My classes in Spain

All of my classes are in complete spanish. We had to sign a contract the other day saying that anytime you are in the University (classes, hallways, lobby) you are not allowed to use English. A teacher will correct you when you start talking to your friends in the hallway in english. Although at times this gets annoying because it is 10 times easier to zone out in class in spanish than one in english it has been extremely helpful with my spanish thus far. 

Spanish Grammar: Generally easy so far we have just been doing basic reviewing and learning about the different parts of Spain. It seems more like a history of Spain class than a grammar class so far so hopefully that will begin to change. 

Almodovar Movie Class: This has been my favorite class so far not only because we just watch movies and talk about them during the class period but because of how crazy his movies are. If you have ever seen an Almodovar movie before you know what I'm talking about. His movies are unlike any American movie you will ever watch because they include A LOT of sex scenes, A LOT of drug scenes, and A LOT of abnormal situations. For example; nuns snorting coke throughout their day and falling in love with girls they bring into their convent to help. He is mainly known for showing all of his women characters as very strong and independent women. 

History of Spanish Architecture: This is class is my easiest one to zone out in unfortunately. A lot of the architectural words used in this class I'm not familiar with in spanish therefore making it extremely easy for me to not pay attention. However, thank god our teacher writes down the important facts of what she is saying on the board and I'm learning the spanish architectural words it is just taking some getting used it. 

Spanish Contemporary Film: Again, I love my movie classes because we are able to just watch a movie in class and then talk about it. However, in this class there are no subtitles for the movies which has made it much harder to follow especially because the characters in movies speak much faster than our teachers. 

Greco, Velazquez, and Goya in the Prado Museum: Another one of my favorite classes because this one actually takes place inside of the Prado Museum, one of Spain's most famous museums. During each class we look at one specific painter and learn about all his paintings and the techniques in which he uses. Having a personal tour every other day of all the paintings has been a great learning experience. While we wear headsets to this class our teacher speaks through a microphone into the headset so that we are not disrupting the other onlookers. 

Day trip to San Sebastian

During our short stay in Bilbao we took a day trip to San Sebastian, a popular beach resort and get away for wealthy spaniards being compared to the Hamptons in America. San Sebastian is an absolutely beautiful place however, upon arriving to the town to our dismay it was raining and an extremely gross day outside but that did not stop us from checking out the amazing town anyway. To the right is what San Sebastian should look like during the summer on a gorgeous day.... The bottom picture is what San Sebastian looked like they day we were able to visit....definitely not as nice :-(

However, it was still interesting to walk around and learn about the town. San Sebastian is a great surfing area for those who love huge waves. Standing on the edge looking over the water several feet up you will still get splashed by the force of the water and the large waves crashing into the rocks. Although the waves were not as big as normal when we visited here is a picture of what the waves have looked like and what they looked like when we visited. You get the idea of how forceful they can be any day of the week!

Although it was raining during most of our trip to San Sebastian we still made it out to be a great trip. I tried my first gelato here, flan flavored gelato, definitely one of the best things I have tried in Europe so far.











San Sebastian's City Hall








                                                                                
                                                                                    




All of the trees in Bilbao and San Sebastian look like this!

Weekend trip to Bilbao

Bilbao is located in the North of Spain about 4 hours from Madrid. It's biggest tourist attraction is the newly designed Guggenheim Museum located in the center of town. Designed by North American architect Frank O. Gehry, the museum has created some of the most groundbreaking architecture and design of our time. The building was made out of titanium metal replicating what looks like fish scale tiles. Due to Bilbao's economic failures the museum was built in order to lure tourists into the city regaining the elegance the city once had in the 16th centuries.

Upon arriving to Bilbao after an extremely early bus ride we were able to settle into la jardin hotel located 5 minutes down the road from the Guggenheim museum. After staying in my first hostel in Lisbon it was nice to stay in a great hotel with friends. We then took a walk around the entire city which we were able to conquer in about an hour and a half mainly looking at old banks, churches and beautiful bridges located around the city.



The Campo Volatin Bridge in Bilbao is a tied arch footbridge across the Nervion River in Bilbao supported by steel suspension. It was built by Santiago Caltrava in order to link the right and left banks together. The nightlife in Bilbao does not compare to the nightlife in Madrid however, we were able to stumble upon one extremely fun night club although unlike Madrid night clubs in Bilbao actually close at a decent hour: 3:00 am leaving all of us used to the Madrid clubs stunned and wanting to rage longer!

Penn State in Lisbon!

Penn Stater's representing in Lisbon, Portugal!

Our view from the top of the palace!

Day Trip to Sintra, Portugal

Sintra is the perfect day trip for those staying in Lisbon, Portugal. It is only a 45 minute train ride that costs 4.50 euro round trip! They drop you off right by the bus stop thats stops at all the tourist locations! We were able to see Pena National Palace (one of the most beautiful palaces I have ever seen), the moorish castle, the palace of Sintra, and Sintra's amazing coastline. The Pena National Palace took most of the day because it stands on the highest hill overlooking all of Sintra and you never want to leave! Built by King Ferdinand II the palace would serve as a summer home for the royal family until his death when it was passed into the possession of his second wife. Although no pictures were allowed to be taken inside of the palace it ceilings and walls were some of the most exquisite architecture and painting I have ever seen!

The ceilings inside of the palace were so delicately sculpted and designed. The detail of the palace on the outside is almost as detailed as the walls and ceilings on the inside. Although Sintra was an overall amazing day I regret wearing leather boots in a completely hiking area. My friends and I did not realize how much we would be walking not only up hills, stairs, and dirt but on cobble stones and unpaved streets! My black leather boots are not necessarily the type of shoes you want to be wearing during these excursions. Note to self for our next trip!

The next site we were able to see was only a short walk down the hill from the National Palace and it reminded me of the great wall! It was probably close to as much walking as the great wall would be thats for sure! It was called the Castle of the Moors built by the Moors in the early 9th or 10th century! The castle was built as a wall for protection of the National Palace. It is easy to see that the walls of the castle provide complete protection and control over the surrounding areas.

Imagine walking all of this in black leather boots! Doesn't it really resemble the great wall?

Before entering the Castle of the Moors!

Our group on top of the castle!

Inside the castle!

After a long day of walking and hiking in uncomfortable shoes our last stop was the National Palace of Sintra. This palace is the best preserved medieval palace in Portugal. It has been inhabited continuously from the 15th century up until the 19th century. 

Recipe for Pastel de Nata

This post is specifically for my brother and dad (the best cooks I know) to try and make this portuguese dessert for when I return home. Because the pastel de Nata recipe is completely secret and heavily guarded this is the next best thing.

pasteis de nata
Source: www.algarvebuzz.com
Difficulty: easier than it looks and very rewarding

prepared puff pasty – defrosted but kept cold
1 ¾ cups whole milk
¼ cup cream
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp white sugar
pinch salt
2 tbsp plain flour
½ cinnamon stick
2 strips lemon peel
½ tsp vanilla extract

Pastry Cream Instructions

1. In a sauce pan add milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, salt, flour mix well with a whisk to ensure all the ingredients are well combined, do not turn heat on yet.
2. Once all ingredients are combined and there are no lumps of sugar or flour add cinnamon stick, lemon peel and vanilla.
3. Turn heat on to low stirring continuously and gently with whisk. *Note it’s very important to heat the milk slowly, if the milk is heated too quickly, egg yolks could coagulate like scrambled eggs and ruin the consistency of the custard.
4. Continue stirring until it cream becomes quite thick and resembles a rich pudding. Watch for thickening around the edges of the pan, you want a really smooth cream so make certain to get in the sides and bottom edges of the pan.
5. Let cool completely. When cooled, remove cinnamon stick and lemon peel.
6. To avoid milk skin from forming on custard you can place parchment paper on top of warm custard and it will lift out easily when you go to use it to fill puff pasty shells.

Preparing Pastry Shells

1. Preheat oven to 225F (107C) [update: 300 F (148C)]
2. Roll out cold puff pastry dough with pin on floured surface, until 1/4 cm thick.
3. Once rolled out thin, dusk off excess flour and begin rolling puff pastry like a long cigar. Roll pastry snugly but not tight, just enough to avoid a lot of space or air pockets in roll.
4. Place pastry roll length wise and cut in 4cm lengths
5. Then take each cut piece in hand and push down center of roll to meet center of opposite side, gently press pastry with fingers to spread out dough to create what will feel like half of a hallow pastry ball. Work in circular pattern and pastry will start to thin and from a cup shape. If dough gets sticky use a little flour to help it along. Finished shells should be about 1/4cm, thin but not enough to see your hand through. If you like puff pastry you can make the shells a little thicker, but a couple of tries of the finished version will let you know your preference.
6. Place pastry in muffin tray, and spread out to sides but don’t stretch dough upward, just gently press against side of muffin tin to ensure it won’t shrink too much when baking.
7. When all pastry shells are ready fill with pastry cream, do not fill to top. Fill to ¾ or a bit more but leaving 1- 1.5cm at top of pastry.
8. Place custards in oven and bake for 15min, but keep eye on custards as some ovens can burn top quite quickly, while others don’t cook the pastry quickly enough. If pastry around sides looks deep golden colour pastries are done.

Pasteis de Nata can be served warm or cold, but highly recommended with a good sprinkle of cinnamon on top. The Portuguese are very particular about their Pasteis de Nata, some people must have theirs more burnt on top, others like them just golden. Regardless of how you have them they are a wonderful addition to an afternoon tea or coffee and can also accompany a nice port or Madeira. They also make for a great breakfast treat or even on their own as dessert, enjoy!

My first trip outside of Spain- Lisbon, Portugal

When planning our first trip outside of Spain many people asked me why Portugal? Well, why not? Have you ever seen pictures of Portugal? It is absolutely beautiful and the capitol, Lisbon, is the perfect city to do a weekend trip because it is only a 55 minute plane flight! Not having classes on Friday also makes it easy to leave Thursday night and have a great 3-4 day weekend trip somewhere. Flying into Lisbon you get a great view of the April 25 bridge connecting Lisbon to the municipality of Almada. The bridge is extremely identical to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and was actually built by the same company, the American Bridge Company. It is the 20th largest suspension bridge in the entire world! 

Upon arriving into the city of Lisbon it was already a dramatic difference in temperature compared to Madrid. No jacket needed in this sunny city. Not only was this going to be my first time in Portugal but it was my first time staying in a hostel and oh what an experience that was. Because my mom is very particular about the hotel rooms she has stayed in I have always been lucky to stay in very amazingly clean and beautiful hotel rooms. I understand that I paid 12 euro a night so clearly I was not expecting anything special, but I think the bruises on my body from the springs on what they called a mattress explain my satisfaction with my first hostel experience. However, I cannot complain too much because the picture to the right was our view from our hostel room. Not too shabby eh?








Lisbon is an extremely old city which can be shown by their cobblestone roads. Ladies leave the stiletto heels behind whenever making a trip here. There are NO paved roads in ALL of Lisbon and I learned this the hard way unfortunately.

Our first night out in Lisbon we went to a great Portuguese restaurant located only a few short blocks from our hostel. When ordering out in Lisbon make sure you try their cod fish because this is what they are known for. (which by the way I don't know how you can really make cod much better. It's cod for goodness sake! It can really only be as good as the sauce and spices it's cooked in.) The night life in Lisbon was surprisingly very different than the clubbing scene back in Madrid. Instead the portuguese LOVE to drink outside in the streets and not just with a few friends either. The streets of Barrio Alto beginning around midnight will become PACKED with people. It will take a taxi about 10 minutes just to go 3 blocks. 

The following day was an amazing sight seeing experience of the entire city of Lisbon. As a group we decided to take the "hop on hop off" bus tour of Lisbon. I highly recommend this for anyone but especially those who do not have a lot of time to see the city. It was only 15 euro and the bus took us to every tourist spot, monument and sight that needed to be seen! The picture to the left is one of me and my friend in front of the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon. This was my first open top bus tour and it was a great first experience. We were able to see everything and hop off the bus if we wanted to stay longer in one area and hop back on when we were done sight seeing! Definitely recommend this! 

Some of the sights we saw along our tour included the Belem tower, the Discoveries Monument, Estrela Basilica, Lisbon's bull fighting stadium and the national church of Santa Engracia. Our first stop was to the Belem Tower, one of Lisbon's oldest and most well known monuments. The tower was built in the early 16th century as a fortress in order to protect the entrance to Lisbon's harbor. It was commissioned by King John II as part of a defense system and and ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. It has some of the most amazing architecture I have ever seen. 

 

The next site we went to was the Discoveries Monument located across from the Belem Tower and also along the water. This monument shown to the right was inaugurated in 1960 during the celebration of the 500 year anniversary of Henry the Navigator. Not only does it include Henry the Navigator at the front tip of the monument but it includes various other Portuguese heroes.

Portugal's bull fighting stadium is seen to the left. Bull fighting season in Spain does not start until the end of March into early April and runs until about September. Although I'm a little hesitant on seeing a bull fight I will definitely be seeing one before I leave Spain. (And don't worry I will blog all about it!)

Lisbon's Royal Palace

Last but not least before leaving Portugal you must try un pastel de nata, Lisbon's most famous secret recipe! This small flaky custard dessert is a portuguese delicacy. The original recipe for pastel de natas was invented by two catholic sisters in a convent and has since then been heavily guarded. (Only one dessert shop in Portugal has the true recipe for this fine dessert) The original name for the dessert was "pastel de belem" but many pasterlerias have tried to copy the dessert and since then its popularity spread all through Portugal. They are sold in any pasteleria in Portugal however, the only place to carry the true guarded recipe is the Pasteis de Belem which are still said to be the best.