Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Want to See Pictures?
All Men Should Drive Glorified Tricycles
Monday January 28, 2008
Mondays are always difficult. After having a three-day weekend and then plunging into 5 hours of Spanish classes, it’s not the easiest thing to do and I think today it showed. It’s frustrating being in class here and understanding almost everything that my teachers say but not being able to respond (correctly or quickly) with my thoughts or reactions to our class topics. I feel like the dumb kid not being able to communicate here, even though I am better off than some people. It’s becoming more frustrating as the days pass. The two things that I have going for me in the U.S. are my intelligence and my sense of humor. Here, I have neither. Today we talked about our 15-minute presentations that are all in Spanish without (or little) notes. We have to do research for these speeches. Now it seems easy enough, and we all know that I have the ability to talk that for that long, but there’s a catch. We don’t have Internet to do research. Therefore, we have to go to the library. I don’t even know where the library is, let alone how to use one in Spain. Every little thing that you know in one culture or place is different in another. Every small task turns into a difficult situation because there are many steps and problems to overcome before I can even start what I originally intended to do. These problems all culminated after class when Sam started a conversation with our Spanish teacher Rocio with the words, “You’re class makes me want to kill myself.” I thought I should then jump in and try and fix the situation and make it a little more positive and constructive. We ended up talking to our teacher for about 45 minutes about the hardships of being a student from the U.S. studying in Spain. It was good to get some aggression, tears and concerns (mostly tears) out with a person who has been in my shoes before. She really calmed me down and it helped to bring the situation down to the earth again. My favorite part of the conversation had to be when we were talking about all of the attention that we get from the Spanish men. Almost instantaneously a guy in a glorified tricycle honked his horn at us and called after us. It served to lighten the mood a little and I’ve come to the conclusion that if all men drove these tricycles, the world would be a happier/better place. After our talk Sam and I headed home for lunch. While walking home for lunch I learned a new meaning for the phrase, “to double-park your car.” There were two cars in one parking spot in the plaza outside of Corte Ingles, parked on top of each other. I’m assuming there was a method behind the madness but until I check the papers tomorrow, I will go on naively joking that it is a space issue. After lunch I did a little bit of homework and then Allison, Sam and I met up with a group of students to go to the bus station to buy tickets to Cadiz, a city in Spain where Carnival is, for next weekend. After walking to the wrong bus stop (45 minutes later) we headed to the second bus stop across town. On the way there I actually knew where I was going. For one time, I wasn’t lost and things looked familiar to me. I have a horrible sense of direction so this day was a small feat for mankind, directionally speaking. After arriving at the second bus station we found out that we had to return on Thursday because the bus company wasn’t sure what the schedule for the return bus rides would be. Allison and I came home while Sam went to look for the post office. Allison and I had not been successful with the Spanish Internet the day before so we grabbed our computers and headed to Republica where they have WiFi to catch up on e-mails. While enjoying a Cola Cao (Spanish hot chocolate but a lot better) we caught up with family and friends and finally made connections back home. We came home after we were done on the Internet and ate dinner, a sort of fried egg sandwich with cheese and sausage and an orange. For the record, if I come home looking like an Oompa Loompa its simply because I have been eating approximately 2-3 oranges a day. They are fresh and delicious here and its what we have for dessert or for a snack. I’ll let you know when the transformation begins, but for now I’m enjoying the delicious taste and health benefits that come along with being a compulsive orange eater. After dinner it’s time for more homework and then to hit the sheets.
Monday, January 28, 2008
I Broke a Spanish Bathroom
Sunday January 27, 2008
Today everyone and their mothers were using Skype in the city of Seville. I have never had any problems with connection, but today was horrible. I look forward to Sundays because Sunday is the day of the week that I set aside a couple of hours dedicated to talking to friends, posting blogs and checking and sending e-mails. Today was not a successful day. It was stressful not being able to talk to people from back home. I think I keep my sanity because of Sundays but today just aided to my insanity. I feel bad for not being able to use the computer much here and when I do get time it is pretty limited. A lot of the other students have WiFi in or around their houses so it’s convenient for them, but for Allison, Sam and I that is not the case. I like it because we aren’t as dependent on the Internet as some of the students are but at the same time it can get frustrating when you have days like today. Enough of that…now lets lighten the mood with a funny story. After waking up around 11am this morning I decided that it would be a good idea to shower. I head into the bathroom and get all ready to go and hop in the shower. I pull the curtain back and CRASH. The entire curtain bar that holds the shower curtain up came crashing down on me, metal rod, plastic rings, shower curtain and all. I had no idea what to do, holy cow I had just broken our host family’s bathroom. So I string the shower curtain back onto the rod, which is still half dangling from the right hand side, and try to stealthily reattach the rod and curtain to the top of the wall. I tend to be vertically challenged so this wasn’t as easy as you’d assume. I somehow managed to balance the curtain on my knee and stand on my tiptoes to put the bathroom back together.
Real Alcazar
Today we met up with our classmates at Real Alcazar, where the Spanish royal family used to live, and where they still do on occasion. We got in free with our student I.D.’s which was nice. The building was really cool but the part that impressed me the most was they numerous gardens that they had all within the royal walls. There were mazes, fountains, benches, palm trees, flowers, you name it and they had it. I took about 80 pictures, so needless to say it was a gorgeous place. I definitely plan on going back and taking advantage of the student price. After going through the Real Alcazar Allison and I headed home, looked at a few local artists drawings and paintings and stopped at a small bakery and had pastries on the way home. We came home to find out that Sam had made homemade salsa with all fresh ingredients for later in the evening, score! I’m glad that she likes cooking and that our host mom and sister are good at cooking because I for one am no Rachel Ray. After lunch we all took a quick siesta and then woke up to go shopping for a bit. I haven’t actually bought anything here yet that hasn’t been food or a necessity such as shampoo (and the occasional Coke). The sales are going to be ending soon so we thought we’d look around again and try and take advantage of the rebates. I was looking for a coat, jeans and something for my sister. I bought some cute skinny legged jeans, which all of the girls wear here, for pretty cheap. The coat search was unsuccessful and for Molly I found nothing. I think that I’m just too picky. There are lots of things that I’d like to buy but they either don’t fit or they are too expensive. Shopping here is just pretty depressing all together because I fell awkward and huge compared to all of the gorgeous Spanish girls. Not to mention that I stick out because of the blonde hair. Half of the time I don’t know if they stare because I’m blonde or just because they think I’m awkward looking. We came home and listened to some Dane Cook (a hilarious comedian) before dinner because Allison had never indulged and Sam and I thought that she was long overdue. Dinner was good as usual and for some reason I couldn’t stop eating. I had a bowl of soup, 2 pieces of pizza, oranges and some of Sam’s homemade salsa. Interesting combination, I know. After dinner Sam hopped in bed but Allison and I met up with five other girls from class at Republica to have a glass of wine and to talk for a bit. After about an hour and a half Allison and I decided to head home, while the others continued on their way. It was all in all a pretty low-key day and night. I think I am becoming more accustomed to living here. I feel like it has already been months. Today I was even asked by two sets of people (Spaniards) for directions, which was exciting and hopefully I did them justice. Tomorrow is a homework and family day so I should be off to bed, buenas noches!
The Museum of Popular Arts and Customs of Seville
Friday January 25, 2008
Fridays we don’t have class so typically we have an activity where our class meets up early in the afternoon. Today we were to meet at “El Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares de Sevilla” (The Museum of Popular Arts and Customs of Seville) which is in El Parque de Maria Luisa, 45 minutes away on foot from our house. As we left out house the construction workers that have been working on a building near our house greeted us. Everyday we get some random Spanish phrase thrown out there but today was different. As we rounded the corner to get our daily greeting one of the guys said, “Hey babe.” I couldn’t help it. I started cracking up. They try so hard here its funny and a little sad on their part. Regardless, it made the 45-minute walk more entertaining. We got into the museum for free with our International Student I.D.’s and looked around for about an hour. The museum aims to popularize and research Andalusia’s anthropological and ethnographic heritage. The museum has collections of everything such as: domestic furniture, ceramics, firearms, religious objects and even musical instruments. It was pretty interesting to look at and to learn that Spanish legislation protects popular heritage; which includes the study and documentation of the knowledge, wisdom and behavior, which keep traditions alive in their everyday life. After being a nerd for a while we headed home to eat lunch with our Spanish family. On the way home there were two flamenco dancers and a small band dancing and playing in the street. They are pretty much amazing. After ogling them and putting a few small coins into their hat we kept on our merry little way but only to encounter a protest outside the Cathedral. Earlier in the morning there had been two huge police vans accompanied by 4 policemen riding horses and now we had kind of put together why. There we huge signs but we didn’t stop to listen or stare so I’m still not quite sure what all of the ruckus was about. When I got home I had the best card waiting from Meridith, it pretty much made my day. It’s nice getting mail here and knowing that everyone back home hasn’t forgotten about me! And lets be honest, getting mail in general is just exciting. This afternoon was pretty chill; I didn’t really do anything interesting. I read, took a nap and worked on making some calendars to hang up in our room. Later in the night we met up with a group of people from school and headed out for the night. We went to an Irish pub, where they spoke English, and talked in a booth for a while. After we left there we headed to the Tex-Mex bar, where they also spoke English, watched some figure skating/soccer and stayed until around 2am. After Tex-Mex (the name just cracks me up) we headed for home. Cortney, Nick and I ended up stopping at a café on the way home and having some hot chocolate so we could feel our hands again. In the early mornings and evenings it gets pretty chilly but its gorgeous here during the day. If you ever order hot chocolate in Spain, just a word to the wise, you pretty much will get a melted Hershey’s bar so be aware. It’s amazing but its pretty thick. Nick and Cortney walked me home and then I talked to Sam for a while before going to bed, Allison had already fallen asleep. Allison and Sam had walked Ashley home when we stopped for hot chocolate and I had gotten in a few minutes later than they had. It was a pretty late night when all was said and done but it was a good time going out with friends, talking and relaxing. Tomorrow morning we have to be up and at the Real Alcazar at 11am which doesn’t seem all that early but you have to get up pretty early to get in showers, breakfast (we have a sit down breakfast every morning) and walking for 45 minutes.
You Can Lead a Horse to Water...
Thursday January 24, 2008
Class went really well today because it went faster than normal, so that was good. During a class break Allison and I ran down to the supermarket and grabbed some homemade bread and Coke, and it was a delicious snack. After class we headed to the bookstore to get a few more books for our literature class when our ADD kicked in and we spotted the flowers. There was a fresh flower vender on the street near the bookstore so we decided to stop and buy Encarna and Rocio a bunch of flowers to hopefully brighten their days. When we got home we snuck the flowers in (a.k.a. stealthily snuck them in) and made a card for them and left the flowers on the table as we ran out the door to meet a few classmates at Republica cafe. We went to the café to start planning our trips for the semester. I think that I would like to go to Ireland, Paris, Prague and then a few day trips around Spain. Although in all reality I’m going to end up picking my favorite big place to travel and then probably go on a few smaller ones. It’s hard to coordinate trips that are well planned so we are starting early! We can start traveling in February, so we are starting to plan ahead of time. The prices are better that way as well. After that Sam and I left to meet up with Victor, one of our teachers from school, to find the pool where we are volunteering. We walked about 3 miles down the river to meet up with Victor. We arrived about 15-20 minutes early so we sat on a bench by the main road to keep a lookout for Victor. In the first 10 minutes we got 8 catcalls and one thumbs up, my personal favorite. It’s ridiculous how Don Juan-esk these guys are here. When Victor arrived we left on foot and then had to run, yes Emily had to run, about five blocks to catch the bus in time. We got there winded just as the bus was shutting its doors but Victor knocked and got us on (thank God). It was my first time on real public transportation in Spain, what an adventure. Oh and I forgot to mention that Sam and I bought bus passes for 10 trips before meeting up with Victor and they were actually the right ones. After getting off the bus we headed to the pool and Victor headed inside to find David, the director of the program that we are volunteering with, at the pool. About two seconds after Victor went it, David showed up. Then we had to try and tell David that Victor was inside looking for him, but I may have accidentally said that he was “on top” of the building instead of “inside” of the building. At this point David looked more worried than anything and after a game of charades he finally learned that I meant inside and laughed hysterically at my poor attempt at his native language. At least I provide comedy for the people of Seville. We got into the changing rooms and I had never seen so many Spanish children in my life. Imagine this: 50 English speaking children running around naked or half naked. Nightmare, right? Now imaging 50 Spanish speaking children with the same attire (or un-attire) running around with overbearing Spanish mothers chasing after them, and that’s what you had. Needless to say it was a little overwhelming at first…and then the second trauma happened. We had to wear swim caps. One word: hideous, it wasn’t a pretty sight. We met the owner of the pool and some of the life guards/swim teachers and then met the kids that we were working with. Their ages ranged from about 7-16 and there were 2 children that we actually worked closely with, and then another two that David worked with. These children were handicapped children and we had a lot of fun getting to know them but they didn’t tell us one little detail. Theses children are apparently Olympic swimmers. We started out swimming laps and I was winded while they kept pushing me to go and swim more laps. It was a great sight to see, I’m sure of it. We played a few games and swam some more with them and then we were done after about an hour. After drying off one of the guys at the pool came up to me and started talking to me in Spanish and asking me if I was from America (ok, Christopher Columbus) and questioning why I was in Spain. I told him I was here for the semester to study Spanish. He asked how often I was coming to the pool (every Thursday) and said that if I taught him English he could teach me Spanish. This only meant one of two things: 1. He was our typical Spanish Don Juan, or 2. My Spanish really is that bad that he wanted to help a sister out! Either way it was pretty funny. Regardless, I’m sure that we will see him again next Thursday. After leaving the pool looking like wet dogs we went to catch the bus. I think we took the wrong one, so that was an adventure in itself. We ended up in the wrong place and had to walk back a ways but at least we got home and are alive to tell the story. (Don’t worry mom.) After dinner and showers we decided that we were too worn out to go to the originally planned Flamenco show and opted for our beds instead. I think we’ll just have to catch the next show on Thursday. Tomorrow we are meeting up at 11am to go through a museum in El Parque de Maria Luisa, so that will be nice to experience some culture. As I look back on the day only one cliché comes to mind, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” This quote pretty much sums up our entire bus riding experience. We got the tickets alright, but as far as understanding how the busses go…we need to work on that one. An hour on a “bono” isn’t as much fun as it sounds like, especially when your driver is doing a Sudoko from the paper while driving.
Coke and Wine Don't Mix
Wednesday January 23, 2008
Today was a lot better than yesterday. Class was really long and boring because we had native speakers for five hours straight. After class I just needed some English in my life. We headed straight to the bank after class because it closed at 2:30pm and we have class until 2:00pm. Today was the day that I was to throw out the “CML” name to get my checks cashed. I went into the bank and asked the cashier if I could cash them, she left to ask someone a question, returned and said that I couldn’t cash the check. I told her again that I was a student from CML, a minute later another lady came out. I explained who I was again, and she finally understood. She went and talked to a guy and then came back and said that she couldn’t do it today and to come back tomorrow. I was happy and sad, an awkward emotional mix. At least they understood me this time, but I still didn’t have the cash. You can bet your money on it that I will be there at 8:30am the minute they open until I get those checks cashed. For lunch we came home and had a kind of stir-fry with carrots, peas, artichokes, green beans and mushrooms aside rice and chicken. I worked on some homework and then Allison and I left to check e-mail and to find her a book that we need to buy for class. I sat in the Plaza for about an hour and a half when she returned frustrated and bookless. Because of her frustration she had stopped at the supermarket and bough us cokes and bread. I couldn’t have asked for anything better at that moment. Cokes are few and far between for me here, odd I know. Then we met a new friend, Reilly from Minnesota, who walked up to us and asked us where we were from to start conversation. After learning what program we were with he asked, “Have you found the cheap wine yet” and proceeded to pull a whole bottle out from the side of his bag. He apparently thinks Coke and wine are good together and offered to pour some into my can of Coke. I didn’t know why he would taint such and amazing liquid, the Coke that is. After finishing our Cokes we left to look for books again when my bladder interrupted us. After finding a bathroom in Corte Ingles we searched for books again, failed, and decided to return home. I have learned that it is not impossible to find a public restroom. Today I have also come to the conclusion that Spaniards, the creeper guys, are all talk, which I am definitely okay with. The most direct male approached Allison and I and basically tried to get us to make-out with him today on the way home. Instead of being afraid, I just laughed. Tonight we had game night and played a few games of Phase 10 dice, it was fun to pass the time that we had to wait until dinner. Encarna got home really late (around 10:30pm) and made dinner. We were all happy that we got dinner because we thought that they had forgotten or had some sort of miscommunication. Encarna has been really busy and has been sick (a cold) lately. I think that we are going to try and do something nice for her and Rocio (who’s stressed about her test), so we’ll see what we can’t come up with.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
You Know You're in Spain When...
Tuesday January 22, 2008
Today a Spanish bug bit me. It sounds cool, but it all reality it looks gross, it itches, and now my hand is puffy and red. But it’s really not all that new because the other day another, or maybe the same culprit, bit me on my finger. It must be something with my left hand. Anyway, today’s class went alright. We started a new project in history where we break up into political parties and try to create a Constitution for our new Republic. It should be a lot better than just sitting and listening to a lecture. At one o’clock Sam and I met with Yaye and we went to our Service Learning project for the first time. We ended up walking about 45 minutes and picking up another girl (Stephanie) from William and Mary College who is doing the same thing that we are in Spain. We went and met David, apparently there are a lot of those here, and talked to him for a while about our responsibilities. He seems really nice and said that he is patient, which is always a good quality to have in dealing with Sam and myself. We are working with younger aged Spaniards who have had brain aneurisms or who have other mental and physical disabilities, doing physical therapy in the pool. We go for the first time to the pool on Thursday. It should be an interesting experience, but hopefully it all turns out well. We have to buy bus passes to get to the pool A) because it’s from 7-8pm and B) because it’s about 4 miles away and we aren’t going to make that trek. I was in a pretty bad mood when we got back from that today because the whole situation was kind of frustrating and pretty far away so I was hungry, exhausted and hot on top of that. In the mornings here it’s cold and then it’s hot in the afternoon so it’s hard to dress for both when you have to walk in both different types of weather. During lunch we asked Encarna and Rocio about sexism in Spanish culture for one of our classes and I think we started a family feud. If Spaniards are two things, its passionate and opinionated and they love to debate about thing they are passionate/opinionated about. They went at it for a while and it was pretty funny but more interesting than anything. I think we are going to have to try fish soon because Encarna had a 20 minute conversation about fish with us today. That could be interesting. Since today was lacking excitement I’ve compiled a list of things entitled, “You know you’re in Spain when…” Here goes.
You know you’re in Spain when…
…you walk down the street and either step on glass or dog poop.
…you frequently see mullets with dreads.
…you stop before lunch at a café to have a glass of wine with friends.
…everyone around you is smoking.
…there isn’t a day without catcalls.
…a bus almost hit you before 9am.
…you swear every person wakes up in the morning more gorgeous than you, even if you had prepped for 2 hours.
…being blonde is something that is rare.
…there are children still outside at 12 o’clock at night.
…you have to turn the shower water on and off between rinses.
…there are more birds than squirrels.
…you can walk for miles without seeing grass.
…you get honked at, repeatedly.
…you see set of guys holding hands (gay marriage is legal)
…its 70 degrees and people are wearing coats and scarves.
…the children speak better Spanish than you do and make fun of you for it.
…Coke is more expensive than wine.
So I'm Talented
Monday January 21, 2008
Today is just one of those days when you wake up and you know that the basic things that you do today are going to be hard. I think I ran into my chair, the bed and a doorway all before 8am. Talented, I know. On the way to school I realized that it was the second week of classes already, and yet it has seemed like 2 months. Today was our first day of class with Victor, but we also had the other native speaking teachers today as well. I like Monday-Wednesday classes better than Tuesday-Thursday classes. Having Spanish literature and then Spanish History back-to-back is not the best. Today we talked about some grammar stuff in the first class, the difference in schedules in the second class and began to talk about sexism in Spanish culture in the last class. Our first class with Yaye was a good time. She used an example of an 80’s Spanish rock group with lyrics to talk about being an individual and to look more closely at the words themselves. She is a really good teacher and even though her class is almost two hours long, she doesn’t make it seem like it. And I learned a new word because of it: mallas, “leggings.” Ahh, you have to love the 80’s. After class we had a little class discussion and it really brought things into perspective here in Spain. A lot of the time its easy to think and focus about the things that are wrong and what I miss, but hey, I’m in SPAIN! It’s always good to take a step back and to recognize what I am thankful for and how everything is relative. Today I finally got my birthday card from my family and it made me happy, so I hung it on our bulletin board for everyone to see. For lunch we had pasta with a meat sauce that was good and then we all laid down for siesta. When we woke up Sam went running and Allison and I headed to the bank again to try and cash my travelers checks. It was definitely not open, and frustration set in again. I hate feeling dumb and lost, and here…its kind of all you feel. So Allison and I decided to shop around for a while to calm the nerves, also because it was a gorgeous day. We stumbled upon the bookstore that our teacher Victor had told us to buy a book (for class) from earlier that day. I went straight up to the cashier and asked for the book by title and author and it was the first time a Spaniard has fully understood me and my God did it feel good. To make things even better, they had a copy of the book as well! After we left “Casa del Libro” we went to find other bookstores to get Allison a copy of the book as well. We ended up in some religious bookstore, which was pretty funny because we didn’t notice for a while until we had a light bulb moment. After finding and trying 2 other bookstores we came to the conclusion that the bank and the bookstores were in a secret chain out to get me, and we came home. We did homework for a while and then took a study break and headed to Lidl, a German grocery store that has food for less and they may also have chocolate that’s to die for. I bought some cheap chips that I thought were chips that tasted like salsa, I was incorrect and they tasted like cheese and you’re supposed to dip them in salsa-hence the picture on the front of the bag. The chips won that battle. I also decided to try Cola Siti from the store today, which is the Sam’s Choice of Spain. I thought I would give it a try since one 2-liter of Coke is equal in price to 4 2-liters of Cola Siti. It basically tastes like diet RC Cola, it was kind of a train wreck, but at least I tried. We came home and did more homework and now we are waiting for dinner…its already 10:00pm, hopefully its ready soon.
The Lazy Day
Sunday January 20, 2008
Today was a lazy day. I slept in until about 11am and then got up and had breakfast and showered. After that I worked on some stuff around the room, organizing and such. I was just trying to get my mind off of wanting to go to the Plaza to talk on my computer to my family and friends because later in the day I was going to be able to for the first time. After lunch, which was a chickpea stew with potatoes, carrots and pumpkin, at about 3:30pm Allison and I left to talk to our loved ones back home. She went to the Internet Café and I opted for the free wireless in the Plaza by our school. So I dropped her off on the way to school and then carried on to my Plaza. When I got there, there were about 3 other students with computers, I think the students from Wisconsin are starting to get the hang of things around here, their a little slow. I kind of hated the fact that there were so many Americans there; I kind of just wanted to be alone. I was out on my own for the first time in Spain. So I sat down and started the chat sessions. It’s so hard to get to talk to everyone that I want to talk to in such a short amount of time, but it’s better than nothing. My mom and dad, who are obviously not masters of the computer tried to work Skype today. Skype is a free online service in which you can talk free from computer to computer via web cam. All I could see was the top of my mom hair and a little of my dads bald spot, which made me laugh, that’s enough home for me. We tried and failed at that for a while and then I moved on to trying to talk to some friends. I didn’t have much time because my battery was winding down, but I at least had a couple words with each. After that I was a little homesick, but my bladder was controlling my thinking at the time and I decided to veer off into the wrong direction while trying to walk to the phone to call my parents. I told my mom and dad that I would call them after I was done on my computer from a café that is right up the street from my school. I got halfway home and realized that I wasn’t going the right way, and I had to go all the way back to where school is, still with a full bladder. The call was .15 centos per minute, which wasn’t so bad. It was good to finally make contact with the family; Jer-bear, Daddy B and the princess were all on the phone. After that adventure I walked home for the first time alone. I’m surprised that I wasn’t scared, but it was still light out. On the way back home I found four classmates at a bar sitting outside talking. I joined them for a while and talked and then proceeded to go home. Its hard keeping in contact with people here without having a phone, there is a lot of planning ahead involved. I was nearing the homestretch when a guy started catcalling me and all I could think was walk fast, look forward and don’t make eye contact. It all turned out ok, but my new nickname here is definitely “la rubia”- meaning “the blonde” or “blondie.” Its nice being exotic here, ha. We American girls are a hot commodity, especially for awkward old men and construction workers. When Nick, one of the three guys that are in our group, walks with us he frequently gets called “el jefe” (the boss) and is asked how much we cost. O dear the culture is different here. On a random side note: I forgot to tell you that yesterdays lunch was fairly interesting, I think we had hard boiled eggs with vomit on them, topped off with red sauce. Or at least that’s what it looked, smelled and tasted like. Rocio is amazing and she didn’t make us suffer through it, so she made us sandwiches instead. Most of the foods have really hit the spot, but you get the occasional nasty food in there. I think we got the point across that we don’t like fish though, so I think that will be good for both our appetites and her budget.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Director, David
Saturday January 19, 2008
After going to bed pretty early last night we finally got up this morning and noticed that we had gotten around 10 hours of sleep. After getting ready for the day and eating breakfast we set out to meet our classmates outside of our school for a scavenger hunt. It was a competition, but my group just decided to take our time and at least just find all of the places. It was fun going around the city and finding the different places that we hadn’t seen before. It worked out well because I was like motivation in the group and the spirit/model for our pictures and the other two were actually good at reading the map. So our group worked out well because we played off each other’s strengths and weakness. We weren’t the first group to get to the end, but we weren’t the last! So I think it was a win for us. After the hunt Nick, the roomies and I went to the market that they had set up outside in the Plaza in front of Corte Ingles. After browsing we stopped at a café, Nick grabbed a sandwich and the gals grabbed drinks and Eau Claire’s. We sat and talked for a while and just kind of people watched and hung out. The culture in the bars and cafes here is very chill and people go every hour of the day to grab and drink and chat. It’s very different from the United States where bars are for drinking. Here is a more social atmosphere and bars are for relaxing and talking with friends. After that, we went home for a bit and took siestas and the met up with four other classmates at Republica. We were sitting and talking when David, the owner and creator of Centro Mundo Lengua, walked by and we hollered at him to talk for a while. He asked us what we were doing that night and we all kind of wanted to keep it low key, but David had other plans. We followed him to another bar across the Alameda and he bought a round of drinks and we just talked to him about the company and the school and his life in Spain. He’s a really nice guy and very cool. It was fun talking to him for a while. After we left there we talked to a club where he knew people at, but they wouldn’t let us in because we didn’t have the right shoes on. Shoes mean everything here. So after that we headed to another place called, “Elefunk.” It was very busy, loud music, and the lights were made of fishbowls with live goldfish in them. I didn’t understand how that didn’t kill the fish, but regardless it was a more modern place. After being unable to breathe or move in there for about 15 minutes we all had had enough of that place. It was about 3am so we all decided to say our good-byes and thanked David for showing us around the city for the night. It’s all about the people you know here. The guys walked home with us, which was comforting, and then we got to our house and talked for a while and reminisced until we all fell asleep. What originally was supposed to be a boring night, quickly turned into an adventure.
One, Two, Three Breathe
Friday January 18, 2008
Today I woke up a little earlier than normal and Allison and I set out to get my travelers checks cashed. We went to Barclays Banco and they wouldn’t take my checks. We went to Banco de Espana and they would take my checks. We went to CajaSol and they wouldn’t take my checks. We went to Banco de Andalusia and they wouldn’t take my checks. Do you see a pattern yet? All that pattern equaled out to be was a really frustrated Emily almost in tears and empty pockets. When we met up with our class a few minutes later I asked my teacher and she told me that there has been a ring of bad travelers checks in Europe therefore no one will take my checks. I about had a conniption. So I’m going and saying that I’m from Centro Mundo Lengua on Monday and I’m going to say that I’m a student with them and they have an account and they basically have to cash them…and see how that goes. Wish me luck, or sent me money- either would be greatly appreciated. Kidding. After that whole ordeal we started walking to La Plaza de Espana and El Parque Maria Luisa, which we had visited earlier in the week but in the rain. We talked around the Plaza for a while and I broke off from the group and took a bunch of really good photos of the Plaza. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun was shining and it was in the 70’s. At least we don’t have 5 inches of snow and freezing temperatures like some people…After the Plaza we headed over to the Parque and ate lunch first. Nick. Zach, Allison L., Allison B., and myself set out to find a bench first to eat our sack lunches on, that our Spanish moms had made us. After eating it was time to explore and the take some more photos. The first area we stopped at had an island with a water mote around it. And thus the story begins…Nick has a really cool camera where he can focus on a color and make everything in a picture black and white except for that color. Keeping this in mind, picture this. Nick gets up close to the water to get the color of green that the water is programmed into his camera and then steps back up on the ledge to finally shoot the shot. He’s to close so he starts moving back, and splash. I turn around and Nick is up to his pecks in water and flailing around trying to keep his camera from getting wet. Apparently the water was a lot deeper than we had thought and needless to say he was soaking, along with all of the things in his backpack. For a while Nicks bag looked somewhat like a makeshift fountain. I started crying it was so hilarious; I seriously couldn’t breathe. After catching my breath, I helped Nick take all of the things out of his bag and put the important things like electronics in my bag and we kept on our journey through the park. Side note: The park is nothing short of gi-normous and gorgeous to boot. We found another fountain (not Nick this time) and a bunch of benches and we all took our own bench and finally had some alone time. I wrote while others read or listened to music. After relaxing for a bit we went through the Barrio de Santa Cruz and looked around in some of the small shops that they have hidden within the winding cobblestone streets. A couple of us went to Republica a couple of hours later for Cola Cao (which is like a rich hot chocolate) and to use the Internet because they have free WiFi for paying customers. For the first time I talked on Skype for a bit! I was a little too excited I think. I talked to Sarah for a bit, laughed at her new “grill”-a.k.a. braces and then checked my e-mail. After noticing that Meridith was on Allison said to me, “Ok, well my computers dead and I'm going to leave but look at Skype and I’ll see you in a few hours.” Meridth and Tasha were on all huddled around the computer. It was great seeing and talking to them. I miss all of my friends back in the states so much. I think I kept what was left of my sanity (thanks to the previous day) talking to my friends on the computer. After the much need catch-up with the gals, I went home and we had a homework night, how glamorous.
School is NOT Fun Here
Thursday January 17, 2008
Today is finally Thursday, which is the equivalent to a Friday in the States…thank God! I feel like this week has been the longest week every. It’s a lot to take in all at once. New house, new language, new food, new schedule, new everything, so to say the least it has been really interesting. We had our first class for “Service Learning” in which we learned that we would be doing a ten-page paper (in Spanish) and a 15-minute presentation in Spanish as well. Everyone in our class got silent and there were lots of tear shed that day. It’s all a lot to take in. A ten-page paper in the States is not fun, let alone in Spanish. This semester is going to be really hard for classes and for the record I’m not too happy about it. I would rather be out and about around Spain than any of the classroom stuff. We are in a one-room schoolhouse for the entire school day with the same people. I crave variety at this point. Today has been the hardest day yet. The week was stressful and then class happened today and everyone’s hopes just crashed. I kind of had a panic attack today, but then you have to put everything into perspective and it gets better. The days are like rollercoaster’s here, some good, some bad. Needless to say everyone needed to relax a little and hang out that night. We met up with our group at about 11pm and we walked around Seville for a while and then stopped at a café by La Giralda. The waiter was nice, but I accidentally called him a busy girl when trying to make small talk, opps, my bad. I think he had it out for me after that. He insisted on making fun of me every chance that he could get, but I guess it was deserved. After that we walked forever it seemed and when to this club that everyone was dressed up in and it was very high class looking. Apparently some of the girls were meeting guys there and failed to tell the rest of us, so about nine of us broke off, myself included, and we went to another small café that was more low key so we could all talk. It was good to just relax and hang out with a smaller group of classmates. Earlier in the night we had run into about 40 students from Wisconsin and saw a couple of them walking down the street and stopped to talk. There are 80 of them renting out 6 classrooms in the same building that we are in for school. Sometimes it’s a comfort to run into other people that speak English, but 80 is America overload. We got home around 2am after Nick walked us home (to keep the creepers away), thank goodness, and had girl talk before bed. Tomorrow we have to be up and at La Plaza Nueva at 11am for a day to relax. Tracy saw that we were all going a little crazy and stressed so tomorrow will be a day to relax and think and its well deserved.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
My Birthday Night and The Sixth Day
Wednesday January 16, 2008
The Night of my Birthday: So last night was a success. But before we could even get out the door, our host mom gave us the maternal “mom talk” about being safe and not drinking too much. We all found this quite amusing and heart warming as well. She has definitely become our Spanish mom for the next 4 months. Encarna is pretty much amazing and gave me close to the same speech that I think my mom would have given me. About 18 of my classmates and I went to the bar/café called Republica for my birthday. We sat down, talked and had a few drinks outside on the patio. It was fun to actually hang out with my classmates outside of a school environment. They are all pretty cool people and we are all getting along really well. I had a glass of Spanish wine to celebrate the birthday, I’m sure it would have been a much different night at home with all of my close friends but the people here were really good at making me feel at home about the whole situation. I think the hardest part about yesterday was probably getting all of the messages from home from everyone who cares about me. You don’t really notice that everything is different (especially when you are trying to avoid it and put it out of your mine), and everyone is gone until you check your e-mail and read messages from home. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them all, but I wasn’t the easiest thing to do. When we were at Republica the bartender gave me a kiss on the cheek for my birthday and then another guy danced flamenco for me. He tried to dance with me and to teach me, but yea…that was an interesting experience. I don’t exactly know how to flamenco so I think it turned out looking somewhat like a mimic of what he was doing slash a country ho-down. None-the-less, I don’t know how many people can say that they danced the flamenco with a native Spaniard on their 21st birthday in Spain. It will be something that I will never forget, also because we luckily got it on film. After taking a couple of pictures and finishing talking we came home to end January 15th on a good note.
Wednesday January 16, 2008: This morning we woke up and went to class, again. It’s starting to get old already and it’s only the third day of classes. The classes here are pretty challenging and I’m almost on Spanish override. It has come to the point where I’ve started speaking Spanish mixed with English all the time, and I cant write in English to save my life anymore. So now I successfully stink at two languages, ahh yea, so hopefully that will get better. After class Sam and I stopped at an Internet café to check our e-mail, which was nice. There were lots of birthday messages to read and new e-mails, which got me through the day. I feel bad because I can’t always respond or respond much at that, but I love readying the e-mails. They are definitely worth paying and going out of my way to find an Internet café for. We came home and Encarna made us “papas con carne” again, and it was amazing. This time she fried and egg and put it in the broth. I took a picture of it for my photo project for one of my many Spanish classes here. It’s under the category “my favorite Spanish dish.” Encarna sat with us at lunch, which was nice because she’s is really interesting and it’s good to get more practice in with a native speaker. She told us about a festival that they have at the end of February and about going to the beaches around here. We found out that she even has a beach house near Cadiz, in a small town on the cost! She teacher so she said in the summer she leaves the day after she is done teaching and comes back two months later when she has to start teaching again. She even said that if we wanted to travel there she would call up some of her friends and we could go and rent the house or a house of one of her friends for really cheap. Needless to say, she is a sweet lady. After lunch we took really long siestas and then got up afterwards and started in on the homework for the day. I have a lot due for tomorrow, but somehow I got it all accomplished. When Rocio came home for dinner at 9:30pm we were all about ready to eat our arms, so we went in to the kitchen to see if she needed help with anything. I brought my computer out into the kitchen to show her my music and to see what she liked. We are going to trade c.d.’s soon so I wanted to know what she likes. She wants me to burn her a mix c.d. and a copy of the Journey album, which is just hilarious to me, because apparently she lost her copy. I told her about the flamenco dancer last night, so she is going to burn me a copy of some of her flamenco music. So it think it’s a fair trade! Dinner was really good, we had deep fat fried chicken cordon bleu and fresh green beans cooked with different spices and bacon. Hopefully when I am 27, like Rocio, I can cook somewhere near as well as Rocio because she’s good at what she does. After dinner was more homework. I think that we were all a little tense today, especially towards the end of the day. We are all starting to get past the “honeymoon” stage, where everything in Spain is amazing and we are just happy to be here and are moving into the missing things at home and more stressed stage, needless to say a lot of people were emotional and moody today, including myself. In random news…an update on the creeper status: Not a day goes by when I walk to class and don’t get looked at, spoken to or waved at. It’s starting to become funnier and less scary as the days past, which I think is a good thing. Also, buy stock or a company that invests in the break pad industry for cars in Spain because the people here must go through those things as if it is their job. They really like to drive fast and then slam on their breaks for pedestrians, who have the ride (or walk) away. Just a little word to the wise.
Mi Cumpleanos
Tuesday January 15, 2008
Today is my birthday! So obviously it has to be a good day, right? Well we started off our second day of classes today. So here’s the deal, if I thought I was overwhelmed with classes yesterday, today I just didn’t even know what to do with myself. We had our first classes of Literature and History. Lets get things straight, I don’t really like history in the first place…let alone in Spanish. So I was lost in that class. Literature wasn’t as bad but its going to become a lot more complicated. There is going to be a lot to do with my classes, such as writing and reading. I wasn’t expecting an easy semester but I was hoping that there wasn’t going to be tons because we are in Spain and let me tell you-there are a lot more interesting things to do here than homework. On a break between classes my teacher announced that we had a birthday, of course everyone already knew, and then brought out an amazing chocolate cake. My classmates had all put in money to buy me a cake for my birthday, which was amazing. We all at the cake during our 15 minute break from class and then we got back into classes. Classes finished a little early today but we got an out of class assignment instead. Our assignment: to take in the culture. We were supposed to go to a café or bar or plaza and sit and watch the people and their interactions. This obviously wasn’t hard for me because I love to people watching no matter what country I am in. After class we all met out in the plaza and a few of us went to buy notebooks from a store that was a lot cheaper than Cortes Ingles. The walk was pretty hefty but we didn’t really have anything better to do and the prices were a lot better. The interesting part about this excursion was getting home. We had never been to that part of town before that had the cheap notebooks, so it was an adventure. On the way home I got winked at, yelled at (ay, guapas chicas)-“hey, pretty girls”, and stalked by a crazy old man. I was carrying my cake home from class and he saw me and said, “Hey girls. Where are you going? Is that my cake? Maybe for my birthday?” (Keeping in mind all of that was in Spanish and right after we deflected the construction workers). To make things even better we got lost in the middle of it all, and that made me want to cry even more. I kept telling Allison, “Walk faster please, keep it going, NOW!” I was at the back of the pack. But we survived it all to tell the stories so it was a success. When we got home we had lunch and after lunch Rocio presented me with two candles, one in the shape of a two and the other in the shape of a one. She told me to go and get my cake from school and I did so. She put the candles on the cake turned off the lights and her mom and her started singing me happy birthday. It was the best thing! I was sad about my birthday but they really made me feel at home. They told me that they were going to make me a cake later but I already had one. I told them that they could still make me one because no matter the day I would still eat and like cake. After they sang I blew out my candles and made a wish, Encarna presented me with a birthday present! Kissed me on both cheeks and told me that it was just a small gift from them for my birthday. I couldn’t believe it! She got me a pair of earrings and I pretty much thought that I was going to cry when I opened them. Going from missing everyone to being welcomed so warmly hit home. We had another good conversation during lunch. Rocio and I talked about music for a while. She always listens to American music when she is at home and getting ready so I asked her about it. I think we are going to trade music after a while. She thought that it was crazy that I had almost 2,300 songs on my computer. I sang her the Spanish version of Silent Night (Noche de Paz) and “De colores” (another Spanish song that I had learned when I was younger). I think that we really connected for the first time at lunch with the music conversation and the birthday celebration. After our “fiesta” we met up with some friends in La Alameda de Hercules and walked to the plaza outside of our building for school. Our teacher Yaye had told us the day before that we could get free wireless there so we were out to try. There are Internet cafes here but they all cost money and you just feel really rushed when using them. Not to mention there could be a creeper like last time! We sat down and checked most of our e-mails, and that might have been a mistake. This was the first time that I had the time to sit down and actually read e-mails from back home. I wanted to just start crying on the spot. To hear about all of the things happening back home and all of the people that miss me/everyone on the trip…it was really hard to take in. I hadn’t really felt homesick until that moment. When I saw that my mom, Jess, Emily, and Aaron were on the Internet I nearly jumped out of my seat with happiness. I’m sure everyone else in the plaza thought that I was crazy, but I get that a lot here. I talked to them for a bit but not for as long as I would like to because the Internet was cutting out. After checking the e-mails we headed to Cortes Ingles to get Allison a battery for her watch and to cash my travelers checks. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to cash the checks there so that will be a different adventure for tomorrow. After getting pretty frustrated with the whole situation we stopped at a café on the way home with 3 other classmates. We sat down and pretty much left a couple minutes later because we were tired and had things to do at home. We have dinner at 9 or 9:30ish and then we are meeting with the rest of the classmates to go out for my birthday. There are a lot of small but very different cafes and bars around where we live so we are just going to go out to some of those tonight for a bit and socialize and maybe do more this weekend. I will let you know how that goes tomorrow!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
My Birthday Wishes
My Address in Spain
Here is my house address in Seville if you want to send letters, packages or whatnot!
Emily Beckmann
c/Estrellita Castro
n°8 piso 1°
Seville, Spain
Europe 41002
The Forth Day
Monday January 14, 2008
Today we woke up and hurried to meet the rest of the classmates that live up near us to walk to class…for the first day of classes. We met in the plaza outside of our building to meet up with our teacher for conversation class, Yaye, so she could walk us up to our classroom. The room is pretty small but the first day of class wasn’t bad. I really like Yaye. She is nothing short of amazing. She’s originally from Seville and she is going to be a great resource for us all. For the last part of class Dr. Tracy took us to Santa Cruz, which is a small neighborhood that pretty much looks like a labyrinth and purposefully tried to get lost. We had a half hour to go through the neighborhood and to find our way back to La Hiralda. In that half hour I managed to step on a huge orange, I don’t know how I missed that one, and we found a lot of different places to get things for people from home. After that we came back home and had lunch, which was a typically Spanish lunch, “papas y carne”- which was a soup with potatoes, meat, and carrots. I took a nap for a while during siesta and then we met up again with our class in La Plaza Nueva. We went over our worries and fears for speaking with native speakers and buying things that we need with our classmates. Then Allison, Sam, and I went shopping and looking for coats and socks. We weren’t very successful but it’s a lot of fun just walking around and looking at the different clothes in all of the stores and just watching the Spanish people interact. We came back to our house for a while and asked Encarna where the closest supermarket was so we could go by snack food and Coke. Let’s be honest, it’s been almost 5 days and I haven’t had one. I think I deserve one already! So we set out for another adventure, this time to the supermarket. Food and drinks are a lot cheaper there than anywhere else. I ended up getting 2 liters of Coke and it was only 1.25 Euros, pretty darn good and basically the size of my head. We also got some caramel corn from Spain as well. Then we came home and had girl talk for a while, about boys and such. Yeah, we were “those girls” for a while. But it was good and reminded me of home a little. I haven’t had a lot of problems with thinking about home because we have been soo busy. There are times throughout the day when I sit back and think about home or see something that reminds me of home or someone. We had dinner at bout 9:30pm and it was homemade pizza with homemade soup, kind of like chicken noodle soup. I eat pretty much everything that they give us because it has been really good so far. For dessert I tried flan and it was all right, but I like the chocolate pudding better. Go figure. We had a really good conversation with Encarna tonight. She is hilarious and she told us all about her family and her love for anything chocolate and Coke. She told us that her ex-husband is a twin and told us some funny stories about that as well. It’s fun to sit around and talk to her about the things that are different in the Spain verses the United States. Tomorrow is my birthday and today Dr. Tracy made me go away from the group so they could make secret plans for a surprise for my birthday. I’m starting to get sad that I’m not going to be in the United States for my birthday but we are all planning on going out to different bars in the plaza close to our house so it should be a good time. Finally a time when we can all go out together and just hang out outside of class without getting starred at. There weren’t any major creepers today, so that is a good thing. Just a few guys that said, “Hello” and thought that they were suave. Tomorrow Sam and I start our service learning so that should be interesting; I’ll let you know how that one goes.
The Third Day
Today started out a little bit better than the previous day…all because I remembered to take my towel with me this morning to the shower. One win for team Emily. After showering and getting ready we had breakfast and then headed out to meet our class for a walking tour of the city. We walked to the plaza outside of where we have our class at and met our teacher from Simpson, Dr. Tracy, our teacher for contemporary Spanish culture from Seville, Victor, and the rest of the students on our trip. Victor showed us around the city and pointed out the different historical places. Today we walked past and saw: La Hiralda Catedral, La Plaza Salvador, Arcihvo de Indias, Real Alcazar, La Universidad, La Plaza de Espana, El Parque de Maria Luisa, Ayuntamiento (City Hall), Teatro Lope de Vega, La Plaza Virgen de los Reyes, and La Plaza Nueva. Victor pointed out the things that we need to watch out for which included: the insistent palm readers, thieves, and horse buggy drivers that like to look at the women. After the walking tour we decided to stop at a little bar called “Horno del Duque,” and I had my first glass of wine in Spain. It was only 2 Euros and it was a good experience to order something from a Spaniard and actually get what I ordered! They talk really quickly and the also leave off the end of words frequently, which makes it really hard to understand. After the bar we came home and had lunch, which was chicken and fries (really good) and we went out again to meet up with some students from school. We met at a plaza and then when to El Parque de Maria Luisa but at this point it was pouring down raining. So we decided to cut the tour a little short and we stopped at Starbucks and the Café de Indias for ice cream. I of course opted for the ice cream, which was delicious. We stood around in the street, took some pictures, and then talked for a while about the adventures that we had done over the past three days. We ran into the director of CML, David, in Starbucks and we talked with him awhile. After all was said and done, we left for home. It was about a half hour walk back to our house. A couple classmates came with Allison and I to look at the outside of our house to see the size, apparently our house is a lot bigger than most, which was fun to find out. After showing off our house we headed inside and waited a while until dinner was ready. I think they are really trying to make us feel at home because we had two hot dogs on a bun with potato chips for dinner! For dessert we had chopped up bananas and apples with yogurt on top. Encarna sat down and talked to us for a while about our majors and about our day in general. From the stories that I heard today from the other students, she seems to be a really good host mom. Rocio talked to us for a while as well about the day and we asked her about renting bikes here. She said that it was a good idea and that it was really cheap, so we are looking into that for sometime soon in the future. Tomorrow I need to look into getting a jacket here because with all of the rain it has been a lot colder than I expected. We have our first day of class at 9 in the morning tomorrow and it should be interesting. After class, lunch and siesta we are going to try and look for coats and maybe scarves. There are still sales from Christmas so it’s easy to find some good deals! Plus all off the stores here are to die for and have the cutest things that you will ever see in them. Bueno, es todo para hoy…Buenos Noches. (Well, that’s it for today, good night).
The Second Day
Saturday January 12, 2008
After getting about 12 hours of sleep, which really felt like 20 minutes, we all got up to turn into popsicles in the shower. Interesting fact, when you go to the shower...you should probably remember your towel. Yes, I Emily Beckmann, forgot this little bit of information. So after patting dry with the hand towel, I put my same clothes on from last night and sprinted to our room and got laughed at by my roommates, and rightfully so. So that just started the day our on the right foot, pretty funny though. We ate cornflakes with warm milk, toast with butter, and fruit for breakfast. All of the food so far has been pretty good. After breakfast, which was at noon today, we went out exploring for the first time. We got lost a couple of times but finally found the plaza in front of the building where we are going to have classes. They we walked around for a bit. At one point I stopped to take a picture in La Plaza de San Francisco and a guy around my age came up to me and asked me to take a picture for him. I did so and then he started talking to me in Spanish and asking where I was from. I came to find out that he was from Wales in the UK and spending three days in Seville alone. I also found out that he spoke English, which made conversing a lot easier! Allison and Sam finally realized that I was no longer taking a picture and came over to meeting my fairly attractive new friend from the UK. After we got done talking we left the plaza and walked around a bit more. We finally ran into a Cyber Café. We all got our own computer for a half hour in order to send out e-mails home which only cost .75 Euros, which I thought was really good. Then…I had an interesting experience. I was just typing away at the computer when another man around his thirties came and sat down at the computer next to me and said, “Hola.” But indeed “Hola” would not be the only thing that this guy would say to me. He introduced himself, tried kissing me, which I deflected with my cheek, and kept talking to me. Keep in mind this was all in Spanish. He was asking where I was from and such. I was trying to be polite but I also wanted to just check my e-mail and Facebook, my time was ticking down. When I signed onto Facebook he kept pointing to all of my friends and asking what their names were and what they were like. He asked if I was alone, and I made sure that he knew I was with Allison and Sam and here for strictly educational purposes. He asked me on a date and to a party later that night, but I kindly said, “No gracias”- “No thank you.” Then I turned to Allison and said, "I need help with this." She thought that I was talking about the computer, because everything is in Spanish, even the keyboard is different, but in fact I was referencing the creeper next to me! Luckily my time on the computer had run out, we told him it was nice to meet him, paid, and sprinted out into the street laughing hysterically. We headed home for lunch around 3pm. Rocio was at home waiting for us to make lunch. She made pasta with a red sauce and sausage, which was really good. We told her of our travels around the city and of the creeper in the Internet shop and she thought it was really funny. After lunch we headed out into the city again to do some shopping and to pick up the essentials like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and notebooks. We got these things from Corte Ingles, which is a huge store with everything similar to a Wal-Mart but with more of a department store look and feel. The things are a lot nicer as well. We stopped into a few of the stores on the streets. There are lots of “rebajas”- “rebates” because it is after Christmas. We tried figuring out the pay phones so I could use my phone card to call home, but that was not a success. We found the plaza outside of the building where our classes are going to be held, which is only about a 10-minute walk from our house. After looking around more we were all exhausted and came back and took a nap-“una siesta.” Rocio came in after we had gotten up and made dinner for us. We had fries, a deep fat fried ham and cheese sandwich, salad and chocolate pudding for dessert. Dinner is typically around 9:00pm to 9:30pm, lunch is around 3pm and breakfast at 8:30am. It has been different getting used to all of the different times to eat and sleep. Now we are just hanging out for the night, and we have a tour of the city tomorrow with our class starting at 11am. Finally, here are a few things that I have learned in the first few days of living in Spain.
1. All the people are gorgeous and very well dressed.
2. Cute shoes are a must; even for children…everyone wears heels or cute flats.
3. Watch where you are walking. All the streets are brick and there is glass and dog poop, and no one wants to be the winner to step on either of those things.
4. Things are not cheap- but I did find a Coke machine for 1.3 Euros, so that’s good. But I have not bought one; I think I’m doing good…It has almost been 48 hours!
5. Spaniards like to speak really quickly and they like to cut off the last part of words, and as you can imagine…its not the easiest to understand. The more I speak in Spanish, I’m sure the more comfortable it will become.
6. Take quick showers, its not as warm here as you would think.
7. There is a Burger King down the road!
A Day of International Travel
Friday January 11, 2008
Our journey started out at 9:15am in the morning where the 22 people on our trip met with our parents, luggage and aspirations for our upcoming four months in Spain. After we all received our packets with information and checked our luggage it was time to say our good-byes and head on our merry little ways. I couldn’t help but become nervous, excited, happy, sad…and many other different emotions at that time. It was finally hitting me. I was going to Spain, and I was well on my way. After getting my bag search through by TSA, apparently a 5’4 blonde girl is really threatening, we left from our airport in Des Moines and then headed to Atlanta, Georgia. There were thunderstorms on the way so our flight came in late and we had to hurry to get onto our next flight from Atlanta to JFK in New York. We had a three-hour layover in New York and we got the chance to explore the airport and buy some food. Although, we got there at about 7pm so there weren’t a lot of options still open. After taking down a salad, large Coke, and a BK dessert, I was ready to go. We left from JFK at 9:45pm and then started the long flight across the ocean. Our flight was approximately 7 hours long, dinner and breakfast included. The flight wasn’t too bad but the whole not sleeping thing was starting to wear on me. After a few choppy naps, some in-flight movies, airline food, and a surprise 3am essay in Spanish (yeah, not so easy) we finally made the decent into Madrid…and the Spanish began! We went through immigration, found our luggage, next was customs, literally a door marked customs…guarded by two Spanish Ken dolls in green. After waiting around for a while, we found out that we had to meet our driver at the bus station. We left the building and headed to the bus parking, all in the rain. Later our host mom, Encarna, will tell us that it had been sunny, then cloudy, and now that we were there it was raining. Our bus ride to the train station wasn’t very long but it was really interesting to be able to look around Madrid with all of the different housing, buildings, roads, signs…everything. We once again we hauled out all of our luggage and then made a massive mountain of suitcases by a row of seats in the station. We finally went to get our first meal in the train station, it was gross, but the good thing about it was the fact that I got what I ordered. After freshening up the in bathroom, at one point we had all of this sinks filled with girls from the trip brushing and primping, we were ready to board the train. The train was the nicest form of transportation that we took, and the most comfortable. If we had traveled any other way we it would have taken us six hours, but by train it took us 2 hours. I slept most of the way but woke up a few times to take-in the countryside. We arrived at the train station in Seville at 4:00pm and met David, the on-site director or coordinator for the program that we our in through Centro Mundo Lengua, and he took us to meet our host families. You could tell that they were all really excited. One host mom who had a male staying with her from our trip saw him and said “ohh, tengo un esposo nuevo,” – “ohh, I have a new husband.” Apparently she was really impressed with his looks! They were calling out names and they finally came to Emily, Allison, and Sam. Our host mom Encarna (short for Incarnation) hurried over and kissed us all on one check and then the other, which is customary in Spain. Then we hauled our luggage once again through the rain to her car. Imagine this…if you have ever seen the movies or shows or at the circus when there is a freakishly small clown car and 20 clowns pile into and out of it…that was us, plus luggage. So we played “How do we fit all of this” for a while and finally found the winning combination. While Encarna drove she pointed out a few different things in the city that are important, like churches, stores, and where she works as a teacher. The traffic here has no regulation. It’s a surprise that they don’t all die in car accidents; because they like to speed around and they definitely don’t follow many laws for traffic. The streets are really small too, so that doesn’t help. As we drove I explained to Encarna how much bigger the cars and streets were in the United States and she thought that was something else. We finally drove down a quaint little road and came to a huge wooden door. Encarna stopped the car in the middle of the road and we unloaded all of our stuff. After unlocking three doors, we finally got to the top of the staircase, which was a lot of fun to haul our suitcases up. When we arrived we meet Rocio, Encarna’s daughter who is 27, and her granddaughter Angela who is 5. After our introductions we were shown our room, which is right inside the front door. For Spain the rooms are large and the house is large as well. My roommates and I are sharing an icebox, I mean a room, and there is one set of bunk beds and another bed. There is a dining room, kitchen, salon, a patio with many plants, two bathrooms, and at least 3 other rooms in the house. I haven’t gone to the back part of the house where Encarna and her daughter Rocio live because she didn’t show them to us on our house tour, I just assumed that we weren’t supposed to go back there. Encarna was really nice to us and showed us around the house and showed us how to use the bathroom and how to lock and unlock all of the doors. All of the simple things that you take for granted and do everyday are different here. Besides the language barrier and second most frustrating thing is probably not being able to use and figure out the things around us. When you have to spend 5 minutes figuring out how to use the toilet you know that things are different. We got some time to ourselves, with which we unpacked all of our things. After a while Encarna made dinner, which consisted of a fried egg sandwiches, vegetable mush soup (mainly squash which was pretty gross), water and chocolate pudding for dessert. We went back to our room to organize a little more and Encarna and Angela came in to talk. We showed Encarna pictures from home and explained them and then gave her our gifts. Encarna saw the page about Coke in my scrapbook and told me that she loved Coke and that she always bought and drank it and from that moment on, I knew things were going to be great. I think I even told her that I loved her. Overall, things seem to have gone over well and her granddaughter was really enthused with the corn and tractor shaped chocolates that Allison brought. After that time we all got ready for bed and finally got to sleep after 26 hours of travel and around 6 more getting to our new home, eating and getting in bed.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Departure and Arrival Schedule: Jan 10-11th
Thu, Jan 10
Flights: DELTA AIR LINES INC, DL 4227 Operated by ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST
From: DES MOINES, IA (DSM)
Departs: 11:45am
To:ATLANTA, GA (ATL)
Arrives:2:49pm
Duration:2 hour(s) and 4 minute(s)
Mileage:743
Flights: DELTA AIR LINES INC, DL 0016
From: ATLANTA, GA (ATL)
Departs: 4:50pm
To:NEW YORK JFK, NY (JFK)
Arrives:7:20pm
Duration:2 hour(s) and 30 minute(s)
Mileage:756
Flights: DELTA AIR LINES INC, DL 0126
From: NEW YORK JFK, NY (JFK)
Departs: 9:45pm Thu, Jan 10
To:MADRID, SPAIN (MAD)
Arrives:11:20am Fri, Jan 11
Duration:7 hour(s) and 35 minute(s)
Mileage:3588
Fri, Jan 11
Rail
From: MADRID, SPAIN (MAD)
Departs: 2:00pm
To: SEVILLA, SPAIN (SVQ)
Arrives: 4:30pm
Train: TRAIN AVE 2140
Course Schedule
SPAN-319-SP Internship in Spain 3 Credits
SPAN-214-SP Spanish Culture and Civilization 3 Credits
SPAN-305-SP Survey Spanish Literature 3 Credits
SPAN-302-SP Advanced Spanish II 3 Credits
SPAN-216-SP Contemporary Spain 3 Credits
Class are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Once a week I will be volunteering to teach swimming lessons to handicapped children for my intership exerience.
