Week 26: Studying for midterms… and a visit from a friend!

It’s been really fun trying to study and focus on midterms this week… haha. Not. However, I have had quite a week - yes, it was just another week in Toledo, but I did get a visit from Walker over the weekend to break things up, so that was fun!

On Monday, I woke up a little later than usual, probably because I was exhausted from all my travel over the past weekend. As I mentioned in the previous post, this week is the Semana Blanca, and so I had Monday free, because the high school where I teach for my internship doesn’t have classes. It was nice and relaxing; I caught up on some homework and some blogging in the morning, uploaded pictures from Poland to Dropbox (one of the only times I’ve been so punctual with photo uploading), and finished helping Fatima select which pictures to post on Facebook from her fabulous Lisbon collection. Once I finished with blogging and photos and such, I headed to school to buy a book from the library for my Spanish Golden Age Theater class, and then went up to the beautiful tower in the school to try to get some homework done. After a while, I gave up on trying to focus, as the beautiful views had been very distracting, so I left to go meet up with a Spanish conversation group. As we had the cena rompehielos in the first few weeks, we got to meet a few different Spaniards, and I got in on a group exchange with a Spanish guy, Rodrigo, and my American friends Allison and Cole. We all met up in a café to grab a coffee, and we ended up spending a few hours just chatting about ourselves, what we were doing in Spain, and what our plans are for the future. Rodrigo then graciously offered to drive us around the valley to see the beautiful view of the city, which we couldn’t turn down, and so we drove halfway around the valley to the mirador (observation point), and took in the beautiful city at nightfall. Rodrigo then dropped us all off at our houses, and after another wonderful dinner from my host mom, I tried to write a paper I had been working on, but that was also a bit unsuccessful, and so I headed to sleep.

I got up early on Tuesday to finish the paper, and then I had my whole morning full of classes. And when I say morning, I mean Spanish morning, starting at 8:40 and ending at 12:45 (sometimes 2:10!). Right after class, I met up with my French conversation partner for the first time, an English teacher named Noelia who’s learning French for teaching purposes. It was absolutely lovely to meet her, and it was fantastic getting to speak in French again! After that lovely coffee and chat, I went home to welcome home my host family who had all been at the beach for the semana blanca long weekend, and we all sat down for lunch not too long after. I then started another paper, took a siesta (yes I really am integrating myself into Spanish culture!), and continued on with homework. The event I was most excited for of the day was Zumba - they actually offer it at my school here in Spain, for free!! I was so excited, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed! What a great way to get rid of stress and have fun all at once.

The rest of the week went by pretty fast - I had theology class and my internship for a couple hours on Wednesday as usual, and in the evening that day I met with another English conversation partner, Sara, who I would be tutoring in English to help her prepare for her exams. On Thursday it was difficult to concentrate in my four classes, but I did my best. History is sometimes a little hard, not because I don’t understand the material but just to pay attention to everything. Friday was much the same, and I treated it as my “vacation day,” not even trying to get much of anything done. It was nice to take a day off from stressing and worrying (but now it’s back to it). Saturday brought another free day, and so I started studying for my theater class midterm, recopying notes and such, and then Allison came over and studied for theater class with me. I got around to writing a little more of a paper I was working on, and then I made sure Walker got to Madrid safe on his night flight from Brussels Charleroi.

Sunday was the day Walker actually arrived in Toledo! I went to pick him up at the bus station, as it wasn’t too far from my house, and we got right on our way to exploring the beautiful city. I showed him the Casco (the medieval city center): we passed by the beautiful cathedral, on our way there we met some English teachers who were on vacation in Toledo and originating from Jaén, a big city in the southern Andalusia region of Spain. I also showed Walker where I go to school, and it was fun for me to practice giving my tour again for when mom, dad and Sammy come in May. We then wandered around the city again, and Walker mentioned that the top activity on TripAdvisor for Toledo is just to get lost in the streets. I would definitely agree with this choice, as the city isn’t too big so even if you get really lost and have never been in the city before, you can usually find your way within an hour or two at most. We toured a church and climbed the tower, took some absolutely gorgeous views of the city while having a nice chat, and then descended upon the city again. We ended up finding our way to a nice little park that had beautiful views of a side of the valley, and we sat and chatted for a while. It was very interesting revisiting and reminiscing the events of last semester, and we got to discuss each other’s perspectives on relationships, friendships, and just what happened in general. After that fantastic discussion, we got lunch at a Spanish restaurant (I will never understand how anybody can actually like the taste of cuttlefish), and then we went on a nice walk around the valley, where we also climbed the Piedra del Rey Moro, the giant boulder with an amazing view of the entire city. I told Walker all the legends my host mom had recounted to me while she had took me around the valley those first couple weeks, and he sarcastically remarked how happy they were, as they included the legend about the Rey Moro, the Moorish King, and how he had stood upon this rock and gazed upon his city for the last time, weeping, as he and the Moors had been conquered; and also, the story of the Arroyo de la Degollada, the story of a Moorish princess who met a Christian prince, and when they were discovered the girl’s father slit her throat. Fun times. To me it’s just interesting to find out about these kinds of stories, so I was more than happy to listen to them from my host mom and then in turn tell them to Walker. After such a great day (and all the walking we did), we went and found Walker’s hotel, and then turned in for an early night, as I actually did have my internship the next day.

Just after crossing the bridge out of the Casco.

The golden city... 

Walker admiring the beautiful view of the city.

The spectacular view of the city from the valley. 

This week has been kicking it up a notch in terms of homework, but I’m slowly making my way through everything. I have midterms to look forward to next week, so that will be great… but in the meantime, I’m working to keep my stress levels down with Zumba and studying and whatnot - let’s just hope it works. It was also wonderful to have Walker visit! I never realized how cool it can be to show friends around “your” city, as I didn’t really have any friends come visit me in Lille or Paris last semester. I still have Monday next week to look forward to showing Walker around a bit more, and then off he goes to Madrid for a few days and then back to Lille. But for now, I have to start looking at work I have to do this coming week, and then I’ll figure it all out from there. That’s all for now, folks - ¡Hasta pronto!

Week 25: Family heritage, part 2!

This week has been absolutely incredible! I’m definitely glad to finally get out of Toledo. (I love the charming medieval city, and my host family is still amazing… but sometimes you just gotta get away, you know? :)) From starting off the very beginning of the week seeing my sister off back to Lille, to meeting up with the guys in Poland for the weekend, and everything in between, it has been a great time!

Going with almost no sleep from the airport before 7:00AM to a full day at my internship in Toledo was a little rough… but I pulled through. I made a quick pit stop at home to grab coffee and breakfast, and then I went straight to my internship. There is no convenient city bus to the high school where my internship is, and so I walk every Monday and Wednesday, each way 25 minutes. It’s actually not that bad, and it helps me to get some extra exercise in my day. In my internship, I did a more advanced version of my introduction presentation, because I was in a class of older kids (the Spanish equivalent of American high school juniors). I also did a Valentine’s Day vocabulary activity with a different class, which was fun because we got to discuss the cultural differences that influence how each country celebrates the same holiday. I improvised a bit on this activity, because I hadn’t had a chance to fully prepare it beforehand, but it ended up going fairly well. I also had another exciting first at my internship today - I taught my first French class! I was so excited, because that was the reason I had been placed at this school over any other in the city, and so I spoke in French with a sizable group of middle schoolers about their lives, with basic concepts like what they do after school, what their houses look like, and others. It was a great day at my internship!

Yes, it really was 4:30AM when we got Alex to the airport...

Tuesday I went to class in the morning, and then I decided to take advantage of the public library in the city and get a card there. (I will hopefully be using it to check out lots of movies if not books in Spanish!) I also went to my first Zumba class here in the evening, which was awesome! It is so good to get back into a physical activity that I love! (and less of a hassle than last semester, as I don’t even have to pay for it here! haha.) Wednesday was another pretty full day, as I had my two classes of theology with my internship in between, but it all ended up going pretty well. We actually started talking about mysticism itself in theology class (because before we had been exploring the foundational philosophy behind all of it, including Plato and St. Augustine), and so we’re one step closer to talking about my confirmation saint. Then, at my internship, I did a listening activity with Bruno Mars’ song “When I Was Your Man,” which was funny considering that it was supposed to have a Valentine’s Day theme. I also did another round of introductions with a different class, and as always, I discussed next week with the teachers I work with regularly. In the evening, I got all packed up for my trip this weekend, and got to sleep.

Thursday was go day! I woke up, got dressed and ready, went to my first class, skipped the other three, and hopped on a plane! This was the first time I wasn’t flying somewhere on Ryanair, and so I settled into my seat on the Norwegian.com flight and connected to the free wifi. The flight was very smooth and not too long, only three hours or so, and then before I knew it, I landed in Warsaw Chopin Airport! My Polish friend Michal had given me instructions before I left about converting currency and getting to the correct city bus, and so I made my way to the city center. While waiting for the bus to arrive, I heard some girls speaking English with what sounded like an American accent, and so I introduced myself, and it turns out that these two girls are from Colorado and Canada, and they’re teaching English in Madrid this year, so they had been on the same flight! We ended up chatting all the way to the city center, and then we got some wifi at a Costa coffee shop (it’s apparently Britain’s version of Starbucks, for those of you who don’t know). Once we found our separate hostels and checked in, we met back up at the city center, took some pictures, and walked around the city a bit. After a few drinks, some games, and lots of girl talk, we made our way back to our hostels, and parted ways until Sunday when we would have the same flight back to Madrid.

Goodbye Toledo!

Pretty colors out the airplane window :)

My first view of the Pałac Kultury i Nauki!

Photo by the lovely Emily and Jordan :)

On Friday, I woke up fairly early to get ready for the day, have some breakfast, and check out, and then Michal actually met me at my hostel! He took me to his aunt’s flat where we would be staying, and on the way he showed me a little bit of the old town, as well as the Palace of Culture and Science, which is now the defining landmark of Warsaw city center. Once we had dropped my bags at his place, we did a bit of grocery shopping for the weekend, and then before we knew it, it was time to pick up Walker and Eric from their stop in the city center. We dropped their bags off at the flat as well, Michal showed them around a bit, and then we all headed out to explore the old town. We saw some pretty cool monuments and sites, from the last two surviving buildings of the old Jewish ghetto to Warsaw’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and lots more in between. It was a great morning!

First pic of the morning: in front of the Palace.

A statue of St. John Paul II outside a church very near to Michal's place.

The shopping center where we went to get groceries.

Eric and Walker arrive!

The last two surviving buildings from before the war, within the former ghetto area.

Warsaw's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

National Theatre

The start of the Old Town. The wall pictured is not the ghetto wall, but rather a wall that has existed there
since the 18th century.

A guy in the main square was dressed in traditional Polish costume - sword included!

More shenanigans: my knight in shining armor :)

The four of us in the square.

We ended up having a traditional Polish meal for lunch, and by that I mean we each ordered traditional Polish dishes. We all had either meat-stuffed or cheese-stuffed pierogi, or dumplings, and then we also ordered a Polish chicken soup. It was awesome to get to taste authentic pierogi in Poland! After stuffing ourselves with such rich fare (or at least I felt stuffed, not sure about the boys), we then walked across the main square to the President’s residence. We made our funny faces at the guards, and took some pictures. Across the street, we saw the main university in Warsaw, where Michal had the option of attending but chose the university he currently attends for different reasons. A little ways further down the street, we saw a statue of Nicholas Copernicus in front of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where I stopped for a little picture. It was really cool to watch Michal show us this city that he loves so much, as I would constantly be thinking the entire weekend.

Pierogi for lunch!

Walker with a distant view of the stadium. Him and his football...

The President's Residence.

Main gates of the university.

Me and Nick ;)

Then, as a last big event before we turned in for the evening, we visited the Polish National Stadium. It’s mainly used for soccer, but during this time of the year, it was covered in a couple of ice rinks and a slide! We got into a door in a somewhat remote location, started walking around looking for how to get into the main area, and eventually found ourselves among the top rows of seats, of our own accord. Then we got found by a tour guide and his group, who ordered us to follow behind the tour to get us out of the restricted area. (Those boys and their mischief…) And so on my enthusiastic request and then firm insistence, we made our way down to the ice rink! This is the third time I’ve gotten to go ice skating this winter, and I have so very much enjoyed each and every one! They even handed out masks for carnival season, as it is right before Lent, and we had some fun making our rounds around the rink. (Even though the boys had been scared, they eventually got more confident, and they ended up having some fun too!)

The stadium from across the river.

We made it! AND THERE WAS ICE SKATING.

Ice rinks galore!

The boys on our illegit tour.

Warsaw city skyline from the stadium, in twilight. So pretty!

We all had so much fun ice skating!

View of the stadium lights at night, one of our last sights for the long day.

After such an exhausting day of walking around, seeing new sights and having fun, we made our way back to Michal’s aunt’s flat for some dinner. Since Rob had had an exam during the day, he had gotten an evening flight, and so Michal and I went to pick him up when he told us he would arrive. Rob got his first views of the city center, and Michal took us back to the flat, where we all settled in for the night to get ready for another busy day.

On Saturday morning, we were a little lagging in getting out the door, but we eventually made our way back to the heart of the city, the Palace of Culture and Science. Michal told us about the controversy surrounding this building, because it was actually built by the Russians, and so some Polish people want to tear it down to be able to create a truly Polish national monument, whereas others believe it has already become the symbol of Warsaw rising from the ashes, despite its non-Polish origins. After a little bit of a wait, we saw the view from the top, and the city is truly incredible. We also saw lots of Valentine’s Day paraphernalia being sold at every turn around the city, as Saturday was the holiday itself.

The gang's all here!

One of the incredible views from the top.

We then made our way back down from the top and then past the "I <3 Warsaw" sign, which to me much resembles the “iamsterdam" sign that I saw back in November. We of course took plenty of pictures in front of it, much to Michal’s delight, and then we went to go see where Frederic Chopin’s heart is buried, in a church right across the street from the statue of Copernicus that we had visited the day before. (The rest of Chopin’s body is buried in Paris, as he was born in Poland but lived in Paris for most of his life.) Rob had actually been the one who really wanted to see it; as he is quite the piano player himself, he was inspired to see the heart of one of the greatest pianists of all time. After spending a quiet moment in the church, snapping some photos, and reflecting a bit, we left to see some more of the city.

We all <3 Warsaw!

Chopin's heart.

From then on we started our tour of the Old City. We saw lots of World War II monuments, special benches labeled “Chopin’s Warsaw” that played his music, another church (thanks to Walker), and we walked around the royal palace to see it from the front - what a view. It made for a great afternoon, just leisurely making our way around, and absorbing all the history.

One of the "Chopin's Warsaw" benches.

One of many war monuments that we saw.

Buildings in the Old City.

Part of an old fortress that used to surround the city.

A monument specifically dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising.

The Presidential Palace as seen from the front. It is certainly impressive.

After a late lunch, we made our way to the National Museum, not too long before closing. We had just enough time to see all the main exhibits, which were amazing. It’s always wonderful to admire the talents of artists, and this was no exception. After such a great example of Polish cultural heritage, we then explored the city a while longer while scouting out a place for dinner (and laughing to ourselves about all the couples crowding the restaurants to celebrate the romantic holiday). On our way around, we saw a graffitied wall announcing what Michal told us was “We Remember,” with the P being a symbol of the Polish fighters against the Nazis in the Warsaw Uprising. It was really interesting to hear about Polish culture from a native, and Michal told everything to us with such enthusiasm that there was no doubt left in our heads that he really did love this city from the bottom of his heart.

Right in the beginning of the museum: religious art.

Europe as it was between the 14th and 15th centuries.

The boys contemplating a work of art.

A depiction of an elderly woman in traditional Polish dress.

A statue of Marie Curie in the street.

Rob at the Winter Market we walked through as we wandered through the city.

We Remember.

We ended up getting dinner at the same place we had had lunch the previous day, and so Rob too had the opportunity to try the pierogi and authentic Polish soups we had loved so much. We made a pit stop at Carrefour before arriving back at the flat, but not before coming across a crosswalk right in the city center that was designed to look like a piano! When we looked up from the novelty of the crosswalk, we saw one of my last sights of Warsaw: the Palace of Culture and Science, lit up with a red heart in the windows. What an amazing way to spend a Valentine’s Day! (One of the best ways to spend it if you’re single, in my opinion, haha.)

One last group pic before I had to leave.

Piano-style crosswalk!

Happy Valentine's Day, Warsaw. <3

Finally it was Sunday, and time for me to be getting back to Toledo. The unfortunate thing about getting back to Toledo was that I had forgotten that I could have had an extra day to spend in Warsaw, because in Spain the weekend and week before Lent are known as la semana blanca (White Week), in which Monday and Tuesday are days without school. Oh well. In any case, I had already booked my flight for Sunday, so it was all settled. The boys were all nice enough to accompany me to the airport, and we made sure to take a tram of course (as Walker wouldn’t have been able to live without it ;)). I said my goodbyes to the boys, and thanked Michal heartily for showing me around the city that he loves so much. After rushing around the airport a little bit to be able to get some souvenirs (Zubrowka vodka and Wedel chocolate), I hurried to get to my flight on time, and then relaxed as I got to my seat on the plane, and even chatted a bit with Emily and Jordan, the girls I had met just after arriving to Warsaw. Since the wifi wasn’t working on the plane, I couldn’t work on the paper I had brought my laptop for the purpose of working on, and my laptop was running out of battery anyways, so I just slept for most of the flight. After only 2.5 hours in the air instead of the estimated 3, we landed in Madrid, I said my goodbyes to Emily and Jordan while we walked to the metro, and I gradually made my way home (after a missed train, recharging my phone subscription, and finally catching a bus to Toledo). I arrived home exhausted, tried to get some homework done, and after meeting a few of my host brother’s friends and eating dinner with them, I made my way to my bed, ready to start another week in Toledo.

This Valentine’s Day weekend is one of the best Valentine’s Day holidays that I have had in my life! Traveling to Poland and hanging with friends is certainly better than moping around waiting for a date or proudly promoting Singles' Awareness Day (however effective that might be… or not). And with this trip to Poland, I have officially gotten to experience in person a little bit more of my family heritage, which makes me really happy as I also had the opportunity to experience my mom’s side of the family’s heritage in Bratislava just a month or two ago. Midterm exams are coming up soon, which scares me a little bit as it’s another reminder that my time in Europe is just flying by, but I’m trying to take everything a day at a time. As I have lots of homework and studying to do, I will bid you all a most wonderful week - ¡Hasta pronto!