No Puedo Esperar

I can't wait to:

Be over with finals. Seriously, it's ridiculous how unorganized our study abroad program is. All the students here are sick of it.

See my family. Less than a week until they arrive.

See my friends. Less than 3 weeks until winter quarter starts (though I'm not particularly looking forward to starting classes.)

Dance. I haven't danced either swing or blues since I've been here and its driving me crazy.

Go to a good mass. Seriously, the Spanish don't know anything when it comes to designing a good liturgy.

Eat American food. Not that the food here is bad, I just need something familiar *cough*milkandcereal*cough*

Play D&D. I have become a Dungeons and Dragons junkie and I need my next fix. Fortunately, I'll be running a game this winter, so I can create my own fun.

Las luces de Navidad

The Christmas lights of Madrid are incredibly beautiful.

Because the streets are narrow enough, they string strands of lights between the buildings so they are just floating in midair. It is amazing to see. Also, they have an enormous metal tree that they construct at the Plaza del Sol that you can walk inside of. It is surreal so say the least. They have also set up a Christmas market and carousel in Plaza Mayor. The stalls either sell figures for Nativity scenes, or really gaudy Christmas decorations.

Toledo y Granada

In the past two weeks I have taken three excursions to cities in Spain, two to Toledo and one to Granada.

The trips to Toledo were amazing, and although it rained (lightly) both times, I still had a blast. High quality steel is produced near Toledo, and as a result it became an important manufacturer of swords and armor. This is evident because every single tourist shop sells some type of sword and it is impossible to walk a block without seeing store windows filled with armaments. We also visited the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo which is stunningly gorgeous. Every single inch of that building seems to be filled with religious art and the scale of it all is massive. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but that is why Google was invented.

This past weekend we traveled to Granada to see the famous Alhambra palace. Unfortunately, the bus ride was long and uncomfortable, and it rained the whole time we were in the city, but the palace was spectacular. Like the Great Mosque of Córdoba, the beauty of the place cannot be put into words or captured in photographs. Because parts of the palace were undergoing restoration, I would love to return one day to see it again in its full magnificence.

My Regards to the British Museum

(Part 5 of 5 detailing my vacation to London)

I awoke for my last day and was disappointed to discover that it was raining. It was be expected considering that it is England after all, but it was still not encouraging. After breakfast and a very long ride on the tube I arrived at my first destination for the day: The Who Shop.

The Who Shop is a store dedicated to memorabilia from the British TV show Dr. Who. The store was unlike anything I have ever seen before. They had every kind of toy/poster/swag available for every season and character from the show. There were even life-sized replicas of props from the show, I was constantly geeking-out over how cool that place was.

After buying some souvenirs, I traveled to the British Museum to spend the rest of the day. That place is MASSIVE and has artifacts from everywhere and every culture. It was astonishing to see just how expansive their collection was. One of my favorite pieces was definitely the Rosetta Stone. This stone block has the text of a speech written in three different languages: Greek, Demotic, and Hieroglyphics. It was because of the discovery of this stone that people were finally able to translate hieroglyphics.

Another of my favorite pieces was the Royal Lion Hunt. These bas reliefs depict Assyrian kings hunting many lions from their chariots and on horseback. Even though they were just stone carvings, it was incredibly detailed and felt like a seen from an action movie. Had I been an Assyrian king I definitely would have liked hunting lions.

After the museum, I returned to the hostel, and went to a nearby pub for my last dinner in England. I had chicken with ham, barbecue sauce, and cheese on top, it was amazing. The pub had a very relaxing environment as well. I sat at a counter facing the windows along which there were lit candles. It all had a very quaint feeling to the place and was a nice way to end my day.

Except that my day wasn't over by a long shot. My bus to the airport left at 3:40 in the morning, which meant that I would have to leave from my hostel at around 2:40 to get to the bus stop on time. As a result, I decided not to go to sleep that night because I knew that if I did I might sleep late and miss both my bus and my flight back to Madrid. So I pack my bags and waited in the lounge for hours just watching television. It was boring. I didn't have the remote and whoever did refused to change the channel when Two and a Half Men came on. It was horrible.

Finally 2:40 rolled around, I made the long walk to the bus stop, rode the bus back to the airport, checked in, boarded the plane, sat down, and got some MUCH needed sleep. I awoke two short hours later as the plane was landing in Spain, headed back to my homestay, and more importantly, to my bed.

Stranger in a Strange Mass

(Part 4 of 5 detailing my vacation to London)

That night was not nearly as bad as the one before it, and I was incredibly happy that my awful roommates left the hostel that morning.

I met up with Laurel and some of her roommates at St. Paul's Cathedral, and we all went to mass together. Because the church is Anglican, the mass was different than the Catholic masses that I am used to, but just slightly. The similarities were so great that I was even able to accept communion, and if I hadn't been paying attention, I probably would not have even known that it wasn't a Catholic mass. It was that similar, and it made me wonder why it was a separate faith altogether. The familiarity of the mass was relieving after the culture-shock of Spanish mass, and because Laurel was there, I had a sense of the community spirit that we have back at DePaul.

After mass we all walked around for a little bit, but because it was freezing out, we were glad when we found a place to eat. Having hot lasagna on a cold day like that really helped, but I found it funny that they already had the Christmas Coca-Cola bottles, even though it was just November 7th. I think that because they don't have Thanksgiving in Britain (or at least not in the same sense as in the States) there is not a buffer holiday to prevent people from preparing too early. (i.e. you can't say "You're putting up Christmas decorations already!? But it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!)

Afterwards, we traveled to Camden Town which is a very strange area of London. It was comprised almost entirely of shops selling really gaudy/touristy things. Although some of the clothing was trendy, most of the stuff there would probably make me lose respect for the person who bought it. The weird thing is that it was absolutely PACKED with people, and not just tourists either. People legitimately did their shopping there.

To our frustration, when we tried to take the tube back home we discovered that the station was closed to outgoing traffic, and that we would have to walk to the next station. Although the walk wasn't long, I still was not fond of the fact that there were no signs advertising this when we left the station to begin with. On the ride back to the hostel, Laurel and I said our goodbyes because she would be leaving for Scotland that evening and we would not see each other again.

That night I went to a local pub and had English breakfast for dinner. It was incredible, and I wished that I was able to have that much food for breakfast back in Spain. It consisted of: an egg over easy, toast, bacon, grilled tomatoes, and a grilled mushroom. Afterwards, I went back to the hostel and hung out in the lounge before heading off to bed to get a full nights sleep, because tomorrow would be my last day and I wanted to make the most of it.

Night of the Drunken Roommates

(Part 3 of 5 detailing my vacation to London)

My sleep was interrupted on my 2nd night in London, by a large group of my roommates entering the room. They were obviously drunk and were swearing extremely loudly. Suffice to say that that night was not fun, and I was glad to leave them behind the next morning.

After breakfast, I traveled to downtown London and walked across the Thames river on Millennium Bridge (the same one that was destroyed by death eaters in Harry Potter 6.) It was refreshingly cool that morning, which was a nice contrast to the heat in Spain because it actually felt like it was November.

I went to the Tate Modern, a modern art museum, and strolled around inside for a short while. It was interesting, but not exactly my taste in art. However, I was surprised to see "Whaam!" by Roy Lichtenstein. I had done a small art presentation on him in high school, and it was cool to actually see his work in person.

I left the museum for the tube station where I was supposed to meet Laurel for the day, and waited for her. And waited. And waited. . . and waited. Finally, after 40 minutes of waiting, one of the station attendants told me that there was a second station about a block away. I was not amused. Fortunately, as soon as I arrived at the other station, I found Laurel right away.

We headed out to the Borough Market, which is a street market where vendors sell all kinds of food. It was very interesting to see because nothing like it exists in Chicago. After seeing all of that food we both decided that it was time for lunch and we stopped in a nearby cafe to eat. I was excited that they had Eggs Benedict because I would eat them practically every Sunday when I was back home.

We remained at the restaurant for over 2 hours just catching up and talking about our experiences abroad. It was nice to have the chance to talk to a friend, and we were able to commiserate about the stresses of being away from our friends back in Chicago. We both thought that it would be strange to return home and have a whole new group of freshmen who don't know us, but know our friends already. I know that I am especially worried about being left out of experiences that everyone back in Chicago are sharing, and I think that it might be jarring to try to reintegrate myself back into my circle of friends.

After much conversation, we said goodbye for the day and I headed off to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. I was surprised to learn that it was actually the 3rd Globe Theater (the 1st burned down, and the 2nd was abandoned) and that it only opened in 1997. The theater itself was incredible and it really felt like a time capsule to another era. I wish that I had been able to see a performance there, but the theater season ended in October.

When I returned to the hostel, I went on a computer in the lounge to look up directions. I also checked my Facebook and email and was surprised to find that I had a TON of messages. I'd been away from my computer for just 3 days and already I had over 4o messages to check. They would have to wait though, because it was already time for bed and to pray for a better night than the previous one.

Remember remember the 5th of November

(Part 2 of 5 detailing my vacation to London)

"Remember remember the 5th of November/Gunpowder, treason, and plot/I see no reason the gunpowder treason/Should ever be forgot."~Bonfire Night Rhyme

I awoke early the next morning and made my way down to the continental breakfast. There, I was extremely excited to have cereal because I NEVER have it in Madrid. It was a good way to start the day.

Afterwards, I walked down the block to the Natural History Museum to check out the dinosaur exhibition there. The museum was incredible, and the dino bones did not disappoint. I made sure to explore every part of that gallery because I knew that I might never have the chance to go back there. The rest of the museum was also very nice, but seeing the dinosaurs was definitely the highlight.

When I returned to the hostel, I inquired about the Chrystal Palace Dinosaurs, but was disheartened to learn that they were too far out of the way for my visit. It would have been nice to see them because they are featured in a dinosaur video that I have watched since I was little.

Later that evening, I headed out again and met up with Laurel near Big Ben. We then walked around for a bit and she showed me the London Eye as well as Parliament. This was especially appropriate considering that it was Bonfire Night (AKA Guy Fawkes Night) when the English celebrate the foiled plot by Guy Fawkes to blow-up Parliament. We then joined Laurel's roommates and traveled to see a fireworks show. The tube was absolutely jam-packed because everyone was heading out for the night. It was a great time and I commented that the fireworks were even better than what we had in Des Plaines for the 4th of July (I thought the comparison was funny, considering where I was.)

We all went out to dinner together and afterwards I returned to my hostel where I met my new roommates for the night. I was surprised to find out that they were also Americans who were studying in Madrid (though not at the same university.) I had a nice talk with them before heading off to bed and further adventures.