Mallory en España: March 2011

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Solamente tú by Pablo Alborán

I thought it would be nice to share one of my new favorite songs with all of you. It's by Pablo Alborán, a singer from Spain, obviously. Enjoy!

Un gran cambio...A big change!

This past week brought a big change in my life in Burgos, as I am now all moved into my new home! With the help of Laura and Monica, I was able to carry all of my belongings over to the Brazilians (now Brazilimerican) apartment in just two trips. Luckily, it is only about half a mile from the other apartment so it was fairly easy. I am now completely settled in and I love my new roommates, Thais and Caetano, who are from Rio de Janeiro.

Despite the apartment being much smaller than the other, I like it a lot more because it definitely feels very much like home. Instead of each person staying in his/her own room, we are always in the common area, talking, cooking or just doing our homework together. Plus, our neighbors are always stopping over to hang out or just say hi.

Tuesday nights have become “Abuela Buela” nights, in which my friends and I go to a bar called “Abuela Buela” to listen to a band play music. I always think of my brother, Luke, when I go to listen to them because they are more like a jam band and improvise songs every week. I know it’s something that he would love, and it’s a lot of fun to go and just listen to them play. After they finish playing, they ask people in the crowd to come up and play also. Last week, my friends (along with the bartender and band) tried to convince me to go up on stage and play piano! I might go up and play tonight, but it has been a couple months since I last played so I’m feeling pretty nervous.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, as my classes have loaded me up with projects and homework for some reason…do they not understand that I am an Erasmus?! Although I am working hard, it is definitely hard to get my homework done here because Burgos is a very distracting city! However, I do need to get everything done in these next two days because on Thursday a group of 14 of us is going to the Canary Islands! I am very excited for this trip and hoping to get some color on this pale skin of mine.

Burgos is beginning to feel more and more like home. I have become very comfortable with my new life here and I love my big, Erasmus family. Despite it being a very large group of about 30 of us, we are all very close-knit and look out for each other. We go to class together, live together, eat together, go to parties together, we do everything together! It is an amazing feeling to have such a big group of friends from all over the world. Although I haven’t gotten homesick for Elizabethtown, USA at all, I know that when I return in July, I will definitely be homesick for my beloved Burgos, Spain.

My bedroom

...the living room (don't mind my laundry!)

Kitchen

View from the kitchen window...we can sit on this ledge!

My new roommates: Monica (who will be moving in in May), Caetano and Thais

Just thought I'd add a quick snapshot of my American chicas, (from left) Steph, Monica, Laura and Bri (she was just visiting)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Another Weekend in Burgos

This past week of classes was much different from the others, because it was a week of conferences and expositions. Some of my classes were cancelled throughout the week and instead we attended conferences, among other things. Needless to say, it made for a very easy week. It was pretty uneventful until the weekend started.

On Thursday, the university threw a party called Fiesta de Politécnicas for all of the students. It was held in the park right beside the campus and it went on all day and night. I couldn’t believe how big it was! There were hundreds of students in the park, grilling food, playing games and of course, drinking calimoxo (wine with coke). There was even a marching band playing in the middle of the event! I had a lot of fun with all of the other Erasmus students and met a lot of new people.

Friday was a day of recuperation for all of the students. I went out for lunch with my friend David from France and then Steph joined us later on to go for a walk along the river in the city. It was such a beautiful day and I couldn’t believe the amount of people out enjoying the warm weather. That night I had Steph, David, and Hector and Jose from Mexico over to my apartment to hang out. It was a pretty relaxed evening, as everyone was still pretty exhausted from the night before.

Saturday was beautiful as well, and I decided to take advantage of the weather by going for a nice, long run. I saw so many other Erasmus students out walking around and taking in the sun. Afterwards I met up with Thais, Roberta and Livia (from Brazil) to get ice cream. I guess all of the other Erasmus students had the same idea because when we got there, there were about ten others already at the shop. While there we made plans to have a fiesta at our friend Valerio’s apartment (he is from Italy).

Sunday was “Brazilian Day.” Our friends Roberta, Thais, Caetano and Daniel (all from Brazil) had everyone over for a “cookout” of typical Brazilian food. (I put “cookout” in quotes because it was a miniature electric grill that was placed on the large windowsill outside their kitchen window.) While Daniel manned the grill, Thais and Roberta cooked rice, beans and some sort of salsa, and Caetano played bartender by making Capiriñas for everyone. It’s a delicious, but strong drink made with vodka, fresh limes and sugar. Sometimes they even use kiwis. They played Brazilian music and it was fun to have such a large group of friends together in one tiny apartment. I think that we may try to make this a weekly event, with a different country’s apartment hosting the get together!

I’m getting excited for April to come, as there is a lot that I am looking forward to! At the end of the month I will actually be moving in with Thais and Caetano. Although I do like the apartment I am living in, I feel that I am not getting the most out of my experience in Spain. Living with Caetano and Thais will be a lot more exciting and I will be speaking even more Spanish than I already do. Furthermore, the building and block that they live in is already filled with Erasmus students from Brazil, Mexico, France and Ireland, so I will be living closer to most of my friends.

Not only will April bring a new apartment, but I also have a lot of traveling to look forward to! From March 31^st-April 3^rd we will be going to the Canary Islands! It is a rather large group going. Steph, Laura and Monica from the US will be there, along with Thais, Roberta, Caetano and Daniel from Brazil, Jose and Hector from Mexico, and David and Youssef from France! It is a big, crazy group, so I know we will have a great time. After the Canary Islands, we have planned a trip to Morocco with the Brazilians and a lot of the French students. I still need to plan more trips though, as I still want to visit more of Spain, along with Amsterdam, Paris, London, Ireland, and my old roommates Valentina and Natascia in Calabria, Italy.

Monica, Steph and Laura with Charlotte and Pierre from France

Laura and I with Charlotte

Fiesta de Politecnicas!

Monday, March 14, 2011

ERASMUS

Being an “Erasmus” or international student has allowed me to meet a lot of people from a lot of different countries. I’ve made friends with a bunch of Spaniards, but I have also gotten very close to people from Brazil, Italy, Mexico, China and Portugal, and of course, the United States. One of the things I love about spending time with such a diverse group is that the only language we have in common is Spanish. I love hearing the Spanish accent that comes with each person’s nationality. The Italians speak Spanish differently from the Chinese and the Brazilians and Portuguese speak differently from the Americans. We are all different, yet we all share the same love of learning new languages.

This past weekend I spent most of my time with the whole group of Erasmus students, and there’s nothing better than spending time with this crazy group of people. There are about thirty of us, and it’s always fun to try and squeeze all of us into one piso (apartment) for a party. This post is mainly just to show everyone the group that is now my family.

Rosita from Italy

Monica and I with our brother, Caetano, from Brazil

Rafa (left) and Hector from Mexico

Daniel (Brazil) and Araceli (Mexico)

Almost the whole clan

ERASMUS

Barcelona!

Each week here in Spain is better than the one before! This past week was “Carnaval,” which is a more intense version of Mardi Gras…instead of one day to indulge in all of your bad habits, it is an entire week of indulgence. Stores close, people dress up in costumes and there are daily parades. It’s crazy, but so much fun! Because Burgos is such a small city, Steph, Monica, Laura and I decided to go to Barcelona to participate in some of the bigger festivities. They were last minute plans, but it was definitely worth it!

Because it is an eight hour bus ride to Barcelona, we decided to take an overnight bus so that we could sleep the whole way there. Arriving in Barcelona was like heaven. Although I had already been there in high school, I had completely forgotten how beautiful the city is. The streets were clean, the architecture was breathtaking and it was WARM! Needless to say, I fell in love immediately. Because I have been to Barcelona before, I already knew what I wanted to see and show to Monica, Laura and Steph. I surprised myself by being able to navigate through the city without any difficulty and was even a little proud that I didn’t have much trouble with getting around.

We started out our touring by going to El Parque Güell, which is a park in Barcelona that was created by the great artist/architect, Antoni Gaudí. Words can’t describe the beauty of this, and not even photos can do this beautiful landmark justice. There are little trails all over the place, while all of the buildings and railings in the park are covered by mosaics. The main part of the park was filled with people—tourists, street venders and people playing music. We spent about two hours walking around the park and just taking in its beauty.

Afterwards, on our way back to the hostel, we stopped by a “Chinese store” (they’re everywhere and that’s exactly what they’re called) to look for costumes for Carnaval. We found a lot of different masks and weird accessories, but nothing seemed quite right. Finally, Laura came across some belly dancing skirts (she’s a belly dancer herself) and we realized that we had found the perfect costumes—belly dancers! That night we dressed up in our proper attire and were a hit at all of the Carnaval celebrations.

The next day we left our hostel and set out for a day at the beach. Although it wasn’t warm enough to lie out and get a tan, it was a beautiful day nonetheless. We ate lunch at a cute little beachfront café and then spent most of the day sitting on the beach and shooing off the beach venders. These people are ridiculous. They walk by with coconuts and tapestries, even bottles of lotion to offer massages (I don’t know how that would work), and when you decline, they will bring down the price. Down and down the prices go, where it stops I don’t know, because I was not about to get a full body massage while lying on the beach. The day was uneventful but very relaxing. It was so nice to get to spend some time on the beach, even though I would have rather spent the day in a swimsuit and not a sweater.

Monday was our last day in Barcelona, and we toured all day long. We started out by going to La Sagrada Familia, an absolutely breathtaking cathedral. Construction on the cathedral started in 1882, and it still is unfinished because I believe that it is being built with taxpayers’ money. Despite being unfinished, it is such an amazing building and I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by its beauty.

As we walked around the perimeter of Sagrada Familia, I noticed that there was a very old, frail homeless woman sitting outside. One thing that was interesting about the day was that I had been carrying an orange all day long. It was more of a pain than anything because it didn’t fit in anyone’s purses, so whenever I wanted to take a picture, someone would have to hold it. While my friends told me over and over again to just throw out the orange, something told me not to waste it. As I walked past this poor woman, I realized that there was a reason as to why I couldn’t waste this perfectly good piece of fruit. I walked up to her and handed it to her, and when she realized what it was, tears came to her eyes and she started thanking me and blowing kisses to me. I walked away and when I turned around to look at her one last time she was blowing kisses up to the sky and praying. It made me feel good to have helped this lady with such a simple gesture.

After visiting Sagrada Familia, we had just enough time to go past La Pedrera, a building designed by Antoni Gaudí. I remember having visited it when I was there in high school, and I would have loved to go up to the roof because it almost looks like a Doctor Seuss drawing. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time (or the money) to see the best part of the building. I’m hoping that when my parents visit we’ll get to really experience it!

After finishing up our touring for the day, we made our way back to the hostel and picked up our things to head back to Burgos; however, I definitely wasn’t ready to leave. I know I will be back though, and I can’t wait to return.