Great. Just what I needed.

So now there is a very real possibility that I will not make it home tomorrow because of the Iberia pilots being on strike. Peter's flight got "delayed" 20 hours, and another girl, Casey, had her flight cancelled too.

I just want to go home.

So this is goodbye...

So my finals are officially over! I am very excited. I think I did well for the most part (my Islam final will always be a little iffy. But hooray! Now I have the rest of today and tomorrow to relax, pack, say goodbye to people, and get ready to return home.

Now that’s something.

I still cannot believe that it is over. Becky is done today, and is leaving to go to Portugal with her parents. Peter leaves tomorrow. Then there I go.

It’s been a wonderful ride, guys, and I just wanted to thank those of you who stuck it out and read this, even if not regularly, and left me little notes or sent me e-mails. I truly appreciated it, and cannot thank you enough.

Ick. Packing does not sound at all appealing. I do not know how I am going to get this all home. BUT I know that if my bags are too heavy, it will cost me less to pay for the extra weight there than if I sent stuff home. That being said, I don’t really care. It’s all coming home whether they like it or not!

I have been kind of feverish the last day and a half. It hasn’t been so fun. My throat’s been killing me too, and all of that on top of finals has just been excellent, let me tell you. BUT IT IS OVER NOW!! :) I just have this super fun dry block of wonderment stuck in my chest that I cannot cough up because it is so so painful! My throat hurts, but not as bad as yesterday, and I am happy my fever is gone.

Buuuuuut yeah. If you ever get the chance to come to Spain, do it. Go to Granada and see a little piece of what I called home for a semester. You will love it, if you’re lucky enough to make it here. If not, indulge yourself in the pictures I took. There’s enough of them there to keep you busy for quite awhile.

I have already started a list of the things that I want to eat upon my return (don’t laugh! Ok…go ahead, fine!):

Olive Garden’s fettuccini alfredo
Steak and Shake chicken tenders and cheese fries
Taco Bell tacos and cheesey fiesta potatoes
Portillos hot dog and cheese fries
Noodles and Co. mac and cheese and buttered noodles
Panera broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl
Aurelio’s pizza
Chef’s kitchen pizza from Jewel
Mac and Cheese
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brownies
Rice Krispy Treats
Nachos and queso
Chips and Salsa
Goldfish Crackers
Corned Beef Hash
Cinnamon Roll French toast from Egg’lectic
Eggo Waffles with syrup
Eggo Waffles with peanut butter

Hope you enjoyed that one. :)

What I wouldn’t give for a nice massage and a manicure/pedicure right now. Mom? You up for it? Hm? Hm? We shall talk.

I cannot wait to sleep in my own comfy bed at home with a warm room and blankets to squish around in. And seeing my parents and puppies. And my friends from home and school. I cannot waaaait!! I just hope everyone is as excited as I am, but I am not going to get my hopes up too, too high, because Veronica says we shouldn’t. The whole culture shock re-entry thing.

That’s something to look forward to, I am sure.

But yes, it is possible that this is the last post I have on here, so again, thank you all so much for reading and flipping through the pictures and all that. I love you all for it, trust me.

Here goes nothing I guess.

…I just hope Iberia doesn’t decide to cancel my flight. I will not be a happy camper. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Much love from Spain for the last time,

M.

A few things...

1. I have a fever. Yes, three days before I need to leave, my stupid body decides to come down with a fever. Wonderful.

2. I got not enough sleep last night because of my fever, and thus am exhausted and I have 2 finals today. Super!

3. I started packing yesterday. Yikes. And we gave Alejandro his present: A book of magic tricks!

4. I am so not ready for my Islam final tomorrow. Not even close. There is way too much information to jam into my non-functioning, feverish brain. Give me another aspirin, pronto!

5. I only have 3 days left, and I don't know how that happened, but I am not ready to go home! I mean, I am, but I am not. I know that makes zero sense, but it makes sense to me!

6. I CANNOT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS!!

The end.

Grr. This would happen.

rdlirgchngbh GRR! The charger to my computer batter is broken. And my battery is going to die in less than an hour. Wonderful.

And I had to eat TOO MANY mushrooms in my pasta again at lunch. Not happy.

We had our bye-bye dinner last night, and it was a lot of fun. I will put the pictures up sometime soon, I promise.

I don't have much to write, I have a lot of things to go do!

Besitos.

There is an abnormally large nativity scene in our school courtyard...

Ok.

So this may be one of the last posts I write until after I finish my finals. That will not be until Tuesday, so expect something PROBABLY on Wednesday, though I will be spending most of my time packing and such, but I want to start that sometime sooner as well.

Le sigh.

Well, more lasts. Ready?

Last classes of the semester. So happy that’s over with..
Last Tutorial class with Jose. He seemed as if he was going to cry because he got kind of emotional and told us that this is his least favorite part of the semester, saying goodbye to everyone.
Last large group meeting with Veronica.

BUT! There are some firsts happening too, so it’s alright:

First tetería I’ve been to. It, apparently, is older than the Alhambra because it once used to be a part of the Arab Baths (which are next door).
First final in Spain—Phonetics. It wasn’t too horrible, but I think the rest that are coming might.
First written paper turned in to Jose for Granada Seminar. (Hooray! A bunch of days early!)

So yes. I am very busy because I had a final in Grammar today. Two on Monday, and one on Tuesday to go. Yuck.

We also have our farewell dinner on Thursday, which should be fun. We get fancy pizza, and I am so excited!! We also have the basketball game on Saturday, and I must must must start packing soon, no matter what. I need to get it over with.

For your viewing pleasure (and to get it suck in your head!!) take a look-see at this:



Isn’t that quite the doosie. :) Oh the things we learn from Jose…

Anne leaves FRIDAY and I cannot believe it. What the heck?! How did the time go so quickly? I simply do not understand. Ok, so I know how it did, due to my traveling everywhere I could get tickets to, and just having a blast. Sure I had my bad spots too, but that’s normal life I guess.

I am excited to see my parents and my friends from home again even if I will miss this place a lot.

Tra la la that’s all for now because I need to study! Yuck.

Besitos a todos!

Eep.

Tomorrow I hit single digits, guys.

11 days to go and finals on the way...

Oy vey. I don't really want to do anything today...but I must! I have finals coming up (one this Thursday--Grammar, two on Monday--Lit and Latin America, and one of Tuesday--Islam) so I really need to get my butt in gear! Good thing there is nothing to do today since it is a holiday, and nothing is open, and it is Sunday anyway. But that's alright. I only have 11 more days. Yikes!

The trip I took to the Sierra Nevada's was excellent. I put pictures up, so go check them out! There aren't too many (less than 30) and there are other people in them! :) We took the 10:00 bus there, and it only took about an hour to get up there, though the way was really curvy and was making everyone sick. I feel asleep, as usual, but Anne woke me up when there were some cows eating grass in the snow on the side of the road! It was cool.

Once we got up there, we wandered around for awhile, and then went on this snow roller coaster type thing, which was hilarious. Anne had to hold my backpack in her lap when we were going and I had to control the breaks and accelerator! After that, we checked out the skating rink, but didn't skate because the rink was kind of really awful and needed a zamboni really badly.

Then we went up to the top of the mountain on the ski lift, and it was really beautiful. The entire place was really beautiful! But then Tanya, Anne, Sara and I wandered around for awhile, and then Tanya, Sara and I left Anne and the girls from her program up there to head back down and get something to eat.

We ended up taking the 6:30 bus home, and by the time we were leaving, the sun was going down and it was FREEZING cold. The rest of the day had been just fine...maybe a little chilly, but nothing too awful. I came back and was exhausted and ended up falling asleep on the bus, AGAIN!

I hadn't planned on going out last night because I was so tired, but Tanya and Bri talked me into it. We ended up checking out this one bar (called El Perro Andalus, after the Dali movie [which we watched in class the other day...]) that our friend Katie suggested. She said it was pretty cool, and the drinks were cheap. When we got there, we found out that it was one of those heavy-metal rock type bars, which had posters for bands like Ironmaiden and Megadeth on the ceiling and walls. It was interesting, and we definitely didn't fit in, but it was still fun. Then we went to a couple of other bars we had never been to and it was a good time.

So thus continues my long weekend. I should probably get going...but check out my pictures if you get a chance, and even drop me a line and say hello!

Adios.

My boots are drying on the calefaccion as we speak!

I just found out that my boots are still wet inside from Tuesday when it rained. Gross. They just don't get much air in there to dry, and the apartment isn't very warm all the time (just from 3:30pm-10:30pm), so I put them on the radiator today to dry. Here's to hoping they don't shrink or do something weird!

It's been a busy couple days, though Monday and Tuesday seemed to take forever. It was a week of the first "lasts"...we had our last Granada Seminar and Phonetics classes with Jose...I am still not sure how I feel about this. I am really going to miss Granada when I go home. I have a lot to do this weekend, but even more things I would rather do instead since we have Monday off due to the Fiesta de la Concepción Inmaculada.

Not to worry--I have already done my share of fun things, and it's still only Friday! Yesterday after lunch, I went to visit the Capilla Real with Sara (THE PICTURES ARE UP GO LOOK!) and it was wonderful, and beautiful, just like every cathedral in Spain. Then we went to search for the other olive oil shop that Jose had told us about (since the first one didn't seem like what we were expecting) and could not find it anywhere! He told us it was near Plaza Trinidad...and we walked all over the place, and nothing. So then we were about to give up and just go eat a snack and when we were walking down this one skinny street (like all the other streets in Granada) a car was coming our way, and we moved to the side of the road and basically fell into the place we were looking for! It was amazing!

The woman is from Australia originally, and was very helpful. We just told her what we were looking for, and she knew exactly what to do. We tried a bunch of different oils, and some honey, and even some sherry! It was probably one of the most ironic moments of my entire life. :)

After that, we headed home. After dinner, though, Sara and I met up with Anne and the people in her program at Batan, and had a good old time. Then Anne came up to me and told me she wanted to go to Camborio (the night club up in Sacramonte in the caves) and I was astounded! When has that ever happened?! But we went and danced and had so much fun, even if we were out too late (oops...)!

Then today, Anne and I went to El Parque de las Ciencias (THERE ARE PICTURES OF THIS TOO! GO SEE!!!) and it reminded me a lot of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We spent 3 hours or so there, and then had to leave because we were starving.

Now I am pooped, and need to get some work done. I am staying in, for sure, and getting a good nights sleep because tomorrow a bunch of us are going to the Sierra Nevadas! I cannot wait. We might go sledding if it isn't too expensive (let's hope!!) and my Señora says that it is beautiful, but I need to remember my sunscreen.

Check!

So that's all she wrote. I come home in 13 days, get excited!

I want to try eating 12 grapes with each stroke of midnight on New Years Eve like the Spanish...

Hola otra vez!

Today has been a very weird day. It seemed to drag, and now I am completely exhausted. I was planning on going for tapas but now I am not because I am too tired. Sorry Peter and Chase.

I tried my first Spanish Christmas goodies today, thanks to our Granada Seminar professor, Jose. The first is called Alfajor de Almendra, and it reminded me of a soft almond crescent, with a hint of lemon. I liked it the best out of the two.

The second is called Rosco de Vino, and its shaped like a donut, and tasted remotely of black licorice. No thanks.

Today we also had our very last meeting with Veronica (except for the full group meeting next week, and the “bye-bye dinner” [as she calls it]), and it was very bitter sweet. We talked about going home and all that, and she gave us this form to use to organize our thoughts, and I think I will share it with you:

1. When I think of leaving, I feel…conflicted. I really want to be home with my friends and family, but it almost seems too soon to be leaving. I still feel like we just got here, but yet it feels like I’ve been here forever.
2. My experience here has been…absolutely wonderful. I have learned a lot about myself, and have gained a greater appreciation for the little things I took for granted at home.
3. For me, Spain has been…a learning experience. I have broadened my food horizon a ton, learned that I am a lot tougher than I thought, and have learned a ton about Spanish culture and the language.
4. The things that I will miss are…being able to relax a lot more and not worry about things so much. Siestas. Traveling. Tapas. The friends I have made. My host family. Too many things…
5. The things that I will be happy to leave behind me are…the creepy, leering Spanish men. How no one knows how to walk on their side of the sidewalk. Dog poop everywhere on the sidewalks. All the second-hand smoke. The freezing house at night.
6. When I talk to other students about leaving…we cannot believe it is time to leave! It is even harder than when I had to come to grips with leaving for the semester!
7. When leaving a place, I usually…try to fit in too many things, see too many people. I keep to myself and get very reflective at times too. Many times, I cry, even though it is embarrassing.
8. The easiest point of leaving for me will be…returning to my family and friends that I’ve missed, and the food I have been craving that they do not have in Spain.
9. Before I leave, I really want to…visit the arab baths. Parque de las Ciencias. The Cartuja. Explore more. Get tapas again. Visit Federico García Lorca’s house…too much.
10. The ways I think I have changed are…I learned I am a lot more independent than I realized. I am a lot more open to change, and have become more patient and grateful for what I have.
11. The most stressful part of leaving will be…getting to the airport for my 7am flight! And saying my goodbyes…
12. When I think of returning to my country I feel…excited but overwhelmed. I have A LOT to go back to and throw myself back into! I am happy to see my family and friends again, though, but it will be a tough adjustment.
13. The ways I think my friends have changed are…I have no idea. Life goes on even while I am not there. They’ve probably matured and changed in their own ways. I will only notice when I get there.
14. I will be going back to…lots of family. Christmas. Kappa Delta. Bradley. Internship applications. Books. Classes. Real lilfe.
15. I think my family will expect me to…tell them everything, show them all of my pictures, and be really upbeat all the time. Be an entirely new person, which I am, but I am not.
16. I expect that my friends at home will…be excited I am home, but also have to adjust to my return themselves. They will have changed too.
17. I think the hardest part of going back for me will be…adjusting to the life I missed the semester before with the people who lived it without me. Food times. The scenery!
18. I think the easiest thing for me to handle will be…the food! I can’t wait. Being with my family because they are always there no matter what.
19. I am really looking forward to…Christmas with my family. The 3rd Annual Bradley Family Dinner. Ana’s visit. Home food. Baked goods. Working out (who knew?!). Having no language barrier. My own room. My doggies. My comfy bed. Soft laundry. Being in Kappa Delta again. The Banambra!

And that concludes that. Now to go over some more Islam slides…

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up in the morning when the day is new?

I am currently jamming out to the Beach Boys and it is glorious! Man how I have missed them. It definitely bring back memories of my childhood. :)

Pictures are up from Thanksgiving and all that jazz, if you want to look. There are only 19 photos or so, so don't get too excited.

I had an in-class essay tonight for my Latin American Civ and Culture class...but he let us use our notes, which was nice, but kind of weird. This was our "midterm" I guess, even though our final is in two weeks. Yikes, two weeks!? Where has the time gone?!

We watched The Motorcycle Diaries today with our program. I absolutely LOVE that movie, and Gael Garcia Burnal is absolutely gorgeous! I was pleasantly surprised how much of it I was able to pick up without any subtitles at all! :) That definitely makes me happy!

That's about all I've got from the homefront. Enrique is still in the pueblo and could be stuck there because it snowed up there. Other than that I only have (20 minutes til) 16 days left.

And I have officially started my advent calendar! Happy December everybody.

Turkey(less) Day, (fake) Black Friday, and the best Tapas I've had

Oh, hello there! :)

Now that the festivities and I am stuck doing my homework and starting my study ventures for finals, I thought this would be the perfect time to update about Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and yesterday! Oh the life of procrastination. It has followed me, even here. Oops.

My program had Thanksgiving dinner up in the Albycin and this really wonderful restaurant, whose name I do not recall. We had a delicious 6 course meal of the following:

1: Salad and fruit (there will be a picture of this when I put the pictures up!). There was a weird vinegar drizzle over everything, which made the kiwi taste absolutely awful but that's alright. The rest of the fruit was delicious and very welcome.

2: Assorted meats and cheese, like chorizo, which some people made sandwiches out of, haha. It was normal tapa food.

3: Bring on the fried fishies and shrimp. There was shrimp (which were delicious), medusa (I was not even aware this was a real kind of fish), anchovies (I didn't partake, I am sick of them by now. Thanks Senora!), and some other thick fish I do not know the name of that you need to prepare with lemon juice and cut into chunks because it is fried. It was my favorite out of all the fishies.

4: Ham croquetas and pasta salad. The pasta salad had zero taste at all, but the croquetas were absolutely delicious. I have only ever had chicken and beef croquetas at my senora's house, so this was a nice change. I still like the chicken ones best, however.

5: The main meal. Instead of your proverbial turkey-filled Thanksgiving meal, we had, uh. Pork chops. Yes, pork chops. For those of you who know me well, you know the problem with this, and for those of you who don't...well, I abhor pork chops. Absolutely. But I ate them. Pork chops with a Marsala glaze and 2 raisins, and french fries instead of turkey and mashed potatoes. Who knew?

6: Dessert (is stressed spelled backwards...)! We had this flan-type dessert, which was the best flan I have ever had in my ENTIRE life. It was so delicious, and it wasn't really bitter on the bottom like it usually is. I was so full at this point, but I made room because there was just no other option!

And then we also could have water, wine, beer, and pop with our meals. It was a wonderful time, and then afterwards our program directors took us out with them to this nice bar called Gustav near Plaza Nueva. It was so much fun.

Then came Black Friday. In the true spirit of the craziness going on in the states, Anne and I spent the day wandering around in shops and doing some shopping. No shoving was involved, thank goodness, but now I have all of my Christmas shopping done! Hooray! Well, close. I have one or two things left to get, but I am waiting until later to see if somehow the prices go down, and if not, well, I will re-evaluate. :) But I got a wonderful new winter jacket from Mango, as well as a sweater, and a sweater dress from Zara for myself. And the a bunch of stuff for everyone else. I spent too much money, but it was worth it.

Last night Anna, Peter, Sara, Ben, Tanya and I went to this tapa bar called Poe (with the umlaut over the e) and they had the most wonderful tapas ever! They actually had some spice! We spent quite a bit of time there enjoying ourselves, and then headed to this bar called (feel free to laugh, I did) L'Escandolo and it was actually really nice and fun. After getting a call from Becky and Shay, we left to go meet up with them at Hannigans, but then left shortly after that because we were tired and it was late. It was raining the entire walk home, and I think I had more water in my shoes than not. It was gross.

Now I am here wasting time instead of doing homework, even though I really should. I will, but right now, no.

But that's all I've got, so yeah. Have a wonderful dayyyy! Hasta pronto (en 18 dias!)!!!

Hooray!

I woke up from my nap today to find that the internet connection I discovered last night (which also pooped out on me 15 minutes later...and could quite possibly poop out on me at any time) is back!

So I am using it here while I still can before I have to head back to school. The connection wavers every once in awhile, but is still relatively speedy, so we shall see.

I am in a very productive mood. Not productive in the way that I want to get lots of things done, but more so that I want to create things. Write things, to be more specific. I think it's thanks to reading Mairead's Blog and the essay and short stories she's recently published (I am a big fan!), but also from my literature class. It really makes me want to be one of those wonderful of yore (or at least be able to write as fantastically!) and when I sit down to do it...

Nothing.

It's highly frustrating.

But in other words...I have 22 days left here, and I have absolutely NO idea how I am going to get all of this stuff home. I know all of my toiletries (or well, most of them) will be gone and I have that weight to fill, and the extra I had coming here, but still. I think I will have one heavy carry on. Yikes.

Here's to hoping I can get everything back in one piece. Especially the breakables!

Speaking of going home...I think I found at least 2 people who are going back on the same flight to Madrid as I am! And I can share a cab with them so it isn't so expensive! Hooray!

I think that is all for now. I may have to start studying for finals soon...so if I go AWOL...that's why. But I do not think it will be a problem.

Mucho amor.

Oh!--Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow everyone!

The excitement continues

So the other day I posted about how there was a cockroach in my room.

WELL.

I guess my Senora did not locate the bugger like she said she would. And, well.

I found it.

I picked up a stack of papers that had been on the floor, and bloop. There he was, dead, sitting next to me on my bed! I shouted, ran out of my room into the living room where my host family was sitting watching television (as always!) and they asked what was wrong, and I explained. My Senora then went to the kitchen and returned with a broom and a dustpan, and scooped him up, and then insisted on getting me a new comforter for my bed, which she did, and then that was that.

And then a pigeon almost flew into me on my walk back to school. Had I not ducked...well, it would have been a bad situation.

I hate birds.

BUT!

This weekend I was in Sevilla and Cordoba. I love love LOVED Sevilla. It was very charming, and beautiful, but somehow it had more of a big city feel than I found even Barcelona had. I don't exactly know why. Maybe it was because the streets were more what I am used to at home, and not the dark, winding roads of Granada. They certainly did wind, though, because we got lost a lot! Even with a map!

Cordoba was what I was expecting it to be. I have always been told that it isn't anything too exciting, and it really wasn't. The mosque was beautiful, sure, but there wasn't much outside of that to keep us occupied.

But, just like always, there are new pictures up.

I even have pictures up from my class trip to San Jeronimo on Friday.

Not much else is new. I only have 24 days until I come home.

Too weird.

Back in Granada, again.

I am so exhausted. Just got back from Sevilla. Will write more tomorrow.

I am going to vomit...

I just took my Islam midterm, and I think I did well! Yay hooray!!

But in other news, there was a COCKROACH scuttling around in our room this morning. I am so disgusted. Ew ew ew I do not think I will sleep again.

I came back into my room after brushing my teeth, and there he was, sitting next to my bed in all his nasty, cockroach glory. I told my roommate as I ran out of the room to tell my senora. I found her in the kitchen merrily fixing us breakfast (coffee, and toast oh boy!) and told her what literally translates as "there is a bug in the corner of our room." She looked and me and confirmed that it was in my room and not in the bathroom (where, she told us later, they usually show up, if ever), and followed me back to my room.

As she approached the corner, and told me she didn't see it anywhere. It had crawled behind the box, and I told her that. So (in Spanish, of course) she said, "Wait! I need to get my bug spray!" and ran out of the room and returned with a spray can that had to be at least 17 inches long and popped the lid off. She approached the corner, can at the ready and shoved the box to the side. Nothing. Then she shoved my books to the side. Nothing. So she shoved my folders over and SURPRISE! There he was, and he was not happy. He began hissing at her a little bit and began to scurry away as she sprayed him with as much cockroach repellent as she could muster.

My 76 year old Senora was hipchecking tables, beds, and chairs out of the way to chase it around and kill it. Then he disappeared.

My roommate and I proceeded to continue getting ready for class after she told us that even though he was missing, he would die because of the spray, and she would spray our room again and let it sit, and then clean and put our room back together for us before we got home tonight.

Here's to hoping my senora gets the bugger and all of his other minions!

Sick.

Algo poco raro...

Hola hola! I have returned from the marvelous city of Barcelona. Let me just tell you—it was probably the best city I have been to in Spain so far. Madrid was fun, Ronda was, well, BORING, Malaga was fine but nothing too extraordinary, Almunecar was the beach (so obviously beautiful, but not like Barcelona), Algeciras was creeptastic, and I have yet to visit Sevilla or Cordoba (that’s next weekend!) so they cannot be counted. Cataluña definitely is its own separate entity from the rest of Spain. Not only do they speak their own dialect of Spanish (Catalan), which is not even CLOSE to the Castellano Spanish that I have been learning since 8th grade, but their lifestyle is far different from the relaxed, warm lifestyle in Andalucia. No matter, the trip was wonderful, and I would’ve loved to spend more time there, but alas!

As always, I am going to remind you that I also have put up pictures from this trip, so go check them out! I know, I know, there are an obscene amount (more than usual, actually), BUT you should all be excited because there are some photos with actual PEOPLE in them (being me, Anne and Sara, mostly)!! This is a remarkable event for me, I know. But never fear, my usual scenery shots are there too. I hope you like them.

The trip itself was filled with one wonderful experience after another, all the while throwing in the usual snoring suspects (I cannot travel anywhere without them!!). We took a free walking tour of the Gothic Quarter on Friday morning with a girl named Claudia from Australia who was actually a guide in training because our real guide ditched and didn't show up. We got to see many cool places, including where Picasso's father taught, and learned that the Gothic Quarter didn't have electricity or running water until 1992 when they had to gear up for the Olympics! how crazy!

We also got to see many of Gaudi's beautiful creations, like the Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, Park Guell, and his own house. We even took a cooking class to learn houw to make Sangria and Paella! So if you ever want me to cook for you...let me know! :)

I really wish I had more time to spend there because the weekend just didn't seem like enough. Now that I am back, I am glad to be back, as always, but you know how it goes...Next weekend is my last weekend of travel. My program is going to Sevilla and Cordoba, and I am very excited even though I have heard mixed reviews of Cordoba. It's weird to think that tomorrow I have exactly one month left before I head back to the States. I am ready, but at the same time, I and definitely not ready!! I do not want to go through culture shock again once I get home.

Not to mention is will be ungodly cold in Illinois. It's already snowing, I'm told. Yuck. I would much rather stay here in the 60 degree weather. With warm sun.

BUT! The "algo poco raro" (something kind of weird that happened today was that the television in my host family's house isn't working. Now, that doesn't seem like the biggest of deals to most, but let me tell you...everything, everything is centered around that television. We watch it during lunch and dinner, and then my host family watches all afternoon, and all night until they go to sleep. My host father was absolutely furious, and I found it remarkable how mad it made him. He almost was to the point of pouting, and I just found it very interesting. We ate lunch in complete silence, and it was so uncomfortable.

Here's to hoping that it gets fixed. Keep your fingers crossed, otherwise tonight's dinner could be just ass bad, or worse. Eep!

I got a letter from Lexie today, too, which was amazing. Included was one for Peter as well, and it made me very happy. So thank you (in the event that you read this!!)

But yes, I should head back for dinner time. Besitos a todos!

Going to Barcelona this Weekend!!

...is anybody out there? Nadie ha dicho ¡hola! a mi por mucho tiempo...
(Nobody has said Hello! to me in a long time...)

Ridiculousness...

Okay, so I meant to write about this before I left for Paris, but that's life. Our Tutorial (and Granada Seminar, and Phonetics) professor, Jose, told us about this lovely singer called "La Terremoto de Alcorcon" (con accento sobre la o). I am just putting up one of the fabulous examples he gave us...but please, feel free to watch as much of her stuff on YouTube as you can handle (which, trust me, won't be much).

So without further ado:

Return to Granada, Once Again.

So. I have returned from a weekend in Paris. It is my second time ever being there, and I loved it just as much as the first time. This is a good sign. However, I now really wish that I could speak French, but alas! I cannot.

We spent two completely packed days seeing as much as we could. In Peter's words, we "took Paris by storm." Love it. It was quite the journey, I must say.

On Thursday, my Grammar class (which usually lets out 10 minutes early) was let out 5 minutes late, and then I had a heck of a time getting home quickly. So then we needed to take the bus to the bus station. We didn't have tickets for the bus yet, and we missed the 1:30 bus by minutes, and then had to buy tickets for the 2:00 "Supra" bus to Madrid (it's like flying first class in a plane...I swear!) that makes no stops, but costs 32 euro a person. But we got there in one piece. Then we needed to take the Metro to the airport terminal, and we didn't look at our tickets, and went to the wrong terminal (my bad!) and then had to take the Metro BACK to Terminal 1. It was a good thing we already had our tickets already printed out, because my the time we ran (literally) past the check in counters, they were already all closed. Then we proceeded to speed through security, and made it to the gate, only to find everyone still standing there. Thank God. So we made it to Paris, a little more exercised than before, but in one piece. And thank you Peter for not killing me. I like to keep things exciting...

Then when we arrived at the hostel, we found we had a lovely amigo staying in the 6th bed in the room. He was so grumpy and kept yelling at us for things, including Hallie finding a fork and butter knife in her bed (thanks to Justin!). He even had the nerve to ask us if we thought the room was a playground...which obviously it is not but we were being just normal people in their hostel room. Nothing extreme.

And then he proceeded to snore allllll night long. It was awful! Good lord, it was projecting everywhere, and I thought for a minute it was Anne! But it was not, obviously. We really could have done without him, but thankfully he was out before the sun came up, and we only needed to sleep.

We moved to our new home: "Grand Hotel Magenta", which would lend you to believe it is a classy, high end hotel, but really. Budget hotel to the extreme. The beds were bowed in the middle!! That proved to be great for the back at night. :)

We went on the Free Walking Tour of Paris (like the one I took in Munich and Berlin...) and it took almost four hours, but it was wonderful. And our guide was so energetic, Peter was convinced he was on crack. And Hallie was in love. And Justin, Anne and I were just along for the ride. After that finished, we met up with Brett (!!!!) at the Louvre because it was FREE for people under 26 that night until 9:45. Hooray! Then we ate some dinner, and went to bed.

The next day we were up and out the door by like 9:15/9:30 and went up to Montmarte to see the Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge, after eating Crepes for breakfast (its the only way to do it, I have decided!). After that, we walked on down, and visited the Opera House where the Phantom of the Opera is supposed to take place. Then came lunch, and then going inside the Notre Dame. It was probably the most wonderful cathedral ever. I cannot even describe the caliber of beauty it holds. If you ever get the chance to go, GO! And I mean it.

Then we met up with Brett and with to the Musee d'Orsay, and I GOT TO SEE LOTS OF VAN GOUGH! It made me very happy. There are pictures of everything we did and saw while we were there, so no worries! They are now up! Hooray!

Now I am back in Granada, and the weather is actually beautiful again. It was up to 20 degrees centigrade again (about 60ish degrees)!!! I am happy to be back, but exhausted. Very exhausted. Midterms are this week, but I only have one on Thursday. The rest are next week, and I am not excited. You mean I have real school to attend to? I was not aware...

I got a letter from Brooke today (that I think came on Friday) with a coloring book page, and an actual letter!!! I was so so so excited! And I taped the coloring book page up on my wall...love it!

This weekend I am going to Barcelona with Anne and Sara! And then the weekend after that, to Seville and Cordoba with my program. Then I am done with traveling for the rest of the semester, which is a weird concept. Very weird. That means I am past the halfway mark, and closer to going home than not. I will be glad to go home, that is for sure, but I will be sad to leave here. I love it so much.

I better go home for dinner since it is already almost 8:30, and dinner is at 9. I have a good 20-25 minute walk ahead of me. Entonces, hasta luego!

Another day, Another Blog Post

Yikes...I have a pinpoint headache that started right after our break between hour one and hour two of my Literatura Espanola del Siglo XX class. And I am intensely homesick today, for whatever reason. Ah well...it happens.

I don't know what really to write about at the moment--I posted some photos from Halloween, though more are to come as soon as I get them from Sara. Take a look!

Happy Halloween from across the pond!

Hello hello.

I figured I would give you a regular update of how things are going. It's currently pouring rain--for somewhere that is supposed to be dry and desert-like, it sure is raining a lot lately!

We filled out our midterm program evaluations yesterday. We had to tell them what we thought about all of our teachers, and our host families. It was weird doing that for my host family because, even though I like them a lot, we do always get the same rotation of meals, and we even had this disgusting meal of thin sliced, raw ham and melon.

That's it.

The ham was so incredibly salty...it was awful! And my senora kept telling us to eat it with the melon, but that just made it taste worse! Yuck, yuck, yuck. I could really live without that meal ever again. That, and the gross cabbage and almond soup she makes far too often.

And I decided this morning that I hate weekend breakfasts because by then we are always out of the normal, delicious toast bread (which is like baguette bread, not the square kind at home), and instead I get these little cake things. It is just far too sweet to eat in the morning.

BUT! Enrique called Allison and I his "hijas de America" when his son popped in the other day, and it made me smile. I like it because, even though at first my host family seemed really stiff, and a lot of times Isabel seemed like she was scolding us, they are warming up a lot more. Isabel is just a spunky 75 year old woman, and she really never was doing any scolding. I honestly hope I have have that much life in me still when I am her age. That would be amazing.

It's not so scary to try to communicate with them either anymore. They're really patient, and do correct us if we make mistakes, which is helpful.

It's hard to believe we are already half way through the semester. I only have a month and a half left here. How did this happen?? Where did the time go?

I will never know.

I am so happy because I got mail from my parents AND a card from Stephanie! Brooke also said she sent me a letter!! Hooray!

My trip to Paris is slowly approaching...I am super excited to see Brett and Hallie (for the second time!!!).

I really wish it would stop raining. But alas!

I watched Barack Obama's 30 minute infomercial yesterday, and for real guys, it made me tear up. I want him to be president so, so badly that I cannot even understand how anyone could not think that he would be the best decision for our nation's future. Mairead really pinpointed my sentiment in her blog, and you can go read it here. If McCain is elected, I will never forgive the American public. Never.

And you have my word on that.

The number of un-sent, un-opened absentee ballots sitting in the mailboxes here upsets me. But what can you do? American's are notoriously politically apathetic.

In other news--I have gotten some major gift shopping out of the way! I only have 3 or 4 people left, which considering the list, is quite impressive! Hooray hurrah!

I better get a move on. Hasta pronto.

Prague, how I love you...

So this weekend, I traveled to Prague with Peter, Chase, and Chris, and met up with Hallie and her friends a couple times, and Justin even graced us with his presence! And can I just say, that city is absolutely amazing! Its probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I am sure that when I return to the United States, I will look at the industrial-look of Chicago, and be like "ew, gross" no matter how much I love the city. It just isn't the same. It was wonderful, yet cold, AND NO RAIN FOLLOWED ME!

I am putting pictures up as we speak, if you don't believe me. :)

The first night we were there, we went to the hostel that Justin suggested, and lo and behold, there were no rooms available for us, and Peter had not made any sort of reservation, and I thought to myself, "Oh God...not a repeat of Germany, please!!" But the man at the desk called another hostel for us, and we ended up staying at a pretty cheap place, that was actually really, really nice. We met up with Hallie and her friends Stephanie (who goes to Bradley too) on Charles Bridge, and then just went to a bar and hung out for awhile.

The next day, the boys and I attempted to go to the Jewish cemetery (not realizing that DUH it would be closed on Saturday) and then proceeded to walk around Old Town, and then hiked up to Praha Hrad (or Prague Castle). We were highly disappointed in the fact that the castle itself was closed for 3 days (and we were only going to be there for 3 days!!) and the Powder Tower was closed too somehow, so our little visit was not only short, but also highly unsatisfying for the amount of money we had to pay to get in.

After that, we walked around a bit more, headed back to the hostel, siesta'd, and then went bar hopping again, where I stole yet another beer stein (huzzah!!) and then we called it a night.

Sunday we hopped on the train and headed to Karlstejn castle, which was about 45 minutes outside of the city. Oh my goodness, this castle was amazing, as well as the countryside surrounding it. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the castle, but the grounds were beautiful! When we got back, we went to try to go to the Jewish Cemetery again, but alas! They were closing in 20 minutes. Just our luck. So we went back to the hostel, napped, and then proceeded to eat Chinese Food for the second night in a row. It was delicious, if you must know.

We were on our way to meet Hallie in Old Town Square, when we heard some whistling at us. My reaction, thanks to Spanish men, is to avoid at all costs, but when Peter looked over, Justin was sitting on the curb, waiting for us! I guess he got bumped from his plane so he couldn't meet us the day before like he had originally planned, and yet we somehow found him! It was incredible.

Then we all met up with Hallie and the people from her program, and went to this jazz club. After that, we smuggled Justin and his ENORMOUS backpack into our hostel, and then conked out. In the morning, we tried ONE LAST TIME to get into the Jewish Cemetery (thinking it would only cost 40 crowns)...but it cost over 200 crowns, so we called it a day, and wandered and shopped instead.

Then came the next 13 hours of traveling on metro, bus, and plane for, uh...13 hours. It was gross, and we got home at 12:30 in the morning, but it was definitely worth it.

I finally voted and I am so excited for the election oh my goodness! And I got two letter from my padres, and a package of goodies! Hooray! So all you people who said you would write...hop to it!! :)

I need to go read and go to my Tutorial. I love you all!

Hasta pronto,

M.

More photos added (surprise surprise) and how about a monsoon to help your day along?

Hello hello!!

I am currently taking refuge inside the school, thank goodness. Mother Nature totally just decided to overturn her bathtub all over Granada. And I would've been caught right in the middle of it had I not decided to walk to the school 2 hours before my next class starts.

I just added more photos from this weekend. There are quite a few, as always. I just need to add captions as then I will be all set.

This weekend I am going to Prague with Peter, Chase and Chris. Sara didn't get her ticket in time, so now its $400 instead of $290...I am kind of disappointed, but hey, that's life I guess.

Wow, its taking me too long to post this, and I am sorry there is not much substance, but I will try again later!

Tra la la

I love not having classes on Fridays! I got to sleep in, go to the park and read after breakfast, and now I am here writing you all of you lovely people. :)

Half of my group is visiting the Alhambra right now. Tomorrow we go to Ronda and take an all-day walking tour. I am kind of excited because I have heard that it is absolutely wonderful. I will have lots of photos to put up I am sure. Then Sunday, I get to go to the Alhambra. I cannot wait!!

Speaking of pictures--I walked around with Chase yesterday and took a whole bunch of pictures of some really incredible graffiti art that is near and in one of the parks. I know, so specific. But I forgot to put them on my computer before I came here...so they cannot go up now. Ah well.

It is BEAUTIFUL outside. I really want to go to El Parque de las Ciencias this afternoon, since apparently I will be in Paris (by hook or by crook!!) the weekend my program is supposed to go. We shall see I guess.

I better head back to my senora's house. It is almost lunch time. Yum yum yum. Every day is a surprise.

I hope all is well. I haven't heard much from anyone on here lately, so drop me a line.

...and all of you people who said you would write me letters here are a bunch of liars! I have only received things from my own mother! LAAAAME!! :)

Love you all,

M.

More photos and a lot of Morocco

Hello! I just returned from my trip to Morocco. And let me tell you, it was probably one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life. I don't even know if I can put it to words, and even though I didn't go into the trip expecting anything in particular, it was completely different than I could have imagined it to be.

The people of Morocco are so welcoming and warm, and I couldn't help but want to stay there when it came time for us to leave, despite my yearning to return to Granada, where things are familiar. I made some good friends both in other programs in Granada, Sevilla, and Madrid, as well as some Moroccans, who honestly said that if I ever return to Morocco, I will have a place to stay. And the most incredible part--they truly mean every word.

The most memorable part of the trip, except for, uh, everything, would be when a group of us walked around with two girls and this one guy started bashing Americans, and Bush, and the two Moroccan girls completely went off on him. They told him that just because Bush is the president of the US, doesn't mean that all American's love him, or support him, or are all the same. They completely stood up for us, even though we had only known them for maybe ten minutes. If not less. They truly and deeply cared for us just upon meeting us, which I think most Americans could not even fathom. Their lifestyle is just so much different from ours back home.

I have added more photos. So check-check it out! Included are: my journey on the back of a camel, the homestay family's home, and lots of beautiful scenery. Get excited!

I need to get moving to class. I love you all!

M.

Oh Life...

Ay dios mio! Now that I am back in Granada, the craziness that was our trip to Germany has finally started to settle in. The pictures are up, so have a look-see, but beware, chaos ensues.

I was so so SO glad to return to Granada, even if the weather has cooled considerably since I left. At least it is still sunny and NOT rainy and cold (and here’s to hoping it stays that way!!) The only way I can possibly describe our adventures in Germany would be to tell them to imagine the craziest movie they’ve ever seen of a group of people traveling, and all of the ridiculous, crazy things that happen to them, unfortunate occurrences, etc. that all seem like they’re blowing things out of proportion, and don’t actually happen in real life: and then believe that Sara, Joanie, Susanne, and I lived it during this past week. I don’t think I will ever be the same again. Nor do I think that I need to be working on my FO at all anymore. I definitely got my flexibility on, and couldn’t turn it off, otherwise I would have snapped.

And trust me, I almost did. Though I think that mostly had to do with my being sick. Speaking of my tonsils…they magically are better, and I feel back to normal. How odd. Maybe it really was just the climate change, and the cold that was throwing me off. Who knows. Anything is possible.

We had our first “week” (meaning two days) of classes…and I absolutely love both my POE (writing and speaking), and Literatura de Siglo XX classes, but I am not so happy with my Civilizacion y Cultura Hispanoamericana class at all. I literally zoned out for the entire 2 hours, and really didn’t miss anything. Ah well.

My grammar class wasn't so bad today either. The professor reminds me a lot of a spanish version of Adam Sandler. And Joanie is in my class, so its nice to know someone for once. And I am not sure how my Islam class will be, but we shall see I guess, huh?

We finally booked tickets to go to Prague today. To be honest, I wasn’t so happy because instead of going Thursday-Sunday like I wanted, we have to go Friday-Monday so the tickets aren’t so expensive. They were 290 USD round-trip, which isn’t so bad I suppose, but I am kind of upset I need to miss classes. I am excited, though, because now our group has expanded to Sara and Chase too, along with me and Peter.

We are still on the lookout for tickets to Paris in November to meet Hallie and Brettsky, and maybe Annie will come if she wants to come too (YES PLEASE!!), and I know Sara wanted to come just to go to Paris and meet my friends, and Ana may just be flying with us because she just wants to go to France, and Chase wants to go to France too, and wants to go to London during the same trip. Madre mia! So much travel.

I am leaving to go on my Morocco trip tonight! Huzzah! We are taking the bus to Algeciras, and spending the night there since we have to meet up with the program at eight in the morning to take the boat across the Straight of Gibraltar to Tangier. I really cannot wait! It is going to be yet another experience of a lifetime. I will be sure to document accordingly (remember! Look at my photos from Germany—I split up the albums for easier perusing!) and post when I return. Never fear, I will not be gone long!

Oh life. What a hoot.

Much love,

M.

Going Home Tomorrow

I officially cannot wait to go back to Granada tomorrow! Cannot. I mean, I liked Germany and Austria and everything, but I am so over being cold and wet and rained on. I really am. Its ridiculous.

So tomorrow we fly to Malaga, and then take the bus into Granada. Then classes start tomorrow, and I am kind of excited. I have my Latin American studies class and my 20th Century Spanish Lit class tomorrow. Huzzah!

But this is going to be short, and that is all. Hasta luego cuando estoy en Granada!

M.

Death is Inevitable...

This trip in Germany has been completely insane. So many crazy things have happened, and the hits just keep on coming. I do not know if I will make it out alive. I may or may not be coming down with pneumonia because it is freezing cold and rainy here all the time, and there is no way to ever get the sleep that I need. It is awful.

Not to mention that the z and y keys are in the opposite spots on the keyboard and it is really bugging me because I never realized how much I actually use each letter. Its a really strange sensation.

I am now in Salzburg, Austria and let me tell you...I CANNOT WAIT to get on the train to Berlin tonight and sleep for the 10 hour train ride all night. I am exhausted. Today I think we are going to brave the ice caves, and maybe check out the Eagle's Nest (something to do with Hitler) and hopefully the whole day will be taken care of then. If I can even last that long.

I got one hour of sleep last night. One hour.

See, we have been winging this trip, as you all very well know. And every moment so far has been an adventure, and I will for sure remember this trip for the rest of my life. BUT! Apparently Austrians celebrate German holidays as well? Who knew! So we take the train from Munich to Salzburg, Austria on this said holiday. And there are no rooms ANYWHERE! None. Unless we want to pay 145€ for a double room.

As Patrick would say...Hell. To. The. No.

:)

So we went out, had a few beers, and slept in the train station. No wait, let me re-phrase that. We "slept" in the train station. I probaby got an hours worth of sleep.

So today should be an interesting day.

However, we did run into this nice guy from England who lives and runs a hostel in Budapest who hung out with us last night and slept in the station with us because he too had nowhere to go. In fact, he is still here with us at the internet cafe.

Which, might I mention, is outrageously priced and 3€ for an hour.

Whatever, I need this time for myself.

And I guess the Bradley class schedules are up for the Spring, so I neeed to get cracking on that. Sick.

I almost want to book a flight home early. But who knows if I will.

I think this is all for now. Sorry its so depressing. No worries, its just been a rough night and will be a rough day. I hav honestly enjoyed everything up until now. And Oktoberfest was insane.

Besitos,

M.

I am never going to get sleep ever.

It is really really late here (try after 3am!) and I just wanted to give you a quick update again before I do not have radio contact again until October 8th (did you catch that Apollo 13 reference??)

I am off to Munich and Oktoberfest tomorrow, so I better go get sleep. I hope you are all enjoying yourselves, where ever you are, because we sure are here in Germany. I watched two of my friends earn their Bierdiplom's (meaning they drank 3 liters of beer over the course of 2 hours and in all, tried 10 different kinds!) and now we are off to be hooligans for a day and night in Munich.

It worries me that we dont have a hostel or anything planned still, but I am working on my FO afterall, aren't I? (According to this survey we took, I need to work on my flexibility/openness...being like able to wing things and not get stressed out and need things really organized, so hence FO...and look where it has taken me!)

This trip has been amazing so far, and I am sure there are a LOT of more adventures in store for us the rest of the week. I cannot wait!

Besitos,

M.

GERMANY GERMANY GERMANYYY

I am currently using my friend Joanie's friend Mackenzie's computer right now to use the internet but I just wanted to check in and say hello because I AM IN GERMANY RIGHT NOWWWW!!

...that is where the Wahl clan comes from, afterall. :)

It is rainy and way colder here than in Granada, that's for sure. I was expecting that, though. Coming here on the bus from Frankfurt (Hanh)...NOT the usual frankfurt airport...long story, it was betweek 9 and 12 degrees Centigrade. Lets hope it is sunnier tomorrow!

I like it here though. Its night to be out of a big city for a little while, especially after Madrid. I loved Madrid, though, and I PROMISE once I get back, I will post more photos.

...even if there are already a billion.

Anywho, its definitely bed time after 12 hours of traveling...a glass of whine, a bottle of beer, and a cider at the Irish pub near the campus here. Eek. So buenas noches, and maybe you will hear from me again soon!

Creeptastic.

I have a note for you all. Get a notebook and take this down:

All Spanish guys named Nacho are creeps.

...that is all.

A Little Ranty

So...they told us this was bound to happen eventually. And its happening, though not to the extent that I was expecting.

I am experiencing culture shock. (oh god!) :)

Basically they told us that when it hits, you usually get sick, are overly tired and want to sleep all the time, and little cultural differences really start to bother you.

Well, I am sick. No worries, it isn't anything awful. Just a little bit of a stuffy/runny nose and a sore throat from the post-nasal drip (that was a little graphic, sorry!), and I am tired all the time. Probably because I am ill, and nothing more.

And then little things have been bothering me, but not to the extent that I don't want to be here anymore or anything. Like how there are people EVERYWHERE smoking and I am sick of always smelling like smoke and inhaling the smoke, and being perpetually scared of getting cancer from secondhand smoke. I never realized how much I appreciate Illinois' smoking ban. I want to breathe clean air again!!

And then I really miss being able to use the internet whenever I feel the need to. Which, I realize, sounds stupid, but its difficult when I want to plan trips and stuff, or talk to people I can't normally.

And the shower is set up differently, and its a really uncomfortable situation. I feel like I am going to spray water everywhere since the shower head isn't at one of the ends like usual, but in the middle of the shower.

...I think I just need a nap. I added a few more pictures to my album that wouldn't load before from when we went to the beach. More pictures will be put up as they come. I hope to at least give them some subtitles, or break them into more manageable albums, but we shall see.

Much love from Spain,

M.

I Hate Money

So...here´s the deal.

I want to travel too much.

...this is not good.

Here is what I mean. The following weekends are the weekends I will be here while studying in Granada:

September
27-30: For my program we are going to Madrid this weekend, hooray! That´s covered and all that good stuff...no worries here.

Fall Break, 30-Oct. 7: I want to go to Athens since it is far, and I have more time. However, the cheapest tickets I have found, round trip, are 269€, not even including where I would stay. And if I can get people to go with me.

October
9-12: Morocco Exchange. Its 320€ for everything. I cannot wait. :)

17-19: My program is going to the Alhambra and to Ronda this weekend.

23-26: Going to Prague and Vienna with Peter and whoever else. The cheapest tickets to get there THERE are 382€ not including accomodations. But Justin Beal will be there, and I am sure he knows where the best and cheapest places are. Afterall, he´s been there like six times.

30-Nov. 2: Nothing. I think I want to stay in Granada. However, a bunch of my friends are going to Dublin for Becky´s 21st birthday, and I would love to go. But I don´t think I can swing it, especially since I was just there in May. Sigh...

November
6-9: Nothing.

13-16: Barcelona with Anne and Sara! We got cheap round-trip tickets for 50.40€!! Hooray!! Now we just need to find somewhere to stay...

22-23: My program is going to Sevilla and Cordoba. All planned, taken care of, and set to go. Excellent.

27-30: Nothing, yet. But Peter and I were thinking of meeting up with Hallie in Paris this weekend. But we shall see. We looked at tickets and they look like 27€ each way, give or take a little.

December
4-7: Nothing. Maybe stay here, or travel somewhere else in Spain? Who knows.

11-14: Definitely staying in Granada.

...and therein lies the problem. I know, I know. What an awful problem...but still! Planning is stressful, and too much money is being thrown about.

I best get a move on. ¡Hasta luego!

Link to the Photos!

Here is the link to the photos I have up so far. The internet has been finicky...so they're not all up there. I think there are about 30 that I have left to post from this week...so once they're there you can look at them too.

Hasta luego!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Melissa.Wahl/Granada1#

It's Been Awhile, huh...

Yikes. It is now the 21st of September, and I haven't posted anything here in awhile...oops. I've been here my first full week! It seems like I have been here forever, yet at the same time, I haven't, and the time just goes so quickly! It's weird.

By the way...HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY BROOKE!!

So this week we just continued doing the same old same old in regards to our orientation classes from 4-7 each night, but we also went on a couple excursions. The first was a trip to El Albycin, where the gypsies are. The hike was intense because it was such a steep climb up lots and lots of steps, but the trip was amazing. The next day, too, we went to Sacramonte, where caves are. People live in houses that are built into these caves, which is sweet, but I wasn't as impressed with the final destination as I was with El Albycin. The climb itself was so spectactular. The mountains here are some of the most beautiful things in existence, I think. I am posting pictures of the first week as I type...so be sure to look at them. There are a lot of them, I know, but it will be worth the wait. :)

Anne and I booked a trip in November with my friend Sara to Barcelona!!! The flight tickets were FREE on Ryanair.com, but you just had to pay for the tax, and that's it! So the final total for a round trip ticket to Barcelona for the weekend was just a little less than 40 Euro. We just need to book our hostel, and then we're all set! I cannot wait!

This weekend, I went with a group of people to Almunecar to go to the beach. Those pictures will be in the photos I am putting up too. It was a wonderful weekend. Originally, it was supposed to rain, so we were not sure if we were going to go. But we did, and we couldn't have asked for a better day at the beach yesterday. It was sunny and warm, a little breezy, and the water was warm enough to swim in, yet cool enough to help you beat the heat. I swam out to this raft/buoy thing that has a little slide and diving board with Brianna, Chase, Peter, Heather and Sara, and we sat out there and enjoyed being in the Mediterranean Sea. The only problem, however, was how salty the water was! By the time we got to the raft, we were all incredibly thirsty. It was awful.

There was a cliff side at one end of the beach that I walked to with a couple people, and we climbed around and took pictures and it was amazing. I didn't want to go home today, even if I was a bit sunburned and being in the sun for another full day wouldn't have been a good idea. :)

I really love it here, even though I miss my friends and family a lot.

I think Sara and I are going to look into what we should do during our week off coming up. I also need to figure out when I want to go on the Morocco Trip and who I want to go with. We shall see, we shall see. And I need to discuss with Peter going to Vienna and Prague. Gah! Too much planning!! (And NO I am not complaining!)

I love you all and now that I have found a good place for internet, I am sure these will come up a little more frequently!

Much love,

M.

Ah! Sweet, sweet internet!

So I haven´t had internet since the last time I posted...which is a lot of days, I realize. But Granada is absolutely amazing, and I love it so much. I JUST got my email and passwords for internet access at the University of Granada, so I will have more regular access there starting tomorrow. At the moment, I am at an internet cafe, so this will be short seeing as I am paying for my time.

My host family is great: Isabel (my señora...about 70 years old), her husband Enrique, and their daughter, also named Isabel live with me and my roommate Allison. It turns our she is from Naperville! Who knew?!

...the keyboards here are strange and I do not like it. BUT! I will survive, es cierto.

We had our placement exam today, well, the first one at least, and I thought I did well on the writing portion, and okay on the multiple choice. It was really difficult!! We shall see tomorrow.

I cannot seem to get used to the eating habits here...I am already starving, and dinner isn´t until 9pm (its 7:35pm). We have a small breakfast of toast and coffee con leche (YUMMY!!), and that´s it until lunch at 2pm...which is HUGE, and then dinner at 9pm, which is smallish. I also need to obtain more water somehow. 2 cups of water at each meal is just not enough.

But this is all for now...I will update and put pictures up soon, I promise!

Besitos!

Now That I Have Eaten

This has been a way longer day than it should have ever been. But Granada is amazing, and I love it already!

So starting Friday (the 12th) I finished packing, and headed off to O'Hare airport with my padres. Once there they checked my bags all the way through to Granada, which was nice, got me my boarding passes, and then I actually had to carry my luggage to the belt to have them put it with the rest that was going on the plane! Who knew!

After getting though security, I got some lunch, met up with Sara (she goes to St. Ambrose, and I am rooming with her this evening) and then we went to the terminal to wait for our flight. in the midst of waiting, we somehow got on the subject of our flight from Madrid to Granada and realized that contrary to our belief...we were definitely NOT on the same flight to Granada as we previously thought. This is all like 15 minutes before we needed to board the plane, mind you. Oops.

So we go to the counter, and the woman tells us she needs to talk to her supervisor...so she does and is told she needs to talk to a different supervisor...and we get the run around until they tell us we need to call Iberia. So we do that. They tell us there are no more seats on that flight (my flight) at all (which I later found out was completely false, there totally were like 15 seats open...), and then we are told to try to ask them again once we arrive in Madrid.

So apparently it is a security risk to have someone go on an earlier flight, and come back later to pick up their baggage from a later flight. So that was the real reason Sara couldn't switch flights...but they never thought to tell us that.

My flight left Madrid at 11:50 and was only around 40 minutes (if that) to Granada. There ended up being quite a few other girls from my program on that flight, which was wonderful. One girl, Becky, decided to stay at the Granada airport with me the four hours i had to wait for Sara to get into Granada (which wouldn't have been until 5:00 p.m. ...when I had arrived at around 1:30 in the afternoon) because her roommate for the evening was coming on the same flight as Sara.

Needless to say we became very giddy from being so tired and hungry, and played so many two-player card games (Gin, Go Fish!, Golf, Crazy Eights, Super Happy Fun Game [which we made up and is awesome!!] just to name a few) inside the fort we made around our seats with our enormous amounts of luggage. It was great. :)

When they finally arrived, there were so many of them! Peter was on that flight too, and then we found out two girls had their luggage lost somewhere along the trek, so we waited with them before we got our cabs. The cab ride was, uhm, very speedy to say the least. But we got there for 27 Euro (split by two) and he did all the heavy lifting for us to get the luggage inside the hotel we're stay in.

Which, by the way, is so adorable. I will post pictures soon, I promise. Once i get enough to make it a worthwhile upload. :)

And then we got ready, after notifying everyone at home of our safe arrival, and went to a tapas bar. It was a lot of fun, and I stuffed myself silly with machengo(? I do not know how to spell it...its goat cheese!), spanish omlette, bread, this delicious wine and lemonade and seltzer water mix (it isn't gross like it may or may not sound!!), and mussels. Nom nom nom...

After we enjoyed our food, Sara and I came back, and we ended up talking to another guy from our program, named Azra (he's originally from LA), who is also staying at our hotel this evening. I think I am going to go to bed now.

Like seriously, NOW.

Much love.

Longest Day Ever

So I have arrived, and it was quite the fiasco...and I am already late meeting other people for dinner (by like 20 minutes!!) so I will tell you all about it but I didn't want you all to worry about me! I got here safe and sound, if completely exhausted, dehydrated, and starved. :)

BIENVENIDOS A GRANADA EVERYBODY!

Peace Out, Cub Scout

Here goes nothing...

!!!

Welp, tomorrow is it, guys.

I leave tomorrow.

I have purchased everything I could ever need that I cannot get there (i.e. hair drier and hair straightener). I exchanged some currency so I can pay Sarah back for my half of the hotel room, and can pay for the cab. I added my mom to my bank account for easy money access in the event that I need her to do so. I am almost completely packed.

I am so excited!!!

I still need to write my internship paper and send it in. I still need to send my check to Kappa Delta. I still need to watch the movies I have from the library and then return them by tomorrow. I still need to run to JC Penny's to pay my grandmother's bill. I still need to install my webcam. I still have a few things to pack. I still have a few people to see and say goodbye to.

I really want to bring my pillows with, but alas! I do not think it will really be an option. Ah well.

Get ready guys, tomorrow is it!

1 Suitcase Down, 1.5 to Go

I've done it.

I've completely finished packing my first suitcase, and I am proud to say, it weighs only 42 pounds! Hooray! My little carry on suitcase (the .5 of a suitcase, in case anyone was wondering at the post title) is almost packed too, but will not probably be complete until the morning before I leave. The other suitcase is waiting for last minute laundry, and a few odds and ends here and there (like all my electrical cords for my camera, MP3 player, and webcam, the plug adapter and the now-phantom voltage converter).

All of this packing is making me more excited to leave, and giving me a back ache. How rude. But seriously. I spend a good portion of the day bent over with my face buried in a suitcase, packing, and, lately, another good portion doing laundry, which includes schlepping laundry in and out of the washer and drier, folding and lugging up the stairs. I guess a back ache is a very plausible end to those means. Go figure.

I was very productive today, and everyone should be proud of me. I went to Target and got almost everything that I needed but didn't already have, returned my checked-out movie (King of California for anyone interested. It was very good!!) to Blockbuster, did about six loads of laundry, got my oil changed, went through the car wash, wrote a letter to Glenn, my friend studying in Cape Town, South Africa, wrote belated Thank-You notes for my birthday presents, figured out how to obtain my e-ticket for my flight, and watched The Family Stone. Phew! What a day.

And I did all that even though I woke up at 10:30 this morning, after turning my alarm off when it went off at 9:30. I really need to stop doing that.

So for tomorrow: Voltage Converter hunting, possible shopping with mother (?), copying my passport, visa, drivers license, and credit and debit cards, and something I know I am forgetting that my mother told me I was supposed to do with my father. I guess it wasn't that important?

I still cannot believe I leave on Friday, Friday, FRIDAY. That's two days from now. Yikes.

Getting There

Before I forget, I better give you the address where I will be able to receive mail in the event that you want to send something right along. So here goes:

Melissa Wahl
c/o Central College in Spain,
Centro de Lenguas Modernas
Placeta del Hospicio Viejo, s/n
18009 Granada, Spain

That's a mouthful. Sheesh.

My bedroom currently looks like a luggage store got into an accident with a clothing store. Things are everywhere! And the little packing I got done yesterday, I took apart in order to try to use space more effectively. Goodness. Who knew this would be such a treat. :)

Oops. I was listening to a podcast about Madrid in Spanish, but I haven't been paying attention at all the whole time I have been typing here. It's difficult because one of the two podcast hosts speaks with the Galician lisp, which I am definitely not used to. I guess I will just have to listen to it again.

Back to packing and listening!

When in doubt...make a list!

Today was the last day at my internship (sad!) and now I am really getting anxious. I want to pack, but there are a lot of little odds and ends that I need to get, and I don't want to start packing until then. And even if I did, I would put all the things I would want to pack in the guest room. HOWEVER, that room is going to be occupied this weekend by my extended family, so thus no packing for me just yet.

Since I cannot pack, I will make lists. What kinds of lists you ask? Currently I am working on the "To Do" list, and I have a "To Pack" list lying around here somewhere. I also have a "Music to add to the MP3 Player" list started, and think I need to make a "To Do When I Return" list, so I don't forget things by the time I come home.

All these lists make my brain hurt. I keep forgetting to put things on lists, and I keep thinking of a million other things I need to add all at once, and it has turned into quite the mumbo jumbo.

Yikes. Anne, if you're out there, would you mind sending me your lists as a comparison? Pretty please with sugar on top?!

I solemnly swear not to freak out or get super stressed before I leave.

Post Trip (9 days away, really??)

So here is where I am going to be writing all about my adventures in Granada, Spain. Before I leave on the 12th, be prepared to hear me gripe and groan about packing, or wring my hands in nervousness, or scream with excitement.

What a rush.

I cannot wait, and I hope anyone who reads this will comment, say hello, or anything just so I know you're there. You know, so I don't have that whole I am alone in this gigantic universe complex. :)

Ok great, so sit back, relax, and get ready to live vicariously through me!