By the title you can obviously tell this is going to be good, so here it goes.
Monday:
Probably the least exciting day of the week, but the weather was beautiful when I walked home with my friend, so I decided to run up the mountain. The view is especially beautiful after a 10:45 min. run uphill to the top.
Tuesday:
Merida(see other post)
Wednesday:
Today, I went on a run to all the Parks around town: Paseo Alto, Parque Principe, and Parque Rodeo. We didn't have Internet at the house because it had gone out the day before(Spanish technology one thing I am not going to miss), so I went to the library to do some things. I came back after it closed to find my street half-full with people. Apparently the Virgin of the Mountain(statue) was coming down to Cáceres for the week and it is a huge deal. Our street was decorated with Spanish flags and banners and sage was spread across the street. Anyways we got to watch the whole procession from the comfort of our balcony. How cool is that! Once-in-a-lifetime experience that only Tim and I got. Also after the Virgin went by the internet turned back on for a few hours. Miracle of the Virgin! We have Internet! It then went out at 1AM.
Thursday:
Manoli had left to go to Madrid today, so Tim and I had the house to ourselves for the weekend. After I got back from school I realized I had left my jacket there, so I raced back there and found it sitting on the bench I had left it at. After stopping there to use the glorious internet for awhile I headed back. It looked like it was going to pour, so I thought ultimate frisbee was going to be canceled. However, right before then it got really nice out. There I met up with the usual gang plus a friend of the Spanish guy. We threw the disc for awhile until 2 others came and then we played about 6 games. Tons of fun!
That night was the festival San Jorge. All I knew before this is that there was a parade and the burning of the dragon. I went around 10 PM to the Plaza Mayor which was packed with people, so I couldn't find my American friends, which is something I never thought would happen. Anyways I ran into some of the ERASMUS people I know and watched the celebration with them. First there was a parade, then they acted out the whole story of San Jorge in the Plaza with a 300(the movie) like narration. The princess was even on a real medieval balcony of a 1000+ year old tower(Definitely not in Kansas anymore). I know I hate it too, but it just had to be said once. After that they burned the dragon, which made a huge bonfire(bigger than Dad's)while covering us all in the ash( now I know how the people in Iceland feel). After that was fireworks, at first I thought oh Spanish fireworks whoo hoo we have the 4th of July(my favorite holiday) this will be nothing. Wow i was wrong. First of all, they shot the fireworks of the Ayuntamiento(government) building on the edge of the Plaza Mayor, so all of the fireworks were really close and really loud. Second of all, the show lasted at least 20 minutes it was amazing! Third, due to the proximity of the fireworks and lack of safety standards some weeping willow type fireworks came down red hot into the crowd(well where the crowd was before we all frantically moved back) it was like the end of the world, fire falling from the sky.
After that I went with the Czech girls to a tapas bar where we got a huge plate of tapas and a liter of beverage for 5E like $7(really cheap). We had San Jacobo's(like the ravioli with crust on it filled with ham and cheese), Alas de Pollo(Chicken wings, the Czech girls had never had them, and something like fish sticks). We were stuffed. Good Day!
Friday:
Decided to do all the things that I hadn't done in Cáceres this weekend, so therefore this was my trip to Cáceres, the city I have lived in for the past 3 months. Met Tim on The Hill(Cuesta de Marqúes) and went to the Casa Museo Arabe(200m from house). It had pretty interesting info. about Arabic culture and was cool to see what a typical house looked like. After that I went up the towers of the Church of San Francisco Javier(400m from house), which offered spectacular views of the old city, the mountain, and our house. Then I went to see the Virgin at the Church of Saint Mary. You're supposed to guess the color of her dress before you go in and if you get it right you can make a wish. I guessed light blue, but it was red the color I had guessed the day before. After that I went to Parque Principe. There I sat at a bench by my favorite fountain. As the day faded I basked in the sun as I reminisced and pondered past events. That night I went to go see Alicia en el País de las Maravillas or in English(Alice in Wonderland). I liked the movie and I actually understood almost everything in Spanish, which was pretty cool.
Saturday:
I continued my tour of Cáceres. I went back to the church to guess the color of the Virgin's dress, I guessed light blue again(I wasn't going to be a fool again). I got it right! So I got to make a wish. After that I headed to the Torre de Bujaco, which is a tower that overlooks the Plaza Mayor. Inside I read about the monuments(apparently the Arco de Cristo, which is literally 50 ft from my house, is one of three Roman monuments in the city, how cool is that!) After I went to the top and got a great view of the Plaza and Cáceres. Then I went to Eroski(like Price Chopper) and got some olive oil to bring home. After that me and my roommate and a couple of girls went to a Corrida de Toros(Bullfight). We bought tickets from a scalper and got 5E off(yes!). The fight was different than I thought it would be, they were on horseback the whole time and it was very bloody. However, we did get to see a one of two women bullfighters, who was really good and got two bulls' ears(for having a good fight), so she got to walk out of the Main door which is a huge honor. Anyways after that me, my roommate, and 4 other people went back to that tapas place for dinner. We had san jacobo's again, salchichas(sausage), empanadas(meat stuffed pastries), panceta(basically fried fat, but better tasting than it sounds), and something else(can't remember right now).
Sunday:
Relaxed for most of the day. However, I did go to the mountain and run up 2X in a row, 10:36 and 10:19. I saw a friend on my way down after the first time and she gave me a crazy look when i went up the second time, but it really wasn't that bad. After lunch I went to the Parque Principe to do some assigned reading and some more thinking it was quite enjoyable.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Semana Santa Procession Pics
Virgin on Saturday
Plaza Mayor for the Friday procession
Jesus processional
Other Jesus processional
KKK, no actually hoods for penance or something
Band
The Romans
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Madrid, Easter, and the other weeks I missed
Let's see Madrid ok...
Thursday March 11:
Rode on a bus there at 6 with a few friends who were going to Paris that week. We played a fun game like pictionary and telephone, sort of where someone writes something the next person draws it and so on until the pictures have got back to the original person, pretty funny usually. Arrived in Madrid to ride a metro for the first time, bit nervous, but now I love them. Anyways found mom at the hotel after a bit. It was a nice pad very high technology and modern decor and the nicest accommodations i had seen in Spain. Anyways we didn't do much that night.
Friday March 12:
Let's see we got up found a cool little place for breakfast where they made toad-in-the-hole sandwiches with eggs, ham, and cheese, awesome! Then we went to the Prado, which is an art museum 2nd only to the Louvre. There I saw all the paintings we had talked about in my art class, and I explained some of them to mom and my brothers. Then we went out the Reina Sofia museum of Modern Art where Picasso and Dalí paintings are. Sounds kind of boring, but I have learned to appreciate art more than I thought i would. After that we went to the Hard Rock and I had a Medium-Rare BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger, u don't know how rare that is here, it was awesome and i was stuffed. Afterwords, we went to San Bernabeu home to the soccer team Real Madrid. It was really huge and really cool to see since I have started watching soocer a bit, but my favorite team is Barca(Barcelona), which is Madrid's biggest rival so...
Anyways after that me and mom went around the Puerta de Sol and the Plaza Mayor for a little while and had some tapas before returning to the hotel.
Saturday March 13:
We went to Toledo today which is a cool medieval town about an hour southeast of Madrid. Toledo is built on a big hill overlooking a river, but the bus station is not. So to mom's chagrin we climbed switchbacks to the old city of Toledo. There we were greeted by a large plaza full of people(unfortunately mostly tourists). There we got some information then headed to the Cathedral. I have been to a lot of Cathedral's, so I feel qualified to say that the inside decoration behind the alter was beautiful. It had a cherub motif going in statues as well as a painted cupola to top it off. The church was large, but nothing incredibly expansive, and was pretty gray except for the aforementioned part. After that we went to a Chapel, where a very famous El Greco painting, "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz", is.
After that we searched for a restaurant and and found a good cheap place where I had eggs, fries, pork chop, and some other stuff, but it was a lot like what my mom cooks me at our house. After we headed back to Madrid. There we took mom(seriously she was like a little kid) to Faunia where there was a penguin exhibit. So we went there surrounded by 2-10 yr olds with their parents and us with our mom. It was actually a pretty cool zoo, but I was tired. After that we went back to the hotel then to see the Royal Palace at Night which was a massive white stone building.
The next day we left for Cáceres. When we got there we dropped their stuff off at the hotel then I showed them all the sights of the Old City, where I live. That evening my host mom made hot chocolate for all of us and we sat around talking for awhile. After that I told Mom, Nathan, and Jeremy some parks to go to while I was at class. Also my host mom invited them for lunch the next day and a little day trip.
Monday March 15:
We ate a pretty typical lunch(don't really remember what it was) at the house and then went out to a cool nature preserve called Los Barruecos. There were lots of interesting rock formations and storks, as well as lots of water from all the rain we had. After that we went to the mountain near Cáceres to get a view of the whole city a night it was really pretty cool.
Post-Semana Santa Trip-Processions
I got back Friday the 2nd of April around 4 and there was a procession(that happens once every 5 years(kind of a big deal)) that night at 7. I went to that and saw about 15 floats(it took 3.5 hours) of Jesus and the Virgin Mary(have pics), while asking a Spanish family about some of the peculiarities of the procession.
Saturday, 3rd of April
Hung around the house most of the day, Manoli wasn't home, so i had it to myself which was nice. At 7ish I met the girls, that i had met in Cinque Terre, to go to the procession for the day. Firste we went to Sanchez Cortes(AWESOME candy store) and i got some white chocolate M&Ms and cherry gummies. Then we went to the old city to watch the procession of the Virgin Mary(fortunately only one this time). After that we went to Canovas a tree lined walk, sat at a bench and talked for a bit. There we saw some other girls from the group. So i went with them to meet up with some others, we talked for awhile, and also met some of the ERASMUS kids(It is really cool how many times i randomly run into people i know). After that we watched the procession come back and met a guy from the US that was backpacking Europe.
Sunday: Was in the house for awhile and completely forgot about the procession at 12(the Easter one kind of a big deal), I left the house at 2 to go play Ultimate Frisbee with some friends, and ran into the procession and saw all of it(only in Spain). After I played some intense frisbee with my friends until 6ish and came back to the house just as Manoli was getting home.
On that note the other times I was in class, running, or at the house. But highlights I have been playing ultimate frisbee every thursday with a German girl, Spanish guy, and Alabama guy as well as whoever else shows up. It is a ton of fun and great exercise. Also the Spanish guy is making a movie, that i was volunteered to be in by some ERASMUS girls. I thought it was a minor role, but no it is the main role. So i am the part of the Erasmus kid in his movie about, well i have no idea, but i have been doing that also...so now you guys are all caught up on everything.
Thursday March 11:
Rode on a bus there at 6 with a few friends who were going to Paris that week. We played a fun game like pictionary and telephone, sort of where someone writes something the next person draws it and so on until the pictures have got back to the original person, pretty funny usually. Arrived in Madrid to ride a metro for the first time, bit nervous, but now I love them. Anyways found mom at the hotel after a bit. It was a nice pad very high technology and modern decor and the nicest accommodations i had seen in Spain. Anyways we didn't do much that night.
Friday March 12:
Let's see we got up found a cool little place for breakfast where they made toad-in-the-hole sandwiches with eggs, ham, and cheese, awesome! Then we went to the Prado, which is an art museum 2nd only to the Louvre. There I saw all the paintings we had talked about in my art class, and I explained some of them to mom and my brothers. Then we went out the Reina Sofia museum of Modern Art where Picasso and Dalí paintings are. Sounds kind of boring, but I have learned to appreciate art more than I thought i would. After that we went to the Hard Rock and I had a Medium-Rare BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger, u don't know how rare that is here, it was awesome and i was stuffed. Afterwords, we went to San Bernabeu home to the soccer team Real Madrid. It was really huge and really cool to see since I have started watching soocer a bit, but my favorite team is Barca(Barcelona), which is Madrid's biggest rival so...
Anyways after that me and mom went around the Puerta de Sol and the Plaza Mayor for a little while and had some tapas before returning to the hotel.
Saturday March 13:
We went to Toledo today which is a cool medieval town about an hour southeast of Madrid. Toledo is built on a big hill overlooking a river, but the bus station is not. So to mom's chagrin we climbed switchbacks to the old city of Toledo. There we were greeted by a large plaza full of people(unfortunately mostly tourists). There we got some information then headed to the Cathedral. I have been to a lot of Cathedral's, so I feel qualified to say that the inside decoration behind the alter was beautiful. It had a cherub motif going in statues as well as a painted cupola to top it off. The church was large, but nothing incredibly expansive, and was pretty gray except for the aforementioned part. After that we went to a Chapel, where a very famous El Greco painting, "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz", is.
After that we searched for a restaurant and and found a good cheap place where I had eggs, fries, pork chop, and some other stuff, but it was a lot like what my mom cooks me at our house. After we headed back to Madrid. There we took mom(seriously she was like a little kid) to Faunia where there was a penguin exhibit. So we went there surrounded by 2-10 yr olds with their parents and us with our mom. It was actually a pretty cool zoo, but I was tired. After that we went back to the hotel then to see the Royal Palace at Night which was a massive white stone building.
The next day we left for Cáceres. When we got there we dropped their stuff off at the hotel then I showed them all the sights of the Old City, where I live. That evening my host mom made hot chocolate for all of us and we sat around talking for awhile. After that I told Mom, Nathan, and Jeremy some parks to go to while I was at class. Also my host mom invited them for lunch the next day and a little day trip.
Monday March 15:
We ate a pretty typical lunch(don't really remember what it was) at the house and then went out to a cool nature preserve called Los Barruecos. There were lots of interesting rock formations and storks, as well as lots of water from all the rain we had. After that we went to the mountain near Cáceres to get a view of the whole city a night it was really pretty cool.
Post-Semana Santa Trip-Processions
I got back Friday the 2nd of April around 4 and there was a procession(that happens once every 5 years(kind of a big deal)) that night at 7. I went to that and saw about 15 floats(it took 3.5 hours) of Jesus and the Virgin Mary(have pics), while asking a Spanish family about some of the peculiarities of the procession.
Saturday, 3rd of April
Hung around the house most of the day, Manoli wasn't home, so i had it to myself which was nice. At 7ish I met the girls, that i had met in Cinque Terre, to go to the procession for the day. Firste we went to Sanchez Cortes(AWESOME candy store) and i got some white chocolate M&Ms and cherry gummies. Then we went to the old city to watch the procession of the Virgin Mary(fortunately only one this time). After that we went to Canovas a tree lined walk, sat at a bench and talked for a bit. There we saw some other girls from the group. So i went with them to meet up with some others, we talked for awhile, and also met some of the ERASMUS kids(It is really cool how many times i randomly run into people i know). After that we watched the procession come back and met a guy from the US that was backpacking Europe.
Sunday: Was in the house for awhile and completely forgot about the procession at 12(the Easter one kind of a big deal), I left the house at 2 to go play Ultimate Frisbee with some friends, and ran into the procession and saw all of it(only in Spain). After I played some intense frisbee with my friends until 6ish and came back to the house just as Manoli was getting home.
On that note the other times I was in class, running, or at the house. But highlights I have been playing ultimate frisbee every thursday with a German girl, Spanish guy, and Alabama guy as well as whoever else shows up. It is a ton of fun and great exercise. Also the Spanish guy is making a movie, that i was volunteered to be in by some ERASMUS girls. I thought it was a minor role, but no it is the main role. So i am the part of the Erasmus kid in his movie about, well i have no idea, but i have been doing that also...so now you guys are all caught up on everything.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Program Trip Pics-Granada, Cordoba, Salamanca, and Merida
Top to Bottom
Salamanca:
Astronaut on the Cathedral
House of Shells
Plaza Mayor
University
Merida:
Circo Romano
Theater
Colosseum
Aqueducts
Cordoba:
Mezquita Arches
Gold Catholic Thing
Granada:
Cathedral
Gardens at Alhambra
Decorations at Alhambra
Alhambra
Salamanca and Merida
Ok Salamanca was the Wednesday before I went to Rome
Merida was last Tuesday 4/20/10
Salamanca:
We left at 10 from Cáceres and got there around 1:00ish. We walked by the river Tormes saw some famous stuff from a book we've read about "Lazarillo de Tormes". Then we went to the old city. There we saw the old university, basically really old benches, boards, and styling. However, the outside was pretty ornate and apparently there is a frog(try to find it in the picture if you do you get good luck). Oh by the ayw after that it started raining...hard. So then we went to the Plaza Mayor, which is kind of like the one in Madrid, pics. We took a break for lunch, then went around to places like the house of shells and another where they sign their doctorates on a wall with bulls blood and olive oil. Then we went to see the cathedrals, which are ornately decorated on the outside, but nothing special. That Was Salamanca.
Mérida:
We left around 10 got there at 11:30. First we stopped off at this park and saw a huge roman aqueduct. Then we got back on the bus to go to some cool Roman ruins. First we saw a typical house and the communal baths. After that we went to the Colosseum, which is awesome you actually get to walk on the floor unlike the one in Rome and there are actually seats. I definitely could imagine the gladiator coming in through the arches there into the stadium with people yelling and a tiger in a cage yearning to come out. It was everything I couldn't imagine at the Colosseum in Rome, but then the outside wasn't as cool. We even went into the den where they held the animals before the fights it was really cool to see that. After that we went to this old Roman theater right next to the Colosseum, actually reminded me a lot of Truman Sports Complex Roman Version(Arrowhead Colosseum and Kaufmann Theater)Same styles too crazy. Anyways the theater was huge and very cool to see. Then we saw a Roman temple with a Renaisssance palace built inside of it. After that we took a break for lunch in a nice plaza. By the way at this point it was getting very hot although we all preferred that to the rain.
We continued by going into this Muslim palace made after the Romans left. From the wall there we could see the old Roman bridge and a modern one in the distance. Cool story They were moving nuclear reactor pieces in Spain and they had to go through Mérida, the trucks went over the 2000 year old Roman bridge because none of the modern bridges could hold the load. We then went to a museum filled with Roman ruins and statues, some taken from the theater. Finally, we went to the Circo where they used to have Chariot races in a track a quarter mile long, with a lap being .3 miles. There I really wanted to run, so I did a lap around an old Roman Chariot track 1:42 was my time. That was Mérida and it was Sweet!
Merida was last Tuesday 4/20/10
Salamanca:
We left at 10 from Cáceres and got there around 1:00ish. We walked by the river Tormes saw some famous stuff from a book we've read about "Lazarillo de Tormes". Then we went to the old city. There we saw the old university, basically really old benches, boards, and styling. However, the outside was pretty ornate and apparently there is a frog(try to find it in the picture if you do you get good luck). Oh by the ayw after that it started raining...hard. So then we went to the Plaza Mayor, which is kind of like the one in Madrid, pics. We took a break for lunch, then went around to places like the house of shells and another where they sign their doctorates on a wall with bulls blood and olive oil. Then we went to see the cathedrals, which are ornately decorated on the outside, but nothing special. That Was Salamanca.
Mérida:
We left around 10 got there at 11:30. First we stopped off at this park and saw a huge roman aqueduct. Then we got back on the bus to go to some cool Roman ruins. First we saw a typical house and the communal baths. After that we went to the Colosseum, which is awesome you actually get to walk on the floor unlike the one in Rome and there are actually seats. I definitely could imagine the gladiator coming in through the arches there into the stadium with people yelling and a tiger in a cage yearning to come out. It was everything I couldn't imagine at the Colosseum in Rome, but then the outside wasn't as cool. We even went into the den where they held the animals before the fights it was really cool to see that. After that we went to this old Roman theater right next to the Colosseum, actually reminded me a lot of Truman Sports Complex Roman Version(Arrowhead Colosseum and Kaufmann Theater)Same styles too crazy. Anyways the theater was huge and very cool to see. Then we saw a Roman temple with a Renaisssance palace built inside of it. After that we took a break for lunch in a nice plaza. By the way at this point it was getting very hot although we all preferred that to the rain.
We continued by going into this Muslim palace made after the Romans left. From the wall there we could see the old Roman bridge and a modern one in the distance. Cool story They were moving nuclear reactor pieces in Spain and they had to go through Mérida, the trucks went over the 2000 year old Roman bridge because none of the modern bridges could hold the load. We then went to a museum filled with Roman ruins and statues, some taken from the theater. Finally, we went to the Circo where they used to have Chariot races in a track a quarter mile long, with a lap being .3 miles. There I really wanted to run, so I did a lap around an old Roman Chariot track 1:42 was my time. That was Mérida and it was Sweet!
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