Take 1

Hola!

I hope everyone who is reading this is well and if you aren't please read on because this should hopefully entertain you.

I think we have all seen movies where it is raining and someone is just trying to get home as quickly as possible huddled under their umbrella to keep dry and then a car drives past and umbrella is completely useless against the wave of water that soaks the poor person walking home.

Well guess what that was me today!

So today it is raining and has been all day (it is like 11pm right now) and when I left this morning I was prepared for the rain. I had my umbrella and my jacket and decent shoes that could get wet and still be ok. I made it to school just before it started raining so I was dry all day.

BUT...

On my way home from school it was drizzling out slightly but earlier in the day it was really coming down creating some large puddles. One of these such puddles was right at the edge of the crosswalk that I needed to cross. I was smart and decided to stand back some while waiting. Cars drove past and I was still dry so I figured I was ok. Then right as the light was changing so I could walk a car trying to catch the light goes zooming past a little faster than all the rest had been. Need I finish this sad tail. Yes I was rather wet but on the bright side I had the presence of mind to turn around so that my bag (which had my computer in it) would be dry still.

I hope if nothing else that this brought a smile to your face! Have a great day!

Sagunto

This is going to be a record... Three blogs in three days! Unheard of!!!

This weekend on Saturday I took a day trip with Katie, Christine and Kristina to Sagunto. It is a smaller town about a 20 minute train ride away from Valencia. took the 12:40 train (cause we missed the 11:40 one).

When we got there we decided the best things for us to do was to find a tourist info shop where we could get a map. Well that took longer than it should have, but I did get to ask for and receive directions in Spanish. I understood them really well too! :) After we had our map we sat down and ate our lunch.

After that we started our climb up the hill. Basically all the sights in Segovia are on the same road that goes up the hill that the city is built on. We stopped by a church but it was closed so we couldn't go in. Then we walked through the part of the town that is known for being the part of town where the Jews once lived. (There is a ton of history of this place...)

Anyway onto the more noteworthy stuff... The ancient roman theater was really cool. It caused controversy in the past because part of the really ancient theater was built... but when they did it they left some sections untouched so you could see the really old theater too. It was really well done. I would have loved to attend a production there I could hear what some people standing at the bottom were saying while I was standing at the top and they of course didn't have microphones. Really magnificent sound!

Then we went to the castle/ruins. They were super amazing! It was really cool to be in a place with so much history. I feel bad cause this is all so hard to describe. There was a huge wall running along the hill connecting one part of the castle to the other. A lot of it looked pretty open. It wasn't really a castle like a fairy tale castle at all though. I suggest looking at the picture.

After spending probably 2+ hours exploring the castle area we headed down to head home. One more interesting thing happened though. At the train station there was a confrontation between the security guard and a person. Not sure exactly what happened but when we went out the security guard was bleeding and the man was holding the club she used to have. Bad news! :(

Fútbol!!!!

Hello readers! This is a special day for you! Two blogs- two days... don't expect it all the time!

This blog as most of you probably know from the title (unless you know no Spanish at all) is going to be about the soccer game I went to on Sunday night!

Valencia versus Sporting (some smallish town in the north of Spain) 9:00 pm

Just an FYI... Valencia was favored to win this game because they are currently ranked as number 10 of the 20 teams in the premier league and Sporting is ranked as 18.

I arrived at the stadium at about 8:20 amidst the swarms of fans ready for the game. I found my friends who I arranged to meet up with and then we headed inside! Our tickets only cost 20 euro (about $30) so we obviously didn't have the closest seats. After we found our entrance gate which was basically right next to us (except we walked the wrong way and thus ended up walking around half the stadium) we walked up the winding path to basically the top of the stadium and found our seats.

After watching a little bit of warming up, the marching band (not great marchers), and an advertisement for the rodeo coming to Valencia the game got underway. I really can't give a play by play of the entire match but I have to say that the atmosphere of the stadium throughout the entire match was amazing! One section was devoted Sporting fans and the rest Valencia fans.

The first team to score was Sporting. The Valencia defense let a Sporting forward break away so it was basically one on one with the goalie. The next two goals were Valencia's. After that the game started getting rough three yellow and one red card later (all against Sporting) Valencia answered Sporting's goal with one of there own making it a tie game to end the half. Early in the second half Valencia scores another goal. At this point with a one person and one point advantage Valencia seems content to simply control the ball (which they had been doing most of the game) and run out the clock while looking for any great shot opportunities. Sporting was not to be counted out though. There defense really stepped up and did not allow many Valencia shots on goals. Eventually 3 or maybe 4 yellow cards later (all again Valencia this time) Sporting again get a lucky break on a corner kick to tie the game with like 4 minutes left! The last 4 minutes of soccer were intense on both sides but in the end the clock ran out before either team scored again. Final score 2-2

I am so glad I got to go to this game! Soccer is extremely popular and highly integrated into the Spanish culture! I can't wait to go to another game!

Hasta Luego!

Life in Valencia

Sorry to all my faithful blog followers for the lack of blogging… This blog is going to be about my life in Valencia.

Classes: As some of you may know I have 4 classes. I know I am going to learn a ton in all of them. My first class is Civilization and Culture of Spain. I am enjoying this class a lot. Professor Valle is really entertaining and we are learning about Spain in Spain and really it doesn’t get much better than that. (It helps that I enjoy history though.) I also am taking Latin American Civilization and Culture. This class has been interesting so far. Professor Jesús is really passionate about what he is teaching which is great but there are only 2 other students in the class which means I really need to know my stuff. This class also is at 5:20 pm… which I have decided is not the ideal time for learning. My other two classes are back-to-back with the same Prof… Profesora Mabel. First is a Spanish Cinema and literature class, which is interesting because we are watching Spanish movies while reading the texts they were based on to analyze them. I like it but the class is really demanding and also rather small (5 other students). My fourth class is Advanced Grammar and Composition. I am learning a ton in this class but I am also killing a ton of trees to do it. I must have made over 100 flashcards to learn the vocabulary and grammar so far! Overall I think it will be a challenging semester (but I will learn a ton!)

Other stuff to keep busy: Besides classes I have signed up for one club (soccer) and may be signing up for two more (theater and dances around the world) to keep myself busy plus a conversation partner and a practica… more to come on those since they haven’t really started yet! Quick story about the practica (which is similar to an internship), I received an email asking me to attend a meeting in profesora Mabel’s office. When I got there she started talking about the practica I was in… this came as a surprise to me since I didn’t attend the meeting and didn’t fill out the form. It starts next week we’ll see how it goes!

Random incident: Today someone stopped me on my way to school to ask me for directions. I am taking this as a sign that maybe I don’t look quite so out of place anymore! And I actually was able to give him concrete directions! Yay me!

Other stuff: I can tell I am adjusting to the weather here. It was about 70 degrees and I was seriously considering wearing pants because it was feeling kinda chilly out. Imagine when I get back to Wisconsin in December. I will be an icicle!!

For anyone who is interested my address is:
Bryant Scherer
Av. Del Puerto, 101, 29a
46022, Valencia España

Hope you all are well! Look for future blogs about my day trip to Segunto and the fútbol game I attended yesterday!

What I miss (other than people)

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

The end

Madrid

This past weekend I traveled to Madrid with Kristina and Christine. It was a really fun and exhausting trip! Our bus left the station at 6am. So that means I was up at 5:15 to get there in time. I paid for a taxi because had I tried to walk I would have had to leave my house by no later than 4:45 and that just seemed to early! The bus ride was 4 hours long and we stopped once at a rest stop about half way through. I was glad we had an early bus because that meant that it was much easier to sleep on the bus!

When we arrived in Madrid the 1st order of business was to secure a place to stay the night. My first time staying in a Hostel this was going to be exciting! We checked out the first hostel that we though looked nice but it was full, luckily the person Christine sat next to on the bus had recently visited Madrid and stayed in a great hostel that she recommended to Christine. So we searched for that one well guess what it was full too. After that we just started walking up and down the street stopping at just about any hostel we could find asking for 3 beds. All said they were full! I wasn't panicked yet but we were getting slightly worried. Did you know Spain is the 2nd most toured country in the world? Well I didn't but after trying to find a bed I think I would agree. Finally after we had walked almost all the way back to the metro station where we started we found a hostel that had room for 3! We went up and found out that we would all be sharing a room that we could lock and we would all have our own beds. It was clean, we had our own bathroom and was really reasonably priced. We got lucky but I made a mental note to self... book hostels in advance if traveling on weekends.

After finding a room we headed to the park where we planned on eating out lunch. We didn't quite make it to the park, we stopped and sat on a bench outside the botanical garden really close to the Prado museum. After eating lunch we went into the botanical garden which was absolutely beautiful! So many different plants from all over the world. I took a really great picture of a rose and then disaster struck! My camera battery died. Not to worry I had a spare... back at the hostel. We continued walking through the garden and I decided I would just take pictures from Kristina and Christine. It really was a beautiful place, and I never knew there were so many different kinds of Cacti.

After we wrapped up in the garden we returned to the hostel so I could grab my spare battery and Christine could grab her student ID for discounts at places. We decided to head toward the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). On the way we walked past or through some plazas with wonderful statues and fountains. Cities really can be cool places if you don't mind living close to tons of people. Spain also really puts effort into keeping their cities clean everyplace we visited had people picking up trash all over and there were numerous garbage cans to prevent littering. (Just thought that was kinda cool and noteworthy)

Anyway, back to the Palace. I believe it is the 2nd biggest palace in all of Europe and it really is hard to describe. It was ornate, old and beautiful. We walked through the same rooms where royalty once lived (sometimes they still do, like when Hugo Chavez visited last week he stayed there) and it was AWESOME. The decorations, artwork, carpets and floors, ceilings everything was really amazing. Worst part was that we couldn't take pictures of the inside at all-and my words really don't do it justice. Sorry

After we completed our palace tour we went next door to the Catedral de la Almudena. I know I sound like a broken record but it too was extremely beautiful. Here at least we could take pictures! Everything about it was ornate and beautiful. Painted ceilings, a huge organ, stained glass windows, statues etc... Really really cool! I took some time to just sit, admire, and say a short prayer.

We then went to visit the Palace Gardens which were cool but not quite as cool as the botanical gardens before heading back to our hostel. On the way back we walked through more plazas and such doing touristy things like going into shops and we may have taken the long way (one wrong turn) but that was fine cause we saw more of the city!

By the time we got back we all kinda wanted a siesta, but I took the time to do my homework. After our hour break we left to find a good place to eat dinner which we found quickly but still took forever. We tried some really great authentic food. Paella (which I already had tried) and pollo con papas y chicaros (chicken with potatoes and peas) they both were excellent. Kristina and I also ordered Sangria (a punch with wine and fruit juices) for our beverage. It also was really good but after we had sat there for nearly 2 hours (they were huge) we decided we should drink the rest quickly, pay and leave. Kristina and I were in spectacular moods for our walk back! On the walk back we tried to find my friends Sarah who is studying about in Madrid to no avail because my phone ran out of minutes :(

Sunday we woke up at 10 and prepared to leave. We visited the Prado Museum (probably the best art museum in Spain) and saw tons of famous artwork by tons of people! The building was huge! We spent 3 hours there and I didn't even get to see everything! It was cool but I can only look at art for so long so we decided to leave. We then visited the Parque del buen retirado which is home to the Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace) which was cool. Saw some huge Spanish ducks and then watched 100 or so paddle boats trying not to hit each other in the "lake" there (it was more like a pond).

After that we found some lunch and walked to the bus station to head back to Valencia. Which was not the most fun ride ever. We were in the back where it was extremely warm (or at least to me= motion sickness?) and we got stuck in a traffic jam because there was a 4 car pile up on the highway. By the time we got back to Valencia it was 10:10 and the city buses stop at 10:30 so I had to hustle to my bus stop to catch it. Then since it was my first time on the buses I didn't realize you have to press the cool red button to get off so I took the bus 2 stops past where I wanted to and didn't get back to my house until almost 11pm.

Overall a great weekend!!!

Beaches and relaxation!

Peniscula was beautiful. Miles of sandy shores and a castle in the distance! It was a 2 hour drive on the bus but I took a short siesta and it was like we were there in minutes! I was kinda worried because in Valencia it was raining slightly but the rain subsided. It wasn't sunny either until the end of the day which actually I think was for the better because we were all more comfortable without the suns heat.

When we first arrived it was about noon so we all took out or lunches to eat on the beach. Then we took some time just to lay on the beach talking and such. Eventually I went for a walk down the beach with Sam and Carolyn and almost stepped on a beached jellyfish. When we got back a group of people were leaving to walk through the town so we went with!

The real highlight of the trip though was the Castillo de Peniscula (the castle). It was up on a hill overlooking the beach. The view was absolutely amazing! There was a lot of history about the castle to and they had a display room of information and stuff about the Knight Templar which was cool. There was also the torture chamber and some really cool art displays.

That night was my first night out in Spain! It was entertaining. We all tried one agua de valencia which was pretty good and then people did there thing from there. I was a little apprehensive cause i really didn't know where I was (we got lost on our way there) so I did not have too much to drink. Made it home safely at about 3am. Getting a cab was really difficult.

The next day was a lazy day for me didn't do much but I did become best friends with the little girl Juliet that was staying with us. We played games such as hide-and-seek needless to say she won hands down.

Now a short soliloquy about the food. I am proud to say that I have tried everything that has been given to me and am enjoying most of it! I have had pork, beef, chicken of the bone, tuna, potatoes, rice, veggies, fruits and tons more! The food I am most proud of eating is the seafood because I am not the biggest seafood fan. Nevertheless I have tried squid, shrimp, snail, tuna and an unidentifiable form of seafood that was actually quite delightful. The only thing i really didn't like was the salad with tuna which was bearable and the squid... much to chewy and fishy for my tastes!

I think that is all for now. Today I relaxed at the beach and got lost again but found my way without consulting my map! Maybe I am not doomed to be lost after all!


p.s. there is a leg of a cow in my kitchen... that is different!

Lost luggage, lost bryant but beautiful Valencia!

So I am in Valencia and for those who don't know I have been here for about 2 days! I like it a lot.

Day 1

Before I talk about Valencia I want to share a little about my flights. I had 3 flights. Appleton to Detroit to NYC to Madrid and then I 4ish hour bus ride from Madrid to Valencia. Needless to say it was a long day of travel. All my flights went really well. They were smooth with no problems and I even got free snacks on all of them! (I wasn't expecting anything for my 50 minute flight from Appleton to Detroit) The only problem that I had was that half my luggage didn't get to Spain at the same time as me! It arrived today (a day later) but was frustrating because I was the only one to lose anything. On the bright side- it has been a good conversation started with my classmates!

My host dad, Fransisco picked me up from there to take me to my home for the next 3.5 months. When we arrived at home like 5 minutes later we were greeted by my host mom cooking paella. (It was good!) We ate and then I unpacked a little and decided to enter the culture of Spain with a short siesta (nap). Later that night I went out to explore my street and a little farther than that... and guess what I didn't even get lost! (for those who may not know I am terrible with directions). It really is beautiful here but maybe a little warm. 33ish degrees Celsius which is about 90 Fahrenheit.

Day 2

Today I started the morning with orientation to the school. I think I am really going to like it. I have two professors that seem really fun and 2 more classes with another professor who seems really nice but a little hard to understand (she talks too fast!) I am sure it will be alright. After that I returned home for lunch. I live about 25 minutes away from the school on foot.

At about 6 (after another siesta!) I left for a tour of the old part of Valencia. Which was about a 40 minute walk away. I don't remember all that our guide told us but there is beautiful architecture here I took lots of pictures that I will eventually share with you all! I know for certain I saw the Lonja, La Catedral, la plaza de toros and much more. This time on my way home I did get a little lost. I wandered around for 2ish hours trying to find the way back to my home. Well I found it, obviously! Tomorrow we are going to Penisola (a beach) and I think there is a castle too! I must have walked for nearly 5 hours today and am exhausted (it is midnight here too!) Entonces hasta luego!