got my bags and Carmen held on to my arm as we crossed the insanely busy street. Cars don't stop for pedestrians here like they do in Ann Arbor. We made it to the car at which point my only reaction was "¡Estoy vivo!" (I'm alive!). When then drove to their apartment and took the littlest elevator ever up to the third floor. You had to push open the door of the elevator by hand...

I also have a sister named Carmen who I'm guessing is in her late 20s and a puppy named Sultan. My room is super cute (and purple) and I have my own bathroom. It's really hot in my room right now and I have no fan, but I suppose I'll get used to it. Apparently there was a huge storm last night here with hail and a tornado(?). I'm not always positive what they're saying to me although they say I speak Spanish well. Good sign, as I get the impression they do not speak english at all.

We all ate together in the cute little kitchen and everything was so good. We had some kind of soup with eggs and noodles in it, peppers stuffed with "carne" (meat), chicken, salad, fresh cheese, melon, and of course, bread. I'm stuffed. I also don't know how to say I'm full yet so I should probably look that up.

Anyway, I'll update more later. Now I'm going to nap and then my madre is going to show me around town.

¡Hasta luego!

Tres días (do I sense a hint of panic?)

I can't believe I leave for Chicago in three days. AAAAAAAHHHH. I know that I should be more prepared packing-wise, but I just can't seem to find a good place to start. I don't want to pack my clothes until everything's washed, but I don't want to pack anything else because I'm still using it all (toiletries, electronics etc). DILEMNA.

I've borrowed this from a great source of entertainment but I feel like it accurately describes my feelings whenever anyone asks me when I'm leaving (although I probably start out with a smile):

I'm sure I'll get over this soon enough. Anyway, I probably won't post anything else until I'm there as I'll be quite busy the next few days, but hopefully once I get settled I'll be able to post more regularly.

¡Hasta Luego!