¡Vamos a la Playa!

This weekend, my host family took me to a beach in the autonomous community of Valencia. The town we stayed in is called Benicarló, but we went to the beach in the neighboring town of Peñíscola. On this map (taken from Google Maps), Benicarló is the red pin. Zaragoza, my "home" city, is slightly up and to the left.

The beach was absolutely gorgeous. Before this weekend, I'd never swam in the Mediterranean. The sea was an incredible shade of blue, and I spent a ton of time swimming with my host family and their friends.

Also, Peñíscola is home to an amazing castle on a hill jutting out into the sea. It was built in between 1294 and 1307 by the Knights Templar, which was an extremely powerful and wealthy Christian military order during the Middle Ages. In 1402, it returned to the Crown of Aragón, and from 1415 to 1423 it was home to the Avignon pope Benedict XIII, also known as Pedro de la Luna.

In addition to the castle, the hill is full of white buildings and tiny streets. It seemed so quintessentially Mediterranean, and I am a sucker for the tiny allies in between buildings covered with ivy and tiny terraces. I walked up to the castle and around the city on Saturday night with my host family. Not only was the city super cool, it boasted incredible views of the sea.

 (Me, Carla, Natalia, and Natalia's friend Lydia)

Although I missed my American friends (and wifi), my Spanish improved a lot this weekend since I didn't speak English at all. It was fun to get to know my Spanish family's friends, even though we stayed out until 2:00 AM every night. I don't think I've ever been more tired! On Saturday night, the crew (19 people in total) went to a neighboring town called Vinaròs for dinner. There was a fair next to the beach, and it was super fun to see all the lights, watch all the people, and hear all the music. We ate tapas at the food tent, and it was surprisingly good!

Today (Sunday) we spend almost all day at the beach. For lunch we walked to a restaurant to eat paella, a traditional Spanish dish. Although it pretty much always has the same rice and spices, there are many, many different types of paella. We ate paella mista, which had both chicken and seafood.

We left the beach at around 6:30 in the evening. Natalia, Carla and I slept almost the whole way home! Although I had a great weekend at the beach, I'm really excited to get back to colegio and see all my friends.

La Aljafería

Today was a super busy day! In the morning we had culture class as usual, but afterwards my group went to visit La Aljafería. La Aljafería is a medieval Islam palace built in the 11th century. In the 700s, Arabs began their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain and Portugal. La Aljafería was home to Abu Jaffar Al-Muqtadir, who ruled the Islamic taifa in Zaragoza. A taifa is an independent Muslim-ruled principality in the Iberian Peninsula during this time period. Because of its Islamic history, La Aljafería is a perfect example of the Muslim influences in Spanish architecture.

In 1118, Alfonso I of Aragón recaptured Zaragoza, and the Christian kings and queens of Aragón took up residence in La Aljafería. In this period, La Aljafería became a great example of the mudejár style, or the style of art and architecture of the Muslims who stayed in Spain after the Christians reconquered the Iberian Peninsula. Queen Isabella I of Castille and King Ferdinand II of Aragón, the Queen and King who paid for Columbus's voyage to America, lived in La Aljafería as well.

I really loved seeing the mixed influences of Islam and Christianity in the architecture. It really demonstrated the progression of Spain's history. One detail I liked in particular was the beautiful ceiling designs. They're made of real gold!

After leaving La Aljafería, the crew bussed back to school, which is called "colegio", and everyone dispersed for siesta. I went home to eat with my host family. Their grandmother often comes over and makes lunch. She's really sweet! Then, back to colegio for afternoon classes. We did have to sit through a language/grammer/vocab class, but we were let out early due to the USA world cup game! My friends and I proceeded to find a tiny Tex-Mex restaurant to watch a little bit of the game. We also had an American flag while walking down the street, and although we got some funny looks it was fun to show our national pride for an hour before going back into the Spanish world. Plus, although the USA lost, they're moving on to the next round!

Although the majority of Spanish food is quite good, we were all pretty thankful for the French Fries! After this quick stop I went on a wild goose chase trying to figure out where and how to put more credit on my Spanish cell phone, and I didn't have any success until meeting up with my Spanish host sisters again. After accomplishing that, we walked home through the Plaza del Pilar and over the Punte de Piedra, which is a famous bridge right next to the Pilar.

After crossing the river, we continued to walk home through the neighborhood. It was pretty cool to think that I feel pretty at home both in the neighborhood around colegio and around my apartment. Then, dinner and hanging out with my host sisters until around midnight.

This weekend, I am going to the playa, or beach, with my host family. I don't believe I will have wifi, so no communication with my American friends in Zaragoza or family in the U.S., but I'm really excited to see the beaches and relax with my host family and their friends!

¡Hola desde Zaragoza!

With the help of my host sister, I finally figured out how to charge my computer! So, now I am presented with the task of trying to summarize my first five days in Zaragoza, Spain in one blog post.

After three long flights, two long layovers, and one long (and hot) bus ride, I finally found myself in Zaragoza, Spain. Although it was not a very efficient way to travel, I was really glad I took the group flight because I made a lot of friends. Here's a picture of the group flight members in the Boston Logan Airport before embarking on our adventure.

Once the autobús pulled into the Zaragoza bus station, we all had to say goodbye for the weekend and go off with our families. I was super nervous while waiting to meet my family, but as soon as I met them I knew they would be great. I mostly spent the first weekend at the pool with my host sisters Carla and Natalia. Carla is 16 and Natalia is 12. My host mom's name is Inma and my host dad's name is José Antonio. All four are super nice and very understanding when it comes to interacting with someone who is trying to learn their language. The first weekend I couldn't understand them very well, but now I can understand the majority of what they say! Its amazing how immensely complete immersion has helped my Spanish in such a short time. Here are some pictures of me with my host sisters Carla and Natalia.

Zaragoza is an amazing city. There are many Spanish tourists here, but little to no foreign tourists. I really like this, because I feel like I'm getting a very authentic Spanish experience. Although not a popular tourist destination, Zaragoza is home to many impressive cathedrals and beautiful streets. One of the most famous sights is the Basilica de Nuesta Señora del Pilar, which is very important to Spain's catholic history.

As I mentioned above, Zaragoza has some very pretty streets. My school is located in the Plaza Aragón, which is a bustling center of the city with beautiful old buildings towering above an open plaza. Although these pictures aren't of the Plaza Aragón, they are some of my favorite street pictures so far. The Pilar is in the background  of one too!

My first few days of class were super fun. It was really nice to be with my American friends again. Being with people who are in the same boat as me when doing something as amazing and difficult as studying abroad is really helpful. We have morning classes that start at 9:30, and a rest time in between our two morning classes. During this time, my friends and I like to walk around the neighborhood and pop into the various cafés, bakeries, and shops. After rest time, we have another class (or excursion), and then return home for siesta around 1:30. From 1:30 to about 4:00, we are at home eating and resting with our host families. Then, we have classes again from 4:00ish to 8:00ish. After that, home for dinner with host families.

We also go on lots and lots of excursions in order to learn about Spain and its history and culture in an interactive way. On Tuesday, we visited the ruins of a Roman theater. It was really cool to learn how far back the history of Zaragoza goes. After visiting the ruins we walked back to school through the city and, of course, made a pit stop at the American Store, which is basically just full of American junk food.

Yesterday, we had classes and lots of free time. In the afternoon we were given a piece of paper with nine questions, and told to go gather as many answers as we could from random strangers on the street! That was scary at first, but looking back it was pretty cool that I could walk up to a random Spanish person, ask them a question in Spanish, and understand their answer.

Today, we had morning classes and siesta as usual. I returned to school early to grab a small espresso called a cortada at a café across the street from school with a friend. Then, we went to the Parque de Atraciónes, or the amusement park! This trip was not so much about learning as it was about fun, and it was great to be able to just relax with my American friends (plus one Brit and two Spanish host brothers)! Here are some pictures from the Parque de Atraciónes.

Although I'm working very hard to improve my Spanish, I'm also having a ton of fun. I'm really starting to feel at home in Zaragoza. I can't believe my first week is almost coming to a close! Although it feels like I left Logan Airport a million years ago, I know the rest of the month will go very fast. The best is yet to come!