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!