Brussels or Bust

This past weekend I was able to visit some friends in Brussels, Belgium during my first of two 4-day weekends this month (the next begins tomorrow and I am Austria bound!)

The cool thing about having friends in Europe also is that you don't have to pay for a hostel AND you have your own personal tour guides/hosts! Dana, Kelly, Adrianna, Raha, Ben, Iman and several others were most gracious hosts to me: showing me around the city, making sure I tried the local cuisine (and lots of it), and even giving up a bed!

My first night in Brussels we went to a local bar/venue called Madame Moustache to hang out, dance, and enjoy the live music (french alternative rock, anyone?). Friday we slept in (thank goodness!) and then hit the highlights of the city, including my first Belgian waffle topped with Belgian chocolate. YUM. How is it that all of these European cities are just SO great?!

That night we were treated to homemade dinner thanks to another visiting friend/amateur chef. I attempted to be a decent sous-chef and the end result was quite tasty. We decided to keep it low key that night, watching old movies and sipping Calimocho (red wine & coke), a popular Spanish drink that I introduced to the group. How very European of us!

Saturday we took a train to Antwerp, another Belgian city about an hour away. Although it was a bit cold and rainy, we had a BLAST stumbling onto TWO parades: one for Summer Solstice (we think) and the other celebrating gay pride. So much fun - we really couldn't have planned it any better. Later we returned home to make Tapas for dinner (but not before stopping to get some Frites!) before heading out to another bar/club called Delirium. If you ever get the chance to have Frites in Belgium, I highly recommend it. Frites are like twice-fried french fries topped with your choice of local sauce and served with a tiny plastic Frites fork!

I had an early flight on Sunday and had to return home to start studying for my finals of the June session (can you believe it?!) but couldn't have asked for a better weekend with friends! I finished out the last 3 days of the June session strong and am packed and ready to leave tomorrow for Austria - it never ends!





As always, more pictures on Facebook. Thanks for reading!

Evan

Northern Spain: Asturias & the Cantabrian Sea

This week's entry is probably more appropriately titled: Whirlwind - because just as I returned from my AMAZING 3-day weekend, I only had 3 days of school before I'm off again! That's right, just three days of class this week and tomorrow afternoon I'm leaving for a 4-day weekend in Brussels, Belgium! (Gotta love national holidays!)

Alas, I will try to update you as best as I can on the previous trip so I can get packing for the next one!

Last Friday (July 17) my study abroad program left for Asturias, the autonomous community (more or less Spain's version of states) located on the very Northern coast of Spain.

We stopped first in the capital city of Oviedo, known for its impressive amount of statues, including one of Woody Allen! Afterward we drove a couple of hours to our hotel in the medieval town of Cangas de Onís. We had the evening free to eat tapas at a local restaurant and try "la sidra" (alcoholic cider) that the town is known for! I didn't care for it too much, but it is definitely an art here!

 The next morning we trekked up to the top of the mountains in the Parque Nacional de Los Lagos de Covadonga. Never have I experienced a landscape so breathtaking - such a shame that the pictures don't quite do it justice. Didn't take me too long to start singing "The Hills are Alive" - and it was so true!

On the way back we stopped at a quaint little beach town to eat lunch before heading back to the hotel. This night (Saturday) we had been warned about an insanely loud and popular annual music festival that would be happening literally right outside our hotel. Our director suggested we get earplugs, we decided to join the party instead! There were 2 dueling stages with bands that alternated hour-long sets. What a BLAST! Arguably one of the best nights I've had in Spain to date. We even made friends with one of the bands and they let us up on stage after the show to take pictures! We didn't get back to the hotel until after 4am but it was SO worth it.

The last day we were lucky enough to get to stop in the city of Comillas for several hours to soak in the sun. Comillas is on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea and had perfect weather that day - such a relaxing way to end the trip after such a wild night. We returned home several hours later, exhausted but so incredibly thankful for the opportunity to visit such an amazing part of Spain that we probably wouldn't have otherwise.

Can't believe I leave for Brussels tomorrow, I feel like I just got back! More pictures from this past weekend on Facebook and more to come from the upcoming one. Thanks for reading!

-Evan

Week 3: Day trips!

Over the weekend my friends and I visited two different historical cities within 2 hours of Madrid: Segovia and Ávila.

Segovia predates Christ, and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985, most specifically for its immensely impressive Roman aqueduct. To date the aqueduct remains the most well-preserved of all those still standing. The pictures simply do not do it justice.

Also of note in Segovia is the Alcazar of Segovia and the Segovia Cathedral. the Alcazar (royal palace) was home to Henry IV and Isabella the Catholic before she left him to be crowned Queen of Castile. Although it was destroyed by fire in 1862, it was rebuilt stone for stone.

The Segovia Cathedral is the last Gothic-style cathedral constructed in Spain and is breathtaking inside and out.

Saturday we went to Ávila, well-known for las murallas, the medieval, romanesque walls largely still intact since their completion in 1099. Fun fact: las murallas are the single largest fully illuminated monument in the world. Though it was a lot of climbing, it was worth the 2.50 euro to see the view from the top!

Sunday I got to sleep in (finally!) before joining my host family for a party with our neighbors. They made paella from scratch (YUM), laughed at my attempts to peel the skin off shrimp and taught me how to make Sangria!

This week I've got midterm exams for Session 1 classes (can you believe it?!) and then we're off to Asturias (Northern coast of Spain) this weekend! More pictures on Facebook.

Thanks for reading!

-Evan

Week 2: Observations

It's been almost 2 whole weeks and I guess you could say I've pretty much adjusted to "la vida española." Over the course of this time I have made several somewhat interesting (at least, to me) discoveries. I decided I'd try to share them all in one place, though I'm sure I'll be able to come up with another entirely new list pretty soon.

1. If everything is bigger in Texas, everything is later in Spain. I've touched on this before, but until I took my host sister up on an offer to go out with her this past weekend, I hadn't TRULY learned what this meant. Long story short, we left the festivities EARLY to be home by 5:30am. My sleep schedule is still recovering.

2.  There are apparently several English words which have no Spanish equivalent but are nonetheless part of everyday language.

• jetlag: ¿Tienes jetlag despues de tu viaje, Evan?
• wow: Although it's pronounced like it has a slight "g" at the front, it is used in just the same way.
• e-mail: There is, actually a Spanish equivalent for this one, but I found out quickly that using it would be like saying," Want to watch the television set?"

3. This bird is called a Cigüeña (See-guay-nyah). It is an extraordinary bird because it seems entirely too large for there to be so many of them in the city, but mostly because it builds enormous nests in the most peculiar places. Each one is like a work of art and balancing act rolled into one.

4.  The tiny little sink next to the toilet (bidet) it NOT for washing your feet. It is used to clean something entirely different. I'll leave it at that.

5. Although I have not found an official report, I am pretty sure Spain is the world's single largest consumer of pork/ham. I have had it fried, grilled, salted, cured, deli-style, breaded, in salad, in pasta, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If it wasn't so versatile I'd probably be sick of it by now. I'll get back to you in 6 weeks...

I know there's more that I can't remember right now but I'll keep you posted. Day trip to Segovia tomorrow!

Hasta luego,
Evan

Week 1: Culture Shock

Well I've been here almost a full week now so I have officially entered the transition stage. Adjusting to a totally new culture and lifestyle has been interesting and challenging but I know things will start to settle down soon.

I moved in with my host family Monday night and have been getting to know them better and better each day. Mis padres españoles (parents) are Margerita and Juan Carlos Silvent. Margerita is a specialist in the chemical industry and Juan Carlos works as an electrician. They have two daughters, Sara (24) who is studying English literature and Elena (20) who is studying nursing. They have been so great and patient with me: repeating sentences, teaching me how to master the bus system and inviting me to be a part of family events. In fact, tonight we are all going to my madre's sister's house (who is also housing a study abroad student from my program) for a big family celebration! They have housed several study abroad students before me, so I guess you could say they've got the process down pat. :) Below is a picture of me and mis padres españoles and la casa!

Tuesday morning I started classes at the Instituto Benjamin Franklin de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. I have Great Works of Spanish Literature from 9-11:30 followed by Spanish Civilization and Culture from 12-2:30. Both are taught entirely in Spanish. I really like my classes and professors so far and I am definitely working hard - talk about active listening! I will have these two classes during June after which I will start 2 more new classes during July. Perhaps the greatest thing about my classes is that they only run Monday-Thursday, so every weekend is a three-day weekend! This will definitely make weekend travels and excursions much more feasible.

Yesterday (Friday) our program directors took us to Madrid for the day to get us more acquainted to the city. We got to experience the protests firsthand, although we never felt unsafe and our program directors ensured us that the police have a good handle on it. In fact, the protests have really died down over the last few days.We learned how to get around on the metro, found all the major attractions, and stumbled onto some AMAZING churros con chocolate!  It takes about an hour each way to get to Madrid between the various buses and trains, but it is definitely easy and I see many afternoon trips in the near future.

Thanks for reading. More pictures on Facebook. Hasta luego!

-Evan

Day 1: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Hello all!

After nearly 24 hours of traveling, I finally made it to Madrid to be picked up by my host program CIEE and taken to our hotel for orientation. There are about 20 people in my group, all from various colleges around the U.S., and we have already started to have a really great time together!

We haven't done much today but I am thankful for the easy schedule as we are all exhausted and adjusting to the 7 hour time difference. I skipped night time by flying right through it so needless today I am ready to go to bed! The one thing we have done a lot of today is eating. The guidebooks weren't kidding when they said that Spain is on an entirely different schedule. Breakfast is light, followed by a mid morning and perhaps a second early afternoon snack. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and enjoyed around 2-3pm. After lunch is siesta (break/nap time), already perhaps my favorite time of day. :) We "siesta-ed" until 8pm when we went out for a lighter dinner. This is a pretty typical dinner time, although I've heard many eat dinner even later than that. Although many young people go out about this time, many of us are exhausted and decided to simply rest up for tomorrow's full day of orientation. Also on the agenda for tomorrow evening is finally meeting my host family and moving into my permanent residence for the next 9 weeks!

I'll try to update regularly depending on my internet access.

Thanks for reading!

Evan