#wipt

[writerweaving]

who do you love, marianas trench / stick season, noah kahan / hum hallelujah, fall out boy

[cloemichaelsreads-blog]

PROMO: Praying For Dawn by Autumn Winchester

PROMO: Praying For Dawn by Autumn Winchester

Praying for Dawn by Autumn Winchester  

    A simple girl.

A simple man.

Both brought together in the most unexpected way.

On her fourteenth birthday, Dawn was kidnapped by a close family friend and forced into a brutal sex trafficking ring. Will a perfect stranger be the answer to her prayers?

In this modern-day mafia novel, Elijah finds his long-lost childhood love. He vows to do…

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[cloemarrie]

PROMO: Praying For Dawn by Autumn Winchester

PROMO: Praying For Dawn by Autumn Winchester

Praying for Dawn by Autumn Winchester  

    A simple girl.

A simple man.

Both brought together in the most unexpected way.

On her fourteenth birthday, Dawn was kidnapped by a close family friend and forced into a brutal sex trafficking ring. Will a perfect stranger be the answer to her prayers?

In this modern-day mafia novel, Elijah finds his long-lost childhood love. He vows to do…

View On WordPress

[bekahgoestospain]

ALL CAUGHT UP. TONIGHT, I´LL POST ABOUT TODAY, 1/21.

[bekahgoestospain]

Day 5 (1/20)

Today is my big day off, so I slept in till 10, but I was still awake before Angela bc they all keep weird hours here. Had breakfast and now I'm going to make my bed, email Missy and her friend, and do classes and housing stuff. Hopefully just a nice relaxing day.  Especially because being here is still really surreal, and the time goes faster when you keep yourself busy, but I do still need some downtime. Still not sure i really want to be here for six months, but since I'm already here, lol, I'm going to take advantage of it wherever I can. Hopefully I can get ahold of Fran to go to Italy for carnivale in a few weeks. That's the weirdest part too, that I can just up and leave town, very little planning required, for not much money, and all I have to do is let Amy know I'll be out of the country. It's too easy, almost. Remember how weird I thought it was when I first started college that I didn't have to tell anyone where I was going or what I was doing? It's like that. Being all on my own isn't this freeing feeling for me, it's actually sort of claustrophobic. So I guess I really like traveling, even by myself, bc I don't mind going out and exploring the city on my own, but I think not being able to call home is the hardest part. Because even in New Orleans, I can call home to tell you guys stuff, but here, between the time difference and the cost, it's very adrift. I guess I can only live in countries where I can call home regularly. Lol.

Some good things about abroad though. Water here is so expensive that we all take ten minute showers. Since I got here, not one of my showers has been more than ten min. Granted, I haven't tried to shave my legs, so we'll see how that goes in the summer, but still. And I'm getting very good about turning lights off, bc electricity here is expensive too.  

I'm thinking about going to see a movie this afternoon, and tomorrow morning I'm going on a walking tour of old madrid. In fact, I'm probably losing a ton of weight, because we do so much walking and I do very little eating. The only meal I eat normal portions at is dinner, bc I'm really afraid of eating something that makes me sick, or of eating too much, bc there are no public restrooms in madrid, not even in the metro stops.  lol. Although, last night was the only night I've had food here that I didn't like. Last night Angela made this thing, she said it was tuna, but it looked at tasted like cat food, wrapped in a sticky noodle and then surrounded by sort of set mashed potatoes. It was all I could do not to puke, but I ate everything she served me, so I'm clearly learning to be less picky. lol. I just hope she doesn't make it again. 

Anyway, on to my day of doing nothing. Sorry I sounded all depressed in the middle there, I really am having fun! It's just an adjustment.

[bekahgoestospain]

Day 4 (1/19)

Today was very busy. I got up at 6.30, and showered and had breakfast, and the we got on the bus to Toledo. It was one of the big fancy Mercedes buses, and I was one of the last 5 or so people to get on (where the bus was parked was hard to find from the metro station) so I sat next to this girl who I've talked to a few times but I still can't remember her name. We mostly slept on the bus; it's only an hour drive and there wasn't a lot to see, mostly car dealerships and furniture stores. lol. 

When we got to Toledo, they let us off the bus at one of those 'scenic overlook' places. The interesting thing about Toledo is that it used to be the capital of Spain, so it's beautiful, and it's built high up on hill that is also an island, because its surrounded by the rio Tajo (pronounced Tahoe), so that it can be easily defended. They actually refer to it as the city on the hill, because of how isolated it is, not because its a shining light of morality, which is what we mean when we say 'the city on the hill' in the United States (bc some politician once gave a speech about Boston.)

  And it was so so cold there yesterday. It rained all day, and it was super windy, so actually even though it was only probably 50F, it felt freezing. 

The first thing we did when we got there was visit a church. lol. It was cool and historical, and built in a muslim style, interestingly, but I personally think once you've seen one cathedral, you've seen them all. Also, to get to anything in Toledo, you're walking uphill, so when my feet started to hurt I also got real sick of churches. But after the first church (which was called Santiago Arrabal, or St. James on the outskirts), we went to the old city walls, and saw all the gates in and out. The wall sort of cuts through the center of the city now, and it's all decorated with the Hapsburg crest, bc they were the last ruling family of Spain before Franco, but the walls date back at least to the Muslim occupation in the 700s. In the doorways, they still had the original plate metal doors. They were these huge heavy affairs, and built into the left side of each one was a smaller person sized door, because they obviously weren't going to move those heavy things every five minutes. 

  After the walls, we visited an old mosque, which was neat, but a lot of the architecture in Toledo is in the Muslim style, so with the exception of the two big gothic cathedrals, it all sort of looked the same. 

Post mosque, we walked to what is called the casa museo del Greco, which means the house museum of el Greco, but it's actually another small church. The reason they call it that is because a long time ago, this guy, the Count of Orgaz (mayor of Toledo) died. It was kind of a big deal, because he was a huge patron of the church and everybody loved him. He was buried in the parish church, and that turned out to be a big deal too, because a minor miracle happened at his burial. The two guys who actually picked up his body and laid him to rest in the coffin were St. Martin and St. Augustine. So the parish priest commissioned el Greco to do a huge painting on the wall of the church over the Count's tomb, and it's called El Entierro del Señor de Orgaz, or the burial of mr. de Orgaz. Anyway, that church was this little church we went to, so we got to see the guys actual tomb, and the painting, neither of which are behind glass and both of which are originals, so you're not allowed to take pictures. It was pretty interesting, except they kept talking about the painting and I was curious about the dead guy. 

  After El Greco, we took a lunch/shopping break. Kathryn and her roommate Katerina and I got tapas. Oh! Most people on the program have roommates in their homestay, but I don't. Anyway, for lunch we got tapas, like I said. We had a partridge croquet (it was pretty good), and vegetable tempura (also good, less fried than in the US), and this thing that was like hot breadcrumbs with fried egg (there was chorizo in it, so I didn't have much bc i had to eat around it.) and then we got marzipan candies, because Toledo is the home of marzipan. And also Toledo steel, which they sell everywhere. I didn't think I was gonna like the marzipan, because its technically almonds, but it was delicious. 

  After lunch we went to the big gothic cathedral. It's like the largest church in all of Spain (it was seriously immense.) built in the shape of a cross. Lot of bishops and stuff buried there. All the stuff was real and everything was gold. It was cool, but I was bored of churches at that point.

And then we went to a synagogue!! It's called the Sinagoga del Transito, and it's actually a sefardic museum now. It was very beautiful and I took lots of pictures. And there's only like three of us on the whole trip that are Jewish, and the other two aren't quite as invested. So at one point we were all looking at the artifacts and the tour guide was trying to explain something about an inscription, and Kathryn was all "oh, Bekah speaks Hebrew..", so they had me translate some stuff, it was cool. I took a picture of an ancient menorah for my Mom. And some of the stuff they had in there was labeled wrong, like they had a ner tamid, but they'd labeled it a funeral lamp. 

  The whole old Jewish quarter of Toledo has these little tiles every couple of feet or so, that are blue and white. Some of them are menorahs, some of them are stars, some say chai, and others say sefered, which is like the word for Spanish Jews. We also went to a second synagogue that had basically been gutted, and they're using it as an art exhibit for Jewish artists, and it's all being maintained by nuns. They didn't have any postcards, or I would have sent you a synagogue one, but they apparently had some famous cantor record kol nidrei there, so I bought the cd bc the money goes to the upkeep of the shul. 

Our last stop in Toledo was a monastery. Or, actually, I think it was a convent. It was beautiful, with a big garden of orange trees in the middle. Some kid was given a piece of candy for knowing that the symbol of st James is the eagle, and Matthew is an angel, and some other saint is a bull, and then there's a fourth one, I dunno what it is. 

  After the convent, we drove back and I sat next to my friend Raymond and we just talked. Everyone was cold and tired.

After I got back to the homestay at 7.30, I let Angela know I was here, and she said we'd have dinner at 8 or so, and I went into my room with the intention of getting stuff done on the classes and apartment hunting front, but I just fell completely asleep. I only woke up at 9 to have dinner. After dinner, I read for a little while, and then I went to sleep at like midnight, which is early for Spain.  In fact, a lot of my friends are going out tonight.

[bekahgoestospain]

Budgeting (or why living in Madrid is SO expensive)

Rent will be anywhere from €300-€450 a month. Average right now is apparently €382 for students who've been here on our program all year.

On top of that, utilities (light, water, gas) will be €25-€50 a month.

They said budget at least €60 for the supermarket a month.

Recharging my metro card is €34 a month. 

EVERYTHING HERE IS EXPENSIVE. How do people survive?! I mean, just going out to dinner (not even fancy dinner) costs about €40. Sales tax here is 21%.  

Here are the safest neighborhoods I can live in:

Moncloa/Argüelles - a lot of students, 1-2 metro stops from the university, tiny apartments, €380-€480.

Chamberi - mostly families, very established, bigger apartments, 2-3 metro stops from the university, €300-€420.

Cuatro Caminos - Latin American immigrants and their families, bigger apartments, on the other side of chamberi from the university, so 5-6 metro stops, €275-€400.

Salamanca - the wealthy old money neighborhood, 5-6 metro stops from the university, big apartments with high ceilings, €400-€550.

  Also, I may have to go in with the other people in my apartment to have Internet, but she says that's rarer now. I will also probably have to pay €40 to have the landlord put a lock put on my bedroom door, because none of the rooms here have them, and Amy said it is definitely something we should have. Not because of our roommates, but in case our roommates have guests. 

The other thing is this: rent/utilities here is paid in cash.

[bekahgoestospain]

Day 2 (1/17)

So, the reason lunch yesterday was three hours long is because they serve every thing in courses here. The first one was a sort of antipasto plate: it had egg and green olives (with pitts, blegh) and lettuce, and pickled corn and radish (yum!) and tomatoes and strips of cold tuna steak. And then course two was calamari (which I obv didn't eat.) Three was shrimp salad (same.) And then we all got to choose between fish and steak. Dessert was a scoop of ice cream inside a cookie bowl. Also, every single meal here is served with giant hunks of bread. So even though I do a lot of walking, I'm probably not losing weight.

I ran around the whole city by myself this morning. I just would get on the metro and pick any random stop, and get off and explore. It is a seriously beautiful city.

I really feel like I'm seeing a lot of madrid, and I'm exhausted at the end of every day. I still haven't hooked up my computer, and I'm resolved to try not to take morning classes, bc the day schedule here is so strange. Most people don't get up until 9 or so, and they all take afternoon naps, which is why they can all eat dinner at 10 or 11 pm. The orientation schedule, though, gets us up early, bc we have to be everywhere at 10, but my metro ride to the university is a half hour, and then the walk from the university metro stop to our building is 15 min. So I have to leave at 9, which means I have to get up at 7, so I can shower and change before breakfast.

Oh! Everyone should be so proud. I showered in ten min today. Actually the water was nice and warm until min 8, when I was rinsing my hair and it turned ice cold. Also, the shower doesnt drain while you are in it. Really strange. Today for breakfast my señora made me two pieces of toast, an orange, tea (perfect tea!), and a bowl of cornflakes. It was way too much breakfast, but I'm trying to be good about eating all the things they give me, politely. Another example: for dinner was some kind of cheesy soup that I ate politely, undercooked fish, and the obligatory bread. 

So, at ten I was supposed to meet Robert at la puerta del sol (like the Spanish Times Square), so we could visit Chueca, but somehow we missed each other, and he hasn't gotten his phone yet. So I waited for awhile, and walked around the plaza, and went into topshop and sephora and el corte ingles (the spanish target) and then said whatever. So I got back on the metro, and I took it to Chueca, and I walked all around there. Actually I walked from Chueca to the shopping district to Gran Vía (the tourist and theater and fancy hotel area) all the way to el museo del prado and the hotel ritz. Which I didn't think was so far, but then I saw a map and there and back was like 3 or 4 miles. All by myself!! It was really cool though. I forgot to take pics or I would send them. So then Robert called me (he finally got a phone) and I got back on the metro to meet him, and we wandered around Chueca some more, and stopped in a chocolate place (the dark chocolate here is so so good!) Also, there are a bajillion shoe stores here and all the shoes are super cute. So Robert and I rode the metro back to campus and had lunch in the campus cafeteria. He had a salad with arugula, and olives and tomatoes and mozzarella, and I thought I was getting a vegetable sandwich like we have at home, but what I got was a baguette filled with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and a hard boiled egg. It was surprisingly tasty.

Also, oh my gosh, the water here is delicious. Seriously, they actually told us you could drink water straight out of the tap in a public restroom, it's so clean. Not that I would, it's just really good tasting water. They expect you to eat bread with everything though and everything is cooked in oil. And they call it the Mediterranean diet, which is funny because spaniards are noticeably lazier than I am.

Apparently Starbucks is by far the most expensive place to get coffee/tea here, so :( I guess I won't be going there except to use their wifi. Anyway, I've been really trying to get out and see stuff and be independent. Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Kathryn at Argüelles, which is the neighborhood she wants to look for apartments in, and then in the afternoon I'm going on a tour of el museo del prado with the group. And then orientation again at night. And maybe one day, I´m thinking about going on one of those tourist city bus tours. Bc I figure if I get up and keep myself busy even on the days I have time off, I'll acclimate faster and maybe be less homesick. And then Saturday, we go on a day trip to Toledo, where we will be freezing cold and do lots of walking. Celsius temperature is really hard to figure out, by the way. Like, it was 54 F, and it wasn't really that cold, but all the signs said 9 C, so I felt like I should have been freezing.