two weeks.

 Two weeks I will not be in Spain. Two weeks I will be home. Two weeks I will become Americanized again. Two weeks I will start a new routine. Two weeks from now I will start a new chapter of my life.


Time here in Europe is going so fast.

Happy Fourth of July.

I really hate that I'm in a foreign country on the fourth. But my day has been pretty good.

I started my new classes - that wasn't so fun.
I hate my schedule but it will keep me occupied. M-F Spanish Lit. 9-10, gym 10:30-12:30, Spanish Civ & Culture 1:30-2:30, lunch 3-4, Spanish Intensive Language 6-8.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm going to start going to a salsa class!
On Wednesdays I'm going to a session of "intercambios", which is when people from Spain and people that speak English meet at a restaurant to speak in Spanish and English. We practice our desired language!

For dinner I ate a at Japanese restaurant, in a Spanish country, on the day of Independence for the United States. What's wrong with this picture?
Eh, oh well, it was good sushi.
Then Nicole and I went and got frozen yogurt. However, it didn't seem so healthy with all the chocolate, peanuts, trouffle drizzle, and chocolate pieces in it.
There goes my so-called diet!

This month has so much for me to look forward to. Next weekend I'm going to Portugal! Then in 3 weeks I'm going to Germany. Then in a month I will be home!

The most common phrases you will use in Spain.

• What is that smell?
• No entiendo.
• Why are they staring?
• I'm hungry.
• It's hot. 
• I'm dying from the heat.
• Do they believe in AC?
• Cuantas cuestas?
• How much farther do we have to walk!?
• Is this real life?

homesick.

I just realized almost all of the group is leaving next week. I still have another month. It's bittersweet. I also realized I'm not going to be in the States for 4th of July. :(

However, in July I am going to........ITALY! For 4 days in Florence! I can't wait. It's surprisingly cheap to go. I can't wait to visit all the museums.

I need to bring my camera to school one day so I can take photos of Granada. It's such a neat city.

I ate a snail.

Yes, that's right. I ate snails last night. Figured I might as well try it! It wasn't horrible (except the fact I KNEW it was a slimey snail).


So much red and white last night. Granada's Futbol (soccer) team won the playoffs last night and the streets were crazy. People everywhere: shouting, singing, playing drums, painting themselves, and drinking. It was an amazing celebration and I am so happy I was there to experience it and be a part of it.

I went to a waterpark today. So much fun! I got some sun....well too much sun. But I had fun, and I met another German guy. Ugh, go figure.


I started reading "The Time Traveler's Wife". I don't usually go for the sappy little love stories, but this book is so much more. It's amazing.

being all spontaneous in Spain.

I decided to get my nose pierced yesterday. I got a little hoop. It's adorable. The piercer (who spoke some English thank God) said I would be the new Lenny Kravis. HAHA!

I also decided to meet Nicole at 11 pm in the middle of the "centro" (downtown area) to eat gellato.

I bought some fake aviator style Ray-Bans today. They are pretty legit though. I like 'em.

Pubquiz and a Mani & Pedi

This week has been eventful and it's only Wednesday.

Monday night a bunch of us went out to this Irish pub called Hanaggins and Sons. They have a "pubquiz" every Monday night. You get a bunch of friends together and you get on teams to compete with other teams in the bar. It's like trivia of current events, sports, music, popular culture, etc. My team and I won like 7th place or something, but we still got free shots :) After the trivia was done a bunch of us stuck around and had a few (well....more than a few) beers and danced to American music. It was heaven.

Soo...skipped class today. Nicole came over and spent the night. We all went out last night again to Mae West. Nicole and I woke up this morning to loud construction type noises outside the window.  Got up and ate breakfast, then went straight back to bed. We still slept until 1pm.

My madre told us about a waterpark here in Granada. Nicole and I decided to go. We got there and it doesn't open until June 19th.... -_-
So we decided to lay out on top of the terrace that's at apartment building I live in. We could only take 2 hours before we were practically dying. It's so hot here. So hot.
So then we had the bright idea of going to get a manicure and pedicure. Our feet were busted from walking around everywhere in Spain. I walk by this peluqueria (hair salon) every time I come home so we went there. I got a manicure, pedicure, and my hair cut for under 40 euros.

There is a BIG futbol game tonight right down the street from where I live! The stadium where the team for Granada plays is literally 1 block away. It's supposed to be a big deal if they win this game so they can advance to the next round. It's gonna be crazy in the streets.

I swear I'm going to class tomorrow. I'm not going out tonight. I'm not going out tonight. I'm not going out tonight......

2 cities in 2 days!

I am horrible at keeping this thing updated. I wish I could mentally record all my thoughts and invent some machine that will automatically write on this blog and update.

So this week was interesting. I went out 3/5 nights. Made it to class 5/5 days. Made it to 1/2 tours. My ipod headphones died on the way to class on the morning that I was horribly hungover - how convenient. A different morning I almost slipped and fell on the SAME wet street 6 times going to class. I almost got ran over by a moped another morning. So many interesting things....


This weekend I went to Seville and Cordoba. SO MUCH FUN but so much walking. I saw so many interesting things. Saturday we had to be at the bus stop at 7:30 am for a 3 hours bus ride- not fun. However, it was so worth it. We went and visited the Royal Chapel and after we had a free afternoon. Well, wouldn't you know that in Seville there was a International Beer Festival going on? My friends and I drank for about 3 hours. After 2 beers, 2 bottles of wine, and who knows how many shots I was feeling way too good. I danced with some Spanish guys. They taught me how to "flamenco" - well at least tried to teach me. Let's just say the bus ride to Cordoba was not a fun one.

Last night in Cordoba we had an amazing tapas dinner. It was SO MUCH food - perfect to cure a day-drinking hangover. Today we were able to sleep in and walk around and tour the city. We went to the Mosque of Cordoba. (http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/cordoba.html) It was AMAZING. One of my favorite things so far. Then we went through this old Jewish district and visited a Jewish Mosque. Up until all these informational visits I never realized how much of a Muslim influence there is in the history of Spain.




Apparently on Thursday there will be 2 girls from France coming to stay for 5 days here. I'm kinda nervous/excited to meet them. I am so tired. I need to eat, shower, and sleep. I have another interesting week in Spain ahead of me.

I got 2 hours of sleep last night.

I went out to a place called Mae West last night. It's a dance club and it's CRAZY. So many authentic Spanish people there, as well as other nationalities. I left the house at 11pm and didn't get home until 5am this morning. It was ridiculous. Europeans go hard, all night/morning long.

I danced with Spanish boys, German boys, and Irish boys last night. I left the club at 4am (it would have been much later but I had to drag my friends out of the club). With only 2 hours of sleep, I still made it to class this morning. I'ma champ!

I wore the tallest wedges I could find so after 3 hours my feet were about to fall off. I don't see how the girls can do it here. They walk to the grocery store in 5 inch heels! I wish. ha.

Milk here is weird. There's no 1%, 2%, skim, etc. There is just milk. Whole cream milk. Not in jugs either - they are in cartons. They look like the little juice boxes, except a lot bigger. And they like to add sugar to it.

They also don't like stick deodorant. They like roll-on deodorant. SO WEIRD. I couldn't find any to save my life in any of the stores. I also had to go buy some hair product stuff, and I turned the bottle over to read the directions - completely in Spanish. FML.

My friends want to go out AGAIN tonight, and we had already been planning to go out Thursday. I'm gonna be so dead the entire time I'm here. Oh well, live it up!

It's already been a week.

I can't believe it's already been a full week that I've been in Granada. Time flies. I'm horrible at updating this thing. I'm always so busy with everything else I'm usually too tired to even turn on my computer.

So Friday night was a lot of fun! The clubs here are SO much nicer (and so are the views and the boys). Apparently people here don't go out until about 2 am, and apparently none of the Americans from school got the message. We all showed up to the club at like 11:30. It was still a blast because girls got free drinks! I was nervous that I wasn't going to know anyone, but I knew like half the people there! Practically all of my class went out that night.

The club we went to played a lot of throwbacks. I loved it! Also, the Spaniards here can dance very well, it's not like what you'd find in Greenville with all the "grinding". Late night the club has strobe lights, colored lights, smoke, and a crazy sound system. I didn't go to bed until like 4am. It was a fun night.

My group and I wanted to go to the beach on Saturday but we slept in reallly late. Then a bunch of the girls went out shopping after lunch. I bought the cutest clothes! Spain, however, has some weird styles but I guess I'll fit in now (aka not look so American). Saturday night I stayed home and Paco (my host father) taught me how to play a Spanish card game. Apparently on Saturdays Josefina (my host mom) brings her mom, who is VERY VERY OLD, for lunch and to stay for the day. The entire time I was in the living room and eating lunch she just stared at me. Just stared. Then she would look at one of my parents and say something, then look back at me. She is a weird little woman.

Sunday some girls from the group and a new girl I've met in class, Nicole, went to a beach about 2 hours away from Granada. It's like paradise. The water was so blue and there was mountains and caves and palm trees in the backdrop. The sand here isn't like what you would find in NC. It's more like little tiny rocks, which is good because you don't get sand everywhere or in your stuff. Something else you wouldn't find in NC, that you definitely would here is that ALL THE BEACHES ARE TOPLESS. Yes, topless. And yes, I saw many boobies yesterday.

Going to the beach made me realize once again how small the world is because we all ran into some people we know! How random is it that I would be in Spain, at a beach 2 hours away, and run into some people from my class? We spent ALL DAY at the beach so when I got home last night I was exhausted, but I got a nice tan ;)

I seriously need to figure out the bus schedule here because I was walking home from class and it started to rain cats and dogs. I had no umbrella and it's a 35 minute walk.......not fun. I also need to start on my homework.

Granada = Pomegranate

So here in Spain they consider me to be very blonde, and apparently the Spanish love blondes. I keep getting hit on by the same guy every morning on the way to class. He tries to talk to me in English, but it's obvious he doesn't really know English. He always says "Hallo guapa, how you doing taday?". It makes my day. hehe.

So yesterday I learned that "Granada" means pomegranate in Spanish.

I also learned that taking showers here are way different. I feel like not many people shower that frequently here because when I pass people in the street 9/10 times I can smell B.O. (body odor). When I shower here (which is everyday) it's not like in the States.

This is what taking a shower here is like:

• turn on shower, get in real quick (whether the water has heated up or not).
• get wet enough to lather up (so like 10 seconds)
• turn off water.
• take shampoo and put in hair. Take soap and lather up. Shave.
• turn water back on to rinse off.

They are very conservative of many things here (water, electricity,etc) because Spain used to have really bad droughts back in the day. It sucks because I love to take long, hot showers. :(

I was supposed to go on a tour of some part of the city today but it started raining like cats and dogs like 10 minutes into my 45 minute walk to the Plaza Nueva, so I skipped out. I walked my little butt back home and my host padre, Paco, and I made some herbal tea, ate some "dulces", and watched a documentary about the ocean (in Spanish of course). I'd call it a pretty solid afternoon.

It gives me time to rest up because tonight my group and I are going out and about to the "discotecas" (places people go to dance and drink - clubs)! There is this one club we are going to that's in a CAVE. Yes, a cave. Since the city is surrounded by mountains some of the stores and things are made into the mountain. I heard it's really, really neat! Chupitos a alguien? ;)

I cannot wait until tomorrow! WE ARE GOING TO SOME OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SPANISH BEACHES! We are going to one inparticular, "Playa de Nareja", and it's supposed to be gorgeous. It better be worth it because we have to get up early and go (it's a day trip) and I'll probably have a hangover.

I'm literally having the time of my life in Spain, and I've only been here a week.

Being in Spain is Exhausting.

I feel so sleep deprived ALL THE TIME.

The days here feel so long. I wake up everyday at 7am and I don't go to bed until 1am, which is kind of normal for a college student, but I am constantly doing things. For example, today I woke up at 7, got ready, ate  breakfast with my family, make the 35 minute trek to my class across town, had class from 9-1, make the 35 minutes trek back home. Now, I'm waiting to eat lunch, and as soon as lunch is over I have to make a 45 minutes trek back across town to meet my group and a tour guide to have an excursion through some famous district here in Granada for 2 hours. I guess it's better to be busy than bored. :/

MAS TARDE (9:04pm)
So the trip to the Sacromonte Abbey was really interesting. It was fun since we have a big group. There was a huge church and beautiful views. We took a taxi up the valley, but we had to walk back - it was an hour walk. I wore a dress and some cute sandals today......not fun.
After the long journey down the big hill, most of the group went out for tapas and drinks. I had a couple "vinos de verano". It's like a sangria, and muy delicioso! Then on the way home Cassandra, Danielle, Parteek, and Jessica got gellato!

I'm excited for tomorrow. In the afternoon the group is taking a trip to the "La Alhambra". It's the most famous monument of Spain. It's HUGE! I saw it today from the valley. I can't wait to take pictures.

I'm pretty exhausted. I've probably walked a total of 6 hours today. Since we eat dinner so late here, I will probably eat in like 45 minutes (around 10pm), take a shower, and PASS OUT.

Espana v Los Estados Unidos

While I have been in Spain these very long 5 days I've learned so much! Things here are very, very different. I'm going to make a list of what I've noticed/experienced so far (and none of these are in any particular order):

•  Granada is the most beautiful city I've ever seen. Words do not do it justice. It's surrounded by mountains and the "Sierra Nevada", which is a very beautiful mountain range. The landscape looks something straight out of a magazine.
• The plugs here are different. I had to buy a plug adapter and wattage converter so I wouldn't fry my electronics.
• Gellato is amazing. It comes in almost any flavor. They have "heladarias" (ice cream shops) everywhere!
• The streets here aren't anything like you'd find in the US. They aren't paved with just cement. They are like little cobblestones...and they are TINY. Most of them are like one lane roads.
• Motorscooters, mopeds, etc (besides walking) are the preferred method of transportation. It seems like everyone here has a moped, and they drive them like they are in a race. Crazy Spaniards! 
• Cars here are more like little compact toys. They are tiny (I guess to fit in those tiny little streets.) I haven't seen anything like an SUV.
• Spaniards get up early and eat breakfast, go to work/school, get off at like 12:30, come home, cook a HUGE lunch (lunch here is the biggest meal of the day), take "siestas" (naps), then go back to work. It's the best schedule ever. They need to implement this in the US.
• People also stay up until like 1 or 2 am here. They don't eat lunch until 2-3, dinner until 9-10.
   It's a crazy eating schedule I'm trying to adjust to. I eat a lot of "meriendas" (snacks) in between meals.
• My host family is amazing. It's this cute little older couple named Josefina and Paco. They call me their "hija pequena" (little daughter) or "guapa". :) Neither of them speak or understand English. It's kind of frustrating at times. I feel like my brain is going to explode from trying to speak Spanish all the time.
• Josefina is an amazing cook! Spanish food here is one of the best I've ever eaten.
• I had a four course meal today: They always start off with "tapas" (little appetizers/ small portions of almost anything - mostly meats and cheeses and bread). Then I had some kind of soup and fish and pickles (not like in the US - much better) and almonds. Then for dessert they always have fruit - tons of it. Bananas, apples, oranges, cherries, etc. Then after allllll that, we have tea or coffee with "dulces" (sweets).
• The food in Spain is much healthier than the US. Everything is fresh and soooo good. However, I have seen a McDonalds, Burger King, and a Dunkin' Doughnuts (but they are much different as well)!
• People here dress VERY fashionable. It seems like all the women here wear some type of heel ALL THE TIME, whether it be an actual high heel or wedge. Most of the people look like they stepped out of a magazine from Banana Republic. 
• People can definitely tell when you're American. You don't even have to look lost or speak at all. They can just tell. It's like they have a little radar embedded in them.
• The Spanish have a fascination with Spongebob. I have no idea why. 
• People have wayyy different manners here. They will just bump into you and not say "oh, excuse me". I learned that real quick. At dinner, if you want something on the table, you just get up and get it. You don't always say "thank you" or "please". I guess it's just the culture.
• THE SPANISH LOVE DOGS. There are "perritos" everywhere. Like- EVERYWHERE, and they are so well mannered. Many of them aren't even on leashes. And if their owners want to go into a store they just leave their dog on the street. The dog just sits there and waits.
• They love their "futbol" (soccer). I cannot wait to go to a game. Apparently people here in Granada love the team Barcelona!
• I'm still confused by the system they use to tell time (military time) and weather (Celsius).  
• The Spanish also like to listen to American music that is popular today. I've heard so many songs here that are on the radio back home. It's a little strange because no one here understands English.

So far, that's all I can think of. Like I said, it's very different here.

I started school today. The building that I have class in is BEAUTIFUL. I absolutely love love love my teachers - although none of them speak English. I guess that's another thing I've noticed....no one here speaks any English what so ever. I mean some people in Madrid knew English (but I guess that is because it's a bigger city and more for tourists as well).


Oh well, I guess it's a chance for me practice my Spanish even more!

Never have I ever....

...heard so many different languages spoken at once.

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING.
I've only been in Granada and met my familia for 2 hours, but I love it already!

Gellato

Also, I hope they have gellato like they do here back in the States because OH MY GAH, it's muy delicioso! Hopefully I can post pictures of the gellato as well. :)

Granada

We are up bright and early about to check out of the hostel. We are going to the market to buy a few things then head off on a 5 hour bus ride to Granada.

Apparently the market is a big deal here on Sunday mornings. They have tons of things for sale and hand-made things! I can´t wait to take pictures.

Whenever I get settled into my new home I'm sure I will be able to post pictures that I have taken.

Night Life

Okay....the night life in Spain is AMAZING. It's when the city comes alive. I love it! Tomorrow I'm heading to Granada (about 5 hours from Madrid) where I'll be permanently living with a host family for my study abroad.

I can't wait to get all settled in.
However, I'm not looking forward to that bus ride to get there :/

It's only my second day....

...and I've already experienced so much.

I've flown on my first flight ever.
Got my luggage lost.
Missed my flight in London.
Stayed in a hostel.
Used Euros.
Got pick-pocketed.
Walked around the city of Madrid.
Eaten authentic Spanish food.
Taken many "siestas" (naps).

It's definitely been an experience thus far. I'm actually going to go take a "siesta" now.

I'll post more when I can!