Spring Break

Posted on March 26th, 2008 by bmgray.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Now we are on our spring vacation; it is so nice to have two weeks off school for Spring Break. The first week of break was Semana Santa, during the first week there are lots of religious ceremonies to celebrate Easter. The second week, what is going on right now, is a week of Spring celebrations. I asked a lady in the streets to explain to me the difference between the first week of celebrations and the second. She told me “Well that’s simple; the first week is for praying the second is for drinking”. In Murcia this week there are “barracas” (huts) that are set up around town with typical Murcian food and games. Last week I went to some of the religious processions in the streets and they were pretty amusing. There were people marching and carrying various religious statues, all dressed in Klu-Klux-Klan type outfits. On Easter there was the biggest procession and the people marched without their veils. I went to the midnight mass in the Cathedral the night before Easter. I couldn’t believe it was so crowded that some people had to stand, even in that huge church! It was a beautiful mass but some things were slightly different. I thought it was strange that during the Baptisms the priest would hold the naked baby up in front of the whole crowd and then fully dunk the screaming child under water. In our Easter masses at home they simply pour the holy water on the baby’s forehead.

The weather has been fantastic, lots of sun and a always nice breeze. Yesterday was an event called “El Bando de la Huerta” and it was one of the best days I’ve had here in Murcia. Everyone was dressed in typical costumes from the region and out in the streets drinking. There were parades all day, buses with loud music driving all over down and booths with food set up on every corner. I went with Roberto and his friends to a park where most of the students were meeting. They had more food than they needed and even more to drink. We went in the morning and sat there in the sun all day in our costumes, we didn’t leave until 10 or 11. Some of them wanted to practice a bit of English, it was rather amusing! A group of three students started to sing “head and shoulders knees and toes knees and toes…” I thought I was going to die laughing! They were even doing the movements! Another guy told me he was a graffiti artist and asked me if I wanted to go graffiti the town with him. Tempting very tempting.

The first weekend of our break I went to the Czech Republic with 3 other American girls that I met here in Murcia. We stayed there for about six days and had an amazing time. It started out a little hectic because I almost missed the bus to leave for Barcelona. I was attempting to enroll in my classes and they kept sending me to get more paperwork. By the time I got back to my apartment I only had ten minutes to eat, pack and run to the bus station. It took us so long to get to Barcelona because the bus continued to stop for 45 minutes at each stop the whole way there. When we arrived in Barcelona it was midnight and we had to stay awake until we could catch another bus to our airport at 6 in the morning. We arrived at the airport at 7 in the morning and then had to wait for our plane to Brno that was leaving at 10. When we did finally get to the Czech Republic we were so tired but had to start our day because we didn’t have a place to sleep yet. Our friend Cassie studied in the Czech Republic for a year so it was really helpful to have her with us. She speaks fluent Czech and Russian (and obviously Spanish because she is studying in Spain)! How impressive! She was our translator and also taught us basic phrases so that we could be semi-polite. The first night we met up with some of her friends in Brno and got drinks with them. One of her friends showed us this cool little chocolate bar where we had hot chocolate with chili powder, it was really good! In Brno we climbed up to a city lookout.  We decided to stop and get a drink in a little tavern like place on the top.  We ordered beers and when the server was leaning over to set the appetizer on the table she spilled my beer on my head!  I was drenched, even my glasses were dripping with beer! I had to go to the bathroom and change into the second of my three outfits I had brought with me.  Worst of all she didn’t even give me a free drink!

I really like the Czech food, the best thing I ate was the Halusky and the Goulash. The Halusky was a mixture of pork, thick dumpling like noodles, and sauerkraut. We stayed one night in Brno and then went to Prague. The first day we wandered around Prague and found our Hostel. This was really the Hostel from a horror film. We walked out the front door and there was broken glass and graffiti. We saw almost everything in Prague and we weren’t rushed. We saw Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, Nicholas’s Cathedral, Wenceslas Square, Dancing House (by Frank Gehry), the Synagogues in the old Jewish quarter, Prague castle, and more. I fell in love with the Mucha museum! We were invited by some guy we met in a club from Arizona to go to a big Art opening in Prague castle. The president of the Czech Republic and the Mayor were going to be there, the only problem was that it was formal and we only had one outfit for the whole week. We didn’t sleep for three days on our way home, just small naps on random buses and trains. We had to spend the day in Barcelona waiting for our bus to leave to Murcia so we decided to go check out the city a bit. We took a tour of the Casa Batlló by Antoní Gaudí. Gaudí was an Art Nouveau-Art Deco artist working in Barcelona in the early 20th century. He built most of the tourist attractions that make Barcelona so famous. La Pedrera with Casa Mila, Casa Battló, Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, and more! The house is like something out of who-ville in a Dr. Suess book.

Right now I am sitting at the kitchen table with Rosaria. She is studying (how good she is) I need to get on that myself. I told her I didn’t like the milk here in Spain, really it is super strange. She just asked me if we had milkmen in the United States that bring us glass bottles of milk to our doors. Oh the television! Enjoy the pics!

I decided to put my photos on like this because I can show more and they take less space!

http://http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068229&l=bc4c4&id=47202615 (pictures from Paris)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070812&l=e4239&id=47202615 (The beach and Czech Republic)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070815&l=bcecf&id=47202615(Barcelona y Semana Santa)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067296&l=662dd&id=47202615(Madrid, Toledo and Murcia)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067222&l=0c7c0&id=47202615 (Murcia)

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