Ok so I went on some trips this weekend, but that takes some serious dedication and time that I do not have, so instead you will be getting another update on my mundane "normal" Spanish life. But soon I will tell you about my last day trips in Spain.
Sometimes I think my host mother has shown me all of her Spanish food tricks and then I get home and have something completely new. Yesterday for example she fried me some vegetables, eggplant, onion and potatoes that she said were "ecologica" which I assume meant they were organic and then gave me a sunny side up egg and the normal salad that I get everyday. I was a little confused by the fried egg, since it was not anything she had served me before, especially for lunch. Then she proceeded to tell me that the egg was actually for the vegetables and I was supposed to dip my veggies into the egg yolk. I found this especially amusing especially after going to school in PA, where they call the sunny side up a dippy egg, which my roommate for New York was especially irritated at since one time at a diner they only understood her when she ordered a dippy egg. So I guess it's not just for Pennsylvanians any more, the Spanish have dippy eggs too! I'm usually not a huge fan of any sort of liquidness in my eggs but this was actually really good.
We've also had a recent interaction with other Spaniards in that we needed to get our bus passes renewed, since they only lasted a month and we are here for five weeks. It was a little annoying because we didn't think about doing this before, and when I got on the bus in the morning I got the angry red beep instead of the green light when I got on the bus. One thing that I don't know if it's buses everywhere but here you don't swipe your card, you just put in front of a scanner. It was funny because this is how one of my fellow Dickinsonians recognized me because the first time I got on the bus I was looking for a place to swipe it and I didn't understand how it worked. Anyway our director gave us some money but we figured out it would be cheaper to get about 20 rides on our cards instead of paying for each ride individually (10 rides is like 6.20 and each ride when you pay in cash is 1.10 so it's really a great deal). It was really easy to do and we found the place really easily but we did have to wait in line a little bit. I always like being able to complete these kinds of mindless tasks that I wouldn't even think twice about in the States because here it makes me feel like I've accomplished something.
Then on Monday we had tutorias and we went to one of the cafes we often go to. One time awhile ago we actually went to this place called telepizza at the insistence of the boys in the group because it was their anniversary and they were selling pizza for one euro (and later we found out ice cream and soda as well). Usually though we go to more traditional places and this time I got this great lemonade with mint in it and we talked about books because Somia my turtora wanted some suggestions for good books in English. I offered to give her High Fidelity because I had that here and I felt that even though I enjoyed it I didn't need to bring it home and that would save me some weight in my suitcase, but of course the one book I could offer her she had already read!! They were playing a Rufus Wainright album in the cafe, Poses, which is one I have, so that was a little strange to hear.
Today is the festival of San Juan, which from my interblag reading and from what people have told me is bonfires on the beach and people wash their face and feet at midnight to purify themselves. My professor also said that sardines are what people eat. Down the beach from us there are supposed to be some concerts, so I am very excited for tonight. Somia is also very excited because she said in the past the festival has always correlated with the day before exams for the students so no one really felt like going out so I am happy that I can do both.
Another exciting event, that the guys in my group are more interested in than I am, is that the US is playing Spain in soccer on Wednesday. They joke though that if they are out in the centro watching the game they are very likely to get into a fight.
My Malaga part of the trip is coming to a close, which makes me sad. I will certainly be glad to be done with classes but I will miss my family here, the beach and all my friends. I am so excited to see my parents and travel a bit more with them...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Beach'n
Now that I have this blog, even though it’s basically just my friends and family who is reading it, I totally understand how it’s hard to keep a blog updated even when I have stuff to say. It just takes a lot of effort to type this all up and maintain my own journal, especially with all the other activities that are going on in my life, with classes, tutorias and trips. So never again will I get angry at a blog that I read when they haven’t updated in a week or so. See I am learning new cultural things every day!
Now my classes are almost over and I am started to get a little nervous, because I got my language test back and I passed but I didn’t do as well as I hoped. But this seemed to be what happened to the entire class so I am not alone especially since the test seemed really unfair because we weren’t being tested on what we learned. The test we got was just kind of a standard language test that really had nothing to do with what we learned including vocabulary that I have never heard of and a lot of the grammar questions were exceptions to the rule that we never talked about. And now we are approaching the next and last test and I am super worried because I did not do well on this last test and I feel like in the last week the professor crammed a lot of really difficult tenses and she did not do a good job of explaining them. It’s just that we didn’t have the time to devote to really understanding the lessons. We are also taking our culture class, which I think is just hard right now; everyone is feeling worn out and the teacher seems very bemused by us and our way of being in class. One time we were laughing with one of our classmates because she was just being so silly when she was doing her presentation, which is partly just her personality and how she talks but it wasn’t malicious at all. But the professor seemed so offended that we were laughing and she said this is a university class and we should be acting formal, which I just thought was so odd because at least back at Dickinson our classes are respectful but they are certainly never formal and none of my other professors her are formal at all. Of course I am also worried about this test and can’t wait till these classes are over although I really don’t want to leave Spain.
We went out this last Thursday again and this time Somia and her younger sister came out with us. This was her sister’s first time coming out to the discotheque because she was only 16 and she was so excited to be out. It was funny to see someone going to the clubs for the first time, someone who hadn’t even been burned by going out. It was fun to see. This time when I went out I actually managed to find someone to dance with who is Spanish, since most of the people we interact with are also foreign but mostly from Europe, so I got to practice my Spanish, even when I was out and about. But it was hard because it was mostly yelling so it’s hard to understand even when I’m speaking English. One of the interesting that we’ve noticed is that men will not approach you when we are out or even out on the streets when you are in a group with guys in it. So sometimes when we go out we will move away from the bigger group so that we can meet new people.
I’ve also been doing some shopping while I was here. I found a great jacket that is very classy and is something that I could do casually but also I could wear to work and it is really well made. That was a little more expensive and when I got home and showed it to my mother she was very impressed but she told me that in July everything would really go down in price and I could have probably gotten it for about 15 euros cheaper, but that did not dismay me for very long. I also found a great cheap necklace and a purse that was half off that was perfect. It’s a really bright yellow, has a zipper and a longer strap and was half off.
Then since we were going on two day trips this weekend we didn’t want to have too late of a night so we just went out for a drink on Friday. We were going to go down to the center but then we ended up closer to our neighborhood at one of the fish places by the beach. I got a mohito and it was delicious and it was super sour. We had a good time and then went to the bus stop but decided to start walking because we were closer. As soon as we passed on of the bus stop we see the bus pulling up. We run back and start waving our hands to get the driver to open the door but she won’t because she is a little past the stop at the light. So then we book it, running as fast as we can to the next stop but we are at a weird part of the street and we do not make it to the next bus stop. Then we start walking again and we see another bus passing us by, which is particularly irritating because at this point at night the buses only come every 20 or 30 minutes. So after all that running we miss both buses and ended up walking home.
Now my classes are almost over and I am started to get a little nervous, because I got my language test back and I passed but I didn’t do as well as I hoped. But this seemed to be what happened to the entire class so I am not alone especially since the test seemed really unfair because we weren’t being tested on what we learned. The test we got was just kind of a standard language test that really had nothing to do with what we learned including vocabulary that I have never heard of and a lot of the grammar questions were exceptions to the rule that we never talked about. And now we are approaching the next and last test and I am super worried because I did not do well on this last test and I feel like in the last week the professor crammed a lot of really difficult tenses and she did not do a good job of explaining them. It’s just that we didn’t have the time to devote to really understanding the lessons. We are also taking our culture class, which I think is just hard right now; everyone is feeling worn out and the teacher seems very bemused by us and our way of being in class. One time we were laughing with one of our classmates because she was just being so silly when she was doing her presentation, which is partly just her personality and how she talks but it wasn’t malicious at all. But the professor seemed so offended that we were laughing and she said this is a university class and we should be acting formal, which I just thought was so odd because at least back at Dickinson our classes are respectful but they are certainly never formal and none of my other professors her are formal at all. Of course I am also worried about this test and can’t wait till these classes are over although I really don’t want to leave Spain.
We went out this last Thursday again and this time Somia and her younger sister came out with us. This was her sister’s first time coming out to the discotheque because she was only 16 and she was so excited to be out. It was funny to see someone going to the clubs for the first time, someone who hadn’t even been burned by going out. It was fun to see. This time when I went out I actually managed to find someone to dance with who is Spanish, since most of the people we interact with are also foreign but mostly from Europe, so I got to practice my Spanish, even when I was out and about. But it was hard because it was mostly yelling so it’s hard to understand even when I’m speaking English. One of the interesting that we’ve noticed is that men will not approach you when we are out or even out on the streets when you are in a group with guys in it. So sometimes when we go out we will move away from the bigger group so that we can meet new people.
I’ve also been doing some shopping while I was here. I found a great jacket that is very classy and is something that I could do casually but also I could wear to work and it is really well made. That was a little more expensive and when I got home and showed it to my mother she was very impressed but she told me that in July everything would really go down in price and I could have probably gotten it for about 15 euros cheaper, but that did not dismay me for very long. I also found a great cheap necklace and a purse that was half off that was perfect. It’s a really bright yellow, has a zipper and a longer strap and was half off.
Then since we were going on two day trips this weekend we didn’t want to have too late of a night so we just went out for a drink on Friday. We were going to go down to the center but then we ended up closer to our neighborhood at one of the fish places by the beach. I got a mohito and it was delicious and it was super sour. We had a good time and then went to the bus stop but decided to start walking because we were closer. As soon as we passed on of the bus stop we see the bus pulling up. We run back and start waving our hands to get the driver to open the door but she won’t because she is a little past the stop at the light. So then we book it, running as fast as we can to the next stop but we are at a weird part of the street and we do not make it to the next bus stop. Then we start walking again and we see another bus passing us by, which is particularly irritating because at this point at night the buses only come every 20 or 30 minutes. So after all that running we miss both buses and ended up walking home.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I have a big pickle (Oh tee-shirts in Malaga)
So now I’ve been here for a couple weeks and I’ve noticed some of my habits and I was thinking that it would be great to write to you guys to give you the FULL Málaga experience. One thing that I love, even though I don’t think that this is specific to Spain, is the bus here. Just the idea of public transportation is so new to me, since I’ve never really lived in a big city. I mean I’ve done the subway in New York and the tube in London, but I’ve never been anywhere long enough to really get used to it and feel like I have a good understanding of it. Here I really only take one bus, so I can’t say I have a grand knowledge of the whole Málaga bus system, but I certainly get the number 11 and this confirms that I really want to live in a big city when I get out of college. I like having the freedom of having a car, but being able to read or just people watch or do work while I commute. Now in the morning I make sure to catch the bus closer to 9 because the next one is always really crowded, so I have to stand. My bus does not take me all the way to my building where I take my classes, so I walk. I walk past two different free newspapers and I usually get both because our whole group has become obsessed with sudoku and one I like to read better but the other has two sudokus in it. One also has horoscopes in them and my friend and I enjoy reading them to each other. One thing that is different is that the horoscopes are not only split by signs but also by gender. And the male and the female horoscopes are very different. Like today for female Leos there are surprises that they should be careful of, but for male Leos they should get their finances in order.
One thing that my friends and I noticed is that it seems like there is a huge baby boom here, where it seems like a lot of women here are pregnant or have really small babies. One of my friends joked that she should get pregnant so she can truly experience the Spanish culture and what would our program director say about our idea. One thing that I love here is that the strollers here also have umbrellas attached to them to shade the baby which I think is very adorable and something I would like to take back with me when I have stroller needs (which is going to be a long long LONG time down the road).
Another sort of cultural shock element that I don’t even notice anymore is how people dress. I was sort of peeved about this because one of the first days our director was telling us to try and blend in. She told us then that for the women don’t start dressing in their summer clothes till much later and that we should not really wear our summer clothes yet, especially when we are in the city. I found this frustrating mostly because this is the kind of the information that would have been wonderful to have BEFORE I packed all my stuff and when I had the ability to bring more clothes so I could fit in. Luckily I brought two cardigans and two pairs of jeans, but I wish I brought more shoes that went with these outfits, especially since flip flops are not really ok to wear to class in the same way they are in college. At first I was doing this just to feel more appropriate but now I actually feel pretty chilly in the morning and the sweater serves its rightful purpose.
Another thing that I’ve noticed, not only in Spain but all over Europe is the amount of graffiti just all around the city. I’m not sure what the difference is, I am assuming that it has to do with the laws here and there but graffiti seems to be everywhere. On the bus it seems like names but on the street there seems to be a lot of political messages. For me when I first got here, I used the graffiti to figure out where I was, in making sure I got of at the right bus stop.
Another thing I have yet to understand is how the Spanish wait in line. Sometimes when we wait in line people will just let you go ahead of them. And it’s not just an age/gender thing, like letting the old or women or people with babies on first. I think it has to with when you get to the bus stop, not what place you are in line. And then when you get on the bus, people are super polite even when it’s crowded, and they won’t push passed each other to get to the slightly less crowded part of the bus. One of my friends said that in New York, nobody would stand for this and they would just yell at each other to move on back, even just for a couple extra centimeters of space. The post office is probably the most civilized place I have ever been, you take a number and you sit and you wait for your turn.
Today I had my last test of the week and then I went home for lunch. Usually I eat lunch alone but today there were four girls from Austria and Germany who are new to the house. It was funny because I’m pretty sure we saw some of these new girls on the bus because they basically took over the whole number 11 with all their suitcases because usually at the time we catch the bus it’s usually not that crowded.
It was funny to see other people interact with my host mom, who said that I was the captain of the house because I am here for the longest, she also just called me her daughter and was joking around about guys hitting on me in the clubs asking for kisses… The girls were nice but they were SO young the youngest being 14 and the oldest 16. They certainly look like they could be in college. I was talking to them in Spanish and they said that I talked really fast and well, which made me feel great and definitely made me feel good about my progress. Then my mother started asking one about one of the people in her group who used to live with my host mother’s sister and who was switching houses. I don’t think the girl understood that she was talking about her sister and was saying how the house smelled and she didn’t like how other students were living there and my mother kept trying to defend her sister’s house saying it was very large and very clean (which I know sometimes my mother goes over to her sister’s house to help her clean) and that the girl couldn’t find a better house in Malaga. So that was pretty awkward because I could completely understand what my host mother was saying but I’m not sure if the girl quite new what was going on, especially since she just got there. It’s interesting because it seems that the kids from European counties only really come for a bout a week and I feel like even five weeks is too short of a time, I am not sure what one could learn in one week.
It’s funny because my host mother will also asked me about the other Dickinson student who is living with her sister, but I am pretty sure she has her confused with someone else because she asked me about a girl with a completely different name and she says that she never goes out, which I also really isn’t true about my Dickinson friend, so I found that a little strange.
Anyway today I had a really excellent time on the beach, since now I feel freer since I am done with my tests for the week. I’ve been reading Tender Is The Night and it’s been good but I like The Great Gatsby much better. Nothing really seems to happen in Tender and I don’t feel any attachment positive or negative to the characters. One of my Dickinson friends had the new Carlos Ruis Zafron book, which I didn’t even know existed so I plan to borrow it although he said it wasn’t as good as Shadow In The Wind. It was super windy in the beginning today on the beach, so much so that every once in a while there would be this huge gust of wind would come and blow up this HUGE dust storm, to the point where we couldn’t see, which was actually kind of cool to see. But the wind died down and it was great. I actually did some swimming instead of just bobbing. For some reason the beach was especially relaxing, probably because my mind was temporarily free of stress.
One thing that my friends and I noticed is that it seems like there is a huge baby boom here, where it seems like a lot of women here are pregnant or have really small babies. One of my friends joked that she should get pregnant so she can truly experience the Spanish culture and what would our program director say about our idea. One thing that I love here is that the strollers here also have umbrellas attached to them to shade the baby which I think is very adorable and something I would like to take back with me when I have stroller needs (which is going to be a long long LONG time down the road).
Another sort of cultural shock element that I don’t even notice anymore is how people dress. I was sort of peeved about this because one of the first days our director was telling us to try and blend in. She told us then that for the women don’t start dressing in their summer clothes till much later and that we should not really wear our summer clothes yet, especially when we are in the city. I found this frustrating mostly because this is the kind of the information that would have been wonderful to have BEFORE I packed all my stuff and when I had the ability to bring more clothes so I could fit in. Luckily I brought two cardigans and two pairs of jeans, but I wish I brought more shoes that went with these outfits, especially since flip flops are not really ok to wear to class in the same way they are in college. At first I was doing this just to feel more appropriate but now I actually feel pretty chilly in the morning and the sweater serves its rightful purpose.
Another thing that I’ve noticed, not only in Spain but all over Europe is the amount of graffiti just all around the city. I’m not sure what the difference is, I am assuming that it has to do with the laws here and there but graffiti seems to be everywhere. On the bus it seems like names but on the street there seems to be a lot of political messages. For me when I first got here, I used the graffiti to figure out where I was, in making sure I got of at the right bus stop.
Another thing I have yet to understand is how the Spanish wait in line. Sometimes when we wait in line people will just let you go ahead of them. And it’s not just an age/gender thing, like letting the old or women or people with babies on first. I think it has to with when you get to the bus stop, not what place you are in line. And then when you get on the bus, people are super polite even when it’s crowded, and they won’t push passed each other to get to the slightly less crowded part of the bus. One of my friends said that in New York, nobody would stand for this and they would just yell at each other to move on back, even just for a couple extra centimeters of space. The post office is probably the most civilized place I have ever been, you take a number and you sit and you wait for your turn.
Today I had my last test of the week and then I went home for lunch. Usually I eat lunch alone but today there were four girls from Austria and Germany who are new to the house. It was funny because I’m pretty sure we saw some of these new girls on the bus because they basically took over the whole number 11 with all their suitcases because usually at the time we catch the bus it’s usually not that crowded.
It was funny to see other people interact with my host mom, who said that I was the captain of the house because I am here for the longest, she also just called me her daughter and was joking around about guys hitting on me in the clubs asking for kisses… The girls were nice but they were SO young the youngest being 14 and the oldest 16. They certainly look like they could be in college. I was talking to them in Spanish and they said that I talked really fast and well, which made me feel great and definitely made me feel good about my progress. Then my mother started asking one about one of the people in her group who used to live with my host mother’s sister and who was switching houses. I don’t think the girl understood that she was talking about her sister and was saying how the house smelled and she didn’t like how other students were living there and my mother kept trying to defend her sister’s house saying it was very large and very clean (which I know sometimes my mother goes over to her sister’s house to help her clean) and that the girl couldn’t find a better house in Malaga. So that was pretty awkward because I could completely understand what my host mother was saying but I’m not sure if the girl quite new what was going on, especially since she just got there. It’s interesting because it seems that the kids from European counties only really come for a bout a week and I feel like even five weeks is too short of a time, I am not sure what one could learn in one week.
It’s funny because my host mother will also asked me about the other Dickinson student who is living with her sister, but I am pretty sure she has her confused with someone else because she asked me about a girl with a completely different name and she says that she never goes out, which I also really isn’t true about my Dickinson friend, so I found that a little strange.
Anyway today I had a really excellent time on the beach, since now I feel freer since I am done with my tests for the week. I’ve been reading Tender Is The Night and it’s been good but I like The Great Gatsby much better. Nothing really seems to happen in Tender and I don’t feel any attachment positive or negative to the characters. One of my Dickinson friends had the new Carlos Ruis Zafron book, which I didn’t even know existed so I plan to borrow it although he said it wasn’t as good as Shadow In The Wind. It was super windy in the beginning today on the beach, so much so that every once in a while there would be this huge gust of wind would come and blow up this HUGE dust storm, to the point where we couldn’t see, which was actually kind of cool to see. But the wind died down and it was great. I actually did some swimming instead of just bobbing. For some reason the beach was especially relaxing, probably because my mind was temporarily free of stress.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
More of a laid back weekend...
This whole week I have been sneezing like crazy. I thought at first I was having an allergic reaction to something but last night my sinuses started hurting and I woke feeling pretty terrible, having a headache and my throat hurting and I was not sure what to do, since I was suppose to be taking a day trip with my friends today. At first I was planning just to go anyway no matter how I was feeling, I didn’t want to lose any opportunity to travel. What would my friends say, what would my family say that I’m not actually taking my opportunities here, so I tried to get up and go but then it took me a really long time just to do the simplest getting ready activities. I started thinking about how I would feel all week and being sick all week, during my tests and during the trips that I actually have to go on. It was so early and I thought that it would probably be better in the long run to try and get better now instead of being kind of sick all week. I think that I logically I made the right choice but I still can’t help feeling overwhelmingly sad about the whole thing. I feel like it could be just a general malaise of being sick and partly because I have no one to confirm that I made the right choice. It seems that every time I have to make a decision that I don’t want to make I always feel like in my head the retribution of everyone around me is much stronger than reality. I can’t give myself a break for being human. A large part of me is unforgiving, even if I did go I’m sure I would have a good time but then I would be mad because I would most likely get sicker.
So this whole weekend was kind of a bust. I spent a lot of it sleeping, studying, reading and just feeling kind of crappy. I did end up going for a walk along the beach after grabbing lunch and I ran into a small open market which was cool. It was an interesting thing to watch and I saw a lot of things being sold there that I wouldn't expect, like bed sheets, socks and underwear. There were some stall that had piles and piles of clothes that women were looking through, shoes, fruits and vegetables, candy and one stand that seemed to be selling nuts and olives. There were also selling jewelery and a lot of the same stuff that I see people trying to sell every day on the beach.
Today I was feeling a little better but now my stomach was bothering me. Whenever I feel physically ill, my emotions seem to follow a similarly negative path. I started feeling a little homesick and like I was not enjoying myself. But I still went to the beach with my friends, and of course they had a marvelous time and met all these crazy people and kept telling stories about how crazy it was. I know I made the right choice, that I would be regretting it all week if I didn't stay home but I always hate it when I miss out on things like that.
So for the rest of the night I am going to be having the exciting task of studying for my two exams in the next two days. Hopefully next time I update I will have better news...
So this whole weekend was kind of a bust. I spent a lot of it sleeping, studying, reading and just feeling kind of crappy. I did end up going for a walk along the beach after grabbing lunch and I ran into a small open market which was cool. It was an interesting thing to watch and I saw a lot of things being sold there that I wouldn't expect, like bed sheets, socks and underwear. There were some stall that had piles and piles of clothes that women were looking through, shoes, fruits and vegetables, candy and one stand that seemed to be selling nuts and olives. There were also selling jewelery and a lot of the same stuff that I see people trying to sell every day on the beach.
Today I was feeling a little better but now my stomach was bothering me. Whenever I feel physically ill, my emotions seem to follow a similarly negative path. I started feeling a little homesick and like I was not enjoying myself. But I still went to the beach with my friends, and of course they had a marvelous time and met all these crazy people and kept telling stories about how crazy it was. I know I made the right choice, that I would be regretting it all week if I didn't stay home but I always hate it when I miss out on things like that.
So for the rest of the night I am going to be having the exciting task of studying for my two exams in the next two days. Hopefully next time I update I will have better news...
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sorry I’m Late (No Not Just With My Blog, Another Shirt I Saw On a Man)
So what else has been going on with my life in Spain? One thing that I’ve noticed is that when I plug in electronics sometimes I will get small shocks, like if I plug in my iPod into my computer when it’s plugged in and then I touch my iPod I will feel a very very small shock. I’m not sure why this happens, but now I have to be very careful in which order I plug thing in.
I have tried a new fruit!! It is unusual for me to come across fruits I haven’t tried and the last time I attempted to try a new fruit (a quince) I learned that it was basically uneatable and only used in jams and pies. But my host mother gave me a great new fruit called a Nispero or a Loquat in English, which is about the size of a plum, is orange in color, is peeled and has two to four pits. It is hard to explain how it tastes but it has a pretty unusual texture and a somewhat tart sweet flavor and is fairly juicy.
Earlier in the week, I was really stressed about what to do for my free weekend. Spain is very close to Morocco and I really wanted to go there for the day. Once I started doing research into it I realized that it would basically take three days to take a one-day trip and cost a lot of money. I didn’t know what to do until I called home and my Dad told me that seeing the port town would be very touristy and would not be a good representation of Morocco and that it was basically just to get a stamp on their passport so they could say they’ve been to Africa. After I realized this I didn’t feel so urgent to get there and it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I decided not to go and everyone who I was planning this with was fine with it (I was worried they would be mad at me for backing out). So instead of going to Morocco, my group is going to Gebralter and Turifa for the day on Saturday, so we will see how that goes.
Luckily my language professor moved my test to Tuesday instead of Friday so now I can go out tonight! I can’t really go out this Friday because we have to leave Saturday at seven in the morning. Going out is much less stressful than in the beginning now that I am more aware of how it works. I’ve been out twice now really, dancing and going out and weirdly enough both times on Thursday nights because we always need to get up earlier on the weekends to go somewhere. We usually start the nights by someone needing to get something to eat and then we go to the bars for awhile, but we start our nights earlier because the buses start running weirdly around 11. So afterward we usually end up at a discothèque, much earlier than we should be because we are not really use to the timing of going out here. The club usually starts getting packed around twoish and then we end up staying till around four so we can catch the 3:55 bus which is always late, but at that point it is the last bus for about an hour. I end up getting to bed around 4:30 and then I get up for class at 8ish or that’s when I set my alarm but I usually actually get up at 8:20.
I have tried a new fruit!! It is unusual for me to come across fruits I haven’t tried and the last time I attempted to try a new fruit (a quince) I learned that it was basically uneatable and only used in jams and pies. But my host mother gave me a great new fruit called a Nispero or a Loquat in English, which is about the size of a plum, is orange in color, is peeled and has two to four pits. It is hard to explain how it tastes but it has a pretty unusual texture and a somewhat tart sweet flavor and is fairly juicy.
Earlier in the week, I was really stressed about what to do for my free weekend. Spain is very close to Morocco and I really wanted to go there for the day. Once I started doing research into it I realized that it would basically take three days to take a one-day trip and cost a lot of money. I didn’t know what to do until I called home and my Dad told me that seeing the port town would be very touristy and would not be a good representation of Morocco and that it was basically just to get a stamp on their passport so they could say they’ve been to Africa. After I realized this I didn’t feel so urgent to get there and it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I decided not to go and everyone who I was planning this with was fine with it (I was worried they would be mad at me for backing out). So instead of going to Morocco, my group is going to Gebralter and Turifa for the day on Saturday, so we will see how that goes.
Luckily my language professor moved my test to Tuesday instead of Friday so now I can go out tonight! I can’t really go out this Friday because we have to leave Saturday at seven in the morning. Going out is much less stressful than in the beginning now that I am more aware of how it works. I’ve been out twice now really, dancing and going out and weirdly enough both times on Thursday nights because we always need to get up earlier on the weekends to go somewhere. We usually start the nights by someone needing to get something to eat and then we go to the bars for awhile, but we start our nights earlier because the buses start running weirdly around 11. So afterward we usually end up at a discothèque, much earlier than we should be because we are not really use to the timing of going out here. The club usually starts getting packed around twoish and then we end up staying till around four so we can catch the 3:55 bus which is always late, but at that point it is the last bus for about an hour. I end up getting to bed around 4:30 and then I get up for class at 8ish or that’s when I set my alarm but I usually actually get up at 8:20.
Jesus Loves Me and My Tattoos- Pictures From Sevilla
1. Me, Arielle and Mara at our new favorite restaurant, where the cheese stands alone!
2. Me in front of Roman ruins.
3. Flamenco dancer from the show.
4. View from the bell tower of part of the cathedral and the city.
5. Me at Reales Alcazares.
I have a bunch of pictures without people but I feel like you guys would be more interested in the couple I took with me in them... Maybe later I publish some more of the scenery/architecture shots.
Sexy In Purple (Another Shirt!) – My Trip To Sevilla
So of course since I’ve last written a million things have happened, since here in Spain compared to my normal life we try to fit about two weeks of activity in a couple days. The biggest part of course being our trip to Sevilla, which was this weekend. We began the day early again, meeting down in the center of town at 8. This time one of the students was late so we actually left about twenty minutes late. But then we were off and we got to back to sleep for about two hours. I actually slept quite well, although not completely the whole way. One thing I noticed while we were driving is that a lot of the fields of sunflowers that was so amazing to see over and over again. It was so beautiful.
We then took a little break and stopped for breakfast as a roadside stop. The place we stopped at was completely nuts and full of people and so I got a sandwich and a fanta and just watched the madness of people. And then we were off again and ended up driving for about an hour before we arrived in Sevilla.
The first thing that we saw in Sevilla was the Reales Alcazares, which was incredibly beautiful but unfortunately the tour guide we had was hard to understand in that he talked very quickly and used a lot of words I didn’t understand. But some of the things that separated this palace from the others that we saw was they had some amazing tapestries, one that was a map of how they saw the world and one that was depicting the new world. This palace of course had some amazing gardens, fountains and tiles as well, but after seeing all these ancient buildings that were built in the same time period, it’s a little hard to tell them apart, especially with the lack of understanding of our guide.
The next thing we visited was the cathedral, which was built in the gothic period and is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world. One of the interesting parts of this cathedral is they have a large statue of the Virgin Mary, which they parade around the city during festivals and many of the churches and cathedrals have these different statues. We also saw Christopher Columbus’ burial spot, although after I told this to my mother, she said there are actually a lot of supposed burial spots of Columbus and they haven’t been able to prove the actual burial spot. I really enjoy looking at cathedrals now especially after I’ve taken art history because I feel like I know more about the structures and the art and sculpture inside and they are more than just pretty buildings. The last thing we did before was left the cathedral was go up the 35 ramps (which they continently labeled) up into the bell tower and we saw the most amazing view of Sevilla.
Afterwards we went out to lunch and I split off with two other girls and we walked around a bit looking for a good cheaper place. It took us awhile but we eventually found a great place and we got this great baked goat cheese and I got a glass of wine and chicken with a house of sauce. When we met up with the group and by this point it was raining a little bit and it was pretty chilly at this point, which was funny because the people I told that we were going to Sevilla they would always say how hot is was going to be and then when we were there it was cold and rainy on the first day. It wasn’t unbearable.
Then we went to the hotel, which was a great break. When we went into the room it was funny because it was a double room but the beds were pushed together, which my roommate and I joked about. Also the bathroom did not provide shampoo, there was soap but no shampoo and really really small towels. We talked for while and then ended up talking a nap.
We woke up refreshed and went down to meet the rest of the group. We all met up and ended up walking around Santa Cruz one of the most famous neighborhoods in Sevilla, because it’s one of the oldest in the city. Our professor from the University pointed out some of the interesting sites, like houses where writers lived and died, famous statues and squares. After walking around for a bit we go to a restaurant called “3 Oros” I had a sangria, gazpacho, white fish and crème Brule. It was a really fun time, mainly because we kept cracking jokes that really didn’t make any sense, like when the waiter said one of the options for dessert was crème de tostada, one of the guys said that was actually toast and cream and that he was going to give his parents cool whip on toast and said that it was something that we ate all the time in Spain.
After our dinner we went to a flamenco show, at a place called “Los Gallos” (Mom here is the website http://www.tablaolosgallos.com/) which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The show was so amazing and lasted about two hours. The combination of the music and the dancing was so beautiful. The dancer would dance for about 15 minutes and then a new dancer would come on stage, with a new different set of musicians, which were three guys one who played guitar and two would sing and clap. There were both men and women dancers and one of the female dancers even sang. My friend told me that the music had a story line to it but I could not really understand it. I did notice the connection between the music between Arabic music and flamenco music and also a similarity between Irish dancing and flamenco dancing. At the end, all the dancers and musicians came back on stage, for a sort of grand finale and it was so amazing. Then we ended the night and went to bed.
We ate breakfast at the hotel and it was fabulous. They had some of the best bread there and I don’t know why but it seems like in Spain they just have better bread here. They have the sliced bread here but a lot of the times sandwiches are on that great bread that is more like baguettes, but the baguette like bread here is vastly better.
Next we went to the art museum in Sevilla called “Museo de Bellas Artes” which was very enjoyable and has one of the largest baroque collections in the world. One thing that I noticed about museums is that the structure of the buildings is very different here in Spain. It seems that a lot of the museums are in converted buildings like old houses, which usually have courtyards and gardens. This art museum was an old convent and one of the rooms had the magnificent ceiling of the church. I always enjoy a good art museum but I am not sure if I saw all the rooms, which made me a little sad. Damn my bad sense of direction!
The next place we went was “Italica” which is old Roman ruins from the first century. It was about a half an hour away from the city and the professor talked about how one of the bridges was built by Calatrava and mentioned the Milwaukee Art Museum. The ruins were found under a garbage dump and it basically contained a whole city, with an amphitheater and columns and some originals mosaics from the floors. It was so amazing to see and was actually a beautiful location.
We then had some free time for lunch and we actually went back to the same restaurant with a larger group of people and then we perused some souvenirs and I got some postcards and a poster for my room, which was only 3.50 euros! We ended up being a little late back, but it was fine.
Our last excursion of the trip was going to the Plaza de España, which was quite beautiful, but by this point I was pretty tired and got a little sunburned on my shoulders. But overall I loved going to Sevilla even though we did so much in such a short amount of time.
We then took a little break and stopped for breakfast as a roadside stop. The place we stopped at was completely nuts and full of people and so I got a sandwich and a fanta and just watched the madness of people. And then we were off again and ended up driving for about an hour before we arrived in Sevilla.
The first thing that we saw in Sevilla was the Reales Alcazares, which was incredibly beautiful but unfortunately the tour guide we had was hard to understand in that he talked very quickly and used a lot of words I didn’t understand. But some of the things that separated this palace from the others that we saw was they had some amazing tapestries, one that was a map of how they saw the world and one that was depicting the new world. This palace of course had some amazing gardens, fountains and tiles as well, but after seeing all these ancient buildings that were built in the same time period, it’s a little hard to tell them apart, especially with the lack of understanding of our guide.
The next thing we visited was the cathedral, which was built in the gothic period and is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world. One of the interesting parts of this cathedral is they have a large statue of the Virgin Mary, which they parade around the city during festivals and many of the churches and cathedrals have these different statues. We also saw Christopher Columbus’ burial spot, although after I told this to my mother, she said there are actually a lot of supposed burial spots of Columbus and they haven’t been able to prove the actual burial spot. I really enjoy looking at cathedrals now especially after I’ve taken art history because I feel like I know more about the structures and the art and sculpture inside and they are more than just pretty buildings. The last thing we did before was left the cathedral was go up the 35 ramps (which they continently labeled) up into the bell tower and we saw the most amazing view of Sevilla.
Afterwards we went out to lunch and I split off with two other girls and we walked around a bit looking for a good cheaper place. It took us awhile but we eventually found a great place and we got this great baked goat cheese and I got a glass of wine and chicken with a house of sauce. When we met up with the group and by this point it was raining a little bit and it was pretty chilly at this point, which was funny because the people I told that we were going to Sevilla they would always say how hot is was going to be and then when we were there it was cold and rainy on the first day. It wasn’t unbearable.
Then we went to the hotel, which was a great break. When we went into the room it was funny because it was a double room but the beds were pushed together, which my roommate and I joked about. Also the bathroom did not provide shampoo, there was soap but no shampoo and really really small towels. We talked for while and then ended up talking a nap.
We woke up refreshed and went down to meet the rest of the group. We all met up and ended up walking around Santa Cruz one of the most famous neighborhoods in Sevilla, because it’s one of the oldest in the city. Our professor from the University pointed out some of the interesting sites, like houses where writers lived and died, famous statues and squares. After walking around for a bit we go to a restaurant called “3 Oros” I had a sangria, gazpacho, white fish and crème Brule. It was a really fun time, mainly because we kept cracking jokes that really didn’t make any sense, like when the waiter said one of the options for dessert was crème de tostada, one of the guys said that was actually toast and cream and that he was going to give his parents cool whip on toast and said that it was something that we ate all the time in Spain.
After our dinner we went to a flamenco show, at a place called “Los Gallos” (Mom here is the website http://www.tablaolosgallos.com/) which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The show was so amazing and lasted about two hours. The combination of the music and the dancing was so beautiful. The dancer would dance for about 15 minutes and then a new dancer would come on stage, with a new different set of musicians, which were three guys one who played guitar and two would sing and clap. There were both men and women dancers and one of the female dancers even sang. My friend told me that the music had a story line to it but I could not really understand it. I did notice the connection between the music between Arabic music and flamenco music and also a similarity between Irish dancing and flamenco dancing. At the end, all the dancers and musicians came back on stage, for a sort of grand finale and it was so amazing. Then we ended the night and went to bed.
We ate breakfast at the hotel and it was fabulous. They had some of the best bread there and I don’t know why but it seems like in Spain they just have better bread here. They have the sliced bread here but a lot of the times sandwiches are on that great bread that is more like baguettes, but the baguette like bread here is vastly better.
Next we went to the art museum in Sevilla called “Museo de Bellas Artes” which was very enjoyable and has one of the largest baroque collections in the world. One thing that I noticed about museums is that the structure of the buildings is very different here in Spain. It seems that a lot of the museums are in converted buildings like old houses, which usually have courtyards and gardens. This art museum was an old convent and one of the rooms had the magnificent ceiling of the church. I always enjoy a good art museum but I am not sure if I saw all the rooms, which made me a little sad. Damn my bad sense of direction!
The next place we went was “Italica” which is old Roman ruins from the first century. It was about a half an hour away from the city and the professor talked about how one of the bridges was built by Calatrava and mentioned the Milwaukee Art Museum. The ruins were found under a garbage dump and it basically contained a whole city, with an amphitheater and columns and some originals mosaics from the floors. It was so amazing to see and was actually a beautiful location.
We then had some free time for lunch and we actually went back to the same restaurant with a larger group of people and then we perused some souvenirs and I got some postcards and a poster for my room, which was only 3.50 euros! We ended up being a little late back, but it was fine.
Our last excursion of the trip was going to the Plaza de España, which was quite beautiful, but by this point I was pretty tired and got a little sunburned on my shoulders. But overall I loved going to Sevilla even though we did so much in such a short amount of time.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
I <3 Night (Another shirt I saw walking around Malaga)
Ok since I have such spotty internet, I'll probably be posting a couple blogs in one day since I still have my computer and home and it's a nice break write everything down. I've also been keeping a paper journal, which I did back in the States as well but it's great to carry around because I try to update it on the bus when I'm heading into the centro or when I'm going to class.
We have two more new students living in the house I am staying at, two boys from Austria. So that makes five students in my house at the moment. The other man is an older guy from England who is doing an intensive course at the same university I am studying at. It was kind of funny when my host mother first told me about him, all she said was an older student from England was coming to stay, so I thought she meant maybe a guy out of college or someone in their late twenties. So when I came back exhausted from out day trip to Granada and I saw this older man sitting on the couch watching television with them I assumed it was some relative of hers, but no that was my new housemate. I usually eat breakfast at the same time as him, so we chat a little in Spanish and he’s just doing this because he enjoys the language, not because of work or anything and he finds his class overwhelming and his other classmates are from China and Russia.
Today was a bit difficult in class because in my language class we are doing the different between preterit and imperfect past, which I always find difficult. I understand the concepts of when to use them, but when presented with a sentence and asked to choose between the two it is a little harder. We also started our section of art history and I found that the language barrier is much more difficult than in history because there are some terms which I’ve just never come across in Spanish before and I am more interested in art than some of my other classmates so it must be even harder for them, since they have less motivation to try and understand.
Since I am sitting at my café, I am thinking about some of the differences between here are the states, like for one thing how you pay for things. Even if you go up to the counter and order a coffee you always pay after you are done, not when you get your drink. Also once you order something, the staff basically leaves you alone, which I really like because that means I can sit here for a while without feeling hassled. But I wonder if they lose any money from people just leaving without paying. Also because we are close to the beach, there are many people who come by selling a variety of things, clothes, sunglasses, purses, the usual. But what I find very strange is that they are allowed to go into the cafés and ask people if they want to buy stuff. I really can’t image people going into a Starbucks in the states and selling knock off purses. Another thing that is very different about going out is that a lot of the times you don’t get a menu to start off with. Most of the time the waiters will ask you what you want without seeing what the options are, even at places that serve more food. If you want to see a menu you have to ask for one, which is not always bad but at first I found this really overwhelming, especially since I have the most trouble talking with people in public, since they usually have thicker accents and talk much quicker.
Tonight a couple of friends and I are going out with the Spanish student who does our tutoritas. We are either going to go into the center part of Malaga or to another town. I’m kind of hoping that we stay in Malaga because then I have more control over when I leave. I feel like it’s important to experience the going out culture, since it seems to be a big part of student life, but I also like to sleep and I’m not sure how I’m going to do without getting at least some sleep. I feel like going out shouldn’t be stressful, but the whole thing about being in a completely different place and not speaking the language that well, it makes everything more stressful for me. I’m sure I’ll have fun but I can’t help worrying about it.
We have two more new students living in the house I am staying at, two boys from Austria. So that makes five students in my house at the moment. The other man is an older guy from England who is doing an intensive course at the same university I am studying at. It was kind of funny when my host mother first told me about him, all she said was an older student from England was coming to stay, so I thought she meant maybe a guy out of college or someone in their late twenties. So when I came back exhausted from out day trip to Granada and I saw this older man sitting on the couch watching television with them I assumed it was some relative of hers, but no that was my new housemate. I usually eat breakfast at the same time as him, so we chat a little in Spanish and he’s just doing this because he enjoys the language, not because of work or anything and he finds his class overwhelming and his other classmates are from China and Russia.
Today was a bit difficult in class because in my language class we are doing the different between preterit and imperfect past, which I always find difficult. I understand the concepts of when to use them, but when presented with a sentence and asked to choose between the two it is a little harder. We also started our section of art history and I found that the language barrier is much more difficult than in history because there are some terms which I’ve just never come across in Spanish before and I am more interested in art than some of my other classmates so it must be even harder for them, since they have less motivation to try and understand.
Since I am sitting at my café, I am thinking about some of the differences between here are the states, like for one thing how you pay for things. Even if you go up to the counter and order a coffee you always pay after you are done, not when you get your drink. Also once you order something, the staff basically leaves you alone, which I really like because that means I can sit here for a while without feeling hassled. But I wonder if they lose any money from people just leaving without paying. Also because we are close to the beach, there are many people who come by selling a variety of things, clothes, sunglasses, purses, the usual. But what I find very strange is that they are allowed to go into the cafés and ask people if they want to buy stuff. I really can’t image people going into a Starbucks in the states and selling knock off purses. Another thing that is very different about going out is that a lot of the times you don’t get a menu to start off with. Most of the time the waiters will ask you what you want without seeing what the options are, even at places that serve more food. If you want to see a menu you have to ask for one, which is not always bad but at first I found this really overwhelming, especially since I have the most trouble talking with people in public, since they usually have thicker accents and talk much quicker.
Tonight a couple of friends and I are going out with the Spanish student who does our tutoritas. We are either going to go into the center part of Malaga or to another town. I’m kind of hoping that we stay in Malaga because then I have more control over when I leave. I feel like it’s important to experience the going out culture, since it seems to be a big part of student life, but I also like to sleep and I’m not sure how I’m going to do without getting at least some sleep. I feel like going out shouldn’t be stressful, but the whole thing about being in a completely different place and not speaking the language that well, it makes everything more stressful for me. I’m sure I’ll have fun but I can’t help worrying about it.
All Angels are Terrifying (June 3rd)
Ack…. So much going on with me, I feel like the pace of this trip is slightly overwhelming, with all the trips, museums and class work that we have to do, I am really feeling exhausted a lot of the time.
Explaining things backwards. Today we had an exam for our history class and I even got up early so I could study some more. I was quite worried about it mainly because we were expected to write one essay out of two choices in Spanish. I was worried that she would pick one of the more difficult topics like La Republica or the King right at the beginning of the century. Of course when I got to class, she told us that we could either write about the Civil War or about the dictatorship of Franco, two of the things I knew the best. I chose to write about the Civil War because it was a shorter period of time and I knew I could remember much more of what she taught us and remember how to say it in Spanish.
After I got home I ended up taking a nap, and I was so quiet that my host mother didn’t even realize I was here. Then we had lunch, which was very similar to chicken noodle soup, except that instead of noodles there were potatoes and garbanzos beans. Once I was done eating I met up with a lot of my classmates on the beach. This morning started out pretty cloudy, one of the cloudiest days I’ve been here but by the time I got to the beach it had cleared up. I then found out that we had tutorias today instead of tomorrow which made me kind of sour because I really wanted to relax. So during tutorias we went to la Plaza Mayoria, which is actually in Malaga but not in the centro. We actually took a train that cost about 1.45 euros which is very cheap and it took about twenty minutes to get there. Then we got ice cream and walked around a little. My tutor had her car there and we all squashed in there (there we five of us) and we had to put one of the girls on our laps and then we had to make sure no one saw her because we could get pulled over for that. Then my tutor, the other girl and I ended up shopping around a little and I actually found this great dress, that was a little expensive (30 euros) but it fit me so well and I think it was worth it (I’ll try to put up a picture once I wear it). It was perfect timing because we were all planning to go out tomorrow and now I have this great dress to wear.
One thing that I have been noticing while walking around is the English on the tee shirts that the Spanish are wearing, which seems to be a popular trend here. Sometimes it makes sense but sometimes you get shirts like “All Angels Are Terrifying”, “A Bathing Ape” and “I <3 Night.” All Angels are Terrifying was on a guy’s shirt and made me laugh so hard…
Yesterday we went to the Picasso Museum in Málaga. Picasso was actually born in Málaga and his children and grandchildren donated much of the work. It was an interesting collection in that it followed his growth and change over the years. His painting when he was 13 was so amazing and it made me feel like wow even at 13 Picasso will be able to paint better than I will be able, even if I work on painting for the rest of my life. It also has a lot of his other works in different mediums like printmaking and ceramics. After taking ceramics for a semester I really appreciate ceramics forms so much more now when I see them in museums. One of his pieces especially caught my eye, "Vase with Flowers and Plate with Cakes" because he used a mix of ceramics and metal, like nails and I was very curious on how it was fired, since I know that at least in our high fire kilm at Dickinson, metal will melt if you put it into the kilm. And of course after struggling to create basic forms on the wheel, seeing his large amazing wheelwork forms was a totally different experience because I know how difficult it is even to make the most basic small form. Honestly I’m not the hugest fan of Picasso but I did enjoy a lot of the works and I thought the museum is a good stop.
Explaining things backwards. Today we had an exam for our history class and I even got up early so I could study some more. I was quite worried about it mainly because we were expected to write one essay out of two choices in Spanish. I was worried that she would pick one of the more difficult topics like La Republica or the King right at the beginning of the century. Of course when I got to class, she told us that we could either write about the Civil War or about the dictatorship of Franco, two of the things I knew the best. I chose to write about the Civil War because it was a shorter period of time and I knew I could remember much more of what she taught us and remember how to say it in Spanish.
After I got home I ended up taking a nap, and I was so quiet that my host mother didn’t even realize I was here. Then we had lunch, which was very similar to chicken noodle soup, except that instead of noodles there were potatoes and garbanzos beans. Once I was done eating I met up with a lot of my classmates on the beach. This morning started out pretty cloudy, one of the cloudiest days I’ve been here but by the time I got to the beach it had cleared up. I then found out that we had tutorias today instead of tomorrow which made me kind of sour because I really wanted to relax. So during tutorias we went to la Plaza Mayoria, which is actually in Malaga but not in the centro. We actually took a train that cost about 1.45 euros which is very cheap and it took about twenty minutes to get there. Then we got ice cream and walked around a little. My tutor had her car there and we all squashed in there (there we five of us) and we had to put one of the girls on our laps and then we had to make sure no one saw her because we could get pulled over for that. Then my tutor, the other girl and I ended up shopping around a little and I actually found this great dress, that was a little expensive (30 euros) but it fit me so well and I think it was worth it (I’ll try to put up a picture once I wear it). It was perfect timing because we were all planning to go out tomorrow and now I have this great dress to wear.
One thing that I have been noticing while walking around is the English on the tee shirts that the Spanish are wearing, which seems to be a popular trend here. Sometimes it makes sense but sometimes you get shirts like “All Angels Are Terrifying”, “A Bathing Ape” and “I <3 Night.” All Angels are Terrifying was on a guy’s shirt and made me laugh so hard…
Yesterday we went to the Picasso Museum in Málaga. Picasso was actually born in Málaga and his children and grandchildren donated much of the work. It was an interesting collection in that it followed his growth and change over the years. His painting when he was 13 was so amazing and it made me feel like wow even at 13 Picasso will be able to paint better than I will be able, even if I work on painting for the rest of my life. It also has a lot of his other works in different mediums like printmaking and ceramics. After taking ceramics for a semester I really appreciate ceramics forms so much more now when I see them in museums. One of his pieces especially caught my eye, "Vase with Flowers and Plate with Cakes" because he used a mix of ceramics and metal, like nails and I was very curious on how it was fired, since I know that at least in our high fire kilm at Dickinson, metal will melt if you put it into the kilm. And of course after struggling to create basic forms on the wheel, seeing his large amazing wheelwork forms was a totally different experience because I know how difficult it is even to make the most basic small form. Honestly I’m not the hugest fan of Picasso but I did enjoy a lot of the works and I thought the museum is a good stop.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Some pictures
So I came to the cafe to work on my journal that I have due on Wednesday... and of course I've not done anything of the sort, since my brother was up early I skyped with him and it was great to "see" him. Honestly Skype is so great since if both people have it is free! I actually bought a phone in Spain to talk to my classmates to make it easier to meet up and there is something you can do where you can have a "favorite country" and then it's only .18 euro a minute to talk to the states but free is free and although I have to go to the cafe I enjoy being able to see people on the video and talk without having to worry about my minutes. We also have a "friend's plan" here, where you can chose a group of people and then it's only .06 cents a minute to talk to each other which is great for us because that is all we really need. I am kind of suprised they don't have this option in the states.
Today I had paella for lunch along with salad and something called tortilla de gambas, which are shrimp fried in this special batter, which were honestly my favorite thing I had here. One thing that is different here is that my host mother actually has a frier built into the counter top, like one that you would see at a fast food restaurant but a lot smaller and none of the appliances have clocks in them. Anyway today during lunch my host mother offered me a beer, which she has never done and said that beer is the only thing to drink when you are eating paella, since it tastes better that way. During lunch I met her two brothers, which I did not know she had... one of her sisters is also hosting
a student in my program.
Anyway here are some pictures of what I've been doing:
The first one is a picture from our first excursion, and is a great view of the city of Malaga.
The other photo is my house's patio and you can kind of see the view I have. My room is on the right side of the patio.
The third one is in La Alhmbra, close to Granada, in front of one of the many gardens/fountains.
Today I had paella for lunch along with salad and something called tortilla de gambas, which are shrimp fried in this special batter, which were honestly my favorite thing I had here. One thing that is different here is that my host mother actually has a frier built into the counter top, like one that you would see at a fast food restaurant but a lot smaller and none of the appliances have clocks in them. Anyway today during lunch my host mother offered me a beer, which she has never done and said that beer is the only thing to drink when you are eating paella, since it tastes better that way. During lunch I met her two brothers, which I did not know she had... one of her sisters is also hosting
a student in my program.Anyway here are some pictures of what I've been doing:
The first one is a picture from our first excursion, and is a great view of the city of Malaga.
The other photo is my house's patio and you can kind of see the view I have. My room is on the right side of the patio.
The third one is in La Alhmbra, close to Granada, in front of one of the many gardens/fountains.
From 5.27
Here's an email I sent out to my family explaining my first couple days in Spain... My brother suggested I write here instead, so that anyone can read what I write but I guess the whole blog thing is just unusual for me... I'm much better at email.
Sorry to send a mass email but I've been away from my computer for awhile and I wanted to communicate with everyone as quickly as possible... I found a cafe close to my home called Namaste- right down the street that has free Internet. I asked the woman in Spanish if she could help me with it and she responded to me in English, which is a little disappointing but that is definitely where I have the most trouble is in stores and with people who are not students or professors because of their accents and also my vocabulary in that department is a little lacking but I did manage to buy a notebook completely in Spanish. Another minor culture foible I made, is when I was being introduced to one of my host sister's friends. She asked me what my name was and I told her but then she moved closer, so I thought she couldn't hear me, but in reality she was going in for the Spanish double kiss on the cheek greeting, not that bad overall.
Overall things have been really good but quite busy. On an ordinary day, I wake up around 8 and my host mother will leave some bread, jam and orange juice out for me. Sometimes she is there seeing her younger daughter off, so we talk a little bit. She is super nice and she is really good to talk because I tell her about my day and she really seems interested. Then I take the number 11 bus down to the center of town. Most of the people from Dickinson live around this area so we all end up on the same bus so I will usually see 4 to 6 people on the bus that I know and we talk, usually in a mix of Spanish and English. Overall in the group, which is 13 people, the boys seem less inclined to practice their Spanish and the girls seem more into talking in Spanish outside of class. We take the bus to the last stop and then we walk for about 10 minutes to the building, which is basically a building for people from different countries who are taking classes at the university. We have two different sections to our class, one that is split into three sections, history, art and culture and then a language section. We have history first and then we have about a twenty minute break where we either go to a cafe for coffee and juice or sit outside in the sun. Then we have our language class which is split into two sections based on skill. I really like this teacher a lot because she is very good at explaining what words mean in Spanish, without using English, just actions and other words. She is ok when we joke around and tells good stories that relate to our learning.
Then we are done with classes and recently we have been doing things like getting Spanish cellphones (we did it as a group and they are basically pay as you go phones and you put euros on them, but for us it's only .06 cents to talk to the group and about .60 to call the states after eight, so it's perfect for meeting up and keeping in touch with each other, although it's been a little difficult to set up- one of the girl had family from Puerto Rico and she's been handling it but I don't know what we would do without her.) I'm glad we did that because the two times I've tried to meet people on the beach I couldn't find them and had no way of getting a hold of them. Today I went to the store and bought some shampoo, soap and body wash and then a notebook for my classes and I went with a friend which was great because it was muy barato (very cheap) only 4 euros for the hygiene products (as opposed to someone who paid 12 euros because they bought them at the mall where we bought the phones.
Then I go home for lunch, which is always super tasty. I always get a salad, with different veggies in it and today I had garbanzo beans, sausage and rice in a broth. Then I will either nap or go walking around. Around 6 we usually have been meeting up as a group again and either meet with our turtoritas, university students who take us around the city or with our professora, who will take us to a cultural site of Malaga. We also do things on the weekend- this weekend we're going to Granada on Sunday and me and my friends are going to a market on Saturday.
The transition has been up and down because on the one hand it is so amazing here. I literally live on the beach, and my house has an amazing patio where I sit and write in my journal. Both my host family and my Dickinson classmates are really nice- my older host sister offered to let me use her computer when I could not connect to the Internet at their house and she was super nice to me on the first day I was there when my Spanish was totally broken and she was hanging out with her friends. My host mother is also really great and she makes me feel super comfortable, not like I am in some strangers house and I try to make an effort to tell her about what's going on with me and I think she really likes this. They also have a cute little dog named Bender, who has the happiest looking face and will stand on his hind legs and snuggle against me when I pet him.
On the other hand, the language difference seems overwhelming and sometimes I get frustrated because I have a thought and I literally have no idea how to express it, not even using the vocab I know. There is also a lot to learn about navigating the city and I find that to be incredibly stressful, although now I know where we meet so that is easier but I really don't see a lot of the city and I feel afraid to explore because the streets are super confusing, not at all gridded and the street names are very long, usually people's names and they are hard to remember. I also find it difficult that I can't communicate with all of you guys!! Before I met up with the group I felt very isolated and had my only moments of "I want to go home." The first night I had trouble sleeping, because I had so many things on my mind but now most of those problems like Internet, getting my computer to charge (my converter was so heavy it was falling out of the wall) and communicating with people is solved. Now I am very happy but also very tired, we've had a lot of activity in the past couple days.
Sorry to send a mass email but I've been away from my computer for awhile and I wanted to communicate with everyone as quickly as possible... I found a cafe close to my home called Namaste- right down the street that has free Internet. I asked the woman in Spanish if she could help me with it and she responded to me in English, which is a little disappointing but that is definitely where I have the most trouble is in stores and with people who are not students or professors because of their accents and also my vocabulary in that department is a little lacking but I did manage to buy a notebook completely in Spanish. Another minor culture foible I made, is when I was being introduced to one of my host sister's friends. She asked me what my name was and I told her but then she moved closer, so I thought she couldn't hear me, but in reality she was going in for the Spanish double kiss on the cheek greeting, not that bad overall.
Overall things have been really good but quite busy. On an ordinary day, I wake up around 8 and my host mother will leave some bread, jam and orange juice out for me. Sometimes she is there seeing her younger daughter off, so we talk a little bit. She is super nice and she is really good to talk because I tell her about my day and she really seems interested. Then I take the number 11 bus down to the center of town. Most of the people from Dickinson live around this area so we all end up on the same bus so I will usually see 4 to 6 people on the bus that I know and we talk, usually in a mix of Spanish and English. Overall in the group, which is 13 people, the boys seem less inclined to practice their Spanish and the girls seem more into talking in Spanish outside of class. We take the bus to the last stop and then we walk for about 10 minutes to the building, which is basically a building for people from different countries who are taking classes at the university. We have two different sections to our class, one that is split into three sections, history, art and culture and then a language section. We have history first and then we have about a twenty minute break where we either go to a cafe for coffee and juice or sit outside in the sun. Then we have our language class which is split into two sections based on skill. I really like this teacher a lot because she is very good at explaining what words mean in Spanish, without using English, just actions and other words. She is ok when we joke around and tells good stories that relate to our learning.
Then we are done with classes and recently we have been doing things like getting Spanish cellphones (we did it as a group and they are basically pay as you go phones and you put euros on them, but for us it's only .06 cents to talk to the group and about .60 to call the states after eight, so it's perfect for meeting up and keeping in touch with each other, although it's been a little difficult to set up- one of the girl had family from Puerto Rico and she's been handling it but I don't know what we would do without her.) I'm glad we did that because the two times I've tried to meet people on the beach I couldn't find them and had no way of getting a hold of them. Today I went to the store and bought some shampoo, soap and body wash and then a notebook for my classes and I went with a friend which was great because it was muy barato (very cheap) only 4 euros for the hygiene products (as opposed to someone who paid 12 euros because they bought them at the mall where we bought the phones.
Then I go home for lunch, which is always super tasty. I always get a salad, with different veggies in it and today I had garbanzo beans, sausage and rice in a broth. Then I will either nap or go walking around. Around 6 we usually have been meeting up as a group again and either meet with our turtoritas, university students who take us around the city or with our professora, who will take us to a cultural site of Malaga. We also do things on the weekend- this weekend we're going to Granada on Sunday and me and my friends are going to a market on Saturday.
The transition has been up and down because on the one hand it is so amazing here. I literally live on the beach, and my house has an amazing patio where I sit and write in my journal. Both my host family and my Dickinson classmates are really nice- my older host sister offered to let me use her computer when I could not connect to the Internet at their house and she was super nice to me on the first day I was there when my Spanish was totally broken and she was hanging out with her friends. My host mother is also really great and she makes me feel super comfortable, not like I am in some strangers house and I try to make an effort to tell her about what's going on with me and I think she really likes this. They also have a cute little dog named Bender, who has the happiest looking face and will stand on his hind legs and snuggle against me when I pet him.
On the other hand, the language difference seems overwhelming and sometimes I get frustrated because I have a thought and I literally have no idea how to express it, not even using the vocab I know. There is also a lot to learn about navigating the city and I find that to be incredibly stressful, although now I know where we meet so that is easier but I really don't see a lot of the city and I feel afraid to explore because the streets are super confusing, not at all gridded and the street names are very long, usually people's names and they are hard to remember. I also find it difficult that I can't communicate with all of you guys!! Before I met up with the group I felt very isolated and had my only moments of "I want to go home." The first night I had trouble sleeping, because I had so many things on my mind but now most of those problems like Internet, getting my computer to charge (my converter was so heavy it was falling out of the wall) and communicating with people is solved. Now I am very happy but also very tired, we've had a lot of activity in the past couple days.
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