Intercambio

Today started with a long sleep. We woke up at like 10:30 so we got a good 10 hours of sleep. Nothing can top that feeling. We ate breakfast and got ready for the day. 

Rachael took me to the papeleria (paper store) that she found on her walk home one day because they have good deals on notebooks. I bought some more notebooks, which are with grid paper - a change for me. The regularly lined notebooks were double the price, which does not make sense to me but I have heard that most Spaniards use grid paper for their notebooks. I also bought an accordion folder to keep myself organized and another pencil and highlighter. That should be all the school supplies that I need for the rest of the semester... I hope!

When we got back from the bookstore, I checked my email. My Intercambio emailed me back!

What is Intercambio?

Intercambio is when a Spaniard studying English (or other languages) meets with a student who knows Spanish as well as English (or other language) and they get together to practice their speaking. For me, the connecting languages are Spanish and English.

How does Intercambio work?

Intercambio is a free program that is run through CLM and is available online or through the office. I filled out a profile online, briefly marking when I am available, what my interests are (out of a list) and what my main language is and what language I would like to practice. After this, you get a list of students who match up with your availability, language, and interests. From there you can read a brief summary that they write about them (optional) and pick who you want to meet up with. I also checked to see if they had a Facebook to see if we would mesh.

I picked 3 female students, one of who responded to my request soon after sending it. Her name is Lourdes and she is 18 years old. After I saw that she was interested in meeting up with me I sent her an email and today we have been going back and forth figuring out our schedules and when/where and what we want to do.

We decided on meeting at a fountain and then going out for a drink after I have class on Monday. I think that Lourdes and I will get along well because in our emails I apologized that my Spanish was not perfect and she said don't worry and just wait until you hear my English. She was also very forgiving to my grammatical and spelling mistakes. 

I am very excited to meet her and to get the exchange (Intercambio in English is inter exchange or language exchange) started and hopefully make a new friend! I am also very nervous because I am forced to speak Spanish so she can understand me and we can communicate with each other. Something like this experience will improve my Spanish like no other, more than a school situation can, because there is no English translations available. 

The rest of the day:

Take a nice siesta to prepare for the evening. Eat dinner and get ready.

I don't remember if I mentioned this in a previous blog or not but when Rachael, Michael and I were in the airport in Chicago, we met 4 girls from the Maine area who would be studying in Seville, Spain for the semester. Well it just so happens that they are in Granada this weekend with their program and we have been in touch and are planning on meeting up tonight to go to the bars and the club together. Hopefully it all works out because that would be a blast! We have exchanged phone numbers and been talking throughout the week planning tonight so now all that is left to do is to carry out the plan.

Albaicin and Sacramonte Tour

Today was a lazy day because we got to bed at around 5:30 am and Rachael and I were wide awake at 9 am. We have no idea why we were up so early but  our bodies must have had a natural alarm clock, in case we did have school today. We then went back to bed, only half sleeping, until about 11:15 and we figured it was time to go eat some breakfast. We ate breakfast and went back to bed. 

We had to start to get ready for the day around 2 because at 3:30 we had to leave for the Albaicin and Sacramonte Tour with our group. We ate lunch and we met and the school for the start of the tour. Today there were about 7 or 8 new people to SOL. They are part of the late program and arrived in Granada last week sometime. The three guys on the right are new to program. The one in the red hat is named Adrian and he is from California. The guy in the middle is named Alex and he is from Australia; his accent is great to listen to! The guy on the end is named Ian and he is from Massachusetts.

Throughout the tour we got to see a lot of cool views of the city and we learned about different areas and buildings. One interesting thing is that Muslims would build Catholic buildings, because it was work, but since they only had the materials available to Muslims, the buildings did not look Catholic, only the doors did. 

We stopped outside a cafe to take a break and we looked over the edge and there were 5 or 6 cats sitting there! 

We got to a point in the tour where there was an overlook where you could see the Alhambra perfectly! These shots are from that point. Breathtaking! German told us that it is said that this location has the best views of a sunset in the whole world! Who knows if that is true or bias but I would believe it!

Rachael and I in front of an overlook on the way up hill! :)

Tonight Rachael and I are staying in and relaxing and mainly catching up on our sleep! We are pretty excited to get a good night's sleep, because it has been a while since that has happened!

Trufa Helado

Today was a day of napping and partying. I only had class for an hour and a half in the morning so when I returned home I toke a nice 3 hour nap, ate lunch, and then was lazy the rest of the day. When Rachael left for her night class I slept some more because I was so lazy I had nothing else to do.

We ate dinner at a good time and then got ready for the night. We met up with Michael and Sam and we walked to Rey Fernando's Heladeria (ice cream shop). I got trufa ice cream, truffle, and it was the richest and best ice cream I have had in a long time. The texture reminded me of custard more than ice cream, which was definitely a plus. 

Once we were kicked out of the shop because they were close, we still had time to waste before the club got started (things don't usually start until around 12:30 to 1 am for Americans and 1:30 to 2:30 for Spaniards). Michael knew of a tapas bar called Poë so we decided to check that place out. I ordered a tinto de verano and for my tapa I had a skewer with grilled pork and pineapple on it. It was to die for, so good!

After munching and wasting some time we decided it was a good time to WALK (all the way) to Camborio. It was about a 30 minute walk from the bar, part way was uphill too. We saved about 7 euros by walking, which is a good deal in our book because it was only 50 or so degrees outside. 

On our walk, Michael and I were doing cheers from Bring it On and all of us were singing Disney movie songs. It made the time fly and it was a blast from the past. Brought back a lot of childhood memories! There is also an AWESOME view of the Alhambra on the walk up to Camborio. We took a couple of pictures in front of the view.

Rachael and I got into the club for free because we wrote our names on the Facebook wall, so once again, saving money! There also was an open bar with free tinto de verano and/or beer for the ladies until 1:30 am so we took advantage of that as well, figuring it was only 12:30 when we got there!

Soon after arriving  the rest of our SOL group showed up and we all met up and caught up on the day. We then got our dance on!

Later in the evening after going to the bathroom, I was washing my hands, and a girl pushed me out of the way. At first I was caught off guard and was quite confused as to why she did it. I then realized that there was a different girl who had too much to drink, and her body was rejecting it... She decided the sink (where I was washing my hands) was the best place to leave her mark. I am SO thankful that girl pushed me out of the way because she saved me from a HUGE mess. Looking back, it is pretty funny; Too much tinto for her!

Rachael and I walked home after leaving the club, again to save money. The 40 minute walk went by surprisingly fast because we talked the whole way. We then stayed up until about 5 am. 

What a night!

Insert Clever Title Here

Happy Hump Day!

Its already half way through the week, crazy! Technically it is more than half way for me because I don't have classes on Fridays, hallelujah! 

I was granted a huge relief today because one of my 4 classes was cancelled! Life does not get any better than that. So Michael and I went to the bookstore  to buy one of our textbooks, that was out of stock, and then we went to get a slice of pizza. 

I went home to find Rachael there. She switched her schedule around and is now in Hispanic Studies instead of Culture and Language. She now has an opposite schedule of me, so it will be interesting to see when we see each other. 

I took a quick cat nap before lunch and after lunch I was surprisingly greeted by the Bachelor being online from Monday night's show. I got to watch only 8 minutes of it before having to leave to go to class. What a shame. Between my classes, for my hour and a half break, I was planning on watching it but it wouldn't load. But again to my surprise, the episode from Tuesday night was online as well! 2 Night Special! Woohoo!

Tonight I am going to watch both episodes and get all caught up with my Bachelor drama. I cannot wait. But first I have to survive my last class of today, Spanish Culture and Civilization. The teacher seems to be a little whack and crazy so we will see how that goes.

After class Rachael and I are debating on going to Hannigans for a bit to watch futbol with our SOL group or going to get churros before dinner. We cannot decide, but either way, it will be a good end to a stressful day!

One Class Tuesday

Today was my first day of classes for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I only have one class, from 8:30 to 10 am which is nice but makes my Mondays and Wednesdays a lot more packed. My class is Varidades de Espanol, which is similar to the different dialects of Spanish throughout Spain, as well as linguistics and phonetics. I have Michael, Leah, and Ruth Ann in my class. It seems like I have somebody from SOL in every single one of my classes.

After class, I had the WHOLE day to do whatever I wanted. I came home and I FINALLY caught up on my blog. As you can see. I also watched the Bachelor, from the previous week and was waiting all day for the last night's episode to load... It never did... :/ After watching one episode I took a nap, a nice long nap and then Rachael got home. We ate lunch, a puree of vegetables and fish. In Spain, or at least in Mila's house, we eat a lot of puree. I don't know if that is common or just because of her diet. It's not that bad actually. 

After lunch I took another nap and played around on the computer. When I woke up from my nap.. or resting.. I went for a run in the park that is a few blocks away from here. It was a beautiful day and it was the perfect time to go running, with the sun setting and it still being cool but warm. 

I came back from running and Rachael and I went to the grocery store to buy more chocolate. Being in Spain makes us crave chocolate because you don't really get any sweets with your meals. I also bought some more cookies (chocolate filled, of course), chocolate covered peanuts and some dried apricots. All to fill my sweet tooth!

We came back home and ate dinner and relaxed the rest of the night. Life is easy for my Tuesdays and Thursdays.

First day of Semester Classes

Got a good night's sleep back in own bed. My own bed for the 5 months that I am here. Such a good night's sleep that I forgot to turn my volume up on my alarm so it was silent and I slept right through it, obviously. I was supposed to wake up at 9:00 for my 10:00 class but I was up at 8:30 and decided that was too early to actually get out of bed, so I lay back down and next thing you know it, I randomly wake up and check the time and its 9:25! Oh boy was I ever in a rush and panic because it is a 15 to 20 minute walk to get to the building that my classes are in! I quickly threw on some clothes and ate breakfast and I was out the door like that! Luckily I was supposed to meet anyone to walk with and I got to speed walk to class.

I made it on time to my first class. I was even there with about 5 minutes to spare and I got to see Michael, Leah, Maggie, Liz, Ruth Ann and a few others from my group. They were all very excited to see me and wondering how my trip went. Too bad there was limited time and we couldn't catch up more. My classes for the semester are as follows (in Spanish and in Military time)...

On Mondays and Wednesdays I go from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm straight with 2 classes. Then I go home for lunch and have 1 class from 3:30 - 5:00. From there I just sat in a random empty class room and went on my computer for the next hour and a half because my next class, and final class for the day is at 6:30 til 8:00. I have class with a lot of people from my SOL group, which is nice, as well as people from my Intensive month class. Seeing familiar faces makes everything more comfortable and less stressful.

At night I caught up on my blogs, this is the last post that I have to do that is from me being caught up! Remembering everything that I was VERY hard to do and I will probably be adding and updating more as I remember to my blog posts from Tuesday - Saturday. 

Sleepy Sunday

Sunday morning we woke up at 8 am to leave for our bus to the airport at 8:45. We were in a bit of a hurry because we did not have our own private bathroom and there were 2 shared bathrooms that were occupied consistently throughout the morning hours. We ate our breakfast, made sandwiches for the day and left the hotel!

When we got the bus station, the bus wasn't there yet, but it showed up soon after. We boarded and got another tour of the city of Rome because the bus ride had 2 other stops to pick up people and took you through the city. The buses and cars in Rome drive SO close to each other that you feel like you're going to hit the car in front of you. I'm surprised more accidents don't happen.

When we got to the airport we had to check in and check the weight on our luggage. The limit was 10 kg again, buy mine was probably around 12 kg. If you are over the weight limit they make you check it and pay about 40 euros for that. Luckily I thought up a master plan of having Rachael and I check in first and Sam stand by my luggage and then we switched spots. It worked! :) Saved me a good lump sum. 

When we boarded the plane, I felt like I was going to fall asleep right away I was so exhausted. We sat on the run way for about 30 minutes without moving and nobody knew what was going on, but we still managed to land in Malaga on time.

In Malaga we had an hour and a half to waste until our bus to Granada came, so Rachael and I went into the sunny area that had palm trees and relaxed on the benches. It was probably about 65 degrees outside.. SUMMER TIME! 

When we boarded the bus they offered us a bag of goodies, because we booked a supra bus (not knowing the difference). The bag included a water bottle, some toasted peanuts and a pastry bread thing that was really good! I slept the majority of the bus ride to Granada. Once arriving we had to take another bus to get back to our part of town. 

When we got home, I Skyped my family and told them all about my trip. We also are still trying to plan my flight to Barcelona for my spring break trip. It was hard to do because my class schedule for the next semester (starting Monday, the next day) was not online. There must have been a glitch in the system because one of my directors had to email me my schedule.

Sunday night we ate dinner. It was nice to be able to just walk 2 steps to the dinner table and not have to worry about paying for a meal or even finding where to eat for that matter. It was good to be home!

I have uploaded all of my pictures from Venice and Rome to Facebook (in albums) because I ended up taking over 300 pictures total. Too many for a blog!

Rachael and I called it an early night, not watching the Super Bowl because we were exhausted and we had class the next day.