Fútbol Mania

  Spain is home to, well, some of the world’s best soccer teams. You might have heard of our home team, Real Madrid. Crowds flood in from all over the city to the sacred Santiago Bernabeu stadium. This monstrous stadium holds 85,454 of some of the world’s loudest and most faithful futbol followers. Every gameday, the Real fans in my classrooms would sport their Cristiano and Casillas* jerseys. All the Barca (Barcelona) kids would give them a hard time about how they’ve beaten Real multiple times in this year’s  “El Clásico” matchups. -àFor more info about “El Clásico” click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cl%C3%A1sico     The students would ask me if I liked Real Madrid or Barca, and when I always responded Real, half the class would cheer and the other gave me dirty looks. Easy way to make enemies in Spain- be a Barca fan in Madrid or vice versa.  So as I am very team spirited, of course I had to check out the action in the Bernabeu. Here are some shots.
     *Cristiano Ronaldo #7, Iker Casillas goalkeeper

                                             Watch this video of Real Madrid almost scoring! 

Carnival in Cadiz

  In February, Spain celebrates its big Carnival season before Lent. Similar to our Mardi Gras, it is common to dress up in costume and participate in general merry-making. The two biggest celebrations in the country are on the Canary Islands and in Cadiz, the southern port town in Andulucia. Several years back, I spent a summer study abroad in Cadiz and fell in love with the city. It is a small peninsula city with white buildings, palm trees, cutesy parks and plazas, and of course, the beach. That summer we had all our favorite spots and knew the shortcuts to everywhere. So we figured Carnival would be the perfect occasion to make a return visit.
   We arrived on Friday afternoon and had the chance to wander around the city before all the action started the next day. It was eerily quiet compared to Madrid, but I assured Caitlin that's just how it is in Cadiz; small, tranquil, until tomorrow at least. We had been told that people come into Cadiz by train during the day, party all night, and go back on the train the next day to avoid the cost of a night in a hotel. And they weren't kidding. These people straight roll off the train, completely decked out in  costume with nothing to their person except some money and probably alcohol. Masses made their way into the old part of the city to start the celebrations.
   Another interesting thing about these costumes is that everyone dresses up in groups. And the more outrageous or clever the outfit, the better. The most popular costumes we saw this year were chickens, babies, and Pippy Longstockings. But we saw it all. For entertainment, groups of singers pass through the streets, performing comical song routines. At night there is a big sing-off between the finalist groups, many of which have been preparing months in advance. Pretty much the whole celebration is one big outdoor drinking party, which the Spanish call "botellon". No open container laws here- just don't get too rowdy (aka break or steal anything). But the next day is a family friendly parade down the main street that anyone can join, so there's fun for kiddies too. And for people like us who appreciate quality people watching.
   I was sad to leave Cadiz, but glad to be a part of this big cultural experience in one of my favorite places. Until next time....

Good to be back! Arrgg.

Based off the popular reality tv show, 'Farmers Looking for Spouses'

Roma Roma

   Following the return our celebration of the New Year, we headed off to the Eternal City to spend a few days before starting back at school. I think pictures can better describe our trip so here you go:

Trevi Fountain

Spanish steps

Eating the most delicious gelado known to man at Gioletti

Roman Capitol Hill

Roman Colosseum

Caesar... duh

Vatican City

Inside St. Peter's Cathedral- amazing!

We had to eat pizza of course!

Happy New Year!!

    Madrilenos have a very special way of celebrating the New Year. You push your way into the busiest plaza in the center of downtown (Sol) and, as the bell tower strikes midnight, you eat a grape for each of the 12 chimes. So essentially, 12 grapes in 12 seconds. If you complete this task, you get good luck for the year. Should you fail.... mala suerte. Everyone brings their own set of grapes and mini champagne to kick off the new year. Seedless grapes are sold in cans for easy consumption; these people know the drill. Locals show up in neon wigs and crazy hats ready to celebrate in the streets. HAPPY 2012!!

Navidad in Spain

   Instead of going home for Christmas, my family came to Spain to see me! It was really neat to experience Christmas in another country.  I walked them around the city center to see the Christmas lights that were up on display. Typical of our family vacations, we were going, going, going. I wasn’t kidding when I warned them that we would do a lot of walking. I mean, if you’re only here for a few days, you have to see it all! For Christmas dinner, we baked at my friend Amanda’s house. 

   For Christmas day, we rented a car and drove north to the city of Vielha, in the Pyrenees mountains. Getting there was a series of unfortunate events  which began with the fact that we could not put the manual car in reverse. As the office was closed that day, we were forced to only go or park in places we could get out of without reverse. We had trouble finding the hotel in Vielha and tried a random street, only to realize it led uphill and we had no way to turn around except to start up one part of the street and then let ourselves roll a little backwards in a cul-de-sac . I hopped out to ask a woman how to get to the hotel, and unbeknownst to me, my phone fell out. After stressfully making it back down the hill, I realized it was gone and we had to go back up there to get it. When we found it, they screen was broken. Great. So now we couldn’t call the hotel or anyone the rest of our trip. (Also, trying to replace a phone was a task, but that’s another long, boring story.)

  But we got there and Joel and I went skiing the next day in Baquiera-Beret. The views from the top of the slopes were incredible and the snow was so thick! I soon came to see that our intermediate slopes were like their easy runs. I’m glad for all the practice I’ve done back home because this place was not for beginners! From there we drove to Barcelona and did all the touristy things. We stayed in an apartment near the Ramblas. And for my third time in this city, it still confirmed to me that I am more of a Madrid girl. It’s a great place, but Madrid is where it’s at. Just saying… All in all though, we had a great time in Barcelona and we parted ways at the airport: they were heading back stateside, I was going back to Madrid for New Year’s Eve!

 Christmas tree up in Sol

 City Hall 

 Typical Spanish meal: eggs, potatoes, and bread

 City's biggest Nativity scene

 Joel is too tall for the Metro

 Vielha

 Pyrenees

 Las Ramblas, Barcelona

 Sagrada Familia

View from Parc Güell

Christmas Markets in Germany

  Here are some pictures from our trip to Munich right before Christmas. We stayed with our roommate from Munich and went to all the famous Christmas markets!

Marienplatz

Residenz- former palace of Bavarian monarchs.

English Garden

Markets everywhere!

Trying beer at the famous Hofbrauhaus.

Pretzels!

Nymphenburg Palace

Staying warm with  Gluhwien (hot mulled wine) at the Tollwood Festival, the location of the Oktoberfest.

       

If there's a line in Spain, get in it!

. Spanish people love a good line. Seriously. It's common knowledge that you never eat a place unless it's full of people inside. My German roommate, informed us about this phenomenon because she had studied a semester here before. According to her, if they see a line, they just get in it. "It must be good!" And that's proved to be exactly true. Everywhere we go, we see the lines. When we're in the airport, people line up a good hour before boarding the plane. The only people sitting around looking confused are the Americans (and probably the Germans too). It's not like you're going to get on any faster, especially if you already have your seats assigned.
  The best line story we witnessed was a few weeks ago, outside an Abercrombie and Fitch store. Caitlin and I saw this massively long line and could not make out what it was for. There was no visible sign marking any kind of big event. We could hear music coming from inside the building and there were bouncers at the door. We thought it might be a discoteca (as people commonly stand in long lines for discotecas), but it was way too early for that. We asked some guy what the story was and he informed us that this was the line for the Abercrombie and Fitch store. Well is the king inside or was everything for free?? Nope, he informed us. Nothing special. It just opened recently, last April....  April?!? Oh well, I guess patience is a virtrue. We didn't dare say that there are three A&F stores in the Alpharetta mall alone.

 Check out this one from a Comic Convention:

The infamous Abercrombie video:

The last one is from Sol before the big Christmas lottery.