Traveling!

My traveling plans are finally going to become reality, I bought plane tickets today! I was realizing that my weekends are filling up fast, and that I needed to start finalizing what I want to do during the rest of my time here.

A short-term plan is a beach trip this weekend with my friends Whitney and Christine. (You can be jealous...) We are planning to take a bus down to Nerja this weekend and spend some quality time in the sun and exploring the city, beaches, and caves.

Whitney and Christine also booked flights with me today to Amsterdam for the end of April. I am going there to visit my friend Amanda who is studying there for the semester.  I am very excited to visit the Netherlands again, and to see where Amanda is living for the semester. :)

The next weekend at the end of April, I will be going to Italy with my friends Lisa and Nick. I am very excited for this trip, since we've been planning to go for a long time.  We are hoping to hit Rome and Florence, but we'll see what happens.  

We also got an email today confirming the date of our "group trip" to Morocco.  At the beginning of April during the first part of Spring Break, my whole program will be going down in 3 small groups with a program director from Morocco.  I have heard from students from previous years that this trip has been the best part of their study abroad experience, so I'm very excited to see what happens during this week. 

Other than trip planning, it's been a pretty normal week of classes.  I also went to a movie the other night with a friend (Slumdog Millionaire...VERY good), and have just been exploring the city in the afternoons.  I hope to spend more time outside during the next couple weeks, because the weather is gorgeous, and it gets warmer everyday. 

I can't wait to show you pictures of the beautiful beaches of Nerja when I get back...talk to you soon!!

Things I´m getting used to...

1. Our new eating schedule. That took a while, but now eating so late isn´t quite as difficult...and along with that, I'm definitely getting used to the food! That didn´t take much getting used to, since everything is so delicious, but there are many types of food that I´ve never had before, so that´s something to adjust to.
2. Walking EVERYWHERE! I love all the exercise I get, but I always need to be sure to plan an extra 15-30 minutes to walk where I need to be.
3. Dressing up more often. Sweatpants are NEVER an option on the street of Spain, unless you are going for a run! The Spanish women always look so beautiful. I definitely don´t look anything like them, but at least we fit in a little better when we dress up a bit.
4. Long weekends and sleeping in! I feel so spoiled, and it´s hard to believe I am going to school...all my classes are very fun and my lazy schedule is amazing.
5. Fresh fruit each day is amazing. Orange, apples, and mandarins have been in season for the last month, and have been delicious. Soon will come strawberries (my fav!) and other great fruits, it´s so nice!
6. Making my own plans. While I am here, if I want to travel, there are lots of plans to be made, and it is a great learning experience. It´s teaching me to be more organized and independent.
7. Using my Internet quickly and efficiently! Very few of us have Internet in our houses, so we mainly use it between classes at school or at an Internet café if we don´t mind paying a little. I´ll be very glad to be back home when I´ll have Internet whenever I want it.
8. Rebajas! I´ve definitely gotten used to the great shopping in Granada and the sales that have been going on all of January and February. It will be sad when they end next week!
9. Living with a new family. My brothers are opening up and talk a lot more around us, and Paqui has always been so sweet to us. Kristin and I were so lucky to be placed in such a great family!
10. Missing home. I get homesick sometimes, but for the most part, I´m getting used to being here. I´ll be very excited to get back to see everyone, but for the time being, I´m making the most of being here.

"Senderismo"...Trekking!

I'm exhausted, but had such a fun day! A few friends and I signed up with the school to go on a trekking trip in the Sierra Nevadas for the morning...it was quite an experience! We met a little before 8 this morning to catch a bus to take us up to Monachil, an area near Granada that is famous for hiking and skiing.

Our morning consisted of climbing from the city to the top of a mountain near the city...It was so steep, but had amazing views of the the surrounding mountains and valleys! After a pause on the top of the mountains, we headed down some VERY treacherous terrain (in my opinion...) to the valley below. It was so beautiful...pretty much the most beautiful place I've ever been.

We went past beautiful streams, trees, rock formations, waterfalls, scary bridges, and had a great time!

I have many pictures on facebook (and many that aren't!), so you can definitely check them out at- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024129&id=78302089&l=49448 -

Enjoy!!

Mis clases...

I've officially had a full week of classes now, so I feel like I can now give you all a better idea of what they are like.  I'm really enjoying them so far, and have already improved my speaking and grammar by leaps and bounds.

My first class on Monday/Wednesday is my Islam class.  I really like my teacher, he's the one who gave us all our Granada tours at the beginning of the semester and is really nice and funny.  He loves to emphasis things by saying that they are "Bery bery important...", it's pretty funny.  All the teachers have little English phrases they try to use, which is fun for us.  Anyway, I've already learned a ton about the beginnings or Islam and how it has shaped what Spain is today.  I think we will be able to take some trips in this class as well, so that will be fun.  

I also have an Oral/Writing class that is going well, and a Grammar class.  These are our two required classes, and they are probably the two that I am learning the most in, in terms of my speaking.  So far, we are just going over the basics and correcting commonly made errors, which is a great review for me, since I commonly make a lot of errors. 

Tuesday/Thursday I have a Geography class with a you teacher with the thickest Andalusian accent I've come across so far here in Spain.  This makes it very difficult to understand him, but he's nice to look at, so that makes up for it.  :)   I actually really like this class as well, because we are learning all about the landscape and culture of Spain.  Pretty useful stuff to learn all about the surroundings I'm in.  We will also be able to take some "field trips" in this class to actually see some of the things we are studying, so that will be fun.  I don't know if you know, but Granada is in a very interesting part of Spain, in terms of geography.  It is very close to the beach, but also surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains.  We definitely have the best of both worlds!

I am also taking a Spanish literature class, which I'm not overly excited about, but it's required for my Spanish major at Central, so hopefully it goes quickly.  I'm sure I will end up liking it, so I'm not too worried.

We also have 3 one day per week classes with my favorite teacher, José.  José is employed by Central, is hilarious, incredibly smart, and very fluent in both English and Spanish.  He is teaching us "foneticas" to help us with our Spanish pronunciation, a Tutorial class to help us with learn Spanish slang and new phrases we may not have come across in the past, and a Granada Seminar to help explain the reasons and backgrounds for some of the things they do here in Granada, like tapas or flamenco, for example.  I really like all of these classes, and have already learned so much from José.

Well, those are my classes...hope this wasn't too boring to read, but I just wanted you to get a taste of what types of classes I'm taking here.  Hope all is well back home...Miss you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!

It's officially your birthday here in Spain, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!  Love and miss you...  :)

I love long weekends!

Discoteca!!

It was quite a climb!! :) 

Yummy...the best, biggest plate of tapas I've had!

I am definitely going to be able to get used to these long 3-day weekends every week!  I had no idea what I was going to do with so much free time, but I'm finding that the days fill up and fly by with lots of fun activities. :)

Thursday night I just had a fun night chatting with friends as we went out for amazingly huge and delicious tapas.  I love how social the Spanish culture is!  Everyone goes out frequently to meet with friends and relax.  My señora always gets dressed up on Fridays and Saturdays to meet with her friends for tapas or to go dancing.  What a fun culture!

Friday I had a great afternoon hiking with some friends in the hills around the city.  It was a beautiful day and I had a lot of fun exploring things I hadn't seen yet in Granada.  We even climbed far enough to start seeing the caves where the gypsies live!  It was a great hike.

Friday night, a group of us went to a teteria nearby.  Teterias are tea houses that have a great atmosphere and a very arab vibe...it was a lot of fun, and I tried some great apple tea.  They also have great milkshakes, and a lot of my friends had those.

Saturday, my piso mate and I went to another teteria near our house that serves American brunch on the weekends.  I hadn't realized that I missed American food, but the pancakes that I had pretty much made my day...they were so delicious!

However, Saturday night we experienced something a little more Spanish.  A big group of my friends and I decided to brave the Discoteca!  Discotecas are another important part of the Spanish nightlife, and there are quite a few in Granada.  They are basically big dance clubs that get busy around 2 in the morning and stay open till 7 in the morning!  I was pretty nervous to go since I am usually not a big dancer, but I had an amazing time.  The place was completely packed, and it was so much fun being with all my friends.

I'm finding that I've already grown a lot since I've been here...I'm trying things that would normally scare me or that are out of my comfort zone.  Our theme for the semester has already become, "When in Spain...".  I'm finding that I can do things that I thought I couldn't, and having a great time doing them.  This has already been such a great experience for me, and I know I will continue to grow throughout the semester.

I was able to find a church to go to this morning that other students had recommended from past semesters, and really enjoyed the Spanish worship service.  It was great to sing again, and it was especially great to see the passion in the church.  I didn't understand the whole sermon, but this will be another place for me to learn to listen and grow.  I've heard there is also a great youth group that I am planning to join that meets on Saturday nights.  

And now, it's already Sunday night...my great weekend is over.  Hopefully the next one is just as fun as this one has been.  Hope you all have a great week...Miss you!

Tour de España Pictures :)

Finally, I got all my pictures onto Facebook...phew!!

I'm not sure if posting these links work for everyone, but give them a try, and if they don't work, I'll do something else...just copy and paste. Enjoy!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023913&id=78302089&I=9e7b9

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023916&id=78302089&I=3135e

Classes have begun!

It's a BEAUTIFUL day today, and we are beginning our classes!  I am actually very ready to have a "normal" schedule, and am very excited to start learning.  All my classes seem very interesting, and all my teachers are great.  It's hard to believe we have already been here for almost a month, and are just starting classes today!

It is also very exciting to get to know all the people in my classes...they are from all schools and parts of the U.S., and some even from other countries.  I've already met a few very nice people, which is great. 

My school schedule will be pretty spread out throughout the day, with my first class in the later part of the morning, and my last in the early evening, but there are breaks in between to eat, check my mail, and chat with friends.  I am also looking forward to having my Fridays off...hopefully I can take some fun trips on the weekends!

Anyway, better get to my next class...Adios!

"Tour de España" Part 3

Ahh...it's so nice to be "home"!  We had such a great week traveling, but it was tiring, and we love being back in Granada.  Here's a little summary on the last chunk of our trip.  

We set out for our final city on Friday, Córdoba.  It was a 5 hour bus ride from Madrid, and we had a little wait before our bus left, so Friday was pretty much a "travel day".  When we did arrive in Córdoba, however, the weather was finally beautiful, and stayed that way the rest of the weekend.  Our hostel was right in the middle of the section of town with a lot of the main sights of Córdoba, so we were in a great location for sightseeing on Saturday.  We went to the Mesquite near our hostel first, a huge mosque that was taken over by Christians and a cathedral built in the middle...It was really a magnificent building. 

We also went to the Alcazar in this city.  The castle wasn't as impressive as the one in Segovia, but the gardens behind it were breathtaking, even in February.  I can't even imagine how pretty it must be in the spring and summer!

We also saw the Roman bridge, an old city wall, and many other things as we wandered the city.  We tried to put the map completely away for at least a few hours a day so that we could blindly explore the city.  We found a lot of really cool areas this way, and really enjoyed it...we didn't always know what we were looking at, but we still appreciated it.  :)   

There were also no shortage of touristy shops, and we definitely enjoyed looking through those.  I'm having trouble remembering that I am here for the whole semester, and don't need to buy souvenirs for everyone now!  I did get a few though, and also made sure to get a pretty magnet for myself...I'm trying to get one in each city I visit, hopefully I'll have quite a collection by the end of the semester!

We were all pretty exhausted this morning when we headed home, and we are all happy to be back in Granada.  It was so nice to come back to a home cooked meal!  We are taking the next few days to relax and do a few things in Granada that we haven't done yet before starting classes on Wednesday.  Should be a good week...hope you all have a good one too!!

"Tour de España" Part 2

Ahh...Toledo, another gorgeous city! This whole town seems like it fell out of another century. We spent the day just wandering around for hours, and I feel like we got a pretty good feel for the city.

We visited a few museums on the history of Spain and Toledo, saw the 2 huge cathedrals in the city, toured a synagoge, searched for "La casa del Greco" for much too long before we realized it was closed off for renovations...shoot! We went to the church where his most beautiful painting is displayed instead, which was also very cool. We also walked by Alcazar, some great city viewpoints, famous bridges and plazas.

We also stopped to buy some of the famous "black gold" of Toledo. The black and gold enamel work by local artisians is known throughout Spain. Many shops in Toledo sell decorated plates, shields, spoons, key rings, and obviously, jewelry. We ran into an artisian shop hidden in a building that had everything handcrafted and authentic. They showed us that some of the black gold sold in the tourist shops are fakes, and you could definitely see the difference when compared to their beautiful work.

After a LONG day of walking, we are pretty tired, so we are just hanging out in our castle for a while. We´ll be off to find supper soon, and then we head out after breakfast in the morning to Cordoba. It´s hard to believe our trip is almost done! Our plan is to be back in Granada sometime on Sunday for a few days of relaxation before classes. I´ll be back soon...have a great week everyone!

My "Tour de España"...Part 1

Since I found some internet and was dreading the ridiculously long update I would have to do at the end of this trip, here is part 1 of what we have done so far in our "Tour de España!"

Our entire group headed off to Madrid in a bus on Saturday morning. It´s about a 5 hour drive, so we checked into our hotel in the early afternoon and then headed straight to the Prado Museum. The museum was great...it was so interesting to see all the pieces I have learned about in school and the ones that Josè taught us about last week.

After the museum, we had some free time which we spent walking the streets and snapping pictures. We also stopped for a stroll in the beautiful Jardines del Buen Retiro, a HUGE park near the Prado.

Sunday we had an excursion planned for the morning to visit a nearby town, but since it was SNOWING, we had to cancel it and entertain ourselves for the day. We ended up taking the metro to the see Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales and doing some shopping. The weather was pretty much miserable for the rest of the weekend, but we did our best to find fun things to do.

We met back at the hotel that night to go see a play as a group. It was a comedy with a very strange storyline...I was able to follow most of it though, so that´s a plus!! After the play we went out for the best chocolate and churros I´ve ever had. I can´t wait to post pictures of how thick they drink their hot chocolate here! It´s basically a melted chocolate bar...yum!!

Monday was another miserably rainy day for walking around in Madrid, but we did it anyway! Our group excursion for the day was to the Royal Palace, which was amazing! The palace has over 2400 rooms and is absolutely beautiful. We had a guided tour of the rooms open to the public, so we learned a lot.

After the palace, we went to the best flamenco shop in all of Spain, El Flamenco Vive. It is the best place to go for everything from performance shoes and dresses to guitars and recordings. (No, Dad, I didn´t buy you a new guitar for your birthday!!) It was a lot of fun to look around though.

A few friends and I also went and searched our Petra´s International Used Bookshop, a shop recommended in my travel book. Good thing we knew what we were looking for, because it was a tiny hole in the wall treasure trove of cheap used books. I found some great picture books of Spain, and my roommate Kristin found Harry Potter in Spanish!

The rest of the afternoon was spent trudging through the rain looking for some dry shoes to buy and a hostel to stay at for the night. Happily, we found both. :) Our hostel was actually really nice, and it was close to the restaurant we had reservations at for supper. A group of friends and I went to dinner and a show, which was a great end to our trip in Madrid.

Tuesday began the next leg of our trip, Segovia. Segovia is a beautiful little city with so many sights and landmarks to visit. We found another really nice hostel to drop our stuff at, and began exploring the city. Our hostel was right off the Plaza Mayor, so we began there. Right on the plaza is an AMAZING cathedral that we toured, it was really gorgeous.

We also saw the Roman Aquaduct, which was also amazing. It looks like a giant comb of rocks pushed into the ground...how the Romans built it, I have no idea, but I´ll have to show you all pictures soon. :)

We spent the rest of the evening wandering the city and admiring the old buildings and museums. We were also very proud of our discovery of a great 4 course dinner for only 12€...we were stuffed afterward, but it was great because it was pretty much the only thing we had eaten all day.

This morning we headed to Alcazar, a beautiful fortress on the edge of town. The sun FINALLY peeked out for a little while just in time for us to see some beautiful views of the city from the top of the Tower of Juan II. The castle was beautiful and I´m so glad we went to Segovia.

Also, a funny story from the castle...we met a friendly old man who worked at the castle. He realized that we were Americans and asked us if we had any U.S. quarters because he is collecting all the state quarters. We didn´t have any with us at the time, but he found us later as we were walking through the castle to give us his address and the list of states he was missing. :) He was very sweet, and I hope I can find his missing quarters to send him!

Anyway, we left Segovia, and are now in Toledo!! It is raining...again...but we found an amazing hostel that my tour book recommended. We are staying in a renovated Arabic fortress on the edge of the city. It is so cool with nice rooms and lounge areas for us to hang out in.

Hopefully the rain will stop soon, because we want to go explore. Stayed tuned in a few days for Part II of my "Tour de España"!! Miss you all....