Espana

Hi all!

I'm back from 10 days in Spain, and I loved every second of it. It was very strange, though, to be back in Western culture after months away. The pictures will follow soon, and you'll be able to tell from the ones of us frolicking near a Starbucks. We missed coffee to go a lot.
First we went to Madrid for 5 days...The first two nights after we got there were in a hotel pretty far from the center of the city. It was okay, though, because the Metro was very nice and easy and clean. And clearly marked, and on time. All things that would never happen in Rabat, where the buses have no official routes or schedules. Right away we found Starbucks and Ben & Jerry's in a mall type thing near our hotel, hence the title of the facebook photo album ("Overzealous: Spring Break in Spain, Part 1). Saturday we walked around the city, ate tapas, went to the Retiro Park, where there were musicians and performers everywhere. Top 3: Dancing Spiderman with a guitar made out of balloons; Man dressed up as a pink rabbit who just stood - he made the list because a police car drove by and he just silently nodded - I think he was an undercover cop; and an African drumming ensemble that sang and danced while drumming - they gathered a crowd of at least 200. We spent most of our time in Madrid wandering around the city, because the Metro was everywhere and we could always find our way back. We also got to see the Prado and the Reina Sofia, which were a lot of fun. Seeing Guernica and all of the studies for it was definitely the highlight of the museums. I also got to see the Palais Real (only from the outside, but it was nice), and a couple of really beautiful churches.

The other three nights in Madrid were in a hostel closer to the city center. It was beautiful, and strangely enough decorated exactly like a Moroccan riad. I think a Moroccan family owns it. But it was pretty strange that of all the places to stay, we picked the Moroccan one. We met a lot of nice people there, and it was cheap, they gave us breakfast and internet access...worth the lack of sleep the first night (the guy in the bunk across from me snored SO loudly. It was actually kind of remarkable that he could make that much noise). Much better deal than the hotel that was more expensive and way overcharged us for breakfast after telling us it was included.

The nightlife in Madrid was a lot of fun, but expensive and exhausting. People don't go out on weekends until midnight at the earliest, and then they stay out until 6 or 7 AM. We met some nice people though, and went out with some of the people from our hostel. I got pretty tired of the house music though...My favorite place that we went was definitely the salsa club.

The food in Madrid was delicious, even though we really only ate one truly Spanish meal, because we were trying to avoid spending too much money. There were kebab shops (apparently they're "kebaps" in Spanish) everywhere, which was really good, and also "Museo del Jamon" (Museum of Ham) everywhere. We didn't eat at that one, but it was funny to see, because they had tons of hams (the entire legs) hanging from the ceilings and walls.

In some ways, Madrid seemed kind of like America, just like any big city in America. But there were definitely some things that were different...siestas, food, people eating meals for 3 hours, people staying out all night, Spanish! I still really liked it. I'm pretty sure Ann and Carrie didn't like it much, but oh well. They didn't really want to go do and see things for a lot of our time there, so I just went by myself. No point in staying inside the hostel the whole time we're in Spain! It got annoying the way they just turned their noses up at Madrid (and Spain in general) because they were too similar to America. But I tried not to let it bother me, and I still had a lot of fun.

Wednesday through Friday we were in Alicante, staying with Mimi. Alicante was much more relaxed and calm, which was really nice after Madrid. We hiked up the mountain to the Castilla de Santa Barbara, which has a view of all of Alicante and looks out over the Mediterranean. We spent a lot of time on the beach, because the weather was beautiful, and I swam in the sea. We also went out for chocolate con churros (basically melted chocolate in a cup, with fried dough sticks to dip in). Mine was "chocolate azteca," which was spicy. It was delicious, but it would definitely be dangerous if I was staying in Alicante all semester...Mimi's friends were so friendly and I had a lot of fun with them (even though Ann and Carrie didn't seem to want to socialize - Mimi's apartment had wireless internet and they were both pining away for boys back in Rabat...). We also got to go to the Mercado Central, which is a huge market across the street from Mimi's apartment where they sell every kind of fresh fish, meat, fruit, vegetable, or flower you could ever want. It was fun because Mimi was friends with her favorite vendors, and we got to hear her speak Spanish like a native. And the whole thing was really cheap...we managed to feed 4 girls for 2 full days only spending 20 euros.

Friday night we took a train to Valencia (about 2 hours) and stayed in a hostel there. Again, everyone we met was so friendly! The strangest part of this trip: We ran into Sam Rudick, a friend from high school, in the doorway of our hostel! Small world. Turns out she's studying in Barcelona and was visiting for the weekend. We went out for tapas (with Mimi's Spanish skills...it was better than the time we had to try to order in Spanglish) at a neighborhood restaurant. It was delicious (notice that most of our trip centered around food...)! We had bull as one of the dishes...it was very good. The man at the restaurant assured us repeatedly that it was not the tail. Apparently other restaurants serve that sometimes? Valencia (or ValenTHia as the Spaniards say it...also apparently you say graTHias, not gracias) was gorgeous and I think my favorite of the 3 cities we visited. It was full of old winding European looking streets, but it still felt very Mediterranean and relaxed. I understood a little bit of the language there, too, because they speak Valenciano, which is like kind of a mix of French and Spanish, but it was a lot more like French. We climbed up the Torre de Serranos, and also went to the Oceanografic. There were four museums all together, and that was the one we heard was the best. They were very dramatic looking and big. Apparently they were built pretty recently. They reminded me of all the Olympic buildings in China. We saw a lot of cool looking fish, and there was a tunnel where you could walk under and around them. We also saw a dolphin show in the dolphinarium (which is among my very limited new Spanish vocabulary). Outside the museum we had some really good grilled corn on the cob from a street vendor, and helped some German tourists figure out how to take the bus! We went to the Cathedral in Valencia also, which was beautiful, but we missed the last guided tour, which is apparently the only way they will let you see the Holy Grail, which is inside the church...but we missed it. It felt very Monty Python, because we wandered all around Valencia and saw the whole city and the whole church but never got to the Holy Grail. We went back to Alicante that night, and left for the airport at an ungodly hour in the morning (4:30, but since it was Spanish daylight savings time, it felt like 3:30, so we just never went to sleep). It was a long long journey back to Rabat, and I couldn't sleep at all in the airport in Madrid during our 5 hour layover, because olaf something was late for his flight and they made VERY loud announcements in 2 languages for him every 2 minutes for hours. But everything went smoothly, except for the ATMs in Valencia that kept telling me things in Spanish and then refusing to work...which still can't beat the ATM in Rabat that told me, "Your asks could not be treated." Which is only almost as good as the giant poster outside a lounge near our school in Rabat that says, "WE WILL BE DEFECTED! Chaque vendredi. And maybe more."

I had a lot of fun, even if Ann and Carrie only had a little bit of fun...I loved Spain, and now I want to learn Spanish! Here's what I have so far:

Delfinario = dolphinarium
gofre = waffle
chocolate con churros = delicious drink
grathias = the right way to say thank you
no pasa nada = no problem
vale = okay
'ta luego = see ya later
tambien = also

And a very funny conversation with a guy who didn't speak English who asked where I was from. I told him Philadelphia, and he said, Ah, Philadelphia! Queso! And I said, si! queso! So I said, si, y Rocky tambien! Rocky Balboa? But he didn't get it. And then we got stuck and that was the end :)

I hope all is well with all of you, I miss you lots! I'll add pictures soon, I promise. I'll write again soon, after Chefchaouan this weekend :)

Love,
Kira