Felipe

Remember when I went to the castle in the town Xativa?  Well, with the pictures on Facebook, there was this photo of King Felipe V..upside down.  Today I learned the reason why the portrait isn't right side up.  King Carlos II, the king before Felipe, died in 1700 without an heir, ending the Spanish Hapsburg dynasty.  There was a great debate about who would rule the vest empire which encompassed Spain, half of Italy, Holland, South America, Central America, Mexico and the western and southern states of America.  The French and Austrians fought over the successor and in the end, French King Louie XIV won and his nephew Philip, or Felipe, took the thrown.  The people in Eastern Spain (Valencia, Barcelona...) opposed the new king and tried to fight it.  When the troops of Felipe V surrounded Xativa, the citizens ran into the local church, which the troops burned to the ground, people included.  From that point, Felipe V and his descendants have their portraits upside down in Xativa to show their dislike and disagreement of his dynasty.  The most recent kings, Juan Carlos I and his son have the honor of correctly orientated portraits.

I know that the weather at home is a bit chilly, but we have been in the high 60s, low 70s everyday.  On Tuesday, my anthropology class was outside.  So we wouldn't have to sit in the dirt, my classmate took a bench off its rails and put it on the ground.  It was so funny.  It was wonderful to be able to be out in the warm, fresh air.

One thing that interests me is how people my age interact with each other.  When you greet any person, no matter the gender, you kiss their cheeks.  For me, it is very personal.  This stranger is in my space and it makes me a little uncomfortable.  At home, half the time you don't even shake hands when you meet someone.  Here, it is also very common to hug and drape arms around someone of the opposite gender, whether you are good friends with them or mot.  It is interesting on how different Spanish and American cultures are about social interactions and what is socially acceptable.

Fun Facts:

The first Spanish Pope was born in Xativa.

In Spanish, there are two words for the word "you."  One is used for people you are familiar with and the other is more formal.

El Fin de Semana

My weekend, or "fin de semana," was fantastic.  It started Thursday night when Nancy, our roommate Matthias and I went to a bar with some of Matthias's German and Swiss friends from International House.  We had some great Sangria and met a girl from Switzerland that we would like to go out with again.

On Friday night, Nancy was off with some friends from the University so Matthias and I went down in the center to a small bar that had a jam session.  Matthias is a very talented piano player and musician so as we were watching the group, we were whispering little comments back and forth.  For one, the singer had no stage presence whatsoever.  The violin player was very good though.  What confused me at first was that he was playing notes that were too low for a violin.  I looked at his pegs and sure enough, he had five instead of four.  He had all the strings that a violin and viola have.

For the evening on Saturday, Nancy and I went over to our friends's apartment for a movie night.  They are both from Ireland.  The movie we watched was a horror/thriller called "You're Next."  It was about the slaughtering of a family when the four children and their significant others came home to celebrate their parents's anniversary.  The movie was more suspenseful than scary with an exciting plot twist that you didn't expect.  After, we met Matthias, the Swiss girl, a different girl from Germany and a guy from South Africa for some drinks in the city center.

My buddy Marta on the left, some girls from my class and I.

Today, we had an activity with the Buddy Program at the University.  About a quarter of my anthropology class was there since my teacher was running the activity.  We went to the Valencian History Museum which is in an old building that used to be part of the water system of the city.  So, the inside was a system of brick arches.  It was pretty cool.  After, we ate our lunches in the dry river bed.

Medieval Politics: A Sitcom.

The weeks keep getting better and better.  I am making more and more friends and everyday my Spanish improves a tiny bit.  I can understand my teachers more and I can form sentences without major mistakes.  Although some days I feel like I take one step forward and then take two steps backward with my Spanish, I know that overall I have improved so much and I have two months to make it better.

I am really enjoying my course on Spanish history, not because it is in English but because history really interests me.  Recently, we talked about King Fernando and Queen Isabel of Castile y Leon.  They were each rulers of the two Christian Kingdoms in what is now modern day Spain.  Their marriage unified the two kingdoms.  This is where it gets tricky though. They rule their respective kingdoms only.  Their children can rule both but if one dies before the other, they no longer have any input in the other kingdom.  When Isabel died, she named her daughter Joana the Mad (a story for another time) as her heir and made Fernando regent until Joana's son Carlos was old enough to take the throne.  However, Fernando wanted control over the kingdoms and he didn't want to have Joana on the throne because he didn't find her competent.  So he started to plot against her.  And get this, Joana's sister Catherine was the the first wife of Henry VII of England, the king who created his own church to divorce her and had a habit of beheading his other wives.  Joana's grandson Felipe II then marries Henry and Catherine's daughter, Bloody Mary.  European Politics: A Giant Sitcom.

Fun Facts:

Christopher Columbus was an Italian Explorer who was sent by Isabel and Fernando to the Americas.  He never discovered the mainland, just the islands of the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

Spanish has two words for the word "for."  They are "por" and "para."

Spaniard cannot pronounce certain sounds in English because they do not exist in Spanish.  Some of these letters are "j", "i", and "w".

Pobreza Cero

Last night it hit me that my stay in Valencia is half over.  As I walked through the streets, with all the lights shining, I thought, how did I get here?  Valencia is simply amazing.  It was scary at first and at times, I really wanted to come home.  But I am glad that I stepped onto the plane back in August.  This experience has been absolutely life changing.

Yesterday I went into the kitchen for lunch and discovered that Rosa, my house mom, had prepared a full course meal for us and her daughter's family.  We had lasagna, salad, ice cream and the egg desert flan.  It was absolutely wonderful.  After, we spent time with the grand kids, showed them the real version of the song "Let It Go" and helped Rosa's daughter with her English homework.

Last night, Nancy and I went down to the city center to do some Christmas shopping.  We were walking around when we came upon a crowd and some drumming noises.  It was an organized protest.  The cops were helping them and everything!  There was a percussion ensemble marching in front followed by people with signs that read "Pobreza Cero" or "Zero Poverty." It was just amazing to walk through the streets and then all of a sudden happen upon a protest.

Catalunya: A Political Debate

One of the major political issues in Spain is that of the province of Catalunya.  Catalunya is in Northern Spain, along the French border. Barcelona is the capital city and everyone in the province speaks Catalan.  There is a movement in Catalunya to become independent from Spain.  Half of the people want to be their own country and the other half wants to be part of Spain.

There are many reasons for this.  There are some theories that it is because Catalunya isn't happy with the Spanish government taking their tax money and putting it toward the poorer provinces. Also, most of the regular Spaniards look down on the Catalans as dirty or aren't really Spanish because they don't speak Spanish or have dangerous cities.  But these are all stereotypes that aren't true.  I have had two professors from Catalunya and they are great.  I have been to Barcelona and I didn't feel threatened.

Really this issue started back in the thirteenth century with King Jaime I.  When he wanted to take over the island of Mallorca, near the Eastern coast, he enlisted the help of the city of Barcelona.  After they took it from the Turks, the people of Barcelona settled on the island.  Soon after, they started to cheat the King out of the money from the harbor on the island.  From that point of Jaime segregated the area.  They had Jaime as a king but they were generally independent.

This whole political debate started 800 years ago.

Update on School:

I had a very good week.  On Tuesday I made a presentation about the Iroquois to my anthro class and they loved it.  My teacher even told me that I speak Spanish very well.  My classmates have also been more friendly with me.  I feel much more included.

Fun Fact:

Arizona's name comes from the words "arida zona" or arid zone because of the desert.

Barcelona

So after a mix up of trains on Saturday, Rayni, Nancy and I were off to Barcelona.  Barcelona is toward the north of Spain, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and is part of the province Catalunya.  It is the second biggest city in Spain and addition to speaking Spanish, they have a dialect called Catalan.  It is a mix between French and Spanish.  All of the signs in Barcelona are in Spanish and Catalan.  The train ride was beautiful.  It took us up through the hills and along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

After we arrived in the station and settled into our hostel, we went into downtown Barcelona.  There, we saw the outside of the Sagrada Familia, a large basilica designed by Antoni Gaudi, a famous Spanish architect known for his abstract designs and his use of mosaic tiles.  The outside was unlike any other basilica or cathedral that I had ever seen.  The outside was so abstract, even though it was under restoration.  However, we weren't able to go in on Saturday.

Following the Sagrada Familia, we went to the museum dedicated to Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist who helped to create cubism.  The museum was full of years worth of paintings and sculptures.  You aren't allowed to take any photos.  I made the mistake of pulling out my phone to write down a note for my blog and a security girl saw me.  She called something over the walkie talkie and I don't think that she knew that I knew Spanish.  I overheard about half of what she said and my suspicions about what she had said were  confirmed when Nancy and I were obviously being tailed by the security people.  Everywhere I went, I was being watched by security people.  And we made it obvious that we knew.  The one guard, not much older than us, knew that we knew and he just looked at us, smiled and laughed.  Leave it me to cause trouble in an art museum.  We did see some incredible art and did get in for free because we were students.

After the art museum, we went to the Plaza de Espanya to see a fountain show.  We walked around the plaza, which was on a hill.  At the top was what appeared to be a palace and then the fountain.  Going down the hill was a line of smaller fountains.  The show was pretty awesome.  The water looked like smoke and fire.  They lit it up in a variety of colors and varied the height and type of water jet.  It was amazing.  I didn't know it was possible to do something like that with a fountain.

Later, we met up with a friend in Rayni's from South Africa.  He studies at International House Valencia but before he had studied in Barcelona.  He had plans to meet up with some students and teachers from the International House there.  So we went with him and I saw another Flamenco show.  This one was pretty good but the one I saw in Valencia was better.  We ordered an array of tapas for the table.  I think I may have eaten squid.  The food and the sangria were really good, even though I didn't touch the mussels.

The following morning, we woke up and headed back into the city center for breakfast.  To my surprise, they were playing football highlights on the big TV screen.  And I don't mean "futbol" or soccer.  It was real American football.  I even got to see the bills playing in the Ralph.  It made me miss home so much and it was awesome to see a little bit of it.  After breakfast, we walked around the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona.  It is full of old beautiful buildings, some dating back to the Roman Empire.  We also walked down Las Ramblas, a famous touristy street.  I didn't see what the big deal about it is but it was nice to see.  On our walk through the Gothic Quarter, we saw two buildings built by Gaudi.  The one was supposed to model the bone structure of the human body.  Both buildings were beautiful.

After our walk, we finally saw the inside of the Sagrada Familia, the large basilica built by Gaudi.  It was unlike any church, basilica or cathedral I had ever been in.  There was stained glass everywhere, flooding the open worship space in red, blue, green, orange and yellow light.  The ceiling was all made of mosaic tile.  There were carvings of leaves in one entrance and another had the story of Jesus from the book of Matthew engraved on it.  There was also a wall full of different languages.  It was beautiful.

Next, we hiked up a hill for a good half hour to see Park Güell, a park completely dedicated to Antoni Gaudi.  It was nice to see and walk in.  He was an architectural genius.  His work is unlike anything  I have ever seen.  He constructed this giant platform that overlooks the city and it was absolutely beautiful.  As great as it was to go there, I was expecting a lot more.  There really wasn't much to do there.

Later, we met up with the guy from South Africa and he took us up this hill in the middle of the city.  From the top, you could turn 360 degrees and see the whole city.  We went at night and it was absolutely beautiful. You could see all of the twinkling lights and, in the distance, the Mediterranean.  While watching, a guy pulled out a guitar and started singing.  It made everything feel so surreal.  We then hiked own the hill and went to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.  I tried a traditional dish called "pho" which is a beef and noodle soup.  It was really good.

It was a wonderful trip and I highly recommend a visit to Barcelona, if you are ever in Spain.  However, I definitely prefer Valencia.  It is a much better place to learn Spanish since in Barcelona, most people use Catalan instead of Spanish. Also, Valencia is smaller and less touristy.  I am used to a smaller city so Valencia is perfect.  During these two days, I have missed my Spanish home.

Fun Facts:

"Nevar" means to snow in Spanish. Could Nevada, which has snow covered mountains, possibly named because of that? It did used to be under Spanish control.

We saw a tourist hater in a square.  He had a paper hat that said "go home." Funny thing was that he was speaking in heavily accented British accent.

Europe values education.  If you have a student card, you are given a discount.

The metro in Barcelona reminds of the New York City subway.  It is very old and sketchy at times.  Also, when two lines meet up, they aren't in one station.  You literally walk to that line's station but underground.

El Día de La Comunidad Valenciana

The family!

Last night, Nancy, my roommates and I went out with some of the students from one of Nancy's classes.  All of them are natives of Spain, which meant having many conversations in Spanish.  I am proud to say that I did really well.  I was even told by the one girl that I wasn't making any mistakes.  Granted, I had to ask people slow down and clearly I have an awkward American accent, but I was surprised by how well I did.  I was effectively able to communicate with people my own age.  It has made much more confident!

Today was the day of the Valencian community.  Today marks the day of when the Christian Kingdoms kicked the Moors out of Valencia... obviously centuries before.  Nancy and I went to the morning celebration which consisted of a larger firecracker display that shook our bodies and made us cover our ears.  I believe the loud booms were supposed to symbol the fighting that took place in Valencia.  We then walked around the city, where there were small stands full of scarves, jewelry, purses and other things.  We didn't see the parade, but chances are that I wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway.  The city was crawling with people.

Tomorrow, at 6:30 in the morning we are off to Barcelona, so keep your eyes out for photos and blog posts!

El Puente

Today was the tradition day of class.  We are learning medical terms in my Spanish grammar class and in my history class, we are talking about Christopher Columbus.  Did you know that Christopher Columbus had actually asked the King of Portugal before he asked the monarchs of Spain? When he landed in our hemisphere, he actually landed in the Bahamas.  We started a movie about him, too, even though it has some historical inaccuracies. And then I waited for my other class and SURPRISE! It was cancelled....somehow I always miss the memo.  Tonight, we were are going down to the mall for some free dinner.

This weekend is very special for Valencia.  First of all, it is a long weekend.  They use the word "puente" to describe it, which translates to "bridge."  Tomorrow marks the anniversary of when the Christian Kingdoms retook Valencia from the Moors.  There is supposed to be a large parade, representing the Christians chasing out the Moors.  Then on Saturday, we are off to Barcelona! I can't wait!

So, keep looking for some blog posts tomorrow and Monday! And, of course, pictures.

Horses and Homework

So last week I got a message from my host father about an event going on over the weekend in the dried up riverbed/park.  It was a horse event.  So I made Nancy walk about a half hour with me in the heat so I could go pet some ponies.  There wasn't much there but pony rides and a tiny Friesian show but I did look at the tack stall and I was able to pet a horse! And, on the way back, I was able to pet a very friendly stray pregnant cat.  It felt good to be able to pet some animals.  I really miss mine.

The last two days were filled with classes and my internship.  In my Spanish class we are studying comparisons.  In my society class we had a debate about if it was humane and relevant to still having the running of the bulls.  In my history course, we are continuing our talk about the Moors and watching the movie El Cid, one of the great warriors of the Christian Kingdoms.  The movie portrays him as an honorable man but in reality, he was a mercenary.  In my anthropology class today, we were watching a movie in Spanish.  So I asked if we could have Spanish subtitles.  Usually I am fine if I can read what I am listening to.  Well when the boy that was setting up the movie was doing it, he put on Spanish subtitles but then accidentally changed the sound to English!  He played it and everyone was like Oh Please No!  My teacher just looked at me and laughed.  The rest of my nights have been taken up with homework and my internship.

Xàtiva

Yesterday I went on a trip with the International House to a town outside of the city called Xàtiva.  The city is positioned on the side of the hill and at the top is a castle and its fort.  They were built in the 13th century.  The town speaks the dialect of Valenciano.  The town is older and has cobblestone streets.  It is the capital of its county.

Once we climbed the mountain and entered the castle, we watched a twenty minute movie of the castle and then we ate a small lunch.  After, we were free to roam the castle as much as we wanted.  It was amazing, we walked through the ruins, taking pictures and breathing in the fresh country air.  Every now and then there was a plaque saying what used to be there.  I walked into a room that used to be a jail and saw an outline that used to be the stable.  We saw old chapels and archer towers.  I climbed higher than Nancy and I am proud to say that after a lot of huffing and puffing, I made it to the tippy top.  I have never seen a man made thing that was that old before.  It was absolutely amazing.  I kept imagining how it might have once been with all of the knights and lords.  Those men must have been in great shape cause I could barely make it up the hill and they were wearing metal armor.

Fun Fact:

It is common to see rivers that are dried up.  They can remain dry for many years and then all of a sudden be full from a heavy rain.  The river in our city, that was redirected, is currently dry.  I heard one story of a village who's river was dry for ten years.  They began to plant gardens and then eight years later, a heavy rain came and filled the river back up.

El Hemisferic

I don't have classes on Friday so I decided to head down to the City of the Arts and Sciences.  There is a building there called the Hemisferic.  It´s the gray oval-like spherical one in my picture.  There, you can go and watch documentaries about different things.  They give you these weird things to put on your head that provides sound for the showing.  They then have you walk down this long corridor and then into the central sphere.  Inside, it is an advanced movie theater.  The seats practically go straight up a wall and are reclined.  The screen is huge.  It extends from the bottom of the theater to behind the last row of seats.  It also extends really far to either side. Basically you are laying down and watching life go on around you.  I saw one about space. The movie talked about how we look and discover things in space.  It talked about the new advances in telescopes and showed many beautiful pictures of space.  It was amazing.  It was like the stars were all around you.  I will definitely be going back before I leave Valencia.

A Day in the Life

Today I had my first fourteen hour day.  My first class began at 8:45, an forty-five minutes North of where I live, and my internship ended at 8:30 at night.  So if you add in all my travel times: 14 hours.

I have three classes on Thursdays.  The first is a Spanish grammar, culture and vocabulary course.  It is similar to the Spanish courses at home. The second is my Spanish History course, in English.  The third is an Anthropology course.  That one is in Spanish.   During my first class, we talked about a Spanish type of music: La Copla. This is a style of song which is usually sang by a woman and is very dramatic.  Very Whitney Houston like, but in Spanish.  You can view one of them at the bottom of the page.  Warning, this one is not like Whitney Houston. During my history course we talked about how the Muslims conquered Spain between the 700s and the 1400s.  After my history course I have a two and a half hour break in which I do my homework and mentally prepare myself for my Spanish course.

Today I actually understood generally what we were talking about in the class's discussion about the text.  Last week when we talked about the author, I learned that he was an honorary member of the Seneca tribe and studied the Iroquois at length.  So, guess who gets to do a presentation on the Iroquois? Yeah, this girl.

What is easier to learn: Spanish when you speak English or English when you speak Spanish?

After talking to many people about this, here is the general consensus:  

Learning Spanish grammar is harder than learning English grammar because the verb changes whenever there is a different subject and there are many irregulars.  Learning English pronunciation is more difficult than Spanish pronunciation.  In Spanish, the pronunciation is what you see on the page normally.  But in English, half of the words do not look like they are pronounced.  Like the word colonel or choir. 

Grammar Note: Also in Spanish, they do not have contractions or really use the apostrophe.  To say "It is Halle's phone" in Spanish, the dierct translation would be: It is the phone of Halle.

A little Spanish history:

See that sign? It is all over Valencia. Way back during the Middle Ages, Valencia was part of the Christian Kingdom named Aragon.  That was the symbol of the kingdom.

When the Muslims were in Spain, they documented and preserved all of the knowledge from the Roman Empire.  Later, when the Christians controlled Spain, they translated  all of the information over to Latin.  Without either of these groups, we would know barely anything about the Roman Empire.

Fun Facts:

Every time I go to the metro station, I think about when Aunt Susan told us not to stand really close to the edge because some homeless guy might push us in.

Cats really can climb trees. I watched one stick to the middle of a tree trunk today.  I thought it was a squirrel.