Monday, March 30, 2009

You know you´ve lived in Spain when...

Hehe...this is from a funny facebook group I saw...I´ve taken some out, but these are some that really do apply to us here :)

1) You think adding lemonade, fanta or even coke to red wine is a good idea.

2) You can't get over how early bars & clubs shut back home - surely they're shutting just as you should be going out?

3) You aren't just surprised that the plumber/decorator has turned up on time, you're surprised he turned up at all.

4) You've been part of a botellon.

5) You think it's fine to comment on everyone's appearance. And to openly stare at strangers.

6) Not giving every new acquaintance dos besos seems so rude.

8) On msn you sometimes type 'jajaja' instead of 'hahaha'

9) You think that aceite de oliva is a vital part of every meal. And don't understand how anyone could think olive oil on toast is weird.

10) You're amazed when TV ad breaks last less than half an hour, especially right before the end of films.

11) You forget to say please when asking for things - you implied it in your tone of voice, right?

14) You don't see sunflower seeds as a healthy snack - they're just what all the cool kids eat.

16) Every sentence you speak contains at least one of these words: 'bueno,' 'coño,' 'vale,' 'venga,' 'pues nada'...

19) A bull's head on the wall of a bar isn't a talking point for you, it's just a part of the decor.

20) You eat lunch after 2pm & would never even think of having your evening meal before 9.

21) You know that after 2pm there's no point in going shopping, you might as well just have a siesta until 5 when the shops re-open.

23) You know how to change a bombona. And if you don't, you were either lazy or lucky enough to live somewhere nice.

24) It's not rude to answer the intercom to your flat by asking "Quien?"

25) You don't accept beer that's anything less than ice-cold.

27) The sound of mopeds in the background is the soundtrack to your life.

28) You know that the mullet didn't just happen in the 80s. It is alive and well in Spain.

29) You know the difference between cojones and cajones, tener calor and estar caliente, bacalao and bakalao, pollo and polla, estar hecho polvo and echar un polvo...and maybe you learned the differences the hard way!

30) On some Sunday mornings you sometimes have breakfast before going to bed, not after you get up.

31) You don't see anything wrong with having a couple of beers before lunch if you feel like it.

32) Floors in certain bars are an ideal dumping ground for your colillas, servilletas etc. Why use a bin?!

33) You see clapping as an art form, not just a way to express approval.

37) You know that 'ahora' doesn't really mean now. Hasta ahora, ahora vuelvo...etc

38)When you make arrangements to meet friends at 3, the first person turns up at 3.15...if you're lucky!

39) Central heating is most definitely a foreign concept. In winter, you just huddle around the heater under the table & pull the blanket up over your knees...and sleep with about 5 blankets on your bed! (OK I accept this is probably just in the south!)

40) When you laugh, you don't laugh your head off - te partas de risa.

41) Aceite de oliva is 'muy sano', of course. So you help yourself to a bit more.

42) Every single news bulletin on TV has at least 10 minutes on Real Madrid news and another 10 on Barcelona news.

43) When it's totally normal for every kitchen to have a deep-fat fryer but no kettle.

46) When you know what a guiri is / have been called one

47) When you add 'super' in front of any adjective for emphasis

48) Blonde girls actually start to think their name is 'rubia'

49) When you accept that paying with a 50 euro note is going to get you a dirty look if you're buying something that costs less than 40 euros

50) If something is great, it's 'de puta madre'

51) You can eat up to 5 times a day - first breakfast, 2nd breakfast around 11.30, almuerzo, merienda, cena

53) If you see someone wearing a T-shirt with something written on it in English, you can almost guarantee it won't make sense. (Pebble Night was a personal favourite)

55) Who needs a dryer when you have a washing line outside the window of your apartment?

56) You know what 'marcha' is.

57) You are more likely to call your friends tio/a, nena, chaval, macho or even tronco than their real name.

59) You answer the phone by saying 'Yes', ('well', or 'Tell me') and when identifying yourself you say 'I'm...' not 'It's...'. But when you try those tactics back home, everyone thinks you're mad or rude!

60) You haven´t had real milk since you left home...

61) Jamon, jamon y mas jamon...

62) If you eat a lot of something, you're not going to 'turn into' it, you're going to 'get the face of it,' e.g 'te vas a poner cara de chocolate.' Somehow a lot more amusing!

63) Drinking coffee out of a glass is entirely normal.

64) 'Son las nueve, las ocho en Canarias' is how you are used to hearing radio DJs announce the time

65) You've been to your local town's feria/fiesta/semana santa

66) You're familiar with the term 'la crisis.' And have started shopping at Dia as a result (and of course, you take your own carrier bag).

Morocco Itinerary!

Day One: ALGECIRAS - TANGIER - RABAT

Morning:

9:00 Boat journey across the Mediterranean Sea from Algeciras, Spain to Tangier, Morocco

10:00 American Legation Exhibition in the medina of Tangier

10:30 Conversation Cultural diversity in Morocco with Prof. Ali Azeriah,
Head of the English Department of LEcole Superior du Traduction, Tangier

12:30 Drive to Asilah

Afternoon:

13:30 Lunch at Restaurant Yali outside the old city wall

14:30 Walk through the Medina (old town)

15:30 Drive to Rabat (3 hours)

Evening:

18:30 Meeting of the home stay families (Two or three students will stay with one family.)

19:00 Dinner with home stay families in the Medina

20:30 Walk through the Medina of Rabat in small groups of three to five students


Day Two RABAT

Morning:

Breakfast with home stay families

9:30 Cross Cultural Center Langcom: facilitated discussion “West and Islamic worlds - images about each other” with Moroccan students and Prof. Zaki who published on cross cultural subjects

11:00 Visit of the Roman ruins Chellah, the Mausoleum Hassan II and the main mosque of Rabat

Afternoon:

13:30 Lunch with home stay families

15:00 Exploration of Rabat’s Andalusian houses in the Kashba and the street life in the medina market. Individual options: to spend time in the art museum or gallery, at the ocean or in the gardens of the castle. (This afternoon will be spend in small groups to create space for authentic experiences of the place and for personal connections. Two American students will be accompanied by two Moroccan students from Rabat University. )

Break: Mint tea in the Kashba Café at the river

Evening:

19:30 Dinner with home stay families

20:30 Conversation in the patio of a family with Fulbright scholars and Peace Corps volunteers about living in Morocco as a foreigner

22:00 Optional: dance in the courtyard / socializing on the roof terrace


Day Three RABAT - RIF MOUNTAINS - CHEFCHAOUEN

Morning:

8:00 Drive to Akchour through rural areas of Morocco

12:00 Meeting with Abdeslam (guide in Chefchaouen)

Afternoon:

13:00 Walk through a valley of the Rif Mountains
Picnic and time to relax at the river
Conversation with Abdeslam about education, simplicity of life and economic challenges of rural areas in Morocco. Abdeslam himself was the first in his family to receive an education. He finished a degree in literature while his older brothers had no schooling for economic reasons.

15:30 Drive to Chefchaouen

16:00 Guided walk through the medina of Chefchaouen with background information about its Moorish and Jewish inhabitants and its historic link to Al Andalus

16:30 Settle in Hotel Andaluz

17:00 Time to explore the medina individually (good place to buy some souvenirs)

Evening:

20:00 Special celebration dinner in the Medina of Chefchaouen

22:00 Social time on the roof terrace



Day Four CHEFCHAOUEN - CEUTA - ALGECIRAS

Morning:

7:30 Morning walk through the awaking town to a hill outside the city gate

9:00 Drive through mountains, fields and cities to Ceuta (2 hours)

Breakfast on the way

11:00 Crossing the Moroccan - Spanish border

Afternoon:

13:45 Boat journey across the Strait of Gibraltar

15:30 Good bye in Algeciras, Spain

Midterms Week

Nothing too exciting happened this weekend, since I’m cramming for midterms. I’m pretty happy with the amount of studying I did, I’m usually one of the awful students that doesn’t really study, but I think I should be set for these midterms. It helps that for the most part I’m very interested in all my classes, so it’s more fun to study.

After our days of studying, my roomie and I treated ourselves to going to the movies in the evenings. Friday night we saw a Spanish film, “Mentiras y Gordas”, and on Saturday we saw “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. As you can tell, we both love going to the movies!

One more week of classes till Spring Break, which is exciting. We are leaving for our Morocco trip on Thursday evening. I’m so excited for Morocco; I’ve heard this trip is such a great experience. Soon I’ll attach my schedule for the week, so you can get a glimpse of what we’ll be up to…it should be a lot of fun.

Well, I’ll keep this short, because I heard my blogs were too long sometimes…haha…thanks Thomas...Have a great week everyone!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Are you ready for some fútbol? Video


Fútbol Video

Are you ready for some fútbol?


I attended my first Spanish fútbol game last night...how fun!  I wasn't sure if I was going to make it up to a Real Madrid, Valencia or Barcelona game, the big teams that my brothers like to follow, so we decided to try a game in Granada.  The team isn't super popular, so it wasn't packed, but it was still a lot of fun.   We got seated in one of the crazy fan sections too, so it was very entertaining.  

My tutorials class definitely came in handy...we learn a lot of slang in that class, and pretty sure every swear word that I've learned became the main vocabulary of every Spanish man around me...it was pretty funny.  :)  

I would definitely go to another game...it was a lot of fun. 

Here are a few pictures of this week...I'll add more to this album later.  Have a good day!


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Mi familia...¡Que te partes!

I love my host family more and more each day...the longer I stay, the crazier and funnier they get!  We've had a lot of fun experiences lately, so I thought I'd share a few...

Last night, Kristin, mi madre, y yo had a hair-dying party...she was so excited to give us a hand.  Having 4 boys, I'm sure she doesn't get to do a lot of girly things, so it was fun to hang out with her.  My hair looks pretty good, but I might need to buy another box tonight and finish it off...I warned Paqui that I had a lot of thick hair (thanks, Dad!), but she was sure that we would have enough and that there was usually extra...anyone who has dyed my hair before knows that this is not the case, so the bottom of my hair is a bit lighter than the top...oops!  Oh well...it was fun. :)

Also...we've been having lots of fun conversations over the dinner table...Francisco is one of my brothers who is very animated and talks VERY quickly!  He's always telling me stories, and I pretend that I understand, but usually don't.  The other day, I must have looked hopelessly lost, because Gaspar said, "Don't worry, none of us understand him."  It was pretty funny, and a relief to know I'm not expected to understand his craziness. 

Paqui has also been telling us stories about when the boys were young.  It's no surprise to us that Francisco was a demon child, because not much has changed!  He's still very mischevious and fun-loving, and quite the party boy.  Saturday night must have been an all-nighter for him, because he came out of his room at 2:30 for lunch, and then went back to bed till 6...oh, Francisco. :)  

Anyway, his childhood stories are pretty funny.  He like to destroy everything, climb on furniture and stuff things into the VCR.  One day that they boys still talk about is a day when Francisco was 8...he had noticed a produce truck outside the window that no one else had, and so he declared that he didn't want to live, and proceeded to jump out the window onto the truck below.  Needless to say, his older brothers were terrified, and rushed to the window...what an awful trick, huh?  

But, after her problem child, Paqui said Dioni was an angel.  He loved to draw, mostly pictures of scenes from Semana Santa, which is coming up and I'm very excited for!  Paqui still has many of the drawings, and we looked through them after supper the other night...he was really good!  It was very funny because he walked in the room as we had all his artwork spread across the table...he was a little embarrassed.  

Anyway, I have many more funny stories about my family, but I'll save some for another day.  Hasta luego!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

My New Favorite Spain Activity...the Arab Baths!

I had another amazing, relaxing weekend around Granada and Nerja.  I love how many fun things we can cram into our 3-day weekends!

Thursday night I went to a movie with my friend Christine and one of her friends from class.  We saw "Duplicity", which was good, but I'll definitely have to watch it again...it was slightly harder to follow than other movies I've gone to here!  Must have been all the flashbacks and forwards...

Anyway, we didn't stay out too late, because we had to be up early to catch the bus to the beach Friday!  We found one of the main beaches in Nerja that we hadn't been on yet...it was huge, beautiful, and full of people.  It was obviously a perfect day for everyone to relax on the sand.  

That night, we all took nice, long, hot showers (because we could...our showers at our houses are less than desirable, so it's always nice to go to the hostels where we know the showers are amazing!), and then walked out to the Balcon de Europa.  It's beautiful during the day, but it's a lot of fun at night too.  The sound of the waves on the rocks and the utter darkness in front of you is pretty incredible.  It's just a very peaceful spot at night, because it isn't so full of people.

We also went to find Plaza Tutti-Frutti (yes, that's its real name...) because we had heard that it is a great spot for the nightlife of Nerja, but it was way too early for that (only 10...), so it was pretty dead.  On our way back to the hostel, however, we found a tapas restaurant with free tapas!  We were surprised because there are usually only 2 or 3 town in Spain that still provide free tapas, and Nerja isn't one of them. :)  It was fun to sit and chat there for a while before turning in for the night. 

The next day wasn't a super nice beach day, it had clouded up and was pretty windy by the water, but Lisa and Nick had planned to go to the caves, so Christine and I just sat by the beach and read.  When Lisa and Nick got back, we went to the end of the beach and explored what the ocean was tossing up.  We found lots of shells, some little crabs and other sea critters.  It was a lot of fun, even if the weather wasn't quite as nice as the day before.

We took an early afternoon bus back, so we made it home in time for supper at our houses.  I only went out for a quick run in the park and trip to the internet café, because I had another early morning on Sunday...Trekking and Arab Baths excursion!

We had the same guide as I had on my last excursion, and had an "easy" trek around the city planned to tire us out so we could relax in the Arab Baths afterward.  The trek was much easier than my last one, but I still definitely would not have classified it under easy!  Anyone who had experience Granada's hilly terrain knows what I'm talking about. :)  We climbed up to and around the Alhambra, and got some great views of the city.  

After the hike, our guide dropped us off at the Arab Baths.  I had heard a little about them, but was really excited to experience them for myself.  We changed into our suits and walked into the first room, which was the pool with cold water. 

The baths were all dimly lit, with music playing softly, and it is very relaxing.  You are supposed to move from pool to pool every 5 to 10 minutes to cleanse your body.  The cold one was smaller and about the depth that we sat in them and the water was about at our shoulders.  The hot one was very long and about the same depth, but long enough that we would all lay down in an area.  It was so nice!  The warm one was the deepest; we could almost stand in this one.  

There was also a steam room, which our guide said was one of the best ones he had been in.  It is very large, and was usually so full of steam that you couldn't even see the people across from you!  It was also scented a bit like jasmine, so that was cool.  It was pretty much the most intense sauna I've ever been in!

As if these parts of the Arab baths weren't relaxing enough, a 15-minute massage comes with the entrance as well.  It was the fastest, but most relaxing 15- minutes I've had since I've been here.  We all enjoyed our experience so much, and I hope I have a chance to go at least one more time before I get home.  It's also very interesting because it is such an ancient tradition that is still being practiced today.

After the baths, my friend Christine and I grabbed lunch...my new favorite food, kabobs!  We have a favorite kabob place that has the best food ever, we get them whenever we can...I'll miss them when we get home!  We had our kabobs, and then walked around the Arab markets to search for fun souvenirs for our friends and families...there are so many things that will always remind me of Spain, I can't wait to buy a few things to show all of of you.

Anyway, moral of my story...Beaches + Arab Baths = Great Weekend!  Have a great week everyone.  :)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

A few random videos...


Aladdin Flamenco Show





Sorry they aren't the best quality, but it's kinda fun to see "real life" some of the things I tell you about...Adios!

My Walk to School...

One of my friends took pictures of his walk to school one day, and I thought it was a fun idea, so here is an album of my walk to school!
 
Hope it's not too boring...  :)



The Real World

In the midst of my carefree days and weeks here in Spain, the real world has crept in and found me...  :)

I'm in the process of making all my plans and decisions for next year, which tends to be very difficult when you are across the sea from everyone else!  Thankfully, things are coming together slowly...hopefully all goes well.  

It's the time of year at Central where we need to be registering for classes and deciding on housing arrangements for next semester.  Luckily, I have great friends who are helping me out with housing, and my advisor is very organized with registration.  The scary thing about registration is that my advisor is leaving this year (eek!) and with this semester abroad, my accounting classes are all out of order and will be difficult to squeeze in.  I guess I just need some time, patience and organization!

I'm also trying to plan for this summer and the next...an internship probably would have been a good path to take, but since I wasn't quite on top of that, a summer job or two will probably make the most sense.  Then again, with my crazy senior year with accounting classes, a summer class might also be the way to go.  Decisions, decisions...

The other thing creeping closer are midterms!  I won't complain, because I've hardly had any homework all  semester (It's going to be so hard to go back to regular classes!), but all the classes have midterms the week before spring break...it will be tough to study the whole semester's worth of material so far in all of my classes!  I almost wish we had a few assignments in our classes so that the tests weren't such a huge part of our grade...Oh well, I'm heading to the beach again this weekend (I believe I'm seeing a trend here...), so I'll have to take my notes along and study hard.  :)

I'm looking forward to another very relaxing weekend in Nerja with my friends...they haven't seen the caves yet, so I thought I'd tag along to hit the beach, of course!

My friend Christine and I are only staying until Saturday night, however, because we're signed up for another CLM hiking trip on Sunday...fun!  I don't think it is as difficult of a hike as the last one I tried, so it should be more relaxing.  As a part of the trip, we also get to go to the Arab baths.  The baths date back to the Middle Ages, and are all around Granada and Spain.  I've seen many ancient baths in places like the Alhambra and the Alcazaba, so I'm very excited to experience one for myself...something to look forward to reading about in my next post...Adios!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Beaches, Sevilla, and dancing...what a weekend!

How can it possibly be Sunday again? I had another jam-packed weekend, so I’d better write it all down before I forget!

On Friday, my friends and I spent another lovely day out on the beach. We tried a new one this time that was a little closer to home, Salobreña. It was very beautiful, and it was a great day for being lazy on the beach. Something a little different between the Salobreña and Nerja beaches were the dozens of fishermen lined all along the coastline. Each fisherman had a few poles to watch, and they all spent a large portion of the day sitting on their chairs waiting for fish to bite. I never actually saw anyone catch anything, but then again, I wasn’t watching that closely.

After returning to Granada, we tried to get to bed on time, because we had a day trip to Sevilla and a flamenco show planned with our entire group for the next day. I had a great time in Sevilla, it was a beautiful city, but in all honesty, the day was kind of a waste. We spent way more time driving to Sevilla and back than we spent in the city! We left from Granada at 8:30 am, and it took 3 hours to drive there.

Our first sight was the Plaza de España, which was actually really cool. It is a huge plaza that has a pretty mural of each province in Spain along it. When people go to visit, they always stop at their province and take a picture…we did the same. It was also very interesting to see because the walkways along the outside of the structures were used in the Episode I of the Star Wars movies for a scene with Queen Amidala. Having 3 brothers and living next to the Ter Haar’s when I was little gave me a keen appreciation for the Star Wars series, so that was really fun to see.

After the plaza, we walked through the Jewish Quarter over to the Cathedral, which I believe is the biggest Gothic Cathedral in the world. We didn’t go in, but it was beautiful from the outside, and I got some pretty pictures. Since it was a Saturday, there were many weddings going on in the cathedral, one after another. I sat for a while and watched the wedding guests file out of the cathedral, because I couldn’t believe the outfits some of the ladies were wearing! Many of them looked like they were going to a formal party, and many had feathers or fancy hats on their heads…it was pretty funny.

After eating our bocadillos for lunch, we went to tour the Alcázar, a royal residence that the King and Queen of Spain still use sometimes. It had beautiful gardens, and many of the rooms really resembled rooms from the Alhambra in Granada. By this time, we had only been in Sevilla about 4 hours, but we needed to get home to make it to a flamenco show that night.

The show began at 9:30, so we climbed up to Sacromonte a little before then. What we found when we got there was not at all what I was expecting, but it was a lot of fun. I thought we’d be in a restaurant or small stage, but we were in a small auditorium that had a huge window behind the performers that was a breathtaking view of the Alhambra, which was lit up at night.

The actual performance was also not what I was expecting. I was expecting a very traditional flamenco dancing show, but what we saw was Aladdin set to flamenco! It was very fun to watch, and the dancers were amazing. It was very interesting to see how they mixed the very traditional steps and dancing with the music of Aladdin. I definitely think that I will attend another flamenco show, because I really enjoyed this one. Maybe next time I will see a more traditional show!

Though it had already been a long day, we still had a long way to go! Whitney has a friend from the states here this week, and wanted to have her experience the crazy Spanish discotecas, so off we went for a night of dancing! I had a lot of fun again with the girls…I’m making some really great friends here, which is nice.

The weather is gorgeous this week, so after lunch today I went for a run in the park. I think a sign said that it was about 28º C today, which converts to the 80’s in Fahrenheit. I hope it stays this nice!

Anyway, better get going, but have a great week everyone…Miss you all!

Pictures of this weekend...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024559&id=78302089&l=4a4936168f

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Amanda's Visit...captured on film :)

Madrid ~

Nerja ~
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024497&id=78302089&I=62473

Granada ~

Enjoy!

Amanda and Sara's Spain Adventures

Wow...this weekend with Amanda went so quickly, but we had such a great time and saw so many things! I hope she had as good of a time as I did.

The weekend started out with me taking the bus to Madrid to pick Amanda up at the airport. Unfortunately, I got to the bus station about 2 minutes late, and had to watch my bus pull out without me...oops! It wasn't too bad, I just had to wait an hour for the next one, and was a tiny bit late for picking up Amanda. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend while she was here, which made this trip so much more enjoyable than my past couple trips.

After checking into our hostel right by the Puerta del Sol, we walked to the Jardines de Buen Retiro, and saw most of this huge park. We also walked around town to take pictures of the beautiful buildings, and of course, my favorite painted bulls. :)

We stayed out for supper (Amanda even made it to 9:00...way to go!), but then called it a night and hung out at our hostel. We shared a room with 4 other travelers, and we ended up chatting for a very long time. It's so interesting to hear about people's travels and how they came to be in Madrid.

Saturday was our very busy day in Madrid. We began with a 4 hour free walking tour of the city. I'm so glad we found that tour, because we got to see SO much and learned a ton about the history of Madrid. Some of the highlights of our tour were the Puerta del Sol, the Royal Theater and Palace, the "Suicide Bridge", the oldest restaurant in the WORLD (just ask Guinness...), the Plaza Mayor, the hotel where the celebrities, matadors, and soccer players stay when they are in Madrid, the house where Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quijote) lived and died, and the Congress house that was taken over in a failed coup in 1981. Our tour guide was very funny and we all learned so much.

After our tour, I really wanted to see the giant bullfighting ring in Madrid, so we took the metro to go see that. Unfortunately, we were too late for a tour inside, but even the outside was beautiful and fun to see. I also wanted to get a tour of the soccer arena where Real Madrid plays, but there was a game that night, so we coudn't go on the whole tour. I'll definitely have to do that my next time in Madrid though!

After the bull ring, we went back to the other side of town to see the Prado and the Reina Sofia museums. I hadn't been in the Reina Sofia before, so that was a lot of fun. It was a more contemporary museum with many works by Picasso and Salvador Dali.

I felt like we saw a lot of Madrid for 1 1/2 days, and our feet felt that way too! We then took an overnight bus to Nerja for some rest and relaxation on the beach. I was worried about not getting enough sleep on the bus, but with the help of Advil PM and a pretty empty bus to sleep in, I got a great night's sleep.

We began our day in Nerja with a quick stop and my favorite donkey reservation. Amanda wasn't quite sure about the animals at first, but I think she warmed up to them eventually. It was a lot of fun to visit the reservation again.

We then met my friends Lisa and Nick for a day at the beach, which was so incredibly nice...we couldn't have asked for a better beach day! We spent hours enjoying the sun and cooling off by the cold sea. It was so relaxing after our busy weekend in Madrid.

Nick and Lisa went home in the evening, so Amanda and I searched out a Spanish menú for supper. We were able to try all the famous Spanish dishes, including "paella"(a famous dish usually made with fish or meat and rice) y "tortilla española" (an egg dish with potatoes cooked into them).

The next day we trekked up to the caves, which were very fun to see again. They are so beautiful, and I think Amanda really liked them too. After the caves, we had just enough time to eat a quick lunch on the beach before we had to catch a bus to Granada.

Our hostel in Granada wasn't great, but it was pretty close to my house, which was nice. We settled in, and then made a trek to the Mirador de San Nicolas to see the Alhambra. I only got a little lost, and we made it in time to see the sun setting and the lights on the Alhambra. It was so beautiful. I hadn't even been up there at night, so it was fun for me too. Amanda still hadn't gotten used to the crazy hills of Spain since obviously Iowa and the Netherlands are ridiculously flat, but she was a trooper, and we climbed pretty far.

After our climb, we treated ourselves to tapas. We went to places that had huge tapas, because we didn't want to buy supper. :) They were delicious, and Amanda was a big fan of the tapas tradition of Spain as well. I actually just had a class last night with José about the history and tradition of tapas. He gave us a lot of great information, as well as a list of all his favorite tapas places! Hopefully by the end of the semester, we will have tried all the best tapas dishes in Granada. :)

Tuesday was Amanda's last full day in Granada, so after my morning classes, we made sure to make the visit to the Alhambra. It was another beautiful day, so I took some much prettier pictures than the dreary day we were there last month. It wasn't super busy either, so it was a very enjoyable visit.

I had a few evening classes, but after class, we headed over to my house for supper! I was very excited for Amanda to see my family and see what a great cook Paqui is. It was a loud crazy meal, as usual, but I think she enjoyed herself, despite the huge language barrier. She got to have more tortilla española (I told you it was a common dish here!) along with soup and pork and fruit. It was very fun.

We went out for one last night of tapas after supper to finish off her visit to Granada. She left today after a breakfast of chocolate and churros, and a last minute instruction session on how to get back to the Madrid Airport. It was so fun having her here and being "tour guide and hostess" for the week. It makes me sad that all of you can't see what my life is here, because it really is impossible to describe until you experience it. Hopefully this blog and my pictures at least give you a glimpse into my life here. It's fun sharing it with you! :) Anyway, I'm sure this is ridiculously long, so I'll leave, but I hope everyone has a great end of the week and weekend. Miss you all!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Another week, here and gone!

I can't believe another week has come and gone!  In a way it's really nice that time is going quickly, especially as homesickness starts setting in, but I know it's going to be really sad to leave this place as well!  

It was a pretty normal week of classes, the most exciting thing was my last class being cancelled when I got to the classroom!    After rushing to make it "on time" (which in Sara/Spain time usually means about 5 minutes late...), there was a note on the door saying that class was cancelled for the day.  It would have been nice to know this before I had rushed to class, but our classes here in Spain are very laid back, and it didn't surprise me at all that there was no email or announcement of the cancelation. :) 

So...I am now busy printing off maps and information for my weekend in Madrid with Amanda!  As you can probably tell from my many mentions of this trip, I'm pretty excited!  Some things we are hoping to see are the bullfighting ring (the biggest in the world, I believe), the soccer field where Real Madrid plays (we watch A LOT of fútbol in my house, might as well see the real deal!), the Royal Palace, some artisian shopping areas...and whatever else catches our eyes.

After Madrid, we head to Nerja for a (fingers crossed) great, warm weekend at the beach.  After Nerja, we are heading back to Granada to show Amanda where I live.  It should be a lot of fun. 
  
Can't wait to tell you all about it, have a great "fin de semana" everyone!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Happy or Sad?

So...I just got out of my grammar class where we were talking about descriptions. There were pictures of people and we were suppose to describe them...when we got to a woman who looked very excited, so we said "Ella está emocionada." Turns out that in Spain that doesn't really mean excited, it means sad. Whoops! I've said that a lot to my host mom...hope she doesn't think I'm depressed about all my traveling. :)

There are lots of little phrases and words that have very different meanings here in Spain than what we are taught in the states, because we learn Spanish from Mexico, not Spain. It's kind of fun to learn all these differences, but also a little nervewracking when you don't know what exactly you are saying!!

Kind of random...but thought I'd share...Adios!

It's raining, it's pouring...

It's shaping up to be another very rainy week here in Granada...how is it that I've heard from so many people that it never rains here?  Oh well...I have an umbrella and some great boots, so I'm good to go.  I'm just hoping it stops by Friday, because that's when my friend Amanda is flying in to visit!

I am going to meet her in Madrid, and we'll spend a few days exploring there, and then we are taking the bus back to Nerja.  I can't wait to go back to the beach.  Hopefully the sun will want to come out this time!  After a day at the beach, we will journey back into Granada...it will be a lot of fun to show her around my new "hometown".  

Other than looking forward to the weekend, things are pretty normal this week.  I have all my classes, and am planning on seeing a movie tomorrow night.  My friends and I decided we better go see the new Penelope Cruz movie, because she is big news here right now!  She is the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar, so everyone is very happy for her.  She is on the news constantly, and all over the billboards.   

I've been pretty happy with all the movies I've gone to here.  I understand a lot more than I usually expect to, and it's great entertainment AND listening practice!  Well, better get to lunch, it's almost 2!  

¡Hasta luego, Amigos!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Someday...I´m moving to Nerja!

I had such a fun weekend, despite the slightly cool rainy weather! My friends and I left for Nerja early Friday morning on a bus from Granada. The ride was pretty short, but boy, was it a winding path! I got very bus sick on the way, but once I got off the bus, I felt much better and ready to tackle a great day in Nerja!

We found another great hostel, literally 100 ft from the bus station, which was very nice. It also had internet, free breakfast, sheets, towels, and private rooms and showers! All of this for only 11 € is pretty awesome, so we will definitely have to go there again. :)

Our first activity of the weekend was exploring the ¨cuevas¨ or caves on the side of the city. It is the 50th anniversary this year of when they were first discovered, which I thought was amazing, considering how HUGE these caves are! Five young men randomly discovered the area while hanging out one day...how amazing would it be to just happen upon something as amazing as the cuevas of Nerja? After being amazed at the beauty and enormous size of the part we had walked through, we saw that we had only gone into a third of the actual caves. The rest aren´t even open to the public because they are a little too dangerous. I would definitely recommend checking these out if you ever hit Spain, they were amazing, and definitely cannot be captured in my crappy pictures!

After the walk back to the hostel, we decided to trek out to the beach!  Unfortunately, we definitely missed the sign that pointed out the beach areas, so we ended up walking way too far to the end of town...we did find a beach though! We had a lot of fun eating our bocadillos on the sand, and dipping our toes in the cold Mediterranean Sea.

I´m actually really glad we took this wrong turn though, because on the way back, we noticed a ¨Refugio del Burro¨that we visited, which ended up being my favorite part of Nerja! The Refugio was a sanctuary for donkeys and other animals that had been abused and rescued. It was run by a bunch of people from England who were incredibly nice.

It was free to go in, and they gave us each a big bucket of lettuce and bread to feed the animals. All the animals were so friendly and seemed so happy...it was so much fun. It was really sad to think about how the animals had been treated though, there was a handout that explained how they came to be at the refuge.  Most animals had been abused and mistreated. There was a horse that had serious spinal problems because it had been ridden by adults when it was too young, and a donkey that was blind in both eyes and almost deaf.  She may not have been able to see me, but she definitely knew when I was coming with her snacks! 

After visiting the Burros, we went to the ACTUAL beaches that we meant to go to...we also went to the ´Balcon de Europa´, a really pretty area that looks out over the Mediterranean. We went down to the beaches and collected lots of pretty shells and stones. We´ll see if the stones make the cut to come home in my suitcases!

Pictures of Nerja!



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