Phew...all done!

I just got done taking my level test to determine my placement in the Spanish program...I'm glad that's over with!  It was a lot more difficult than the first level test, but hopefully I did well enough to place in Lengua y Cultura.  It's hard to believe another week has come and gone!  

Just so no one gets anxious, I thought I'd let you know that I may not have internet access for a few days after this, since I will be traveling around Spain for the next week and a half.  

We leave for Madrid in the morning on a bus at 8:30...it is about a 5 hour bus ride, so we will be there around lunch time.  We have a very exciting schedule planned that includes a trip to the Prado Museum, a play, visiting the castle, and lots of free time to do whatever we want.  

After Madrid, a few friends and I are planning to visit Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia, and Cordova Spain.  It should be exciting!  

Hope you all have a great weekend...miss you!!

Learning...

Today will be our last day of our review classes for our final level test tomorrow.  I have enjoyed these classes, but am very much looking forward to our break, and then for our real classes to begin!  As of now, I am taking a geography of Spain class, a Spanish Literature class, an Islamic culture class, and our required grammar and conversation classes.  

Besides are classes this semester, we are required to attend "Granada Seminar" classes with José every couple weeks.  These will be very interesting because we will be learning about things like the history of bullfights, tapas, and dancing.  Tonight we have a flamenco seminar, which I am very excited for.  

Another way we will be learning during the semester will be through our "movie nights" that we will have once a month.  We had our first one the other night where we watched "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore.  I hadn't seen or heard of it before, but it was a very interesting documentary that I would definitely recommend watching about Global Warming.  

I've noticed that the people of Spain are very environmentally aware, and watching this movie made me want to be too.  Here, we are very careful with the amount of water we use (the previous years have been very dry here in Spain), and we also try not to use much electricity.  Recycling is important in all our houses, and many people walk around the city rather than drive.  

I've been learning a lot already since I've been here, and am getting ready for more classes and traveling. :)  

Getting Excited to Travel!

I have a little lunch break now...thought it would be a good time to say hello and update the blog. :)

We just got out of a class with one of our teachers, Jose, telling us all about the Prado Museum that we will be visiting this weekend when we travel to Madrid...I'm getting so excited for this trip! I love visiting art museums, and this will be especially fun, as we get to see a lot of paintings that I have learned about all through my Spanish classes through the years.

In addition to Madrid, a few friends and I are in the process of planning a trip to a few other cities in Spain for next week. I can't wait to share pictures of all the places we get to!

Nothing too exciting has happened since I've written last, so instead, I thought I'd just tell you about some of the food we've been eating here. For breakfast we almost always just make ourselves toast whenever we wake up. I've been learning that I can't skip breakfast here like I do at home! If you don't eat breakfast, you are STARVING by the time lunch rolls around at 2 with all the walking we do.

Most days for lunch, our señora prepares a bocadillo for us, which usually just consists of an amazing ham and cheese sandwich on fresh bread and a piece of fruit. We love our bocadillos. :)

Suppers are our big meal, because that is when our whole family is together to eat. We have a lot of rice and meat, soups with meat and vegetables in them. We often have a Spanish tortillas with our food, which are really good eggs. We have pasta every once in a while...they eat a lot of things with tomato sauce, so pasta is good with that. My host brothers like potatoes, so we have potatoes of every kind, which I love!!

One day my host mother made us a traditional Spanish salad, which was a little strange...it was lettuce, olives, and potatoes! I'd never had warm potatoes on any kind of garden salad before, so that was a new experience. On Friday night, my host mother goes out, so she asked us if we wanted frozen pizza...that sounded good to us!! It ended up being a bacon and tuna pizza...not my favorite, but it wasn't bad. :)

Anyway, I've been loving the food...our mother is a great cook, and I haven't had anything that I haven't liked. We have something different to eat almost everyday, so I'll make another food list later on in the semester!!

Alhambra Pictures

Posted pictures of the Alhambra onto Facebook...take a look!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023735&I=9a0a1&id=78302089

If you have trouble seeing the pictures, let me know and I'll figure some other way to show them...this is just easiest and fastest for me, so that's what I'm doing for now. :)

It's only been a week??

Hello!  

I can't believe it...I've been in Granada for a week, but it feels like I've been here for a month!  This week has been so full of excursions, classes, and cultural experiences...it's been truly amazing.  

This weekend was a lot of fun and gave us some time to relax and do a few things on our own...most of my weekend included shopping with my friends, there are so many great stores here!  I'm taking full advantage of rebajas this month. :)  We also took time to explore more around our house, and tried out some more restaurants for tapas in the evenings.  I really love this city.  I love how much walking and exploring we get to do, and really enjoy my long walks to and from school in the mornings.  

We didn't have the entire weekend to ourselves, however...Sunday we had one final group excursion to the main attraction in Granada, the Alhambra.  The Alhambra is a beautiful fortress in Granada that used to be a small town of sorts that housed the king and his family, the military, and townspeople.  

We started our tour in the military section, which was very interesting.  We were able to see dungeons, where the soldiers lived, and breathtaking views of the city.  

After the military quarters, we moved onto some of the really beautiful parts of the Alhambra, including the palaces of the kings and princes.  I got some great pictures, even though it was a pretty cloudy day.  I am planning on returning sometime soon in the next few months when the weather is better.  We ended our visit with lunch in the garden, I'm especially excited to see that in the spring, it will be so pretty!  Needless to say, the Alhambra was definitely the highlight of my weekend, and I would highly recommend visiting if you get to Europe.  :) 

Today started another week of classes.  We are still reviewing for our level test on Friday where we will find out what classes we will test in for the semester.  I'm very much looking forward to Friday so we can stop stressing about studying for the test, and also because we leave for our group trip to Madrid after classes!  We will spend the weekend there with our whole group, which will be a lot of fun.  

My roommate and I are also in the process for planning a trip next week.  We don't begin classes till February 11, so we are planning to jump all around Spain to visit many of the popular cities.  We are very excited and are planning on seeing a lot of exciting things!  I can't wait to share pictures with you all.  

Well, that's all for now, hope you all have a great week.  Also, thanks so much for all of your comments and emails...they really brighten my day, and I love hearing from home.  :)   Adios!

Note to self...wear good shoes when traveling to Sacromonte...

Good Morning All!

So...as the title of this entry may clue you in...we went to a monastery called Sacromonte today...and Sara wore the wrong shoes...and it was raining...now I have very wet feet.  :)  I should have worn my new boots that I bought yesterday.  We have noticed that almost all the Spanish women wear great boots almost everyday, especially lately since it has been raining almost all week.  We found a lot of great stores that I am excited to explore more later, and I eventually found a great pair of boots.    

Anyway, even with wet shoes, it was a great climb, and I will definitely do it again on a not so rainy and foggy day.  It has a beautiful view of the mountains and the roads go through a very unique part of the city.  The walk was also fun because I got to chat with a lot of the other students in my program.  Everyone is really nice, and I'm really enjoying getting to know these new people.  

At Sacromonte, we got a great tour of many interesting rooms, however, once again it was in Spanish, so I didn't get as much out of it as I wanted to.  Hopefully soon I will be able to comprehend faster.  

The walk down the mountain went much faster than the walk up, which was a relief.  After we returned to school, I ate my bocadillo, and we will soon have another meeting with Veronica.  We are not sure what we will do tonight, but we are excited to experience some of the nightlife of Granada, as Spain is famous for their fun, late nights.  We also are not sure what we will do tomorrow, since we have the whole day free.  We will probably try to find some of the main sights of Granada that we have not seen yet.  There is so much to see in this city!

Also...a word about the Spanish schedule...

Something else I wanted to post...I don't know if you know, but the Spanish schedule is very different than our schedule in the U.S.  

We get up for class or work at 8 or 9 in the morning, and eat a small breakfast.  

Once normal classes start, I will attend class in the morning.

Around 1:30, most businesses shut down, and everyone goes home for lunch.  

Lunch is served around 2 or 2:30 and is usually the largest meal of the day.  

Shops stay closed till about 5, because people rest in the afternoon.  I am very much enjoying the naps that I get to take!!

Supper isn't served until 9 or 9:30...our host mother prepares it whenever we want it.

After supper, many people still go out for walks or drinks, and stay out late.  

Our host mother usually stays in, but goes to bed about 1 or 2...we usually don't make it that long.  :) 

Just something interesting to know...it's a bit difficult to adjust to this schedule, but I'm working on it.  

Adios!

Words of Wisdom and more...

First...thought I'd share some tips I have learned during my first week in Spain, just in case anyone else needs to know!

1. Watch out for mopeds and motorcycles...they come out of any street and alley like they are rushing to a fire or something!

2. On a similar note...just because you think you are on a road made for walking and not cars doesn't mean that cars won't drive on the street anyway! Always check roads before you walk and look down alleys before you cross them. :)

3. Watch your step for dog poo...people do not need to clean up after their animals, plus there are strays all over.

4. Streets don't make sense...don't try to go in a straight line, it never works.

I'm sure I will be learning many more things as the weeks go on!!

Also, before I start in on today's activities, I finally got around to posting pictures. I've put them on facebook, so anyone who doesn't have facebook can get to it by copying and pasting the link below into a new window.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023634&I=a52ef&id=78302089

Now...today was really fun, as we started out with an excursion to the Albaicin, which is a very hefty hike to another part of the city, but it was totally worth it. The sights seen of the Alhambra across the city was breathtaking, and we were able to see other interesting things along the way.

I have most of the pictures of this excursion in a second album...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023642&I=9eebf&id=78302089

After our excursion, we had a few hours before we needed to be in classes and meetings. I spent this time eating my "bocadillo" (sack lunch) and checking out some of the shops, since January and February is the time of year for "rebajas" or sales. I didn't buy anything today, but I know I will be able to get some great deals!!

At 2:30, our meetings and classes began. Our first meeting was with the person in charge of the Morocco Exchange that we will be doing in April. We will be able to spend 4 days in Morocco living with families and having a really great first hand experience of the culture there. I am very excited for this to get here!!

After our meeting we began our 2nd review class. It is very helpful to go over grammer material again, and our teachers do a great job. It is a lot of fun learning from them, because we get a chance to teach them things as well. In our conversation class we had to describe a place in our home states to the teachers, one of which being the Iowa State Fair...our teacher didn't quite understand why in the world a place would make a cow out of butter, but then, who really does? :)

After class, Lisa and I did some more exploring of the city, which also caused me to get lost for the first time...don't worry, I made it home!! Supper was great, we have had really good meals every day, which is a relief. It's definitely different than home though!! There is always a lot of food, but we usually save a little room for tapas...tonight Lisa and I got a really good meat plate with our drinks before we headed over to the internet cafe. We are slowly but surely finding our way around the city!!

Well, that's all for now...Hasta luego!!

Classes have begun...

Classes and meetings have officially begun!  Yesterday was our first day at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas where we've had our first meeting with Veronica about house rules, and we took our first level test.  It looks like I will be in the middle level, Lengua y Cultura.  That's about what I feel comfortable with, so I'm pretty happy with that.  We had our first review class today...we are reviewing for our real level test that we are taking next week.  My teachers are very nice and friendly, and I think it will be a fun semester.  

Our school is pretty nice, our host mother showed us how to find it yesterday.  It is about a 15 minute walk, which isn't bad.  Yesterday was a lot of fun since we took a tour of central Granada.  The city is very interesting and there is a lot to see.  Our tour guide seemed funny, but he spoke Spanish the whole time, so I definitely didn't get as much as I could have out of it!  

Tomorrow he is giving us another tour to El Albaicin, which I think is on a mountain...hope I can handle it, because I'm already sore from the walking around the city!

I'm enjoying my host family, my mother is a very good cook and is very sweet.  My host brothers are warming up to us, they weren't very talkative at first!  

After we have supper with our families at night, my friends and I usually go exploring.  We've found a few tapas restaurants, internet cafes, grocery stores, and parks.  Granada has so much to do, we will never be bored!

I am having a few struggles this week, but am trying to work through them.  Being surrounded by Spanish all the time is completely exhausting, you can't turn your mind off for a minute.  Focusing for such a long period of time drains my energy and I almost always need a nap after we are done with our activities for the day.  My host family is patient, however, and we find times to unwind by talking in English for a while. :)

It is also VERY cold...but not outside, in our houses!!  The Spanish houses are made for the hot summers, so they are not warm at all in the winter.  Our host mother insisted that we buy some Spanish slippers, for which I am very grateful, they help a lot.  We also warm up by sitting around the dinner table!  The tables are in the living room around the television so we are in there often.  They drape a blanket over their tables with a heater underneath, so it is very warm.  

Other than these few adjustments, I am having a great time.  I'm sure there will be many more stories to come, so be sure to read again!

I miss you all...Adios!

Mi Familia!

It´s so nice to finally feel settled in a little bit here in Spain...we met our families today and were able to move into our houses!

We checked out of our hotel this morning (ugg...the stairs again...) and went to our first group meeting at the Hotel Melia. We got to meet our program director, Veronica, and got our schedules for orientation week. I was pleasantly surprised that I was living with Krisitin Davis, a very nice girl from Central that I´ve had a class with and really like. We will have such a great time!

We are staying with a lady named Paki in her apartment. She has 4 sons, one that lives in the house with her and 3 that live elsewhere but come over often. We each have our own room and have made it very cozy. The house is not big at all, but very homey. I´ll post pictures as soon as I am on my own computer (we hiked over to the internet cafe again).

We´ve had a lot of very authentic food already, and I´m really enjoying it. The Spanish language is a little overwhelming right now, and I wish I was more confident and skilled with my speaking. It will come fast, I´m sure, but in the meantime, it will be a little bit of a struggle.

Hope all is well back home, I miss you all!

We made it!!

Hola friends and family!

We made it safely to Spain last night...thanks for all your thoughts and prayers...we needed them!! Everything went fairly smoothly the whole time, but considering that we were completely flying by the seats of our pants once we got off our flight, it was an adventure getting to Granada!

The trip started with us being dropped off at the Minneapolis airport (thanks again Grandma and Grandpa!!) where all of our flights were on time, and no luggage was lost once we got to Spain.

Our last flights got us to Madrid, where we had to try to decide the best way to find a bus to Granada. Many taxi drivers were obviously willing to take 2 loads of our stuff to the bus station, but we had heard that it was much cheaper (though slighly more difficult, especially with 2 large suitcases each!) to take the metro to the station. We had quite a hike to the metro through the airport, but besides the heavy luggage had very little trouble finding our way. I was very thankful for my subway experience from my trip to France this summer!!

Once we got off the metro at the bus station, we had to try to find tickets to Granada...there are dozen of companies and buses that leave for all over Spain every 1/2 hour. We got our tickets for 16€ (not too bad for a 5 hour ride!) and went downstairs to find our bus. We were slightly unprepared, however, for the number of buses and the lack of helpful signs!! We managed to get on the right one, however, and spent the next 5 hours in a tour-like bus to Granada.

I sat by a man our age who was very helpful in suggesting that we take a taxi to our hotel in Granada, the Hotel Niza. We found a "van taxi" that was able to take all 4 of us to the hotel, and it only cost us 15 €, which was a pleasant suprise.

We´ve checked into our hotel and lugged all of our suitcases to the 3rd floor (ugg!!). The hotel is nothing fancy, but not bad for the low price we got it for. We are looking forward to meeting another group of Central students who should be arriving soon.

After checking in, we went out to try out of first "tapas". There are dozens of tapas restaurants near our hotel, so we were a bit hesitant at first as to which one to choose, but we eventually settled on one and learned how eating works in these restaurants. It was a lot of fun, you just order any kind of drink and when they bring it to you then give you a free appetizer of sorts. I am definitely going to be able to get used to this!! We got a delicious bean dip along with the sandwiches we ordered for supper.

We slept much too well last night...we went to bed at 2:00 a.m., and woke up at 2:00 this afternoon! Don´t judge us too much, we were exhausted. :)

We´ve just spent today searching for phones (successful) and this internet cafe (also successful).
We are also enjoying the gorgeous weather!! Our director warned us that it was abnormally cold for this time of year in Granada, but we have been very comfortable in our sweatshirts, and when we finished our bus ride last night, we think it was still about 50 degrees!! If this is abnormally cold, I´m loving it. :)

Well...time is running short, and that´s a pretty good review of our time so far. Tomorrow we meet the rest of our program students and the director. We also meet our families!! I´m very excited to get settled.

Hasta luego!

Good-bye U.S.A.

TWO MORE DAYS!!

I can hardly believe it, in two short days I will be in Spain!

Today was spent packing with my amazing cousin, Amy. Thanks so much for all your packing expertise and help! Shockingly, I will be fine with the two suitcase restriction for the semester, but it is a big change from taking a whole carload to school to only 2 suitcases!

It will be a long trip to get to Spain, but I'm very excited about it. My Grandpa and Grandma Renes have generously given their Thursday up to drive all my friends and I to Minneapolis, where we are praying there are no delays with our flights and that everything goes smoothly!

Also, to everyone that I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to before I leave, I will miss you all and can't wait to see you again in the spring! Please keep in touch, and I'll try to do the same.

I'm sure I will have stories of our journey in a few days, so...To Be Continued! :)

Happy New Year!

It's officially January...
I officially leave for Spain in 15 days...
I am officially beginning to get nervous!!

Finding a hotel went pretty smoothly, so now onto packing!

Even though I'm nervous, I'm also very excited and can't wait to begin sharing my adventures in Spain with you.

Happy New Year, everyone!