This time last year, boy were things different!

I am knee-deep in school work (actually I should be writing my paper on the BP oil spill right now), but I couldn't help but remember where I was last year around this time of the year.  I was in my apartment, sulking in the fact that I didn't know if God was calling me to go to Spain or not.  What a stressful time of my life that was.

Recently I talked with several juniors who were debating whether or not they wanted to study abroad, and as I was hearing their anxieties about going abroad, I involuntarily was taken on trip down memory lane.  I felt their pain! I know their pain! So, me as a oh-so-wise senior, the response I gave them was this: "I know that whatever comes out of my mouth right now is going to be momentarily soothing, but make you even more confused.  So the only helpful thing I can say right now is, I know what it feels like to be in your position, and trust me, it's all going to work out."

And really, take it from my experience. God's going to take care of you. He is the Provider.

I still revert back to the horrible first two weeks of me being in Spain, and am so thankful that I was not left in that hole of darkness. Thus, when I face difficult patches in my current stage of life, I must remember that sad little place I was in, and how things paned out eventually. (Although, I must admit, sometimes I think some of my current hardships come from the fact that I was away for a semester...That doesn't mean I regret going though!)

Sometimes I feel so nostalgic, and ache to be back in Madrid.

Some things that were a part of my everyday life...

Plaza de España

Weird meals. Actually this was one of my first meals

out in Spain. 

The courtyard in the apartment I lived in. :'( I miss it!

Churros con chocolate de San Gines. YUMM

Plaza de Cibeles 

Mercado de Ventas. Crappy but cheap pastries from

the local market near my house. 

Las Ventas!! Plaza de toros. 

Fun activities at Retiro :')

Last but not least, the funky handles of the Metro. Can 

I just say how much I MISS THE MADRID METRO? 

Being back in Boston, I realize with stronger conviction

that the Metro in Madrid ROCKED. 

Oh, I miss you Madrid. When will I be back??

Barcelona part 2

The previous post on Barcelona was more or less entirely on Gaudi, but there is a lot more to Barcelona than just Gaudi's buildings.

So I am here to talk a little more about my trip to Barcelona in detail. :)

Barcelona part 1

(Sorry for the late post!!!!)

Barcelona was one of the cities in Spain I really wanted to visit while I was studying abroad.  But for different reasons, I never had a chance to go to Barcelona with my friends, and I started to think Barcelona would never happen.

Soon or later, the friends I used to travel with went back to the States, and I found myself itching to go to one more place before I had to return to the States.  After pondering this issue a little bit, I thought it would be really awesome to have the experience of traveling alone, and Barcelona would be easy enough of a place to be traveling by myself for the first time.

So I booked myself a flight on Vueling (probably the smallest amount of leg room EVER) and hopped on over to Barcelona. And boy, was I glad I did.

Te extraño, Madrid

Hello from Nashville!

Sorry I have been MIA! Life has been a whirlwind since I've been back in the U.S. of A.

First week back was me trying adjust to the time difference while attending a wedding and going on a camping trip only two days after being back from Spain.

The following week, I started my internship, I was helping out with my church's VBS, and then that Saturday, my grandfather passed away. That day felt like a week and that week felt like a month. Since then, I've been either working or with my relatives who flew in for the funeral.

So, long story short, a mix between procrastination, not knowing how to write about Madrid in Nashville, and a hectic life has delayed my updates on the final stretch of my semester abroad.

It's been almost a month since I've been home, and I wanted to share a couple of things I miss and a couple of things I don't miss. :)

Segovia

I am officially back home in Nashville! :) Since I have more time on my hands, I'll be posting steadily about my trips and the final portion of my semester in Madrid. I don't want to get into the sentimental things quite yet, so I'll share about our program's final group trip to Segovia. :)

As always, a visual:

I'm not going to write too much about it, but it's old and is the home to the Roman aqueducts, a living testimony to the greatness of the Roman Empire...

It is also home to cochinillo, or the suckling pig, and this soup...

...and this pastry.

And there are rumors that Disney's castle was based off the castle here in Segovia. However, most say that the Disney castle is based off a castle somewhere in Germany.

Segovia is surround by these beautiful snow capped mountains. They say the contour of the mountain range is like a woman laying on her back. The legend says, during the Spanish influenza outbreak, there was a woman with two children, who were very sick and surely about to die. The mother prayed that they take her own life in place of her children's and the very next day, the children were healed from this deadly disease, yet their mother was found dead. So the legend says that the mountains are the mother who had sacrificed her life for her children, and the children come and kiss her on the cheek in the form of clouds.

It was so cold that day, it was a little hard to enjoy the excursion, but glad I got to go see it. :)

Hello, world!

I made it back in one piece from a solo trip to Barcelona! Wahoo! Angela is a big girl now!

Updates on Segovia, Barcelona, London, and Madrid coming your way! But first, I have to write a ridiculous essay on Spanish literature that I haven't started. Sigh, school work first, I guess.

Anyways, stayed tuned!

Just a random picture of the underbelly of 

the Eiffel Tower. :)

Granada

The weekend after my Spring Break, I with two other friends headed to the south of Spain to the wondrous city of Granada. (I have an exam tomorrow that I should be studying for but I lack motivation. And, it's bloody hot in Madrid.)

As always, a map reference:

One down

One exam done, three papers, two exams, and a final project until the end of my junior year!

It was supposed to be a positive thing, but now it kind of puts me in a "I'm drowning in a sea of work" kind of mood. Shucks.

A little compile of random things in my life currently:

A lot of my program friends are headed back to the States tomorrow. :( Makes me sad! One friend is graduating this semester, so I actually don't know when I'll see her next.

The exam today actually (knock on wood) went pretty well! BUT, I did mix English and Spanish together when writing the answers because there was just no way I could talk about how I could decrease the weight of the public debt in relation to the GDP all in Spanish. Nope. (The professor said it was fine.)

The weather in Madrid has been FANTASTIC!

But a strange thing. So as you can see, it's in the upper 80's here. In my mind (and most other Americans' mindset), this weather calls for shorts and dresses.  Or at least, it's perfectly acceptable to wear shorts and dresses.  Yet, the past two days I've worn shorts, and I keep on getting funny looks from the Spaniards! I see people still in their boots and coats! (Plus tights, plus scarves.) Holy cow! How are you not dying from the heat? Some things I will never understand.

As I'm thinking about going back home (less than two weeks everyone!), I'm mustering up all the different things I want to do when I'm home. There's a couple of staples such as taking a bath, watching a movie on my couch, FOODNETWORK, baking cookies, making guacamole, and eating lots, and lots of Korean food.  But aside from that, this desire to beautify my family's home is bubbling out. More like spewing out.  Hopefully I'll be able to get somethings accomplished. :)

And LASTLY (before I head off to write my paper), I've booked my final trip of this semester to Barcelona!!! This indeed is going to be a solo trip. Eeeep! I booked my flight, and just booked a B&B through Airbnb.com (which is a first for me), so let's see how things turn out! 

(Shout out to Jen. If you're reading this, which you may not be, forgive me for not sending an update email yet!)

Procrastination

I really don't want to study for my finals which are in approximately four days. So here I am on blogger, writing a short post. Heh heh.

I'm thinking I might be adventuring solo to Barcelona after my exams for 3 days 2 nights. (Or 4 days 3 nights.) I think I should be okay, but am I being a silly Asian-American girl who doesn't know what's she talking about?

Well, I've got the idea into my head, and I can't get it out. Plus, I have decided I must to go Barcelona no matter what. :P

Now back to Behavioral Economics.

Cultural differences: false cognates

Spanish and English have very similar words, similar sentence structures, and share the same alphabet, more or less.  And personally, I think that's why it's easier for English speakers to pick up Spanish, in contrast to Swahili. (In fact, a long standing joke among Americans is that if you add a -o or -a to an English word, you get a Spanish word. Obviously, not true.)

For instance, if I wrote, Ángela estudia economía en Boston. With some intellectual will-power, you could probably deduct that that sentence means "Angela studies economics in Boston," or at least something to that effect.

Likewise, you could probably guess, universidad means university, concentración means concentration, fútbol means football.

BUT! There are so many false cognates as well! AKA because the Spanish word looks similar to an English word, you assume it means the same thing as it does in English, but it actually means something completely different in Spanish.

Shall we look at some examples?


- Librería: looks like "library," no? Well, it actually means "bookstore."
- Actualmente: looks like "actually," but it actually (har har) means "currently." "Actually" would be better expressed as "en realidad."
- Colegio: Not "college." Refers to "high school."
- Culto: Not a "cult." Means "a church service."
- Red: Doesn't refer to the color red. In Spanish it means "network" or "web." So when they talk about the internet, sometimes they use this word.

So those are pretty standard, but here's two that I find hilarious.

- Embarazada: Does NOT mean embarrassed. It means pregnant!! Haha I know tons of people who have made this mistake.
- Constipado: LOL Funny story. My host mom was really sick at one point this semester, and she was telling me all her symptoms when she says, "Estoy muy constipada." And I think, "Woah lady, I know we've gotten close, but I rather not know about such bodily functions."  Then I realize she's talking about her nose!  Constipado is equivalent to congested, NOT constipated.

Yay for language barriers!

Justification

Remember when I said that I have a fear/dislike of birds?

I don't per se hate all birds, but I really don't like pigeons and just any birds that cross my path on a daily basis. (Ugh, just thinking about pigeons brings a chill down my back.) I walk around birds, and a little yelp escapes my mouth when they all of a sudden decide to flutter past me, in front of me, over me, etc.

While traveling, I've come across my fair share of pigeons, and my travel companions would always ask why I had this weird distaste for birds?  There are several different reasons, but nonetheless, I've been trying to get better about my dislike of pigeons slash birds I come into contact on daily basis.  But as of yesterday, I have (more) legitimate fear/dislike of them.

Multiple apologizes

Hi everyone, sorry that I've been MIA.

My friend Jo* was visiting me for the past 4 days, and things have been a little crazy with the school work. >.< My final exams are coming up, and can you believe it? Tomorrow is my last day of classes at the UAM!

I promise, after I get myself organized for my exams, I'll write you all a lovely post--make that several lovely posts.

Another update, I'm officially changing my flight back to the U.S. a little bit earlier than the original flight. This change is to several different reasons, but I'm feeling quite conflicted about going back home.

Here are some pictures from my Granada trip to make up for my absence. :)

P.S. Interesting. I having a hard time physically writing English, and spelling words like psychology. (Just now, that took about 3 different tries.) Spanish is getting to my English. 

Stressed

So much to do, so little time.

The studying part of study abroad has finally hit me, and I think I'm drowning. Bleh.

All will be well. Breathe in, breathe out.

Querida Real Academia Española...

Dear Royal Spanish Academy,

I hereby humbly request a creation of a new Spanish word for the benefit of the Spanish people, to facilitate the expression of one's feelings and thoughts.

Please consider including the word "awkward" into the next edition of Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, for your beautiful language lacks such an expression.  And when taking this word into consideration, please, dully note the social context of this word. Failing to do so would be the upmost disagreeable thing to do to this wonderful word.

I do recognize that the Spanish find this word, well, awkward to pronounce.  However, do not be dismayed for practice makes perfect.

Thank you for your time and dedication to the Spanish language, and I look forward to the 2013 edition of Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.


With the highest level of sincerity,
Angela

Getting to know Madrid!..?

One of my best friends, Jo*, who I visited in Paris during my Spring Break is coming to Madrid for this weekend!! :)

Thanks to her, I'll be playing tourist in this city that I've been living in for the past 4 months.  One of my main goals was to get to know Madrid, and in many ways, I have. But at the same time, I couldn't give you directions on how to walk from point A to point B. (It's due to riding the Metro all the time..)

Anyways, I'm super pumped about walking around in this beloved city, eating churros, and learning something new everyday. 

The thing about Madrid is that it's not like Paris where there are really, really, really famous must-do's.  I mean, sure there are some, but it's not like Paris. (But then again, very few cities are.)

So tentatively, these are the things I'm planning on doing with her when she comes.

1) Churros con chocolate at a bar (AKA Spanish version of restaurant) by my house for breakfast like the Spanish do it.

2) Retiro Park

3) Chueca (El Tigre---a cheap Tapas bar)

4) Puerta del Sol/Sol

5) Noviciado and their cute cafes and hipster streets

6) Maybe a flamanco dance?

7) Maybe watch a football game at a pub

And, I get stuck here.

Well, I will update you on how things go. I still have to write about my Granada trip. :P

Truth

I came to Madrid knowing I wasn't fluent in Spanish.  However, I had high hopes to becoming more or less fluent by the end of the semester.  At one point during this semester, I thought I was pretty darn close. (What made me think this, I do not know.)

I have almost exactly a month before I return to the States, and I shall elaborate on my sentiments on this matter at a later date, but for now, I will stick with my original train of thought.

Like I was saying, I have almost exactly a month before I return to the States, and in recent days, I have had multiple elongated periods of time hanging out and talking with Spaniards.  And the more I hang out with them, the more I realize, HOLY CRAP I AM NO WHERE NEAR BEING FLUENT.

People back home who have had their elementary classes in Spanish may think otherwise, but let me tell you, when I'm talking with my Spanish friends, half the time my mind just goes, "??????????????????????!" When it is my turn to respond in the conversation, my mind goes, "....!!!!?!??..??!!????!......?!?!?!? :'("

Sigh, this truth burns a deep hole in my heart and my ego.

Maybe I should start writing my blog posts in Spanish to practice....Nahhhh, who are we kidding? That would make my blog not only incomprehensible to English speakers, but also Spanish speakers as well. So no.

All I can do is take it one step at a time.

P.S. Speaking of Spanish friends. Two friends (they're not technically Spanish. They're Mexican) are leaving Spain on Monday and I have to say bye to them tomorrow.  Makes me really sad, especially because I felt like we were just now getting to know each other and the probability that I will see them again on Earth is very, very, very slim. :( Wahh!

Daily Life: Thursdays

Time for another daily life update.

Thursdays are pretty chill.

I have 9 o'clock classes, so I usually have to wake up by 7, get ready, and be out the door by 8. The sun has been rising earlier so it makes my mornings that much more pleasant.

I technically have three classes on Thursdays: two lectures, followed by a discussion section.  However, that discussion section rarely takes place, so I tend to end by 1PM.  By this time I am furiously hungry, so I head home for lunch, and I hang around in the house or go for a little jog (if I didn't go on Wednesday).

Around 6:30, I head out for La sala de oración that I mentioned earlier to meet with my friend Lena*.  We usually meet for about an hour, and just catch up and see how the other person is doing, and share any thing we have learned while reading the Bible.

Then I go back home for dinner.

Wow, I make it sound like all I do is eat...probably not too far off from the truth. :P

Daily Life: Wednesdays

Wednesdays are the best.

My Wednesdays provide room for me to recuperate from my crazy Mondays and Tuesdays because I have no classes on Wednesdays!!

How luxurious is that?! Never will I have this schedule again in my life. :( But just because the day is technically free of activities doesn't mean it lacks structure.

Although I am not a morning person, I sincerely would like to be, and so I try and not to wake up too late (meaning after 10). And to help prevent me from sleeping all day, usually Wednesday mornings I meet up   with Jaime, my intercambio at a cafe or something and have a nice conversation in Spanish and English over a cup of café con leche (durrh). After an hour an half or two hours of conversing, we catch the same bus, and I get off by the International Institute of Madrid where the BU program is headquartered at.  Either I have some businesses to take care of at the BU office, or I hop on the Metro from there and go home.

Once home, I try to go for a very LITTLE run in the park near my house, come back home (take the stairs up to the 11th floor to try and compensate for the fact that I barely ran at all), take a shower (because after going up 11 floors, one is out of breath and slightly sweaty), and then time for lunch (what a counterproductive system)! Haha

Afterwards, I take a little siesta, get some homework done, or watch some TV, and then around 4 or 5, I head out to Kilometro-0 in La Puerta del Sol, where there is a prayer room for this ministry called Kilómetrocero.  The ministry is basically a street-evangelizing ministry, and people every day go out into a concentrated area of a city, stand on a red box and share their testimony.  The prayer is so awesome, and I got to meet some really cool people through this place.

I've been having a hard time having my one-on-one time with God at home, so I decided one week on a whim to go and be alone with God. Like a mini-retreat.  Since then, I try and go at least once a week to have a longer time with God.

After a couple of hours of being there, I head back home and eat dinner, etc. etc., with the only exciting thing left for the night is videochatting with lovely people back in the States.

La Huelga

Tomorrow is the big Huelga here in Spain.

Also referred to as 29M, the syndicators of Spain has rallied together and called the nation to a nation-wide strike tomorrow protesting against the labor reforms the current government has/will be enacting.

I don't know too much about it, but I know that daily life in all of Spain will be affect by this strike.  Flights have been cancelled (thankfully not my own), the Metro is estimated to only function 30-35% of its normal capacity, and most all classes have been cancelled.

On campus, almost everything but the walls and chairs are spray painted with a large 29M in red or black, and everywhere you can see signs saying "LA HUELGA!" or "PARA VUESTRO FUTURO!" etc. etc. Spain and their leniency with the law never fails to surprise me.  This type of vandalism would never fly on Boston's campus.

I might get stoned for saying this, but from an Economic point of view (tainted with probably an Americanized bias), these labor reforms in general seem really necessary for the Spanish economy.  And as a college student who often fails to be well informed on the things of this world, I wonder if even half of the students who are rallying tomorrow will know exactly what they are protesting against. A colleague told me that the people are angry because these decisions were made only by the government and the businesses without discussing with the workers.  I don't know whether that is true or not, but in my humble opinion, even with these reforms, the workers in Spain benefit so much more than the workers in the U.S.

Let me give an example. If an employer wants to or needs to fire an employee, he/she needs a strong reason such as the employee comes to work naked or did something horrible. If such reasons don't exist, the employer is required to pay the employee he/she wants to fire 45 days worth of pay for every year the employee worked for the employer.

That is to say, if I wanted to fire an employee who has worked for me for 10 years because I needed to reduce the number of employees in my small business (which is not a good enough reason according to Spanish labor laws), I would have to pay 45 days of work multiplied the number of years the employee has worked for me. So in total I would have to pay 450 days worth of salary in one check if I want to fire this employee. !!! The reforms reduces this number from 45 days to 33 days.

Okay, it is only a small portion of the reforms, I'm sure, but either way, the workers here have it REALLLL nice.  A part of me wants to say, stop your whining.

Anyhoo, let's just hope that I can get to the airport tomorrow okay so I that I can be on my way to Paris to be reunited with one of my best friends.  YAY for Spring break! :)

El País Vasco part 2

Next day, we went on a day trip to the famous San Sebastian! Hands down the #1 tourist stop in the Basque Country.

Very famous for their crescent moon beach, La Concha, everyone I talked to about this trip gushed about how wonderful San Sebastian is.

Don't get me wrong, I am very happy that we went to San Sebastian, and got to touch the Atlantic Ocean from this part of the world, but it was not as great as people hyped it up to be.  But to be fair, we did go during the off season when you can't enjoy the lovely beach.

My friends and I took a bus to San Sebastian, which ended up being near 13€ round trip.  We mainly just walked, and walked, and walked.  We walked the entire beach twice, walked up and down the streets in the Old Town, walked from and to the bus station, etc. etc.  Probably the most exciting thing we did was go up tram to Monte Igueldo.  At the very top, there are remnants of a theme park, but it's so run-down and out of date that it almost feels eery.

(Going up the Monte Igueldo)

(La Concha from above)