AU in Alcalá de Henares 2008 Blog

So since no one else has posted anything, guess I’ll start! By the way, this is really confusing to manage, and it took me awhile to figure out how to even log in, much less how to make a new post! I don’t really have much to write about, but figured I would get my post-of-the-week out of the way.

I guess I’ll talk about vocabulary. The most useful vocab I have learned so far is “jarra de agua”. Most everyone in our group knows about it by now, but it was amazing to me to figure out how to get free water in Spain…Everywhere you go, when you ask for water, they bring you a botella that costs 2 euro or more…HOWEVER, if you ask for a “jarra de agua” or “vaso de agua” it’s just tap water, like in the US, and best of all, it’s GRATIS!

Another phrase I’ve learned is, “¡Qué chachi!”, and I actually learned it from one of my friends in the US. That phrase means “cool”, or some kind of equivalent of that. Haven’t used it yet, still debating whether or not I’m going to…sounds funny to me.

That’s all I have for now, guess I will update again next week, maybe with more vocab?

Hasta luego,
Jennie B.

I have been to the Spanish Comisaría- Police Department- about five times since arrival in Alcalá. For one of the few times in my life, I like the police here. In the US one enters the police department and encounters a bulletproof glass. The person on the other side is not always friendly, at least in my recent experiences.
In Madrid and in Alcalá, I encountered people, lots of people, some police officers, some secretaries, assistants, etc. All with a heavy workload because of the swarms of foreigners wanting Spanish DNI (national id cards) but generally very nice. It is kind of like the police we see on television in the US.
Why is the police station so dehumanized in the US? Is Auburn so much more dangerous than Madrid and Alcalá that we need to have a thick slab of glass between us and the person we talk to?
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Buen sitio para comer en Madrid. Calle Alcalá, 42. Bajando hacia Cibeles a la derecha.
Menú del día 17 euros (algo caro pero buena comida).
Buen ambiente, buena vista.
Arriba en el tercer piso hay sala de lecturas muy cómoda para sentarse a leer. Si no comes te cobran un euro la entrada. Pero vale la pena.

In the Arab Quarter in Granada there is a teteria called Al-Faguara–go there and get the house tea. It has a nice Arab small cafe ambience and the tea is incredible. It is located right off Gran Via. Turn onto Carcel Baja away from the Cathedral and go straight…on your left. The exact address is Calle Caldederia Nueva 7

Cerveceria 100 Montaditos in Madrid!! There are like 100 selections of tapas, each are only 1.20 euro…very very cheap and very yummy!! It’s on Calle Mayor, headed away from Sol…take the metro to sol, exit via Calle Mayor and take calle mayor down like 2 blocks its on the corner on the right. You choose your tapas on a little piece of paper and they are served as a bocadillo…we usually get 5-6 each…

I regret to inform my fellow tripmates, Dr. Zuwiyya and future Alcala students that at this time I am unable to speak of the new words I have learned, simply due to their vulgarity…I don’t even know if vulgarity is a word..hang on…dictionary…ah vulgarity is a word y in spanish it is ordinariez (f), vulgaridad (f)…muy bien…He aprendido muchas palabras vulgares…BUT IN ALL REALITY…I learn new words EVERY SINGLE DAY…they just get absorbed into my vocab. and the only ones I remember as “new words” are the dirty ones…I hope I have written enough, for now I must go to the Continental, which is an awesome coffee shop para estudiar y hacer tarea…

Wes

In Barcelona stay at HelloBCN hostel…cheap, breakfast included and so nice…

Cachondeo

Estuvimos de cachondeo
Siempre está de cachondeo

Significa divertirse

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Iberia
SpanAir
AirEuropa
RyanAir
EasyJet

Busca el horario más conveniente y precio más razonable.
Los asientos baratos de Semana Santa se van a acabar pronto!
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Hay un autobús que regresa a Alcalá desde Avenida de América en Madrid. Hasta la 1:00am sale cada 30 minutos. A partir de la una hay bus a 2:00am, 3:00am, etc.
Es el autobús verde. En la estación de Avenida de América sale desde arriba, o sea, tienes que subir arriba para ver donde salen los autobuses.
El autobús tarda unos 35 minutos en regresar a Alcalá.
Es conveniente si te pierdes el último tren o si te encuentras más cerca de Avenida de América que de Atocha.
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