On-Tour Assignment

Something I noticed about Spanish television is that news are less censured than in the U.S. there news are presented as cruel as they are and images are also shown. Also I noticed that they say some words normally as if they don’t have any bad meanings. For example, there are some words that are prohibited on TV in the U.S. or any other Spanish speaking country and in Spain are not. When it comes to magazines there is not much differences for me they look the same with different products and different celebrities. Many things in Spain where exactly as I imagined. It is a beautiful country with a diversity of things one can see. I really liked Barcelona. It is a beautiful city where one can do many things, from visiting museums and historical places to even going to the beach. Cities where very clean compared to NY. I thought people where more outgoing unfortunately not all of them are. Although you can find a variety of people from all over the world just like in the U.S.

My Spain Adventure

Thursday March 11, 2010
After sleeping only two hours the night before, I woke up and went to Kean to take my International Economics exam and attended my international business trade class. Then I quickly went to go buy something to eat and after eating went to pick up my friend Maria to go together to the Airport. When we got to the airport professor Larry was already waiting for us. Once we entered inside the Airport we did the check out and went directly to our gate which was number 71 with destiny to Barcelona Spain. After about an hour we bordered our plane. When we were almost leaving, the airplane went OFF. I was very afraid. But after about half an hour the problem was fixed and we departure to Barcelona…The flight was great!!!!

Friday March 12, 2010
We arrived in Barcelona at about 10:30am (Barcelona time (6:30am U.S. time). At the Airport was our guide tourist waiting for us. She quickly introduced herself as Nancy. At the airport we had to wait until another two groups coming from Mississippi and Massachusetts jointed us. After we all got together we went outside the Barcelona airport and got into a bus that took us to Balmes Hotel where we expended all our Barcelona’s nights. When we got to the hotel like at 11:40am there was Maria’s family old friend Ulises waiting for us. After listening to the announcements and getting our room keys Maria and I went quickly to leave our luggage in our room. We were surprised to see the size of the bedrooms, beds, hall ways and everything in the hotel. Well, after looking around our room and leaving the luggage we left to Valencia with Ulises. We drove two and a half hour to get to Valencia. In our way we saw many interesting things such as orange and grape cultivations. Once in Valencia we went to eat and say hi to Ulises’s family. Then we went to the city of Valencia where we saw many different thing such as “La Plaza de Toro” and the beautiful “Fallas” that are typical of Valencia. After walking around Valencia for a couple of hours we went to the train station and bought tickets to get to Barcelona. It took us about 4 hours to get to Barcelona. After in the hotel we call our relatives and by the time we went to sleep it was 3:30am.

Saturday March 13, 2010
A beautiful day!!!!!... Woke up at 7:00am, ate breakfast and went on our tour through Barcelona. We first got into a bus that took us to various different places such as the Park Guell, Paseo de gracia, which is a very famous street in Barcelona that holds many of Gaudi’s architectural buildings, and La Sagrada Familia. After the bus trip we went to get some bikes to go on our next tour, this time on bikes…it was great…one of the most beautiful experiences of my life…while in the bikes we visited different parts of the city where we saw beautiful monuments and the Mediterranean sea by the villa olympica. After the bike riding we went to eat lunch; I had some delicious calamari and Paella. After walking around the city we went to a place where we learned how to make art work with ceramic tiles...after that we ate diner…when we finished with the group activity like at 9:00pm we went back to the hotel; Maria and I called our relatives, took a bath and went to explore Barcelona’s nights…we took a taxi and went by the sea front where they have lots of clubs one next to the other… it was a great experience I never saw anything like that in my life….after dancing a couple of songs Maria and me went back to the hotel and went to sleep at about 4:30 in the morning.



Sunday March 14, 2010
Sunday, was the first day where we got to sleep up to 10am…after waking up and finding out that we were late for breakfast Maria and I rushed to the bathroom and went down to the hotel eating area to eat our breakfast…after eating breakfast we went back to our room and changee to go to the Picasso Museum. It was great!!!! We saw many of Picasso’s art works and learn about the different transitions he made in his painting…we got out from the museum at 2:30pm and went back to the hotel where we had to meet the rest of the group…after we waited for everyone from the group we headed back to the city of Barcelona on out last tour through the beautiful monuments and pieces of history one can find in Barcelona…while in our tour we visited king Fernando’s and Isabel’s palace which was the place where Christopher Columbus sat down with them and asked them to fund his explorations around the world. We also visited other important sites like the “the Saint Eulalie’s Cathedral” and “La Caida de San Eulalia”. After the last tour through Barcelona we went to diner to eat some paella…After the diner we went back to the hotel got our bags and went to take the overnight train that took us to Granada…The Train Experience was great it was once in a life time experience before this trip I never got into an overnight or saw a train that had beds, sinks and bathrooms…Although the space was very little and I had 3 roommates I slept better than in the hotel.

Monday March 15, 2010

Another day of adventure, this time in Granada….we arrived at Granada Train Station at 9:30am where our bus was already waiting for us…after getting everyone inside the bus we went to our hotel, Los Angeles Hotel (very beautiful and comfortable hotel), where we ate breakfast.. .we put our bags inside one of the hotel’s room and went quickly to eat breakfast. After breakfast we went on a tour around Granada where the King and the Queen rest. After Nancy finished with her tour we had about an hour to go around the town to buy things we may have needed or wanted…I bought my family little present that were at very accessible prices. After that we went back to the bus and headed to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a beautiful palace with a beautiful view and beautiful patios…From there you can see the whole city of Granada. It has a beautiful architecture. It is amazing, this is one of the places that everyone should see. From the Alhambra one can also see the Egyptian’s Caves. This cave where built by Egyptian immigrants who decided to go to Spain looking for a better life…They decided to built this caves under the ground of some mountains of Granada because it was the cheapest way of obtaining a home…This caves are truly amazing they look like a real house made out of cement. After the Alhambra we went back to the hotel, took a bath and change to go to our flamenco dance class. This flamenco dance class was great, I enjoyed it so much…we all had fun and learned some important steps of the dance…After the Dance lessons we walked to a restaurant which is a cave where we had diner and enjoyed a flamenco show by 2 singers and 4 dancers. After diner we went back to the hotel.



Tuesday March 16, 2010

We woke up very early because we needed to be in the bus by 8:05. Once everyone got inside the bus at around 8:30am we then started driving to Córdoba. There we visited the Mesquite which was converted into a Cathedral when the king re-conquered Cordoba from the Islamic community. It is a very big monument with unique architecture. After our tour through the Mesquite we went around Cordoba and ate lunch…Maria and I ate “Rabo de Torro” It was delicious I could say it was the best Spanish dish I ever tasted. As we had so many things to do and places to visit, after lunch we went back to the bus and headed on our way to Madrid. Before getting to Madrid we stopped in La Mancha where one of the most famous Spanish Character lived “Don Quijote” an imaginary character created by Servantes the most important writer of Spain. We stopped there for half hour and then continued our trip into Madrid. While in the road we saw olive trees and beautiful portraits. We got to the hotel in Madrid at 9:00pm checked in and quickly went back down to go eat dinner. We had dinner at an Argentinean’s restaurant it was delicious; I eat grilled chicken, pasta salad and ice cream. After diner we all went on a walk through the city and passed by “El Palacio Real” and by “The plaza Mayor” and other parts of the city. When we got back to the hotel it was already 12:00am.




Wednesday March 17, 2010

We all had to meet at the Hotel lobby like at 8am in order to go have breakfast. After breakfast we walked to the bus and drove to “Museo Del Prado” there we expended about 2.5 hours. We look at paintings of Velasco and Franco, beautiful paintings that narrates history. After the museum we headed to a farm called “El Bosque” to watch a bullfight presentation. Before watching the presentation we had lunch and then had a tour through the farm. It was great!!! After the tour by the farm we went to see the bullfight simulation. The bullfighters thought us basic moves and told us how a bullfighter gets to be famous. After having a beautiful afternoon at the farm we got back to the city. Maria and I got back to the hotel like at 7:00pm. After taking a bath Maria and me went to meet my cousin and went around the city and then to eat dinner. We went back to the hotel at 12:30am.



Thursday March 18, 2010
We woke early because we were to meet the group at the lobby by 7:30am to go eat lunch. After eating lunch we went to catch the bus and headed on our way to Toledo. There we meet our local guide tourist and started walking around. We got to walk through the once Capital of Spain. After taking a look at the Cathedral of Toledo and other tourist attractions we left the city and went to our cooking lessons. We help the chefs cook the meals and then ate the delicious food we helped prepare. After that we headed back to Madrid, in our way we stopped to see the beautiful view of the city of Toledo. We got back to Madrid like a 5:00pm. Maria and I went to buy some souvenirs for our relatives. After walking for hours we finally got to buy what we wanted. We got back to the hotel like at 9:40pm and finished packing our luggage like a 12:00am. After taking a bath and changing Maria, my cousin and I headed on our last nine in Madrid. We went to a night club named “El Son”. We dance and talked for a while. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 5:00am.

Friday March 19, 2010
Our last day in Madrid!!! We had to be at the hotel lobby at 7:15am in order to be on time to catch our airplane back home. When we got to the airport like at 8:30am we found out that our plane was 4 hours behind. Continental airlines gave us a ticket with which we can obtain something to eat and an international phone card in order for us to call our family and inform them about the delay. While we waited we to talked, shopped and even used our computers. At 1:30pm we started boarding the plane and at 2:30pm we departure Madrid international airport. This gave end to our adventure in Spain!!!

Pre-Trip Preparations

SPAIN
Expectations!!!
Since I was a little girl I have always thought about visiting Spain. I always had the curiosity of knowing its people and their way of living. I always wanted to get a feeling of how advanced Spain is compare to United States and other Latin American countries. I always thought of Spain as a country very well known for its history of conquers and royalty, after all my country was conquered by the Spanish. By looking at the news and listening to people who live or have visited Spain before I have an idea of how it may be. I think of Spain as a very advance and organized country. I expect its cities and trains to be very clean, as I have heard and have seen on TV. I expect the cities to be quiet and stopped or the bars full of people drinking and eating their famous Spanish Tapas after 2pm, due to the siestas which are very famous in Spain.

Spanish Tapas!!!

Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). According to legend, the tapas tradition began when Castile's king, Alfonso X of Castile or Alfonso the Wise, recovered from an illness by drinking wine mixed with small dishes between meals. After regaining his health, the king ordered that taverns were not allowed to serve wine to customers unless the beverage was accompanied by a small snack or Tapa. The word became a kind of loophole in the law to allow drinkers to consume alcohol. I can wait to try their famous tapas during siesta time!!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas

Flamenco!!!

Flamenco is a style of music which is considered part of the culture of Spain, but is actually native to only one region: Andalusia. It is believed to have grown out of the fusion of Arabic, Andalusian, Sephardic, and Gypsy cultures prior to and after the Reconquest. It is also applied to the dance style performed to flamenco music. The origins of the term are unclear - the word Flamenco is not recorded until the 19th century. Flamenco is the music of the Andalusian gypsies and played in their social community. Andalusian people who grew up around gypsies were also accepted as "flamencos" (Paco de Lucía). I believe that flamenco is a very sexy dance..I love to learn how to dance Flamenco!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamencohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamenco

The Mesquite of Cordoba

The Mesquite of Cordoba is a Roman Catholic Cathedral originally built as a Mosque on the place (and partly with materials) of what previously had been a Christian Visigothic Church in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain. It is regarded as perhaps the most accomplished monument of the Umayyad dynasty of Córdoba. After the Spanish Reconquista, it was turned into a church, with a Gothic cathedral inserted into the center of the large Moorish building. Today the entire building is used to house the Cathedral of the diocese of Córdoba in Spain. This is a great example of the different backgrounds one could find in Spain I cannot wait to go there.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezquita

Bullfighting

Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, some cities in southern France and in several Latin American countries, in which one or more bulls are ritually killed in a bullring as a public spectacle. The tradition, as it is practiced today, involves professional toreros (toureiros in Portuguese; also referred to as toreadors in English), who execute various formal moves in order to subdue the bull itself. Such maneuvers are performed at close range, and have in some cases resulted in injury or even death of the performer. The bullfight usually concludes with the death of the bull by a sword thrust. Although I think that Bullfighting is a very dangerous activity I want to be able to go see one just to see what it is like.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting

La Alhambra

A palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, now in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Once the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and their court, the site became a Christian palace. Within the Alhambra, the Palace of Charles V was erected by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1527.
I have read pieces of literature of Spanish writers and I will never forget when in one of my classes we read a poem that talked about The Alhambra. Just to know that I will be going there and that I will be able to see a vivid image of what I read makes me feel lucky.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra

Media Research!!
Pre-Trip

Spain as many other European countries uses PAL (Phase Alternation –Line) television system. The Spanish television is composed of five National Channels two of which are state-owned; TVE-I and TVE-2, the two are financed by subsidy and advertising. Then there are Antena -3 and Telecinco which are private channels, financed by advertising. Finaly there is Canal+ which is private and is financed by subscription. Eight regional channels also contribute to the Spanish television environment: TV-3 and Canal 33 (financed by advertising and subsidy of Catalan government); Canal Sur (financed by advertising and subsidy of Andalusian government); Telemadrid: (property of Madrid regional government, financed by advertising and bank loans); Canal 9 (financed by advertising and subsidy of Valencian government); TVG (financed by advertising and subsidy of Galician government); ETB-I and ETB-2 (financed by advertising and subsidy of Basque government). TVE-I offers uninterrupted programming from early morning to late night and has the largest audience. TVE 2 has a flexible programming, which lends special attention to sports broadcasts and live broadcast of important cultural events.Spanish watch films 25.9% of the time, followed by series (15.4%), kids programs (12%), news (11.2%), musicals and variety shows (10%), sports (9.2%), and game shows and other programs (16.3%).
Between 1975 and 1990, Spanish television emerged from a system of absolute state control to a regulated system in which both privately- and publicly-owned channels compete for advertising sales within national and regional markets.

Spain Major Newspapers:

1. El Mundo
2. El Pais
3. ABC
4. Sport
5. AS
6. El Periodico De Catalunya
7. La Vanguardia
8. Avui
9. El Telegrafo
10. Cinco Dias

Spain Most Popular Magazines:

1. Ragazza
2. HOLA!
3. Fusion
4. Mujer 21
5. Elle
6. Epoca
7. Telva
8. Sobremesa
9. Crecer Feliz
10. Casa Viva

http://sispain.org/english/media/televisi.html
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=spain

All About My Mother



All About My Mother (Spanish: Todo sobre mi madre) is a 1999 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The screenplay deals with complex issues such as AIDS, transvestitism, faith, and existentialism. The plot originates in Almodóvar's earlier film The Flower of My Secret which shows student doctors being trained in how to persuade grieving relatives to allow organs to be used for transplant, focusing on the mother of a teenager killed in a road accident. The film centers on Manuela, a nurse who oversees donor organ transplants in Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid and single mother to Esteban, a teenager who wants to be a writer. On his seventeenth birthday, her son Esteban is hit by a car and killed while chasing after actress Huma Rojo for her autograph following a performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, in which she portrays Blanche DuBois. Manuela has to agree with her colleagues at work that her son's heart be transplanted to a man in La Coruña. After his son death Manuela journeys to Barcelona, where she hopes to find her son's father Lola, a transvestite she kept secret from her son, just as she never told Lola they had a son. There she meet other people as Rosa a young lady who was pregnant of Lola and was infected by Lola with AIDS; She also meet Nina, an actress with a drug addition problem and partner of Huma Rojo.
All About My Mother is a movie that touches many controversial and realistic issues. This movie gave me a sense of what one could find in Spain beside history and beautiful monument. This movie definitively influenced how I will enjoy my stay in Spain specially nights where one has to be more careful about where one go or do. This movie also gave me the idea that people in Spain are very open minded and are more advanced in the issue of homosexually than the US. It also gave me the feeling that I will have so much fun talking to Spanish people and learning new words.