Toledo

Oh my goodness I haven't written in so long! Not good... well last weekend I visited one of the most enchanting cities. I absolutely loved the narrow cobblestone streets, giant castle, and beautiful cathedral of Toledo. Toledo welcomes each visitor with an enchanting view of a city built upon a hill, with a castle at the highest point. The city took my breath away; it was so beautiful, old, and full of history. I imagined the Moors walking up the same street as I was to begin their battle against the Visigoths. We arrived Friday morning and our first stop was the cathedral. The architecture is phenomenal and there is so much detail in the doorways and throughout the entire cathedral that it could occupy one’s entire day admiring all of the work. We spent a few hours there and I could have stayed longer if it had not been so terribly cold inside. My favorite part of the cathedral was the room for the choir; I loved the detailed wooden seats, the beautiful organ, and the marble statue of the Virgin Mary that stood at the entrance. I especially like the statue because Mary was holding baby Jesus and she had the most humble and sincere smile on her face. I had never seen a statue like that and I loved how the artist portrayed Mary’s happiness and love for her new son, Jesus Christ. Saturday morning, I went with a small group to the mass held in the chapel at the cathedral. I am so glad I went because it was such a neat experience! Christianity played a major role in the formation of Spain and I felt like I had been transported back in time when I heard the priest begin to sing in Spanish. This Catholic mass was composed mostly of song, the Priest only spoke for about five or so minutes and most of it was verses from the New Testament. There were several men in robes besides the priest and I am not quite sure what their titles are in the organization of the church, but they all participated in the songs and sacrament. Although I did not feel the strong influence of the Holy Ghost during mass, I did feel peace as I listened to the music and words of the priest. I know that the Catholic faith has part of the truth and it seems to me that the Priest and his other counselors truly love God and try to live their lives in a righteous manner. Friday night eight other students and I decided to go on a guided tour concerning the mysteries of Toledo. We met our two guides, who were both dressed in all black with leather jackets and matching arm bands, above a restaurant in the plaza and after some explanation and a free drink we began our mysterious journey through the dark streets of Toledo. The two men told us about secret cults, ghost stories, haunted houses, witches, and mummies. Many of the ghost stories came about because of the deaths in the Guerra Civil. They told us that many ghosts returned to their families to finish business that they were unable to complete before their unexpected death. I loved every minute I was in Toledo, although we talked about not romanticizing cities, I truly was enchanted by this beautiful city in Spain. I loved the small streets, antique buildings, beautiful vistas, and the strong presence of history that the city continues to hold.

Museos

I've decided to take a break from my reading for World Civilizations and document some of what I have been doing. School has been going great, I like all of my classes- especially Spanish. I have an amazing teacher who really wants to help us learn the language. For example, today she spent almost the whole two hours of class reviewing and giving several examples of a few confusing concepts that I've been struggling with for so long! I am definitely going to learn so much this semester. Yesterday after lunch a group of us went to Madrid to visit Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art. It was such a neat place, so abstract, but so awesome. My favorite by far was Picasso's Guernica, it is massive and so expressive. I also loved Picasso's statue of Mujer en el Jardin because it reminded me of my mom out in the garden during the summer. Salvador Dali's paintings were also some of my favorites, I've never seen such abstract art in my life, but I loved it. The museum containes some interesting pieces of art such as a canvas with a huge smear of blue paint and one black dot, or a white canvas with thirteen black dots and one red one. A group of friends and I had a fun time analyzing what the artists' intents were. Today after school a group of us went to Madrid to visit the Museo de las Americas museum. It was pretty neat seeing ancient artifacts from the Aztecs and Incas. The museum helped bring some of the reading I've been doing for class to life. I talked with Ana quite a bit yesterday and I just love talking with her, well I just love talking in Spanish. I asked her about her thoughts on Franco and that itself was a good thirty minute conversation. We leave for Toledo tomorrow on the bullet train at 9:00am, I'm excited!

El Prado

Yesterday we met at the train station at 10:00am to go to the Museo del Prado. It was the most amazing art museum I've ever seen! We admired the art for several hours and only saw a few main artists like Velazquez and Goya, so we will definitely be returning soon. It was incredible to see the paintings that I've heard so much about, like Las Meninas and Goya's dark works, I enjoyed every painting. Amy, Erica, Sarah, and I sat outside in the sun afterwards and ate our lunches that our madres had packed for us. It was such a beautiful warm day! Then we decided to do a little shopping downtown by the Puerta del Sol and we topped off the perfect day with delicious gelato ice cream. Church was great today, the members of the ward are friendly and from what I can understand the lessons and talks are great. The ward pianist is my favorite, he plays as if he is in concert. The prelude music and every hymn we sing is a work of art, I love how music brings the Spirit so quickly into the room. We just had a yummy lunch, and talked for about an hour afterwards with Ana. I just love her! I feel like I've known her for so long, but it has only been una semana, que loco.

I love Madrid

Last night a big group of us went to La Cabana, a discoteca here in Alcala. Wow, it was so much fun! There was a mix of Spanish and English music and we all got our groove on for a few hours. After La Cabana we went to another discoteca called the Cancan and stayed there until about 2:30am, returning to our apartment with sore legs and a strong smell of smoke lingering in our clothing and hair. It felt so good to just let go and dance like crazy and it was pretty obvious that the Spanish guys were glad we were there! This morning we woke up and met up with a group to play futbol at the sports facilities at the university. It was about a 15 minute bus ride to get there, but it was so worth it because when we got there I saw the track! I had a great run with Amy and a fun soccer game afterwards. After a delicious lunch of soup and spanish tortilla we met up with a group to go to Madrid. We walked around for about four hours admiring all of the amazing buildings and taking lots of pictures. The city is so beautiful, the ambiance of the city is like no other.

Last night was amazing! A group of us went to Madrid for the first time and I fell in love. It reminded me of New York City, but 100x more romantic and antique looking. We walked around, visited the Plaza Mayor and La Puerta del Sol. The architecture is the most beautiful I've ever seen. The streets are full of action, from bands to a man on stilts doing an interpretive dance of a tree in the wind. I could have walked around all night and never have been bored. We were there for four or five hours and hardly saw a glimpse of what is in Madrid, I can't wait to see more!






Classes have started and they are going to be great. I really like my Spanish teacher Angelica, I know I am going to learn a lot this semester from her, she seems like a great teacher. There is going to be quite a bit of reading for my history 2o2 and hist 390 classes, but they both are going to be really interesting. Ana has been cooking delicious food for Amy and me and it has been great getting to know her better. I've been trying to talk with her as much as I can and I hope I start improving soon! Tonight Amy and I held our own exercise class in the living room, Ana got a good laugh when she walked out and saw us doing squats in our gym clothes to Amy's mini ihome.



These are the windows in front of the Opera House in Madrid, they looked pretty sweet so yes we took a picture.



This is a church we walked into while in Madrid, it was so beautiful inside and felt sacred. It was crazy to me that it was right there in the middle of all the stores and cafes.

This is the tree man that we saw in the Plaza Mayor, he was quite the sight!

Mi Primer Paseo

After dinner last night, Amy and I found our way to the Plaza de Cervantez. We arrived around 10:00pm and there were so many people out and about, both old and young. We tried our best to talk in Spanish the whole time, which was great. I love the whole concept of 'el paseo'. It was so neat to see groups of teenagers just walking around laughing and to see older couples arm in arm walking around the plaza and la calle mayor where all of the shops are. Everyone was very dressed up, the teenagers with their fashion boots and the older women with their fur coats. After about an hour we walked home, our first paseo was perfect. Church this morning was great. We accidently took the wrong bus, but we only had to walk ten minutes from where that line ended so everything was fine. The ward is great, I loved Relief Society and sunday school. With our group of forty students plus nine Shumways, we practically doubled the size of their ward! I loved that I could feel the Spirit even though I couldn't understand all that was being said. We just finished almuerzo, which consisted of fried potatoes, a fried empanada, and bread. My stomach isn't quite used to all of this fried food... I miss Mom's homemade, healthy everything. Tomorrow we meet with our professors to evaluate our Spanish and then noche de hogar (FHE) in the evening!

Home Sweet Home

I woke up at 4:00am this morning completely awake and ready to get up, but after an hour I fell back asleep and woke up around 8:30am. A few students and I got up and took a walk into the Plaza Cervantez, about a ten minute walk. The square was empty and after walking around for a little bit we returned to Professor Shumway's house, packed up and got on a bus to meet our families. By the time we arrived in the plaza for second time it was full of life. There were lots of people walking around, some just standing and chatting, such a contrast from just a few hours earlier. We unloaded all of our luggage and I hadn't been standing there for more than a minute when a woman came up to me and asked me what the name of my mother was. I told her and she immediately gave me two kisses and told me that she was Ana Palma Fernandez! I felt welcomed instantly and Amy and I quickly loaded up our bags (moletas) in her car and drove to her apartment. She lives quite close to the plaza and the university which will be nice. Ana showed us around her apartment and then we began unpacking. I finally got to take a shower which felt amazing and then we had a delicious lunch. She made chicken and rice, with yummy bread and a tomato salad. I've been able to talk to her quite a bit, she is very interesting and helpful. I feel so comfortable around her and I am just so grateful to have such a good situation here in Spain. We took a great nap after lunch (this siesta idea is so inspired!) and Amy is still sleeping because she just arrived in Spain today and has not slept at all. I was talking with Ana quite a bit up until a few minutes ago, but now she is feeding Oscar her one year old grandson who now lives with her. Somehow we have internet in her apartment, which I am thrilled about, I guess it has never been accessable in the past. Bueno es todo que ha pasado hasta ahora. Estoy feliz y emocionada para iglesia manana y Ana dijo que va a venir conmigo.

The Voyage

My heart was beating so fast the whole day before I left and the entire car ride to the Sacramento airport yesterday morning. There was just so much to remember and so much unknown. Everything went smoothly though of which I am very grateful! I flew to Chicago, had a two hour layover than boarded Austrian Air to Vienna. The flight was eight and half hours, but it went by surprisingly quickly. The plane was pretty empty and I ended up getting three seats to myself, so I made myself a comfortable bed and got about four hours of sleep. We arrived in Vienna and had a five hour layover. It was fun hearing all of the German, I didn't hear one person speaking English in the entire airport! Finally we boarded the plane and arrived in Madrid at 4:10pm. There was 14 of us in the group and we decided to take the metro to Professor Shumway's house. Two line changes, 14 stops, and one wallet stolen from a girl in the group later we arrived at his house. It was quite comical walking from the Alcala metro stop to his house, about a five minute walk, with 14 students and their luggage. Professor Shumway's wife has made us all pasta- such a sweet lady- and somehow we are all sleeping here tonight before meeting our host families tomorrow. I'm so tired, but so excited!