Alright! Well I’m certainly not getting any better at this. At least this time I have an excuse. I’ve been traveling the world!!! The first weekend in November, I took a trip to Barcelona with my roommate. It was wonderful but really, really cold there. The first night (Saturday) we went to see a FC Barcelona match. Our seats were horrible but it was still so much fun. Not only did Barcelona win, but we met quite a few interesting characters as well plus some guys that go to the university in Granada with us (random…I think so). Sunday, we spent on a city bus tour. It was really convenient because we could just hop off the bus when we wanted to see something. We got to see so much of the city: works by Gaudi like the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, palaces, gardens, the port, etc. We spent Monday morning walking around the gothic quarter and enjoying the sites. Then it was back to Granada. The next weekend, I went to Morocco, and spent way too much money. I went with this tour group I found online so everything was planned for me…this was nice but it also felt like a high school trip with schedules free time and overpriced goods. In the end, I was glad I went to Morocco but I feel like I didn’t really do anything there…just saw a bunch of markets and paid way too much for a rug. Luckily, I didn’t get sick though! Finally, last weekend I went to PARIS!!! I had been there before but not for this long or with this much free time so I was very excited. I spent hours wandering around the city and using the little French I know. As a group, (because I went with my study abroad program) we took a 3.5 hour bus tour around the city and spent some time at the Louvre. Other than that, the time was mine. I spent some time at musse d’orsay a museum in an old train station, which was beautiful. After the museum, I went and spent some time in Versailles…it was huge, probably a waste of all the money that was spent on it, I could have gotten in free if I had remembered my year visa for Spain, and it was freezing cold. But I’m glad I got to see it…now I never have to go back. I went to Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart cathedral) and of course, I did go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower…which leads me to talking about my problems with the public transportation in Paris.
To begin with, when riding on the metro we had a sudden loss of power and came to a very quick stop then sat there for a few minutes before regaining power and continuing on our journey. Unlike the other passengers who seemed a little nervous and confused (one even started crying but I won’t name names) I had to be the idiot that started laughing uncontrollably. Which then drew some very strange looks from the other passengers on the metro (whatever, I thought it was funny). The next problem was one the train to Versailles. As we were about to leave, a woman tried to get on the train and proceeded to get stuck between the closing doors (the doors in Paris are ruthless) She then started screaming because it hurt so much and this man had to go and pry the doors open to let her in the train. Final problem occurred on the Eiffel Tower. We had to wait in line for quite a while but when we finally got in, it was only a quick ride up to the top (they weren’t letting anyone walk but I’m not sure why). We got up to the top of the tower and spent some time talking pictures, looking around, I found my future husband…you know nothing out of the ordinary. On the way down my 3 friends and I decided to use the bathroom before heading to the elevator…smart idea right. Maybe not, because of this, I lost my future husband and then we got on the next elevator. And that’s when it all started. About 2 seconds after the elevator left the 2 floor platform it jerked to a stop and just hung there. The conductor then started calling a ton of people and was on the phone for ever. I don’t know a lot of French but even I was able to figure out that no one knew what had happened (specifically because the conductor kept checking the emergency stop button, which had not been pushed). Someone started crying again because this French guy behind us told us there was a problem…may or may not have been the same person that started crying on the metro (it was) and I started laughing again. The poor French guy felt so bad that he made my roommate cry so he refused to tell us anything else. We spent the next 45 min (yes we were dangling there for 45 min) talking with the French man and his girlfriend/wife, laughing about the situation, and noticing that the power kept going out on the part of the tower we were in. Finally, they lowered up down with the emergency lowering system. Then some guy had to unscrew stuff to let us out. It has never felt so good to get out of an elevator before. After that, we spent an hour eating chocolate crepes and waiting for the tower to have its light show. We also met this guy from Seattle and his two French friends who tried to help us find our way back home. All in all, I’d say I had a trip that no one else will ever experience. This weekend, I’m staying in Granada not because of my trip to Paris and all the problems but because I need to save a little money for traveling next semester and over Christmas break. Then in 2 weeks school is over! I can’t believe it has gone by so fast.
So that’s about it…if anyone has suggestions of where I should travel over Christmas break, let me know. I have like 2 free months.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Lets try this again...
Well, one thing I certainly learned this past month is that I am horrible at blogging. I have had every intention of writing about my trip but there is so much more to do here. Plus, maybe not surprisingly to some of you, I got a virus on my computer so it’s been a little difficult to use it. Its been over a month since I got here and seeing that my first post was in the first week there is so much I could talk about (could being the key word). Classes started and are the most boring classes I have ever taken. We don’t talk much Spanish and in most of them, I do worksheets and crossword puzzles out of stupid workbooks. I feel like I’m back in grade school. I have class from 8:30 to 2:30 Mondays and Wednesdays and then class 8:30-10:30, 12:20-2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thankfully I don’t have classes on Fridays. Oh except for the extra classes I take because my program signed me up for 45 hours in each class instead of 40 hours like most other students have…just fantastic!
I’ve also been able to travel quite a lot here. The first trip I took was with the program to San Jose and Cabo de Gata. It is a beautiful small city on the Mediterranean. Caba de Gata is considered the only desert in Spain at this time. However, I disagree with that. All of southern Spain is turning into a desert. There is very little water here (every time I travel and we cross a bridge there will be a sign indicating what river we are crossing. But look down and it’s just land…) and it has stayed pretty warm this year. Last year at this time there was snow in Spain. This year, it’s still in the 70s. (Yes, be jealous). Anyway, San Jose was a very nice relaxing weekend. I spent most of it on the beach swimming and laying out in the sun. However, a bunch of us girls did climb a fairly large mountain in our swimsuits and flip flops. The view from the top was amazing! However, we did have quite a few battle wounds from the dangerous hike.
One long weekend, we had planned to go to Portugal with some other people in the program. Trains and buses were a little expensive so we planned on renting a car but sadly that didn’t work out. So basically Friday morning, my roommate and I decided to go somewhere else. We planned to leave for Torremolinos, a small town outside of Malaga, the next morning at 7am. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Torremolinos on the beach and then at an Irish pub at night watching a bunch of soccer matches. The water in Torremolinos was freezing (in San Jose it was really warm but we still had a wonderful time…it is going to take me a little while to get used to the fact that most beaches here are nude beaches or partially nude beaches (it’s a little awkward at times.) On Monday, we went into Malaga and just walked around the city. We then took the bus back to Granada and decided to walk hope from the bus station. It was only a 10 min taxi ride so it couldn’t be that far….but it was and it took us a whole hour to walk home. But we did save some money :)
This past weekend, I went to Seville with my program. On the way there, we stopped at a national park with a bunch of really old rocks (fascinating I know.) We got to Seville late Friday night so didn’t really do much. On Saturday, we toured the cathedral in Seville and took a 2 hour bike tour of the city (which was the best part). That night, we went out to mix and mingle with other students in the streets of Seville. Sunday, we all got up an hour early because no one told us it was daylight savings time in Spain. Then we toured some castle thing and gardens (it was pretty but not really exciting) and had 4 hours of free time during siesta (which means everything was closed so there was nothing to do). I enjoyed Seville but I was definitely glad to be back in Granada.
When I’m not traveling, I’m either doing my homework (I actually have a lot more than I thought I would) or enjoying the night life :) I’ve been able to practice my Spanish a lot at some local pubs, I’ve danced salsa, went to a Spanish movie, and had some intercambios (most of which were unsuccessful). I’m also on a basketball team here. It has been really fun to play again even though our team is mostly small girls and really short guys and we lose all of our games. Haha oh well. This weekend is another long weekend because there is a holiday on Monday in Andalucia. I’m spending it in Granada instead of traveling but I have a lot of trips coming up. I’m going to Barcelona to watch a FC Barcelona game, then I’m going to Morocco, I might take a trip to Ireland or the Canary Islands the weekend after, and then I’m going to Paris with my program! I’m so excited!!!
So that’s about it. The only bad thing about Granada right now is that they are installing a metro system so there is a ton of construction and the city smells really bad (it’s not very pleasant). I definitely condensed this post better than the last one. Haha Hopefully I will be able to write more often instead of once a month. If you ever get bored you can send me an email or real mail (my address is Maria Jose Romero Fernandez c/o Emily Hansel, Ribera de Genil 12-1A, 18005 Granada Spain :) ) I haven’t really been able to talk with many people back in the states so it would be great to hear from anyone! I hope you are all doing well and not being plagued by the swine flu, or as they call it here Gripe A (which gets really confusing because I always think they are talking about Influenza A). Until next time…
I’ve also been able to travel quite a lot here. The first trip I took was with the program to San Jose and Cabo de Gata. It is a beautiful small city on the Mediterranean. Caba de Gata is considered the only desert in Spain at this time. However, I disagree with that. All of southern Spain is turning into a desert. There is very little water here (every time I travel and we cross a bridge there will be a sign indicating what river we are crossing. But look down and it’s just land…) and it has stayed pretty warm this year. Last year at this time there was snow in Spain. This year, it’s still in the 70s. (Yes, be jealous). Anyway, San Jose was a very nice relaxing weekend. I spent most of it on the beach swimming and laying out in the sun. However, a bunch of us girls did climb a fairly large mountain in our swimsuits and flip flops. The view from the top was amazing! However, we did have quite a few battle wounds from the dangerous hike.
One long weekend, we had planned to go to Portugal with some other people in the program. Trains and buses were a little expensive so we planned on renting a car but sadly that didn’t work out. So basically Friday morning, my roommate and I decided to go somewhere else. We planned to leave for Torremolinos, a small town outside of Malaga, the next morning at 7am. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Torremolinos on the beach and then at an Irish pub at night watching a bunch of soccer matches. The water in Torremolinos was freezing (in San Jose it was really warm but we still had a wonderful time…it is going to take me a little while to get used to the fact that most beaches here are nude beaches or partially nude beaches (it’s a little awkward at times.) On Monday, we went into Malaga and just walked around the city. We then took the bus back to Granada and decided to walk hope from the bus station. It was only a 10 min taxi ride so it couldn’t be that far….but it was and it took us a whole hour to walk home. But we did save some money :)
This past weekend, I went to Seville with my program. On the way there, we stopped at a national park with a bunch of really old rocks (fascinating I know.) We got to Seville late Friday night so didn’t really do much. On Saturday, we toured the cathedral in Seville and took a 2 hour bike tour of the city (which was the best part). That night, we went out to mix and mingle with other students in the streets of Seville. Sunday, we all got up an hour early because no one told us it was daylight savings time in Spain. Then we toured some castle thing and gardens (it was pretty but not really exciting) and had 4 hours of free time during siesta (which means everything was closed so there was nothing to do). I enjoyed Seville but I was definitely glad to be back in Granada.
When I’m not traveling, I’m either doing my homework (I actually have a lot more than I thought I would) or enjoying the night life :) I’ve been able to practice my Spanish a lot at some local pubs, I’ve danced salsa, went to a Spanish movie, and had some intercambios (most of which were unsuccessful). I’m also on a basketball team here. It has been really fun to play again even though our team is mostly small girls and really short guys and we lose all of our games. Haha oh well. This weekend is another long weekend because there is a holiday on Monday in Andalucia. I’m spending it in Granada instead of traveling but I have a lot of trips coming up. I’m going to Barcelona to watch a FC Barcelona game, then I’m going to Morocco, I might take a trip to Ireland or the Canary Islands the weekend after, and then I’m going to Paris with my program! I’m so excited!!!
So that’s about it. The only bad thing about Granada right now is that they are installing a metro system so there is a ton of construction and the city smells really bad (it’s not very pleasant). I definitely condensed this post better than the last one. Haha Hopefully I will be able to write more often instead of once a month. If you ever get bored you can send me an email or real mail (my address is Maria Jose Romero Fernandez c/o Emily Hansel, Ribera de Genil 12-1A, 18005 Granada Spain :) ) I haven’t really been able to talk with many people back in the states so it would be great to hear from anyone! I hope you are all doing well and not being plagued by the swine flu, or as they call it here Gripe A (which gets really confusing because I always think they are talking about Influenza A). Until next time…
Monday, September 28, 2009
My First Week In Spain
Well, I finally got around to writing my "study-a-blog" (just for you jamie). I have only been in Spain for 8 days now but so much has happened I don't even know where to start...
Flying to Spain was the first time I had ever been on a plane alone before, which was kinda nerve racking. Saying goodbye was hard (those of you who saw me off in LAX understand :)). I had a 2.5 hour flight from Chicago to Philadelphia, a 4 hour layover in Philadelphia, and then another 7 hour flight to Madrid, Spain. I slept most of the way to Philadelphia because I hadnt been able to sleep the night before (the nerves). Once in Philadelphia, I happened to start talking to this girl (Amanda) who was also waiting to fly to Spain as well. Turns out we were both in the same program! I was so relieved to have someone else to fail the Spanish airport with. Boarding the plane, Amanda and I had to split up, but oddly enough another girl studying with us, Atlee, was sitting directly in front of me. The flight over to Madrid was much more interesting. I starting talking to a woman from the States (Valerie) who had retired and was now living in Mallorca, Spain. She gave me a few cities she thought I should visit and tried to talk to me in Spanish a little....she was not very good. I also met Francisco on the flight. He was from Madrid but was coming back after touring the states with the band he manages. We talked a lot in Spanish and he also told me places to go. Unfortunately, he then invited me to his record store and then to go to Mallorca with him...it was nice but awkward. Of course i just attract awkward situations.
We landed in Madrid and were picked up by two of the program directors Eli and Alicia. They took us to our hotel "Hotel Moderno" and gave us some free time to explore the city. Madrid was amazing! It is a beautiful city however filled with tourists. We were warned about not taking siesta because of jet lag, but i just couldn't help it. The U.S. should really pick up on this lovely practice. The first night, after some meetings, we were treated to an authentic Spanish meal (which is like 13 courses). We ate lots of food; squid, croquetts, jabon, cake, enchiladas, and cheese :) lots of cheese!! After dinner, instead of going to bed, I took a walk with my roommate Jess around Madrid. Not surprisingly, we got a bit lost. But we did get some good pics of the city at night.
Day 2: We slept in a little bit today, got some breakfast, and walked over to the Prado museum. We spent a few hours led by a tour guide looking at paintings by Goya, Valezquez, El Greco, and mucho mas. I enjoyed our tour guide but she seemed to skip over a lot of things...or maybe I just couldnt understand because I was exhausted and she was speaking in Spanish. We had some more free time after the museum so Jess and I grabbed some bread and decided to take a walk. We got lost....again. This time we actually made it from the southern part of central Madrid up to the northeastern part, over to the northwest part and finally back down to the center of the city just in time to walk over to the royal palace. The Royal palace was huge! I think it has like 2800 rooms in total and all completely dripping in decoration and detail. One room even had wallpaper made out of strands of silk, silver, and gold. It was beautiful but seemed like a waste of money.... After the palace we had some more free time and some more meetings. Then a few of us went to grab something to eat before joining the rest of the students for a pub crawl! After the first pub crawl fell apart, it took us a little while before meeting John from Britain who was also leading a pub crawl (with Pablo and Marcus). It was probably not the best idea to just follow random people but it turned out fine in the end. The whole group went to three different bars. I met lots of people from all over the world (Spain, Britain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia...) and got to practice my spanish a lot. After most of the group left, 4 of us continued to pub crawl to a salsa bar! It was by far my favorite place. I returned to the hotel at 4am (where I had been locked out), I was up until 5:30ish and had to wake up early to take a ride to el escorial.
Day 3: It was a 30 min bus ride to el escorial. We then took a 2 hour tour of the building. Our tour guide was very funny but most of us were not feeling very well haha. We saw the second best library in the world, the caskets of all the kings and queens in Spain, etc. After the tour, we headed back to Madrid. In the afternoon, I went to el Museo de Reina Sofia. I saw a lot of work by Dali and Picasso including la guernica. We had to get up early to leave for Toledo and Granada in the morning but that didn't stop a few of us from going out that night again. Only 5 of us ventured out but I didnt pay one cent the whole night :) and I got to go back to the salsa bar!
Toledo-Granada: We left very early and took an hour drive to Toledo. In Toledo, we took a bus tour around the city, then we walked around the city and looked at different religious buildings (one even housed a painting by el greco). Our tour guide took us to a square in the city, pointed out some good places to eat, and let us wander. After a few hours in Toledo, we got on the bus again and took a 5 hour bus ride to Granada. Getting in at 8:30pm, it was time to meet our families! I was terrified! My host mom Maria was there to greet me. She has been doing this for 10 years so she is pretty good at it. I absolutely adore her but she talks very fast so it is hard to understand her. She led us home and showed jess and me our room. Then while she was cooking dinner, she let us unpack. She is very very clean and i am not at all clean so that could be a problem but so far i am doing just fine....it has only been 4 days though. We had a tour of the city the next morning and stopped at the program office to sign up for some excursions (alhambra, san jose, paris!) We went back home for lunch and then, skipping out on siesta, went to find phones for some of the girls (that was a disaster and it took my roomie 4 days and 4 trips to the phone place to finally get her phone working). Back at Maria's for dinner, we met our Italian roommate Angelica. She is 30 years old and a spanish professor in Italy. She was going to take classes here but now she is headed back to Italy on Sunday because she got a job. We arent sure if we will be getting another roommate or not...
That night, Jess and I tried to meet up with some of the other students but it was too hard so we got to bed early. The next morning, we went to explore some markets in the city, took a 2.5 hour siesta, and then went for a walk to wake up. What happened? We got lost again!! haha. Our quick walk turned into a 2.5 hour walk. I got so turned around and we ended up on the other side of town. After running into other students from the group, we were pointed in the right direction and headed home. After dinner, we finally got a hold of some of the girls and had plans to go that night. We started at a tapas bar and got free tapas with our tintos de verano. Then we continued on. We had planned to go to a discoteca because apparently the entrance fee was free (it really wasn't so we didn't end up going). While we were stopped trying to figure out what to do, we ran into a bunch of Spanish men celebrating a bachelor party. I started talking to one man and when i told him I was from Wisconsin he asked me if I was from La Crosse WI. Creepy right? Turns out he had studied abroad in La Crosse during high school. apparently talking to me made him very emotional because it brought back many memories....his words not mine.
Maria made fun of us for sleeping in so late on Sunday, but I think she was really glad we went out the night before. I think she really misses her daughters (who dont live at home anymore). Our program had planned for us to go to a bullfight that evening so we walked over to the ring. I must say, I am glad I went to experience that part of the culture but i will never go to another bullfight ever. I could only stay through half of the fight. I found it to be very cruel and actually started crying at one point (along with many other students). One of the bull fighters got trampled a little by a bull but I dont think anyone felt that bad. On the way back from the Bullfight, we got to see a procession in the city for I think the patron saint of Granada. We had planned on going to bed early but instead we watched 2 movies with our host brother.
Today, I had 2 meetings to go to. I went back and relaxed for a while, took a 2.5 mile run with my roommate (who knows why) took a nap and then relaxed around the house. I dont' know how to entertain myself right now because i dont know much about the city but once classes start (on Oct. 7th) I will meet people who can entertain me :) I also have an intercambio set up with Tomas this week and a few trips with the program.
So thats brings you up to date....I can't imagine anyone in their right mind reading this whole thing beause it is ridiculously long! I love Spain! The food is a little different, the language barrier is sometimes a problem, but nothing I can't handle. Of course my sleeping pattern is still bad but when there is so much to see who needs to sleep.
I dont know when I will write next (I do have a lot of time actually and we get internet in the house because we steal it from the upstairs neighbor :)) but I promise it will be sometime before May 2010 haha. Leave comments and questions, add me to skype if you want to chat sometime or if you want a postcard leave your address and I will see what i can do. Once I find the paper with my address and number I will leave that here too! Buenas noches amigos! Hasta Luego!
Flying to Spain was the first time I had ever been on a plane alone before, which was kinda nerve racking. Saying goodbye was hard (those of you who saw me off in LAX understand :)). I had a 2.5 hour flight from Chicago to Philadelphia, a 4 hour layover in Philadelphia, and then another 7 hour flight to Madrid, Spain. I slept most of the way to Philadelphia because I hadnt been able to sleep the night before (the nerves). Once in Philadelphia, I happened to start talking to this girl (Amanda) who was also waiting to fly to Spain as well. Turns out we were both in the same program! I was so relieved to have someone else to fail the Spanish airport with. Boarding the plane, Amanda and I had to split up, but oddly enough another girl studying with us, Atlee, was sitting directly in front of me. The flight over to Madrid was much more interesting. I starting talking to a woman from the States (Valerie) who had retired and was now living in Mallorca, Spain. She gave me a few cities she thought I should visit and tried to talk to me in Spanish a little....she was not very good. I also met Francisco on the flight. He was from Madrid but was coming back after touring the states with the band he manages. We talked a lot in Spanish and he also told me places to go. Unfortunately, he then invited me to his record store and then to go to Mallorca with him...it was nice but awkward. Of course i just attract awkward situations.
We landed in Madrid and were picked up by two of the program directors Eli and Alicia. They took us to our hotel "Hotel Moderno" and gave us some free time to explore the city. Madrid was amazing! It is a beautiful city however filled with tourists. We were warned about not taking siesta because of jet lag, but i just couldn't help it. The U.S. should really pick up on this lovely practice. The first night, after some meetings, we were treated to an authentic Spanish meal (which is like 13 courses). We ate lots of food; squid, croquetts, jabon, cake, enchiladas, and cheese :) lots of cheese!! After dinner, instead of going to bed, I took a walk with my roommate Jess around Madrid. Not surprisingly, we got a bit lost. But we did get some good pics of the city at night.
Day 2: We slept in a little bit today, got some breakfast, and walked over to the Prado museum. We spent a few hours led by a tour guide looking at paintings by Goya, Valezquez, El Greco, and mucho mas. I enjoyed our tour guide but she seemed to skip over a lot of things...or maybe I just couldnt understand because I was exhausted and she was speaking in Spanish. We had some more free time after the museum so Jess and I grabbed some bread and decided to take a walk. We got lost....again. This time we actually made it from the southern part of central Madrid up to the northeastern part, over to the northwest part and finally back down to the center of the city just in time to walk over to the royal palace. The Royal palace was huge! I think it has like 2800 rooms in total and all completely dripping in decoration and detail. One room even had wallpaper made out of strands of silk, silver, and gold. It was beautiful but seemed like a waste of money.... After the palace we had some more free time and some more meetings. Then a few of us went to grab something to eat before joining the rest of the students for a pub crawl! After the first pub crawl fell apart, it took us a little while before meeting John from Britain who was also leading a pub crawl (with Pablo and Marcus). It was probably not the best idea to just follow random people but it turned out fine in the end. The whole group went to three different bars. I met lots of people from all over the world (Spain, Britain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia...) and got to practice my spanish a lot. After most of the group left, 4 of us continued to pub crawl to a salsa bar! It was by far my favorite place. I returned to the hotel at 4am (where I had been locked out), I was up until 5:30ish and had to wake up early to take a ride to el escorial.
Day 3: It was a 30 min bus ride to el escorial. We then took a 2 hour tour of the building. Our tour guide was very funny but most of us were not feeling very well haha. We saw the second best library in the world, the caskets of all the kings and queens in Spain, etc. After the tour, we headed back to Madrid. In the afternoon, I went to el Museo de Reina Sofia. I saw a lot of work by Dali and Picasso including la guernica. We had to get up early to leave for Toledo and Granada in the morning but that didn't stop a few of us from going out that night again. Only 5 of us ventured out but I didnt pay one cent the whole night :) and I got to go back to the salsa bar!
Toledo-Granada: We left very early and took an hour drive to Toledo. In Toledo, we took a bus tour around the city, then we walked around the city and looked at different religious buildings (one even housed a painting by el greco). Our tour guide took us to a square in the city, pointed out some good places to eat, and let us wander. After a few hours in Toledo, we got on the bus again and took a 5 hour bus ride to Granada. Getting in at 8:30pm, it was time to meet our families! I was terrified! My host mom Maria was there to greet me. She has been doing this for 10 years so she is pretty good at it. I absolutely adore her but she talks very fast so it is hard to understand her. She led us home and showed jess and me our room. Then while she was cooking dinner, she let us unpack. She is very very clean and i am not at all clean so that could be a problem but so far i am doing just fine....it has only been 4 days though. We had a tour of the city the next morning and stopped at the program office to sign up for some excursions (alhambra, san jose, paris!) We went back home for lunch and then, skipping out on siesta, went to find phones for some of the girls (that was a disaster and it took my roomie 4 days and 4 trips to the phone place to finally get her phone working). Back at Maria's for dinner, we met our Italian roommate Angelica. She is 30 years old and a spanish professor in Italy. She was going to take classes here but now she is headed back to Italy on Sunday because she got a job. We arent sure if we will be getting another roommate or not...
That night, Jess and I tried to meet up with some of the other students but it was too hard so we got to bed early. The next morning, we went to explore some markets in the city, took a 2.5 hour siesta, and then went for a walk to wake up. What happened? We got lost again!! haha. Our quick walk turned into a 2.5 hour walk. I got so turned around and we ended up on the other side of town. After running into other students from the group, we were pointed in the right direction and headed home. After dinner, we finally got a hold of some of the girls and had plans to go that night. We started at a tapas bar and got free tapas with our tintos de verano. Then we continued on. We had planned to go to a discoteca because apparently the entrance fee was free (it really wasn't so we didn't end up going). While we were stopped trying to figure out what to do, we ran into a bunch of Spanish men celebrating a bachelor party. I started talking to one man and when i told him I was from Wisconsin he asked me if I was from La Crosse WI. Creepy right? Turns out he had studied abroad in La Crosse during high school. apparently talking to me made him very emotional because it brought back many memories....his words not mine.
Maria made fun of us for sleeping in so late on Sunday, but I think she was really glad we went out the night before. I think she really misses her daughters (who dont live at home anymore). Our program had planned for us to go to a bullfight that evening so we walked over to the ring. I must say, I am glad I went to experience that part of the culture but i will never go to another bullfight ever. I could only stay through half of the fight. I found it to be very cruel and actually started crying at one point (along with many other students). One of the bull fighters got trampled a little by a bull but I dont think anyone felt that bad. On the way back from the Bullfight, we got to see a procession in the city for I think the patron saint of Granada. We had planned on going to bed early but instead we watched 2 movies with our host brother.
Today, I had 2 meetings to go to. I went back and relaxed for a while, took a 2.5 mile run with my roommate (who knows why) took a nap and then relaxed around the house. I dont' know how to entertain myself right now because i dont know much about the city but once classes start (on Oct. 7th) I will meet people who can entertain me :) I also have an intercambio set up with Tomas this week and a few trips with the program.
So thats brings you up to date....I can't imagine anyone in their right mind reading this whole thing beause it is ridiculously long! I love Spain! The food is a little different, the language barrier is sometimes a problem, but nothing I can't handle. Of course my sleeping pattern is still bad but when there is so much to see who needs to sleep.
I dont know when I will write next (I do have a lot of time actually and we get internet in the house because we steal it from the upstairs neighbor :)) but I promise it will be sometime before May 2010 haha. Leave comments and questions, add me to skype if you want to chat sometime or if you want a postcard leave your address and I will see what i can do. Once I find the paper with my address and number I will leave that here too! Buenas noches amigos! Hasta Luego!
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