I want to be a Roman when I grow up...

Today in class we talked about columns, arches, and magical buildings.

Sadly, I can't find a good article online to link to here. But we talked about the Pantheon in Rome. The ceiling is a dome, which is the largest unsupported dome ceiling in the world. It was built by the Romans, and it has a hole in the middle through which sun, rain, whatever can come. However, when you're inside, you have the sensation that the rain doesn't come in. This is due to several factors:
- in that area it is often windy, and the rain falls at an angle, therefore not entering the building, though it appears that it is.
- the Romans who built the Pantheon built an amazing drainage system, so that the floor does not stay wet, making it appear that the water isn't even falling.
- the building is very tall and light amounts of rain evaporate before falling all the way to the floor.

In all actuality, if it's pouring rain outside, you will get wet, although it won't really appear to be raining within the building.

We also talked about columns. The Greeks influenced the Roman columns, however, the Romans were very showy people and definitely wanted fancier columns than the Greeks had. So, just to confuse all the poor students of ancient architecture millenia later, they decided to mix all the basic styles of columns together and create a bazillion new types of columns and columnal decorations. Thank you, Romans. I appreciate it very much.

My apologies that this post is so incredibly lame - I haven't felt very well the last couple of days and therefore have been laying in bed watching Lion King instead of playing in Madrid like my group has. I also therefore have no pictures of my own to post. Instead, here is an excellent picture of the Pantheon:







Cool, eh? I thought so. I promise to not be lame and have something more interesting in the next few days. Friday we're going to Extremadura, which is on the western side of Spain, so that will be very cool. We also plan to tour the CCM (MTC) here in Madrid and see the temple Thursday night.



And as a side note, I drank Coca-Cola for the very first time yesterday. Not bad, though it definitely has a unique flavor!

All roads lead to the Puerta del Sol

It's true, actually. The Puerta del Sol is a massive plaza in the middle of Madrid that has roads spiking off of it like the rays of the sun - some of them you drive on, some are just for walking. Puerta del Sol is nicknamed "Spain's belly button." In reality, the real exact center of Spain is about 20 km away, but.... close enough. All carreteras - freeways/highways - start from Puerta del Sol. There's a little plaque saying "0 KM". All directions in Madrid are relative to Puerta del Sol, all streets are numbered according to how close they are to Puerta del Sol, etc, etc, etc.

This statue is of King Carlos III - 1700s - under whose reign Spain began to be recognized as a nation. (also note the massively huge billboard for the new Karate Kid movie - yeaaahhh!)

Puerta del Sol is only one of the cool things in Madrid. For our first day there (yesterday) we did a walking tour as a group of the old part of the city. Things that we passed by, that we will return to see more of later included:

Palacio Real: ---------->

Prado Museum:







We passed a lot of cathedrals and monasteries and other such places, as well as Cervantes' house (the guy who wrote Don Quixote - he's like the backbone of Spain), but I'll post more about them as we actually go to them.




Today Melanie and I explored Alcala. Historically. It was awesome! We discovered an archeology museum right here, 10 minutes away, that has displays from "the beginning of time" clear up through today. It talks a ton about Roman Spain, Celtic Spain, Spain during the Moorish control, during the middle ages, everything! We plan to go back often as we cover these eras in our History/Culture class. (and of course, everything's in Spanish - excellent!) :)

We also found an absolutely lovely cathedral that we want to go in - but we were half an hour late for the tour, so we'll go back.

This whole country is jam-packed with history, architecture, stories, buildings, museums, cathedrals, palaces, everything! We've seen a lot of the current culture - fairs, bowling, shops, etc - now I'm super excited to start learning about the past and all the eras and all the people who have been here before me. I never considered myself a "Europe person" until I started learning about Spain. Now I completely understand the attraction - there is sooo much history here!

How to run with bulls

1. Wear good shoes.
2. Don't be drunk (pretty much all the people that die have been drinking for the previous, oh I don't know, 100 hours).
3. Don't get stepped on. It's worse to be trampled than gored. Bulls weigh as much as a mid-size car.
4. Know something about bulls:

Here's the thing. Bulls don't have peripheral vision like you and I. They see what's straight ahead of them and not much else. So, if you're running with the bulls, and he's charging you like crazy, simply run off to the side of him and poof! you're gone. He doesn't see you, and he'll run after the next poor tourist that he can now see. Nearly all the people who die in Pamplona every year are extranjeros, or foreigners, who run in straight lines. And you cannot outrun the bull. I promise.

No, I have not been running with the bulls, but I DID go to the first day of my Spanish History/Culture class! It was more entertaining than any class I've ever had - our profe is amazingly fun!

History of running with the bulls: Back in the day, you know, when the Romans were out conquering people and such happenings, there were these little people living in the north of Spain. They tended to build their towns on hills. One year the Romans camped out to fight them - at the bottom of the hill. Instead of fighting, the people let their bulls out and drove them down the hill. Naturally, the Romans ran for their lives. Hence, running from bulls. :)

There's more legends, such as merchants driving them through the streets to cattle markets, etc, but I like that one best. In northern Spain in that time period, bulls were considered god-like. They are very muscular and impressive animals, and the people considered them "guerreros" or warriors. However, when a bull gets to be 11 or 12 years old, it gets old and decrepit and the death process is very slow and painful. The people did not see this as a fitting end for a god/warrior, so they decided that these animals should die in their "natural habitat" or, that is to say, a war. Hence the beginning of bullfighting. A suitable death for a noble warrior.

I definitely don't agree with bullfights - I think it's quite terrible, both for the poor bull and the torero (bullfighter), but it was cool learning the supposed origins of the activity.

A few more Spanish highlights:
- Spanish movies are not like American movies. They rarely have happy endings, and are not nearly as predictable as the American theater.
- In Spain, waiters/waitresses are paid normal salaries. Hence, people don't tip, or tip very little. The waiters obviously love when ignorant American tourists show up!
- The doorknob on our apartment is in the middle of the door. Very odd.
- If you get on the train at a station where the ticket machine is closed, and then get off, apparently nobody cares that you didn't pay... :S haha!

Viva Espana!

This is why I study abroad...

Primer dia de clases!

This morning my roommate, Melanie, got up to go running. Before she returned, I got up, and discovered the electricity was out and it was very, very dark. Then, a minute later, someone knocks on the door. I go and look out, and it's Melanie! Her key won't work. So I scramble to find mine in the dark, come to try to unlock the door (you have to have a key from both sides) only to discover Pilar's keys are still hanging in the keyhole, and that's why she couldn't use her key. So then she stumbles in in the darkness, and we try the lights again. So we go to wake Pilar, who shows us the fuse box. Turns out that for some reason the braker tripped while Melanie was out. Weird. Very weird. Definitely a great start to the day, though!

I have two classes MW, one class TTh.

One of the classes is basically whatever we want it to be. Attendance doesn't count if we're sick or whatever, we can read something different if what we're reading is boring, the final will be "as easy as possible..." love it. This will make the trip much more enjoyable. And with tiny classes (6, 7 people) it will be a lot more interesting.

After classes, today I got a little more "culture." I went with my host mom, Pilar, to the bank, because I needed to use the ATM, but didn't know how. We were waiting in line, and then it appeared to be our turn, so I start walking up, then the man starts talking to me in rapid Spanish, and Pilar is responding, and I'm just standing there, then she turns to me and explains it's not my turn, he was waiting for something. I felt quite silly... especially after he's looking at me like I'm crazy, and she says, oh, it's okay, she's only been here two days.... haha! At least after that he was much more friendly and sympathetic, once he knew why I was blatantly ignoring his instructions to "wait a minute"!

After the bank, we went shopping for almuerzo. Almuerzo is lunch, but it's the equivalent of dinner in the US. It's the BIG meal. Three or four plates. Everything in Spain closes up between 2 and 4 or 5, and everyone goes home to eat and take a nap during the hot part of the day. Literally. Nothing is open. At all. Anyway, Pilar and I went to the "fruteria" which is the fruit market. It was a little shop full of produce - vegetables and fruits. Just like the produce section of the grocery store.

After that, we stopped in the "papeleria" which literally is the paper shop. They have magazines, books, notebooks, pens, postcards, erasers, pencils, paper, everything paper related. Melanie and I are going to go back there sometime soon... they have some little notebooks with 101 Dalmations covers that will be perfect for recording random vocabulary in.

Today after classes, we also stopped at the "pasteleria" which is the dessert shop... :) We're celebrating a couple of birthdays tonight at FHE, so we bought a cake that has shaved chocolate on the top. I think it might've been a tad overpriced.. but it looks reaaaaaallllly good.... so that's okay... :)

As you can see, in Spain there's a lot of little specialized stores, especially in smaller towns like this. They do have supermarkets, of course, Correfours is similar to WalMart, only a bit smaller. But most of the town is apartment buildings, where the street level is little shops, then all the apartments are on the upper floors. I really like the setup. It's a lot more personal than going to WalMart all the time. You see your neighbors more, get to know the shopkeepers, etc.

Viva Espana!

The Church is still true, even in Spain

Today, Sunday, we went to church. First church outside of the USA! Very cool.

We took bus number 8, and arrived 25 minutes early. Maybe there will be another bus next week that arrives a bit later.

The building was beautiful! Very nice.

Melanie and me

Me!

When everyone else arrived, we had to meet some people. Meeting people in Spain is difficult. You kiss them on their cheeks. Once on each side. It's just the custom. However, I was first in line to meet this cute little older woman, and I for some reason panicked and only kissed one side, and there was a pause while I was flustered before the second one. She said something, I don't know what, and everyone around us just burst out laughing. I have no idea what they said, buuuuut... I was quite embarrassed. I know better... it was okay though, she didn't seem offended.

Church itself was very great, we had RS/Priesthood first, it was combined, I spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out what was going on, I thought it was Sacrament meeting, but there was no sacrament, and no primary kids! Finally I figured it out. As you can tell, I'm still having trouble understanding what's going on occasionally, but I'll get better with the Spanish as I go along.

One of my goals for this program is to gain a greater testimony of the Gospel in a world setting. It was cool to me that in this place that's so different, church was still the same. The Spirit was the same, the Gospel was the same, the people, though speaking a different language, were still bearing the same kinds of testimonies. It was very comforting, and I think it will help me feel less out of place if I remember that no matter where I am, the Spirit is always there with me.

First days and first impressions

Day two: Adventures with statues and plazas and streets and universities. But mainly statues.

Me and Melanie - my roommate, with a statue of Don Quixote!

Me in front of Alcala de Henares - the university

Our bedroom at Pilar's piso!

This morning we slept right through our alarm, but still woke up in time to get ready and go to the University for a tour. The tour guide talked really really fast, and I really didn't understand a lot of it, but the university is really cool. All together, it's actually a lot of buildings all over the place, but we toured the historical part. It was built in 1499, the fourth oldest university in Spain. In the 1800s it was converted into a textile factory, but was restored and repaired in the 1970s and is now a fully functional campus. Also, at some point in history, someone wanted to take it apart stone by stone to send to America for souvenirs/historical pieces, but the town got together and purchased the university to save it. We saw two courtyards and an inside room where they used to hold exams, but now hold the awards ceremony for some prestigious Spanish awards. It was very beautiful, with an especially pretty ceiling (see picture). The front of the university has statues of saints, and at the top is a statue representing God. (I'm sorry I don't have more specific info, but... they guy talked reaaaaaalllly fast...)

Sunday:

Last night we all - well, eight of us, two girls didn't go - went to the fair here in Alcala! It was pretty fun, just like the carnival in Utah, but Spanish. Some of the group went on a ride, I took pictures and held purses, but we all tried churros chocolates, which are basically flour/water fried in oil and covered in sort of bitterish chocolate. It was SO good, though! And really messy. There was music everywhere, and tons of people. They had the little arcade booths the same as in the US, throwing darts, shooting cans, shooting hoops, etc. Some of the people in our group did that, Lindsey shot an automatic BB gun at a target which was pretty fun to watch! They also had lots of booths with scarves and purses and various things for sale. Very cool.

Anyway, that's what I've been doing, now here are some of my impressions of Alcala and the Madrid area in general:

- The landscape, especially outside of Alcala, looks a LOT like Utah.
- It's reeeeeeeally hot. Like, really hot. And air conditioning no existe in our piso. That's okay.
- Spanish people apparently don't need to sleep as much as the rest of the world. They seem to all stay up until two in the morning.
- Everybody smokes. Apparently lung cancer hasn't been discovered over here... jk
- Grass hasn't been discovered either, apparently... that's okay though.
- All the cars are tiny! And there's nowhere to park them anyway!
- Everyone likes to interrupt each other. It makes it hard for me when I have a hard time putting together my sentences already. But it's a cultural thing I guess.
- TV seems to be a big deal, at least with Pilar. She has three, in her small piso, and it is ALWAYS on. that could just be because she lives alone, though, I'm not sure.
- They're big on saving the environment. You have to pay for a grocery bag, to encourage people to bring their own. Toilets don't use as much water. People take public transportation instead of cars a lot of times.
- There's no water fountains anywhere. I bought a water bottle to carry around with me.
- Jaywalking is apparently not a big deal in Alcala. When there's a big enough space between cars, walk wherever you want!
- Modesty has definitely not been discovered... but I was expecting that, of course! It's Europe, and it's hot, what can you expect?

Viva Espana!!

En Espana!

Adventure number one: airplanes. I made it through all my connections, made it through the long transatlantic flight, made it through customs with the other two girls on my flight, and we sat down to wait three hours for everyone else to get there - we arrived in Madrid Barajas about 7:15 am here. So we sat and talked in Spanish and played cards. Someone from the university was supposed to come with a bus and pick our whole group up. We went out to wait for them, and the bus came, and our profesora and two other students were still nowhere to be seen. By now, they're half an hour late, which turned into an hour, hour and a half, two hours, we're just sitting in the parking lot on this bus, waiting.

Finally they get hold of Profesora, and it turns out their flight came in way late, and so instead of looking to see if we were waiting, they assumed that we would've already left and just hopped a taxi and went to the rendezvous point in Alcala. We were pretty ticked about that - especially since no one had ever told any of us where we were going on said bus, and so we couldn't leave without her anyway, because we didn't know where we were going! It was very weird.

The bus took us to Alcala - a suburb of Madrid with cute narrow streets and apartment buildings. It's very European looking. They dropped us off at a public bus station where our families were waiting for us, and we were hustled away onto a public bus almost immediately with our host mom, Pilar, kissing our cheeks and grabbing our luggage and talking a mile a minute in Spanish. All of a sudden we're at the apartment and she's still talking and I was kind of like, what just happened! But it worked - Melanie and I unpacked while she made lunch.

They eat a lot here. Like, a LOT. The biggest meal of the day is "lunch" between 2 and 4. That's like a three course meal. I wasn't able to finish mine - I felt SO bad and explained over and over. I think we communicated the fact that we eat smallerish portions. We'll see how it goes. Then around 5 or 6 is Tapas, or appetizers, or tea/cookies/hot chocolate/fruit, depending what you want. Then about 9pm they have "dinner" which is a lot less than lunch, but still a full plate of food! Then for breakfast they'll have toast, fruit, whatever, something light. I've eaten SO much food today!

It's been an awesome day - I'm in Spain! Finally the day has come! I'm super tired, though, because of the jet lag/not having slept for about 48 hours, so my future blogs will make more sense. In the meantime, hasta la proxima vez! Chao!