Muchísimos a decir

I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to write in awhile! Also, forgive me for this loooong post! It’s worth it I swear! I am having problems uploading all my pictures. Check back soon for more.....

Okay so two days ago Renae and I actually woke up on time at the hotel and rode the metro to the airport. There were no mishaps except instead of people eying our luggage, I saw people eye Renae. We went up to the airport and stumbled into everyone - which was a relief because if we didn’t find them soon, we would have been late. We rode the bus to Salamanca and it only took 2 and a half hours.  Renae and I filled that time playing hearts. Once we returned home I met my family and my room. My host family has a mother and her two children (Natalia, 31 and Vincente, 25) stop by every once in awhile. I don’t get my roommate, from who knows where, until Sunday.

I also gave my family their gift and I’m pretty sure she liked it. Then I went to la plaza mayor. After about an hour, thousands of young people started marching in and protesting (una manifestación  for all you non-Spanish speakers out there) the government. It was kind of epic to actually watch the plaza go from about 200 people to over 1000!

Also two things of note. This was the day when I discovered the awesomeness of dinner (lunch) and the pharmacies! When I came from the bus, I was fed from my host mother. I quickly consumed the pasta until I was full. Then the next thing I know is there is another plate in front of me! This one has salad and porkchop-esque type of meat. I knew there was at least one more. You all know me pretty well so even though I was full, that second plate was not a problem. Finally, the third plate was one of my favorite items. Yogurt!! Yogurt over here is a little denser and a lot less sweetened. But it still tasted good!

Since I have arrived in Spain, I have had some water in my ear. I went to the pharmacy and explained my problem, and got ear drops for only 4.75 euro!! I have had plenty of experience with Swimmer’s Ear (at least 7 occurrences) and ear aches (at least 10 occurrences) in America and let me tell you that this system is by far better. In America, I would have to go to the doctor’s. Wait 1 – 2 and a half hours. Have the doctor look in my ears and confirm the problem. As I leave the office, pay 20 dollars (at an insurance coverage discount) because I saw the doctor and took up some of his time. Receive a prescription. Go to the pharmacist. Pay 15 – 20 more dollars and receive the product! España really cuts out the middle man and saves me money and time!

Important words:          drops --> gotas

Yesterday ( Una lectura en historia)

Yesterday I got up at 730 (which was a feat in itself), took a shower, ate breakfast….kind of, and went to school. Like I said before, the meals here are a bit different. Breakfast is not that big and dinner (lunch) is the biggest meal of the day. Breakfast usually consists of coffee or tea, and some sliced bread.

While at school, I took a placement test and got placed into medium with Renae! Then we took a tour of Salamanca. Boy, did I fall in love with the history of this place. One of my favorite parts of history is the Isabel and Fernando age. Salamanca is at the heart of it! Isabel and Fernando combined the Castille and Leon areas of Spain. Castles and Lions are therefore, respectively, the symbols of these monarchs. Which you can see bordering lots of things. Also, they had a motto, Isabel tanto Fernando, Fernando tanto Isabel – which in English means <<As much as one is, so is the other>>. Therefore they had an equal role even though Isabel was a woman. (For all you don’t know, these people are REALLY important to America. Isabel is the woman that funded Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the west, which ultimately discovered America). They funded the Universidad here (in the 15 century!) and the motto in Greek around the picture is <<Los Reyes por La Universidad, La Universidad por Los Reyes>>. (The king and queen for the university, the university for the king and queen) Eh? See the similarity with their motto? Eh? Eh?

Also, there is la rana de suerte (the frog of luck). If you can spot him supposedly you will have great fortune in the areas of love and scholarly work. Unfortunately, I did not see him, but I will not spoil it for you. Another neat thing is that everything on the right is positive values of a student, and everything on the left is negative values of a student.

Also, another outstanding piece of history is the wall with the shells (la Casa de las Conchas) Basically, a guy loved a woman so much that he put these shells all over a wall to show how much he loved her. It was like a Romeo and Juliet type thing but without the two families completely hating one another (how fortunate!) Then you can see in their child the combined emblems of the two lovers. I bought my grandmother una concha made from the same stone so she can hang it in her bathroom!

Oh, two more things: an ego booster and another. There is a girl named Wendy in our class who is from Holland. She knows Dutch, German, English, and Spanish! The cool part was that I told her I am somewhere about 4 – 8% Dutch and she said she thought I looked Dutch and wondered where I came from until she learned it was America. Also, my last name is very popular in the Netherlands. 

Lastly, I will leave you with some inspiring graffiti.

Have faith en yourself. 

Lo me olvida.....

Gotta love Spanish, as the title is It forgot itself from me! I didn't forget..... I swear!

Reading Sydney's new post, <<Which can be found at sydneyinthesummer.blogspot.com>>, made me remember a funny story at the airport. As I walked through the metal detector with no problem, I felt proud because I'm always stopped for something. As my laptop comes through, I celebrate a victory. Then, as my backpack goes through I celebrate another victory (usually they confiscate a bottle that is more than 3 oz. or something). All I had left in the last bin was some change, my sandals, and my passport. Nothing there that should set of the alarm, right? WRONG. Apparently, my sandals were very suspicious looking under the all seeing eye of the x-ray machine. So, they tell me that they have to rescan, and I tell them okay. They wait for three people to get done, and send in my sandals. I see them talking and staring at the picture and start to get worried. I know there isn't a bomb there, but what was in my sandals?!!? I start talking to Renae about me being shoeless at the airport and how funny that would be. Then, they rescan again. This time, I thought for sure I wouldn't get my sandals back. Then, they took a white swab and brushed it up and down the sandal. Apparently, they do this to test drugs. So, I got weird stares from random people thinking that I was drug smuggling. As I stand there hoping that no  drug residue will pop up on the scanner, it beeps. I didn't know what that beep meant, but luckily the man just gave me back my sandals. Don't know why I forgot this story.

Check out my travel partners blog at <<salamancanchiomega.blogspot.com>>
Also read my latest travel post below, it's about soccer!

Dylan

Lluvia y GOOOOOOOOOOL

Hola amigos,

Sorry about not blogging last night. I didn't go to bed until 5 am and still didn't blog. There's something definitely wrong with that picture. But you didn't miss out much because yesterday wasn't all that exciting. I went shopping. Now I have cool Spaniard clothes. Also, we went to the Templo de Debod. A cool egyptian tomb that was given to Spain for some reason. While there I had to dodge several rain drops. And failed...

Also, that night we had some Japanese cuisine from Udon (Noodles and Fun). 

Now for today. If GOOOOOOL wasn't a hint. We went to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Tried to take a guided tour but there were no tour guides. But we did get to go inside the stadium, look at all the sweet trophies, go inside the locker room, sit where the players sit, go in the press room, and unfortunately not get to touch the grass. There was an expensive store and ladies took Renae's picture with Ronaldo and Casillas (no ladies, not the real people, but computer images of them.) She had to pay 12 euros for the picture if she wanted it though. 

We also watched the FC Barcelona vs. Manchester United game at FRIENDS bar (though it took an hour for us to find a decent one). We had to decipher the menu, but settled for some hamburgers.
I'm off to bed, then off to Salamanca tomorrow.
Hasta la próxima vez,
Dylan

La experiencia de corrida

Today was a day full of new experiences. We went to Ventas and got tickets for bullfighting. For all you Americans, a bullfight in Spanish is una corrida. For some reason, we had to get the tickets by 2 and couldn't enter the stadium until 6:20. So my travel partner and I had some time to kill. We went traveling down the streets, came across a few bridges and parks, but nothing too exciting (check out facebook for the photos). I bought a yellow (of course!), Madrid t-shirt.

We had Kabobs for dinner. And not the kabobs where they put meat on a stick, although that was an option. We had kabobs in yummy sandwich form. I think they were greek sandwiches.

When we finally entered the stadium we got to see how massive the stadium was; how minuscule the seating areas were. We had about a butt's width of space and people in España are quite skinny. We also had bags and people directly in front and behind of us. We were packed in quite well. The man in front of my travel partner didn't like the way she was sitting and politely (?) asked her to switch positions. The woman behind us and the five men to my right were very friendly towards my travel partner and I and we became temporarily acquaintances for the 2 hours we where there. The woman told us information about bullfights and the men told us about Salamanca and the awards of various feats in the bullpen (ears and tails!)  Sadly, I watched 6 bulls die today. It surprised me how fast they went down. I guess I have never seen anything die before. 

On the metro back home we met 2 chicas from Nebraska (who go to Creighton) and possibly their boyfriends. What a small world. 

Tonights mission: What the heck are we doing tomorrow?! 

Hasta mañana,

Dylan

Aprendemos mucho

One of the hardest things to believe is that it is only 5 pm your time and midnight here!!

My travel partner and I went to the metro and went to Ventas to learn about bull fighting. We got assailed by locals to buy tickets. Even an 80 year old lady was after us to buy tickets! She would not take no for an answer either. Her little story was that she had a friend in the ticket office that could get us tickets for very cheap. Finally, we had to just walk away. 

We stubbled upon a nice dog park. It definitely made me wish that Americans lived differently. It was luscious green and there were tons and tons of people. People who didn't know each other talking to one another, their dogs running around but listening to their owners (which makes it look like American dogs are spoiled), people petting other dogs, kids doing homework, and kids making videos. Sitting there definitely made me wish I could live there permanently. Also, in the park was an old people's gym. It was kinda weird but entertaining and awesome. Pedaling benches, pull up bar, etc. 

Next we went to Sol and it was phenomenal! We were smack dab in the riot. I took probably 30 - 40 photos of signs and people. Definitely an experience I will never forget. You'll have to check 'em out on facebook. I'll also post the best up here on my blog. 

We also walked to Mercado de San Miguel and had sushi. We befriended the chef/used our american charm and he gave us two free sushi rolls! 

All in all, we didn't get lost and we learned how to use the metro! Yay for independently growing up! 

Salutaciones, 

Dylan

Un día de duerma

Hola! I am in Madrid. And boy was it an adventure. First I left the dorms with a few friends and my travel partner. Then, we went to the airport THREE HOURS EARLY! Gah. That wait was filled with playing cards and spending 6 dollars (!) on a stupid, small but delicious egg sandwich. Then, we almost didn't board on time. Next was, "Dylan deserves no space" on the plane and the lady in front of me declined in the chair for the whole flight.
Chicago faired better but we only spent 10 minutes at the airport. That flight was pretty chill.
Then at DC my travel partner met a person from her sorority from New Mexico. Other than that the 7 hour flight was filled with mini food breaks, games, and I saw Hereafter. And that was only in the first 3 hours. I somehow fell asleep on the tiny pillow and under the small, black blanket but only for an hour. Then I woke up with a stiff neck. Then 4 hours of tedious boredom ensued.
Finally, we got to the airport in Madrid. I went through customs and got my first stamp! (Can I get a woot woot?!!) Then we got some euros and took a very, very expensive cab ride to our hotel (note to self, taxis are a bad idea.) Once we got our hotel room, we accidentally slept for 6 hours instead of two. I still think I'll be able to go to bed tonight and get accustomed to local time.
Tonights mission (as it is 6 pm here): Go to metro, learn. Go to Plaza del Sol, learn shopping centers/restaurants. Go to Ventas, learn about bullfights.

All in all, we've done an okay job of communicating. We can say what we want, but understanding the answers and them is the hard part.
Ciao amigos,
Dylan

Muchas cosas hacer todavia

Hey all. It's Monday, my last full day in America. I'll be leaving in the morning. Thanks to all of you guys that made yesterday a blast with ultimate Frisbee, grilling, and games!

Still have yet to pack! Tonight will be very stressful, but what's a trip without stressful last minute packing? Hopefully my next post will be full of random airport adventures like riding the escalator for 3 hours or accomplishing some amazing task on my 9 hr flight.

Peace out girl scouts,
Dylan