Around Segovia

This week I visited the inside of the Cathedral with my art class. This Cathedral stands next to my school in what is called the Plaza Mayor. My art teacher told us that it is not the biggest or the oldest Cathedral but it is considered one of the most beautiful in Spain. It was also the last Gothic Cathedral to be built in Spain. The inside of the Cathedral was gorgeous but I didn't remember much about the pictures I took other than the one which is posted below. It appears to look like I just took a picture of the floor but it is actually an area in the Cathedral with a circular depression. This depression was caused by many women who have stood on one foot and twirled on that spot. The legend goes that if you stand on that spot and twirl you will be married or get into a relationship within a year. ( I believe it was a year.) I do not believe anyone in our class even attempted to do it, ha ha, besides Courtney who has just recently gotten engaged (congrats!).In another of my classes we are working on cultural projects. My project is basically an analysis of the Super Markets (Wal-Mart back in the States and Eroski here) and small traditional stores here in Spain. According to information in our culture book, Culturas de Espana, nearly 8,000 small stores (perfume shops, pharmacies, fresh fish and fruit stores) closed in 1998 alone. I decided to ask my Senora to make a few comments about it and what she had to say about this topic interested me. She said for the most part she does her shopping close to her "barrio". In other words the small stores here in Segovia. Sol, my Senora, said they are more expensive but generally are of a much higher quality. Another advantage of the smaller stores is that she is able to have a personal relationship with the employees. They know what she likes and how much of it she wants. On the other hand the larger stores such as Eroski afford someone the opportunity to purchase all the groceries they need in one location at a very cheap price. Sol said, and I agree, that she hopes the small stores stay open but that it will be a struggle for them. Below is a picture of my Senora, Ashley and I after dinner. We had alot of food and that is when I decided to ask her a few questions!

This picture was taken the same night our French students arrived. There were three boys and each of them were about 15 or 16. One of the things that I love most about Europe is that everyone here is interested in speaking another language or has at least some sort of experience speaking it. In the United States being bi lingual, for the most part, is a rarity. Here it is common. When I was talking to the boys in Spanish they began talking a bit in English. They have actually been studying English since they were in 4th grade and are now beginning to learn Spanish. Their English was not perfect but I was impressed that they were each working on speaking three languages. According to our new set of French students that just moved in today, almost every school has a requirement to learn another language. I realize English is the language of business and trade but I feel that the school systems in the United States should have more language classes available at the elementry level in public school systems so more students have the opportunity to learn another language at a young age. Language barriers are a large problem of conflict in todays world and I believe alot of problems could be solved if we could understand each other...and the first step to doing that is being able to speak the same language. Below is the picture of the three French students, myself and Ashley discussing language over dinner.

Segovia's Castle (Alcázar of Segovia)

This week we took a tour of the local Castle in Segovia with our culture class. As usual I looked up a bit of information about the Castle before I went in order to better appreciate the significance of this Castle. One of the most interesting things, for me, is that this Castle was one of the inspirations for the Walt Disney castle. Below is a picture of Walt Disney's Castle.However, it obviously served a more important role. It was originally built as a fortress but has since served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy.

The following information contained in this blog has been paraphrased from various sites on Wikipedia. I was not able to obtain enough information about the Alcazar, Juana la Loca, or Isabella from other sources in order to provide a description that is as sufficient as the words from Wikipedia. The links to the various sites containing this information can be found at the following addresses:

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

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

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

This Castle was the favorite residences of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Castile and an important fortress in the defense of the kingdom. The Kingdom of Castile was a medieval kingdom. It came to fruition in the 9th century. It was one of the kingdoms that founded the Crown of Castile, and the Kingdom of Spain. During the rule of the Kingdom of Castile the castle was constructed and the palace was extended by the Monarchs.

The royal court eventually moved to Madrid and this Castle, as previously mentioned, served as a state prison for almost two centuries before King Carlos III founded the Royal Artillery School in 1762. It served this function for almost a hundred years until March 6 1862 where a fire destroyed the roofs and framework. In 1882 the Castle was restored to its original state. Then four years later King Alfonso XII ordered the Alcázar to be handed over to the Ministry of War as a military college.

Almost each king that lived in the Castle added new parts to the building. King Philip II added the conical spires and the slate roofs. However, the single largest contributor to the continuing construction of the Alcázar was King John II who built the John II Tower.

Now the "Alcázar" is one of the most popular historical sights in Spain. Some of the more famous rooms in the building include: the Hall of Ajimeces which houses many works of art, the Hall of the Throne and the Hall of Kings with a frieze representing all of the Spanish Kings and Queens all the way to Juana La Loca, pictured below.

I was curious about how Juana la Loca received her name so I looked up information about her. She was the daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella and apparently she cried night and day for her husband while he was overseas. She eventually joined Philip and her insane jealousy and constant suspicion of him made her notorious. In 1503, Juana and Philip traveled to Spain for Joanna's swearing in as heir to the Castile kingdom. Pregnant with her fourth child, Juana became depressed when Philip decided to go back to his own kingdom. She refused to eat and began weeping night and day again. One night, she ran out of the castle, and refused to come back inside despite the freezing weather. After spending thirty-six hours by the castle gates screaming, she became known as "Juana la Loca".

Another interesting fact about the Castle is that in 1474, it played a major role in the rise of her mother; Queen Isabella I, pictured above. Upon King Henry IV's death in Madrid Isabella immediately took refuge within the walls of this Alcázar where she received the support of Andres Cabrera and Segovia's council. She was crowned the next day as Queen of Castile and Leon. It was also the site where she married Ferdinan II. She and her husband laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain. Isabella was also involved in the completion of the "Reconquista", establishing the Spanish Inquisition. She was also the sponsorer of Christopher Columbus' voyages that led to the discovery of America.

Random Pictures and Thoughts :)

This week I did not have any particular big trips or many new pictures. This weekend I had a match on Sunday as usual, however, this week I was not allowed to play. You can see me walking around on the field above. Following my game last week, in which I scored and played very well, my status as an international player has temporarily been revoked. A coach from the opposing team has called the Spanish Soccer Federation inquiring as to my status. In Spain, as I have recently learned, they tend to be rather protective of their soccer and their league and maintaining a majority of Spanish players. Although there are many Spanish players I happened to stand out a bit and I am guessing it frustrated the other coach that I was an American. Since that phone call not only has my status as a player been revoked but every international player in our division is currently unable to play. Two other starters from my team were benched, both obviously international. One of the girls has been playing here for six years, originally from Mexico, and the other has been here two years from Brazil. My coach said this is unusual but has recently become more common as more international players have made their way into the league. I am hoping the issue is resolved before this weekend.

The theme this week is random. As such this is a random picture with Gabby from my trip to France. This picture is of particular significance because this is a picture of her on her 21st birthday. In my culture class I recently gave a report regarding the legal drinking age in Europe in comparison with that of the United States. It is a very interesting topic with many valid points from each side. I consulted a website which I will place a link to at the end of this but I wanted to know the answers, more or less, to the following questions: Who drinks more frequently? Who drinks heavier? Who is intoxicated more often? The answer to all of the previous questions is the Europeans. This website is obviously biased, one which is wishing for the current legal drinking age in the United States to remain the same. This website did briefly address who drank more responsibly; however, they did not provide much data. The general assertion is that since European youth are exposed much earlier to alcohol in a family atmosphere they learn how to drink and drink responsibly as opposed to the youth of the United States.

This is a picture demonstrating the typical American abroad drinking. I am kidding--i just thought the picture was funny. I also thought it important to check out other sites and other statistics regarding drinking among the youth in Europe versus the United States. The other website I consulted provided data that somewhat explained and in a way rebutted the data provided by the previously mentioned website. Basically, the second site I consulted explained that although Europeans do drink more heavily with greater frequency and are intoxicated more often; the ratio of the amount of times they drink to the amount of times they are intoxicated is much smaller than that of the youth of United States. (Youth in these studies is considered 14-18.) For example, 1 in possibly 30 times that a European will drink he/she will be intoxicated whereas a youth from the United States will be intoxicated 1 in 10 times that they drink. Furthermore, this website stated that the amount of alcohol related arrests were significantly more in the United States and at the time of the study the legal blood alcohol limit was higher than that of most all European countries. In addition, alcohol related casualties in the United States also far exceeded that of European countries. This information may be true but, after reading it, I wondered if they took into account that on average the youth in America drive with much more frequency than their European counterparts. It was interesting to analyze and learn about these figures and the motives and opinions of each website.

Toledo

This past weekend my KIIS group went on an excursion to Toledo, Spain. Before going to Toledo I learned much about its history as well as the history of various artists that created within it. One of the most prominent artists that resided in this area was El Greco. I wanted to post this picture which is a view of Toledo and below the picture El Greco created entitled "View of Toledo".

In art class we learned that although El Greco is claimed as a Spanish painter he was born else where. Greco was born in Greece and later moved to Venice, Italy then Rome where he learned under Michelangelo. Eventually El Greco moved to Italy after King Phillip (Felipe) II wanted him to paint El Escorial. El Greco eventually settled in Toledo. While in Italy Greco learned of proportion under Michelangelo as well as painting strong, elegant figures. This period was more or less followed by his Imaginative Period characterized by disproportionate figures, tension, and nervousness which is evident in the above painting. Most of El Greco's paintings share particular characteristics and one of his most famous paintings, which we saw in Toledo in the Church of Saint Thomas (El Greco's church), clearly demonstrates these characteristics. The painting, below, is entitled "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz".

This painting clearly shows a defining characteristic of El Greco which is the representation of two worlds. As evident it shows a heaven above and a terrestrial world below. In order to understand this painting it is important to understand the local legend behind it. The Count of Orgaz, only named such posthumously, was a good, charitable man that lived around the 14th century. According to legend, upon his death Saint Augustine and Saint Stephen descended from heaven and buried him with their own hands. In the picture the individuals surrounding the body of the Count are also from different time periods which is another characteristic of an El Greco painting.

Another interesting aspect of Toledo is the fact that it has previously served as the capital of Spain. The Romans previously occupied and ruled Spain until the Visigoths. Prior to their arrival the Romans had suffered due to Christianity. As I understand it, slavery no long was an acceptable practice. Consequently, the city began to Delcine as their was no longer free labor keeping the town together. The citizens of the city then began to be taxed and as such moved away from the city causing ruralization, thus isolation, making it easy to conquer the Roman Empire. The Visigoths came at a point when the Roman rule was already weak. The Romans brought with them language (Latin), religion, law, and social organization via hierarchies. After the Visigoths defeated the Romans they no longer accepted their sense of hierarchy. The political structure and social structure Rome put in place disappeared. The Visigoths were pre feudal and basically had bishops as rulers as well aristocrats that own all the land which was cared for by slaves. The language remained and they named the capital Toledo.

The last few photos I have in my blog may seem a bit out of place but it actually has great significance to me. This is the same weekend of the Toledo excursion and it is also the same day that I got my first start as a forward ( I have been playing outside mid). Well in my first game at forward I scored my first official international goal. I am not sure if it is just with my team or with all teams but it is customary for every player to hug you. At least I hope that was customary ha ha! Below is another photo that was taken immediately after I scored. You can see the ball going into the net. It is also common here as well as around the world to run into the goal and grab the ball after you score!!! It was a big weekend for me. :)

Paris, France

During Carnivales I visited France with Shelley, Gabby, Trevor and Hannah. I saw many beautiful churches, buildings, sculptures and paintings. Although I appreciated each, it was difficult to fully appreciate each individual piece of art because there were so many! The history behind the particular works are what, in my eyes, truly made them unique.

This is a picture of Notre Dame in Paris. Notre Dame is said to be one of the greatest examples of Gothic architecture. During the French Revolution the Cathedral along with many of the interior pieces of art were actually severely damaged.

Following the Revolution many wanted to tear down the old Gothic architecture and create a new Cathedral. Interestingly enough, an author, Victor Hugo along with architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc are credited with saving the old church and preserving it. The title of Hugo's book about the Cathedral is known by most as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". However, Hugo actually titled the book "Notre Dame de Paris" because he loved the Cathedral and believed it to be the focal point of his book. I previously knew of Victor Hugo and that he had written the Hunchback of Notre Dame but I was unaware of the impact of the novel on the preservation of the Cathedral as well as Hugo's intention of the Cathedral being the main character of his book. Hugo's novel was wildly popular in France and as such this caused the people of France to want to preserve the Gothic Cathedral and renovate it while maintaining the same artistic style. The renovations were led by architect Viollet-le-Duc. While at the Cathedral I was able to take a picture with a man posing as Quasimodo which is shown to the left. I also had the opportunity to visit Hugo's burial site at the Pantheon in Paris. His coffin is pictured below.

As with many old buildings there are many legends, myths and stories. Some hold truth...some don't. One of the most interesting stories that I heard involved a headless saint sculpture at the entrance to Notre Dame. I found out the saint's name was Denis. He is patron of Paris, France. He was martyered when he was beheaded by a sword. The legend surrounding Saint Denis, also called the Golden Legend, is as follows: After the saint's head was chopped off he picked it up and carried it several miles. During his journey it was said he preached a sermon along the way. As the legend goes, the site where he stopped preaching and died is now a shrine called the Saint Denis Basilica. The headless saint is pictured below.

I visited the Eiffel Tower, the Arch, the Pantheon, Napoleon's Burial Site, The National Opera House, Palace of Versailles, and many other places. The most fascinating place to me was the Louve. The Louve contained my favorite sculpture of all time--Victory of Samothrace. The other work the Louve contained which was interesting to me is Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa". Personally, I do not think the painting is that great and I have often wondered why it is so famous. I've heard a lot of the smile but I wanted to learn more about the painting so I read up on it. I discovered a few contributing factors to its popularity. The painting seems to be famous because of the mystique surrounding it. There is still an uncertainty as to whether the individual pictured is male or female. The ambiguous expression on the individuals face (the smile) as well as the features are a few elements that create this wonder or mystique. There is even speculation that Leonardo used his own likeness in the painting. The other element creating mystique is the fact that it has been stolen. I have heard this before but I was never sure. Evidently an Italian janitor working in the Louve hid in a closet and ended up walking out with the painting hidden under his coat. The man's name was Vincenzo Peruggia. He believed that the painting should be taken back to Italy in order to be displayed. Before Peruggia was captured many people were bought in for questioning. The most interesting part of this story is that Pablo Picasso was one of the individuals brought in. Picasso was implicated by a so called 'friend'. He was obviously not the culprit but I just found it very interesting he was brought in. The painting has also been damaged several times including a young man who threw a rock at it. There are often many many people crowded around the painting and its very difficult to get a picture. Somehow I managed to get close enough to have my picture taken with it which is displayed below.

Life and Soccer in Spain

This is a picture of the Real Madrid stadium in Spain. My "host dad" loves Real Madrid. I went to a game last Saturday night and the atmosphere was unbelievable! (It is incredible to see on every street a soccer field instead of a basketball court. ) The only thing when it came to the Real Madrid game that I didn't enjoy was the smoking! There was only one person around me smoking but it was blowing right in my face. At home smoking is definetly not allowed in stadiums and in many public places. However, it was definetly worth the cold weather and smoke because our seats were ridiculous!





Another interesting thing I noticed at the match was that most of the people watching purchased a "bocadillo" during half time. This is basically, as I understand, a flatbread sandwich. I was much more used to seeing hot dogs and hamburgers back home.

This is just a picture to give an idea of how close our seats were. The guys were gorgeous! :)











































Staying with the topic of soccer...I am currently playing for a team here. They are located in Madrid. The game is much different in Europe than it is in the United States. I noticed as much during my first trip to England when I was traveling with my college team at the time, the University of Louisville. I believe we played the women's team from the club Arsenal. The technical skills the European girls possess, in my opinion, on average exceed that of the players from the United States. Europeans from the lowest to the highest levels of the game appear to be more centered around playing the game...not using pure athleticism to win it. This is much more evident in the women's leagues.

Another interesting fact is that most of the females involved in athletics here tend to be bisexual or homosexual. From discussions with my coach I have discovered that this phenomena is actually rooted in the dictatorship of Franco. Under Franco women were expected to fulfill the more traditional role of staying in the house, cleaning, doing laundry, and cooking. Most of the women who did not fulfill that expectation tended to venture into other avenues which happened to be athletics.


In the United States being a female soccer player does not generally carry a negative connotation. However, in Spain there is often a negative sterotype attached with female athletes because most are different and wear baggier clothes and tend to behave more like males which due to the remnants of Franco's dictatorship is still seen as improper. In the United States homosexuality tends to be more prevalent and expected in sports such as softball or basketball. This is my experience anyhow. I was shocked to hear how prevalent it was among female athletes in general here.

Segovia, Spain

The Cathedral is gorgeous! I remember when we were on our tour through Segovia I thought it was pretty cool that our class room was located next to the Cathedral. I plan on going in and looking around when I get a chance! I know they charge a fee during the week but I'm hoping they don't charge for Mass.

The Aquaduct literally takes my breath away (that or the cold winds ha ha) every time I see it. The immensity of this structure is amazing but even more so is its' age and the fact that it still stands...seemingly as perfect as the day it was built. It is obviously one of the most identifiable land marks of Segovia and as such I thought it should be one of the first pictures I have in my blog! The house where I stay is close to the Aquaduct so it is what I look for when I get lost and so far that has been often! Ha Ha! Basically the first few days here the only phrase that came from my mouth to people on the street has been, "¿Dónde está el aquaducto?"

I love playing soccer and I was very excited to see kids playing next to the Aquaduct. When Ashley and I first started taking pictures of them they posed for us which was hilarious. One little boy said, "Take a picture of me I am very handsome." I grew tired of watching and decided to join them!




















I have only been out of the country twice and one time doesn't even count because it was Canada. The other time I went out of the country was to England with my soccer team when I played at the University of Louisville. When I first arrived here in Spain I was a bit overwhelmed with everything and I was not able to appreciate the fact that I was in another country, studying the language, and learning of the culture. The idea that I was actually in Europe studying abroad did not fully hit me until I was sitting in class on the second day and glanced out the window at the Plaza. This picture captures the moment in a sense...although it's kind of after the fact!










I was surprised to see that virtually all the streets within the town of Segovia are cobblestone. I am curious how long it took to to create the streets and the walls. I was also surprised to see how narrow the streets are and how fast everyone drives through them! When I hopped in the car with my host family we were flying through the streets and I thought we were going to hit a building. My host family is very hospitable. Our host mom is Sol and the father is Felipe. They have three children and only three live here with us. The only son is Felipe who is 22 and the daughter living here is named Alejandra. At least I think that is her name we do not see her often. Sol makes us food for each meal and so far it has all been delicious!