Monday, March 25, 2013

La Granja: Los jardines


The gardens behind the palace were gorgeous; I can only imagine how beautiful they must be in the summer, when everything is in bloom. 

Emily!


Jenna
Camera hack.



Samantha.
The labyrinth, which would have been much more difficult if you couldn't see through all the walls.



Sunday, March 24, 2013

This is making doing homework difficult


My host mom's son is visiting this week, and he brought his dog with him.  He left to run errands and left her here.  I took a homework break to pet her, and then tried to go back to homework.  She followed me and jumped up on my lap, and refused to move for an hour.  My host mom says it's because she thinks my computer is a tv, and she really likes television.  I'd prefer to think that it's because she likes me... Still, it's really hard to type with a dog on your lap.

It's all uphill...


This is my face right after I got home from a run this morning.  I've been trying to run consistently here.  Honestly, it isn't going too well.  Mostly I just run on the weekends.  I did a lot better during the first half of the semester, but now my motivation to get out of bed in the morning is waning.  

Segovia is the perfect place to go for a run.  They have all sorts of winding paths to choose from.  There's actually a marathon here that people from all over Spain come to run in.  There's only one problem: Segovia is built into hills.  This might be great for marathoners, but for amateur runners, it's not too fun.  The problem isn't just that the hills exist; my house is at the top of one of these hills. What this means is that no matter how I plan out my run, the last leg is all uphill.  So instead of pushing myself through the middle, I spend the whole run wondering if I'm going to make it up the last leg, trying to talk myself in to pushing through it.  Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't.  

Today I didn't.  I ran a route that (oops) is about 70% uphill.  When I haven't run in a week, that's a little rough.  I've never made it all the way through this route.  Maybe next weekend..

Saturday, March 23, 2013

La Granja


La Granja is a palace 15 minutes from Segovia.  It's interesting because it's one of the only palaces ever to face away from the street.  It was built to be a summer palace, to be somewhere to retire to.  Because of this the front of the building faces away from the street, towards an impressive expanse of garden and forest.  







The sun came out towards the end of our trip, which was a really nice change!


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

La Reina Sofia y El Prado

Joan Muró

On Sunday we took a class trip to La Reina Sofia and El Prado, two art museums in Madrid.  They were very different museums; La Reina Sofia is a modern art museum, while El Prado contains more classical pieces.  I really enjoyed both.  I like modern art, and it was neat to see so many big names in one place: we saw Picasso, Dali, and Muró all together.  We also got to see La Guernica, which was impresionante.  (I can't think of an english word that means what I want to say.  Hm.)

Photos weren't allowed in El Prado, which was a bummer.  However, since it has a lot more famous pieces, it should be relatively easy to find some of those online.  Individually I'm not much of a classical art fan, since it seems to be all dead people and landscapes, things that don't really draw a lot of emotional response   However, since I'm currently taking an art history class and we've been talking about El Greco, Velazquez  and Goya, it was really cool to be able to see those pieces in person.  When we were wandering the second floor it felt like we kept running in to old friends.  (Oh, hey, borachos! Sup, Meninas?)  Textbook pictures really don't do these giant paintings justice.  

Muró

Muró

Picasso

Josefa Tolra

Monday, March 18, 2013

Feminism!


While we were doing touristy things on Saturday we came across the remnants of a feminist rally in Trafalgar Square.  We talked to some of the women there, and it was pretty cool.  I really love how politically active residents of the EU seem to be.  There are rallies in Spain all the time; it was nice to not have to translate the messages for once!  

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Street Art

 Silence is the scream of the quiet


You are always good


I will fly without needing wings

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Papa


My host mom and I watched a segment on the new pope during dinner today.  For once, I actually understood the majority of what was said on the television!  That could be because my Spanish is getting better, or it could be due to the fact that for once I was actually paying attention...It's really very interesting to be in a Catholic country during this whole new pope thing.  In the segment we watched a woman who claims to have seen visions of Jesus in Amsterdam debated the role of women in the church with a nun from Cataluña; again, very, very interesting.  (Also, a winning comment on the new pope: he'll be a good pope because he has a very agreeable face.  That's what I usually look for in my new popes.)

Coming from somewhere in which opinions about the church come in the form of monthly magazines, or the weekly church bulletin, it's interesting to have this constant coverage of the pope.  If I were at home, I probably would have heard about it while at church, maybe discussed it a little at home, probably have seen a few bites on twitter.  Here, we've discussed it in every class, and there are constantly new segments on television about the pope.  The discussion is very public.  Everyone has an opinion on who should have been pope, and whether or not the new one will be good for the church or for society, and why.

Also, I just want to know: what is his name, actually?  My English news sources say Frances, but the Spanish news stations say Francisco.  He's Argentinian, so is he going by the Spanish version?  Which do they use in Italy?  Do pope names normally get translated?

London: Tourist destinations


During 10 days of spring break I hit 4 cities in the UK: Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen, and London.  By the time I got to London I was sick and tired of travelling.  I spent the first day and a half there curled up in my friend's dorm room, doing nothing more than eating, talking, and messing around on the internet.  I could be disappointed in myself for not taking advantage of that time to explore a new city.  I could.  But I won't.  I needed the time to relax, and I had a blast just spending time with my friend.  We spent most of Saturday doing touristy things, to make up for the rest of the week.  The truth is that it would take ages to see all that London has to offer.  I'm glad that we only spent one day touring; we could have worn ourselves out otherwise!  


We came out the tube station at Westminster, turned around and were greeted by this sight.  Hello, Big Ben!




House of Commons.  



The side of Westminster Abbey; there was a wedding going on in front, and I didn't want to be a creep and wander through that to take photos.  



Admiralty Arch



This is from the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square; the column is so tall that I couldn't fit it in my camera from where we were standing!



National Gallery


It's the BBC!  Most exciting accidental landmark.



Thursday, March 14, 2013

London: Buckingham Palace


For all of the giant and impressive buildings that we saw in London, I was a little surprised by how small Buckingham Palace is.  I'm not saying it's tiny, by any means; I'm sure it's grand on the inside  It just looks a little plain compared to the House of Lords and the Parliament building.  I'm sure that the grey skies and the lack of green on the trees didn't help much, either.  I'm sure it's a lot prettier in the summer!