Espanol

Supongo que hay gente que quiere ver si puedo hablar/escribir espanol. No estoy perfecta todavia pero he aprendido mucho.

Cada persona de ESDES tiene que tomar las clases de Conversacion, Composicion, Gramatica, y DELE (Un examen de Espanol para extranjeros). Despues de estas clases, hay otras opciones. Este triemetre, estoy tomando Literatura, Traduccion, y Espana y su cultura. Los profesores son buenisimos y las clases son muy interesantes (pues, menos gramatica pero quien puede mejorar gramatica?). Las clases son casi iguales como las clases de E.E.U.U menos que estan en espanol. Tengo que leer muchos libros cada trimestre (me toma casi 7 miuntos para leer una pagina!) y hacer tarea (aqui en espana se llama deberes) cada dia.

Es obvio que tengo que trabajar pero me gusta el trabajo!

Family Time!

After saying goodbye to my friends, I headed to Madrid where I met up with my parents, sister, and both sets of grandparents. Yeah, more parties! One of my favorite places that we visited was Segovia. Segovia has an amazing aqueduct built by the Roman and as you can see from the picture, it's very well intact. Segovia also had a beautiful cathedral and castle. Now when I say castle, I don't mean an ugly rock fortress on the side of a hill - I mean a CASTLE!

After traveling with my family for more than a week, I finally made it back to school! After being gone for over three weeks, it was time to be back. Nothing better than coming back home after an amazing vacation!

Brussels

Atomium & Mini Europe
We started the day by heading to the Atomium. The Atomium was built for the Brussel's World Expo. Very cool looking structure. Our next stop was Mini Europe. Here, I was able to see Europe in a couple hours - very time productive.

Museums
Jillian, Cassy, and I were able to to see a several museums - Comic Museum, Chocolate Museum, Music Museum, and the Museum of Brussels.


Mannekin Pis
The most important thing you need to know about Brussels is Mannekin Pis. This is a little boy peeing fountain. He's quite popular - you can buy chocolates, etc. He even gets dressed several times a year (You can see the outfits in the museum).

Luxembourg

Luxembourg! Second stop on my Christmas tour. I have to admit Luxembourg is one of the cutest places I've been to. When you can drive across the country in an hour, it has to be amazing. The only down part about visiting Luxembourg City in the winter is that a lot of things are closed.

While in Luxembourg, we saw a bizillion museums (ok, only three but still...). However they were really good museums. The bank museum was especially interesting because it had an exhibit about art and money. The pictures say it all.

One of the more strange things we saw on our travels was a movie at the Old & Cult Films Theater. We watched "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-on-the-moon Marigolds." I can't say I would recommend it. But it was fun to watch a movie on a projector that kept breaking down every 30 minutes or so - just another one of the moments to remember!

The Results of Poverty

Question: Did you know that students are poor? It's not a bad thing, it just forces us to be creative when it comes to means of entertainment. You often end up getting more for your money.

Opera: 6 Euros
One of the more cultured things I did on this trip was go to the opera. The three of us happened to get the last three seats together in the whole auditorium (turns out the worst three seats as well) for the opera Don Carlos. This opera seemed appropriate since we're living in Spain. As the opera was in Italian and the subtitles were in German, I can't say I understood a lot (luckily we had looked up the plot beforehand) but I definitely enjoyed it.









































English Movie: 7 Euros

Since we were on Christmas break, it only seemed appropriate to go see a movie. There happened to be one English theater in Frankfurt showing a variety of movies. I enjoyed the movie (Four Christmases) but what really made the experience was the fact that there were about 40 seats in the whole theater. So tiny!

Walking Tour: 10 Euros
There's no better way to see a city than a walking tour. They are so much fun! I recommend them. We got the history of the city, saw all the big sites, and walked almost the entire city in a couple of hours. Sounds good to me.




Having the time of your life: Priceless
For Everything Else: There's a parent with MasterCard (Just Kidding!)

Frankfurt

The first stop on my Christmas journeys was Frankfurt, Germany. I bet the only thing you've ever heard of there is that there's a big airport(at least that's all I knew before I went there). However, Frankfurt is a lot more than that.

One of the most interesting things about Frankfurt is the history of its Jewish population. Frankfurt had a large getto running through the city which housed thousands of Jews. Of course, many of these Jews fled or were murdered in WWII. While in Frankfurt, I had the opportunity to visit two Jewish museums. One of these museums has a large wall commemorating the deaths of everyone who was killed in the war that originated from Frankfurt. Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt so her name is listed.

The other interesting location in Frankfurt is the Romerberg neighbor-
hood. It's just beautiful and full of history. All but one building was destroyed during WWII but all of it has been rebuilt.

The last famous aspect of Frankfurt is its skyscrapers. Apparently they are very proud of them and have a Skyscraper celebration once a year. The things people find to celebrate...

Christmas Market!!!

Wow - Christmas break was a three-week whirlwind that began with a trip with my two friends, Cassy and Jillian, to Frankfurt, Germany, Luxembourg City, and Brussels, Belgium. My last half of break was spent with my family in Spain. I'll probably spend the next month sharing all the things I was able to do and see.

Probably the best part of traveling during the holiday season is

CHRISTMAS MARKET!!

Every country I visited had a Christmas market but the one in Frankfurt was by far my favorite. The food (delicious sweet treats, homemade pretzels, french fries, and hotdogs), the pretty atmosphere, and the cute Christmas ornaments just made it so fun! If any of you ever get a chance to visit a German Christmas Market, GO.