One of the reasons that I love Spain is because there is so much history. The streets are filled with history and you can see it just by looking at the buildings. At the Reina Sofia Museum, in Madrid, there is an exhibit of old photos of Madrid. Some of the photos are from the war and show buildings that were bombed in Madrid during the war. It is amazing to see how life was many years ago and also to see how a city can rebuild itself. Even though I have been to the Reina Sofia Museum I was excited to go back, you can never see a museum to many times. The Reina Sofia Museum has a collection of 20th-cenutry art. The art at this museum is a lot more contemporary than the art at the Prado Museum. The building itself is beautiful. There is a permanent exhibit of over 10,000 pieces ranging from paintings, sculptures, and film. There are also temporary exhibits. When we went last week there was a temporary exhibit of art by Luis Gordillo. His paintings are very abstract, but have amazing color. I also loved looking at Salvador Dali’s paintings. Many of you would recognize Dali’s paintings. I hope when we return with our school that we can learn more about his paintings. One painting that I have learned a lot about is Pablo Picasso’s painting, Guernica. Guernica is a painting of a Basque town that was bombed during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso used dark colors and distorted figures to condemn the war. I learned about this painting in my Spanish class at SDSU. There is also a really cool exhibit that shows the timeline of Picasso painting Guernica. I believe it was only over a month, which does not seem like a long time to paint this huge painting. I am not an artist, but I am excited for my art at the Prado class because I will learn a lot more about why artists paint the way the do.
Another place in Spain that has a lot of history is Segovia. Yesterday my school had an excursion to Segovia. Even though I visited Segovia last time I was here and will probably visit again when my mom and brother come, I wanted to go because I really love this city. By bus, it took about 1 ½ hour to get there. One of the main sights there is the world-famous Roman aqueduct. The Romans built this aqueduct around 50 BC to bring water to the city. The amazing thing is there are about 20,000 blocks of granite that were used, but no mortar was used. One thing I also liked about going to Segovia this time was because I had a ‘tour guide’ (a teacher from school). I learned all about things I had seen last time, but I found out the history behind the sights and all the information was in Spanish. I loved it! The teacher also told use that only two tools were used to build the aqueduct. WOW!
My favorite thing in Segovia is the Alcazar. It is said that Walt Disney was inspired by the castle and designed the castle at Disneyworld after the Alcazar. Look for yourself. Columbus was also sent by Fernando and Isabel to go to the “New World” from the Alcazar. At one time there was also an artillery school here and there is a museum inside the Alcazar that exhibits different weapons as well as armor. One awesome part of the castle is the spiraling towers. It is quite a journey to the top, but the view is worth it. I love walking through history. It is crazy to think that Christopher Columbus was in that castle as well as a king and queen.
Last time that I was in Segovia I did not go in the cathedral, but I happy I went this time. This cathedral cannot only be seen far away because it is so huge; it is also amazing to see inside. I do not even understand how they can build something so huge. The style of the cathedral is gothic and has several smaller chapels inside for different saints. The architecture is beautiful and the stories behind each saint are interesting. It definitely reminded me of my grandma. She would have loved it.
As you can tell, I am feeling a lot better. I have really been trying to focus on why I am here, which is to learn Spanish and to travel. Even though the dollar is not worth much here I will take advantage of all the opportunities here. One thing that I mentioned before is the nightlife. Last night we went out around 11:30pm and the streets were packed. There were not only people my age walking around, but the streets were filled with people of all ages from kids to grandparents. I loved it. Life does not stop after the sun goes down. Everyone loves to enjoy each other’s presence. We stayed out all night and went to a churro restaurant at 4:45am and I was surprised to see adults more awake then me….hehe. J The restaurant was packed. Everyone was eating churros con chocolate and drinking café con leche while we waited for the metro to open at 6am. When we went to the metro it was just as packed as it is in the afternoon. It is definitely something to see and expierence. No wonder they have siestas here. I love being awake at night so I think I could get used to staying up late.
Some other types of food that I have had this past week are albondigas (meatballs in a gravy-like sauce), pure de verduras (pureed vegetable soup), patatas fritas (french fries), pimientos fritos (fried green bell peppers), and croquetas (minced meat or vegetables covered with breadcrumbs and deep fried). I have loved everything I have tried except for croquetas (I did not like the texture). My stomach is still getting used to the different types of food, but overall I haven’t got very sick . Many of the girls here have had a lot of stomach problems because we have to adjust to the food as well as traveling. One of my friends has a stomach infection and had to go to the doctor for medication. It is crazy how food and traveling can make you get sick so easily. Well, I am excited for next week because we are hopefully going to Seville for our three-day weekend. I can’t wait to show you my pictures.
