Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to do a short update on my school life here in Spain. School is definitely picking up speed now (I can't believe one quarter is already gone!), and the tests and quizzes are starting to pop up. So far none of the tests or quizzes have been bad at all really, with studying they all tend to go pretty well because the teachers go into depth on material and make sure you understand the topic before moving on. Also tomorrow we are going on a field trip to a castle in Huesca! This castle was featured in the movie Kingdom of Heaven which I haven't seen but now I'm interested to. I'll keep you posted with pictures and how that field trip goes soon.
Extracurriculars!! my extracurriculars all started to pull together today when I finally got information about the track team I want to join with my friend. If all goes well we will practice 2 times a week in the afternoon. Another extracurricular, which I've actually been doing for a while, is Joven Erasmus. I don't know if I have talked about it before, but it's a group that meets every Wednesday afternoon to discuss similarities and differences between Spain and the United States, for example the school systems or daily schedules. Next week I get to do a presentation with my partner over racism in Spain and United States. In the group, the Americans speak only spanish and the Spaniards speak only english. It'd be strange to anyone else who walked into the room, but now it's really normal for us. Finally my other extracurricular, which I just found out about today, is t-oigo! It's a program where I get matched with a family with hearing impaired children, and I meet with them once a week to play and to teach english to the kids. I'm super excited to start this program! I got paired with two little boys with implants and I can't wait to meet them.
Life here has finally shifted from the idle beginning stages to the busy days of activities and projects, and I'm very excited to see what the next month has for me!
Besos,
Lauren Archer
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Pilares in a Nutshell
As many Spaniards and SYA students know this past fall break, around the first week of October, was the Fiestas del Pilar. Pilar is the patron saint of Zaragoza. The history behind this religious holiday is that one of the original Twelve Apostles came to Zaragoza to convert people to Christianity. When only a few people converted he went down to the river, Ebro, and prayed for help. Mary appeared to him on top of a pillar assuring him that more people will be converted. He then built a chapel where she appeared in front of him on the pillar (where Basilica of Our Lady Pilar is).
Since Pilar is the patron saint we have a week of religious ceremonies and traditions accompanied by fiestas. On the traditional side of the festivities I got to experience the Pregón, Ofrenda de Flores, Rosario de Cristal, and las Vaquillas. The Pregon was the commencement speech to begin Pilares. Everyone gathered in the Plaza del Pilar, listened to the speech, and sang a song called "Canto a la Libertad". I'll put a link to a youtube recording of it at the end of this post. During this song everyone in the crowd was singing along with the lyrics on the big screens on the concert stage they had set up. It was so invigorating to be swaying with the crowd and chanting the song along with them (mostly because the lyrics let us sing along). The Ofrenda de Flores is a giant offering monument in the Plaza del Pilar for the patron saint. It's an all day long process where people dress in traditional clothing with bouquets of many types of flowers. By the end of the day it creates an amazing masterpiece of art which lasts for a surprisingly long amount of time. The next tradition that occurs during the majority of mornings during Pilares is las Vaquillas. Las vaquillas are probably a toned down version of the bull fights. Yes, there is still a bull and yes, there still are people running like crazy around the ring. The difference is that the horns of the bull are not pointy for (pardon the graphics) goring, instead they are blunt, and the bull does not die. The bulls run around in an amphitheater ring full of people with a semi stage center for the runners to take refuge on. The runners try to provoke the bull into chasing them and their goal is to dodge/escape from the bull. For those that couldn't make it to the Vaquillas they had them running on a TV channel. When I watched a bull jumped straight over the outside ring! On the last day of Pilares there is the Rosario de Cristal which is like a parade of stained glass sculptures of saints and the monument for Pilar. It's really interesting to go down and see the beautiful stained glass creations which my host mom said would later be in a museum
Now on the less traditional side of things. Pilar ranged from street performers and small bands to major concerts. Where ever you went there was always something to be seen or done. Also down Independencia, a large street next to my school that leads toward Pilar, there were so many stands of trinkets, knick knacks, jewelry, art, and food. I can't even explain how good the food was! It was an array of meats, sandwiches, candy, and my personal favorite waffles. The food stands were probably my favorite part because my friends and I could just walk down Independencia, get some great food, and watch the street performers. Since most of the concerts began later once we were done at Independencia we could go to various concert cites all in walking distance or a tranvia ride away. I went to see a couple reggae concerts and on the final day a dubstep concert in the Plaza del Pilar. Every concert I went to was full of people all cheering and having a great time. Oddly enough the ages ranged from really young to really old when It came to Pilares which I wasn't expecting.
Overall I'd say my experience during this festival was amazing. I got to sleep in each day and stay out late having fun with my friends listening to spanish music and eating spanish food in a celebratory atmosphere. I think everyone should experience Pilares at least once in their lifetime.
Sorry this post is so late! I was swamped with a week of test recently and I needed to focus on that.
Also here is the link to Canto a la Libertad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTykbu6dXhg
Besos,
Lauren Archer
Since Pilar is the patron saint we have a week of religious ceremonies and traditions accompanied by fiestas. On the traditional side of the festivities I got to experience the Pregón, Ofrenda de Flores, Rosario de Cristal, and las Vaquillas. The Pregon was the commencement speech to begin Pilares. Everyone gathered in the Plaza del Pilar, listened to the speech, and sang a song called "Canto a la Libertad". I'll put a link to a youtube recording of it at the end of this post. During this song everyone in the crowd was singing along with the lyrics on the big screens on the concert stage they had set up. It was so invigorating to be swaying with the crowd and chanting the song along with them (mostly because the lyrics let us sing along). The Ofrenda de Flores is a giant offering monument in the Plaza del Pilar for the patron saint. It's an all day long process where people dress in traditional clothing with bouquets of many types of flowers. By the end of the day it creates an amazing masterpiece of art which lasts for a surprisingly long amount of time. The next tradition that occurs during the majority of mornings during Pilares is las Vaquillas. Las vaquillas are probably a toned down version of the bull fights. Yes, there is still a bull and yes, there still are people running like crazy around the ring. The difference is that the horns of the bull are not pointy for (pardon the graphics) goring, instead they are blunt, and the bull does not die. The bulls run around in an amphitheater ring full of people with a semi stage center for the runners to take refuge on. The runners try to provoke the bull into chasing them and their goal is to dodge/escape from the bull. For those that couldn't make it to the Vaquillas they had them running on a TV channel. When I watched a bull jumped straight over the outside ring! On the last day of Pilares there is the Rosario de Cristal which is like a parade of stained glass sculptures of saints and the monument for Pilar. It's really interesting to go down and see the beautiful stained glass creations which my host mom said would later be in a museum
Now on the less traditional side of things. Pilar ranged from street performers and small bands to major concerts. Where ever you went there was always something to be seen or done. Also down Independencia, a large street next to my school that leads toward Pilar, there were so many stands of trinkets, knick knacks, jewelry, art, and food. I can't even explain how good the food was! It was an array of meats, sandwiches, candy, and my personal favorite waffles. The food stands were probably my favorite part because my friends and I could just walk down Independencia, get some great food, and watch the street performers. Since most of the concerts began later once we were done at Independencia we could go to various concert cites all in walking distance or a tranvia ride away. I went to see a couple reggae concerts and on the final day a dubstep concert in the Plaza del Pilar. Every concert I went to was full of people all cheering and having a great time. Oddly enough the ages ranged from really young to really old when It came to Pilares which I wasn't expecting.
Overall I'd say my experience during this festival was amazing. I got to sleep in each day and stay out late having fun with my friends listening to spanish music and eating spanish food in a celebratory atmosphere. I think everyone should experience Pilares at least once in their lifetime.
Sorry this post is so late! I was swamped with a week of test recently and I needed to focus on that.
Also here is the link to Canto a la Libertad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTykbu6dXhg
Besos,
Lauren Archer
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Pixar and Mummies?
Hello Everyone!
Today's post is about my after school "mini viaje" for my class, Spanish Mediterranean Art (Med Art). For our "mini viaje" we went to an exposition center down the road from school that had 2 exhibits showing, Pixar and Mummies.
In Med Art we have been learning about the different styles of arte antiguo or arte de la prehistoria(ancient/prehistoric art). So far in class we have learned about 3 different style of art: Arte Egipcio, Arte Griego, and Arte Romano (egyptian, greek, and roman). It's just our luck that there happened to be a Momia (mummy) exhibit, and to make our luck even better the Pixar exhibit was there at the same time.
After school this week we walked to the exhibition hall and gathered with the Contemporary Arts class too to view the exhibits. We started off with the mummy exhibit which included tablets, miniature sculptures, busts, larger sculptures, jewelry, parchments, and of course mummies. Now when I say mummies I don't mean the kind where you can see their skin shriveled up, but the kind where they are wrapped up like a human cocoon. We had a guide to help us further understand the exhibit beyond what the small descriptions said next to each item. He helped explain the process of how to get the brain out of a dead body (don't worry I definitely won't go into detail about that) and how they kept certain vital organs in jars. The most interesting part about the mummy exhibit, to me at least, was the mummified cats. I had no idea that ancient Egyptians had even attempted mummification on anything else besides a human.
After seeing the mummy exhibit we finally got to go to the Pixar exhibit (saved the best for last!). The exhibit was amazing! I'm a really big Pixar fan, so it definitely caught my interest. Inside there were videos about the animations, the timeline of Pixar, sketches of the characters and their movements/facial expressions. They also had mini clay like sculptures of the characters from Finding Nemo, Up, Wall-e, Monsters Inc., Bugs life, Cars, and Toy Story. My favorite part about this exhibit was it also showed the many different drawings they had for each character; for instance, the character Boo in Monsters Inc. went through at least 4 different sketches before they got the final draft. There was also a really interesting part of the exhibit where there was a spinning wheel of statues of Toy Story characters in different positions. At first it just looks like a bunch of spinning statues, but then the lights go off and a strobe light starts making the statues come to life, dancing and jumping around on the wheel.
If anyone who is reading this is coming to Zaragoza anytime soon I definitely recommend this exhibit. I'm probably going to take my family to go see the Pixar exhibit in the winter when they visit me because the exhibit is here until beginning January.
I tried to take photos during this trip to use on my blog, but the security guard asked me to delete them :(.
Besos!
Lauren Archer
Today's post is about my after school "mini viaje" for my class, Spanish Mediterranean Art (Med Art). For our "mini viaje" we went to an exposition center down the road from school that had 2 exhibits showing, Pixar and Mummies.
In Med Art we have been learning about the different styles of arte antiguo or arte de la prehistoria(ancient/prehistoric art). So far in class we have learned about 3 different style of art: Arte Egipcio, Arte Griego, and Arte Romano (egyptian, greek, and roman). It's just our luck that there happened to be a Momia (mummy) exhibit, and to make our luck even better the Pixar exhibit was there at the same time.
After school this week we walked to the exhibition hall and gathered with the Contemporary Arts class too to view the exhibits. We started off with the mummy exhibit which included tablets, miniature sculptures, busts, larger sculptures, jewelry, parchments, and of course mummies. Now when I say mummies I don't mean the kind where you can see their skin shriveled up, but the kind where they are wrapped up like a human cocoon. We had a guide to help us further understand the exhibit beyond what the small descriptions said next to each item. He helped explain the process of how to get the brain out of a dead body (don't worry I definitely won't go into detail about that) and how they kept certain vital organs in jars. The most interesting part about the mummy exhibit, to me at least, was the mummified cats. I had no idea that ancient Egyptians had even attempted mummification on anything else besides a human.
After seeing the mummy exhibit we finally got to go to the Pixar exhibit (saved the best for last!). The exhibit was amazing! I'm a really big Pixar fan, so it definitely caught my interest. Inside there were videos about the animations, the timeline of Pixar, sketches of the characters and their movements/facial expressions. They also had mini clay like sculptures of the characters from Finding Nemo, Up, Wall-e, Monsters Inc., Bugs life, Cars, and Toy Story. My favorite part about this exhibit was it also showed the many different drawings they had for each character; for instance, the character Boo in Monsters Inc. went through at least 4 different sketches before they got the final draft. There was also a really interesting part of the exhibit where there was a spinning wheel of statues of Toy Story characters in different positions. At first it just looks like a bunch of spinning statues, but then the lights go off and a strobe light starts making the statues come to life, dancing and jumping around on the wheel.
If anyone who is reading this is coming to Zaragoza anytime soon I definitely recommend this exhibit. I'm probably going to take my family to go see the Pixar exhibit in the winter when they visit me because the exhibit is here until beginning January.
I tried to take photos during this trip to use on my blog, but the security guard asked me to delete them :(.
Besos!
Lauren Archer
Monday, October 13, 2014
1 month-iversary
WOW. One month (and some change). I can definitely say that went by really fast, but no worries I have 8 more months ahead of me! Ok so here's what I've learned/missed and what I'm looking forward to.
Learned: the daily schedule is soooooo different here. I'm in a small youth exchange group called Joven Erasmus where we meet with Spanish kids our age every Wednesday and talk. When I was talking with the spanish students at our most recent meeting they said that on an average weekend most people stay out till around 2 to 4am (give or take a couple hours). I can say now after a week of fiestas that it is 100% true. Sadly during the fiestas we had a curfew of 12:30am and most (good) concerts began at 10 or 11pm near la Plaza de Pilar, so our night lives were short lived. Also another difference is the eating schedule is very different here. Lunch begins at around 2 or 3pm and dinner begins at 8 or 9pm. That's probably the biggest adjustment I have made. The dinners and lunches are always at the table and they last about an hour or so because, for my family at least, it's a time to catch up and talk about your day or your plans. My school schedule is different too. We begin at 8:30am and end at 4:30 pm. At my school in Georgia we had a rotating schedule, but here I have the same order of classes every day of the week. Also I walk from my apartment to the bus stop where I take the bus to school (which I have never done before). I pretty much use buses to get every where now. Another thing different here is the paper. In the US the paper has three holes but here it has 4 smaller holes and the paper is skinnier and taller. Another thing I've noticed is that people dress differently than they do in the US (or at least in Georgia). I almost never see people in t-shirts and shorts walking down the street or to the store, they only wear that if they are working out. It makes everyone here seem always on point with their outfits. For now that's all I can think of that I've learned most recently, but I'll keep y'all posted :)
Things I miss: I would break my own leg for chicken minis right now. Ok, maybe I wouldn't break my own leg, but you get the point. I mostly miss (besides my family and friends) the food. The only slightly american food I've had in awhile was a hamburger. I miss the sweet tea, smoothies, chicken biscuits, fried chicken, anything from paneras, and oddly enough salads. I cannot explain how much I do not miss olive oil or salt though. I do miss my dogs a lot. I'm lucky enough that I have a dog here named Quena (who I spoil rotten), but it really has made me appreciate my dogs. I also miss the freedom to drive places. Here I take the bus/tram and walk everywhere. I miss getting in my car and being able to play my own music with all the windows down. I also miss sleep overs haha. I don't really have them here because they're very complicated in the sense that we have to get permission from both host families, our director, and have a schedule of how it's going down 24 hours in advance. I miss american TV shows too. I'll admit I do enjoy the many dramatic TV shows I've watched here like Aguila Roja or Hermanos, but I miss understanding 100% of what everyone is saying haha.
Things I'm looking forward to: What's not to look forward to is the real question. I'm super pumped for when we are allowed to independent travel around Spain because I really want to see places like Andalucia, Galicias, Islas Baleares, and Valencia. Also I am really looking forward to the day I have a spanish dream because I feel like that will be so cool to wake up from. Of course I'm looking forward to the next festivals and holidays in Zaragoza, but most importantly I can't wait to see my family in the winter!
that's all for my month update :)
Besos,
Lauren Archer
P.S the food is amazing and impossible to describe!
Learned: the daily schedule is soooooo different here. I'm in a small youth exchange group called Joven Erasmus where we meet with Spanish kids our age every Wednesday and talk. When I was talking with the spanish students at our most recent meeting they said that on an average weekend most people stay out till around 2 to 4am (give or take a couple hours). I can say now after a week of fiestas that it is 100% true. Sadly during the fiestas we had a curfew of 12:30am and most (good) concerts began at 10 or 11pm near la Plaza de Pilar, so our night lives were short lived. Also another difference is the eating schedule is very different here. Lunch begins at around 2 or 3pm and dinner begins at 8 or 9pm. That's probably the biggest adjustment I have made. The dinners and lunches are always at the table and they last about an hour or so because, for my family at least, it's a time to catch up and talk about your day or your plans. My school schedule is different too. We begin at 8:30am and end at 4:30 pm. At my school in Georgia we had a rotating schedule, but here I have the same order of classes every day of the week. Also I walk from my apartment to the bus stop where I take the bus to school (which I have never done before). I pretty much use buses to get every where now. Another thing different here is the paper. In the US the paper has three holes but here it has 4 smaller holes and the paper is skinnier and taller. Another thing I've noticed is that people dress differently than they do in the US (or at least in Georgia). I almost never see people in t-shirts and shorts walking down the street or to the store, they only wear that if they are working out. It makes everyone here seem always on point with their outfits. For now that's all I can think of that I've learned most recently, but I'll keep y'all posted :)
Things I miss: I would break my own leg for chicken minis right now. Ok, maybe I wouldn't break my own leg, but you get the point. I mostly miss (besides my family and friends) the food. The only slightly american food I've had in awhile was a hamburger. I miss the sweet tea, smoothies, chicken biscuits, fried chicken, anything from paneras, and oddly enough salads. I cannot explain how much I do not miss olive oil or salt though. I do miss my dogs a lot. I'm lucky enough that I have a dog here named Quena (who I spoil rotten), but it really has made me appreciate my dogs. I also miss the freedom to drive places. Here I take the bus/tram and walk everywhere. I miss getting in my car and being able to play my own music with all the windows down. I also miss sleep overs haha. I don't really have them here because they're very complicated in the sense that we have to get permission from both host families, our director, and have a schedule of how it's going down 24 hours in advance. I miss american TV shows too. I'll admit I do enjoy the many dramatic TV shows I've watched here like Aguila Roja or Hermanos, but I miss understanding 100% of what everyone is saying haha.
Things I'm looking forward to: What's not to look forward to is the real question. I'm super pumped for when we are allowed to independent travel around Spain because I really want to see places like Andalucia, Galicias, Islas Baleares, and Valencia. Also I am really looking forward to the day I have a spanish dream because I feel like that will be so cool to wake up from. Of course I'm looking forward to the next festivals and holidays in Zaragoza, but most importantly I can't wait to see my family in the winter!
that's all for my month update :)
Besos,
Lauren Archer
P.S the food is amazing and impossible to describe!
Mallos de Riglos
So instead of doing a post in English I'm going to try this one in Spanish. Keep in mind my Spanish is by no mean perfect, so there will be errors :) (and of course I'll add photos at the end)
Hola hola
caracola! Esto es mi resumen de la excursión en los Mallos y Riglos. Los Mallos
crearon muchos años pasados. Durante los años los Pirineos crearon. Cuando llovió los sedimentos
bajaron de los Pirineos. Eso generó erosión. Los Mallos forman porque estos sedimentos
acumularon encima de otros cuando el río Ebro iba al Océano Atlántico. Los Mallos son únicos de las
otras montañas porque formaron diferentes formas. Nosotros fuimos a los Mallos de
Riglos el miércoles pasado. Es una excursión de los grupos de tutores, nuestros
grupos son Tomás (el mejor grupo porque es mío), Sole, Marta, y Ariel. Primero nosotros
visitamos un centro de aves debajo de los Mallos de Riglos. Allí aprendimos
sobre Buitre Leonado y Quebrantahuesos. Estas aves viven en los Mallos de
Riglos. Buitre Leonado comen la carne y órganos internos de animales que están muertos.
Quebrantahuesos comen las médulas óseas en los huesos por dejar caer en el
cielo. Los dos son un equipo porque cuando el Buitre Leonado come la carne y
los órganos internos dejan los huesos. Entonces el Quebrantahuesos toma los
huesos y comen las médulas óseas. En el edificio había cameras que miran las aves en los
Mallos y Riglos en sus casas. Después de eso nosotros subimos a los Mallos y Riglos.
El camino era difícil porque todo era inclinado y no era una línea derecho. Durante el camino vimos
los quebrantahuesos y buitres leonados en el cielo. Cuando llegamos al pico de
los Mallos de Riglos había un campo donde almorzamos. Estábamos muy
cansados y nuestras piernas estaban temblando pero estábamos muy emocionados
porque llegamos al pico. También exploramos el pico de los Mallos y Riglos
durante el descanso y escalamos piedras y colinas cerca del campo. Cuando
estábamos allí conocimos otras personas que escalan los Mallos de Riglos también y tenían perros con
ellos. También sacamos muchas fotos del paisaje. Después del descanso nosotros
bajamos del pico. Durante el camino bajo podemos ver desde los acantilados.
También durante todo del camino estábamos cantando canciones juntas. Había el Río Guru que era
muy claro. Cuando terminamos el camino nosotros compramos helados que eran muy
deliciosos. Finalmente volvimos a nuestras casas y todos de nosotros eran muy
cansados pero felices. J
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Piragüismo
Before I start this post let me just say I'm writing this the day after because my arms were like wet noodles and I could barely keep my eyes open past 10pm.
As some of you may know I'm enrolled in Environmental Science as a course this year (we call it Ciencias Ambientales). Every Friday we have the 2 last periods of the day to do excursions or labs for the class, and it being the first Friday of the year of course something amazing was planned.
Our plan for the day was to go kayaking down the river (piragüismo). We rode two person kayaks that you sat on down on top of instead of inside. Cooper was my partner for the whole kayaking experience, and also my personal radio because he would sing to me, and the whole group, a wide variety of songs from Frozen to Nicki Minaj. Within the first 10 minutes of the trip we were all soaked from splashing each other with our paddles which is no surprise because who doesn't love splashing around, but later on it became more relaxing as we looked at the beautiful scenery around us. We took a 20 min break in the middle of the trip and stopped on a shore to talk about the river. All of us were thinking, "man this river looks beyond dirty", but during our break we talked about the river and the fact that the reason it is a weird brown color is actually because of the sediment in river. We also talked about structural issues with some areas of the city with rain water pipes and faulty flood structures, but I won't go too much into that because I'm clearly not an expert... yet.
As we kept paddling we saw the empty Zaragoza water tower, which looks like a really nice office building to me, and we paddled by Pilar, both of which were so beautiful. In the last few minutes of our trip the sun started to set and created all these amazing colors in the sky around Pilar (because our trip was about 5 hours or so). I can definitely say now that Envi. Sci. is my favorite class so far :).
Also on a side note this morning when I was talking with my host mom about how my arms were sore she told me that honey helped with that (which I didn't know) and so she put some honey in some warm milk for me, which I have to admit I was skeptical about, but it was so delicious!! The best way I can describe the taste is by imagining the sweetness of chocolate milk but more of a vanilla honey flavor. If you're feeling adventurous I highly suggest trying it.
Hasta Luego!
Lauren
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As some of you may know I'm enrolled in Environmental Science as a course this year (we call it Ciencias Ambientales). Every Friday we have the 2 last periods of the day to do excursions or labs for the class, and it being the first Friday of the year of course something amazing was planned.
Our plan for the day was to go kayaking down the river (piragüismo). We rode two person kayaks that you sat on down on top of instead of inside. Cooper was my partner for the whole kayaking experience, and also my personal radio because he would sing to me, and the whole group, a wide variety of songs from Frozen to Nicki Minaj. Within the first 10 minutes of the trip we were all soaked from splashing each other with our paddles which is no surprise because who doesn't love splashing around, but later on it became more relaxing as we looked at the beautiful scenery around us. We took a 20 min break in the middle of the trip and stopped on a shore to talk about the river. All of us were thinking, "man this river looks beyond dirty", but during our break we talked about the river and the fact that the reason it is a weird brown color is actually because of the sediment in river. We also talked about structural issues with some areas of the city with rain water pipes and faulty flood structures, but I won't go too much into that because I'm clearly not an expert... yet.
As we kept paddling we saw the empty Zaragoza water tower, which looks like a really nice office building to me, and we paddled by Pilar, both of which were so beautiful. In the last few minutes of our trip the sun started to set and created all these amazing colors in the sky around Pilar (because our trip was about 5 hours or so). I can definitely say now that Envi. Sci. is my favorite class so far :).
Also on a side note this morning when I was talking with my host mom about how my arms were sore she told me that honey helped with that (which I didn't know) and so she put some honey in some warm milk for me, which I have to admit I was skeptical about, but it was so delicious!! The best way I can describe the taste is by imagining the sweetness of chocolate milk but more of a vanilla honey flavor. If you're feeling adventurous I highly suggest trying it.
Hasta Luego!
Lauren
Friday, September 12, 2014
Alquezar y Huesca
Finally!!! Orientation finished and so the past Thursday and Friday the whole SYA class went to Alquezar! Alquezar is a small pueblo in the mountains about an hour or two away from Zaragoza. We traveled in a double decker bus where we sang songs, slept, and chat with our friends (mostly in english sorry Profe! we will get better i promise). The buildings in the town were all very similar in architecture and antique making the setting very cohesive, and not to mention beautiful!
During our drive up there we took a mini excursion to some caves in the mountains! we hiked along trails for awhile and eventually came upon some very steep sets of metal stairs leading down to two different caves. We split up into groups, so the caves wouldn't be so crowded, and talked about the cave paintings on the walls. Our teacher, Nacho (short for Ignacio), taught us how cave men painted and how we could try to understand what they were drawing. They drew things like deer, men, women, and fire. When we weren't learning about cave paintings we got to look at the beautiful, and also frighteningly high caverns! I couldn't believe how high up we were; if someone were at the bottom they would probably look like an ant.
When we arrived we had lunch in the restaurant under our albergue, which is a hostel, and the food was really good. After lunch as we were unpacking our backs something very strange happened; IT STARTED HAILING! All of us were very shocked, especially my friend from Hawaii who had never seen hail before. Needless to say the hail caused us to stay in our rooms longer than we had planned, but that gave us all time to chat with each other, laughing and having fun.
Once the hail had disappeared we all emerged from our hostel to go see Alquezar. We visisted the Catedral on top of the hill of Alquezar. We learned that it was built at the highest point as a place of defense against military attacks. Personally I thought the Catedral was on the highest point because it had the best view. While seeing the intricate pedestals and monumental sculptures, we also got to see the inner greenery and buena vista of Alquezar! My favorite part though was when we got free time afterwards to explore the town before dinner. My group of friends and I walked around the town and found a woman with a new black puppy that was too cute!
That night when we were all going to bed my room began talking about our home towns and things that they had in common like good or bad sports teams and school rivalries. It eventually spun into conversations about our favorite actors, movies, books, and the fact that not many people want to be part of Huffle Puff in Hogwarts. At some points we were laughing so hard that the teachers next door had to knock on the wall to tell us to quite down!
The next day we woke up bright and early to a buffet style breakfast of cereal, toast, chocolate croissants, and all sorts of delicacies. I especially liked the chocolate croissants and filled up on those. Soon after we headed out to another mountain trail to see a water fall. The hike so far was my favorite because it was the perfect temperature and weather for a hike, not to mention the trail was really fun. there were rocky up hills, and down hills on the trail, but the most exciting was the metal walkway attached to the face of the giant rock wall. It was a grated walkway so we could see the water flowing beneath us, and boy was it going fast! We were going to play in the water for a little bit, but because of the rain and hail the water had risen and become quite precarious.
On a major bright side though it gave us time to explore the town again letting us go to shops and cafes to enjoy some snacks or drinks. My friend Jada and I wandered around aimlessly talking, until we found a jewelry stand near one of the restaurants. The lady there was selling braided necklaces with some sort of tusk (not real) on the end. Jada and I got matching necklaces with different colors and chat with the lady. She said our Spanish was really good (probably the biggest compliment we could receive), but also that we could work on our accent. She assured us though that it wasn't that hard because she was from Romania and had learned Spanish and also German too. Jada knew some German and said a few words to the lady, but I sadly do not know German or what they said. It was nice to have a semi-long conversation with a local though!
We left Alquezar and began our journey home, but the adventures were not done yet. For lunch we stopped for a couple hours in the town known as Huesca (where my host mom was born I found our). We were given the challenge to take a selfie with each of the sites the profes had circled on our printed out maps. Jada and I took this challenge with energy and planned a strategic way to see all the sites and the town in one whole walk. This really tested our sense of direction, because on the map the street names were so small and in Spain the street signs are tiled to the walls, so they can be hard to find at times. We were successful in our challenge though taking a selfie with the Parque, Casino, Catedral, Ayuntamiento, and Museo, not to mention the fantastic ice cream and bocadillos we found along the way. We finally made it to the bus with a few minutes to spare, full and worn out. When we finally arrived back in Zaragoza all of us wanted to just relax and take a siesta.
In other words you can get a lot done in two days with SYA, a mental note for when we all start planning for independent travel after winter break.
Besos
Lauren
During our drive up there we took a mini excursion to some caves in the mountains! we hiked along trails for awhile and eventually came upon some very steep sets of metal stairs leading down to two different caves. We split up into groups, so the caves wouldn't be so crowded, and talked about the cave paintings on the walls. Our teacher, Nacho (short for Ignacio), taught us how cave men painted and how we could try to understand what they were drawing. They drew things like deer, men, women, and fire. When we weren't learning about cave paintings we got to look at the beautiful, and also frighteningly high caverns! I couldn't believe how high up we were; if someone were at the bottom they would probably look like an ant.
When we arrived we had lunch in the restaurant under our albergue, which is a hostel, and the food was really good. After lunch as we were unpacking our backs something very strange happened; IT STARTED HAILING! All of us were very shocked, especially my friend from Hawaii who had never seen hail before. Needless to say the hail caused us to stay in our rooms longer than we had planned, but that gave us all time to chat with each other, laughing and having fun.
Once the hail had disappeared we all emerged from our hostel to go see Alquezar. We visisted the Catedral on top of the hill of Alquezar. We learned that it was built at the highest point as a place of defense against military attacks. Personally I thought the Catedral was on the highest point because it had the best view. While seeing the intricate pedestals and monumental sculptures, we also got to see the inner greenery and buena vista of Alquezar! My favorite part though was when we got free time afterwards to explore the town before dinner. My group of friends and I walked around the town and found a woman with a new black puppy that was too cute!
That night when we were all going to bed my room began talking about our home towns and things that they had in common like good or bad sports teams and school rivalries. It eventually spun into conversations about our favorite actors, movies, books, and the fact that not many people want to be part of Huffle Puff in Hogwarts. At some points we were laughing so hard that the teachers next door had to knock on the wall to tell us to quite down!
The next day we woke up bright and early to a buffet style breakfast of cereal, toast, chocolate croissants, and all sorts of delicacies. I especially liked the chocolate croissants and filled up on those. Soon after we headed out to another mountain trail to see a water fall. The hike so far was my favorite because it was the perfect temperature and weather for a hike, not to mention the trail was really fun. there were rocky up hills, and down hills on the trail, but the most exciting was the metal walkway attached to the face of the giant rock wall. It was a grated walkway so we could see the water flowing beneath us, and boy was it going fast! We were going to play in the water for a little bit, but because of the rain and hail the water had risen and become quite precarious.
On a major bright side though it gave us time to explore the town again letting us go to shops and cafes to enjoy some snacks or drinks. My friend Jada and I wandered around aimlessly talking, until we found a jewelry stand near one of the restaurants. The lady there was selling braided necklaces with some sort of tusk (not real) on the end. Jada and I got matching necklaces with different colors and chat with the lady. She said our Spanish was really good (probably the biggest compliment we could receive), but also that we could work on our accent. She assured us though that it wasn't that hard because she was from Romania and had learned Spanish and also German too. Jada knew some German and said a few words to the lady, but I sadly do not know German or what they said. It was nice to have a semi-long conversation with a local though!
We left Alquezar and began our journey home, but the adventures were not done yet. For lunch we stopped for a couple hours in the town known as Huesca (where my host mom was born I found our). We were given the challenge to take a selfie with each of the sites the profes had circled on our printed out maps. Jada and I took this challenge with energy and planned a strategic way to see all the sites and the town in one whole walk. This really tested our sense of direction, because on the map the street names were so small and in Spain the street signs are tiled to the walls, so they can be hard to find at times. We were successful in our challenge though taking a selfie with the Parque, Casino, Catedral, Ayuntamiento, and Museo, not to mention the fantastic ice cream and bocadillos we found along the way. We finally made it to the bus with a few minutes to spare, full and worn out. When we finally arrived back in Zaragoza all of us wanted to just relax and take a siesta.
In other words you can get a lot done in two days with SYA, a mental note for when we all start planning for independent travel after winter break.
Besos
Lauren
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