Toledo

This past weekend two of my girlfriends, Emma and Taryn, and I went to Toledo for the day. Toledo is an ancient city just about an hour outside of Madrid. It was the capital of Spain during the rein of the Muslim kings until 1085 when it was conquered by the Catholics. The design and architecture of the city are still greatly influenced by it's Muslim history.
I think my favorite part of the day was simply walking though the steep cobble stone streets and getting out of the city. I like Madrid but a city of five and a half million people becomes overwhelming sometimes. We also went to the gothic cathedral, built between the XIII and XV century. There was a display of the crown jewels as well as a collection of Greco’s paintings in the cathedral museums. Greco lived in Toledo for most of his adult life. Unfortunately the Alcazar, Toledo’s fort and palace, was closed due to reconstruction. Luckily it is such and easy day trip that I will be able to return to the city when it reopens.
Toledo is also famose for it´s steel work and all the gift shops are packed with intersting knifes of all different sizes. I´m thinking souvenir for my good older brother.

My new Hair!!!

I passed a peluqeria (salon) on my way home from class yesterday and decided to chop my hair off. I told her give me the Victoria Beckhem. She cut about 7 inches off of the back. I love it! My hair feels so light an healthy.

Reina Sofia and Class

This past Sunday I went to el museo de la Reina Sofia, Madrid’s modern art museum. They have a great collection of the most famous modern Spanish artists like Miró, Dalí, and Picasso, the star of their collection being "la Guernica". The Guernica, for those who don’t know, is Picasso’s masterpiece, representing a small city that was totally destroyed by Hitler’s army at the beginning of the Spanish Civil war. Basically, Hitler needed to test his knew planes and train his new pilots and Franco let him bomb a small city in northern Spain to show off his powerful friends and discourage the republic. Not only were heavy bombs dropped on the city but the civilians were also machine gunned down as they were running away down the streets and in the fields. Picasso’s painting is filled with the horror and pain of the two hour massacre. And no mater how many books I have read that sing it’s praises or how many professors tell you it is gorgeous seeing it for the first time in person is an unforgettable experience. It takes your breath away. I stood in front of Guernica for 15 minutes with tears in my eyes. It is really a must-see for anyone visiting Madrid.

My classes started on Tuesday and are all going well. Some of my classes are will all American students and a professor from the University Compultense Madrid but others are just like a regular lecture hall in Madison, except everyone is Spanish. I am taking a history of America class (the Spanish part of America, not USA), two literature classes, linguistics, and yoga :).

My new apartment.

So I am all moved into my new apartment and I love it! My roommates are great. So far there are two Spanish girls, (one
who speaks English very well but doesn't with us unless we need to translate a specific word and another who doesn't speak
English very much at all) and an Italian girl. The Italian is hilarious and so full of live. She speaks Spanish pretty well but
always seems to add the Italian "tune" to it. We are still waiting on three other girls from somewhere in Europe. We had a
great time our first night hanging out together laughing, mixing up words and drinking wine.
The apartment is kind of old (especially thinking US standards) with tiled bathrooms and wooden floors. Our first couple days here the gas to heat the water wouldn't stay lit so we took several very cold showers/spongebaths. The increased body oder really made me feel one with the Spanish people. Now everything is working just like it should.
Friday night my American friends and I went out for tapas. For those who are unfamiliar with the tapas tradition it is when a
group of friends goes from bar to bar ordering a small appetizer or two and a round of drinks. Many places will just give you a free "tapa" with your drinks. supposedly this tradition began with Felipe VI because the flies were so bad he wanted a plate of something to put on top of his beer to keep the bugs out of it.
After the tapas my roommate and I ended up in a plaza where were saw a man doing a fire show and an all female brass band, I think they were French. There was also this crazy lady hang around the band playing her recorder. The strangest thing wasn't that he had a recorder it was that the instrument was attached to her 18 inch multicolored mullet dread lock. Mullets and dreads are so in right now in Madrid! Who knows maybe I will end up with one...

Today we went to el Rastro again. I bought two pairs of earrings for only 3 euro a piece and a huge patchwork bag for only 2
euro. After walking around those streets for a couple of hours we grabbed some quick bocadillos (sandwiches on baguettes). I got the calamari bocadillo which was a giant sandwich filled with lightly breaded and friend calamari- yum yum. A little
lettuce and tomato would have made it better but the Spanish aren't big on condiments. If you get a ham bocadillo than that
is what you get- ham and bread.

Segovia

Yesterday we went to Segovia. It was absolutly amazing. The city has so much history and so much character, not to mention great tapas and cheap souveniers.
The most impresive thing was the Roman aqueduct still standing after 2,000 years without mortar or quickcreat. I wish my brother Eric would have been able to see it and the tools they used to build it because i'm sure he would have been in awe. The aqueduct is massive and long. It was built to bring water up to Segovia which was built on a moutain surrounded by a river for protection. They captured the water coming off of an opposing mountain and lead it to the ancient city. They even had the water covered to protect it from impurities (bird poop). There is no water in it anymore. I guess a few years ago they experimented and tried getting it to work again but the water leaked and they were afraid of erosion so they stopped that.
There were also multiple churches, a giant cathedral, and a castle built for Fernando y Isabel de Castilla y Leon. "Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando"- this was a statement of equal power between Fernando y Isabel, although Isabel had much more land and riches. The castle suffered a very damaging fire so most of the rooms had to be restored.

Look at the pictures and captions here, http://wisc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2281687&l=4f082&id=8628715. My operating system is too old for Picassa. I'm looking into updating. Mom make sure Eric sees them.

My first week

My first week in Madrid has been so busy. We started our 3-week intensive course on Tuesday. It is an hour of history and politics, an hour of art, and then two hours of grammar and composition. The three professors are wonderful and pretty easy to understand. The class is a lot of work though and on top of that we have been in charge of searching for a place to live in this giant city.
I lucked out with my apartment. I got a great price in an ideal location, and I found it only after 2 days of searching. Some people in my program are still dealing with rude landlords and hole-in-the-wall smelly apartments. My apartment in on the Plaza de San Bernardo, an area not only popular for students but also families. I live with 7 other girls, one American, 2 Spainards, anitalian and then other Europeans whom I haven´t met yet and our landlord wasn´t sure where they were from. I am actually sharing a room with the American, Tayrn, a girl from Madison. The best part about our room has to be the view. Two glass french doors open up to over look the plaza and it´s two huge fountains. It´s beautiful.
Other than class and apartment hunting I have been trying to get to some of the traditional tourist areas such as El Parque de Retiro, El Rastro (a massive flea market that streaches for miles), and the fresh food markets. The night life is amazing. Today I got home at 7:14 am from my night out on the town.
Well, I am off to run some erronds and go to a cafe with some friends. I will write more soon.

Hola a todos!

Hello Family and Friends!

As you all know I will soon embark on my newest journey. August 29, I depart from Chicago landing in Madrid, Spain on the 30th. I chose to do the group flight so hopefully I will already have made some friends by the time I step off the plain.

My first few weeks I will be living in los residantes estudiantes (dorms) while I search the giant city for a place to live. Ideally, I would like to find an apartment relatively near campus with a mix of Spanish students and other European exchange students, maybe an American just for good measure. Also during this time I will be taking a three-week crash course on Spanish language and culture so that we foolish American students don't break some culture taboos and piss everyone off. I will be also be granted 3 credits for this first class :)

I'd like to use this blog as a convenient way for family and friends to get a hold of me as well as for posting my latest pictures and updates on my travels.

I love and will miss you all during my year abroad, feel free to come and visit!

Adios,
Madeline