What an Experience!

It's hard for me to believe that this experience in Spain is coming to an end. Last week it seemed like this was my life and how it would stay forever, but I'm leaving on Friday. What?! How does time play these tricks on us. At times it seems like forever and at others it is like the blink of an eye. This week I've been feeling sentimental and I know there are so many things that I'm going to miss about Spain, Alcalá, Madrid and the people that I've met. Luckily we pretty much all go to the same school at BYU, but it won't ever be the same as seeing each other every single day and pretty much only each other.

I'm going to miss Luisa. Not just for her amazing cooking, but also for her amazing personality and ability to care for the people around her. She really treats us as her daughters. I feel so blessed to have met her and experience her kindness, learn from her, talk with her and laugh with her. I love that we will have this bond and memory forever and that I could communicate with her in Spanish. That's something else I'm going to miss. Spanish. It is a really cool experience to communicate with people in a language that is not your own and to grow into the language. I'm so thankful for that experience. 

I'll miss my daily routine and walks through Alcalá. For instance, seeing the bright yellow wall with Don Quixote on it every day when I walk to school. I finally took a picture with it today. I'll miss the feeling that everyday is a new adventure with something different to see or try. But I'll try to keep that feeling in my life when I get back. Everyday really can be a new adventure. (sorry if I'm getting too cheesy here (: )

This experience has been amazing and I am so thankful for it. I don't think it's possible for me to fully express it. But thank you Spain for being so welcoming and enriching. 

Gracias por todo.

El Desfile

So yesterday I explored some more of Alcala with some friends. We saw la puerta a Madrid and la muralla, which was constructed by the Romans when they controlled Spain...pretty cool stuff! (you can see the muralla behind us)

Then today was a holiday and we went into Madrid early to get a spot to see the parade or el desfile. It was great! We got free Spanish flags handed out by the military to wave.

You can see that we were nice and close to the parade and each other.

Some of the planes flew by dragging the Spanish colors to create the flag...it was awesome!

All of the military people were in the parade with their different uniforms and some were driving tanks others were walking and others were riding horses. The President, King and Queen didn't participate in the parade this year so we didn't get to see them, but it was still cool.

Then Lexy and I decided to spend some relaxing time in the park after and I got to take a picture by la puerta a Alcala, so that's kind of cool to see both of the doors to the cities in two days.

It was fun to participate and feel connected to Spain as a country during the parade.

Hey Mom, Look What I Can Do Now!

Tonight, I learned how to make the Spanish Tortilla with Luisa...life is complete! I'm excited to make it for my family and friends when I get back because it is seriously the BEST and it makes a great sandwich later as well. That's what I'll be eating on the road tomorrow to Valencia and Barcelona!! What?! Is this real life?! Yes. 

I'm so excited!!

p.s. So I was telling my family about how the eating customs here are hard to get used to. For instance we eat a lot of food, as I've mentioned before, but we also eat it at weird times. Like tonight, we ate the spanish tortilla and some fried chicken at 10:00 PM!!!! Who eats freshly fried chicken at 10:00 at night? Apparently we do. I don't think that it's necessarily the most healthy thing to do, but hey when in Spain right? And it was super delicious fried chicken. It reminded me of Minnie from The Help. I always wanted to try some of her fried chicken, and this is probably as close as I will get.

Thanks Luisa for enriching my life and appetite!

Mercadillo Los Lunes

First of all, check out what Luisa made us for breakfast on Monday...las tortitas! She has made them for us once before and they are delicious! Basically a mix between a pancake and a crepe...one of my favorite foods here! And she gave me the recipe, so I'm excited to make them at home as well :)

On Mondays there is a Mercadillo, or a little market, in Alcala de Henares that I went to for the first time yesterday. It was fun to see all of the produce and to get a free sample of the watermelon, but the rest of the market was a bit of a let down because it basically sold a lot of underwear and shoes. It was still fun to see because market environments are just cool.

So much food...and other things

Luisa made us a ton of food because she was leaving for a little vacation because she knew we were leaving on one of our excursions this weekend. The only thing is that we only need food for 1 or 2 nights and she made us so much. But she made the tortilla española, which is my FAVORITE, so I'm pretty psyched about that.

Here's the tortilla: it's made of eggs, onions and potatoes

She also made us some meat patty things that taste kind of like chicken nuggets and calamari and a soup (not pictured):

After lunch today, we met back at our school to get a little tour of Alcalá and the rest of the University. We saw these boys and thought that the hair was too ideal to pass up a picture. The Euro-mullet is very popular here.

Here is the outside of the original Universidad de Alcalá, which is one of the oldest Universities in Spain. Lope de Vegas, the writer went here...pretty big deal.

Here is the logo for the school, which I love. The birds are storks because there are these huge nests on the top of the schools here that are from storks.

My roommate is a model. nbd. 

loved the tile.

Then our group went out for tapas. It was great. I got peach juice to drink and a capresse sandwich. 

Here I am with Jeannette and Kiersten

Basically like the greatest grilled cheese sandwich I have ever had.

grateful to have so much delicious food :)

Escuela

Pretty much everyday, Alexis and I remind each other that this is real life. That our lives right now seem like they are out of a movie, but they really are real! For example, this is our view as we walk to school...pretty amazing if you ask me. I personally love walking around everywhere, and I especially love that we get to have this awesome view at the end of our 20 minute walk to school.

The first week of classes went well. I really like the teachers. They are very helpful and understand that we are still learning to speak Spanish fluently. They understand if we make a mistake, which makes me feel more comfortable. It's kind of strange to have all my classes in Spanish, but I'm getting to the point where it's basically like I'm listening to English now. It's crazy how much I can understand the language. Speaking is still more difficult than listening, but I'm getting a lot more comfortable!

helado

Alexis and I walked to la Plaza de Cervantes again last night for a little treat. We were originally going to go to a pastelería, but it has been so hot recently, that we decided to get helado instead. When I was ordering, I did not know the word for cone, but discovered that it is simply un cono. Good to know :)

At first we were sitting at these tables in the plaza, but then a man came over to us and asked us if we wanted to order something, and that we couldn't sit there unless we were to order something, so we promptly moved to a bench. We were just trying to look like locals. We practically are locals at la plaza de cervantes because we go there at least once a day because besides our school, it's the only place we really know how to get to and from in Alcalá. But luckily it's a cool place and I think we are getting a tour of the city on Saturday. Let's hope so. 

Classes are going well and it's crazy how after only one week, I'm practically always thinking in Spanish now. It's hard sometimes to write an email or blog post in English because I start to think of my responses in Spanish...pretty cool! I'm getting excited to go on our first mini trip on Friday to Segovia. And we received our bus passes that we can use to get to Madrid, so I'm excited for some fun excursions there as well! 

Un Paseo por Alcalá

con las fotos...