Before I take my first step ....

Tomorrow morning, I am off to start what I hope to be is an unforgettable experience. It's really a reflective point in my life. I'm halfway done with college. I'm turning 20 soon. It's as if I'm stopping to take a breath on top of a mountain, and I'm looking back at my footsteps and where I've trekked for my first 20 years. In front of me though, and on the other side of the mountain, is where I'm headed. I don't know what it will bring. But I feel that I'm starting it off right with this adventure.

To fully capture the meaning of something, sometimes it's best to remove yourself from that situation and try to view it as an observer, as someone not emotionally attached. I feel that's what I'm doing. I've left my usual relationships and everyday life back home in the United States and now this time away from it really helps me see how significant they are and which ones have been most important to me.

My time is Spain so far has been unforgettable. My thoughts on life, the world, religion, relationships, and love have all tremendously benefitted. I am in debt to so many people who have made this possible. Thank you.

I don't know if I'll be able to write anymore on here for a while. Firstly, I don't know if we'll be able to find computers to use. Secondly, I think our director wants us to stay away from electronics of any sort. But if I find a computer and have something I really want to share, maybe I'll sneak on it real quick.

Other than that, my bags are packed and my tickets are bought. A new chapter in the story of my life starts now.

May God bless all of you and protect you.

Love,
Jack

Winding Down

I just got back from Valencia. Such a great place if you want to travel and have fun. The beaches went on forever and the Mediterranean was so welcoming. The sun wasn't as friendly though; my shoulders were a bit burnt and now I'm getting the side effects of skin peeling. Yum.

The nightlife there was second to none. They had two main clubs near our hotel and when we got inside, I felt like I was at an after-party for the Grammys. One of them was outdoor with an arched roof and had torches and futons for everyone to enjoy. Very cool.

But now I'm back to reality. Well almost reality. There's only a few more days until everyone heads back home. I'll have a weekend or so to relax, maybe do some reading, or check out the shops here. I've been pretty stingy with money thusfar which is good, but I really splurged in Valencia. I figured I won't have a weekend like that in awhile. I had the best time with the best people and couldn't ask for anything more.


All I've got is one last exam tomorrow then my summer can officially start. No more schooling until the end of August. One could argue though, that for how much I'll still be learning, I'm still in school partially.

I'll bet Summer is just beautiful back in Minnesota. Baseball is something that I'm missing out on over here ... but I think I'll manage.

Lots of love,
Jack

Oh Valencia!

I'm a few hours away from taking a bus and a flight to Valencia. I hear their beaches along the Mediterranean are just gorgeous. Our beach here in Valladolid is along a river, but no one swims in it because it's a bit polluted. So I think we're planning on running from the terminal to the beach and jump right in the sea with our clothes on.

I just filled out the forms for a library card here. They have a limited selection of English books, but the ones they have are quite well known. I just checked out East of Eden by John Steinbeck. The receptionist here was very helpful and very nice. I've only had to speak Spanish to complete strangers a few times and so far it's gone well. Of course when I'm at home or in class it's much easier to spit out what I want to say than if I'm talking to someone on the street who doesn't know who I am.

At the beach today we talked about some funny topics. One was whether or not the change in altitude makes some more drunk faster than on land. The pressure of the cabin might regulate some of that, but all of it? I don't know. Also, what's the drinking age when you're in the air? Can a boy from 18 year old from Spain drink on the plane but not a 18 year old from the USA? Maybe my Uncle Scott can help us out on this one.
(Editor's note: NO, the people in my group are not raging alcoholics nor do they plan on drinking on the flight. They were just topìcs of discussion. You can stop raising your eyebrows mother.)

On a more personal note, I've told myself that I want to be ready for the spiritual/religious part of the Camino that I'm about to travel. I've looked up quite a bit about the life of Santiago and the legends surrounding him. I've also looked a bit into the topics of "prayer" and "free will". If God has set things in motion after the creation of the universe, does He intervene and change what he has set in motion?(e.g. through miracles, or by granting prayers) In addition, when we pray and ask for something, are we asking for God to intervene as well into the plan which He set forth? Whaaaaaa? I've read that there have been something like 50 comfirmed and accepted miracles that have passed rigorous standards that science cannot explain, meaning there has been a Divine intervention of sorts into our physical world. It's a crazy plan that we're a part of. I wonder how God sorts through and decides when to give us a miracle ...

The weather is just tremendous here and I'm ready to head to the coast.

Love,
Jack

Lazy Sundays, and more about the Bulls

When I come back to the States, I want to definitely bring back the concept of Sundays filled with a lot of nothing. It's not uncommon for people to sleep until 1 or 2. And even after that, some people take a siesta after lunch around 3 or 4. I woke up around 11:30 on Sunday to go to the Spanish mass which was literally the building next to us. Again, it took only about 35-40 minutes.

Later in the day, the family went out to a Brazilian restaurant and we had lunch with some of Carmen's friends and family. There was about 12 of us, and I got to still at the adults side of the table. I'm getting a little better at understanding questions and conversing, but again, I still have a lot to learn. One of the cooks came by and served us 15 different types of meat, and we also ordered the buffet, which wasn't too exotic, and was quite good. We took a great long walk around Valladolid after that, conversing along the way. We returned quite late, around 7 or so. Carmen's family are very very nice people and are very easy to talk with.

Monday, Eduardo and I biked around Valladolid and visited his grandpa nearby and sipped on some Coca-Colas. We talked a bit about the bullfight I saw the day before and it wasn't until he mentioned that they started building bullrings with roofs on them that I realized how close baseball and bullfighting were.

Here's a quote from one of my favorite movies:

"So I know bullfighting is part of your culture and everything but have you
ever thought about... I don't know, baseball? You know, a bat, a ball."

"A bat, a ball. A sword, a cap. Both are great traditions where men dress up
in tights to impress women. "

The atmosphere of the two is quite the same. You can talk and relax while the event is going on. They have rainouts. There are 6 bulls because it's a multiple of 3. Three is the most sacred number in bullfighting we learned at the Museum. There are 3 matadors, 3 parts to each bullfight. Three is even more prevalent in basebll. Three outs, 9 innings, 9 players, 3 strikes, 90 feet between bases ... the list goes on. Maybe I've found a substitute for baseball over here.

Well, we're coming down the homestretch of this part of the trip. We leave for Valencia on Thursday night and come back Monday. Then next week is our last week. I leave for Roncesvalles, France two weeks from today to start my Camino. I couldn't be more excited and I'm trying to prep myself. I hope all is well back home.

Love,

Jack

Daaa Bulls

I had an exam and a paper due last week so I didn't do a whole lot. Actually, weeknights I've been watching some of the prime time Spanish television shows with my host family. My favorite, which is on every Monday, is Física o Química (Physics or Chemistry). It's a show about a high school and has all the drama that you could expect; from the faculty to the students. My host sister loves it as well. Last night, she wasn't able to watch cause she has had to study finals for the past few weeks. What a shame, it was a good episode. (Last night we also ate pizza because the company TelePizza was selling pizzas for 1€ (about $1.45). It was a one day only thing. We waited in line for about an hour, but they were sure good.)

I've also been doing quite a bit of reading lately. I brought Slaughter-house Five and after I finished that, I didn't know else to read; all of the books my host family have are Spanish. A friend lent me her book of Angels & Demons. I finished it in 4 days. It was very gripping, and I can't wait to see the movie, but I don't know if I liked the ending as much. As for reading now, I don't know what to do. I think I'll check out books from the library here. They have books in English as well.

Saturday, our excursion for the week was to Ávila. It was a very scenic place (like all of the other cities we've visited), and it was most known for it's huge wall surrounding the middle of the city. It was built as a fortress way back when. They gave us tickets to walk around on top of the wall. Very cool.



But the best part of the day was that we got to see a bullfight. An actual bullfight. Not everyone went on this trip, you could elect to come or not. So everyone the whole day was like, "Oh I am so excited for this bullfight." I was very excited as well, and actually did a paper on it before I came on this trip so I was probably more aware about its significance to their culture and apparently what was about to happen.

We took our seats and kind of stuck out being a big group of American students who ooohed and awwwed at every little thing. Most of the audience there was older men who had grown up appreciating the bullfights. The first bull came out raging, and the matadors started toying with it. Before I continue with the graceful part of the bullfight, I should explain something. For all of the people that said they were excited to see the bullfight, they had no idea what to expect. They asked out loud why was the bull bleeding, or some people even cheered for the bull to hurt the matador (which is the equivalent of a foriegner entering the Metrodome to cheer for the Packers obnoxiously). I don't think it bothered TOO many people, and even some people were quite amused at us, but I still I was a little embarrassed. But not many were ready for the end when they killed the bull and dragged it out of the ring.



There were 6 bullfights in all. It was a great atmosphere. Many people brought food and drank their wine (myself included :-D ). Some of you might be wondering how I could support such a ruthless tradition. Well here was my progressive mood of the bullfight that day. Before it, I was a supporter. After the 2nd bull died, I was unsure whether I liked it or not. After the entire event, I was a supporter again, but still with reservations. I know that after the bull dies, it's whole body is able to be purchased to eat. Also, many species of bulls that are used in bullfighting would be extinct without the sport. So, there are some tradeoffs, but I still have quite a bit more to look up before I form a true opinion.



After the 5th matador, who turned out to be the most entertaining, they cut off two of the bull's ears to give to the matador, which is a great honor. (The only better thing he could have received was the tail) He took a sort of victory lap around the ring and when he came to our section, my friend Bobby Klint and I started bowing to him and yelled "We are not worthy! We are not worthy!" The matador pointed up to us, and threw us one of the bull's ears. But sadly for me, the ear tailed at the end (it's not a perfect circle you know) and I only was able to tip it. It landed back and to my right, and someone else in our group snatched it up. We were quite excited and everyone was taking pictures holding the ear. We were so worked up we were still buzzing when the last bull entered the ring and they shushed us down. But everyone else was still awed that we had received such a prize.



That was my Saturday.

Home Away from Home

After we came back from Segovia. Everyone else went to go prepare for a rowdy Saturday night, but my family and I had plans to go to their "summer home". Louis, my taxi-driving Spanish father, had the weekend off so they planned a get away. I got some background on the car ride. My host-mom Carmen, has a lot of famliy in a village about and hour away. She grew up there with her 5 sisters and 3 brothers. So they kept a home out there when they moved to Valladolid. A lot of families do this and then live away from the big cities in the summer; like a cabin in Minnesota.

Their "Casita" (little house, as I'll call it) was breathtaking. It was on the outside of the village, with a barn nearby where you could hear the sheep "baaa" during chow time, and when you opened the front door, you looked at nothing more than an open field straight off into the horizon.



(My host mom is in the green in front and my host sister is the girl in the white in the way back.)

We got there late Saturday, went out and met up with some of Carmen's family, and returned home. I slept like a rock. I had the only room upstairs. I slept until noon.

Their Sundays never involve much. There¡s a lot of relaxing and enjoyment the day. The weather was perfect. Around midday, some of Carmen's family dropped by and we had some sangria. (wine, with juice and sugar and fruit) Later, the ladies played some cards on a table in the front and I joined in. We had some laughs and slowly drank some more sangria.

After, they took me on a walk around the village. We stopped at Carmen's parents house (who weren't there). Two of Carmen's sisters who came to the house showed me around their summer houses too. They houses were so antique and cozy.

After, Luis cooked a ton of meat over an open fire for our family. I ate like a king. I was very satisfied. I rode home listening to music, thinking how great of an opportunity this is. I don't think any othet student on this trip would have enjoyed the weekend as much as I had. Other students may have been upset that they would miss a Saturday night bar hopping and dancing, but I was so happy that we left and was able to experience great people and a beautiful place.

Peace and God Bless.

Love,

Jack

At Peace, Admiring the Work of the Past

Apologies I have not written in awhile. It's because I've been two parts too busy and maybe one part too lazy to update things until now. Lots to cover.

I left you last Wednesday before heading to the Plaza de Toros. There was a museum there, along with an actual bullfighting ring. The tour was kind of boring and took twice as long since the (curator? director? tour guide?) spoke in Spanish and then one of our professors insisted on repeating everything in English. There were paintings and pictures and too much about the history, if you ask me. But then we were able to enter the Bullfighting stadium; quite breathtaking.

As for the big important fútbol match for the evening. Barcelona won, so Spain went nuts. I watced the first half in a bar with Mónica, her friend Beatrice, and Beatrice's father. There must have been zero room in all of the bars in Valladolid. At halftime Móni and I just went back to the house to watch the rest of the game with Eduardo. The second the game was over and Barça won, we could hear people yelling in the streets and little fireworks shooting off; very cool.

Thursday and Friday came and went. They were relaxing days to sit at the beach or take naps. Friday night we all went out again and this time other people shared the distaste I had for traveling in large groups not knowing where we were going. If we were to happen to end up at the same place in a huge group I'm fine with that, but just not in the streets. Therefore, Friday night was very fun. I even tried to mesh in a bit and struck up some conversations with some other people from Spain. A lot of them know at least a little bit of English.

Saturday morning started this new refreshed excitement I have for Spain. First we travelled to La Granja, sort of a royal garden. The place is huge and there are sculptures and woods and everything. A great place to be at peace and think.

The palace that accompanied the royal garden was right next to it, but the line was too long for us, so we left for Segovia. Segovia is a great city in the middle of a lot of open land. (You'll see what I mean in a bit) Here, they have the famous Roman Aquaducts. A big bridge-like structure that was used to bring water from the top of the mountain down to the city. The best part about this though, was that no adhesive was used; no concrete or nothing. It was simply constructed with strategic planning, friction and the right amount of weight put in the right places.

Then we had some free time to walk around. There were a lot of nice little shops to go into filled with some of the most random items to buy. [A lot of tourist stores here sell actual samurai swords and kitana swords. Whaaa?] Other than that, we reunited and left as a group to so to a Castle nearby. It was a legitimate ancient castle, now slightly turned into a museum. By far the coolest thing in Segovia. The view was breathtaking after taking the spiraling steps up the tower to the top:

I felt very content at that moment for some reason. Very at ease. I looked in all directions at the top of the tower of the castle and saw nothing more than the horizon. THIS was the part of Spain that I came to see.

To be continued ....

Mailbag

Before I begin, be sure to ask me any questions you wish. Either you can try commenting on a blog entry or email me at jpries@csbsju.edu. I'll be checking my mail.

So from the questions I have recieved, I will address them here:

1. When I referenced drinking, the Spanish are not fans of being drunk. In the United States I feel that it's more acceptable or more common. Here, it's frowned upon. They like drinking, but in a casual manner, NOT to simply get drunk. Maybe it's just a college thing.

2. I have walked everywhere around town and have yet to take a bus or a train; except for the bus to Salamanca. I'm getting a lot of walking in which is good preperation for the Camino coming up in a few weeks. (Parents: I even have worn my walking boots.) School is about a 15-20 minute walk away.

3. I have a Spanish professor for a teacher. She is from Spain. My classmates include a girl from St. Ben's, who I have had a class with before, and José's son, Daniel, who is 12 and has spoken Spanish and English quite equally throughout his life. But his age does show a bit in class.

4. All of the other students on this trip are taking classes here at the same University. There's only about 5 classes to choose from. But I still see them around where I take my classes.

5. We have an "excursion" each Saturday. Salamanca was the first week, this week we go to La Granja (sort of like the grand canyon), and I can't remember what the last one is.

Things I brought that I wish I didn't bring:
-A bunch of $1 bills that have absolutely no use. I have not seen any other American money exchanged at all here.
-Two flannel long sleeve shirts. They may seem in style in the land of 10,000 lakes, but they really have no place here and don't pass for a "nice" dress shirt here.

Things I brought that I'm so glad I brought:
-Mom, that raincoat we bought is working out tremendously. It rains spontaneously here and, in my opinion, it looks very classy.
-The watch I bought at Target the day before the trip.

Things I wish I could have brought but didn't:
-More nice looking shirts. Everyone dresses nice here. And I don't have too many shirts to wear around the town at night that would help me fit in. Maybe I need to buy some. It may cost me a pretty penny though.

Everyone will be in a pub somewhere tonight (myself included) to watch the ultimate soccer (fútbol) match. The UEFA Champions League Final: Manchester United vs. Barcelona.


Barcelona's best vs England's best. The fact that a Spanish team is in this championship out of all the teams in Europe is pretty important to them. (Spain is divded between their two best teams; Barcelona and Real Madrid. So many will be rooting AGAINST Barcelona tonight I'm sure)

Today, we're also going to take a tour of el Museo de Toros. (The Bull Museum) I'm looking forward to it.

Cheers,

Jack

Settling In

Apologies for not having updated this in awhile (to those of you who are still reading, that is). The past week, like I said, went by pretty quick as I started doing more routine things and knowing what my schedule is like. This past Thursday a group of about 25 of us took a tour of the San Pablo church here in town, Friday we lounged out on the beach for most of the day, then went to the University around 7:30 because we had a meeting about how to drink in Spain; it's a bit different in the United States. They drink casually and more professional. It's about beign social with the people around you rather than seeing who can drink the most or the fastest. During siesta around 2:00, many adults meet at a bar for an afternoon drink to converse with their friends or whoever is there. It'd be nice to see that more in the USA. We're very competitive and many workaholics would think it crazy to leave in the middle of the for a couple hours. They'd say, "Think of how much work you would be missing!"

Anyway, during that "how to drink" meeting, they served sangria, wine mixed with sugar and juice. Good stuff. I found a bite to eat with a few others and then started our Friday night.

BUT, the next morning we had to get up at 8:00 to catch a bus to Salamanca, about a 2 hour busride west. We took some tours and were able to wander around for a bit. A few things really stuck out to me: They have insanely huge, detailed, ancient cathedrals. Three of them. They're HUGE with a billion different rooms/chapels that are connected. All of them have statues and all of them have anceint paintings. There are just so many priceless items in each of the cathedrals.

We returned from Salamanca tired as can be. I went home and showered, ate, and left for the night. But, needless to say, it was my least fun night in Spain. We all meet at the same bar to begin the night. Then when people are ready, almost everyone leaves to go the same spot, which I do not like. We're American, so we're going to stick out. But this night, we walked around town in a huge pack with 4 different leaders who want to go to 4 different places and we were loud and stood around and people who were leading didn't know to get to where they were going. It was awful. We finally made our way to a couple places, but my night was ruined. I just went home.

Sunday was much better, however. Woke up early, went to an English mass nearby with my host-sister Mónica. It was small and there were about 15 people there. After that, I returned back and took a quick nap then decided to go with Móni to a Spanish mass nearby. There were a lot of older people there, partially because they're more dedicated than the youth but also, it was a noon mass, and not a lot of the youth were up yet. I was able to comprehend more than I thought I would, but I still have a lot of Spanish to learn if I ever wish to have a simple conversation with a man in the street. The most surprising thing to me was that the mass ended in less than 40 minutes, which they told me was typical.

After, we ate, I did my homework, then we left to visit my host-mother Carmen's parents to live nearby. Carmen has 5 sisters and 3 brothers. There were 3 sisters and 1 brother there so I was able to meet some more family. There were even a few cousins there. One of them, the oldest of their cousins who is 17, was a girl who spent 3 years in Boston and New York so she could speak a lot of English. I played cards with the cousins and we walked around a bit and then went out to eat before heading home. It was a good day.

Today, we figured out our plans for the long weekend in about 3 weeks: A bunch of us are going to Valencia. I don't know many details yet, but that's what I do know.

Chao.

Pictures finally

I don't like to take many pictures, I like not having to rush to get my camera everytime I see something pleasing. I have plenty of time to capture pictures. Other people are already taking a lot of pictures too that I could use. But here are some that I've taken:





Just some pictures of the scenery on the bus ride to Valladolid from Madrid.




And my good friend, Cohen. Named after the old singer Leonard Cohen.

I'm having some trouble putting pictures up on here and getting them off of my camera so I'll have to figure that out.

Hope you all enjoy these for now.