Albaicin and Asun

Waking up around 10 am to eat breakfast and going back to bed until about 12 is how today started. It's always a slow start after going out the night before. Rachael went to the gym and then we just hung out until lunch time; that's usually when I start to get motivated to actually do something. 

After lunch we met up with Michael and Maggie and went to the Albaicin to try to find our way around because we want to take our parents there. It was actually a lot easier than we expected. We stopped at the Mirador de San Nicolas and took a few pictures of the Alhambra.

After spending some time up in the Albaicin, we decided it was time to head on down a different way so we could know 2 ways to walk. On our walk down we looked up one of the streets and we saw people working. It was quite a pretty sight so we tried to capture the moment.

When we finished our walk down, we stopped in Plaza Nuevo for some ice cream. I got half Kit Kat and half Ferrero Rocher. It was delicious and I cannot wait to go back and have some more. We think that all of the heladerias (ice cream shops) just opened up in the past few days because the weather has been so nice lately.

Later on we went to H&M to waste time because I had an intercambio at 7:30 and it was only 6:30, but Maggie left to go home because she had tapas and an early dinner. Rachael and I both bought a pair of nude tights because here in Spain the girls wear tights under their dresses and skirts and even their shorts! We decided we should probably buy a pair so we could fit in. 

When we finished up at H&M we went to a shoe store quick to browse and then it was time for to go to the Fuente de Batallas (Fountain of Battles) to meet Asuncion. I ended up being about 7 minutes early and the fountain was absolutely stunning so I snapped a picture!

Soon Asuncion showed up, and introduced herself as Asun because that is what most people call her. We went to the cafe El Tren (where I went with Lourdes on our first intercambio) and we each got a cappuccino. We talked in Spanish and English and I feel like we both did a very good job keeping up with each other. Asun has already graduated with a civil engineering degree and she is going back to school for English. She is 29 and definitely doesn't look that old at all! When we were finishing up our intercambio, her boyfriend showed up to pick her up because they were going to hang out the rest of the evening. He is also learning English so we talked a little bit but it was harder to understand him because his Spanish accent was more obvious. 

When I returned home, it was dinner time (perfect timing) and then after dinner I got to Skype Shelbie! I really had not talked to her since I left for Spain because we both have been so busy. It was nice to catch up with her and hear about what is going on in her life! She is going Greek! Woohoo for her :) and even got special treatment to get a bid. 

After Skyping Shelbie I wasted away more time on the computer and tried to watch a movie, but it wouldn't load for me. So I attempted to go to bed... but didn't end up falling asleep until 2:30. What a shame!

Mom's Birthday and Flamenco Dance Class and Performance

Busy busy Friday!

Today we had our first round of Friday classes; this week it was for Tuesday and Thursday classes, so I only ended up having one class. The class was very easy and we even got to watch a video, a short YouTube clip, that is all about Granada. It is themed to the song Gangnam Style, and at the end there is a Harlem Shake.

If that link isn't working, this is the URL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoaxAzGYwUc

After class I came home and hung out until lunch time. Nothing exciting during the day... but today is my mom's birthday! So shout out to her :) Love you and miss you and cannot wait to see you in 10 days!

At 6:30 I had an event with SOL, flamenco dance classes, tapas, and then a flamenco performance, so I went to meet the group. We walked up to the Sacramonte barrio (neighborhood) where the classes and show were to be held. 

They are held in caves that are lined with chairs along the side and the back wall. There is a piece of wood (or some other material) in the middle so that their tap shoes can make the most noise without damaging the floor.

We learned a dance for about an hour and half. It was very simple motions but the dance instructor was very particular and didn't like it when you would add your own flare to it. He also expected us to move our hips like Shakira, which is impossible for me to do... so it was an interesting start to the evening, to say the least! We all were very giggly and laughing because it was funny to do too! I was unable to take pictures when I was doing it, but other people did, so Erika gets credit for the picture!

After the dance class we walked to tapas. On the way we stopped at two different locations because they had awesome views of the Alhambra at night.

We ate outside on the patio because we were all so hot from the walk and dancing. The atmosphere was very cool and there were pots hanging all over the walls. The tall thing is a heater, but they were not on when we went there.

We each got two rounds of drinks and I got my usual of tinto de verano. We also got three tapas. The first was fish and olives. I think that German said that they were anchovies, bocarrones, but they are the babies. The next tapa was fried eggplant with sugar cane syrup. The syrup was very sweet but it was very good and the egg plant reminded us of waffles. The final tapa was croquettas and french fries. Croquettas are fried balls of potatoes and usually a meat, mashed up.

When we finished tapas we returned to the caves for the flamenco performance. We sat against the back wall and had prime seating. There were two groups of dancers. The first one had 4 dancers, 3 females and one male (our dance instructor) and the second had 3 dancers, all females. Both of the groups each had their own singer and set of musicians, a drummer and a guitarist.

Before the show they took our drink orders because we each got one free drink. Halfway through the show, when they were switching dancing groups, we got our drinks. I ordered a sangria but it did not taste good at all! Ew!

This was our dance instructor!

Here is a video that I took of the dancers. I have 2 more videos but they won't upload. They can move their legs and feet so fast, without moving their torso. It's quite incredible!

When the show finished, Rachael and I returned home to egg bocadillos and yogurt for dinner. We then got ready and went out to Campus, a new place for us. It was really fun and the had an offer for 6 euro entry with drinks. We took them up on it and enjoyed the night drinking our screwdrivers! :)

Skyping Machine

Skype calls all day long, that was the theme for today. I went to my one and only class on Thursdays and returned home to attempt to sleep. It didn't work. So instead I watched Survivor from the night before because I knew that I was going to be Skyping Haley and my mom today and that they would like to talk about it. The Skype date with my mom during the week is because her birthday is on Friday, tomorrow, and I wanted to be able to talk to her relatively close to that. Plus I was unable to Skype my family this past weekend because I was in Morocco.

When I got my Skype call to talk with my mom, my dad was on the screen! I was shocked because I thought that he would have already been at work, or leaving for work, but I guess I did my math wrong for the time change. It was nice to Skype him for a little bit and tell them all about my trip to Morocco. That was the main point of the discussion. When my dad left for work, me and my mom talked about the new job that she had just recently got, CONGRATULATIONS! She seems very excited for it and I am excited for her too and hopefully it will be a smooth and easy transition. 

After Skyping, it was lunch time, and then I went to try to relax some more, but once again it was impossible. Instead I stayed awake and decided to try to plan out my fall semester at Winona. Lucky for me, the classes were listed online and I was able to plan things how I wanted them to be. I am currently a declared double major in Spanish and computer science, but I have been thinking about changing to finance or accounting since about December of this past year. The reason being because I struggled in my programming class this past fall and because I don't have as much of a passion as everyone else in my classes. I feel like I would be going to work just to do my job, rather than to enjoy something that I do. It is a hard choice to make to switch majors so late in the game because I am already behind because of studying abroad. It is also hard to say because I have never taken any accounting or finance courses. In the fall I would be taking my first introductory course, so I guess I will have to wait and see what comes of it. 

I am being very proactive and organized because scheduling isn't until April, but I want to have it accomplished for the most part so I can talk about things with my parents in person when they come to visit.. in less than 2 weeks!

Later in the day I got to Skype Karyn! She didn't have school today or tomorrow so she was home the majority of the day. It was nice to catch up with her and she even got to show me what we were going to be giving mom for her birthday. Nothing was really new with her so we just talked and "hung out" through Skype.

After dinner I got to Skype Haley! We talked about Survivor and it was nice to just catch up :) I hadn't talked to her for about a month so we had a lot to talk about.

When I finished up Skyping Haley it was time for bed. What a day of talking to a lot of people from America!

Spanish Cuisine Tasting

Normal Wednesday. Long day at CLM, 7.5 hours in total. The best part of the day was that in my Producion y Oral Escrita (POE) class we had a sub. Not just an substitute teacher, but the funniest one you could ever ask for.He showed up to class 10 minutes late and not knowing what was going on. He said that they just told him he had to go to Aula 6 and that we would tell him what was going on from there. I didn't have to turn in my recipe because he was not collecting anything. We corrected the worksheet that we had for homework and got off topic the whole time. We spent a good 10 minutes talking about the many different ways of saying sh*t in Spanish and English.  The substitute teacher even let us out 10 minutes early! What a great start to my afternoon.

If only my night class was as fun and easy. We took a practice test with and without notes and it made me realize the crazy high expectations for this professor! She wanted us to know more than any Spaniard on the street would every know!

After class Sam and I walked to the Ayuntamiento together to meet up with the rest of the SOL group for Spanish Cuisine and tasting. When we got there, half of the group had already left to go to the place and get situated. 

We started with bread and tasting 3 different extra virgin olive oils. I think that 2 of them originated from Granada and 1 was from another town in Spain.  From there we got to sample a white wine, also from somewhere in Spain. It was actually pretty good, figuring I'm not much of a wine person. 

After the explanation of the wine we got to try 4 different meats. Going from bottom left to top left, salchicharon, jamon serrano (ham), chorizo and lomo (pork).

After trying all the meats, which were all very good and flavorful, we got to try a red wine, which I did not like AT ALL. I am definitely not a fan of red wine. After the wine we got 4 different cheeses. One of them was half cow and half something else but I cannot remember what the other half was. One of the cheeses was soaked in olive oil. All were very delicious and had a taste of age to them.

Finally we ended with 5 deserts (only 4 are pictured though) which hit the spot! The white one was a little hard and reminded me of brittle. The brown one reminded me of the cookie dough for sugar cookies, very good. The one not picture reminded me of peanut butter. The yellow one was an orange desert, and finally the chocolate, well we all know what chocolate tastes like!

After the tasting I came home and ate dinner (barely able to) because I told Mila that I would be home for dinner. I told her that I didn't need soup, which definitely helped me to not become so bloated and full. After finishing dinner I caught up on the Amazing Race and went to bed.

PACKAGE!

Today started off as any other Tuesday. I was excited to go my class and get it over and done with because I had the rest of the day to sleep and get caught up on whatever sleep I had missed the past couple days. When I returned home from class, Mila stopped me and mentioned that I had received a package today and that it was on top of the desk in the bedroom. I knew exactly what it was!

I borrowed Mila's scissors to open the well-taped box and then I got to the good stuff! I had Gardettos, Funyuns, Doritos, Goldfish, Ritz Bits, Snickers, Reese's, fruit snacks, a pack of gum (no idea how that go through customs), pretzel rods, pretzel twists and probably more that I am forgetting. I had the goods!

I also had a nice note from home and some other things that I needed, such as bobby pins. I immediately snuck a pack of fruit snacks and sampled a Reese's. I forgot what peanut butter tasted like... Heaven! I then went and attempted to take a nap.

I was unable to get into deep sleep the whole day, before and after lunch, which was a shame because I knew that Wednesday was going to be exhausting as well. 

I also got to chat with Asun today (my new intercambio) about meeting up. We decided to meet up on Saturday at 6 pm. I cannot wait because I like to meet new people and I need to practice my Spanish in other ways that just in class. I also hope to make a life long friend! :)

After dinner I had to ask Mila for a recipe for one of my classes. I asked for the puree of vegetables that we had just had at lunch. It seems like a very easy and decently quick meal to make so maybe I will try it at home. We were also watching the Real Madrid vs. Manchester United soccer game on television and we were rooting for Madrid. Mila is a die hard Madrid fan and she cheers and yells at the TV like I do for the Packers. 

I wrote up the recipe on nice paper and went to bed. It had been a long day and I needed to get some rest, hoping that tonight I would be able to sleep.

Functioning on Little to No Sleep

After waking up just 3 and a half hours after going to bed, it was safe to say that I was exhausted. I ate breakfast and left early to walk to class because I knew that I was going to take my sweet time. 

My first class was good until I got called on to read my response for the homework. The answer was right but I had to explain myself, which I didn't know how to do because it was just one of those "I just know it is right" type of deals. The professor grilled me and kept on asking me questions that I did not understand. Helen, the girl next to me, tried to help me but she got scolded and was told that I needed to figure it out myself. Eventually the light came shining through and I figured out what she was asking me, but it was only after about 5 minutes of embarrassment. 

After that class I had people coming up to me apologizing for the professor being so rude and harsh and agreeing with me that they didn't understand the question either. It was relieving to know that I was not alone in my confusion.

My second class was brutal. It was all lecture and all in Spanish  Man do I despise that class. It is my least favorite class out of all of them here, Islamic Culture. After that class I walked home and unpacked my backpack so I could use it for school purposes. (I had used it as my luggage for the trip to Morocco  and hadn't had time to unpack it yet.)

I ate lunch and then soon there after I had to return to CLM to go to more classes. My next classes were easy, easy enough, and the usual that they always are. I managed to survive all my classes of the day and stay away. It was rough in my last class though because we went over Spanish history, and I hate history, it's not my cup of tea. 

After classes I returned home and ate dinner. I talked to my dad through email about how my trip was and he mentioned that my package had cleared customs that morning in Spain so it should be here any day now! I'm very excited to get the food that I have been craving and indulge. 

I also got to talk with Lourdes today. She wanted to know all about how my trip to Morocco was and she also wanted to give me the email to a girl in her class who was interested in doing intercambio with me because Lourdes no longer can. She has to study for a huge exam in June that determines if she can become a teacher or not, which is what she aspires to be. 

I emailed Asuncion, the girl who wanted to do intercambio, and let her know that I was interested as well. 

Hopefully I will not have another day with such little sleep again, but now I know that I can survive it and get through it.

Tanger and Asilah, Morocco

The morning started out with breakfast in the common room downstairs. The buffet style breakfast is just what is needed to get yourself going in the morning, not to mention the hot chocolate! It was nice to be able to try many different Moroccan types of food without getting huge helpings of it.

After breakfast, we packed up all of our stuff and loaded the buses to go to Tanger. The trip to Tanger, which is where we arrived on the ferry, was about an hour and a half ride. 

We stopped on the side of the road, by a dirt parking lot, where there was access to a beach as well. There were 5 camels all geared up and ready to take our on the opportunity to ride camels! Because there was over 100 of us, we had to take turns in groups of 5 so before riding the camels we took pictures by the ones that weren't strapped up.

During my camel ride, I handed off my camera to Amy to follow me and take pictures with it. Here are a few of the shots that she captured!

The camel that I rode was the biggest camel out of the 5 and he was a feisty one. He didn't like the fact that many people were riding him and the trainers gave him the name of Ali Baba. He even had a muzzle on his snout to control him. 

When it was time to get off the camel, the camels are instructed to lay down or sit but Ali Baba was thinking otherwise. As you can see in the picture I was a little worried that I wasn't going to ever get off and that I would somehow be thrown off. Luckily that wasn't that case and I was able to successfully jump down and off of Ali Baba. 

After we rode our camels we had time to waste while other groups went. We went down to the beach, Atlantic Ocean, and soaked up whatever sun there was, because once again it had rained earlier in the day.

When all of the groups finished their camel ride, we boarded the bus for about a 5 minute trek to a rest stop to use the bathrooms. The significance of this rest stop is that you can see where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. It is right behind the white light house in the picture.

After taking a few photos and getting some snacks we drove to the Cave of Hercules. This cave is a very cool landmark because it shows the silhouette of Africa backwards in its opening to the ocean. Also inside the cave there were shops or little places that vendors set up to sell their goods. There was water dripping from the top of the cave so we had to be careful where we stepped to avoid puddles.

After the cave, we boarded back on the bus to a restaurant right outside of Asilah, Morocco. The restaurant had a very cool set up and it reminded me of the Arabic tea houses that we go to in Granada.

For lunch we had cold vegetables and chicken with a yellow sauce and fries. Desert was a banana and an apple. There was also fresh bread, of course!

When we finished eating lunch we returned to the buses, yet again, to travel to Asilah. When we got there, the group did a Harlem Shake video (see YouTube) outside of a castle. From there we had a nice 20 minute tour of the town. The town is known for its paintings on the walls, which I took many pictures of. The blue walls are also present in Asilah but they are not as famous as Chefchaouen.

On the tour we stopped at a pier and walls that surround the city. From the pier there was a great view of the city! The white and blue really do stand out!

 There are cars in Asilah, which is another difference of Chefchaouen. As you can see here, the blue is evident in their architecture and their artwork.

After finishing the tour we had free time to shop and walk around. I exchanged a good majority of my durhams back to euros because I had forgotten to use them or stores wouldn't accept my high bill. I then bought a key chain for myself of the hand of fatima. I also bought Kristin and Karyn a little trinket from Africa and my mom and key chain! Bartering was a lot harder here than in Chefchaouen so I am glad that I bought what I did, when I did. I also bought 3 post cards so I can finally write home to my grandparents because I know they aren't able to read my blog (no internet). 

When we were all tired out of shopping we decided to wander the city a little bit and go to the beach. Next to the beach there was a lake that had a lot of fishing boats in it as well and I think that lake must have been fed through the ocean.

Soon there after it was time to go and return to Spain. We took the buses all the way back to Tanger. On the bus we were informed that 6 randomly chosen people from Granada were going to go to Sevilla with the other bus and the rest would return directly to Granada. Our nerves were on edge because we did not want to go the extra 2 and a half hours to Sevilla. Michael's name got chosen but Adam took his spot because Adam didn't have class until 3:30 pm on Monday. 

The bus ride back was a little rough because I was still not feeling 100% but I did survive. When we got to port we had to unload everything off of the buses and take it with us inside. We went through security and got our passports stamped. We had to wait inside a small room for about an hour and a half because the ferry had been delayed an hour, now leaving at 10 pm. Also waiting in the room was the group from Discover Madrid. When we were waiting we were served our kebaps and fries that we had the chance to order on the bus for 5 euros. This was the only meal that was not included. The kebap was really good and the fries, well they were drenched in oil. But it was still tasty!

Discover Madrid got to board the ferry first because they were there first and we had to wait outside in the cold air. When we were waiting, we witnessed 2 younger men (15-18 years old) being escorted out of the water and to the police van that they had waiting. They were in swimsuits and had plastic bags and were dripping wet. We assumed that they were trying to sneak onto the boat and not have to pay or go through customs to get to Spain. It was sad to see it happen but that is the justice system.

When we were on the ferry, we were delayed another our from leaving port because of how bad the weather was. The crew had to make sure that everything was secure and that nothing was going to fall off from the rough waves. Once we got going it was like a jetski ride, only on a ferry! It was intense and rough, no doubt about it. During the ride I started to feel a little queezy so I stepped outside on to the patio like deck, and I almost got blown away! The ferry was called the Tarifa Jet (city in Spain that we were going to) and let me tell you, it was definitely the fast ferry! It was going so fast that we were even getting splashed and we were on the 4th or 5th floor. The ferry was also rocking back and forth that it was hard to keep your balance when walking. Eventually I got over being queezy and I got to enjoy the ride, similar to a roller coaster.

When we reached land, Spain, we exited the ferry quickly because nobody wanted to be on it anymore. We had to go through customs and then we waited outside for our bus to come. When it was time to board the bus, Rachael and I had a plan to get good seats: I put the baggage under the bus and she gets on and gets the seats that have no limit on reclining. It worked! We had the best seats in the house! :)

I slept the majority of the bus ride, waking up for a little bit here and there. I had the window seat so it was a little easier to get comfortable. 

We returned to Granada at 5:15 in the morning and Rachael and I walked directly from the bus stop to our house without stopping. We were exhausted and ready for bed! 

The trip to Africa was a success! :)

http://www.discoverexcursions.com/