Madre y Padre en Espana

This past week, my parents came to visit. It was a great time and I'm pretty sure it was a big learning experience for them. This is Mom and Dad at dinner with my host family. It was a really good meal (much better than usual). I was in school during the week, but I now they had fun visiting museums and being tourists. It's a shame they don't have a blog so you can see everything they did when I was at school. It would be a true visit with my parents if we didn't go to the movies. We went to the movies and saw "The Last King of Scotland" which was full of ferocious performances but could have had a more focused story.
After the movie, the week continued. Highlights included going out to dinner with Diane at a really good Cuban restaurant and seeing a Flamenco show after, dinner with my friends, and the weekend in Granada. Here we are at the Alhambra.
While at the Alhambra we walked around and saw all sorts of great stuff. Check out my previous post on Granada for all the juicy information this awesome location has to offer. While there I saw some really cute kittens, now I'm not really a cat guy (Sport was the coolest pet ever), but these kittens were really cute.
After Granada we headed to the airport. But before we left we stayed over in a town to watch "El Clasico" which is the Real Madrid-Barcelona soccer game. This game was absolutely insane to watch. Check out the results here. Ronaldinho, who plays for Barca is amazing to watch, don't believe, check it out. Here we are watching the game.
Well, it was a great visit. My parents learned a lot about Spanish culture and a little bit of the language (Sabrosa means delicious). I'll try to post soon about life in Madrid. See ya.

Nature's Classroom

Greetings From The

SPANISH WILD

Last weekend I was a field trip with my Ecology of Spain class to the Alto Tajo National Park in Guadalajara. It was an amazing trip full of lots of adventure.

I got up at 8:30 on Friday morning and took the metro to the school where we boarded a bus. I mainly slept on the bus ride, we stopped in small town for breakfast. This town was tiny and no one there spoke English, this would be a sign of things to come. After a little for traveling we arrived in our tiny town. We packed up our packs and headed down the road.


We basically hiked along this pretty massive canyon. At the bottom of the canyon was the Alto Tajo river. Our teacher Professor Montes would stop at special areas and give us ecology lectures on the region. It was refreshing to be out in the wild and also to learn a little bit about the world literally all around us. Here is Montes giving a lecture.


Here's the deal on Professor Montes. He is an accomplished nature writer and photographer who has been teaching at Syracuse Madrid for over 15 years. He is in a 9 piece Celtic rock band that frequently tours Europe and the US. He loves rock music, hates the city, and kind of sounds like "Borat".

We then hiked down to a ledge where we had lunch and also to proceeded to "clean our arteries" as Montes says. If this is confusing, "clean your arteries" is what happens when your body gets submerged in a freezing cold river after jumping off a cliff. This is me...airborne... my form is pretty bad.
After the jump we all the guys on the trip swam up stream to this rock for a "American's are adventures who pose with our shirts off picture" on a rock. Check it out.

After that we went back to the town and kicked it with the locals, keep it mind there are only 12 people in this town. We played soccer, explored castle ruins, and practiced Spanish with our 12 year old guide Ernesto. This is a group shot on the castle ruins at sunset. From the left, Greg Alvarez from Lehigh, Chris D'Erico from CUse, Andres Trujillo from RIT, Clark Lampen from Lehigh, and Zach Rubinfeld and myself from Syracuse. That night we had an incredible dinner of vegetables, salmon, lots of bread, salad, wine, a sweet desert of apple tart.

We woke up early the next day to find that it was cloudy and cold which was bad because we were slated to go Kayaking in two hours. The weather did not stop us and before we knew it we were loading the kayaks.
I wish I could show you all pictures from our descent but the water was freezing and my camera wasn't water proof. We took the bus down to a power dam, did a basic review of technique and we were off. The kayaks had skirts so water wouldn't splash on your legs. The rapids were pretty tame, I would say they were class two at highest according to this scale. We kayaked for about 3 hours and three people tipped, one of them was Ruby, who is a pretty outdoors guy. After the kayaking we went back to the Hotel and slept for about 4 hours.

That night we went to one of Professor Montes's friends house for dinner and a party. This was not an ordinary house, it was built on top of an ancient cave. So inside the house is a door that leads deep into the cave system. It is here where the wine is stored, food was stored, and people of the region avoided bombings during the Spanish Civil War. While we were there we learned the local way to drink wine, which is to pour it out of a large jar with a spout. Here I am trying to get my technique down.

After dinner, the owner showed up and things got moving. He busted out his families traditional wine that we makes in the cave system. It was a blush and it was really good. It was here that we watched the lunar eclipse with the locals in the countryside. The night was capped off the by the owner of the house/caves presenting my buddy Clark and I with custom hats. Here we are.

The next morning we woke up and went for another hike. The destination was the left "tit" of the Viana. The left "tit" is one of two plateaus that rise from the landscape. When the Roman's where in Spain they named them tits. The hike was pretty steep at times, but the views were amazing. Here is a group shot at the top. The right "tit" is behind us.
After that hike we took the back to Madrid. I met my parents at their hotel and got ready for a week of fun with them. Stay tuned for pictures from their visit. I'll leave you with a picture of the valley area.

Paris, The City of Lights.

This weekend Diane and I travelled to Paris for the weekend. Everyone told us it takes a least 2 hours to get to the airport so we left really early. However upon arriving at the airport in under 30 minutes we were baffled at all this 2 hour talk. However the airport in Paris was a different story, upon our arrival both our brains started working overdrive. We were reading and hearing things French, thinking in English, but instinctively speaking Spanish. The journey from the airport to the hotel was about 2 hours long and we were helped along the way by a friendly French man. We arrived at 11 PM and went to bed, we need our rest for the big days ahead. Here is the view from our hotel room.


The following day we went to the Louvre art museum. It was awesome rolling up to the museum and seeing so many triangles. I never thought that any part in my life I would be taking so many pictures of Triangles, but they were really cool. Here's a good picture of one of the triangles. That's Diane walking toward you. We had a French lunch at the museum, which consisted of meat and lots of cheese. I had cheese and potatoes and I would say it was about 60% cheese and 40% potatoes. I even managed to sneak a picture of the Mona Lisa in, even though it was prohibited, technically I think it is legal because I took the picture in the camera allowed zone.


After the art museum we walked to the Champs y Elysees toward the Arc de Triumph. It was
a long walk but the arch was awesome. I didn't expect it to be so big. Here is Diane and I in front of the arch.

Mom and Dad, I did go up to the top, it was a great view. That night I bought dinner in a supermarket. A really nice French dude helped find French bread, cheese, wine and other goodies that French people like to have with their dinner.

The following day we went to Notre Dame. Now I don't want to be a Notre Dame hater, but I feel like some of the cathedrals in Spain are a little more impressive. I've been showing a lot of direct pictures of monuments, so here are the infamous Gargoyles on the cathedral.
After Notre Dame we went to the Pantheon. I was under the impression their was only one Pantheon, a.k.a the one in Italy, but I have to say the French Pantheon was pretty legit. It was really cool seeing the tombs of people like Voltaire and Rousseau even if I'm not entirely sure why they were so important in my history classes (hey I'm being honest). I also saw the largest Pendulum in the world there as well. Here is a picture I took of Diane at the Pantheon, it's one of my favorites of the trip.

That night we went to the Eiffel tower. I had heard the tower sparkled on the hour every night, so when the metro came out of the tunnel and the tower was right there flashing like the sparklers we used to have at New Years, it was quite a site. Diane and I went to the very top. It was wicked high, and I've been to the top of a lot of tall buildings (Empire State, Sears Tower, Prudential) but something about the Eiffel Tower just made it seem really tall. I have since looked at this picture and learned that it really wasn't that tall.
I think one of the reasons it seemed so tall was because you could feel it shaking in the wind. It was pretty freaky. The view from the top was amazing. On the way down I took this picture, depending on what you think it's me holding up the tower or me climbing it, I prefer the first option.


It was great trip, Paris was a really cool city. And finally here is the best thing I ate in Paris (and yes I did have creme brulee). It was chocolate crepe we had on the first day there. It stands as the best French food I've had to date, but I still have many years left to try some other stuff.


I have midterms this week, but I have a field trip to the North East of Spain this weekend for some climbing and kayaking so stay tuned!

Spanish Film

With the Academy Awards rapidly approaching I figured I would do a bit on Spanish films that I have been studying in my class and the ones I have seen recently. Lets start with my class. It's called 2oth Century Spanish Cinema, it's taught in all my Spanish, and it's pretty hard. The first film we watched in class was Un Chien Andolou by Luis Bunuel. Click here to watch it on youtube. Be warned it's really really far out and contains a graphic scene at the start. Also if you do watch, watch with an open mind, because it's really really hard to understand. However if you think you get it leave a comment. Here's a poster for the film.
I have also gone to the movies with my class. We saw a movie called Miguel y William, which translates to Miguel and Will. If you were wondering the Miguel and William of the title, are Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.

This movie was a romantic comedy that I think many of you will enjoy. It's about a friendship/rivalry Will and Miguel have over a girl. Of course the two of them end up inspiring each other for their stories (Othello and Don Quixote of course). What I liked the most about this is how they portray Shakespeare as the biggest ladies man ever. Over the course of the film he ends up having sex with almost every girl in the movie. This lead me and my friends to called him "Willy Shakes." It was a fresh take on the character who I always imagined chilling in a dark room in writing dark plays by candlelight. Here he is.
An interesting thing to note regarding this film is where the money came from to make it. In Spain the government finances most of the films. So when the movie started there were many logos for the various departments of culture that helped produce the film. This is interesting because since it's government money, there are rules regarding films. According to our professor there can be no films about ETA (Basque terrorists) or the train bombings of March 11.


Last night (Sunday) I went to see this movie. In America it's called Pan's Labyrinth. It's a pretty impressive movie from director Guillermo del Toro. I saw it all in Spanish (it's original language). A quick note here regarding language in films. According to our professor, Spain is the only country that requires foreign films to be dubbed. This practice started under Franco and it still in effect today. You can see films in their original language, but only at select theaters.


I'll go ahead and say I really loved this movie. I found it to be a fascinating story that succeeded on many many levels. It's a fantasy film about the power of imagination (like the recent Bridge to Terabithia), it's a horror film, and it's a historical drama. I would say that it ranks as the best movie I have seen in 2007, but that honor goes to the awesome Children of Men.



It's directed by Alfonso Cuaron, a mexican filmaker and close friend of Guillermo Del Toro. In fact Cuaron was one of many producers on "Pan."
Anyway, I know many people are enjoying Pan's Labyrinth. If you like it I would highly recommend the "prequel" called The Devil's Backbone. It's by the same director and deals almost all of the same themes. If you liked Pan, you should watch it.

Stay tuned for more posts about my host family, Segovia, and Paris!

Getting Around

Welcome to Madrid. That guy on the horse is Don Quixote, the hero of Miguel Cervantes classic book. This statue is in the Plaza Espana so I figured it would be a nice symbol of Madrid. My blog will now begin regular posts about the things going on in my life right now. I'll post later in the week on my family, but let's focus right now on my location. I'm living in an area close to the metro stop called Arguelles. Here is my location on a map. I live at the place where the Brown line starts on the left side. It's the "4" train.




And here is a picture of my metro stop.



Every time I use the Metro, I get on here. In the background there is that big building on the left. This is the Corte Ingles, which is basically the universe in a store. They have everything from treadmills to tarts on sale. The building is kind of shaped in a triangle, which is helpful because it points toward my house. On school days I take the Metro (it's about a 15 minute) ride to school. The stop for the school is Ruben Dario. I have to make one transfer but it seems like second nature now. Here is the Ruben Dario stop.

I get out there and walk down the street for about one minute and then I'm at the school. The school is a pretty sweet looking building. It's called the International Institute and you can check it out here.
This place is located directly across from the Police Station and they are always outside chilling, so Mom, Dad and relatives do not worry, it is a safe place to study. Syracuse is not the only school that has a study abroad program in the building. Boston University has one as well. Considering I could have gone to Boston University, maybe this place is my destiny.

I'll post about my host family in the coming days. Aidos.

Higher Learnings

Now that I covered Swimming, Swinging bats at shells, and Soccer in Seville, I'm going to go back to History. The final city we visited was Salamanca and keeping with the "S" alliteration it was super sweet. Probably the coolest part of this city was the fact that it is home to the University of Salamanca. According to our teacher there are four key universities in Europe. Oxford, University of Paris, University of Salamanca, and University of Bolonia in Italy. Students at the University lived a good life. They were there for five years and their only test was at the end, but more on that later. The students had three favorite past times. They were:

1. "Hanging" out with prostitutes.
2. Gambling
3. Being in rock bands called "Tuna" (Kind of similar to Whitesnake I guess) Check out these Tuna's below.

Here is a picture of some of the Tuna's in action.

Now don't worry, college life here wasn't all sex, gambling, and being a rock star. Graduating from the school was not an easy task. This is how the graduation ceremony worked, after five years the student was supposed to be ready. The student was supposed to be well versed in over 100 subjects. The faculty would send this student to this little room where he would fast for 24 hours. No food, no water, just you and the stone walls thinking about if you spent a little too much time rocking out with your tuna group. Here is a picture of the old planetarium where people would study one of the 100 subjects.

After 24 hours the student would emerge and field two questions from the faculty. The questions would be about 2 of the 100 subjects they would know. But these were not just simple geography bee questions. Each response was supposed to be a "dissertation" so they were hard. If you failed this all the professors would scream at you and the students present would throw rocks at you as you fled through a door only used by the losers. Here is the library where people would study before getting locked away in the little room.


But if you passed the test, you were the BOSS! The whole city would celebrate you and then you would have this huge party all weekend. At the end of the party there was a bullfight and you would take the blood of the dead bulls and paint your name in blood on the walls. Why paint the your name in blood on the walls? CAUSE YOU'RE BOSS!


This concludes my summary of my traveling seminar. I'll now start posting about my life in Madrid. Stay tuned.

Swimming, Soccer, and Seville

I'll take a break from the history lessons today. This is beach close to Seville, where I ended swimming in the Ocean. When I saw the itinerary for Azahar I noticed we would be stopping at a beach in Spain. Being from the Northeast the chance to swim in the Ocean in January is always enticing. I figured the water couldn't be that cold. I told my buddies Carlos, Manny, Darryn, and Oz that I was going to take a dip in the Ocean. So I got ready, here is a sequence of my dash into the other side of the Atlantic.
The water really wasn't that cold. I don't want to sound all macho, but it was actually pretty pleasant. I was expecting to get in and start screaming and run out all shivering, but I got in and I swam around a little bit. For people who know, it was about as cold as the water at Sand Beach in Maine in July.

After the dip we "americanized" the beach in Spain by getting a quick batting practice with a makeshift stick and shells.


After the day at the beach we all went to the disco where Carlos, Manny, Oz, and Darryn got me drinks to celebrate. This is us, I look pretty happy.
After the sweet day at the beach, I was pretty convinced that things couldn't get any better in Spain, but there was soccer games to see. I received word from there was to be a game in Seville so I headed off to the stadium with my friends Zach and Clark. Seville is one of top ranked teams in Spain so we were pumped. However, it soon became apparent we were not nearly pumped enough.



As you can see these guys were a little more pumped. They were the rival fans and were seated right behind us. They were cheering and singing the whole game, the only time they stopped is when a miny riot erupted in the stands (right behind us). It was nuts, cops in full riot gear were just going to town crushing skulls and tossing people down the bleachers people like Schilling throwing pitches at Fenway . After the riot stopped, the fans were surrounded by police and had to stay in a specific area. This did not stop the fans from chanting "Policia Asesina" which basically translates into Cops are Murderers.


Seville won the game 3-1. The soccer was so much better than the MLS in America. One thing I didn't like was during injury time, every time the opposing team touched the ball the entire stadium would start this high pitch whistle. It sounded as if the stadium were filled with banshees and it hurt my skull.

It was a great city. Tomorrow I'll post some Salamanca stuff and then begin the regular updates about life in Madrid.