I´m done! (well, kind of...)

Well the intensivo is over and done with. Yay! Glad to have that finished. It was pretty hard core that´s for sure, but I do think that I improved...even if it was just a little bit! :)

Anywho, the weekend is here! We leave for Madrid on Tuesday and I´m not quite sure what´s the plan for the next couple days...we´ll see.



I´m so excited for Madrid. :0)



Phrases of the day: Caperucita Rojo=Little Red Riding Hood
Poner verde a alguien=to criticize someone

the end is in sight!

I´m almost done with the Intensivo. I just got done with my last classes and tomorrow we have exams. It went by so quickly! I´m going to miss the Media class that we´ve had for the past two weeks, mostly because the professor was so enthusiastic about what she was teaching. Come to think of it, all 3 of my professors have been great. I´m excited to see what the "real" semester brings.

I gave my presentation in my morning class yesterday on Portland and it went well. My professor told me that I should be an ambassador for the city. Heh. I don´t know about that but it sure made me think of home. Especially the restaurants. It´s kind of funny. I love the food here but I´m starting to get food cravings. Heh. Yesterday morning I was wishing for either oatmeal or French toast...ahh. But then again, for lunch today we had paella which is hard to come by in the States, so I wasn´t complaining too much...!

I got a package today from my parents. That completely made my day. Seriously, you have no idea how great it is to get mail/email when you are across a continent and an ocean. It makes you feel a lot closer! :) Plus, they sent me this awesome peruvian hat that I love! So now I´m an American in a Peruvian hat, still listening to that Irish band and strolling around on Spanish soil. Good times.

Not a whole lot of other really exciting things going on...just trying to stay on top of things before the Inetensivo ends and we head to Madrid. Sooooo excited!

one letter can make a difference...

It´s been a while, so I figured I´d post some pics as an apologetic gesture... :)

I can´t believe that it´s already the 23rd. In another week we´ll be leaving for Madrid and by the time we get back we will already be a week into February-as if isn´t a short enough month! I´m getting super excited about the trip next week. It should be amazing-so much to see! We got a rough itinerary and we´re totally going to hit all the major spots and get to see all the main museums (Reina Sofia and the Prado) along with all the churches etc. Should be fantastic!

Last Friday I went on a short trip sponsored by the CLM to Fuentevaqueros where the house of Garcia Lorca is located. See, the CLM has a whole list of different trips to different parts/neighborhoods of the city (the Albaycin, old Granada, the Sacromonte where the gypsies are etc.) and as long as you are a student in the CLM (which as students of the AHA/ILACA program, we are) you can sign up for as many of these trips as you wish. There are a couple you have to pay for and even then it´s not that much, but the majority are free. It´s a very cool feature I must say. So I signed up to go on this trip to Fuentevaqueros to see Lorca´s house. The guide was a professor from the Univ. of Granada and she was amazing. She actually lead our tour of the Albaycin when we first got here and she knows so much about the city and its history. It was about a 40 min drive to get to the town and it was neat to be able to see the outskirts of the city and places that I haven´t seen yet because they are too far for me to walk to. I couldn´t believe that I hadn´t been in a motorized vehicle since I got here. You really do use your feet a whole lot more for transportation than in the states, that´s for sure!

So we got there and she showed us around his modest childhood home. It was small but very interesting. There were a lot of original artifacts and keepsakes. We even got to see the only surviving (and known) footage of him while he was alive-all 3 min of it!

When I got back, I went for a walk around the city. Just for kicks. I love the city in the evening. Everyone is out and about. Couples, friends, families. The city is alive with people! I had my iPod and in my opinion that´s all I really need-with it, I can walk around until my feet give out!

So there I was in downtown. I was slightly hungry and it wasn´t time for dinner yet, so when I saw a sign that said "frutos secos" I didn´t even think twice abont what it really meant and just immediately thought "Cool! Dried fruit! I love dried fruit."

Um, oops.

No. "Frutos secos" though it may seem to translate to "dried fruit" does not mean that at all. I walked in to the little shop and asked the man where the "frutos secos" were. He pointed to a stack of plastic bins filled with nuts...

Heh.

The "o" and the "a" really do make a difference.

So, not wanting to look silly and because I was still hungry, I looked at the bins and decided to get a small bag of a mixed nut assortment. I started munching and discovered that there was a nut in there that I really liked a lot...so I ducked into another shop that sold nuts and looked at the names on the bins and found out that the nut I like was "maiz grande".

Now, it´s been a while since I´ve had a bag of cornnuts in the States, but as far as I can remember that is what this nut most resembles. It is delicious and I plan on bringing a ton back. It would be just my luck that it turned out to indeed be cornnuts...oh well. Either way, I´m glad that I confused the "a" and the "o".(By the way fruit like oranges, pears, etc has the "a" ending-"fruta". That´s why I got the two mixed up)

On Saturday we had our visit to the Capilla Real and the Cathedral. The Capilla Real was beautiful and ornate while the Cathedral, which I assumed would be the more lavish of the two, turned out to be pretty plain. The walls were white with the exception of a few paintings.

In the Capilla Real we got to see the coffins of Isabel and Ferdinand as well as the chest that Isabel gave Columbus when he sailed to the New World. So much history and I got to see it. It´s so cool to be here and get to see all of this firsthand, you have no idea!

That afternoon I wandered around and found F. Garcia Lorca park. It was pretty nice, but was pretty barren considering that we´re in the middle of winter. I´ll have to check it out again in springtime.

I also went and saw another movie that night, "Memoirs of a Geisha". I missed it when it came out in the States and I really wanted to check it out. I´m not sure if I´m getting better at understanding the language or if they just were speaking slower but this time I understood practically the whole movie! Go me!

On Sunday, I took advantage of the fact that I got up early and ended up going to the Parque de las Sciencias, which is a combination of OMSI and a museum like the Museum of Natural History or something like that. It was very interactive but there were also more informative exhibits on the Arabs of the Iberian Peninsula and the Origins of Life. They also had a room that had all of these interactive exhibits on perception. Super cool. I was such a little kid! It was awesome though. I really want to go back because I didn´t have the chance to see it all and there is a cartography exhibit that I want to see that leaves in March.

At the Parque, they also had a bunch of "exhibits" outdoors. There was a "Mental Gymnasium" and a huge chess board that you could actually play chess on. There was a butterfly sanctuary...that was really neat (plus it was warm in there to simulate the tropical habitat they are used to...I stayed in there for a while! :)

There was also this huge, tall tower. You took an escalator to get to the top (think Empire State Building type of tower but obviously not nearly as tall!) and then you walked down stairs to get back on tierra firma. On the way down, there were signs that marked the height of a particular animal. For example, at XX meters there was a sign saying that this was how long a blue whale is, the longest tapeworm ever found in a human, a giraffe, etc. It was neat and geez, the longest tapeworm was really long-yuck!

Okay, over and out.

The second building of the Centro de Lenguas Modernas. This is the building that is super close to where I live and where I have been attending my grammar and culture classes in the morning the past month. It´s awesome...I can leave my house at 10:20 and get there at 10:24. It actually used to be a hotel until they renovated it about 5 years ago.


El Rio Genil (The Genil River); in all honesty, this picture actually makes it seem a lot more picturesque than it actually is...it´s more like a glorified stream than a river! :)


I took this picture wearing gloves and a scarf...it was about 5 degrees C...the irony is amazing...


The house that F. Garcia Lorca was born in located in the small town of Fuentevaqueros. He lived here until he was approx. 10 years old and moved to Granada.

The Corral de Carbon. This is where the traveling merchants would stay and keep their animals while they were in Granada.


One of the two organs inside the Cathedral. (The other is just like it)


Inside the Cathedral of Granada. Although it may appear to be decorated, I was really surprised at its austerity, especially since for a church of that size.


The city of Granada from the tower at the Parque de las Sciencias. (If you look hard, you can see the Alhambra in the distance!)

making friends with those verb conjugations...

Things are going well. Not a whole lot to report except that the grammar classes continue and luckily I am not feeling quite as lost I was in the beginning! It´s starting to make more sense the more practice I get with all those silly verbs.

We started our evening class so we´re up to 6 hours of class a day. It´s so unusual to have so much class in one day-you get so used to the college class schedule and all of a sudden you have tons of class hours to attend. I really like the new class though. It´s called Español en los Medios de Comunicacion and it´s basically teaching us all about Spanish media. We´re currently looking at newspapers and print media. Very interesting.

Anywho, yep. Not a whole lot super exciting going on with me...not until the end of the month when our AHA group embarks upon our Madrid/Segovia/Toledo adventure. Very excited for that. Woohoo.

Over and out.

Friday the 13th has no meaning here...here, you better watch out on Tuesday the 13th!

Another week come and gone...where are the days going?

Have a lot to say but the "aula multimedia" is closing down here pretty soon. To make up for it, I promise to post some pics soon. :0)

Estoy hasta las narices...

con los tiempos de los verbos!!! For those of you not familiar with Spanish sayings, or who perhaps literally translated the preceding as "I am up to the noses with the times of the verbs", the lovely (and unfortunately true) heading of this post translates to the English equivalent of "I am fed up with verb tenses!". Although, I will admit that being "up to your noses" with something is a slightly amusing though and can elicit a chuckle or two. Heh. :)

Anywho, third day of classes and I was frustrated! My comprehension of the grammar was like a roller coaster ride. First I was totally confused, then I got the next concept, then it was a free fall toward perplexity until class was over. See, the thing is that in the U.S. we don´t have grammar classes. Well, maybe some people did, but I for one, didn´t. I mean yes, I learned and know what verbs, and adjectives, and nouns are, and occationally I can identify what is modifying what and so on, but when was the last time you identified the conditional perfect for and English word? Yeah, it´s been a while if ever, eh? (An example of the conditional perfect in English, by the way, would be "I would have spoken")

Honestly, I have heard so many people say that Spanish is such an easy language to learn, which, I suppose, if you consider learning a couple words here and there and the basic present tense of how to say things as learning/knowing Spanish, then that could be a true statement. But when you get into the later levels where you discover tenses that you don´t even know the equivalent of in English, you get a little nervous. See, I have always just been taught English in that the way you say something is how you say it just because that´s the way it is. Now, I am having to learn the why of how you say things in Spanish. Itís not good enough just to know the answer anymore, you have to know why that is the correct answer. Ugh.

So yeah, it was a slightly frustrating 4 hours of class today. We are going over the indicative and subjunctive past tenses...14 different verb conjugations. Plus, we go so quickly that at times I felt overwhelmed. It should be alright though. I have already started thinking more before I speak, so that there is a better chance that when I say something it will come out correct and at the very least, I can say that I made a valiant attempt to construct a proper sentence! This is for sure not just a vacation in Spain-it´s hard work!

Along the same language tangent, it´s funny how the Spanish I know and have been taught differs slightly from the Spanish here. I mean the first and most obvious difference is the use of the "vosotros" form, which slowly but surely I am getting accustomed to. It´s kind of strange but it makes sense and actually sounds kinda cool. Feli sometimes comments to me that I also use a lot of words that are common in Mexico but not common here. For example, in Mexico I would use the word "platicar" (to chat) but here that is disctinctly Mexican. Here they would say "hablar" (to talk). It´s funny how it is the same basic language but with very slight differences.

In other not so academic news, I went and bought a banana today. True, it isn´t that earth-shattering of news, but it was kind of an interesting experience. There are tons of little fruterias along the street by where I live. It´s neat to be walking to school and pass by all the fresh fruit (though my favorite places to pass by in the morning are the bakeries because you can smell all the fresh bread!). I hadn´t gone into one until today when I finally broke down and bought a banana.

I should explain that I havenít had a banana since I left Oregon and even though we´ve had all sorts of good mandarins, oranges, apples, and pears at Feli´s, I have missed my fave fruit, the banana. I mean, how can you go wrong with the world´s most perfect food? Heh. So, I thought I would feed the craving.

Well, first off you don´t touch the fruit. There are signs (at all fruterias and in the markets as well, I learned) saying that you can´t touch the fruit. To a point, I can see why. I mean it is slightly unsanitary to walk into a store and pick out fruit that may have been touched by other shoppers, but then again, I am used to doing that so I thought it kind of odd that there was someone there specifically to help you get your fruit.

I wasn´t sure I´d be able to buy just one banana, but apparently it´s not that uncommon to just buy a small quantity since a lot of the people here go to the fruit store every day. What really surprised me though, was the price: .35 euro cents for one small, greenish, and slightly bruised banana. If we do the conversion, that comes out to be more than 35 U.S. cents for sure. You can buy a pound of bananas for what, oh 39 cents, 49 cents at the store at home? And this one small banana, which for sure didn´t weigh a pound, cost the equivalent of a pound back home? I was slightly disappointed and think I will stick to oranges and mandarins which are in season and consequently more reasonable. :)

Anywho, it´s still cold here. I am just glad that I´m not in Japan though. We´ve been watching the news and seeing how much snow they have been getting over there. Crazy. Apparently, we are entering the second year of drought here in southern Spain. It practically doesn´t rain here (very unlike Oregon!) and so that is part of the reason why people are so big on conserving water.

Along those lines, it´s interesting to see what they cover in the news here. You don´t hear a whole lot from the states, that´s for sure. I haven´t seen President Bush since I left. You do hear a lot of local Spanish news (obviously) from all over the country. There are also a lot of reports from other European countries and of course, lots of futbol news! There is a segment of the latest soccer news that lasts at least 10 minutes every newscast. Yesterday, we were watching the news and we saw that there was a big movie opening in Paris for Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek´s new movie. I asked Feli if Penelope was Spanish only to find out that Penelope Cruz is Felis cousin´s daughter. So that was kinda cool to find out-an indirect claim to fame. Nice.

I´m really looking forward to seeing a movie here soon. Memoirs of a Geisha opens tomorrow and since I didn´t get to see it in the states, I may have to take a field trip to the movies to check it out.

------------
Palabras del dia: ojos saltones=bug eyes
cursi=cheesy (as in "That´s so cheesy")
enanitos=dwarves

homework?!? what homework!?!?

Word o´ the Day: albaricoque=apricot
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To be honest, today was rather uneventful. We had classes again today and again, it was fantastic. We started working in that textbook that I ran all over the city for and yes, I will admit it was worth it. Already we have completed an entire chapter and are starting a new one tomorrow. I can´t comprehend the pace we are going, but it´s good though. I came home and after an interesting lunch I did my homework. My roommate, luckily didn´t have any but I, regrettable did. Heh. It wasn´t that bad at all, and I actually was excited to sit down and review and practice what I had learned that day. Especially when I had a native Spaniard sitting right next to me. As I did my homework, Feli watched her daily tv shows. Thankfully, she doesn´t watch those horrible soaps that feature low-quality acting and even lower-quality storylines. No, she prefers shows like "Corazon a Corazon" which are the equivalent of EXTRA or Access Hollywood in the U.S. I must say, that in watching today, I found out that Angelina may be pregnant with Brad´s baby and that Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears made Mr. Blackwell´s Worst Dressed list this year. Man, I´m glad I can stay up to date on my Hollywood gossip, even while overseas! :) Heh.

After I finished my homework, I got ready to go to a little get together the visiting professor from PLU (Jim Predmore) was having for us at his piso. Nothing fancy, just an opportunity for half of our AHA group of 42 to get together and chat for a while. It was a good time and I´m starting to feel more comfortable with the other students.

Today for lunch we had fish again... I´m not a big fish aficionado as they would say here. But as always, I tried it and ended up eating most of it even though it wasn´t my fave. Feli also made a tortilla española for us which was really good. I´m still not a huge fan of eggs, but the way she mixed in some potatoes and cheese and I think mushrooms, it ended up being alright.

She surprised us with dinner tonight though. Pizza. It was so cute. It was one of those refrigerator pizzas "jamon y queso". Heh. It was so cute, especially since she knows that pizza is LaDonna´s fave food. She tries so hard to please us, I only wish that I could do more to help around the house.

Man, I need to get some new walking shoes and another warm hat...if I had only known!

ice cream in the middle of winter

Today was the first day of classes. It was pretty cool, actually. I really like my professor and although most of the work we are going to be doing involves working in groups, I think that it will be a fun, if not really intense 2 weeks and a half. We have our final (and only) exam on the 27th.

I have class from 10:30 to 14:30 each day and next week the AHA program students will start another class in the evenings that will go from 18:00-20:00. So not too much class, but enough to keep busy.

After class today, I went with some girls from my group(!) to register for different extra-curricular classes. I signed up for a tango class. Two others are doing salsa and another is doing guitar classes. I am *ehem* very excited about this. It won´t start until February but still, it´s something awesome to look forward to. YAY!

I was a little late getting back for lunch but I think Feli forgave me. Again, it was another fantastic meal. I am quite happy that we are staying with such a good cook! I decided to go and buy my book that I need for my class at one of the librerias. See the thing is that I thought that I would be able to find it at any of the small bookstores nearby. I was mistaken. I was told to go to these more specialized bookstores which no one had any idea where they were located. Long story short, I spent my afternoon wandering the city. I didn´t mind though, the only thing that was worrying me was that I wasn´t going to find the book in time for class tomorrow but I ended up getting it at this international bookstore that is waaaay at the other end of the city. Well, actually I have no idea where it is really, but it was very far away and it seemed like it must have been on the other side of the city, I think it was near the river. I was pleased to get it but come to find out that my madre has the textbook already and so I just needed to buy the workbook. Um, so yes, I now need to trek all the way back to this place to return the text. Oh well, another adventure. It was nice to get outside and just be a little lost. Plus, it wasn´t quite as cold as it has been. All the clothing stores are having their after Christmas sales where clothes are marked down...way way down. Up to 50% off some top names too. It´s neat to see all the shoppers trying to get the bargains. Heh.

I was kinda wishing for some ice cream so I stopped at this little ice cream shop and got a cone. Strawberry. I´m a traditionalist I know, especially when there are other flavors that are "local" that I should have tried! But oh well. Interesting to note that here, like in many other foreign countries I´ve been to, the portion sizes are much smaller than in the U.S. I mean my cone was no bigger than oh, say a 1/4 of a cup of ice cream. But see the thing is that it satisfied my craving and I wonder why they don´t do that in the U.S. Give smaller servings...oh well, I was just happy with what I got.

I must have appeared slightly silly with an ice cream cone in the middle of January but oh well, it was good!

LaDonna (my roommate) and I are talking about going to Malaga this weekend. We can get there by bus for only about 7€ so that would be awesome to go and see where Picasso was born. So much history in this country, really.

Anywho, tomorrow is another busy day. So much to do and so very little time!

an American on Spanish soil listening to an Irish band...

Word of the day: desafio=challenge
---------------

We took the placement test and I am in the group Advanced B (3B). I was pleased but slightly disappointed. I was surprised to find out that I did best with the grammar section which I wasn´t expecting at all. So we start the Intensivo tomorrow. I will have class from 10:30 to 12:30 each day for the rest of the month at the other "campus" which just happens to be right next door to my house. It´s so convenient! We (the AHA people) start another class on Wednesday that will be from 6-8pm. It should be interesting to see how it all goes. I know some of the other students in my group so that will be nice to see some familiar faces each day.

We also chose our classes for the semester that starts in February. I am quite excited with the classes I am going to take, which of course, I can´t remember at the moment.

I finally learned yesterday how to heat the water. See, I was so happy about the warm shower yesterday that I was curious to find out why it had been warm. Turns out that when I had taken my "ice cold" showers, I hadn´t turned on the gas to heat the water. Hahaha (not really-just so you know, that is very very sarcastic laughter). So, moral of the story is that if I want warm water, I need to go and turn on the gas, light the pilot and then that heats the water. If I had only known sooner! So, today was day 2 of warm water in the shower and what a difference a few degrees make. It´s amazing. I´m living the good life now. Heh. :)

After the test and after el almuerzo, I went for a walk around the city. I just wandered for about 2 hours. I needed some time to just be.

I put on my iPod and walked. It was great. I went up to the Alhambra again and then walked all around downtown. It was a beautiful day and the sun made everything seem cheerier and dulled some of the dreariness that the cold weather brings. I went to the Corte Ingles (departement store) which is currently having their "big sale of the year" (think after Christmas sales in the U.S.) to browse. I was quite impressed with the Corte. It´s a complete all-in-one store for sure. I mean in one part of the store you have Pantene shampoo and in the other you have $750€ fur coats. You also have a cafe, electronics, books of all sorts, cosmetics, everything. It´s quite impressive-there´s even a travel agency inside the store. It reminds me of Nordstrom with a bit of Meier and Frank and a hint of Fred Meyer. Kinda cool.

I am enjoying the pace of life here. It´s quite relaxing. I never feel like I´m in a hurry or need to be somewhere always. I don´t know-it´s funny how the atmosphere is different. People walk slower, listen more, and just look like they are more at ease than in the U.S. Strange I think.

I can´t believe that tomorrow I will have been here a week. It has gone by so quickly and I can already tell that May will be here before I know it.


One day at a time I think, one day at a time.

PICTURES!

Here are a few pictures from the Granada, a couple are from the Alhambra. It was amazing! Click on any picture to see a larger version. Enjoy!

I must have done something to please the gods...

About half an hour ago I went to get chocolate con churros and I was mistaken for a non-American. Granted, the person who mistook me was another exchange student who I will probably end up having a class with or something, but it was kind of funny to be standing there sipping my chocolate and have someone approach me in Spanish and ask me a question...kinda cool, eh? I went to the "best" chocolate and churros cafe in Granada called Cafe Futbol but I was slightly disappointed. Perhaps it was because the churros I have had in Mexico (and the U.S. for that matter, not that it really counts but still) have always had some kind of sugar/cinnamon on them. The ones that they serve at this cafe are just the dough that is fried and nothing more. They don´t really taste much of anything but deep-fried dough. I was disappointed and will continue on my search to find a good churro. I was very pleased with the chocolate though. Wow, seriously. Spaniards have perfected the art of hot chocolate. I mean this stuff is rich. It´s almost like drinking warm chocolate pudding. It´s so rich, you almost can´t finish your cup. It´s good though.

Today was an eventful day in a variety of ways. So, update on the water/shower situation...it was getting bad. I mean not only do I stand the cold nights...wearing fleece pants, two pairs of socks, a t-shirt (I didn´t bring a long sleeved shirt, otherwise I´d wear that), my fleece, and my hat but to get up in the morning to a cold shower was not exactly sounding like a plan for the next couple months. I mean I was starting to count down the days not to get home (although I will be excited to go back when the time comes!) but to when I wouldn´t have to take a frigid shower. Anyway, I got up this morning and was completely dreading taking a shower...you know it´s bad when you would prefer to smell of yesterday rather than take a shower. I gathered up my stuff and made my way to the shower and turned it on in hopes of letting it run just enough so that maybe, just maybe it would warm up a bit. Just a couple seconds after I turned it on, it was lukewarm! I couldn´t believe it. I mean the situation had become so dire that I was rejoicing over the opportunity to take a lukewarm shower. Heh. I was afraid that the warm water would run out so I showered quickly but was even more pleased to find that instead of getting colder as it "ran out" it was getting slightly warmer. Oh you can´t imagine my joy. I was ready to do a little dance. I was so excited. It was so so nice to have warm water to wash with. Really, you take something like that so for granted when you have it available to you all the time. It´s amazing. You don´t think of it until you have to do without it. That saying is so true. So my day started off on a good foot. Today my group went to the Alhambra and I got to talk to more people and wasn´t feeling so...alone. I was feeling pretty good while we were there although it was absolutely freezing up there. We met in Plaza Nueva and took a bus up to the Alhambra. Most of the grounds are free to walk around. You only need to pay for the entrance to the palaces. We walked around a bit with our tour guide and he was quite informative. He told us all sorts of interesting things such as the Palace of Carlos V was without a roof until about 40 years ago and that the words "alberca" (which means swimming pool in Spanish) and "alfombra" (which means carpet) are Arab words. It was fantastic. When we went into the actual palaces...that was incredible. The architecture was so exquisit (spelling?) and you just had to wonder how on earth they were able to create all that. I think some pics will be posted on the other blog here soon. It was amazing. Really.

Lunch today was quite interesting. We always have the big meal of the day at about oh, 2 or 3 depending on what we are doing and when we get home. Today it was this pasta with saffron and vegetables (which was fine and reminded me of the paella of yesterday) and this fish. I believe it was called pescadilla. She served it fried but it was whole. I mean it was a little fish on a plate. You could see where the eyes had been and the tail was still there too. I was slightly shocked. I have never been a big fish person but I ate it anyway. It really had no taste which was good because if it had been a fishy fish Idon´t know how good I would have done with that. It was an interesting experience to say the least. A whole fish on a plate..who knew? I asked if you were to eat the skin too and Feliciana said yes. She also said that you could eat the head and that her daughter really loves it. I didn´t decide to try that. I thought that my trying the fish was good enough for one day and decided to quit while I was ahead.

I spent the afternoon watching Meet the Parents in Spanish with Feliciana while my roommate napped. I am always tempted to nap after we eat but then I am worried that I won´t sleep at night. That movie is so funny and I think that a lot of the humor is lost in the dubbing though. I mean the voices are sometimes what makes something funny. Ah. It was good though.

Tomorrow is the placement test at 8:45 am. We´ll see how that goes. It should be fine.


I thought of home a couple times today and wondered what people were doing. What the weather was like in PDX and what cool things are going on around the city. Oh well, I guess I´ll be back soon enough.

A little homesick...

Earlier this evening I was feeling a little down...

It finally hit me that here I am.


Here I am.


Here I am 9 time zones away from all that I know and understand. On my own in a very big world. I am not as invincible as I once was.

You get all wrapped up in the novelty of it all but somewhere along the way you find yourself crying over a Sudoku puzzle as you think of all that you left behind. You then end up reprimanding yourself for feeling down; this is the opportunity of a lifetime and you´re crying over it? WTF?

Yes, you cry over it when you make a phone call home that makes you act all tough when inside all you want to do is say how much you miss home. You cry when you think about that couple you saw walking in the street holding hands and how cute they were and how happy they must be. You cry because you feel so alone, slightly forgotten, and incapable of meeting new people.

To be honest, that is the biggest problem right now. I am having a hard time making friends. I know that it´s the beginning, that it´s not just me who feels this way, and that it is bound to be awkward. It just feels like the whole world has something in common that I lack. Why not me too? Why am I the odd one out?

It´s not that I´m not trying. I am trying hard. Really, I am. I push myself more than I want to because I want the end result: to make friends.

I know that it´s only been a few days, but somehow I already am starting to feel defeated.

I don´t know. I, for some reason, have never been good at this. At meeting people and taking it from there. Why is it so hard?

And see, the thing is that it hurts.

It hurts to walk by yourself in a group. To stand by yourself or try and join some conversation, however mundane or stupid it may be. It hurts to be ostracized. We learned about this in social psych. When you are ignored, there are some basic needs that are trampled on and disregarded and thus that is what makes you feel bad. It hurts a lot.

I know I don´t need anyone here to approve of me. I know that I have people back home who know me already and who I don´t have to prove anything to. Who love me and think that I am cool and interesting even if I am slightly goofy at times. But that only dulls the pain.

I am here now with this group of people who, to a point, define my world. Some part of me says to just go for it. To say f*** it and just sign up for that dance class by myself, to go to a cafe I want to see by myself, to face this city head on and not worry if anyone´s with me...it is easier said than done.

Already this trip has me asking myself, "Who am I?", "What do I stand for?" and "How will I present myself to others?". Will I compromise myself just to fit in? I hope not. I need to take a stand. Who I am should be clear from my actions and what I choose to do here. It´s my chance to be me all the way.


I will admit it. I am homesick. I don´t necessarily want to come home but I somehow wish that more of home was here with me. That I didn´t feel so far away.



In other potentially happier and less weighty news, I have taken to wearing my hat in the house. It´s so so cold here-I can´t get over it. I think tomorrow I´ll try wearing double layered socks to try and warm up my feet. Honestly, it´s brutal. I know that I can exaggerate at times, but I am not exaggerating when I say that the house I am living in is like an igloo. Honestly, I am so envious of all those who are enjoying the comforts of some sort of heating system this month. Be so grateful that you have it.

This morning my shower was like bathing with ice water. It was unbelievable. I want to ask Feliciana if it is normally this cold but I don´t want to seem rude, as if I am saying "Wow, you don´t have hot water, what kind of house is this?" Í´m not sure...I was also considering asking if I could heat up some water in the microwave before I shower and just use that in combination with the tap water so it´s not so chilling but that could get kind of complicated. We´ll see. I just keep on hoping that I don´t get sick because that´s the last thing I need to happen.

We went on a tour of the city today to the Albaicin and had an excellent view of the Alhambra, even though there was a bit of fog. I definitely want to return to the little shops that were around that area-there were some neat looking bags and little things like that that could be neat to buy. I finally am starting to really piece this city together and know the names of streets and how they connect to each other. It´s cool. In case you are wondering, I live near Plaza Isabel la Catolica on Somosierra street. :) Not that it really matters but just FYI.

Tomorrow is the Alhambra and I think that should be pretty cool. It´s also Sunday which means that the next day is our placement test. I hope I can remember all the verb tense conjugations! I had my first paella today and it was quite delicious. :) I´m excited to have it again.


I miss Portland.

Cultural Differences

Despite only having been here a few days, I have already noted quite a few interesting differences between Spanish and American culture.

-People dress up when they go out.
You would never see someone wearing sweats wandering around a store or on the street even. Women tend to dress very nicely-many wear fur coats to go out and though they do not wear excessive jewelry, they do wear pins and earrings that show their affluence-whether or not it is "real" or just for show. Scarves and pashminas are very popular here, perhaps due to the extreme cold that we are currently experiencing! It´s very cold here and most homes are not heated. Consequently, people tend to dress in layers. It´s quite interesting to note that most people wear very neutral colors. Dark colors are most prevalent and children are the ones who wear brighter colors but even they aren´t that eye-catching. I don´t think people here would approve of those bright oranges, yellows, and lime greens that were in the stores last spring. :0)

-Here, people go shopping every day.
Unlike the U.S. where you go to Safeway or New Seasons oh, say once a week and stock up on food for a while, people here go to the store every day. I asked my madre if she buys bread fresh every day and she said yes. Needless to say, I am not eating Wonder bread but fresh baguettes each day! Also, in Granada there are specialized stores for different types of food. Granted there are a couple "supermakets" (but even those aren´t that big at all) but for the most part people make their purchases at smaller stores. The panaderia for the bread, the fruteria for the fruit and so on. It´s neat to pass by the different shops and see different kinds of just one product. The meat market is really interesting. So many different cuts of meat from various animals. I tried jamon serrano the other day and it was good .I had tasted it in the states before but this was for sure direct from Spain. It was good, but slightly...bitter is the wrong word, but so is salty. It was an interesting flavor, but good all the same. Speaking of which, today I tried my first Spanish paella and it was delicious!! I loved it. My madre made it with chicken and it was FANTASTIC. I can hardly wait until she makes it again.


-People don´t eat in the street
In the U.S., it wouldn´t be uncommon to see someone walking down the street eating an ice cream cone or a pastry. Here, it is considered rude to do such a thing. It is also considered rude for me, as a young person, to say "please" and "thank you" to someone my age. The tone in which I ask for something indicates my intentions and takes the place of those sayings. Going back to the not eating in the street observation, there are very few overweight people here. It´s kind of a shock to go from the U.S. where every other person has a weight problem, to here where everyone seems so small in comparison.



Granada reminds me of a typical small European town where many people know each other by name and they have a considerably slower pace of life here. It´s interesting to want to mail a letter and have to go to two different shops to buy the necessary items in order to do so. The papeleria for an envelope and an estanco (like a tabacco shop or quick mart-they also sell magazines etc.) to buy a stamp. Then as if it isn´t complicated enough, you need to go to the post office and mail the letter there. Luckily, you don´t have to go inside-there are mailboxes outside that you can access 24 hours a day-but I have noticed that there aren´t any mailboxes on the sidewalks where you can mail a letter.

Many people here have motos-a moped-to navigate the narrow streets of the city. There are many compact cars here and not many SUVs at all! Such a contrast from the U.S.!

Things are going really well. Tomorrow we go to the Alhambra! How cool is that? :)

It´s Friday?!?!

Word of the Day: enchufe=wall socket (a plug in the wall); can also mean something along the lines of brown-noser
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Um, yeah.

So I am quite mixed up with the days. I keep on thinking that today is Thursday for some reason and I also keep on wanting to write in Spanish...heh. I´m already picking up the language.

I must say that I seem to be adjusting to this Euro keyboard and am very proud of myself for not making as may errors as yesterday (well, at least so far...!)

It´s so weird to think that back in OR everyone is probably sleeping and I have been up since 8:30 my time (approx 11:30 PST). Crazy I tell you.

Today has been neat so far. Very low key that´s for sure. Since it´s a national holiday not very many shops are open (but the internet cafe is-woohoo!) and we didn´t have anything planned as a group but we had to do this walking tour of the city on our own in small groups. So a few of us went on our excursion through the city to become more familiar with our surroundings. It was kinda neat. I am starting to recognize and piece together different parts of the city. Everything is very close to where I live which is AWESOME and the city really isn´t that big. You walk everywhere. I think I´ll come home about 10 pounds lighter, that´s for sure! Heh.

It rained on us as we were doing our tour so we ducked into one of Granada´s many cafe bars and I had my first Spanish cafe experience. I had chocolate a la taza (hot chocolate basically) but this was not your Swiss Miss hot cocoa. No way. This was like pure melted chocolate. It was so rich and creamy and warm (which was nice after getting wet and cold from the rain!) Wow. Delicious. I must say that I was quite impressed with it and well, maybe I won´t come back 10 pounds lighter if I keep on going to cafes and ordering that! :)

In other news, I had another very refreshing shower this morning. I am constantly amazed at how cold it is here. Really, there is no central heating at all and the little space heater that Feliciana has in my room does well, not a whole lot to warm things up. Plus, we can´t keep them on at night because there are a lot of power surges and it is a fire hazard. Not cool. Anyway, I am getting used to the cold (I think!) and I am trying to keep a positive attitude by thinking that I remember reading somewhere that cold water is good for making pores smaller or something. Yeah, this is all for beauty folks. I will have non-existant pores when I return that´s for sure! It´s just really cold. Like today when we went on our excursion I wore jeans, a long sleeved shirt, my fleece, my heavy grey jacket, a scarf, super warm socks and gloves and I was still cold. Even sitting here now I am slightly chilly. I just hope that I don´t catch pnumonia. That would not be cool. Think happy thoughts and don´t think about the cold. Easier said than done! Heh.

What else? Um, not a whole lot. I found a neat little internet cafe near the house that has a great schedule and am sooo happy that I will be able to stay in touch with the world for a fairly reasonable price. Way cool.

I think that we are going to go out tonight to check out some of the bars. I am going to take things cautiously because well, it´s the beginning and I don´t quite feel comfortable with everything. But it should be a good time whether or not I drink. My roommate and I are to meet up with a group this evening and it should be a good time.

I made it!!!

Word of the day: yerno=son-in-law
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Oh man, (and this time it´s in a good way!)

I have so much to say and so very little time to say it all. I am sitting here, in GRANADA SPAIN (!) at an internet cafe/pool hall where it seems to be the local youngsters hangout (18 and under about) Anyway, that is not important at all.

I made it here by way of 3 lovely flights where I had two great seatmates. PDX to ATL was a doctor who works in MA and was telling me about this new kind of acupuncture with a laser that he is doing. Pretty cutting edge. My second seatmate was an awesome woman who was going to Palma de Mallorca and reminded me very much of Dr. Julka.

Anyway, flying in to Madrid I was amazed to see how orderly everything was. I mean the streets and houses were in ROWS and it just looked like an incredibly planned city. It was kind of eerie. There weren´t many trees, that is to say there wasn´t much green on the ground-mostly kind of dead looking trees. Hmm-def. not like the NW.

Had a mixup with my luggage in the Madrid airport. I thought I was going to need to collect it before going through customs...so I waited...and waited...and waited (over 45 minutes) and was able to get one bag but not my suitcase. Hmm. Not cool. So I went to the counter where of course, there was a HUGE line, and asked what I needed to do. Where was my other bag? Turns out that the bag I got wasn´t actually su`pposed to have come off the plane it was supposed to have been checked straight through and I was to have gone through customs without baggage at all. Go figure. So the guy said he would get it on the plane and all was cool except that my plane took off in oh, 40 min and I wasn´t even in the right terminal. So I sprint thgrough the Madrid airport and make it jsut in time for the 45 min flight. Get to the tiny Granada airport and find that lo and behold my suitcase was there but my duffle was not. Um, okay. Apparently, after telling my story later on and meeting some of the other students, I foudn that this isn´t uncommon for them to lose luggage. I was freaked out. ALL my clothes were in that bag. THe suitcse I had only had shoes and toiletries so I could brush my teeth, yes, but chenge my underwear I could not. I finled a complaint and crossed my fingers (and toes!) that somehow that bag made it´s way to my home ASAP.

I actually met another student at the airport (she lost her bag too!) and so we headed to the meeting spot and got picked up by our families. I have a FANTASTIC AMAZING WONDERFUL host mother. She is more of a grandmother to be precise. She is probably about 70-75 and lives alone but her daughter and son-in-law and her two granddaughters live right around the corner. I actually met the younger one last night and the older one, Ana, today. They are really sweet and I think that it´s going to work out well. She has a rather large apartment and I have my own room for which I was SOOOOOOO grateful. (Did I mention that I was grateful???) Some of us have to share rooms and I just feel lucky that I got my own. So happy about that. Anyway, she has a lovely home and I am feeling pretty good about it. My roommate is nice. No huge roommate friends forever sparks flying yet, but we get along and for that I am grateful as well. I think she is more of a partier that I (she said that she is going ot drink as much as she wants while she´s here...) but hey, whatever floats your boat, eh? I have my own room! Ha!

So yes, things are good on the home front with the exception of the temperature. Um, yeah. I am definately regretting not bringing more heavy clothes. It gets below 0 at night here and well, she doesn´t heat her house, which, well, isn´t uncommon. So yeah, that was quite a shock. Wandering around the house in a coat and trying to keep warm. Especially last night when I didn´t have anything to wear to bed (Luggage update: I was super worried that they weren´t going to get it for me but they brought it by in the middle of the night-was Ihappy to see that bag!) So yes, it´s quite cold and I feel like an eskimo. During the day it´s pleasant but at night it really really cools down. Brr. Anyway, I can bundle up tonight under my 5 blankets and hopefulyl be warm. The other slight difference between here and the US is the water situation. Here the water is very scarce since it doesn´t rain. So people conserve...a lot. I mean we´re talking hardcore water conservation. My shower this morning was, shall we say, quite refreshing, and I know that I will be happy to return to showers that you stand up in. This one is more like a sqaure and you sit (at least I do, I suppose you could stand but water would get all over because there is no curtain...strange) and you have one of those shower heads that you can wave around in all directions and you do it like that. So basically you turn off the water when you aren´t rinsing which makes it quite chilly. I miss my long standing up showers already and envy those of you who can take warm ones...lucky!

Anywho, the food is going okay too. Cena last night was a vey interesting slice of turkey that seemed very "put together" and well, it was okay but I wouldnt´hope for it again. We had mashed potatoes and bread and yogurt. Okay, not too bad I think. Breakfast was very light. I mean we´re talking 2 pieces of bread and marmalade and cacao (which is like hot cocoa). Yeah, I was slightly hungry while we were in orientation this morning. We ate lunch which was rice soup, salmon and potatoes and tomatoes in a casserole thing, bread, and oranges for dessert. I can see that potatoes are biug here already.

So yeah, things are going well. THis afternoon (well this evening actually) there was a parade for the Dia de los Reyes Magos which is tomorrow. It was called the Calagata I think. SOmething close to that at least. It was super cool. Think 4th of July combined with Halloween kind of and throw in some kings and you ahve how it was. There was so SO much candy being thrown all over the place but the people on the floats. IT was so neat but I was slightly concerned that I would get hit in the eye. A guy next to me actually got one stuck in between his glasses and his face. I felt bad but turned and laughed for which I am slightly ashamed... :) The national holiday tomorrow means everything is closed because people are celebrating the coming of the 3 kings to Jesus in Bethlehem after his birth. So we don´t have anything to do and have a day off to explore. Niiiiice!I am excited.

I´m headed home now. I am still pretty exhausted from the trip and want to finish unpacking. We have out big placement test on MOnday and I´m kind of nervous but I htink it should be okay. I have been getting compliments on my SPanish and already feel ver ycomfotable speaking. We have talked in SPanish all the time we have been here with the exception of mauybe 30 sentences. Pretty good, eh_?

Please please mail me...I love having something neato to read when i make it out to one of these internet cafes that have the strange european keyboards that I don´t like one bit because in order for me to write this fairly mistake free post it took my quite a long time. Yes, be grateful that I made it fariyl easy to understyand at least in the beginning.

Hope all is well across the Atlantic. :)

maybe i don't really want to go...

i'm so so nervous and scared.

oh, man. I just want it to happen...or not happen...so i can stop anticipating what's going to happen.


oh man, oh man, oh man...

T-minus 17 hours and counting...

I can't believe that I'm leaving tomorrow. Here I am surrounded by suitcases and travel info and it hasn't really hit me yet that I'm actually "moving" tomorrow.

I have so many mixed feelings about this.


I'm excited. This is an AMAZING opportunity that not many people get and there will be so much to see and do and try. I mean there are people out there that I have yet to meet but will become really good friends. I'm going to be staying with a typical Spanish family. I will get to travel all around Spain and Europe. I will be on the same continent for the Winter Olympics and the World Cup. So much to look forward to!


At the same time, I'm so nervous and scared.

All the changes and things that I will have to get used to seem so overwhelming. I'm leaving so many things behind. My family, friends, Portland...so much to want to stay here for. So much I haven't seen here, right in my own city. I haven't been sleeping well the past few nights because I've been having these dreams about all that could go wrong. Lost luggage, no friends (multiple times), failing grades, missing passports, and just being lonely and missing home. I realize this is very pessimistic of me and I should try and not focus too much on my anxiety, but it's there and no matter how many people tell me it's going to be okay and I'll have a blast once I get there and get settled in, it won't dissipate. I don't know. I suppose it's normal to be nervous before any big life changing event in your life, but this seems a bit excessive.

It's just such a mix of feelings.

I guess I'll just take it one day at a time...starting with tomorrow...when I get on that plane and fly away from all that I know, am comfortable with, and love so so much.


Here goes nothing...

Leaving tomorrow!

I leave tomorrow and although I am incredibly excited, I am also quite
nervous and anxious about the whole experience. It's slightly daunting
to embark on something like this. Flying halfway around the world,
meeting my host family, and getting oriented to the city and my "new"
life in Spain-so much to take in! It's going to be a big change that's
for sure. But then again, change is good and I am looking forward to
taking full advantage of this amazing opportunity. I mean how many
times in your life do you get to have an adventure like this? Not very
many, that's for sure. It should be an awesome time! Spain here I
come!