I ventured into my culinary skills, well baking skills I guess. I made chocolate chip cookies on a Sunday morning because I was really craving them. I can't say that it was a complete fail, however there are some things worth mentioning:
1. Brown sugar here is more like cane sugar, or in a more natural form, which equals not as good cookies (darn).
2. Cream of tartar is not a common ingredient here for baking, it's used with meats?
3. Not all stores sell chocolate chips (what?!?!?!) We had to go to a special grocery store, and the chocolate chips were subpar compared to Nestle Toll House/Hershey's Milk Chocolate/Ghirardelli/any kind of chocolate chips that we have in the U.S.
4. Conversions from cups to grams is a pain.
5. Using Google Translate to change the ingredients from English to Spanish saved my life.
6. My host fam. enjoyed them and my host mom brought some over to her sister (I only know this because my friend Claire lives at this house and told me that my host mom had visited and had brought some over). So I would say that it was a semi-successful venture. One of the first things I will do when I get home is to make chocolate chip cookies, and eat the batter, and probably eat the whole batch for that matter. Can't wait.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Cuenca
Next item on the list: Cuenca. I went to Cuenca with the University, mainly because it was free and I had nothing better to do with my Friday. Plus I probably wouldn't have gone on my own since it's 2 and a half hours away from where I live. So off I went with the classes that were going.Cuenca is a unique city because it has "Casas Colgadas," which pretty much means that the town has houses that are built into the cliffs. I would like to tell you that I know more about them, but this wasn't a field trip for my class, so I mainly focused on taking pictures.
When we got there, it was rainy (of course the rain follows me everywhere). We walked across a bridge to get to a casa colgada, which just so happened to be a modern art museum? We had a tour guide, and man did she love art! She spoke very fast, but the weird thing was, I actually could understand her! Yay Spanish skills! But I was surprised at how interested I was in the art because I normally don't like modern art. My favorite piece was of a model, but at first I couldn't tell it was supposed to be a high fashion super model. It was only when I was sitting, looking from an angle. Can you see her? Guess I just need a little more exposure to this type of art.
After the art museum, we were given some free time. My friend Nicole and I decided to walk around the city and opted not to go for lunch since we had both brought a lunch. We roamed and found some pretty scenic overlooks (by accident), and it's always fun to see what you can find. I think my quote for my time in Spain is the North Face logo: "Never Stop Exploring." You may find it cheesy, I'll admit it is, but it's so true. I want to explore every city I go to, and I'm trying to see as much as I can in the limited amount of time that I have! The town of Cuenca is kind of what I expected Alcalá to be like, small little streets, brightly painted houses, big cathedrals, etc. Don't get me wrong, Alcalá is wonderful, but sometimes it feels a little more modern than some of the other cities that I have visited.
Carnaval in Cadiz, Cuenca, Cookies, y Castillos...but first Carnaval...
So as you may know the blog died for awhile. But due to a large amount of complaints *cough Norm cough*, the blog is back up and running. As you can see from the title, I have been rather busy participating in many activities that begin with the letter C? So to begin, Carnaval in Cadiz.
So, we get to our hotel at around 7:00 and the guy at the front desk gives us a funny look. He looks at his registration papers, and says that we're not supposed to be arriving until 7:00 P.M. P.M., not A.M. When I filled out the info. online, I put 7:00 because I just figured that would be fine. Haha no. So after talking with the man in very broken Spanish, he finally understood that there had been a miscommunication. He said that we couldn't get our room until 11:00, so we would have to wait. My friend Nina looked at me and said, "¿Qué hacemos?" (What are we going to do). I just responded with "Andar" (To walk). Give me a break, it was early. The guy started to seriously feel bad for us because he said that he would let us into another room, and not charge us the fee but if his boss asked, we got in at 10:00, so not to come downstairs. How nice of him, it probably helped that Nina has blonde hair. Just sayin'. So we slept for a few hours before meeting up with our friends from Albion to head downtown to Cadiz.
The first day, Friday, was not a successful day for Carnaval. The weather was terrible and there were no signs of a Carnaval anywhere. We walked around in the rain trying to find people dressed up but there was no one. After talking to some locals, we came to discover that the Carnaval officially begins on Saturday. Shoot a day early. So we walked around for awhile, exploring beaches, sitting in Ben and Jerry's, and trying to stay out of the rain. It was a fun day regardless, but I was glad to get home and take a really long hot shower.
The next day was like the exact opposite. Nina and I got up early to explore Jerez and it is a beautiful southern town of Spain. It had orange trees lining the streets and cute little plazas with quaint cafes on the outskirts. We stumbled upon old churches and even a castle. Quite the adventurers.
Saturday in Cadiz was very different than the previous day. Let's just say Carnaval is like Halloween only on steroids. There were so many people dressed up in ridiculous costumes! I would put some of my favorites on here, but they might not be suitable for children and I'm not exactly sure who even reads this blog. But the weather held up and it was a pretty nice day. We walked around pretty much all of Cadiz multiple times, which I guess is one of the oldest towns in all of Spain. For awhile, we just sat on the sea wall, looking out at the ocean. Yes, I sat by the ocean in February and it was warm out. Life is good. It was also warm enough to eat ice cream/gelato. Oh wait, it's always a good time to eat gelato! It's amazing how things look so much nicer when it's sunny. But all in all, it was a successful day of people watching and I'm glad we went. Definitely haven't seen some of those costumes in the U.S., but then again maybe they will appear next year. Let's hope not. I would label this as a very successful first trip. ¡Yay Cadiz!
A couple weekends ago, I went to Carnaval in the southern part of Spain. It was an 8 hour bus ride, and let's just say it was a rather long bus ride. We got to Jerez de la Frontera (the town we stayed in because all the hotels in Cadiz were completely booked) at 5:30 in the morning and nothing was open. Nina and I hadn't exactly looked up where our hotel was because we knew generally where it was, so we began walking around trying to find it. We failed and ended up getting a taxi. It was raining and cold.
So, we get to our hotel at around 7:00 and the guy at the front desk gives us a funny look. He looks at his registration papers, and says that we're not supposed to be arriving until 7:00 P.M. P.M., not A.M. When I filled out the info. online, I put 7:00 because I just figured that would be fine. Haha no. So after talking with the man in very broken Spanish, he finally understood that there had been a miscommunication. He said that we couldn't get our room until 11:00, so we would have to wait. My friend Nina looked at me and said, "¿Qué hacemos?" (What are we going to do). I just responded with "Andar" (To walk). Give me a break, it was early. The guy started to seriously feel bad for us because he said that he would let us into another room, and not charge us the fee but if his boss asked, we got in at 10:00, so not to come downstairs. How nice of him, it probably helped that Nina has blonde hair. Just sayin'. So we slept for a few hours before meeting up with our friends from Albion to head downtown to Cadiz.
The first day, Friday, was not a successful day for Carnaval. The weather was terrible and there were no signs of a Carnaval anywhere. We walked around in the rain trying to find people dressed up but there was no one. After talking to some locals, we came to discover that the Carnaval officially begins on Saturday. Shoot a day early. So we walked around for awhile, exploring beaches, sitting in Ben and Jerry's, and trying to stay out of the rain. It was a fun day regardless, but I was glad to get home and take a really long hot shower.
The next day was like the exact opposite. Nina and I got up early to explore Jerez and it is a beautiful southern town of Spain. It had orange trees lining the streets and cute little plazas with quaint cafes on the outskirts. We stumbled upon old churches and even a castle. Quite the adventurers.
Saturday in Cadiz was very different than the previous day. Let's just say Carnaval is like Halloween only on steroids. There were so many people dressed up in ridiculous costumes! I would put some of my favorites on here, but they might not be suitable for children and I'm not exactly sure who even reads this blog. But the weather held up and it was a pretty nice day. We walked around pretty much all of Cadiz multiple times, which I guess is one of the oldest towns in all of Spain. For awhile, we just sat on the sea wall, looking out at the ocean. Yes, I sat by the ocean in February and it was warm out. Life is good. It was also warm enough to eat ice cream/gelato. Oh wait, it's always a good time to eat gelato! It's amazing how things look so much nicer when it's sunny. But all in all, it was a successful day of people watching and I'm glad we went. Definitely haven't seen some of those costumes in the U.S., but then again maybe they will appear next year. Let's hope not. I would label this as a very successful first trip. ¡Yay Cadiz!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
El Carnaval in Cadiz
It's finally the weekend! Not that the week days are long here, and I love not having classes on Friday because it makes the week go by so so fast. I'm leaving tonight and taking an 8 hour bus ride to Cadiz with my friend Nina. I will get to Cadiz at 5:30 tomorrow morning, but we get to check in to our hotel when we get there so we can rest before going out. Two of my friends from Albion are going as well, but they will be getting in at a more normal time because they are taking a later bus. The weather forecast for the weekend shows rain for the whole weekend, which I hope is not the case. But in case of rain, I have my rain coat and my umbrella, so I'm good to go even if it pours!
In other news, today was significant for two reasons. One, I've been here for an entire month and cannot believe it! Time has gone by so fast but at the same time, I feel like I've been here for a long time. It's a little bizarre and I've done so much in a month, and the great thing is I have three more months to go! Number two on the list of significant things about today is that I received my first grade in Spanish. They do grading a little different here and everything is on a number scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. I got a 10 on my LA Lit. paper that I stayed up really late writing, and I was really pleased because getting a perfect grade here is so much more difficult than at home.
Overall, I'm enjoying my classes. In my Lit class we are talking about Sor Juana, which luckily I have read some of her stuff before so it's a little bit of review. In my Spain and the U.S. class we discussed the differences between the Spanish Civil War and the American Civil War, and I'm starting to realize just how little I know about the world and it's history. I'm also realizing that my American history is a little rusty as well. Grammar is grammar, no matter what part of the world you are in. But I have to finish packing my backpack for the weekend. All my love to everyone back home in the snow storms! Have good weekends wherever you may be!
In other news, today was significant for two reasons. One, I've been here for an entire month and cannot believe it! Time has gone by so fast but at the same time, I feel like I've been here for a long time. It's a little bizarre and I've done so much in a month, and the great thing is I have three more months to go! Number two on the list of significant things about today is that I received my first grade in Spanish. They do grading a little different here and everything is on a number scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. I got a 10 on my LA Lit. paper that I stayed up really late writing, and I was really pleased because getting a perfect grade here is so much more difficult than at home.
Overall, I'm enjoying my classes. In my Lit class we are talking about Sor Juana, which luckily I have read some of her stuff before so it's a little bit of review. In my Spain and the U.S. class we discussed the differences between the Spanish Civil War and the American Civil War, and I'm starting to realize just how little I know about the world and it's history. I'm also realizing that my American history is a little rusty as well. Grammar is grammar, no matter what part of the world you are in. But I have to finish packing my backpack for the weekend. All my love to everyone back home in the snow storms! Have good weekends wherever you may be!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Los Calamaris y Zucchini
I started out today a little rough because I was up waaay too late last night trying to finish my paper for Latin American Lit. The important thing is that it got done and my professor received it (which is a miracle since I have a Mac and it dislikes Word). Last night's festivities included the LA paper, Sor Juana reading, Grammar composition, and Spain and the US reading exercises. Most homework since I've been here. But on a positive note, I got my first letter yesterday from Nate so that was exciting! ¡Muchas gracias! (Yes I figured out how to do the upside down question mark finally)
Needless to say, I was not pleased when my alarm went off this morning. And since I have to get up earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my grammar class, I was in an extra good mood when I walked to class. I didn't understand why when I got to my class finally, there was no one there. Weird. Class starts at 9:00 A.M. and after 10 minutes it's considered an absence (which is silly since Spaniards are usually not on time, but my prof is psycho about being punctual). Most of my classmates get there right at 9, so I sat by myself for 10 minutes until I realized that something was wrong.
Yup, I definitely missed the memo that class was cancelled because my director/professor sent out a text message at 6:30 in the morning to inform us that class was cancelled because she was sick. I never check my phone in the morning because I never get texts here and it was on silent (because my director will sometimes send us texts during class and I don't want to be the idiot scrambling to turn my phone off in my large bag during class), but I will for sure be checking my phone more often in hopes of discovering something sweet like this on Tuesdays and Thursdays! It will probably never happen again, but I can dream big every once in awhile.
So I just chilled and did homework for an hour and a half until my next class, so it really wasn't too bad. The crappy part is that she is requiring us to make up the class by having a tutoring session on our own time. Fail. That's the last thing I want to do during my free time, so tomorrow I have to come back to school at night to make up today's class. Boo.
Today I took a 3 hour nap because siestas have been absent from my life lately. The most interesting part of my day was definitely dinner or "La Cena." The food for dinner today consisted of yup, you guessed it Calamari and Zucchini?
I thought I smelled fish from my room and I had to remind myself about having an open mind for whatever awaited me downstairs. When I got into the kitchen, I saw the calamari on the stove. I was hoping that it wouldn't appear on a plate before me. No such luck. I had a plate of it brought to me within 5 seconds of thinking that, and I explained how I've never had calamari before but I was willing to try it. I knew I would like the zucchini because it was like what my mom makes at home, so no problems there. It was an odd combination yes, but I have to say that I really did like it more than I thought I would and would eat it again.
Well that's it for today, life is rather dull with all this school stuff but it's still a lighter work load than at Hope so I'm not complaining. The routine is getting set and I'm still loving being here, even though it's hard being away from all the comforts of home. But I will be heading to Cadiz in a couple days and mid-60s awaits me and I couldn't be happier to be in a place with such awesome weather in February!
Needless to say, I was not pleased when my alarm went off this morning. And since I have to get up earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my grammar class, I was in an extra good mood when I walked to class. I didn't understand why when I got to my class finally, there was no one there. Weird. Class starts at 9:00 A.M. and after 10 minutes it's considered an absence (which is silly since Spaniards are usually not on time, but my prof is psycho about being punctual). Most of my classmates get there right at 9, so I sat by myself for 10 minutes until I realized that something was wrong.
Yup, I definitely missed the memo that class was cancelled because my director/professor sent out a text message at 6:30 in the morning to inform us that class was cancelled because she was sick. I never check my phone in the morning because I never get texts here and it was on silent (because my director will sometimes send us texts during class and I don't want to be the idiot scrambling to turn my phone off in my large bag during class), but I will for sure be checking my phone more often in hopes of discovering something sweet like this on Tuesdays and Thursdays! It will probably never happen again, but I can dream big every once in awhile.
So I just chilled and did homework for an hour and a half until my next class, so it really wasn't too bad. The crappy part is that she is requiring us to make up the class by having a tutoring session on our own time. Fail. That's the last thing I want to do during my free time, so tomorrow I have to come back to school at night to make up today's class. Boo.
Today I took a 3 hour nap because siestas have been absent from my life lately. The most interesting part of my day was definitely dinner or "La Cena." The food for dinner today consisted of yup, you guessed it Calamari and Zucchini?
I thought I smelled fish from my room and I had to remind myself about having an open mind for whatever awaited me downstairs. When I got into the kitchen, I saw the calamari on the stove. I was hoping that it wouldn't appear on a plate before me. No such luck. I had a plate of it brought to me within 5 seconds of thinking that, and I explained how I've never had calamari before but I was willing to try it. I knew I would like the zucchini because it was like what my mom makes at home, so no problems there. It was an odd combination yes, but I have to say that I really did like it more than I thought I would and would eat it again.
Well that's it for today, life is rather dull with all this school stuff but it's still a lighter work load than at Hope so I'm not complaining. The routine is getting set and I'm still loving being here, even though it's hard being away from all the comforts of home. But I will be heading to Cadiz in a couple days and mid-60s awaits me and I couldn't be happier to be in a place with such awesome weather in February!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Segovia
My friends and I headed to the castle first since we wanted to see that most. I was told that the castle in either Sleeping Beauty or Snow White is based off of this castle. We got a tour of the castle, and I'm not sure if I could handle living there mainly because it was colder inside than it was outside! We also paid the extra 2 Euro to go up to the top of the castle and get the scenic view of Segovia and the surrounding countryside. It was worth it. The pictures won't really do it justice but it was beautiful!
After the castle we headed back in to town. We didn't go in the Cathedral because we were told that we couldn't take pictures inside the cathedral but it was enormous. You could see it pretty much anywhere in town, and it was a good marking point. Next we went to the aqueduct, and it is over 2,000 years old and was built by the Romans. It was pretty impressive and in impeccable condition. We were able to see the aqueduct during both the daylight and during the night and I'm not sure which one was better. I also tried the signature dessert of Segovia, "Ponche," and it was ok. I think I'm just partial to Funfetti cake though. Then it was back on the bus, to get on a train, to get on another train, to get on a bus, to walk home.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Toledo, not the one in Ohio...
Toledo is one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever visited. Period. I went with my Civilization and Spanish Culture class, and I can tell why the professor decided to take the class to this particular city because it was absolutely amazing. It reminded me of the pictures I've seen of Italy. Plus, the weather was perfect, a little on the cold side but with puffy white clouds and a big blue sky. It felt like a perfect fall day in October and I couldn't have been happier.
Toledo is known for a couple of different things: Mazapan, tight little streets, and the winding river surrounding the city. First, I had Mazapan and have decided that I do not need to indulge again. I went to a Café during my free time with my friends and ordered a strawberry milkshake and a mazapan cake because I was told by my professor that I must try it in Toledo because it is the city's signature dessert. It was decent but nothing I need to buy again. I also tried a small mazapan candy thinking that it would be better, but it wasn't. Disappointment. Anyone who visits Toledo will probably comment on the streets. The streets in Toledo are so small and tight! It's amazing that cars can make it down the street. We were in a group of about 50 students and I could tell that the drivers were getting angry at us for taking up the whole street. Sorry. The last part of our day consisted of going to a scenic area to get some pictures of the city, since the spot where the best panoramic view of the city was closed. But I got some good pics regardless and I hope you enjoy looking at them.
During our visit to Toledo, the class also went to a cathedral which was pretty cool on the inside. It had a little area for growing orange trees, and there was no ceiling so the trees were directly in the sun. It had an upper level, and when you looked up it felt like you were so close to heaven. It was one of the coolest feelings. We also went to an art gallery and a school, but the best excursion was by far the cathedral. 
A side comment about day trips and packing lunches. My host mother felt the need to pack an excessive lunch for me today. I had two sandwiches, one regular square sandwich and another footlong sandwich on a baguette. She bought the baguette bread in kind of a dough form, and then baked it in the oven this morning so I could use it for my sandwich. Oh my, it was so delicious! I also had a tray of Chips A'hoy Chocolate Chip Cookies, a bag of pretzels (all my friends were jealous of my pretzels), a mandarin orange, two juice boxes, and a strawberry chocolate bar. Everything tasted so wonderful and I'm so glad that my host family feeds me so well! 
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