F is for friends who do stuff together

So basically I'm feeling super lazy right now. I just wrote a huge post about Morocco, and I have at least 2 more to write before tomorrow night, plus do all my homework and pack to go visit Christina in Italy. I'm excited, despite the fact that I saw her about 2 and a half weeks ago when she visited me in Granada! Here's the lazy part. I'm linking you to her Italy blog instead of writing my own post. After all, we did both hang out together basically the entire time.

La Vida Granadina

Although I knew that Spain worked on an entirely different schedule than the US before I got here, the reality of that fact is still sinking in. And I'm definitely still adjusting. It's not the time difference, I was over the whole jet lag thing by day 4. It would've been sooner, but I was sick. Anyways, here's a typical day in Granada:

8 am- wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast
8:40-leave for IES
9-2- class (the class part of this will change, but for the past week we've had orientation)
11-11:30- coffee break.
2:30-3:15- midday meal with my host family. more on this later
3:15-5 (or 6)- siesta: reading, facebook or tv time, blogging, sleeping.
6-7- take a walk, get ready to go out (for tapas), have a snack
8:30-9- head out to meet friends for tapas (unless you're eating dinner alone at home, which will be around 10)
10:30-11:30- get home, shower, get ready for bed (or earlier for this stuff if you don't go out)
12 (at latest)- bedtime.

see this? yeah, it looks like a nice, empty schedule, but it's not. any skyping of people in the US has to take place after 4 or 5 pm, usually after 9 for my parents. and if you can only go to the store (to get stuff for dinner, for example) after siesta, because everything will be closed from 2-5ish.

So that's how it is. I don't dislike this, and I know that I will have more time during the day once I'm in actual classes, rather than in orientation. It's a little hard to adjust to, though. The strangest part is the time at which you socialize. I've never been a night owl; ask any of my friends and they'll tell you that I'm the one who wants to go out earlier (I even have a theory that everyone should go out earlier so they can get to bed earlier and won't complain about being out so late the next day). Here, though, it's pretty normal to be out until 2 in the morning. Or 3. Some people (although this is not the majority) stay out until 7 or so, and will have breakfast with their friends before going home. What? Sorry, but if it's early enough to order breakfast, you've been out way too long.

So anyway, here's what I've been up to, rather than giving you a long, pointless post.

Monday and Wednesday we had language exams. I'm in the second highest group, which, if I'm honest, I can't say I'm super happy about. Not because I think I'm better than everyone else, but because I was heard that my orientation group was the advanced group, and there are some people on the low end of the Spanish spectrum in that group that I do not want to end up with. I need to be challenged in order to learn (as I learned with French) and I'm hoping that will be the case. I know, however, that if my professor feels I have been put into the wrong class, that I will be put into a more appropriate level.

Tuesday we had a walk through El Bosque de le Alhambra, and an area of Granada called the Realejo. It was an awesome walk, and I got some great pictures. Yesterday (thursday) we had or neighborhood orientation, with UGR students who live in our area. Carmen, a girl who I met in Malaga, is our UGR vecina (neighbor) and the group of 10 of us, all girls, had a great time. Carmen showed us various helpful things, like cafes, supermarkets, and whatnot, as well as el Parque de Federico Garcia Lorca, which had what may be the coolest seesaw ever created. After that, we all went to a cafe to warm up, where I got a milkshake, which was made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate and coconut liquors, and hence tasted like an  Almond Joy, and then we went to a bar for tapas.

Tapas, if you don't know, are plates of food brought to you when you order a drink. In Granada, they're free. Most of the time you don't get to choose, but occasionally you do. Last night was one of those occasions. Because there were so many of us, we ordered tons: popcorn chicken, sandwiches, flautas, calamari, and something else. It was spectacular.

Today was our last day of orientation, and we attended sessions on the language courses, as well as culture shock (apparently I'm in stage 3: interpretation, followed by a reception with free food and wine. I had tinto de verano, which is a mix of red wine and lemon fanta. It is delicious, and significantly lowers the amount of alcohol you're consuming. Which is good, especially when it's not even lunchtime. Tonight I'm heading out with my friend Danielle and maybe a few other girls for tapas, and possibly dancing. Un beso!

View of Granada from Realejo

statue of Isabel la Catolica and Christopher Columbus

Realejo

There's a lot of graffiti in Spain, and some of it (like this) is pretty...someone sprayed over the leaves.

part of the Alhambra

view of el Albaycin from la Alhambra

Bienvenidos a Granada!

So I’ve pretty much failed at posting thus far, but I have some really good excuses. Monday I was still in transit, Tuesday I was jetlagged, Wednesday I was busy and didn’t really have internet until 11 pm, and today I had a morning orientation session, followed by almuerzo (lunch, the main meal) with my host family.  The wireless actually went out sometime this morning (and apparently everyone in Spain  has wifi passwords, so I can’t leech off someone else), so I’m writing this on Word then transferring it to blogger later on, so don’t complain if my excuses don’t cover today. So this might be a fairly long post, since I’m talking about 3 days worth of stuff. I bought a journal to write stuff in so I wouldn’t forget it before I got the chance to blog, and I’ve already used 7 pages of it, so prepare yourself for a blogpost longer than some essays I’ve written

My flight from Logan airport was easy sailing, although they did make me go through the weird body scanner where you have to put your hands on your head and you elbows out, and your feet shoulder width apart. At the gate I met up with Jess, a girl from Catholic University in Washington, DC, but who lives near Boston. We stuck together for the rest of the way to Malaga. They also gate-checked my rolling carryon, because of course I was in the last boarding group and all the stupid business passengers took all the overhead space with their 2 carryons plus personal item.

We got to Chicago O’Hare with plenty of time to spare, ate some dinner, and made it to the gate. At that point, nearly an hour before the plane was supposed to board, there was no delay and I was secretly mocking Andrea in my head for her hatred of the airport. We boarded about 15 minutes late, which is pretty standard for most airports, and then sat on the runway for a full hour because of traffic. This wasn’t ideal, because we only had an hour and a half layover in Madrid to begin with. I was also sort of disappointed with the lack of personal TV screens on the plane; every other trans-atlantic flight I’ve been on has had them. So I read, then slept, then read some more until we arrived in Madrid. I also may have chugged a cup of straight coffee because I forgot they also had tea, which was served about 45 seconds after the coffee. Let’s just say I was wide awake for the rest of the day. Never. Again.

 I was about halfway back in the plane, and knew that I only had 30 minutes to go through immigration, customs, and security. As soon as the fasten seatbelt sign turned off, I was shamelessly up and halfway down the aisle. We basically ran through the airport, and made it to our gate (which was, of course, the farthest from where we landed) with just a few minutes to spare. So, I will take this moment to declare that Andrea was right and that Chicago O’Hare is the dumbest airport ever. Sorry for doubting you, buddy.  :)

We finally landed in Malaga, and it was gorgeous. It was warm and sunny (back home, it was icy and snowing so much that my siblings had a 2-hour delay) and beautiful, dotted with palm and orange trees. Shortly after arriving at the hotel, we went on a paseo (walk) with one of the IES staff members, who took us to the harbor, where we ate lunch. There was a really awesome playground that some people (Casey and Andrea. cough) would have loved. That night we went on another walk, through the city center and to a Roman amphitheater. It was pretty sweet.  I then wandered around with two people I met on the walk, and we got dinner at a random restaurant before navigating the really confusing, windy, streets back to the hotel.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast at the hotel (fresh squeezed orange juice, yum) and then started orientation sessions. I was feeling a little sick, which was probably because I was super dehydrated and sleep deprived (I slept a total of 9 hours over 2 days), so I got to skip a non-necessary activity and go take a nap on one of the lobby couches. I didn’t really want to miss the activity, but I knew from experience that even 20 minutes of sleep, along with a bottle of water, would get my body back on track, while staying awake would only make it worse. So after an hour or so when orientation started again, I rejoined the group, and learned that there are 9 girls from Ithaca here this semester. Crazy! By lunch I felt spectacular again, and was excited to see that the hotel had glass bottles of soda instead of cans or plastic. I kept the caps.

 After lunch the buses started arriving to take us to Granada. It was a gorgeous ride, through mountains and olive… well, I’m not sure what it’s called… olive plantations? olive orchards? In any case, I saw about ten thousand olive trees. It’s only an hour and a half from Malaga to Granada, and about 2/3 of the way through the ride I started getting nervous about meeting my host family. Mostly I was hoping they didn’t think I was weird.

Luckily, my worries were for naught. My host mom was there before the buses were, and helped me bring my (large amount of) stuff to her car. She lives right in the city center, with her husband and 3 kids, who are 13, 18, and 20. Her mom lives upstairs, and I met her today. All of them are super nice, though I can’t really understand what the youngest one says. My host mom said that even she can’t understand, so I’m not too worried about it. IES had called to say I wasn’t feeling well, and she was going to make me some soup, but when I told her I was feeling 100% better, she asked if I liked pizza, so that’s what we had for dinner. I usually don’t like toppings on my pizza, but it was pretty good. Serrano ham and onions and something else.

My room is pretty small, although it’s not cramped. I have a bed and desk and a closet with a dresser in the bottom. The best part is that I have my very own bathroom. I’ve never had my own bathroom before, so it’s pretty nice. It’s in my room, so I don’t even have to walk through the hallway after a shower.

My host mom (sorry to repeat this, I’m not supposed to write about her in a public space, so I’m gonna ask someone at IES if I can use just first names) walked me to the IES building this morning, about 15 minutes away on foot. I had been sort of tired the night before, so I hadn’t noticed how pretty the plaza we live in is. It’s the Plaza de Gracia, and it’s lovely. There’s a playground and a fountain and a church, among other things. That’s one of the things I like about Granada: there are plazas with greenery everywhere you go. It’s really nice.

Anyway, I will at some point get pictures of the cool stuff along the main street, Calle de los Reyes Catolicos, I haven’t yet because I’ve been busy, going to or from IES. The IES building is absolutely beautiful, and it situated right in the heart of Granada. It is also in a Plaza (de Santa Ana) with a church and fountains and trees. Most of the morning was language orientation (mostly review for me), but we also took a tour of the building and had a coffee break as a language assignment. The building itself was built in the 1860’s, and it’s lovely. On the street level (called floor 0 or la planta baja) there is a patio with 2 fountains along with a table and chairs with a lot of plants. Upstairs are the normal classrooms and offices, and on top of the building is a roof terrace with a view of the Alhambra (part of it, anyway). For our coffee break we had to go and figure out what certain types of coffee were at a local café, although we didn’t have to try them. By the time I ordered everyone else had asked about all the drinks, so I ordered fresh squeezed orange juice and some sort of pastry that was mostly covered in chocolate.

The walk home for lunch was meant to test us to see if we could get back to our homestays. Another girl, Sandra, has to walk through la Plaza de Gracia to get to her house, so we walked together. And didn’t get lost. I was really proud of myself, because I didn’t use a map at all, just went from memory. For lunch we had onion soup, which was delicious, and pasta with mushrooms. Normally mushrooms aren’t something I like. I tried them when I was little and didn’t like them, and the ones on Christina’s dining hall omelets didn’t always smell very appetizing. But in the spirit of adventure I tried it anyway, and they were pretty good. I also got to meet my host mom’s brother, who teaches at IES. I’m actually in his class (Arab World and the West) and he seems very nice, so I’m glad that I’m in the class.

In an hour or so, I’m meeting some girls from IES to see some of the city while it’s still light, buy international calling cards, and top up our phones. We might do a little normal shopping too, as all the sales are going on right now. I won’t buy too much, though, because I have no idea where I’ll put it. Probably just a bigger purse for class (my backpack makes me stick out like a sore thumb) and some scarves.  So that’s all for now, but I’ll be posting pictures and more stuff soon. Hasta luego! 

Study Abroad, round 2

Since I was very young, I've wanted to travel. The desire probably started when one of my aunts would send my sister and me postcards from places like Paris and London. Last spring, I had the opportunity to spend 4 months studying at Ithaca College's London Centre. It was an amazing experience, and you can read about it here, if you haven't already. 

Although I loved being in London, and got to travel all over Europe, I knew I wasn't done with travelling. As a Spanish major and lover of language in general, I wanted to study in Spain. Some people I know had done so with IES in Granada, so I applied for the Spring 2012 semester and got in! I'm a little nervous about being alone in a foreign country, but mostly I'm just excited. 

Right now I'm finishing up my semester at IC, and in 5 weeks and 1 day I'll be getting on a plane to take me to Spain! Only a day before that, my wonderful roommate Christina will be jetting off to Siena, Italy for the semester. (If you want to read about her adventures, comment and I'll link you to her blog). Hopefully we'll be able to meet up at some point.

I'll be posting a few more times before I leave, so stick around for some updates!