back to school tomorrow. sad day.

Actually, I'm looking forward to going back to class and having the routine.  I'm sure I'll feel differently after five hours of class.  The last couple of days off from doing anything has been nice, but its hard to stay busy all day!  I slept in Monday morning and today.  I feel like maybe I'm finally caught up on sleep/the Spanish schedule and feeling a bit better. Again that might change come 7:00 wake up tomorrow.  (Okay lets be honest, I'll push the snooze till 7:30...)

Spent yesterday morning on the beach by myself just listening to some tunes and reading a book.  It was quite enjoyable as it was really my first alone time since I got here and I was on the beach :).  After Amber got home from class we had lunch and went to el centro for a conversation class at the ISA office.  They do it once a week and its just an extra hour for us ISA students to go and talk to each other and get some practice in.  They also have books there so I might have to check one out the next time we go there. (There's a good reason that free kindle books are free, and I read all the ones I bought already...I'm hoping I get to a good free one soon)  After the class we went to El Corte Ingles which is the big department store here.  It's like being in younkers, dillards, JC penny and maybe Sears all at once, its huge!!  6 floors.  So I finally found tennis shoes in Spain (I don't know if I mentioned it before but I was starting to think that no Spanish woman wore shoes and that they only wear heels at all times) and now I can start working out here!

I also had my first food here that I wasn't a big fan of...which is funny because its probably the most Spanish food we've had thus far.  It was paella, which is like rice and stuff and most commonly with fishy-ness (they also make chicken paella which I think I would love)... now I don't hate seafood, I'm not a huge fan of sea-shells or shrimp with eyeballs still in my food.  But I was a trooper and ate most of it. (It really didn't taste so bad but those damn shrimp eyes kept looking at me....)  Other than that, all of our food here has been great!  I feel like I repeat myself a lot so sorry if I'm doing it again, but we've had a lot of different soups, from a plain brothy-noodle soup, to a few different bean soups, to onion soup, and they've all been great.  I came here planning on losing weight and our Senora just keeps making amazing food!

Anyways....went to the beach again today with Amber and two other girls, Lauren and Ryann (sisters) and had another relaxing afternoon.  Got some homework done, ate some more, napped a little (one can get used to la siesta after a big lunch), and Amber and I went for a run after dinner.  I am out of shape!!  But I plan on trying to run every night, or at least go for a walk, because I need to get into shape if I'm going to be on the beach everyday!

Well I better get to bed, gotta be ready for school tomorrow!  I really wish people weren't having trouble commenting because I'd like to talk to y'all (there's lots of southern people in our group...hope I don't pick this up) but love you guys and talk to you soon!

     The last couple days have been a nice break from the go-go-go we've had since getting here.  We had class Friday which went well, then went to Ronda on Saturday.  Ronda is a beautiful city!  Its not very big and just has a lot of beautiful views.  There is a bridge that connects both sides of the city because there's a huge canyon/chasm thing that separates the town into to halves.  I think I put one picture up of it in the last post.  It sucks because its impossible to take a picture that really captures how amazing it is!  While in Ronda we also visited the Arabic baths.  I believe they were built in the 14th century.  Its really neat to see how well preserved they were.  It was a place where people coming to the city could get clean/meditate before going into the city as far as I understand.  Getting clean was somewhat of a religious thing for the Arabic's.  We also went to the bull ring there, which is the oldest bull ring in Spain.  It was interesting, but it'd be a lot more interesting to see a bull fight!  They only hold bull fights a couple times a year though because its so expensive to get a bull now and the place doesn't have enough seating to make it worth it to do all the time.
     We got back to Malaga from Ronda around 6:00 and ate dinner around 8:00.  Me and Amber went to the center then to help one of the girls, Ryann, celebrate her 20th birthday!  We just went to a little cafe/bar and had sangria.  Ryann and Lauren are sisters and probably the two nicest girls!  We went out for a little bit to some of the bars in the area, but its so expensive to go out here that we didn't stay out for too long (at least not in Spain terms).  Amber and I took a taxi ride home and apparently our taxi driver didn't know where he was going because he dropped us off at the wrong place! (After asking us where it was...heck I don't know, I gave him our address that should be good enough for a taxi driver!!)  Luckily after getting our bearings (not sure if thats how you would spell that), we realized we were only about a block and a half away from where we should be.  And finally, me and Amber successfully opened the door!  She locks it differently during the night and we've had some trouble with it.  I'm so glad that we won't be waking our Senora up again because we're not smart enough to figure out the key...
     After staying up late a few nights in a row, we slept in Sunday and really took advantage of our first day of nothingness after getting here.  After lunch, we went to the beach for a few hours and enjoyed the sun and water.  Then we finally got the internet working on our computers so we spent some time talking with people and getting pictures uploaded and the like.  We went for a little walk after dinner, both of us are determined to start working out while we're here!
     Well, Amber just left for school (since we're in different classes, she starts again today and I'll start again on Wednesday, after this week we'll both have class M-F) so I'm on my own for the first time since getting here (well except for taking the Metro/bus to get to Toledo when I first got here).  I have lots of errands to run today, hoping that my credit card works because I need to buy some tennis shoes.  Buenos dias todos and now that I have internet hopefully I'll be updating more often!

some pictures!

Part of the view from Vicki's apartment

Streets of madrid

 View of Toledo, such a pretty city!!

one picture of the cathedral in Toledo.  So beautiful!

my room.  my bed is the left one under the window.  (the other bed is empty)

romeo!!!  (except you say it spanish like... ro-may-o)

Ronda.  It takes for ever to load pictures on here or I'd put more up.  Oh well, I've lots to show people when I get home!

Primer dia de mis clases (first day of classes)

I don’t have too much to say about today.  Got to school around 8.  Getting up at 6:30 for breakfast was a little early for me, but now we don’t have to be there until 8:30 and we know where it is, so breakfast is at 8:00 tomorrow.  I tested into the level of classes that I expected, which is good-otherwise I would not be getting very much credit back home!  I was nervous about not getting into the right level, but after doing some studying the night before, I was fine.  We just did a multiple choice test then had a short interview (or long interview if you were really advanced (mine was medium lengthed)), then they put us in our classes.  I’ll have school from 8:30-1:30 Monday thru Friday.   It’s a long day of class, but then we’re done for the day after that!

After class we went into “El centro”  which is where everything is, but it is a little far from our house.  We rode the bus there.  It’s interesting getting used to using public transportation, but it’s pretty easy (at least to get to el centro.)  However, we were way off on time, because we were too late to meet our group for the walking tour.  We just walked around for awhile with a few other people that rode the bus with us. (And when I say we, I typically mean me and Amber!)

After our dinner, we pretty much just came upstairs and went to bed.  I would like to go out and not be a bum but we are both soooo beat.  I feel like I haven’t gotten much rest since getting here, its just go, go, go, all the time and we really haven’t had a lot of free time.  So I’m staying in tonight and hopefully I will catch up on sleep for the weekend.

Soo…all in all, not the most exciting day but a long one for sure!

I’m going to make a random list of things that are different here….

• ·         No mountain dew.  Ahh!!  If anyone feels like shipping me a crate, go right ahead!
• ·         Lots and lots of walking or public transportation
• ·         The toilets flush weird and it’s not unusual for public bathrooms to be out of either toilet paper, soap, or paper towels (or all three)
• ·         You always wear shoes in the house.
• ·         Short and fast showers!! (Especially since you are sharing a bathroom with three other girls!)
• ·         Hours of the stores.  I can’t even really tell you how they’re different because I don’t know yet, other than most things are not open that early, and they close from around 2-5 for siesta.  And banks close at 2/ 2:30 for the day and are not open on the weekends (basically if you want to go to the bank you have to miss class)
• ·         Stores themselves!  You have to remember to bring a bag to the mercada (market) because they charge for plastic bags (which is ingenious idea to get people to recycle), and there is no such thing (at least not that I’ve seen so far) as a super store that has everything you need.
• ·         EVERYTHING COSTS 10 MILLION BAZILLION EUROS!!!   Que pena….
• ·         Errr euros!  They are different but not too hard to get used to.  The most frustrating part is that the smallest bill is the 5 euro.  After that there is a 2 euro and a 1 euro coin, so that change can start to weigh down your purse!  Wait…the most frustrating part is the fact that they disappear so quickly.
• ·         Los puertos y los llaves (the doors and the keys). (more on this in the next post.)
• ·         Warm drinks and hard bread.  However the food is great and the water is usually at least chilled, even if there is no ice.  Oh and there is bread with every meal, so I’m happy.

First day in Malaga

Pre-apology:  I realize a lot of this is rambling and probably difficult to read.  Lo siento mucho!

First day in Malaga!!  I have a feeling me and Amber got really really lucky with our housing assignment.  We’re very close to the beach, and to the school (if we find it…I’ll get back to that), we have our OWN ROOMS!!, our Senora is a great cook, it’s a big place, our own bathroom (kinda), there’s stuff to do nearby, the two other girls we’ve been hanging out with live close by, its beautiful here (mountains and ocean in the same view! How can you beat that??)…I could go on...and probably will.

We got here around four after a six hour long bus ride.  The bus ride wasn’t really too bad, since we have so much luggage between all the students (about 50), we have to take two busses, so pretty much every got their own seat.  As soon as we got to Malaga we met our host family.  Jose came to pick us up and took us back to the house, where we met Elena, our senora.  We’re still a little uncomfortable because we don’t really know all the rules/how we’re expected to behave but I think we’ll figure it out.   Like we aren’t sure if we are kinda supposed to stay in our little area of the house, or if we’re supposed to go downstairs and talk to them, or if they want to be left alone or what...  Luckily there are 2 of us so it makes it easier (even though we’re both socially awkward / have no ability to read maps or work keys(this does not really relate here but it is very true (and Amanda, I hope you appreciate/remember the double parentheses))), if it was just me I think I’d have a nervous breakdown.  We just had dinner though and I can pretty much understand what Senora Elena says and it seems like she can understand me fairly well too! (Sometimes when I speak Spanish I get a blank stare like I just spoke gibberish to them…)  I’m getting more comfortable everyday with my Spanish.  A lot of times I think my problem is that I get so nervous that I mumble a little when I speak, but that’s starting to go away (slowly).

Oooo, important detail.  There is also two other girls staying here from Austria, they will be here for two weeks.  They speak English (sorta) but there is definitely a language barrier between us.  They are in the room across the hall.  We didn’t know there would be anyone else staying here, but it’s interesting to be meeting people from all over the world!  I wonder if there will be other girls staying here over the summer after they leave.  I hope so, keeps things interesting! (Not that things have ceased to be interesting so far.)  Hopefully when I post this (which might not be till this weekend, not sure) I will be able to post a picture of my room for you!  It’s very cute, I even have my own little closet and desk….and orange sheets!

day 2 (i need to come up with more creative titles.

Another eventful day!  First…dinner last night.  The roommate and I met up with a few other girls in the lobby to go to dinner.  After wandering around for 30 minutes or so trying to find a place that one of the girls had heard about, we gave up and decided to eat at this little Italian place.  Our meals ended up being really expensive...we said yes to bread when we should have said no…not realizing that bread for the 8 of us was going to cost 20 euros.  Oops.  Something was missed in translation there…  Also (and this is typical of all places) water is kind of an expensive addition to the meal.  It comes in a fancy glass bottle that you pour into your fancy cup.  I’ll have to admit, it’s very tasty water and I feel sophisticated and European drinking it…but at between 2-3 euros a bottle, it’ll get expensive, even just having one a meal.  Luckily, we won’t be eating out much after we get to Malaga on the 23.  (The host family feeds us three meals a day) 

After dinner we came back to the hotel, feeling a bit like stupid Americans again, but what are you going to do?  I went for a nice walk with some other people I had met, just seeing what the night life of Madrid was like.  It’s really enjoyable to walk through the streets in the evening and see everything that’s going on.

On to today.  Had a nice breakfast in the morning, will have to try some different things tomorrow.  They have lots of different things that I wouldn’t associate with breakfast, like lunch meats and some identifiable things that I wasn’t up for this morning (don’t worry I’ll try them tomorrow!).  After breakfast Amber, Laura, and I went on an adventure to find a bank.  It was mostly failed, I guess it is difficult to find a good place to cash travelers checks.  I’m glad I didn’t bring any! (However, I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to get money out of my account after my current stash runs out…that’ll be for another day)  We went for a tour of a nearby art museum that has a lot of Picasso and Salvador Dali.  It was awesome to see such famous artwork (not that I knew the art…but I do know the people J )

After lunch in a café, Amber and I tried to meet our group at our next touristy thing (Royal Palace) but failed at finding it in time.  We were disappointed to miss the tour…I really wanted to see it but we took a wrong turn and ran out of time (neither of us is very good with a map…plus we went the way that our director said would be better not to go because of the (peaceful!) political demonstrations going on).  We comforted ourselves with a little shopping.  We found this awesome store that I could have bought a million things in, but I restrained myself to one dress (actually I was forced to restrain because I had only taken 15 euros with me).  It had reasonable prices for things…pretty much the first time I’ve seen that since getting to Spain.

That’s about all I have for y’all today.  Me and Amber took a nap after getting back to the hotel and are just getting ready to go get some dinner now.  Hopefully we’ll find some people in the lobby to join us for dinner!

First few days!!

Hopefully I’ll be able to post this soon but I’m not sure when I’ll have internet again.  My first few days in Spain have been great.  I arrived around noon on Friday (Spain time….7 hours ahead) and was able to get through customs, find the metro, and get to the bus station with little error.  I had some trouble at the bus station because after finding where to buy tickets, it’s practically impossible to find the bus.  Like they just don’t tell you where it is and the bus station has about three levels with busses everywhere.  I did find it in time though (and almost got on the wrong bus…even after getting directions) and made it to Toledo around 3:30.  By the time I found the phone and figured out how to work it (there’s no dial tones here….someone had to help me (no wonder other people think Americans are stupid…I’m not helping the stereotype.)).  Anyways….Vicki (the friend I was staying with) came and picked me up around 5 and we walked back to her apartment.  The hills and cobblestone streets in Toledo are quite impressive.  I’d really get into shape if I had to do that every day.  And girls wear heels on this stuff!!  I can’t even wear heels normally, let alone on a very steep incline on a very uneven street.  After a shower, nap, and some dinner, Vicki took me out to the bars in Toledo.  I’m going to have to learn to stay awake late…Spaniards don’t even leave the house until after midnight!  I guess I’ll still be prepared to work night shift by the time I get back to the states.

So…It’s Sunday now and I’ve been at the hotel for a few hours.  I managed to get back on the bus, back to Madrid and through the Metro another time.  I only had to ask for help once to know exactly where the hotel was (yeah…I had walked right past it, it was literally right in front of the metro station).  Me and my roommate have just been napping and hanging out in the room…she just got here today so she’s feeling the jet lag!  Getting ready now, we meet back up with the group at 6 for a tour of the city.  Even though I flew into Madrid, I haven’t really seen any of it yet because all my time here has been spent on the Metro.  Oooo…so after me and my roommate (Amber) got to our room, we had to go back downstairs to ask Heidi (our group director) how to turn on the lights.  After flipping every switch in the room and looking everywhere, we were lost.  I guess you have to put your room key in a slot for the lights to turn off.  Go figure.   I can’t think of anything else to write right now, the weather is perfect so far and I’m excited to be with my group now and to start getting to know the people I’ll be spending the next two months with!!