Vacations

Hola everyone! So I am leaving tomorrow morning for Greece, so I won´t be online for a few days. We should have internet at the second place we are going so I hope I will be able to post some pictures then. I am sure we will have a good time, I just have to get to the airport. We had a little issue because we were goin to take the metro but it closes and won´t open in time for us. I am going to try and take the bus, but if i can´t figure it out then i will just take taxi. Ok well I will write again as soon as I can!

Meeting Ken and Deanna

On Saturday I went with Ken and Deanna and Alvaro (Ken and Deanna's exchange student) and his dad to try some spanish food. We had jamon serrano, which is dried, sliced pig leg, and some special cheese of which I don't know the name, and calamares fritos (they look like onion rings, but they are calamare). Not my favorite meal, but it was ok.

These are pictures from church when Ken preached. The woman translating for him is Angie. I went to her daughter's first birthday party a couple of weekends ago. The other picture is the choir. After walking around Madrid on Sunday, we went to Plaza Mayor and had supper. The picture didn't turn out very well because it was dark, but you get the idea.

This is me and Alvaro, Ken and Deann's exchange student. He visited michigan last summer for a month and was an exchange student the year before. We are in Sol, the big shopping district. I have pictures from here in other posts. Apparently the statue we are standing by is the symbol of Spain...I don't know why. :)

This is me and Ken and Deanna at Retiro Park. Its the biggest park in Madrid and its right in the middle of the city. It was kind of cold when we were there though, and Ken was distracted by something...I don't know what.

I liked the view from here...you can see all the gardens and I can't wait to see it in the spring when the flowers come out. Sorry, its kind of dark, but it was at night when we were there.

Palacio Real

This is just another view from the courtyard. We couldn't take pictures inside, so I just took a lot outside. And that is all the pictures my internet is going to let me post. I'm surprised I got this many in. I will try to make another post with the rest of the pictures from here and from Salamanca. I also have a few pictures from when Ken and Deanna were here. Deanna took a lot more pics so you can see her's when she gets back. I told her to send me her pictures because I haven't seen them yet.

This is me standing in the middle of the courtyard. You can see some of my group behind me. When I saw this picture I thought that it looked like I was standing in front of a fake background. We got to see 28 rooms out of the 200 and something. It was so crazy how lavish they made these palaces. The walls had embroidery in them, the ceilings were all painted with different frescos by famous painters, and the furniture was all especially made for the king. There is one room that they redo for each new king. Everything in the room is made with the current king's coat of arms. Like his initials are on the print of the curtains, the upholstery, the wall paper, everything. Crazy, I'm telling you.

This is just a cool view, I thought. I love the huge arches that are all over europe. You can always look through them and see something cool like this steeple.

This is the front facade of the main living chambers of the kind and queen. I took this picture from inside the courtyard of the palace, so you can only see this if you go inside. You can see the Spanish flag flying...and there is another pole for the King's flag. They fly that flag when the king is in the palace. He comes once or twice a month only for special occaions, and then the palace is closed to visitors. Yes there is still a king in Spain, Juan Carlos the something...I don't know what number he is :) He doesn't have any power though.

Internet problems

In case some of you are wondering, I haven´t been able to upload pictures to my blog because of the internet connection I have. I keep trying but it is very frustrating and so you might just have to wait until I get home to see more. Sorry! I will keep trying.

Salamanca

Ok well this is a good as i could do. My favorite pictures I couldn't put on my blog because of course they were the ones that wouldn't load. So after much frustration and loss of sleep, this is what you get. This is in Salamanca...I don't remember all the building's names. The guide said that all the buildings in Salamanca are built with a special stone that is white to begin with and over time it changes to a golden color. So they call this the Golden City. It is very beautiful. I have some pictures to shopw the diference in stone color...but not here so you can see them when I come home.

This is the view of the two cathedrals from outside the city. The new one and the old one...new meaning 1800's.

This is inside the old cathedral, and this is one of the oldest organs in europe. I think its from like the 13th century or something.

And this is a typical european style pulpit

This is in the new cathedral...the architecture style is Baroque...I don't know how to spell that.

This is the chapel in the University of Salamanca. You can get married here but only if you have a degree from this university. You should also know that Salamanca is a University city and this university is one of the oldest in europe. Its up there with Oxford and Notre Dame.

This is the side of the new cathedral and the picture above it is a Jesuit church that is huge. We were standing in the courtyard of the house of shells which is also a really cool looking building but I couldn't upload that picture either. When we were here it was like in the 70's and sunny. I loved it, of course. :) When I am able, I will post the rest of the pictures or you all can wait a couple months to see them. :)

My Room: Before and After

Ok so I have not posted pictures of my room yet because I haven't really like it and I wanted to show before and after pictures. Its still not exactly how I want it, but I'm only here for 3 more months...so this will have to be good enough. First we start with my desk..this picture is from the first week that I was here. Notice the ugly mustard yellow curtains in the picture on the left.
I moved my desk next to my door because I had to buy an internet cable and it wouldn't reach to the other side of my room. All those pictures on the wall are ones that my mom sent me...thanks mom:)

BEFORE - This is what the bed looked like whe I got here..well I was a little neater. Again, the ugly mustard yellow color.
AFTER - I moved my bed to go along the other wall and boought some polar fleece blankets at IKEA to make it look a little more normal. I know the pillow doesn't match, but those are just the sheets that the housekeeper gives me.

BEFORE

Not much change here...I can't really change anything with my closet. The doors are kind of crooked and they are hard to slide sometimes.

AFTER
I just got these curtains this weekend at IKEA and I think they look much nicer than the other ones. If you know me, you know that I love purple, so this suits me much better. I also got a purplr rug to go un front of the window and it matches perfectly.

Now you all have seen my room. It's definately not the nicest room, but I think I have made it my own. The part of Madrid that I live in is very old, so this is the kind of room that you get. The windows and doors are really old and they let in a lot of sound because they don't seal. The good part about living in this part of the city is that I am close to everything and I don't have to take the metro or the bus to go places like most of the other people in my program. So there are good and bad aspects about living here. I think for 5 months, its not so bad. I'm just happy that I don't have to look at those ugly curtains anymore :)

Sorry

Hello Everyone! I have been hearing some complaints that I haven't posted another post recently. Well I haven't been doing much lately because it has been cloudy and rainy here for almost a week. I have been staying in my room and working on homework. Last night I went out with one of my flat mates, Katie, and we got stuff to make tacos. She made chicken ones and I made beef ones. They were really good, although when we got home, we realized that we had bought moldy tomatoes. I had some in my room so we just used those.

Last weekend I went to my friend, Alexandra's house again. It was her birthday the weekend before, but as I was in San Sebastian, we couldn't celebrate. She had a party on saturday night with me and some of her friends from church. It was fun and we had pizza. This was the first time I had pizza since I got here...way too long. Here's a few pictures from that party.

Then on Sunday we went to another birthday party. It was for Alexandra's friend's daurghter who turned 1. It was really nice because her friend, Angie speaks english very well and she likes to talk so I talked wtih her for awhile. The food was really good there too. We had chicken soup, because in europe you always have soup before the main course, and some chicken that was very tender and yummy. Here are some pictures from that party.

Well that's pretty much all for now. I hope that you are all satisfied now that you know I am still here. ;) I am staying in Madrid this weekend and I might just walk around a little. This is the last week of the sales so everything should be marked down a lot. Maybe I can find some good deals.