Saturday, October 16th

so excited to go to the beach!

Today I took a “Me Day” and went to the beach. Mind you, Madrid is in the center of Spain – nowhere near the beach! But it was a rough week with missing IC’s homecoming and a few comments that rubbed me the wrong way, and I needed sometime just to be me and recharge my happiness. Plus I had an extra day on my train pass that was going to expire, so off to Malaga I went!

jumping pics are hard by yourself..

Malaga is about 2 hours and 45 minutes in the high speed train. I took a lot of homework with me, but naturally got distracted by the movies (Ghost Writer). At least I watched them in Spanish, so I learned a little. I did get quite a bit of reading done in Doña Perfecta. I can’t wait to be done with that book. It sure is boring!!! I hope the next one is more exciting!!

love my life

When I got to the train station, I went to the tourist information desk to find out how to get to the nearest beach. The lady there was an idiot. I asked for a map, in perfect Spanish. She gave me one, but it was only the city center and the beach wasn’t even on it! She looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for a different one that included the street the beach was on. Then she pointed me out the door and told me how to get to the beach. Following her directions, I ended halfway across town headed towards some mountains. I wanted to kick her.

So I stopped on a major street and asked a man where we were. He showed me where on my map and pointed me in the right direction of the beach.

McDonald's dinner!

The beach was long, but not very wide and rather dirty. Beach is beach to me though. I planted my towel between two friendly looking women, and got to work sun tanning. It was so relaxing listening to my new playlist combining with the sound of the waves breaking at the shore. I could have stayed there all week, but sadly I set an alarm for 5 pm to head back to the train station.

My train back to Madrid left at 6:10 from the Malaga train station. On the way home I watched another movie (The Box), again in Spanish.

Teresa and her pressie

When I got back to Madrid, Teresa was waiting for me at the train station. She was driving around her friend, Monica, who has a broken leg, and Monica’s cousin, giving the cousin a tour of Madrid. We drove around in the car for a while and ended up eating dinner at a food cart at a McDonalds. It was so delicious, way better than the US.. Maybe just because I was missing home.

When we got back to the house, I gave Teresa her scarf. She loved it. In true Wagers fashion, I made her put it on with her pjs and take a picture!! J

Friday, October 15th

Senora and cousin, Jaime

Today after class I had my third examen. It was NOT fun!! It wasn't too difficult, but it was mostly essays so I have no idea what my grade will be.. Hopefully good!!!

After our test, Katy and I went to the train station to buy our tickets for the weekend. While at the station I decided to buy a present for Teresa since it was her saints day. I found this beautiful scarf to give to her! It's red with flowers. She was a friends house by the time I got home, so I didn't actually get to give her the scarf until Saturday. She LOVED it.. Or at least she was good at faking it!! :)

just a goofing around

Friday night, my "cousin", Jaime, spent the night. He had an early study session in Madrid and since he lives a ways out, he stayed over in Teresa's room. He and my sister Skyped and fell in love. I'm going to go ahead and tell her embarrassing story because it's just too funny to leave alone! Instead of calling him hot, she called him fat!! "gordo" instead of "guapo"!! LOL!! We were all laughing so hard -- especially when he came back into my room with pillows under his shirt!! Later in Skype he saw my dad and asked if he was a sheriff! LOL!

oh you know, just a little
snack for me to take
to the beach tomorrow

I just absolutely love my Spanish family! They've really made this whole experience fantastic! If anyone ever wants to study abroad in Madrid I'll hook you up!!! :)

Thursday, October 14th

Conchita and Teresa

Today I had weekly language exchange. Me and Juan Jose took a walk around the block and then went to VIPS for cokes. My Spanish sister, Teresa, met up with us. Juan told her he'd buy her a coke, but she was only allowed to speak in English. So they would talk to me in English and I would respond in Spanish. They helped me study for my test too. In Spanish for the word "for" there are two different words "por" and "para" that each serve different purposes. They were trying to help me keep all the different meanings straight, but it's HARD!

After a while, Juan's youngest son Jaime came to VIPS too. He too was only allowed to talk in English.

After VIPS Teresa and I went home to eat dinner. We all stayed up, even Abuelita, until the clock struck midnight so we could wish Teresa happy saints day. In Spain everyone has two special days; your birthday (when you were literally born) and your saints day (the saints day you were named after). On your saint's day you get presents just like a birthday. Teresa's wearing the tank top her mom got her for her bday. Excuse the fact that it's past midnight :)

Naturally I had to find MY saint's day.. Saint Catherine's day is November 25th! I expect LOTS of presents!! ;)

Wednesday, October 13th

me waiting for our tour
in the garden at the Casa
de Lope de Vega

Today was a LONG day of classes. Not only did I have lots of hours in class, but the water was shut off so I couldn't use the restroom AND the coffee machine wasn't working (no water, remember). Basically worst day ever. Okay exageration, but seriously, I'm hardcore addicted to my cafe con leche (Spanish coffee with milk).

Between classes I went to La Casa de Lope de Vega (the house where the playwright Lope de Vega lived). For my literature class I have to make up 15 hours outside of class to make up the 45 hours in total that I need for Illinois College. Katy and another girl, Karo lina, went with me. Karo lina is from Germany and is in our grammar class as well. She's really sweet. This is her and Marie's last week in our grammar class, but they will be in Madrid for a whole year working on an internship.

Katy, Karo lina, and me

The museum was really interesting. A lot of the things in it weren't really Lope's, but were from the same era or replicas of his belongings. Our tour was in Spanish and our tour guide talked CRAZY FAST.. That part was not cool! I have to write a 5 page paper about Lope now, but I really didn't learn a lot from the tour, therefore I will be spending some extensive time tonight reading up on him!!

Tuesday, October 12th

Today starts a rough week.. It's homecoming week at IC, so I'm REALLY missing all of my friends from home. It's the first time I've really felt homesick since getting to Spain, but I'll be okay. Just needing some hardcore attitude adjustment, and reminder that I'm doing some pretty sweet things over here! :) (Now would be the time to drop an encouraging word or send a letter -- hint hint ;) lol)

Today was rather un-eventful. For dinner I taught my family "awkward turtle" -- but I forgot the word for awkward, which was, well awkward! All in all lots of fun! I love my Spanish family!! <3

Monday, October 11th

playing with my food :)

Last night after dinner my senora called me to make sure everything was going well. I absolutely love my Spanish family! They are so sweet and totally treat me like I’m a blood relative! My Spanish Mommy just wanted to make sure I was safe and that me and Katy were having fun. Teresa, my Spanish Sister, informed me that they had a party for me this weekend and ate my favorite foods: my Abuela’s tortilla, tinto de verano from 100 Montaditos, and Illini Bars that my dad sent! I told her that I was buying a her a puppy tomorrow (she’s terrified of all dogs! Mwahahaha!)

Reading Dona - as always!

top of the castle

Today Katy and I got up early to go to Córdoba. We checked out of our hostel around 9 am, which meant we couldn’t eat the free breakfast. Not that it really mattered, since my senora had packed me PLENTY of food! I found some chocolate milk at the train station and drank that with my cookies and banana. J

We got to Córdoba a little before 11 am. Since the train station is a pretty decent walk from the historical portion of the city, we took a city bus down to the river.

in one of the towers

First we went to the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (The Christian King Castle). Although it looked massive from the outside, the part that we could tour through was actually pretty small. There were some really sweet mosaics on the walls in one room. It’s amazing to think of how much work went into those!

Arab Baths

After touring the inside, Katy and I decided we had to go up in the “torre” (tower) to see the view of Córdoba. AWFUL IDEA! Although the view was awesome, the staircase was not! Between Katy’s lack of depth perception and my fear of heights – we almost died! Plus the place was super crowded so we were trying to go down the spiral staircase with people coming up and it was terrifying! We were SO happy to be back on the ground level!

garden :)

After our little near death experience, we went on a mission to find the Arab Baths. They were pretty sweet, although there really wasn’t much to see. Just a little underground cave-ish place.

The sweet part about the castle though was the garden! Oh my goodness! Seriously I think this was my favorite garden so far! There were so many fountains and flowers blooming! They had lots of roses, which are naturally my favorite (Katie ROSE). J

Katy and I in the Garden

Katy and I walked around the garden for a really long time. It was seriously like 10 times the size of the castle itself! After we left the castle, we went on a mission to find some grub.

We ended up at this little restaurant close to the castle and la mezquita. It was okay I guess. We each got tortillas (omlets). Katy ordered a Spanish tortilla (omelet with potatoes) and I just ordered one with ham. They were okay. Worst part of the meal was I ordered a Coke and they brought me a Pepsi…. That is so not okay! It was one of the first Pepsis I’ve seen in Spain, so I thought that was kind of interesting. Still not enjoyable!

Doesn't look like a Coke to me!!

After lunch we went to La Mezquita. La Mezquita is a Cathedral inside a Mosque. I was so excited to see the arches in real life! It was interesting to compare the darkness of the Arabic architecture with that of the Catholic section. I really, really, really enjoyed La Mezquita! J

<3 Cordoba! :)

After we finished touring La Mezquita, Katy and I just walked around the old Jewish section of the city. We saw some Roman pillars and an old bridge (that has been restored quite a bit). We wanted to go to this market that sells products created by local artists, but it was closed until 5 pm. We tried to find the synagogue, but it was totally hiding from us. We seriously couldn’t find it with our map; it was not where the map said it would be.

La Mezquita

At this point dark clouds were beginning to roll in. We only had a little over an hour until our train left, so we set off to find a bus that would take us back to the station. It rained a little on us, but we’re tough girls!! J

more Mezquita

Back in the station I finally got a real Coke! Shesh! I blame my father for this Coke obsession!! J Love you dad!

On the train ride home I worked on a bunch of homework. I had to read more out of Doña Perfecta, a Spanish novel for my literature class, and write an essay about a world issue (in Spanish of course). I decided to write about world hunger and poverty, focusing on how the conditions affect children. The whole time I just kept thinking how much I wanted to get home to my comfy bed, my Spanish family, and Skype (so I could talk to my real family too!) Adventures are fun, but I miss home!!

YEAH COKE!!!

When I finally got home to my family in Madrid I was soooo sleepy! It was great to catch up with my Spanish fam, and talk to a few friends/my dad on Facebook! For dinner we had rice with hot dogs, tortilla (omelet with potatoes), ham and bread. SO yummy! I think the rice and hot dogs are one of my favorite dishes, even though I know it's sounds kind of gross! Now time to sleep.. In my own bed.. with a real pillow... finally. :)

Sunday, October 10th

picnic breakfast

Katy and I slept in pretty late today. Well actually she got up around 11, but I thought she was still sleeping, so I rolled back over and slept until after noon! When we finally both got up and moving, we showered up and then found this local bakery. We purchased this coffee cake kind of pastery and loaves of bread for dinner.

We took the coffee cake back to our hostel and had a picnic breakfast on the rooftop! It was super yummy and so warm and toasty up there! I realllllllly wanted some chocolate milk, but we couldn’t find any shops selling it! L Oh well. Life goes on!

Maria Luisa Park

We planned on going to the art museum in the Maria Luisa Park and possibly the Flamenco Musuem. Too bad EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays. Seriously, Spain shuts down. I mean it’s kind of cute because everyone is out with their families. The restaurants stay open for the most part. It’s just a big family day. Not good for tourists.

Where's Katie??!

So Katy and I ended up exploring Maria Luisa Park. Just like the Alcazar Garden, it was beautiful! J The only complaint I have about the park is that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to find a bathroom! We finally found a set of toilets, but the facility was closed! NOT COOL GUYS!!

At this point, the dark clouds were rolling back in, so we found a restaurant called Café y Te for a coke and a potty break. Once I looked at the menu and my watch, I realized I was super hungry. I ended up getting this “cheeseburger” that had a hamburger patty, cheese, bacon, ham slices, onion crispies, and an egg! It was so yummy! Very different, but super good!

jummmmp :)

After eating we leisurely strolled back to our hostel, stopping to pick up a liter of coke for our dinner. On our way home it started raining so we picked up the pace a little. All of the sudden the sun broke through and there was a beautiful double rainbow!!

When we got the hostel, some of our roommates were napping, so Katy and I plopped down in the common room and blogged/did homework for the rest of the evening. Some guys tried to get us to go out, but we were both too sleepy.

killer cheeseburger!!

umbrellas :)

rainbow! <3 

Now Katy is talking to her mom and I’m going to do a little more reading for class. Whenever she get’s done we’re going to eat a Spanish style dinner (9:30 pm – bread and chorizo/ham). We’ll probably just end up staying in and going to bed early since we’re going to Cordoba in the morning. Our train leaves just before 10 am! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see la Mezquita!!!! J