London Life

Though it's the middle of the afternoon here in London (I made it!), I feel like it's the end of the day from all of the traveling I've done. Here are some of the key points of the trip here:

Caught the late bus from Toledo to Madrid, where I met this VERY interesting Israeli man named Shmuli. He's apparently a journalist that will be pursuing his doctorate degree from Notre Dame next fall. The bus ride was an hour and a half, and I might have talked for about 5 of those 90 minutes. He was quite intelligent in all things historic and political, things I'm not exactly in tune with, which pretty much made our "conversation" a story by him, then a question and answer session with really detailed answers. His main interest is in german politics, but he writes for a paper back in Israel about futbol. I also learned he's a jewish atheist, or an atheist jew, not sure which is correct. Basically he just participates in jewish traditions for support of the culture, not because it's part of his belief. One of his longest stories had to do with how he had just been to Barcelona to interview Jordi Pujol i Soley, who apparently was the president of Cataluña (a province of Spain) from 1980 to 1999--was elected 6 times in a row!

Once we got off the bus in Madrid, I took a taxi to my hostel, which was a pretty cool hostel in Madrid with a bar downstairs and really nice receptionists. I got there around 12:00 and had a flight at 6:30 this morning, so really I was there for about 3 and a half hours before catching the shuttle (much cheaper than a taxi and safer & easier than the metro). I would have just stayed at the airport,  but I've heard that's not the best idea when traveling alone. Next time I will do that though because there were tons of people doing it and lots of police around.  Needless to say I just slept in my clothes, which is a good thing since I slept through my alarm, and didn't wake up until the nice receptionist came up to my room! Kinda crazy but I was able to get all of my stuff together, check out, and leave the place all in 10 minutes. The nice thing is that I wasn't the only one the shuttle was waiting for...the last person was a woman from Uruguay, Sandra, whom I actually became pretty good travel friends with. It was funny because we would switch from Spanish to English and back a lot. Anyways, we just stuck together at each point of the flight process. 

And finally, I'm at my hostel in London. Finding my way to the right tube in Victoria Station was a little crazy, but I kept going back to this really nice British man at the info. desk who pretty much looked up how to get directly to my hostel for me. It took me a little while then to find the right street of my hostel, but once I found an internet café, I was able to google map it (something I forgot to do before I left obviously). 

Wimbledon Wishes and Woes (I'm a fan of alliteration):

So, if you're wondering why I came to London all by myself, it's really and truly because of the most prestigious, classic tennis tournament--WIMBLEDON! I could not pass up the opportunity of catching a cheap flight to London (as opposed to an outrageously expensive flight from the states) and at least going to the grounds one day. The thing is, every year Wimbledon is quite unpredictable with the weather. I'm just praying that the predictions for tomorrow do not prevent play, since I didn't get here early enough today to queue and get tickets. Here's the queuing low-down for those who are interested:

* You can stand in line (queue)* for one of the 200 centre court tickets sold on the day of play or one of the 6000 grounds admission tickets sold on that day of play.

* Grounds don't technically open until 10:30 a.m., but some people even camp-out the night before to get tickets (I will not be this extreme...though I do plan on getting there around 5:00 tomorrow for grounds tickets). 

*Getting to Wimbledon at these odd hours can be quite tricky, since it is actually a suburb of London, not in the city. 

Primera semana ya ha pasado?!

DISCLAIMER: This is a long blog post. I apologize, but it's up to you how much you read. The next few should be shorter. It is summer after all... most of you should have some free time! :)

 

Wow, I can't believe it's already Tuesday of the second week that I've been here. Time has flown, yet it has also been full of fun and memorable moments. First, for general info:

*  I'm living in Polígono, which is really a suburb-like town with mostly apartments for housing outside of old-town Toledo, which is essentially a town enclosed by medieval castle-like walls that were first built in the 1200s. Crazy, I know. My host family is wonderful: a mom, Tere (Teresa), a younger sister, 18 (Tania), and a younger brother, 13 (Rubén). They are a loving, open, and very energetic family.  

* IT'S HOT HERE. If you're used to the Texas summer heat, it wouldn't bother you that much (yet I hear it isn't even close to it's hottest temps--those come in July, apparently), but all I have to say is that it's the same temp. as central Texas, and guess what--No AC. I didn't necessarily anticipate, or even hope for it, but you're definitely feelin' the heat on the days with no wind. No humidity though, so not quite as bad as back home.

* Ciestas. This is an instituted time of day (usually around 2-5), when nearly every business shuts down so that its employees can go home, eat lunch with their families, and rest before heading back to work. I have thought of two reasons why this works so well in Spain: 

1) the sun shines so bright, and for so long here. The sun rises before 7 and sets a little before 10, but it really doesn't get dark until 10:20. 

2) It's so hot here that during the day, the only thing people do outside is go to the pool and cool off. Social life is a huge part of the culture, and going out at night provides a much better atmosphere than during the day. The weather at night is perfect. 75ish Farenheit, crisp, clear air (minus the cigarette smoke that accompanies nearly every group of Spaniards) and an occasional breeze. 

* I'm going to class on Mondays and Wednesdays: taking 20th century Spanish lit. and recent spanish film class. Same professor for both...very understandable and intriguing man who's actually from Argentina. Seems really nice as well as a terrific professor--repeats things with clarity and a variety of explanations. This part of the trip is not as exciting as the rest, so I probably won't talk much more about classes. Don't worry though Mom, I am studying and doing my work...

*Last and least, the U.S. dollar means very little here. It is quite sad when you see something that's about  15 Euros, and think that means it's cheap, but really it's still about 25 bucks. 

                1 Euro = 1.4 dollars!!!

Here are a few highlights:

* Upon arrival in the airport (which is a really cool airport by the way...I suspect my architect brother would think it interesting), some Spanish woman asked--in Spanish--me where the exit was. Of course, I had no idea, but that didn't stop me from trying to answer her with "um, I'm not sure, I think it's over there" (in broken Spanish). 

* One of my favorite things about Spain is café con leche. It's strong, but very smooth (esp. when you buy it from a local café rather than try to make it in your house) coffee, pretty much a latté...but I tell you the truth: it beats Starbucks ANY day. The only negatives are that you don't get as much coffee and refills (for any drinks, for that matter) are in no way free here. I have had them at cafés twice so far, and over my stay, I plan on hitting as many cafes as I can afford to find the best. 

  So far, I have already had some fairly exciting personal experiences here, but because the first week, I have been overwhelmed by buying the necessities, and honestly, planning my London trip for this weekend (Wimbledon, here I come!!), I haven't posted anything. Entonces (so), so that I don't stay up any later tonight writing and so that I don't inundate you with all my fascinating experiences thus far, I will leave you with one that happened today, and will fill you in gradually over the weekend on my downtime in my London hostel. In fact, I might make this a regular (we'll see how often I actually do it) section of my blog that consists of a specific event or unique experience. 

Cuento del día (Story of the day): 24/06/09** 

Mi viaje turística personal (My personal tour): 

Today (which was Tuesday), I went to the mall, which is actually quite close to my house. Just a quick bus ride away. Or at least it should be. Tere (host mom) took me by car to show me where the bus stop to come back home is. The mall's not huge, but it is 3 stories (3rd is food court), and it's clean and has all the things you can't find easily in the local mercados, not to mention it's open during ciesta (a time practically instituted in Spain from about 2-5 in the afternoon to rest from work...I'll talk more about this in another blog). There's a giant Wal-Mart-like store called Eroski (I had never heard of it before), and a few stores with some pretty sweet deals. Anyways, back to my cuento (story) personal. Shopping was fine, got most of the stuff I needed. I walked to the bus stop my host mom showed me. I asked this fairly attractive Spanish guy if he knew which bus went back to my neighborhood. He was very helpful and actually told me the correct bus to get on. As I boarded, I asked the driver if he was in fact going to my neighborhood just to make sure the muchacho (guy) was right. He said yes, so I felt good. However, what I didn't realize was that my stop in Polígono on this bus is different than the stop I always pass by on my way back from school. It's actually a block farther. But, I thought that we would eventually get to my street, since it is one of the major streets in Polígono. We did, but we actually just passed it. Well, before I knew it I was in the industrial area of Toledo, where all the big car factories are. By that time, if I had gotten off, it would have been an EXTREMELY long walk to my house...I mean, we crossed a highway to get to this area of town. Plus, I wanted to get to town = Toledo (not Polígono, the suburb) because the school put on flamenco classes tonight at 10. So, I continued to ride the bus to see where it took me, with the intention of finding a familiar stop where I could switch to a different bus that I knew was going to my stop for school. About 20 minutes later, after seeing another entire suburb of Toledo (Santa Barbara) as well as the bus station, the bus finally stopped at a stop that I recognized from my usual ride to school. I hopped off quickly, and sure enough, was able to get on the next bus to the plaza de Zocodover (my stop to go to school as well as a popular place in central Toledo).  To wrap it up, I called my friend that I had planned on meeting up with, and she was actually at the plaza eating dinner at McDonald's--which is exactly what I was going to do since I had to miss dinner at home. So awesome...and I'm not talking about the McDonald's. I had a salad, so unfortunately  I can't compare the food. Even though this was a little nerve-wracking, it was actually more funny than anything. I mean hey, I had my very own personal tour of some sights in Toledo that I otherwise probably would never have seen: 

- A nice football (soccer) field in Santa Barbara

- the bus station

- where to buy a car (industrial part)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm pretty sure one other guy knew what was going on all along.  He was sitting right next to the cute guy I asked about the bus all the way back at the mall and was still on the bus when I switched to the one going to the plaza. I'm sure he heard my home destination, and knew exactly how far from home I was. He was very nice though and didn't say anything to me, which I greatly appreciated since I was already a bit embarrassed. 

**in Europe, they put the day of the month before the month number

Questions? Just let me know!!

Con cariño,

Samantha

Adios amigos!

Hey friends,

So, I'm sitting in the San Antonio airport, and I remembered that I have yet to create a blog to share with my friends and family all that I will experience in the next six (actually seven) weeks. For six weeks, I will be taking 2 classes in Toledo, Spain, which is a small town about 30 minutes outside of Madrid. I am going with a program, but I really know no one that will be on the trip. I don't do a lot of things on my own like this, so I'm really looking forward to meeting some new people and making new friends, and of course speaking a ton of español while I'm over there. I cannot promise that my blog will be a captivating read, but I will do my best to keep it short and sweet for y'all. I'll be posting my pictures on facebook from time to time, so if you want to see more than the few I will add individually through these posts, be sure to check those out. Hope you are all having a fantastic summer! Email me or facebook would be the best way to contact me, but I also have a skype account that I will sign into occasionally: SamanthaJane49  :) 

Much love,

Samantha :)