Sights and tastes from around Madrid

After a lovely summer of vino-tinto, I've moved on to vino-blanco and sangria-- the chosen drinks in Spain.  These scrumptious grapes are from the winery we toured up in the north of Spain.

Another local favorite is chocolate con churros.  Aka, melted dark chocolate bars with hot greasy churros to dunk.  It's Trouble with a Capital-T, as noted by the aftermath of the food I'm eating. #StruggleBus.

I passed this cafe the other day on one of my walks around the city.  Seems like a great place to me! On a blackboard they suggest a book of the day accompanied by a drink to fit the mood.  Genius! (For you non-Spanish speakers: "Books and wine")

Alright, enough with food-- for now.  Madrid is full of intriguing architecture.  This building is suspended in mid-air by a few poles.  Hard to tell in this picture, but fascinating in real life. 

This church sits right above the Prado Museum.  Lovely to sit and look at while Spanish guitars are played gently in the background.

This casual tower/castle building is 2 blocks from my home-stay.  It's the government center of transportation.  Normally I'd think a transportation building wouldn't deserve this kind of beauty, but the metro system here is phenomenal; in this case, I might make an exception. 

 

My favorite park in the city is Parque Oeste (West Park).  It is almost completely deserted all the time and has a darling creek.  Plenty of grassy hills make for wonderful "log-rolling" and sunshine-siestas.

 

 

And finally, today we went on a biking tour of the river area.  Though a bit more history and a bit less biking than we originally anticipated, it was a lovely afternoon! Neat bridges, wonderful company, and fabulous weather. 

We passed this NBA set up, too. No Kyle Singler sightings yet, but I'm keeping a look-out.  Luckily, his height will help him stand out from the crowd when I do find him!

Host family

Without a doubt I have the most adorable host family in the world.  Every night before dinner my housemate and I sit at the kitchen table and read aloud to our Spanish parents.  They want us to improve our speaking abilities and accents and fully insist on us reading each and every night.  This week we are reading a children's mystery book... it's getting pretty intense, not going to lie!

Also, there is not one person in the Spanish speaking world who can understand/say my name (I was simply called "Oregon" by some friends in Argentina), my host family is no exception.  I loved the meal they left for me--"Delsy". *sigh*. 

Castles!

Alright, it's official: castles are cool! Last weekend, some friends and I ventured off to Segovia and Toledo, small ancient cities an hour-ish bus ride from Madrid.  (Those hour trips were most certainly nicer than our 10 hour Argentine bus rides!)  Although rather touristy, it was fun to wander through these ancient buildings filled with stunning stained glass, enormous murals, copious amounts of gold, and ancient battle uniforms.  The fortresses had large ditches for moats (although currently dry).  The sangria and tapas afterwards topped it off nicely!

This last one is of an ancient Roman aqueduct.  Pretty nifty!

It's a rough life...

I never though I would like eating octopus ("pulpo").  After a lovely week up in the northern Spain (Galicia) where I had pulpo at just about every meal, I can surely say I LOVE IT! This simple recipe involves just a touch of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Delish!

We were spoiled rotten on our program sponsored trip staying at arguably the finest parrador (5 star hotel) in Spain, just meters from the Cathedral where Jesus' apostle Santiago lies.  4 course meals twice a day ensured we could just roll from church to church.  We stayed in the town of Santiago de Compostela, a famous pilgrimage sight for those searching for a life-changing experience.  In fact, my buddy Ari Davis walked for two months this summer from the south of Spain culminating in Santiago de Comp. as his summer project.  While our group was not nearly as enthusiastic as Ari, we did enjoy a lovely 8km stroll on the road from France near the end, and celebrated that night as if we had completed the whole endeavor!

  

Here's one of our casual lunch spots; private beach in a gorgeous resort.  The salt level of the water was so high that we floated without even trying.  (1. With fellow CMC-er Jeff   3. My house-mate Becca)

We also scrambled all over ancient Celtic Castro ruins (from before and during the Roman invasion).  The circles of stone are the foundations of what used to be huts.  Naturally, my favorite part was scurrying up to the top of the giant rocks to enjoy the view!

My Spanish is coming along well and I started classes today, but more on that later!

And so it begins...

Well, I'm all settled in for the semester! Unfortunately I don't have too many pictures to share yet, but I'm headed to the beach for the week with my program and should definitely have some after that!

Emily and Chef Kevin (read: Harry & David mix) made me delicious birthday pancakes before we met up with the lovely Jessica Reid for lunch.  Later, I was able to celebrate with the Claremont kids before leaving!

Here is my room in Madrid.  I have the room to myself, but one of my good friends lives in the next room, which is great for chatting and planning during the siesta.  It's a really nice apartment in a safe neighborhood with easy access to the miraculously clean metro.  

On my way here I had a short layover in Frankfurt, Germany.  Thanks to some German roots somewhere down the line, all of the attendants spoke to me in German until they realized about ten words in that I didn't understand a thing they had said.  Nevertheless, this little American girl finally felt cool after spending several months trying to fit in despite everyone immediately correctly assuming that I was a foreigner.

Also, Gross-family Google+ "Hangouts" are the coolest.  Here's mom showing off her fresh produce straight from the garden!

Off to the beach! Haluego!

Sorry for the delay: updates from August!

Here’s a few to catch up:

A couple pictures from work this summer.  Homemade play dough, dancing raisins (Go put a handful of raisins in a bottle of clear soda right meow. Your mind will be blown), and Disney stories filled my final days of work.

Also, never underestimate the power of earning a sticker.  This little troublemaker was so proud!

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Plenty of CMC love in BsAs also made for a great final few days. Looking forward to my next encounter with Isabel in Southern France!

 

I also had fun dancing at a local ballroom club.  As the only foreigner, and the only person under 30, I was spoiled rotten!

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I was lucky enough to backpack through the Big Sur Silver Peak Wilderness for freshman orientation to top off my summer break. 

Dad and I went to cheer on Mom at her rowing rigotta.  Talk about role reversal! I dragged myself out of bed at 7 am on a sunny Saturday morning, drove out to the lake, sat in soccer-mom chairs reading the paper and sipping coffee while she warmed up, cheered her on in her 3 races (one second place and two first prizes!), and then met all of her friends at the team picnic afterwards.  A small taste of my parent’s weekend lives for the past quarter century.

Maria was able to join us for an evening float down the Raging Rogue River.

Who knew family video chats could be so fun!? This one stars Dante with guest appearances by Kevin and Maria to the Gross-gang minus Nate.

I had a lovely few days in Claremont with friends and decided to flee for Spain just as they began studying again! Perfect timing if I do say so myself! J

Next post: Madrid!  I also apologize in advance for the likely deterioration of my English skills over the next four months.  My study abroad program requires that I speak in Spanish 24/7 unless I’m chatting with my parents.