The Itinerate Adventurer

Hola a todos,

I realize it's been over a month since my last post. Obviously I am not doing a good job of updating this blog, but I never seem to have a good chunk of time to do so. Here goes an inadequately brief and sweeping update of the last month, so take it for what it's worth.
Let's see, last I wrote, I was just about to head out to the Escorial for a day trip with my school. I really enjoyed it. While I was surprised to find that the surrounding area is quite built up (the edifice is located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial), and couldn't quite appreciate the solitary and tranquil atmosphere Philip II tried to cultivate when he ordered the Escorial built, from the inside, I was incredibly impressed. As a monastery, church, reliquary, library and school which now contains several museums, it has nearly everything. While great frescoes dominate many of the halls within, the style here is simpler, more austere, and more conductive to the holy retreat center it was designed to be. My favorites included the portal altar of Charles V, the king and queen's bedchambers which are on opposite sides of the main church to represent the union of the crown with the Catholic faith (with God in the center, of course) and a great hall which depicted the triumph of the Catholics against the Moors. Here's a cool fact. The weather vanes at the Escorial are all shaped in the form of a grill to honor Saint Lorenzo, who was martyred in Rome roasted on a grill. Oh yeah, Don Juan of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V who helped lead the Christian victory against the Ottoman Empire at the battle of Lepanto in 1571, is buried there. Pretty neat.

After that Friday (February 13th) I returned to Toledo for the rest of the weekend, and relaxed, passing a very pleasant Valentine's Day and rest of the weekend at the fúnd.
In terms of other travels, the following weekend I had a major debate whether to go to Salamanca, Spain, to see the famous university and cathedral, or Mérida, Spain, which has some of the best Roman ruins in all of Europe. Mérida won out. I had a fantastic time. Founded in 25 BC by Caesar Augustus, Emerita Augusta was the capital of Hispania Lusitania. While it is hard to get to by bus or train, Mérida is still a capital, that of the autonomous region of Extremadura in central-western Spain. It's claim to fame is its incredible well preserved theatre and almost as well preserved amphitheatre. The theatre was as spectacular as I imagined, and it was so easy to imagine how Roman citizens and other townspeople of Mérida would see a performance, and what a time it must have been. In fact, the theatre is in such good condition, it still offers performances during the summer!

While these rare sites dominates most tourist books of the town, Mérida has a lot of other historical treasures to offer. The Roman Circus there is as impressive, while the aqueducts, preservation sites of Roman houses, the Temple of Diana, the Trajan arch, and the Church of Santa Eulalia were simply fantastic. But the best surprise was the National Museum of Roman art, which totally blew me away. I simply sat mouth agape at the mosaics, the sculptures and especially the smaller artifacts, such as the pottery and coins archaeologists have uncovered. I think my favorite exhibit was the one which displayed Roman playing dice from the time of the founding of Mérida. ¡Increíble! If you love Roman history and sites, this is the place to go to.

As if I were not being spoiled enough with these vacations, I spent the last weekend of February on my first international trip: Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon was a lot different than I expected. First, it reminded me more of the East Coast of the US in many respects. Almost everyone I met knew English, which I was warned to use over my Spanish, since the Portuguese would rather hear that language than Spanish (the Portuguese and Spanish have never been great bedfellows to begin with...). The fashion styles resemble US designs as well, though people tend to wear dark shades, like in Spain. Portuguese itself was interesting. Reading it, I could get most of it, as it is quite similar to Spanish. However, it doesn't sound anything like Spanish, but rather French or every some eastern European languages.

The city has a mixed feel, that of the modern with the old. This is due mostly to the great earthquake that hit Lisbon in 1755. The shake damaged many buildings, but most of the destruction was caused by fires resulting from church candles that fell over during the earthquake. As a result, some of the historic sites survive, while most of the city was rebuild.
My favorite sites included the Pantheon, walking by the water (which was not nearly as commercial or busy as I was expecting, but maybe I was in the wrong part of town) the Castle of Saint George, and the Mosteiro Dos Jerónimos, where Vasco de Gama is buried. The people of Lisbon love de Gama, the Portuguese explorer who passed the Cape of Good Hope and made it to India in the final years of the 15th century. As a side note, the patron saints of Lisbon are Saint Peter (makes sense with all of those fishermen) and Saint Anthony.
On the second day of that trip, I went with my companions to Sintra, which is west of Lisbon very close to the main body of the Atlantic. We checked out some historic palaces and gardens there, including the Park and Palace of Pena, where the Portuguese monarchs of the mid 19th century resided part of the year, and the Moorish Castle, which dates back to the 9th century! Sintra is very high in the mountains, and the view from the sites we visited was supposed to be fantastic, but unfortunately mist, fog and clouds keep us from seeing the surrounding countryside.

As if that were not enough, the following weekend I went to Pamplona, Spain. However, this time I actually did a little bit of work as well. Professor Lu Ann Homza, a historian at William and Mary who concentrates on Italy and Spain in the early modern period, set up a research project over WM's spring break to give history majors interested in this time period an opportunities to work in the archives of Pamplona and get a hands on experience of what researching as a professor would be like. The experience was extraordinary and unforgettable to say the least.
I met with Professor Homza, Kim Bassett and Amanda Scott in Madrid the day of Saturday, March 7th. Despite the fact that Professor Homza, Kim and Amanda had just arrived from their overseas flight, we still went out to lunch, explored downtown Madrid, and made it to the Prado museum in the evening. My favorite moment that day was when Professor Homza showed us the spot where Charles V kept the French king Francis I prisoner in Madrid following Charles's victory at Pavia in 1525. How humiliating that must have been for Francis!
Sunday we made our way to Pamplona. The train ride was extremely pleasant and beautiful. Amanda and I caught up on some essential gossip on royal families and hollywood stars in a Spanish magazine on the ride up. After arriving to Pamplona, I worshiped at the noon Mass in the cathedral, and it was awe-inspiring. The choir was spectacular and the cathedral itself is heavenly from the inside. I know a few of you guys back at home would have really enjoyed the experience and I definitely thought of you during Mass.

On Monday, we met the archivists who were kind enough to assist us and show us around. Peio Monteano, one of the chief archivists at the Archivo General de Navarra, and Don José Luis Sales Tirapu, the archivist for the Archivo Diocesano de Pamplona, were both incredible nice and helpful. I do not know if I have two more enthusiastic or friendly people before. For instance, Peio Monteano gave us a private tour of the archive, took us out to inner with his girlfriend one night, gave us some of the literature from the archive, and invited for us to come back at any time. Don José Luis, the 77 year old priest at the Diocesan Archive, allowed us to work early at the archive, showed us rare manuscripts from the archbishop's collection, brought us to the top of the main bell tower at the cathedral, and bought us hot chocolate each day of the week.
As for the research itself, it was really fascinating and helpful in understanding how historians do their research. For the sake of time, if you'd like to check more out on what exactly I did, see the research blog Professor Homza, Kim and Amanda and I have been working on since the beginning of last semester.

http://pamplona.wmblogs.net/

But as for the rest of that trip, I really liked Pamplona itself. The running of the bulls is the big deal here, with signs and posters everywhere (though we weren't there during the season) and the people of Pamplona love Hemingway, who they consider to be their great friend and pride. The food was quite good. I tried pulpo (octopus) and many tapas (often times containing food I had no idea what was).

I was surprised to find nearly no one speaking Basque, the language of the region that I always hear so much about, especially associated with the nationalism movement. I did find signs promoting the freedom of the city and we encountered a demonstration in the middle of the week.

That brings me up to about now. After returning to Madrid last Saturday, I met up with younger sister, who visited Spain for her spring break. We had a great time exploring Madrid on Sunday and then she spent a night in Toledo. I showed her my school and my favorite spot by the Tajo river, and during the evening we took the "Zocotren", the local trolley car, which was great, since it detailed much of the history of Toledo and took us on the other side of the river in a part of the city I had not been to. This past weekend I met up with my sister again after she returned from trips to Valencia and Barcelona. We had dinner at the same vegetarian restaurant we had eaten at least weekend (it is incredible and I got to eat raviolini, the closest I've come to ravioli, my favorite dish, in over two months now!

I have several other big trips coming up, which I will be sure to recount soon. Next weekend I plan to visit my friends Lizzy, Amy and Amelia in the London area. It will be very exciting. I can't wait. I will also "represent" continental Europe for all of those exclusive British Isles students (Lizzy lives outside of London), Amy's studying in Bath, England, and Amelia is studying in Kork, Ireland.

As for campus life back in Toledo, I do occasionally study when I'm not travelling and still enjoy my time here. My Spanish has improved, probably most in writing, though speaking is still a challenge for me. I still love most of my classes. My history teacher is great. Just this past week, since it was a perfect day, he joked that we should have class in a patio drinking beer (and most of us were convinced he was nearly serious). The funny thing was his suggestion led to a conversation on the quality of Spanish beer (not considered the best) and then a debate on wines in Spain and abroad. My Spanish mysticism class is probably my favorite. Last week we studied Saint Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises. I was so excited. For my art history class, I had to go explore the inside of the cathedral of Toledo (to the parts I can't see when I attend Mass). The cathedral is phenomenal. My favorites including the sacristy, with clerical garbs from many famous archbishops of Toledo, including Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the treasury with the famous monstrance which is used for Corpus Christi celebrations, and the chapel where to Mozarabic Mass is said (I will attend one one of these days!)

The work is still much less than at WM, and in some ways I wish I'd be challenged more. But I am learning so much culture-wise, so it is for the best. We will see how I do on finals, which are only a month away!

I still play soccer in the gym a lot with my friends. It is one of my favorite activities. After a long dry spell, salsa club started up again. I am really slow at learning the moves, but am getting there. I guess if I don't come back proficient in Spanish, maybe I will be an expert salsa dancer instead.

One of my most enjoyable experiences in Toledo is volunteering for the Cruz Roja (the Red Cross). Two hours a week on Tuesdays I help out at the Ludoteca (a child-care center) with another student from my program. The kids are great and I have such a wonderful time being myself around them. It is also great practice for my Spanish as well.

In addition, my intercambio is going well. Fran, a Toledano who is studying to be a P.E. professor, is extremely nice. We have conversations about everything, including sports, politics, science, art and cultural conventions, both here and in the States. I think his English is much better than my Spanish, but it is good practice for both of us nonetheless.

I am still blessed to have the opportunity to keep up a good faith with God here in Toledo. The chapel with perpetual Adoration is available to me, and I still stop by every once in a while. I also try to make it out for daily Masses as well, and always enjoy Sunday Mass at my parish. I am getting more of the Mass in Spanish too, which really makes me happy.

Well, I think that's all I have time for. I wish I could explain things more in depth and on a regular basis. I am thinking of everyone back at home and hoping for the best as we enter into the spring season. Take care and know you are in my thoughts and prayers.