So, here's the scoop. Life is wonderful and I'm pretty much on cloud nine. WHooo!
Since getting back from our Paris trip a ton has happened; I decided this studying abroad thing is like a really fun marathon.. but it doesn't involve a whole lot of down time or sleep. Which, I am now used to :)
Soooooooo here is a re-cap of the events this month.
We started up class again and this time I had a guy from India, a girl from Italy, and a guy from Switzerland in my class. I am meeting people from all over the world!! I loved the Italian girl, Valentina, she is such a spunky young girl and is one of the most ambitious people I have ever met. Her English is a little shaky so we mostly spoke in Spanish which was great practice...I'm actually meeting her in the park today along with a couple other friends to hang out before she flys back :( The guy from Switzerland is a whole other story...... EDVIN. Oh my. I know that everyone in my class could join me in saying he did not impress us one bit. Apparently Switzerland pays it's young people to travel to other countries and learn their languages so he is studying in Spain for free, lucky. Anyway, he consistently made comments in class that first degraded women as a whole. He is on some high horse and thinks he is the most wonderful person ever created and it reeeeally was unattractive. Then, when our teacher told him to knock that off... he proceeded to tell us how the people in Switzerland are superior to all other people in the world, really, and how the girls in Switzerland are far better looking than anyone in Spain or America that he has seen. He's a gem. Further more, he thinks he knows everrrything about the English language and America in general... although we were the first people he has met from the United States and he himself has never been there. But I mean, he's seen American Pie so that's exactly how we all act right? Noooo. It was just quite frustrating when in class we would try to explain something about our country and he would interrupt and talk.. no yell.. over us and attempt to correct us about our own country. Grr. Also, two of the girls in my class have gay siblings and he said to them that they should all be herded up and killed. Yah, I'm not joking he was extremely out of line all the time.
So, besides Edvin, this month's class was great. I had the same two profs, Sonia and Carmen and I still really like them. :) Carmen has a home in Nerja (beach city) and she said if I ever come back to Spain... which I plan to.. I can come stay with her. Uhhh yes please!
My Spanish speaking is really coming along great and my phonetics class is helping me to not sound so much like an American white girl trying to speak Spanish so that's nice haha
We had our final exam yesterday... for 4 hours.. and then our oral exam after that. AHHhh so long.
But, I think it went well and it's overrrrr!! Whoo hoo :)
My service learning at San Rafael Hospital and Huerta del Rosillas is going great as well!
The elderly woman we have been visiting at the hospital is hilarious. She has been there for four months and her daughter (about 50) is there every day when we visit. They are great people and I love getting to chat with them! She even made us treats the last time we came; it's so great to see them laugh and smile. I think we're all having a good time with it :)
The residency is also a great time because we basically get to have a little fiesta with the residents every time we go we take them to a bar. None of us drink alcohol but we drink tea and eat tapas and the owner plays dancing music it's a blast and so great to see them having fun outside of the residency. The residents are all in wheelchairs so they can't dance but the playlist they have has the Macarena on it and when Brielle and I dance to it they have a smile a mile wide and they all try to do the actions along with us, it's precious.
Today there is a Nationwide strike...... it's crazy. No one has class today, all stores are closed, all systems of transportation are shut down, and we are advised to stay off the streets. This morning our host mom told us to look out the window... the street is TRASHED.. apparently the strike started last night at midnight. We turned on the news and basically Spain is nuts right now. :S They showed many streets on the news that I walk down everyday with people throwing stuff at store windows and cops arresting people... quite something. I don't know if we have ever had something like this happen in America.. maybe a long long time ago.. but this is the first Nationwide organized strike I have ever witness I know that. It's not really dangerous for any of us as long as we don't try to go into the center of town because that's where most of the riots and protesting is occurring.
Hopeeefully everything is back up and running tomorrow because... It's Semana Santa this week for us!! This is like our Easter back at home but it lasts for an entire week. It's also our Spring Break now!! Brielleaaaaall day for 6 days! HEllooo Heaven :)
Preview of our hotel.. not to mention it's right on the beach! EEP!
Then, when we get back here to Granada, it is the major day of Semana Santa with dancing and parades and all sorts of festivals. Apparently it's really beautiful with flowers everywhere and decorated crosses and i dunno... but it sounds like a really sweet cultural experience! Then, after that... the next day we are going to Lagos, Portugal for a 3 day all inclusive ship ride type thing.. I don't really know details but our school offers weekend trips like this for us that are super cheap and ... awesome.. so clearly we took them up on it. Needless to say, life is really rough here abroad ;)Anyway, in other news. I got to hike in the Sierra Nevadas! BEAUTIFUL. Brielle's host father picked us up in his car... it was such a foreign concept to me.. and drove us to a hiking site that buses don't even go to.. so it was an amazing opportunity that no tourists get to experience because they don't have means to get there. We had lunch on the peak and woah, it was just unreal. The sun was shinning and it was such a fun time!
Beginning our hike up!
Kelsey, Brielle, Malissa, and I
Conquering fears.
The vieww! ahhh
Lunch break :)
Great day in the Mountains :)
We also had another Intercambio experience with Helena (she is a college student here in Granada). We went to the Movies with her and saw "This is the War" (Eso es la Guerra in Spanish) with Reese Witherspoon.. obviously it was in Spanish. It was so much fun! Their theatres are really different because they are looooong but not wide and everyone has an assigned seat. They make a big deal out of it too because we went to Hugo before this movie and didn't know about the assigned seats thing since we don't have that in America and we got asked to move like 3 times haha ohhhh boy. Anyway, the Intercambios are really helpful because we get to practice our Spanish with someone our age...plus she tells us all the fun places to go and see! Helena is the bees knees I'm tellin' ya.
Alsoooo more travels. I went to see Elizabeth in Bangor, Wales!! I skipped class on Friday and went with Malissa to Wales. It was quite the travel experience. We left Granada on Thursday afternoon at about 2 and caught a bus to the bus station... and then a bus to Malaga.. and from there a plane to Manchester. Everything went smoothly this time! It was so strange to be in an English speaking country. My reactions are in Spanish now and when someone held the door for me I had the hardest time remembering to say thank you instead of De Nada. Oyyye. I think this is a good sign however! I loveddd hearing their British accents, it makes them all a million times cuter :) Anyway, we finally landed in Manchester at 11pm their time (they are an hour behind Granada time). Our train to Bangor didn't leave until 7:50am the next morning sooo we spent the night in the airport. Unfortunately there was a creepy man named Dave who insisted on not leaving us alone. He was middle aged and drunk as a skunk trying to tell us his life story. We gave him fake names and all other fake info about ourselves cus ya know, we got this creepy man business down to a science by now. haha We think that he is a criminal tho.. because he was "away on business" for a month he told us and hadn't seen his family.. wife and kids?.. that whole time and he just really needed to have a cigarette before he could get a taxi to go home. Uhh idk he was quite odd. Anyway once he fiiiiiinally left we made little beds on the chairs in the lobby but it was freezing so sleep didn't really happen.
In the morning... I ate a peach raspberry muffin from Starbucks, real food! It was so yummy I just can't even explain it. Spanish food is nothing like American food or Mexican food for that matter. So, when in Wales we gorged ourselves. It was grrrrrreat! We chilled until we THOUGHT our train was going to leave... we showed up at the train station outside the airport at 7:40... to find out that we in fact needed to take a train to the train station to get on the train that takes us to Chester and then to Bangor..... so, we missed our train. :( The thing is, the people there are so nice!! The conductor let us on another train with a little different route and we made it to Chester in time to get on our connecting train. I loveeee riding trains! It was really fun and the people were so friendly.. they like Americans!
After about 3 hours of riding trains we arrived in Bangor and Elizabeth and Rachel met us at the train station!!! :D It was so good to see them!
The pound. Man oh man... does that exchange rate suck.
Friday we just kind of hung out and caught up... and went to the grocery store to buy stuff to make tacos.... oh myyy! They live different there than we do here. They are set up more like a college .. where as we live with host families and walk 20 plus minutes to our school and have about 12 people in our classes. They go to Bangor University and have 400 some people in a class and live on campus with other students going there.
Just becuase I'm proud of it :)
In Wales the students who are first years in college are the same age as America's seniors in high school so most of the people we met were 17 or 18. One really cool thing that the Bangor program kids get to do is a class called outdoor pursuits where they go deep sea diving and cliff climbing and all sorts of really cool things! Jealousss.
Bangor was really beautiful and everything was super green!! This is because it rains... every day. It was also way colder there than Granada and I realized that I have been spoiled here with the wonderful weather. (Iowa is rockin' from what I hear too!)
Anyway, they showed us around town and took us to this cute little scone place that was out on a pier. It is owned by this cute little old couple and they home make everything in their little restaurant... yum! For the night we went out to the dance club called OCCY. It was huggge and we had a lot of fun! ..I even saw two cross dressers...... In Granada when we go out for the night people don't start going to clubs until 3am and then everyone goes to bed at 7am... it took a long while to get used to it.. but now that I have, it seemed weird to go out at 9pm and come back at 1am like in America. Christianity apparently is not a thing in Wales and they only have a couple of churches.. but when OCCY closes for the night, there are a group of people from the church who have toasters and toast and hand it out to the people who are going home. I thought that was a really cool idea!
The Central crew plus Malissa :)
Elizabeth, Rachel, me, Malissa, and Jade
Saturday was St. Patricks day! For breakfast we made pancakes from scratch with home made apple drizzle for the top.. melt in my mouth, oh plus peanut butter! (Can you see how deprived I've been of American-like food yet? haha) ....then a bunch of us went on a hike to the top of some hill that I can't remember the name of.. where we could see the entire city!
Bangor, Wales
Malissa, me, Elizabeth, and Reagan (my science buddy at Central!)
Bangor is not very big.. but it has a whoooooole lot of sheep! haha For lunch we went to "Pizza House" which is their go-to place. It reminded me of a Subway version of a Pizza place... again, so good! Then we went to a little bakery and got flapjacks for dessert. LOOK! ahhh yum!
Me, Ricky, and Malissa just lovin' it
I probly gained 5 pounds on this trip. ha! But really..
Later they showed us more of the town and we played cards! We got to show them our game called "Africa" which is also known as Peanuts.. but we played it all the time when we were in Africa soo we re-named it.
These silly people drive on the wrong side of the road :p
I loveddd this cottage.
One of the buildings where they have class... the others look like they came straight out of the Harry Potter movies no lie.
There are castles everyyyywhere.
Another shot of Bangor.
The town center.
Mother's day was Monday in Wales.. how cute!! "Mummy"
That night we went to a karaoke bar for St. Pattys! It was so fun to hang out and sing songs... American songs! One strange thing... I wore green and so did the other Americans... but the people from Bangor were all wearing costumes. Like, I saw the whole 100 Acre Woods gang: Pooh, Tiger, Rabbit, etc. I don't understand...... anyway. It was a fun time!
Rachel, Jade, Blaire, me, and Elizabeth singing our hearts out... terribly.
The bus was 30 minutes late.. so we were kinda freaking out.. but it came, it must be a Europe thing because Spain is the sssssssame way. Anway we made it to the airport on time and caught our 6am flight back to Malaga, Spain! When we landed it was soooo sunny and hot, I just love it.
This is where you'll be flying in to momma, cannot wait... less than one month! EEP!
There are only 2 buses that go to Granada so we had to camp out for a bit.. during this time we had some very strange Spanish boys trying to take our picture. Honestly, it doesn't even phase me anymore because it literally happens all the time to Americans. They see a blond with blue eyes and it's something special I guess. Once walking down the street a woman told her kids this, well in Spanish, but this: "Look! Look! An American, she has blue eyes and light hair!" Kind of makes me feel like a rock star.....ha.
Anyway, we made it back to Granada safe and sound. Bangor, Wales was a short trip, but it was really great to see my friends from Central!
back to the sunshineee!
Ohhh and apparently I have allergies here. In the US I don't have any.. but here I sound like I took up smoking and my head weighs approximately 900 lbs. I felt crappy before I went to Wales and then when there.. everything cleared up.... upon landing in Malaga.... I immediately digressed back to feeling crappy so it's a real thing. haha Since it is officially Spring season here it must have been because of something that was blooming.. because now I'm fine again. who knows!
We had a few more days of class... a whole lot of learning, not kidding.. they call it intensive for a reason.. and then we had our final program trip to Toledo, Spain and Madrid, Spain for the weekend!!
This was probably one of my favorite trips so far because we all bonded and it was just a great time to let loose and relax. Madrid is the capital of Spain and is huuuuge compared to Granada. The architecture is unreal and yah... so much history! It was a 5 hour bus ride to Madrid but we stopped in Toledo for 3 hours along the way.
Our tour guide... Louis... yah everyone fell in love. He was hawttt. See below :)
Toledo was gorgeous and is settled on a hill... we didn't get to spend much time here which was a bummer but ....it was worth it :)
Bocadillas!
Back: Katie and Rob
Front from lt to rt: Megan, Anna Marie, me, Kelsey, Malissa
Toledo, Spain
My ladiesssss
Kaite, Anna Marie, me, Kelsey, Malissa, Brielle
Central Fam :)
All the Central students studying in Granada are in this photo!
(We have about 30 more people from various other schools in our program)
Our tour guide... I told youuuu :)
Toledo is known for it's swords I guess..
We got to Madrid for the night and Veronica gave us all 10 euro... score! The program pays for all of our meals... breakfast was included at our hotel (they had cereal and milk!! ..I haven't had milk since being here)...and then we got 20 euro a day to eat with. So, Dad, you would be proud because I actually MADE money while being in Madrid! ha!
We went to KFC for supper.... I know! But really, chicken.. breaded chicken... wow just so good. Madrid is a whole lot more Americanized than any other part of Spain because it's the capital and they have a lot of people travel through there (I mean we were stuck there in the airport for 10 hours when coming back from Paris oyye). There were people walking around from aaaaaall over the place. We met some students from Australia!! They were sooo nice and had the sweetest accents everrrr. They were all 18 years old... apparently America needs to get with the program because Australia has all of their students... (like our seniors, but their freshies in college) travel to another country to experience their culture and language so they had picked Spain and were literally just traveling all around Spain for a year. Lucky!!! That is a thing with other countries apparently.
Anna Marie, Kelsey, me, Katie, and Malissa <3
The Austrailin crew!
We tried to get in to a dance club called Joy.. but failed. In Granada we never have to show our IDs for anything.. they just let us in. I mean, I think we all look over 18. The bouncer was a reeeeal a-hole and when we flashed him our student IDs he told us that he could easily make a fake ID just like that saying he was 24 and studying computer science and that we all needed our passports to get in. Yaaaah right, so we Adios-ed and just walked the streets because there is always free entertainment going on.
For example: a majillion people in the streets
This is really common in Spain: all sorts of people dressed up like statues
Mariachi band.
TONNSSS of people in costumes everywhere.
Saturday we went to Palacio Real where aaall the important meetings are held and the King and Queen used to live. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside... but woah. Everything was extravagantly decorated in gold and silver and there were all sorts of lions.. and statues.. and it was crazy. I have never ever seen anything like it. Their dinning room sat 400 people. Yah. We called our tour guide Edna, like from the Incredibles, because she looked just like her... but she was a very angry small gal and basically talked in a whisper so it was hard to catch what she was saying to us. It was especially hard to listen to her when there was a tour being given in English right next to us... because my ear automatically goes to my mother language and I just had a hard time tuning that out and tuning in to our Spanish tour. Oooops.
Malissa and I outside of the Palace
Anna Marie!!
Tayler (my roommate here), me, Malissa Amber, and Becca
Loving Life.
My girl from Colorado.. Breann!
Why of course we did the BERNIE! haha
After the tour we went and hung out with Veronica!! She is such a doll. I love her sooo much, she is the greatest director ever.
For lunch we went to the Hard Rock Cafe.... oooo myyy goshhh. It was delicious! I got a salad that tasted just like the Lough salad from Cheesecake Factory and well my taste buds were very happy. Wales and Madrid spoiled me, a lot. We walked around the city for awhile admiring the statues and buildings and such..... when we came upon the largest park evaaa.
There were little row boats, water falls, and everything!! We took a little cat nap in he sun... so wonderful.
Sooo the plan was to each sit on one of her cheeks.. but when we touched them, her buns were HOT and we jumped off 2 seconds after this was taken haha
Soccer tricks in the plaza. Yes, mullets are still happening world wide.
The park!
Brielle, Megan, me, Kelsey, and Malissa
I caught them snoozin :) Gorgeous weather!
For the night, our program went to a theater production called "El Manual de la Buena Esposa." It was a comedy based production and only 3 women played alllll of the parts in the play.. it was crazy how fast they could change into another character! It was hilarious and a great cultural experience!
The theatre.. so fancy!
Malissa, me, and Caitlin
Our three program directors <3
Jose, Christina, and Veronica
Sunday we went to the Museo del Prado and saw a tonnnn of famous art work.. some very dark artwork at that.. such as Saturn Devouring his Son... yikes. Anway, that was really neat but we couldn't take pictures again. I did accidentally take one tho... and got my head about bitten off by a security guard. Apparently it's a big deal because Jose (one of our directors) said that a couple years ago a student took a picture of something and they cuffed him. woahaaa.
waiting to get in...
The one shot I took :) haha
& it's not even a good one!
After the museum we went back to the park and had a picnic and enjoyed the beautiful day for a couple hours before we had to go meet back up with the group. We met in the plaza where there was a huuuge Pro-Life convention going on. There were balloons and mascots and a concert and all sorts of things going on. So we sat by a fountain while we waited for the bus and... people watched, it's a great hobby. ;)
SPAIN.
I found more lions!
There were just so many beautiful buildings and things to see, I have a ton more pictures that aren't on this blog sooo those can be saved for later: )
Yes, this is a museum of ham. haha
More of the park :)
Overall the trip to Madrid was a hit and Veronica said it was one of the best trips she has ever been on with a group, woot woot!
Malissa, me, Kelsey, Katie, and Collin (also from Colorado)
She sent us all an email that night telling us how much she loves us and that... well she wants to take us all to Nerja!! ahhhhh! So, now we have one more program trip the last weekend we are here in May. Helloooo beach! Veronica has to go to the United States... Pella actually.. to meet up with our president to coordinate and plan things so she leaves tomorrow and won't be back until April :( Sadddd. But, I spose that is part of the job.
This is Nerja. Mom..... get ready!!! ahhh!!
That basically sums up what's been going on in my life these past few weeks. Like I said, it's a marathon... but definitely a good one!!
...........In the mean time I'm going to go to the park and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" It's my new series since I completed The Hunger Games awhile ago.. really bummed I can't see that movie :( It doesn't come out here until the end of April and obviously it will be in Spanish; just not the same. Sooo I'm crossing my fingers it will be in the dollar theatre or something when I get back.
Miss you all at home!! I've been doing really well about not being too home sick.. I think it helps that I have a majillion fun things going on, and skype! Great invention I must say.
Hope everyone had a great Spring Break and that all is well back home in Iowa :)
Love,
Courtney
