Holiday Season in Madrid

Madrid did a great job helping me get excited to go home and celebrate the holidays with my friends and family!

(Puerta del sol- center of Madrid, 2 minutes from my house)

(inside of main tree in Sol)

(each of the streets leading to Sol- right is the street where I lived off of)

Hasta luego Madrid.

After spending a semester in Madrid and looking back on the experience I honestly wish I could rewind time and start again... Not because I would do anything differently because I don't regret any of the choices I made along the way, but rather so that I could re-experience the moments that I did love during my time abroad. Since I have been back people continue to ask me what I learned along this journey, if I feel that I am in any way different, and what was the best part of my experience. I have come up with a million different responses and I 100% feel that I have grown and learned a lot about myself and different cultures throughout my time abroad.

The most important and rewarding part of my experience was getting to spend so much time with such an amazing host family. I am so happy that I chose to live with a family.... not only did I improve my language (as I could only speak spanish in the house), but I got to know some pretty amazing people. From the start I felt that my experience was different. Other students complained about missing their family (not that I did not miss mine), spending all their time shopping for themselves, wanting to practice the language but having roommates that constantly spoke english, and not knowing how many of the different systems or cultural habits in Madrid work. In contrast, I not only gained a host mother who took care of me the way that my own mother would, but I gained an entire family, new siblings, another father, even a cousin and house pet cat. Throughout my entire experience I felt that I was part of the family... sitting in the living room at night watching youtube videos with my host bother... having my life interpreted through my zodiac signs by my host sister.... going to local hidden bars with my host cousin... spending hours discussing the differences between the United States and Spain with my host father... and cooking and playing words with friends with my host mother though out the day and night.

Instead of spending all of my time trying to find which grocery store carried the products I needed to buy and cook for myself, I went to the family pueblo and learned the ways in which my host father grows his own crops... maintains his own irrigation system... and made sausage, cheese, and milk. I had the opportunity to eat native spanish cuisine... to learn to make traditional paella, cocido, tortilla espanola, along with eating freshly grown vegetables and fruits from the family farm each meal.

In addition, if I were sick or had a problem, my host mother came to the rescue. She constantly made me concoctions of different herbs and fruits to drink as a tea... she would draw me maps of how to get to different locations.... she told me which gym membership to get.. where to go to get stamps for the United States.. good restaurants to go to with my "intercambio".... anything I needed. I felt as if I were living at home with my own family yet still in college.

Furthermore, living with a host family, as my many blogs have demonstrated, really teaches you a lot more about the cultural habits in Spain. In my cultural seminar I was able to apply practically every idea or situation presented to my own experiences living with a spanish family. Not only did I learn language that is used in casual conversation, but I learned the correct manner to leave a conversation... the reasons for why the kids live with their family for such a long time... the traditional food dishes... customs such as wearing shoes in the house... and the background about ever holiday that took place throughout my time there. I had advice on places to travel and what to do when I got there.

Other than living with this family and learning so much more about Spain and Madrid, the culture and the people, I also learned a lot about myself and personally grew from this experience. The word of the semester is independence. Although I just explained how supportive my new family was I became much more independent during my time abroad. Much of this independence was gained from traveling, having to plan trips on my own... having to figure out how to handle unfamiliar situations... new transportation systems... and not speaking an infinite number of languages. Traveling was another highlight of my time abroad as I visited so many amazing places but it also easily could have been the most stressful part of the experience if I had not handled many situations the way I did.

Additionally, I definitely learned to appreciate life more. This experience was once in a life time and I am fully aware of that. We only do have one life to live and taking advantage of each and every situation is so important in life.... making the most of moments. The beauty of getting to know new people and cultures, sharing moments with people, seeing new places..... It is very much spanish culture to confront each problem straight on and then move on from it. Arguments in the house were common, but lasted maybe 2 minutes then talk was back to normal... grudges were not held and after the problem was confronted life moved on. This communication should, in some way, be applied in life here as should different parts of the lifestyle in Spain, such as being much more relaxed... Due to the leisure of life and lack of preoccupation with time, numerous conversations were had that would not have taken place if I were living in the US. In addition, the idea that beauty in life can be found in so many unknown or unexpected places became very realized..... watching fish give birth at night with my host mother.... or seeing the expression on my host sisters face when I gave the family teas and chocolates.... even just going for a long ride with my host bother out into the outskirts of Madrid.... I experienced so many small moments in life that should be focused on and remembered. I definitely have a new outlook on life... a new realization of what I want out of life... and a new mentality in living.

Finally, living in Madrid for a semester really helped me appreciate my life in the United States. The amount of protest and strikes... the number of days I showed up to the metro to discover it was not running... the aggressive way that men treat women at times... the way so many things are not planned out at all.... the disorganization of so many systems.... even seeing the unemployment situation in my own house hold there (only 1 of 4 having a job at the time).... All of these experiences helped me appreciate the lifestyle that I have here. That being said, as I mentioned, I believe that part of the lifestyle that people live in Spain can be applied to the busy lifestyle in the United States.

Overall, I loved my experience abroad. It was life changing and it is an experience that I know I am never going to forget. Its going to be strange going back to campus and not having to cram to get work done during the week to go travel to some country during the weekend... having to speak in english all the time is somewhat overwhelming as was spanish originally for me when arriving in Spain... and although I have still been keeping in contact with my family in Spain since I have been back, not having those longs talks with my host mother at night about life and not watching spanish movies and making dinner with my host siblings is going to be bizarre. Part of me wishes I were still in Spain for another semester, while the other part is more than ecstatic to be home... either way, I am left with amazing memories that I will hold with me forever and a new family that I am sure I will be seeing again in the future.

I hope this blog helped you follow me through my many adventures in Spain (specifically my travels) and although I did not share that many of my personal family situations in Spain that you are able to understand how fantastic an experience I had living in Madrid.

Budapest, Hungry

Following Paris, we went to Budapest, Hungry. This also was not one of the cities that I originally thought I would be visiting while studying in Madrid, but I ended up loving it as well.

The contrast between the extremely expensive Paris and the much much more reasonable Hungry was realized after our first meal. We decided to split two dishes and ended up with a feast of food that neither of us could finish. The currency in Hungry also made you feel quite rich as our extremely cheap meal cost over 4000 Ft.

Our first night we met up with Elena’s friend from home who was studying in Budapest for the semester and explored the famous Christmas Market. It was fully decorated with lights, there was traditional Hungarian music playing, and only traditional Hungarian food and drinks were being served. It was impossible to not stop at each tiny stand and look at the hand crafted goods being sold.

The next day we started exploring the city and first went to the “Pest” side. First we stopped in a the largest open market building in the city of Budapest. There were tons of small stands selling everything from produce to hand painted figurines. Then, we went to the Liberty statue (after a 40 min hike up the side of a mountain). There we got some great views of the city.

Then we made our way to Royal Palace which contained the Matthias Church. From this landmark we got some more views of the city and were directly across from the very impressive Parliament building. Sadly much of the inside of the church was under construction, but from what we saw it seemed incredible unique.

We crossed over the Danube River to go to the “Buda” part of the city and were getting hungry so we decided to stop in a recommended café, Café Kor. We ordered traditional Hungarian Goulash stew.

Afterwards we went to the famous Budapest St. Stephen's Basilica and walked around the market that was situated in front of it.

That night we came back and saw a holiday lights show that was projected onto the front of the Basilica and met up with a family friend, Augie. She is originally from Budapest and was back in the city visiting family. She showed us around and pointed out all of the hidden treasure of the city. We even went to a small bar and participated in some traditional Hungarian tree decorating (using cookie ornaments).

The lights around the city were beautiful and the Royal Palace lit up at night was breath taking. It reminded me of the Prague Castle lit up at night.

We walked down the main boulevard of Budapest to Heroe’s square that was located next to an ice rink. There were three main landmarks in this area and they were all lit up at night. 

The following morning we went to the Synagogue and took a short tour seeing the inside, the memorial of graves set up inside, the weeping willow tree (that contained all of the known names of victims of the Holocaust in Hungry on leaves and many blank leaves for those that we unknown), and finished with a very sad, but memorable exhibit. In exploring this beautiful building and learning more about the tragic events that took place you are left with a swarm of overwhelming feelings and it makes you appreciate life that much more.

We finished our visit off trying some traditional Hungarian Jewish flodni before heading to the airport. It is basically layered nuts, apple, and poppy seeds.

Visiting Paris and Budapest was the perfect way to finish my abroad experience and helped get me excited to go home and prepare for the holiday season.

Paris!!!

After my semester ended in Madrid, my friend Elena (who is studying in Cordoba, Spain) and I decided to do a little traveling. Our first destination was Paris, France. After spending three days in this magical city I feel in love and am sure that I will be returning soon. I absolutely loved Paris!

Our first day in Paris began with a bit of sleep as we had arrived at the airport that morning at 4 am for a 6 am flight and proceeded to take an hour and a half bus ride to get to our hotel in Paris. At about 2 pm we started exploring the city. Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe. It was beautifully lit up at night and you got a great view of the city at night. The main street that is lit up with all the lights in the picture is Champs-Elysees.

After the Arc we walked down Champs-Elysees. There were many holiday lights and as we got closer to the river there was a carnival like strip with many different shops selling a number of products.

We then walked back along the river while having a spectacular view of city and the Eiffel tower lit up at night. (Apologies for the horrible selfie).

The reason why I loved Paris so much was mass amount of holiday decorations and night lights. All of the building were lit up with different colors and it gave you a surreal effect of walking through this magical place.

The following morning we got breakfast at this adorable bakery and then headed to the Louvre Museum.

We spent about 4 hours exploring this magnificent museum. The amount of art inside is somewhat overwhelming at first, but very impressive. Obviously we saw the Mona Lisa and towards the end of our visit we began to loose our focus and thus decided it would be a good idea to take pictures with the many statues in the museum.

After we headed to the Eiffel tower to get a view at night. It was absolutely breathtaking. I probably spent an hour standing in the rain just taking in the beauty of the magnificent landmark at night. We also waited to see it “twinkle” upon the hour. After we walked through a fair, grabbed some food and hot wine and headed back to our hotel.

The following day was beautiful. We walked along the river to the Eiffel tower and went to the top. We also decided that the first view point and 2/3 view point were not enough and that we were determined to wait the extra hour to go to the summit peak viewpoint. It was an incredible view, and although I did not get proposed to as I had been dreaming of, it was an experience that I am never going to forget.

We then made our way to the Notre Dame and happened to enter while a service was going on. The inside and outside of this church is so impressive and I loved the stain glass windows.

We went to the art "Musee d'Orsay" and I have to agree with my dad…. This museum is probably competing for the best in the world. The impressionist artwork inside was great and I was able to appreciate each piece as many were studied in my art class from this semester. 

We walked along a few different bridges, including the bridge of locks, and visited a number of different art stands.

That night we met up with Sara and Pete, two friends from Middlebury, and went to the carnival on Place de la Concorde and then grabbed some dinner. It is amazing that we were able to meet up with friends half way around the world in such a magical place.

Overall, I definitely think Paris is competing as my favorite European city that I visited during my time abroad.