Momentary abandonment of nearly all reason creates a surprisingly euphoric sense of liberation.
Doors open up before me. Barriers previously deemed so important crumble like miniature versions of the Berlin Wall, inhibitions and worries and fears fleeing before the dawn of endless possibilities flooding my mind. Faith cannot coexist with fear, and when fear is gone, the sun can rise on a beautiful new day. I pride myself on my practical nature. Abandoning practicality for a moment or two feels like skydiving into a whole new world, feels like standing on top of the tallest mountain in the blazing sunrise, feels like leaping into a pool of the clearest water imaginable.
Freedom. Sometimes the chains that bind us are not those imposed by dictators or wars or prison guards. I am my own captor, and my prisoner is myself. As binding as the chains in a prison camp are the chains of fear and insecurity, the defenses against all the "what if"s that I ask myself a thousand times a day. Release from the bonds of needing to see the end from the beginning is learning to live in the sunlight instead of the shadow.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Treasure and dead people
Trip 8 - El Escorial, Segovia - aaaand Halloween!
Friday - El Escorial.
Honestly, El Escorial was slightly anticlimactic - a very large palace/monastery/thing in the bottom of which were interred a LOT of kings and queens and royalty of Espana. It was definitely sort of weird thinking I was in a room with 50 or so dead people from the 1500s... pretty cool, though.
We also went to Manzanares - El Real - a castle near El Escorial. This is my favorite favorite castle in Spain - there's a picture of it hanging on my bedroom door at home. I just thought it looked so cool. However, after visiting it, it was not near as cool as anticipated. I like Coco Castle better - see my early post about our trip to Leon and Burgos - that castle was better. Manzanares is a re-build, and the inside's been turned into a museum, so, not as authentic. Still nice though.
Manzanares castle
Manzanares El Real - castle
Saturday - Segovia. I actually really liked Segovia. It was really pretty, with lots of fall leaves and colors. It was rainy and cold, but it was very fall-ish.
Rachel, Carina, and I jumping in leaves. Yes, our expressions are really weird... the camera blurred a bit.
In Segovia we visited the Alcazar, a royal palace - very famous. It's actually the palace the Disney castle most resembles! (see picture below). It made me miss Disneyland. The Alcazar is also where Christopher Columbus originally approached Isabel and Fernando to ask them about going to America. (Although, our guide said that, but I feel like I've been told like three different places this happened... I think every city wants their palace to be the one he went to...)
On top of one of the towers of the Alcazar, with the Segovia cathedral in the background.
Friday - El Escorial.
Honestly, El Escorial was slightly anticlimactic - a very large palace/monastery/thing in the bottom of which were interred a LOT of kings and queens and royalty of Espana. It was definitely sort of weird thinking I was in a room with 50 or so dead people from the 1500s... pretty cool, though.
We also went to Manzanares - El Real - a castle near El Escorial. This is my favorite favorite castle in Spain - there's a picture of it hanging on my bedroom door at home. I just thought it looked so cool. However, after visiting it, it was not near as cool as anticipated. I like Coco Castle better - see my early post about our trip to Leon and Burgos - that castle was better. Manzanares is a re-build, and the inside's been turned into a museum, so, not as authentic. Still nice though.
Manzanares castle
Manzanares El Real - castleSaturday - Segovia. I actually really liked Segovia. It was really pretty, with lots of fall leaves and colors. It was rainy and cold, but it was very fall-ish.
Rachel, Carina, and I jumping in leaves. Yes, our expressions are really weird... the camera blurred a bit.In Segovia we visited the Alcazar, a royal palace - very famous. It's actually the palace the Disney castle most resembles! (see picture below). It made me miss Disneyland. The Alcazar is also where Christopher Columbus originally approached Isabel and Fernando to ask them about going to America. (Although, our guide said that, but I feel like I've been told like three different places this happened... I think every city wants their palace to be the one he went to...)
The Alcazar - see the Disney castle resemblance on the right side/tower part?
On top of one of the towers of the Alcazar, with the Segovia cathedral in the background.
Friday night we also went to a YSA Halloween dance at the stake center in Madrid. It was a costume dance; Dallin, one of the guys in our group, dressed up like Edward from Twilight, and he had an avid following of picture-taking girls the whole night. At one point seven or eight of them ran up, squealing, joined hands in a circle and danced around him. It was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. The dance was great fun, though; it was very similar to stake dances in Utah, though there were fewer people, and they played a LOT of Latin dancing music, to which I can't dance - I'm not good enough friends with my hips to dance like that... :D
From left to right: David/Mexican soap opera character, Spanish girl, Spanish guy, Spanish friend Susie/hippie, me/cowgirl, Lindsey/Pocahontas, Kenneth/Hot Rod, Rachel/genie
(yes, I know I was sorta blinking here... but... it's the best I've got :D)
From left to right: David/Mexican soap opera character, Spanish girl, Spanish guy, Spanish friend Susie/hippie, me/cowgirl, Lindsey/Pocahontas, Kenneth/Hot Rod, Rachel/genie(yes, I know I was sorta blinking here... but... it's the best I've got :D)
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Unexpected Adventures...
So Rachel and I decided to take a little trip into Madrid today - hit up some museums, maybe eat some authentic food...
We had a map, I promise.
The reading of the map proved more difficult than we'd anticipated.
After wandering in a forest (aka, large city park) for what seemed like HOURS, we determined we needed to be on the other side of the six-laned freeway.
That would be when we noticed the massive tower with the sign saying "Museo de America" on it. We're brilliant, and blind, apparently.
After having spent 45 minutes of wandering in circles we arrive at the museum.
We then decide to practice our international espionage skills, because somehow we've managed to arrive at the exact moment as our professor and her parents - talk about weird timing, seriously, of all the museums they could've gone to today, they had to pick this one?
We dodge them for a bit, and finally realize it's hopeless and give in and say hi. Despite Rachel's fabulous Charlie's Angels sneaking skills.
We then head over to the famous National Library, full of old, old books in display cases.
Rachel about dies of excitement when she FINALLY sees the old, old Darwin book on evolution that she was SO hoping to see, and just as she lifts the camera...
The security guard comes over and tells us NO PICTURES.
We try to use the espionage skills to come back and take one anyway, but he's following us around. Laaaaame.
So then we're starving.
And what restaurant do we happen upon, but the Cafe Gijon!!! (Only the most awesome cafe in Madrid, where intellectuals, artists, writers, poets, etc have been eating lunch for the past 100 years.)
We're a bit underdressed, but we go in anyway.
We can't understand the waiter's accent, the food was all seafood stuff, and they didn't have Fanta. But it was SO COOL! We felt intellectual. And famous.
On our way back to the Metro, we see a massive, impressive building. We try to go in, but the police officer outside informs us it's closed. I think if we'd taken another step he was ready to tackle us.
We find a street stand and buy ridiculous numbers of postcards for our scrapbooks, meet a couple from Colorado, walk through a creepy tunnel to get to the Metro, and fall asleep on the train home.
Oh you know, just another day in Spain... :D
We had a map, I promise.
The reading of the map proved more difficult than we'd anticipated.
After wandering in a forest (aka, large city park) for what seemed like HOURS, we determined we needed to be on the other side of the six-laned freeway.
That would be when we noticed the massive tower with the sign saying "Museo de America" on it. We're brilliant, and blind, apparently.
After having spent 45 minutes of wandering in circles we arrive at the museum.
We then decide to practice our international espionage skills, because somehow we've managed to arrive at the exact moment as our professor and her parents - talk about weird timing, seriously, of all the museums they could've gone to today, they had to pick this one?
We dodge them for a bit, and finally realize it's hopeless and give in and say hi. Despite Rachel's fabulous Charlie's Angels sneaking skills.
We then head over to the famous National Library, full of old, old books in display cases.
Rachel about dies of excitement when she FINALLY sees the old, old Darwin book on evolution that she was SO hoping to see, and just as she lifts the camera...
The security guard comes over and tells us NO PICTURES.
We try to use the espionage skills to come back and take one anyway, but he's following us around. Laaaaame.
So then we're starving.
And what restaurant do we happen upon, but the Cafe Gijon!!! (Only the most awesome cafe in Madrid, where intellectuals, artists, writers, poets, etc have been eating lunch for the past 100 years.)
We're a bit underdressed, but we go in anyway.
We can't understand the waiter's accent, the food was all seafood stuff, and they didn't have Fanta. But it was SO COOL! We felt intellectual. And famous.
On our way back to the Metro, we see a massive, impressive building. We try to go in, but the police officer outside informs us it's closed. I think if we'd taken another step he was ready to tackle us.
We find a street stand and buy ridiculous numbers of postcards for our scrapbooks, meet a couple from Colorado, walk through a creepy tunnel to get to the Metro, and fall asleep on the train home.
Oh you know, just another day in Spain... :D
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Recent Randomness
- After our short afternoon in France, I've decided French is actually pretty cool.
- Today we went to the Madrid temple and did baptisms! All the workers there right now were from Bordeaux, France. I read the Introduction the the Book of Mormon in French while in the chapel, and was surprised at how much I understood.
- I have officially decided to learn French again - you know, along with my native Spanish, which will always and forever be my first love.
- I love Spanish very much. In fact, I might cry when I have to start speaking English full-time again. Today I couldn't remember the English word for something. It made me so happy.
- I get to register for winter classes tomorrow - and I'm superexcited for my schedule!
- I started knitting a scarf! But I'm a perfectionist, and I'm going to start again, because I made it way too wide. But I'm super excited - I can knit!
- I think I want to go to spring term this year.
- It's almost 2011 - and that scares me. I can't believe it.
- I've basically stopped doing my hair since coming to Spain - my hairdryer barely works and my straightener doesn't, so, what's the point. Surprisingly, life has gone on as normal. I kind of like it sometimes.
- I have the best host mom of the whole study abroad. The Spanish have officially surrendered in the Spanish-American Food Wars - and now she still loves me even though I hardly ever eat all my food. And she's teaching me to knit, and she likes to talk to me. Love :)
- I'm going to go to the Canary Islands for four days at the end of this program! I'm very excited about this. I have learned on this program that I have a deep love of the ocean.
- I wrote a poem today in Spanish. I'm quite proud of how it turned out.
Random things about Spain you might not have known:
- Grass seems to be pets' litterboxes. People look at you weird if you sit on the grass. They look at you even weirder if you're doing exercises on it. We went running the other day, and worked our abs afterward.
- People live with their parents til they're 35 or married. It's weird to move out. Weird.
- You have to pay for grocery bags at the grocery store, you have to bag your own groceries, basically nothing is free... haha.
- Doggy bags at restaurants? Yeah right. You'll get some suuuuper weird looks and probably a refusal.
- Something like 55% of the people in Madrid are over 50. There's lots of little cute old couples walking around.
I love Spain, Spanish, languages, linguistics, the temple, Harry Potter, poetry, and Nutella.
Life is amaaaaazing!
- Today we went to the Madrid temple and did baptisms! All the workers there right now were from Bordeaux, France. I read the Introduction the the Book of Mormon in French while in the chapel, and was surprised at how much I understood.
- I have officially decided to learn French again - you know, along with my native Spanish, which will always and forever be my first love.
- I love Spanish very much. In fact, I might cry when I have to start speaking English full-time again. Today I couldn't remember the English word for something. It made me so happy.
- I get to register for winter classes tomorrow - and I'm superexcited for my schedule!
- I started knitting a scarf! But I'm a perfectionist, and I'm going to start again, because I made it way too wide. But I'm super excited - I can knit!
- I think I want to go to spring term this year.
- It's almost 2011 - and that scares me. I can't believe it.
- I've basically stopped doing my hair since coming to Spain - my hairdryer barely works and my straightener doesn't, so, what's the point. Surprisingly, life has gone on as normal. I kind of like it sometimes.
- I have the best host mom of the whole study abroad. The Spanish have officially surrendered in the Spanish-American Food Wars - and now she still loves me even though I hardly ever eat all my food. And she's teaching me to knit, and she likes to talk to me. Love :)
- I'm going to go to the Canary Islands for four days at the end of this program! I'm very excited about this. I have learned on this program that I have a deep love of the ocean.
- I wrote a poem today in Spanish. I'm quite proud of how it turned out.
Random things about Spain you might not have known:
- Grass seems to be pets' litterboxes. People look at you weird if you sit on the grass. They look at you even weirder if you're doing exercises on it. We went running the other day, and worked our abs afterward.
- People live with their parents til they're 35 or married. It's weird to move out. Weird.
- You have to pay for grocery bags at the grocery store, you have to bag your own groceries, basically nothing is free... haha.
- Doggy bags at restaurants? Yeah right. You'll get some suuuuper weird looks and probably a refusal.
- Something like 55% of the people in Madrid are over 50. There's lots of little cute old couples walking around.
I love Spain, Spanish, languages, linguistics, the temple, Harry Potter, poetry, and Nutella.
Life is amaaaaazing!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Forever memories
The sense of smell is the most powerful memory in the human mind.
You never really forget smells. You might forget what they are, but even if it's been years and years, you'll recognize a smell when you smell it again.
Today I was walking down a street in Spain, talking about something with a friend, and suddenly I wasn't in Spain anymore, I was in a tent with the sun shining through the pine trees, using an old foot pump to blow up an air mattress that smelled strongly of plasticky rubber.
Memories attached to smells are so vivid.
Some of my best memories smell like bubblegum chapstick, warm apple cider, wet grass in the early morning, movie theater popcorn, salty ocean air, new suit straight from the store, french fries, and mountains.
If only I could capture it, remember it, hold moments in a bottle, perhaps preserved like cologne, keep them in a closet labeled Scents of the Past, release them only in the desperate moments where I feel like the memories are rapidly unraveling, slipping through the cracks of my mind, keep them from escaping the confines of my heart.
You never really forget smells. You might forget what they are, but even if it's been years and years, you'll recognize a smell when you smell it again.
Today I was walking down a street in Spain, talking about something with a friend, and suddenly I wasn't in Spain anymore, I was in a tent with the sun shining through the pine trees, using an old foot pump to blow up an air mattress that smelled strongly of plasticky rubber.
Memories attached to smells are so vivid.
Some of my best memories smell like bubblegum chapstick, warm apple cider, wet grass in the early morning, movie theater popcorn, salty ocean air, new suit straight from the store, french fries, and mountains.
If only I could capture it, remember it, hold moments in a bottle, perhaps preserved like cologne, keep them in a closet labeled Scents of the Past, release them only in the desperate moments where I feel like the memories are rapidly unraveling, slipping through the cracks of my mind, keep them from escaping the confines of my heart.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Complete and total beauty
Trip 7 (I think?) - Santander, Bilbao, FRANCE, San Sebastian -
Four days of fabulousness. Main focus: beaches. This is the northern coast of Spain, and it is completely gorgeous - beaches, greenery, mountainy hills, all rolled into one makes for total beauty! I'll let the pictures talk for themselves this post.
Santander
Beach in Santander
On the beach in Santander
Cool cemetery outside Santander
Beach in St Jean de Luz, France! It says "I love you" :D
Melanie and I in Biarritz, France
Patisserie in St Jean de Luz, France
Beach in St Jean de Luz, France
San Sebastian - Playa de la Concha (shell-shaped beach - super famous)
The beautiful view of San Sebastian - northern coast of Spain
Four days of fabulousness. Main focus: beaches. This is the northern coast of Spain, and it is completely gorgeous - beaches, greenery, mountainy hills, all rolled into one makes for total beauty! I'll let the pictures talk for themselves this post.
Santander
Beach in Santander
On the beach in Santander
Cool cemetery outside Santander
Beach in St Jean de Luz, France! It says "I love you" :D
Melanie and I in Biarritz, France
Patisserie in St Jean de Luz, France
Beach in St Jean de Luz, France
San Sebastian - Playa de la Concha (shell-shaped beach - super famous)
The beautiful view of San Sebastian - northern coast of SpainProbably my favorite part of the trip was visiting France. It was cool being in a country where I really, really don't speak the language. Although we were so close to the border that most of them spoke English or Spanish, so we didn't really have trouble communicating for the most part. It was a cool experience. I love study abroad. Even though there've been some problems, and some disappointments, overall this has been the most amazing and biggest growing experience I think I've ever had. One month left. SAD!!!!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Walls and Skulls and Astronauts and Chocolate
Trip 6 - Avila, Salamanca,
Basically I haven't blogged about this trip yet because it was pretty ordinary and there wasn't a ton to say. But we went first to Avila. Avila is famous for walls surrounding all the old part of the city. While there, we went up on said walls and watched a parade/procession of sorts. It was pretty cool - it was the Day of Santa Teresa of Avila, so they were having a religious procession/festival.
The walls of Avila
Later that day we went to Salamanca. Salamanca is home to the University of Salamanca - the oldest in Spain and fourth oldest in the world. It has a super cool plataresque facade (yes, I did just use both those words AND I know what they mean, go me) and it is also home to Cathedrals (plural). There's two cathedrals connected - one is older than the other by about 300 years. They're both two different styles of architecture, so they're pretty cool to look at.
Old building? I think not... haha. This is carved around the door of the cathedral. The building is old, but this part of the carvings was redone in the 90s, and they carved an astronaut in to celebrate modern science. Another part shows a dragon eating an ice cream cone. Way cool.
This is the facade of the University of Salamanca. Ask me sometime - I can label all the plataresque characteristics for you. (we had a test today, so I know stuff now :P)
Casa de las Conchas
So there was this man whose daughter married nobility - thereby giving him new social status. To show off his new status to the world, he did this to his house. The conchas, or shells, are part of the family crest of the family his daughter married into. Show-off...
We spent the night in Salamanca, and visited Toro and Tordecillos the next day - two small towns with a lot of churches. Suffice it to say, we were ready to be done with the churches by the time we left. I really am starting to believe they want us to come home Catholic, with all the churches we visit. However, we did see the first little bit of Mass when in Avila, which was pretty cool, not going to lie.
Basically I haven't blogged about this trip yet because it was pretty ordinary and there wasn't a ton to say. But we went first to Avila. Avila is famous for walls surrounding all the old part of the city. While there, we went up on said walls and watched a parade/procession of sorts. It was pretty cool - it was the Day of Santa Teresa of Avila, so they were having a religious procession/festival.
The walls of Avila
Old building? I think not... haha. This is carved around the door of the cathedral. The building is old, but this part of the carvings was redone in the 90s, and they carved an astronaut in to celebrate modern science. Another part shows a dragon eating an ice cream cone. Way cool.
This is the facade of the University of Salamanca. Ask me sometime - I can label all the plataresque characteristics for you. (we had a test today, so I know stuff now :P)
Casa de las Conchas
So there was this man whose daughter married nobility - thereby giving him new social status. To show off his new status to the world, he did this to his house. The conchas, or shells, are part of the family crest of the family his daughter married into. Show-off...
We spent the night in Salamanca, and visited Toro and Tordecillos the next day - two small towns with a lot of churches. Suffice it to say, we were ready to be done with the churches by the time we left. I really am starting to believe they want us to come home Catholic, with all the churches we visit. However, we did see the first little bit of Mass when in Avila, which was pretty cool, not going to lie.
Random picture of me in Tordecillo, before visiting a monastery - Lindsey took this and I really liked it. There was a really pretty view of a river up at the top of this street.
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