Tortitas

Thursday night we had a girls night at Estefania's house. There were four Spanish girls and four of us American girls. The plan? To make pancakes. The Spaniards were SO excited to make them and try them for the first time-- just like they see people eat on TV (they watch a lot of American TV shows and movies here). They all took turns flipping pancakes for the first time too. It was funny to see how nervous they were to do it, but they all did surprisingly well. Maple syrup is essentially non-existent in this country (although in my search I did stumble across a half litre of syrup that cost 26 euros!), so we bought lots of jams, chocolate syrup, and peanut butter to top our pancakes with. I also made some make-shift syrup like my mom used to do when we would run out-- brown sugar and white sugar dissolved in water. It turned out pretty good. And the pancakes were awesome too! Soooooo delicious. And to top it all off, unbeknownst to me, everyone had planned this get together at as a belated surprise birthday party for Tiffani and me. When we walked into the living room it was covered in balloons, and Tiffani and I were both adorned with crowns. What sweet friends I have :)

Friday marked the beginning of my three day weekend which, with the exception of some internship stuff, I have devoted entirely to working through Don Quixote and to napping. I also had some credit card issues that I had to work out last night. Even though I contacted my bank and both of my credit card companies before I left, they no longer had a travel record for me, and so all my accounts had been frozen and entirely unaccessible since last week, although I had used them before without issue. Apparently there are quite a few of us having this problem. Anyways, I had three plane tickets on my credit card and couldn't pay them off due to lack of access to my account. Scary, considering that could really tank my credit score. And the phone numbers that Visa and MasterCard gave me didn't work from Spain, even with an exit code. So, Mom to the rescue! I Skyped her, and while we were skyping she called my credit card companies, who I talked to on her phone via Skype. Talk about a complicated process. But everything got worked out! Hooray! 

La Guinda (my favorite bakery) tonight, along with working at the Catholic nursing home and maybe going to a 90s hip hop bar with Jess, and then working more on Don Quixote all day tomorrow until I go pick up mom and Davina from the bus station. I'm so excited to see them!!! 

The girl who speaks to God

So, I figured blogging a tad would be a good way to avoid homework a little longer. So here's a few random things that don't really fit into any other blog.
-I adore older people in general, and the ones that I work with here are no exception. In addition to calling me Marisol, they also call me 'buenamoza,' which is an antiquated phrase meaning attractive young lady. It also seems to imply something about being grand in stature, as well. I literally get called buenamoza at least 50 times a day. Today I was also called 'la que habla con dios,' which came along with an upwards speaking hand gesture. I was at the Catholic nursing home, and the table I was serving at the time informed me that this means I'm so tall that I can talk to God because my head is basically right up next to them. Adorable, right?
-My host mom always tells me that I have 'una boquita de oro.' Literally: a mouth of gold. Figuratively: I'm a good eater. Really, my mom's just an awesome cook. I have eaten everything she's put on my plate. Every last bite.
-I bought my eurail pass for spring break today! It's coming up SO fast and I can't wait!
-Mom and Davina are coming on Sunday. Yet another thing I'm really excited for. I really think they'll love it here. Then next Thursday we'll leave Madrid and spent a couple of days there before they leave. I'm so grateful to have had so many awesome opportunities to travel with Mom and Davina!
-My sister will be on the same continent as me for two weeks, starting today! Lucky duck!
-I put my class schedule together for the summer and fall. Two classes in the mornings during the summer, and then 4 classes Tuesdays/Thursdays during the fall. The end is in sight! And it actually makes me want to stay at ISU longer!
-I'm kind of drowning in homework, required internship hours, and readings for my independent study. So I should probably start working on that now...

Feelin' a little Hungary...

Wow. How to describe last weekend? Budapest was amazing beyond words, but I'll do my best to recap it here.
We all met Thursday at noon to take the bus to Madrid, where we were flew out from. We flew Wizz Air (one of Europe's many low-cost airlines) and spent the majority of our time in the Barajas airport worrying about getting all of our carry-ons on the plane without them having to be checked... they are very strict about carry-on luggage. But we all made it! And we flew off to Budapest without a hitch in a pink plane. We were all so excited by the time we got to Hungary that on the shuttle on our way to the hostel, all we could do was say "Oh my gosh, guys, this is Hungary!" "That's a Hungarian road!" "That's a Hungarian sign!" "That's a Hungarian building!" First things first, when we got to the airport we had to withdraw forints (Hungarian money) from the ATMs. There a 222 forints in 1 US dollar, so we were working in hundreds and thousands with everything we bought this weekend, which definitely made the best of my math skills.

Once we got to our hostel it was pretty late and we had to run to a 0-24 shop (basically a 24 hour convenience store of sorts) to break our bills down and pay for our hostel rooms. Our hostel was super sketchy and a tad smelly... I shared a room with Taylor Anne and and Andrew, and we spread our sweatshirts and clothes over the top of the beds so we wouldn't be directly on the pillow or comforter. But heck, we were in Hungary, so we were happy anyways.
After breakfast at our hostel Friday morning (Friday, March 2nd, 2012, AKA: MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!!) we headed out and walked to Hero's Square and the park on the Pest side of of Budapest. The city was beautiful, and the street the we happened to walk down was full of embassies from all over the world. Hero's Square is a beautiful, large square with monuments, and behind it is a park with and a beautiful palatial complex. We strolled through the park and bought mulled wine and large, bready pretzels from a street vendor. We stopped and sat along the moat of the castle to enjoy the hot wine and pretzels. On our walk back towards the hostel we stopped and spent a few hours at the Terror Museum. As it turns out, Hungary was essentially a pawn during WWII, first for Germany and then for Russia. When Germany was in charge, they tortured and killed all of the Hungarian communists. When Communist Russia took over, they did the same to the Hungarian fascists. It was a bad situation all around. The building that the museum was in was the actual place in which much of the killing and torturing took place. It was a really somber experience, but I think it was good to learn a little bit more of the history behind Budapest.
After a quick lunch at Starbucks and some free time at our hostel, we were ready to go out for the night. Jenny, Alix, Alice and I decided to spend part of the evening on a river cruise down the Danube with drinks and live music. What a good choice! Evening along the Danube is gorgeous-- it was dark and all of the beautiful buildings (such as parliament and the castle district) were lit up. As if it couldn't get any better, the girls had the string trio (which included a world-famous violinist) come up and serenade me for my birthday. They played a pretty rendition of 'Happy Birthday' and then played an upbeat, traditional Hungarian song. As I sat there enjoying the champagne, the music, the setting, and my friends I couldn't help but thinking about how truly, truly blessed I am. I could never have dreamed of spending my 21st in such a wonderful way.
After our cruise we met back up with Andrew, Katie, and Taylor Anne and searched for dinner. We didn't find the Hungarian restaurant we were looking for, but we ended up in an awesome Italian restaurant. After that we went to Szimpla Kertmozi, which, according to Lonely Planet, is the third best bar in the world. I'd really like to see how two others beat it out, because it was probably one of the coolest places I've seen, located in the ruins of an old Communist building.
First thing Saturday morning we walked back towards Hero's Square and went to the thermal baths. They were beyond beautiful and elegant, and consisted of outdoor pools heated naturally to varying temperatures, encircled by gorgeous, antiquated buildings. Such a fun, relaxing experience-- something truly Hungarian and very typical of Budapest. On our way back we stopped and had Indian food for lunch. SOOOOO delicious! I tried Paneer Tikka Masala for the first time and fell in love. Afterwards we were so full we had no choice but to take a little siesta. That evening we walked across the river to the Danube side of Budapest, which is where the castle district is located (aka: Hogwarts). That part of the city is elevated, so once we climbed up the hill we got to look across the river and see the sunset over the entire city. And then the lights came on, and the city from that view was incandescently beautiful. We spent the evening taking our time and enjoying the sights of Buda at night. We then went to an authentic Hungarian restaurant, which was delicious. As we walked back down the hill towards Pest, with arms linked, Alix, Andrew, and I started singing Save Tonight... it seemed fitting. If only that night and our time in Budapest could've lasted forever.

We went back to the bar again that night, but were so exhausted that we went to bed by 12:30. Sunday morning we strolled around the area near our hostel a bit, but had to be ready to leave by noon. After a plane ride back to Madrid followed by a train, we got back into Cáceres at about 2:00 in the morning. And it felt like coming home.
Now I'm back to real life a while. My internship is going really well, and I already have my 'favorite' residents. This week the ladies have begun vying for my attention, and all of them keep giving me little gifts to win me over. It's adorable. I've also still be working with the nuns, and am truly enjoying that. Also, being back home makes me realize how much I love my host mom, Isabel. So thankful for all of the awesome people here!

Córdoba y Granada

This past weekend our group went on a trip to Granada and Córdoba, historic cities in southern Spain. We left early Friday morning and arrived in Granada that afternoon. We went to the el capilla real (the royal chapel), where Ferdinand and Isabel are buried. It was small and relatively unadorned because when Ferdinand and Isabel designed it they wanted to appear humble before their God. We also wentto the cathedral attached to it, which was built by their grandson Carlos V and was large and beautiful. Afterwards we made our way to one of the highest points in Granada, where we watched the sunset over the Alhambra, with the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas in the background. It was an indescribably beautiful view.
The next day was dedicated to visiting La Alhambra. We were there for hours, but easily could've spent days there. It's an unbelievably huge, and is ornate down to every last detail. Again, something you have to experience, because my words aren't sufficient to describe it. After la Alhambra, we had some free time for lunch in town, where Abby, Lauren, and I ate authentic kebabs. So delicious! We also go to walk around Granada a little bit. It's a beautiful city and it's clearly been shaped by a combination of both Spanish and Arabic culture.
Next up was Córdoba. We got there Saturday evening and enjoyed shopping, sangria, tapas, and free time. I roomed with Cassi that night, which was a lot of fun, and I also blew my first fuse (literally) in our hotel room. Oops!
Sunday morning we went to Medina, ruins of an ancient city that was built by Arabs hundreds of years ago. It was an impressive city, and interestingly enough only stood for 80 years before being sacked by another band of Arabs who thought that the opulence of the city was sacrilegious. We had a fantastic lunch back in Córdoba (pisto!!! and some of the best bread I've ever eaten, steaming hot) before visiting the meszquita, our last stop of the day. La meszquita is one of the oldest remaining mosques, and also houses a cathedral inside. Gorgeous.
It's good to be back in Cáceres-- it felt like coming home last night when we came back. Busy busy week this week full of homework and internship stuff before heading to Budapest on Thursday. I also start volunteering at Sisters of the Poor tonight, feeding supper to elderly people who can't feed themselves. Should be interesting!

I was going to dedicate a blog to last weekend in Cádiz, but I think it's easiest to sum the weekend up with a simple equation. Carnaval in Cádiz = Halloween down Welch + VEISHEA x infinity. It was a lot of fun to see everyone dressed up and to experience all of the celebrations, to hear the chirigotas (satirical singing groups), and to be down on the Mediterranean again.
I had a great experience Monday at my internship, and got to help evaluate residents individually and administer psychometric exams to measure cognitive functioning and levels of depression. I also got thrown into a spur of the moment emergency therapy session with a family, which made for a really interesting day.
Tuesday evening a group of us got together and bought plane tickets for Budapest the first weekend in March. Yup... I'll be turning 21 in Budapest! Exciting stuff :)
And today... uff da. As much as I love my internship, it's been a struggle to get it organized (not on my end of things), and it still lacks structure and sufficient hours. I spent most of today stressing about it and about getting a roll on my independent study. If the director of my program here in Spain doesn't throw things together soon, I will be cramming tons of hours into every week until I leave and essentially have no free time because of my independent study and my internship. These are things that should've been together by the time I got here, four weeks ago. As I always do when I get overwhelmed, I decided it would be best to take full advantage of siesta, which was probably my best decision of the day. After waking up I realized that today is Ash Wednesday, and went to mass with some of the other ISU students. The Catholic church we went to was PACKED full of people, which is a strange site here in Spain, or anywhere in Europe for that matter. It was a good service, but I really miss singing hymns at church... something they don't do in any formal church I've been to here. Also, I found it interesting that when I went up to be marked with ashes, the priest scattered them across my head (like, in my hair) instead of making the sign of the cross on my forehead. Strange.
This week has flown by even faster than last week. Just my internship and one class tomorrow, and then we take off for a weekend in Cordoba and Granada. :)

Call me Puentes... or Marisol... or whatever

Last week flew by SO quickly that there was hardly time to do anything, let alone blog. So here's a quick recap:

Spring break plans-- I finally made some! There are seven of us that will be going to Madrid, Paris, Brussels (or maybe Brugge, we haven't decided yet), Amsterdam, Cologne and some other German cities, Vienna, and Barcelona. I'm so excited to have travel plans and to hit up so many cities during our break! I feel like I take a lot of things in my life for granted, but when I stop and think about everything I'm doing and everywhere I'm going this semester, it really makes me thankful/amazed at the opportunities that I have.

Internship-- After a lot of frustration and many cancelled interviews, I finally met with Chiti, the psychologist I'll be following at Residencia Care, one of the nursing homes here in Cáceres. She's a very sweet (and very short) woman, and I think I'll really enjoy working with her. She showed me around the facility and introduced me to the residents, none of whom understood the name Madison, so I eventually just became Marisol, a very Spanish name and similar sounding to the way Madison is pronounced in Spanish. The nursing home is divided into three floors; one is a typical nursing home, one is a dementia unit, and another is for hospice and/or vegetative patients. It's interesting, because in the hospice rooms spouses have the option of moving in to be with their loved ones round the clock, and there's a communal kitchen and living room for them to use while they're there. There are over 100 residents living in Residencia Care, and in a lot of ways it reminds me of Bethany Manor. It seems as though my job will be doing activities with residents to help maintain mental functioning, talking to residents and making sure they're emotionally well, and sitting through individual and family therapy sessions with Chiti. I won't be able to get enough hours at Care, so I'm waiting for more information on a 2nd internship I'll be doing as well.

Independent Study-- finally got news on this front, too! I'll be doing an in depth study of Don Quijote through Julia, one of my professors at Iowa State. 

Ultimate Frisbee-- I took part in my first ultimate frisbee game on Wednesday. A group of Spanish players invited us to join them to play every week. It's so much fun, and it's funny to hear us all communicate in Spanglish. The Spaniards call me Puentes... apparently they've of seen Los puentes de Madison (aka: Bridges of Madison County), and puentes is easier to say than Madison, I guess. Haha. I have a lot of practice to do before I'm even a decent frisbee player, but everyone is gracious and it's a good time :)

What more?? Finally met our program director, Toñi, over tapas and drinks. Broke my bed. Broke the shower. Those are two funny stories if anyone ever wants to hear them... Finished reading Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and highly recommend it. Went to Cádiz for Carnaval over the weekend, which will have its own post, soon to follow. 

I overslept church yesterday and, consequently, had time to spend the morning reading and drinking tea on the terraza, yet again. It was wonderful. I'm reading Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and now that I've started it, it's hard to put down.
After siesta yesterday I had a meeting with Maria Angeles, whose mother lives in Residencia C.A.R.E., the nursing home I'll be doing my internship at. Maria Angeles is acting as my guide, and treated me to coffee yesterday to answer any questions I may have had. I still know very little about what I'll be doing, but she was able to tell me that I'll be working under the geriatric psychologist at the facility. I got the impression that I'll be doing lots of one-on-one time with the residents, which I really look forward to. I have a formal interview at the facility tomorrow and should hopefully start my internship next week. Honestly, the sooner I get started the better, or else I'll never get all of my hours in before I leave.
After coffee with Maria Angeles, I went and sat in the park to wait for some friends. I was early and had about 20 minutes to wait, so I decided to pull out my book and read a bit. I kept my eyes glued on my book and purposely ignored any man that walked by alone. But wouldn't ya know, it happened again. A man in his 60s walked by very slowly, eying me, and then turned around and came down to sit by me. At least this guy was sober. He was interesting, in a kind of strange way, and went on to talk to me about Semana Santa for the next 20 minutes. And, coincidentally, Jess walked by again and saw me sitting alone with a strange man. And yet again, he thought it was hilarious and left me there. Uff da. But eventually Cassidy showed up with Jess in tow, and we met Clara, Marta, Ima, and eventually Tiffani and Angélica for churros at the famous churrería (the name of which I still do not know). Needless to say, it was a delicious experience. We sat there enjoying our churros for quite awhile, and I taught Tiffani, Cassidy, and Angélica how to play Garbage, one of my favorite card games.
Today, nothing new. I had an hour of class from 9-10 and have the rest of the day to do as I wish... I'm thinking a nice balance of napping and reading is in order.