15 days makes me want to cry.

I know I haven’t finished updating yet but this post was necessary.

Today is December 6^th. Which unfortunately means that the numbers on my countdown are incredibly small. 15 to be exact. First of all, where the heck did this come from? I still vividly remember getting on the plane in Boston Logan International Airport on August 31^st kind of freaking out, having to repack my suitcase in front of an incredibly long line of people at the check-in desk, trying to not to cry when I had to say goodbye to my family, meeting my first Granada friend and starting this whole wonderful adventure. I know people tell you that it’s going to go by fast but this wasn’t fast. This was light speed. In September you feel like you have all the time in the world. You keep saying, I don’t need to do this right now or, it can wait, I have three months. Well those three months fly by in the blink of an eye and before you know it, here you are, 15 days left. Every single time for the past few weeks that anyone in our group has said anything about going home everyone’s response is, “Let’s not talk about it.” The thought of leaving gives me a combined feeling of wanting to cry/vom (I’m sorry, I know that’s not really ladylike). There is no way that this can be over so soon. I’ll admit, I’m in a bit of denial. But, instead of continuing to mope about how little time I have left, I’ll leave you a little list of things I’m hoping to accomplish this week (lots of free time since we only have class on Monday and Wednesday thanks to some holidays) and in the remainder of the 15 days to come.

-        Night trip to the Alhambra

-        Palacio de Carlos V

-        Explore the Albaicin/Sacromonte

-        Go to the movies (I still have yet to see a movie in Spanish here)

-        Go-karting (last week’s attempt to go did not pan out as planned)

-        Day trip to the Sierra Nevada (Thursday if all goes according to plan!)

-        Ice skating (yes, shockingly enough in this desert that I currently live in they’ve put up an ice rink for Christmas!)

-        Try new restaurants & tapas bars

-        Granada soccer game (praying for this one, still don’t know if it’ll happen)

-        Explore as much of Granada as I possibly can!

That’s all for now friends. Best of luck to all back home with finals and holiday preparations! I love you all! And to end on a happy note, 15 more days here means only 15 more days until the Allen Family Christmas European Vacation; I cannot wait to see you, Mom & Melissa!

Sending all my love to the other side of the Atlantic.

xoxo – S

Reunited Roommates, Castles, Cliffs, Sheep, Vegetable Soup, Brown Bread & a Ghoul-way Halloween!

Let’s take a trip through time back to my first real trip in Europe this semester.  To do so we need to rewind to October 28^th when I took a few buses and a plane and one bus more and finally made it to Galway, Ireland! Ireland was a trip that I knew I wanted to do before I even left for Europe. Last time I was here I wasn’t able to go to Ireland and I had heard wonderful things about how beautiful it was. Also adding to the motivation was the fact that my wonderful roommate Julia and some other Stonehill friends would be spending the semester there. So Ireland was the first trip I looked into doing and I reserved my longest weekend (we had Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off thanks to a national holiday) to make the journey.

So upon arriving in Ireland with ZERO traveling issues (can you believe it?!) Julia and Jess picked me up at the Galway bus station and brought me to their home at Gort Na Coirbe (their residence hall/apartment area). Julia and I had dinner and had quality roommate catch up time. Saturday morning I got a nice little tour of Galway city, got to see NUI Galway where all of the Stonehill abroaders are taking their classes, and had lunch in a nice little Irish pub (with incredible vegetable soup and brown bread – just a heads up, this is going to become a trend in my meals here).

 windy day in Galway Bay

 Julia & I at Galway Bay

 Shop Street in Galway City

Also on Saturday night, other wonderful Stonehill friends, Tara and Amy who are studying in Denmark were kicking off their two week long travel break with a stop in Ireland! It was so nice to be able to see them because unfortunately a trip to Denmark did not work out for the semester. So, on Sunday morning, early and not so bright because it was a little cloudy/rainy (per usual when you’re in Ireland) Amy, Tara, Julia, and I all hopped on a bus tour to see some of Ireland and go to the Cliffs of Moher!







 Dunguaire Castle

 Amy, Tara, and I at the Portal Tomb

 foggy day at the Cliffs of Moher

 Amy & I at the Cliffs

 S & J: Cliffs of Moher Version

 the end of a wonderful day at the Cliffs of Moher!

Although it was a bit of a foggy day at the Cliffs it was still a wonderful day and I’m really happy I got to spend it in such great company! Also, not depicted in the pictures above is our stop for lunch at a cute little Irish pub where we sat by the fire and had delicious vegetable soup and brown bread (I told you you’d hear this again but really, it was so good).

Monday was Halloween and since our Galway friends had class on Tuesday, Tara, Amy, and I set out on our own for another bus tour, this time of Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. This morning when we left it was raining kind of bad so we were a little nervous about our tour but we lucked out and when we arrived at Kylemore Abbey we had wonderful weather.

 Kylemore Abbey

The Gardens at Kylemore Abbey

 Leaving Kylemore Abbey with our new Irish sheep wool sweaters in hand!

Sheep literally everywhere in the countryside

Following this day of touring the Ireland countryside, we returned to Galway City. As I mentioned, Monday was Halloween which, little did the three of us know, is like a HUGE deal in Galway. Obviously, due to packing restrictions for our travels, none of us brought Halloween costumes. However, lucky for us, our wonderful friends Julia and Jess went out and got us Halloween costumes while we were gone and we enjoyed a night of celebrating a Ghoulway Halloween! Unfortunately after that, my Galway weekend had to end and I had to leave for the bus station at about 3:30 am to catch my 8 am flight back home so that was a bit sleepless. Nonetheless, I had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Galway. It was so nice to be able to see so many Stonehill friends and hear about how wonderful their own experiences were. But also, my trip to Ireland reaffirmed for me that I made the right choice by coming to Granada. Although I had the most wonderful time, part of me missed Granada which for me was a good sign. Also, just being able to share my experiences and how much I love Granada told me that I made the absolute right choice and that I was having the study abroad experience that I wanted. As always, I am so grateful for how blessed I am to be able to travel the world and even more so for having some truly wonderful friends!

xoxo – S

"Hello, How are you, My name is Teresa."

So a fun little thing that I realized I have yet to mention in my blog is that back in October, at the beginning of classes, I got a nannying job here! My program put me in touch with this woman who lives in the town right next to Granada and who was looking for someone to help her out twice a week with her 4-year-old, 2-year-old, and newborn and teach the older two English. So every Monday and Wednesday night I go to their house in Armilla and play with the kids and  help Maria Jose (the mom) out and teach Teresa (4 years old) and Gonzalo (2 years old) English.

When I first started Teresa was very shy. Maria Jose told her that I didn’t speak or understand Spanish so she had to talk to me in English (Although I think by now she has caught on a little bit…) and I think she was shy to speak English with someone new. But one day, I got in the car with them to head to their house and Teresa looks at me and says “Hello, how are you? My name is Teresa” For me, this was such a priceless moment and it made me smile. I think this was definitely when Teresa got more comfortable with me and started practicing her English more. And when that happened, I was amazed. She has such an incredible vocabulary for a 4 year old. She can count, and knows her colors and things around the house and it’s just amazing to see how much she knows. We do different things together and I teach her different words and how to say things or ask for things and she is such a smart, quick learner. It has been so much fun and so rewarding to work with her especially when she is running around the house or pointing out everything in a book and telling me the words in English.

Another fun fact is that Teresa is essentially a princess. She has so much Disney Princess and Hello Kitty stuff and her favorite color is pink so obviously we are essentially bff’s haha. One of her favorite activities is playing dress up which was evidenced on Halloween. For Halloween which by the way is not really a huge celebration here in Spain, Teresa got a princessy witch costume (it was black and pink). The day after they bought the costume Teresa insisted on showing it to me so I had to help her put it on when we got home and she refused to take it off the whole time I was there. Maria Jose told her she had to put her pajamas on so we did that and then put the costume on right back over her pajamas. I unfortunately wasn’t in Spain for Halloween so I didn’t get to see her which was sad but needless to say that wasn’t the end of the dressing up. In fact, both days this week we had to put on the Ariel costume with all of the accessories and dressed up one of the dolls as well. These are just a few of my favorite memories I’ve had with her this semester but the whole experience has just been so wonderful and I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity. These kids and this family are going to be so hard to leave at the end of December but I can’t wait to see how much further they come and how much more they learn in the next month!

A Class-y Post

Alright, so I know I’ve basically failed at this whole blogging thing. My sincerest apologies but to be honest, I had a feeling this would happen. Life somehow got busy (surprise, surprise) and I’ve just been living it to the fullest hence the lack of time to blog. However, this being the first weekend since October that I will be home in Granada, the goal of the weekend is to update you all on basically everything that I’ve done since I’ve been in Spain! So, I apologize again for the tardiness but I hope you all will forgive me and enjoy reading about all of my adventures!

So, I figure a good place to begin would be to talk about the classes I’m taking this semester – I know, shocking, I’m actually here for school and not just to romp around the world (sometimes I forget too). So, let’s rewind a good month and a half to October 6^th, our first official day of classes at the CLM. After the month-long intensive course, I went up one level and tested into level 6 which has been perfect; I feel like I’ve been learning so much!

Although Stonehill will only accept five courses to transfer back (including the intensive course) I opted to take five classes this semester as opposed to four. I figured since I was already here and already paying, and I wanted to learn and apply my Spanish as much as possible, this would be the best option for me and I’m happy to say that for the most part, it has been. So, here’s a little blurb about each of the classes.

Producción Oral y Escrito (POE) – POE is a class that everyone below a level seven has to take to work on our written and oral production skills (as the name implies). This is my smallest class at the CLM, there are 12 students, in order to allow for a lot of participation. In my class we have a debate/discussion every Monday morning about any topic from corridas de toros to the Spanish elections and then we write a summary of the discussion for the following week. We have also been reviewing different grammar things and applying them in small creative writing exercises which have been interesting.  I really like my POE class and I feel like it has reinforced a lot of what I have been learning in grammar and other classes.

GRIIS Seminar – The GRIIS seminar is the class that our director, Amalia teaches for the nine of us in our program. The seminar is focused on Spain past and present and we’ve been learning about the different groups of people that have inhabited Spain. We’ve talked about everything from women to the 15-M movement (that proceeded/inspired the Occupy Wall Street Movement) to immigration to the Spanish Civil War to the roles of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the history of Spain. Also, every Monday we all bring in and present on a current event that is related to the class which is probably one of my favorite things about this class. Since taking my political science classes last semester, I have felt much more informed about what is going on in the world and since I’ve been here in Spain and watch the news everyday at lunch and dinner, I feel so much more informed than I ever have been back home. Although this class is probably the most demanding work-wise, it is probably my favorite class and it is the class where I’ve definitely learned the most this semester.

Spanish Grammar – Pretty self-explanatory, I’m taking a grammar class to do basically what I would do in a normal Spanish language class at Stonehill. For the most part, we’ve been doing a lot of review with tenses and pronouns and things like that but I feel that after this class I have a much better grasp on a lot of grammatical things. Although it has been a lot of review, sometimes it is difficult because I feel as though I have to forget everything I was taught in the US and re-learn things. Not to say that I learned incorrectly but as many of my professors here have mentioned, when US teachers try to teach Spanish grammar to Americans, they tend to oversimplify and so when students get to Spain they find that there are more rules/uses for things such as the subjunctive and it is more complicated than they’ve ever learned. So although that has been a struggle for some things I feel like I definitely have a better grasp on many of these things that I have learned in the past.

19^th & 20^th Century Spanish Literature – This literature class is the fifth class I chose to take which I have had mixed feelings about. The first day of class was a little confusing/overwhelming because there are about 35 students in the class which I know isn’t large but when you go to Stonehill and you’ve never been in a class with more than 25 students, it’s noticeably different. Also, unlike all of my other classes, my literature professor is not very strict about speaking Spanish in class. In the seminar, grammar, and my culture class all of the professors have said, as soon as you step foot in this room you have to be speaking Spanish – obviously, that’s why we’re in Spain, to learn Spanish. But needless to say, many students speak a lot of English (myself certainly included) and especially so in this class which at first was a little frustrating. Also, unfortunately this class is kinda boring and I don’t feel like I’ve learned a ton like in my other classes but I am maintaining a positive attitude and doing my best work to get something positive out of the class.

Civilization and Culture of Spain – This is the last class that I’m taking and the one that I’m grateful that I have at 4 pm. I could not possibly imagine having to sit through any of my other classes from 4-6 pm twice a week so I’m certainly glad it’s this one. In this class we basically talk about food and holidays and Spanish customs so it’s something that I find very interesting. This professor is very strict about speaking Spanish in his class so that has been good for me because I’ve had to practice my Spanish with my other American peers which often times can be intimidating. All in all, a very good class.

So, my friends, that is quick summary of what I have been doing here class-wise. Although having 8:30 am’s every day is sometimes rough, especially the days where I have 6 hours of class (each class is 2 hours long), I like my classes and I feel like I’m learning a lot which is what I’m here for after all. Needless to say though, finding motivation to do work while you’re here is incredibly difficult. It seems as though no one bothers to mention to you that when you go abroad you have to do homework and give presentations and write papers and take midterms which is not at all fun. My motivation has certainly taken a beating since I’ve been here which I know has shocked everyone but it has definitely allowed me to be a little more carefree and enjoy myself while still making sure that everything gets done. The latest countdown for the remaining days of classes is less than 10 days at this point which is unbelievable. I feel like we’re just getting started but here’s to hoping that I can pull through the rest of the semester and make it through exams!

xoxo - S

Future Post Preview

Hi all! So I realized that the last time I posted was exactly one month ago which means that I've officially hit the two month mark in Spain. Obviously freaking out because that means I have a month and a half left and lately I've realized that I would give anything to stay here for much longer but that is not reality. But, after all, reflecting a bit on things, I'm starting to realize that my life is totally not real I am incredibly blessed and am doing my absolute best to have the best time ever for the next month and a half and am taking advantage of any and every opportunity available to me.

Anyways, as you can see from the lack of blog posting, I have been very busy with classes and life in general but I want to give you a quick preview of posts to come regarding all of the fun things that I have been doing in the past month!

-Start of (real) classes at the beginning of October
-My new job babysitting/teaching English to two kids
-The abrupt arrival of colder weather (at least briefly)
-Weekend trip to Galway, Ireland
-Weekend trip to Perugia, Italy
-And an update on all of the other crazy adventures I have planned (including a trip to Morocco during which I plan on riding a camel!)

That's it for now and I promise once I return from Italy and get through midterms I will do some serious blogging to catch you all up! Hoping you are all doing well back home in New England after all of that snow from the weekend - my apologies but I'm enjoy weather in the 60's on this side of the Atlantic!

xoxo - S

Monthiversary

So yesterday, October 1^st marked my official one month anniversary of being in Spain! The reality of this is so unbelievable. On the one hand, I feel so comfortable here in Granada that it feels like I’ve been here forever. On the other, I cannot believe that I’ve been here for an entire month and that I’ve only got another 2 and a half left to go. My monthiversary came out of nowhere and reminded me how unbelievably fast time flies. Along with this thought came the part of me that feels like I haven’t possibly done enough in my first month. Sure, I’ve seen a lot of new things with my program but what else have a done? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m sitting around bored or anything, I am still loving all of the experiences I am having here. But at the same time, seeing how fast a month has gone has reminded me how much more I want to do before December 21^st.

This morning I got a wonderful email from a friend of mine who talked about having the same feeling as I am having now. She told me that every day she is making a promise to herself to do the things she wants to do and make the most of her remaining time abroad. Hearing this from her reminded me that this is what I need to do, too. I need to stop being afraid or whatever it is that I am and just take in every experience I could possibly want to have here in Spain. I can’t not do something just because I have no one to do it with. Seeing how fast this first month went by reminded me that I have to find a way to do everything that I could possibly want to do and go everywhere I could possibly want to go. I need to stop wasting time and stop second guessing myself and just do. When I first started this journey a month ago I mentioned that throughout the semester I was going to do my best to set goals and challenge myself. So here it is: in the next two and a half months I am going to promise myself to do the things I want to do. I am going to take every opportunity provided me and I am going to create my own opportunities. I will not be leaving Spain wishing I had done it differently.

So here’s to new experiences, new challenges, and no regrets.

xoxo – S

Extracurricular fun

Alright so I know that this semester abroad was supposed to give me a chance to relax and maybe not be as busy as I always am at Stonehill. At the same time, I am still the same person that I have always been and I do not do well with free time. Therefore, I have found some things to keep me busy during my semester here and I think they will be more enriching than stressful. So, I figured I’d share all of these fun extracurricular updates with you all in list form!

1.       Flamenco dance classes – Loving dance as much as I do, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take dance classes here. Brittany, Sarah, Naomi, and I have signed up to take 8 flamenco classes with Ana who is a wonderful and fun teacher. We started two weeks ago and have already taken four classes. We have started by learning the Sevillana and it has been going really well, we have finished the choreography and hopefully tomorrow in class we will impress Ana with our skills! Also, during class this past Wednesday we learned how to play the castanets which are waaay harder to learn than they seem (especially if you have zero musical talent like me). Wednesday’s class was a bit frustrating since we focused on the castanets which were difficult to me as opposed to dancing which I pick up quickly. Anywho, it was still cool and I’m sure by the end of the classes my castanet skills will improve. Here’s a fun video to show you some flamenco dancing and people playing castanets. I believe the first dance that they do is the Sevillana which I am learning.

2.      Fútbol – This past Tuesday we were informed that every Tuesday until the end of the semester we will be playing soccer. Upon hearing this I was not thrilled; why can’t the Spanish be obsessed with a sport that requires hand coordination as opposed to foot coordination which I am lacking? But I was happily surprised when I actually had a great time playing soccer this week. This week it was just the nine of us in our group plus Teresa and two Spanish guys, Pablo and David who are actually legitimately good at playing soccer and showed us all up but Teresa said throughout the semester we will have more Spanish friends to play with! I think this will be a good opportunity to stay active, relieve a little stress, and get to meet more Spanish people! This week I took a little tumble and scraped my knee a bit but I am ok and am hoping my wound heals quickly and that I won’t injure myself again for the rest of the semester (fingers crossed). Overall, I was happily surprised by the soccer experience.

3.      Iglesia San Francisco – As I mentioned in one of my first posts, I have been going to mass at a church across the street from my house called Iglesia San Francisco. I decided in a personal effort to meet more Spanish people my own age and get involved in some sort of community here outside of the school that I would try to get involved in the church. Lucky for me, last Sunday after mass there was a girl handing out flyers about activities that go on in the church. I spoke with her asking how I could get involved/meet other young people in the parish and she invited me to an oración on Thursday night. On Thursday I returned to the church and met up with Maria. The oración was really beautiful and peaceful. Everyone, young and old, gathered in the basement of the church and read scripture and prayed and sang praise and worship songs and it was really just a great and peaceful time. Afterwards, Maria introduced me to a woman who was in charge of youth ministry and she told me of some other ways to get involved and Maria introduced me to her friends. They all seem really nice and invited me to go back next week and to join what I am assuming is their form of youth group which begins in two weeks or so. I am really looking forward to getting more involved in the church and getting to meet more Spanish people my age. All of the girls seemed really nice and I’m proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and approaching Maria to get more information and meet more people.

4.      Intercambio – This semester as part of our program, all of us are getting intercambio partners who are Spanish people who are learning English and who are going to help us with our Spanish. The idea is to meet once a week and talk for an hour in Spanish and then an hour in English so that we both can improve in our respective languages of study. On Thursday I met my intercambio, Alba who is 21 and lives here in Granada. She is super nice and two of her friends are also intercambios with Brian and Naomi and so aside from just meeting one on one I think we’ll also be meeting as a group to do stuff together. It’s really cool not only to have someone to work on my Spanish with but also to have a Spanish friend who knows fun things to do around the city. Alba and I met on Saturday for coffee and chatted in Spanish and she told me next week we’ll work on English although she did say she was a little shy because she thinks my Spanish is better than her English. I really doubt that but I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to help her out and also to have her help me improve my Spanish!

So, although I am going to get busy with school soon when official classes start in two weeks, I am really excited about all of these other activities that I have planned outside of class. I feel like in three weeks I’ve already seen my Spanish improve in all facets and I know that finding involvement in ‘the real world’ outside of the classroom will just improve my skills even more and I’m sure make me love Spain even more than I already do (if that’s even possible). Lately I have talked to so many people from home who just say to me, “You look like you’re so happy” which is really great to hear because I am having a great time. I have my days where I miss home or I get frustrated/discouraged with the Spanish or whatever but I know that I’m going to grow and learn so much this semester and I’m really looking forward to what the next three months have in store for me. This week ahead is full of preparation for Thursday’s placement test so please send positive brain waves my way and I’ll be sure to update you all soon! xoxo

I am quite possibly the worst blogger ever...

I am fully aware that I am quite possibly the worst blogger ever. My apologies for not updating the blog as frequently as I would like. Sometimes, reliving your day via blog is exhausting but anyways, I am going to do my best to update you all on some fun things that have happened since I last posted. WARNING: This is going to be a long post that probably only my mom will read but I peppered in some pics for those of you who just want to browse.

After a wonderful first weekend, it was time for things to really get started. Monday (9/5) we took our first placement exam and started our intensive course. I placed into a level 5 out of 10 and Amalia thinks that I can be at a level 6 or 7 by the end of the intensive course so I’ll definitely be doing a lot of studying for the upcoming placement exam. The intensive course is a lot of grammatical review so that we can be prepared to take our four regular semester courses in Spanish and to just overall improve our skills. We do written and oral exercises all of which have definitely been a huge help!

Tuesday (9/6) we had class in the morning and then in the afternoon we returned to the Albaícin and went to a Tetería. A Tetería is just like a Cafeteria except you get tea instead of cafe (coffee). It was a really cool place and they had a ton of different tea flavors to try. Definitely a place I plan on returning to when it gets a bit colder here!

Thursday (9/8) we took our first official class field trip to Capilla Real and the Catedral. The Catedral is located in the center of Granada and is just an absolutely stunning building inside and out. With Amalia as our guide, we learned about the history and stories about the Catedral and the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel are buried). As our first official class field trip this I had a lot of fun and feel like I learned a ton. Bonus for this being one of the most beautiful buildings ever!

 
Friday (9/9) instead of class we went to a museum (we go to a lot of museums). Also, Friday night was my first ever Spanish discoteca experience. Let us note that the Spanish live on a crazy schedule. According to them there are two days, one in the morning until lunch at 2:30 and then another post-siesta at like 5 pm. Thus, they deem it appropriate to be out until all hours of the madrugada (new vocab word meaning, very early morning i.e. midnight-the sun comes up). Therefore, no one in Spain really goes to discotecas until like 2 or 3 in the morning. Since we are not yet full-fledged Spainards, we went around 1 but still didn’t return home until about 4 am which for me, is clearly well past my bedtime however we had so much fun dancing and singing with a beautiful view of the Alhambra in the background – super guay.

Sunday (9/11) we hiked the Sierra Nevadas which sounds like a really cool experience and in hindsight was a really cool experience except for the fact that I was essentially miserable for 75% of the hike which was very hilly and on a path which was covered in slippery rocks. Our guide, Paco was hardcore and would just venture off the path and say “hey guys let’s just go down the side of this hill where there are prickly bushes and no path so just you know, slide down.” Alright, I’ll stop complaining but seriously, some parts of this hike were kind of absurd but no worries, I really did have fun. Especially because the shining light at the end of this hike in the Sierra Nevadas was a trip to the Baños Arabes. The Baños Arabes is an old Arabic bathhouse that has been converted into a type of spa. Essentially, you go in and change into your bathing suit and there are three pools of different temperatures: one that’s really cold, one that’s like a hot tub, and the other that is like normal bath water. So basically you venture through these different pools, drink some very good tea, and go in the sauna until your number is called. Then, you get to get an awesome massage. My description doesn’t really even do the baños any justice but it is such a cool place and I definitely plan to return and anyone who is thinking about visiting – you must go!

 Finally, at the top (well, almost).

Aerial view of Granada (I seem to have a lot of these)

So now, fast-forward to Wednesday (9/14) when we went to the most famous thing in all of Granada – the Alhambra! The Alhambra is essentially a royal city within Granada where the Arab kings lived and it has unbelievable architecture and decoration. Also, part of the Alhambra called the Generalife is this huge garden that has flowers all year round. This of course, made me think of you, Mom, so I took lots of pictures of flowers for you – they’ll be on Facebook soon. So, instead of going into detail about la Alhambra, I will let the pictures speak for themselves - sorry for the many awk solo shots.

 Just peekin' out of bushes in Generalife

 A patio in Generalife

incredible detail - this is on the walls/ceiling of basically ever single room in the Alhambra

 view of Granada from the top of Alcazaba

 All of the girls!

So, here we are – officially three weeks into my semester in Spain and I am really having a blast. There is so much to see/do and I’m having such cool new experiences every day. There is so much more to see and explore and I will do my best to update you all much more frequently! All of my love to friends & family back in the States! xoxo



First Weekend in Spain

Hi all! Sorry I haven't posted in a while but here's an overview of how I spent my first weekend here in Spain (with pictures)!

Saturday morning was uneventful, I slept late (I thought I had overcome jetlag but even five days in, I don’t think my body has fully adjusted; still very tired!) and had lunch with Belen and Adriana and spent the morning/afternoon at home. Later that afternoon we all met up with Teresa and walked to a part of the city called the Albaicín. This is the neighborhood next to the Alhambra. It is full of hills and lots of steps and small tiny roads that cars should not be going down (like many of the streets here in Granada) but nonetheless, beautiful. As we walked up we had an incredible view of the Alhambra as well as the entire city! Here are a few pictures from the trip.

 La Alhambra on the walk up.

 Another view of la Alhambra from higher up.

 First (very) awkward solo shot of the semester. This is at the end of our walk up to the top of the Albaicin.

 On our way back down. The Albaicin is a really cool area but there is a serious problem with graffiti there. Here's a shot of some steps we went down on our way back. Super guay! (very cool!)

A view of Granada.

The walk up through the Albaicín was very cool and the sights were beautiful but it was quite a hike and my legs were most definitely sore for a while afterwards!

In Spain, Sunday is a day for rest which means that basically all of the stores and stuff are closed and people just spend the day at home. However, since we knew the weather would be beautiful, Brittany, Kelsey and I decided to go to Alumuñecar to go to the beach! First, in the morning, we went to mass at the Iglesia San Francisco which is right across the street from my house. Belen recommended it to me and so we decided to go. It was certainly an experience. I had difficulty really understanding any of the readings/much of what went on due to the fact that it was all in Spanish. But, I did the best I could to follow along. Also, there was no singing at this mass which was kind of disappointing because that is one of my favorite parts and so it only lasted 30 minutes. I am definitely looking forward to returning and hope that by December I can more or less follow the whole mass!

After mass, we took a bus to the Granada bus station and once there bought our tickets and spent about an hour on the bus to Alumuñecar. I was a little aprehensive about the whole bus thing because we were basically on our own trying to figure it all out but luckily it was much easier than I anticipated and our travels went flawlessly. Alumuñecar is a pretty touristy area but it was still a great place to spend such a beautiful day. Here is one of the four pictures I managed to take at the beach:

Overall, I had a relaxing and enjoyable first weekend in Spain and I'm looking forward to the many more to come! 

Aventuras en la ciudad

 Today was the first official day of our program. This morning Belen walked me to la Fuente de las Batallas (fountain of the battles) where I met Amalia and the other GRIIS students. There are nine of us in all which is a great size. We then walked to the Centro de Lenguas Modernas (CLM) where we will be taking our intensive Spanish class for the next three weeks. At the CLM we got our Blackberry’s (yippee!) and also talked about Spanish norms. Here are a few things I learned:

1.       You should not walk barefoot in your house (Strike 1. Did that yesterday because I saw my host mom walking barefoot but I was wearing socks, not sure if that counts. Today, I have kept my sandals on the whole time.)

2.      The Spanish like to stare at people in the streets (I’m sure this is especially true when you’re American)

3.      You do not have to tip waiters (yay!)

4.      The Spanish do not stop for pedestrians (which was evidenced by when Brittany almost got hit by a taxi.)

5.      The Spanish finish everything on their plates at meal times (it is rude to throw food away). (Strike 2. There is always so much food and I can’t ever seem to finish it!)

Afterwards I walked home by myself and didn’t get lost! That was probably the proudest moment of my day. I had the biggest lunch ever (probably like ¼ of a chicken and potatoes and bread, very good!). I’m still not getting used to the portion sizes here but I did manage to finish my very large lunch. It’s strange though, I have yet to really feel hungry since I’ve been here and so eating large meals has been a challenge.

After lunch I had plenty of time before our meeting at 7:30 so I met up with Brittany and Kelsey and we walked around the city, getting familiar with the area and exploring the shops. (Side note: I live right around the corner from one of the main streets of the city which has tons of shopping. I’m looking forward to having time to do a little shopping although I keep reminding myself that I need to pace myself). We also stopped at Café Fútbol where we sat and chat. We then met up with Teresa and the rest of the group for our evening tour of Granada.

Teresa showed us around the city, stopping at various landmarks to explain the importance and also give us a sense of where we were in the city. I honestly can’t remember any of the names of the three or four plazas we stopped in (information overload) but it was helpful to explore a new part of the city and have some reference points. We did get to walk by the cathedral which we will be visiting later in the week and it was absolutely beautiful. Right next to it is this beautiful little church. I’m hoping I might be able to attend mass there on Sunday which occurs a las medias (new phrase I learned today meaning at the half hours i.e. 11:30, 12:30, 1:30.) I didn’t have a chance to take many pictures because I was just trying to take it all in but I’m hoping to return later this weekend to get in some good shots of the city.

After our little tour Teresa took us out for our first tapas experience! In Granada, anywhere you order a drink (even just soda) they bring you out free tapas. The bar we went to served great tapas! Also, for all my friends at the Hill, you will be proud to hear that I had my first drink ever tonight in Granada, whoo! For curious minds it was a tinto de verano (red wine with lemonade mixed in, I think). Anyways, it was very good and mom, I did discover that real wine tastes different than the wine they serve in church however, it did have a familiar tint…

Overall, I am starting to feel really comfortable here in Granada and I’m having a great time. There is so much to see and do and I can’t wait to get out and explore more parts of the city. I’m trying to set a few goals for myself for my semester here and two that I have for this upcoming week are to 1) attempt to take a different route home each day and 2) speak Spanish as much as possible (especially with the other American students as it is super easy to revert back to English).  I’m looking forward to what the weekend will hold and will do my best to post some pics soon!

Como se dice "freaking out?"

As of 2 pm this afternoon I have safely made it to my home stay in Granada! However, it is safe to say that this did not occur without a minor strike of panic.

When I wrote my last post in the Madrid airport I was feeling great; kind of nervous but overall, feeling ok and ready to go. I had left Boston and made it to Spain. I was ok, despite how unreal it still felt that I was no longer in America. I slept the entire plane ride to Granada waking up in time to peek out the window during the landing. Here's where the panic starts. First of all, in that moment, I realized that as soon as I got off the plane, it was a lot of Spanish, all the time and I wasn't just on vacation, I was here to stay. The whole study abroad experience was actually real and that was kind of scary. Secondly, as we approached the ground, I saw a lot of trees and open space; not much of anything resembling this city I was to be spending the next four months in.

After disembarking from the plane and claiming my luggage with my two new GRIIS friends from BC, we met Teresa (assistant director of the GRIIS program) who was to bring us to our home stays. We got on a bus (not what any of us were expecting) and as we made our way into the city, Teresa gave us our folders with a schedule and a map of the city. She drew on little dots to indicate each of our new homes and told us to pay attention because after tomorrow (Friday) morning, we are essentially on our own; great...

Throughout the entire bus ride, Brittany (GRIIS student from BC who I met at Boston Logan Airport) and I chatted about our nerves and general opinions of Granada. Teresa chatted with us, telling us things about city and some of what to expect. Between our nervous conversations (most of which regarded the overwhelming map we were just handed and the fact that we felt like we couldn't remember any Spanish) Brittany and I asked Teresa questions. My personal favorite of the day was when Brittany looked at Teresa and said, "Como se dice 'freaking out?'" (hence the title of this post). In my mind, this was a totally valid question. I was freaking out - were the just going to drop my off at the bus stop and let me fend for myself? Would my host mom be nice/like me? Would I actually remember how to speak Spanish? Would I ever be able to find my away around this city? In response to our question, Teresa just laughed telling us there was really no direct translation for such a phrase and telling us that we had no need to worry, we would be fine.

Obviously, she was right. I was the first of the three GRIIS students to get off the bus. Teresa helped me gather my luggage and Amalia (director the GRIIS program) and Belen (my host mom) were at the bus stop to pick me up. I greeted them both and then Belen and I took a taxi to my new home on la Camina de Ronda. Belen's apartment is nice, it has a living room/dining room, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small kitchen. I was given a small room in the back of the house next to the kitchen. It's nice and quiet and I think it will be a nice place to come home to. Belen has three children; her two oldest sons are married with two children each and her youngest, her daughter, lives with her en la Camina de Ronda. When we arrived, Belen's daughter-in-law was here with two of her grandchildren. It was nice to meet them and get settled. We had lunch around 2:30 and then I went back to my room to unpack and rest. I ended up sleeping for three hours since I was still incredibly jet lagged and worked on unpacking all of my belongings (which may or may not all fit in the drawers I have been provided - we'll see how the rest of the unpacking goes). We had dinner which consisted of a sort of grilled ham and cheese sandwich at about 9:30 pm. Getting used to these new foods, big late lunches, and small late dinners will be interesting but Belen assures me that within a week, I will be used to my new schedule, new foods, new living arrangements, etc.

I also forgot to mention that I'm staying alone with Belen's and her daughter. Originally, I was supposed to have a house mate but she unfortunately had to drop out of the program at the last minute. As bummed as I am not to have a fellow American my age here, I am hoping that this will give me an opportunity to more fully immerse myself in Spanish life and the Spanish language and form a close relationship with my host family. I know this little challenge will benefit me in the long run.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to explore the city at all today but I am very much looking forward to our first orientation tomorrow morning. I know I am going to have the time of my life here in these next few months and I'm trying really hard to stay positive, live in the moment, and take it all in. Here's to hoping that day one is a success and leaves me with many more stories to share!

Airport Adventures

Hello from Madrid! I have made it safely through my first flight and since I have another two or three hours to wait until my flight to Granada, I wanted to take this time to finally start my blog. And, lucky for you all, my adventures through Logan Airport and the flight to Madrid left me with a few interesting tales.

First off, for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of packing four months worth of clothing into two suitcases and a backpack, please note that it is harder than it sounds. As I finished up my last minute packing on Wednesday morning (the day of departure; I’m sure this last minute packing is a surprise to none) I was quite pleased with myself. I filled my one large suitcase, one carry on suitcase, and small North Face backpack with everything I thought I would need in the coming months abroad and still managed to leave a lot behind. In my mind, I had done a successful job packing only the essentials. We finally loaded up the car and drove down to Boston, not without getting a little confused with all of the signage at the airport as we tried to figure out where to park. Once in line we chatted with the friendly families of two other study abroaders headed for Barcelona, one of whose sister went to Stonehill (small world!). But, the real fun begins as we get to the counter.

Although I had done my best to pack reasonably, we knew without a doubt that we would be paying the additional €60 fee for my overweight luggage. Little did we know that I would be so grossly over the 23 kilo weight limit. After struggling to lug my large suitcase onto the scale the  weight flashes on the screen: 35.8 kilos. Whoops. Apparently, even though we paid the additional fee for my “heavy” (as marked on my luggage with a bright orange tag) suitcase, I was still only allowed 32 kilos maximum. So, we open up my luggage right there in the front of the check-in station with an absurdly long line of people looking on (probably laughing; I was too busy to notice) and started shifting things around. As embarrassing as it was, we succeeded after two tries and my bag proudly wore its HEAVY tag all the way down the conveyor belt. Needless to say, there is no way I’m making it home in January without purchasing another piece of checked luggage.

My flight to Madrid had plenty other study abroaders which made traveling alone more comforting. I also found kind men to help me lift my now quite heavy carry on suitcase into and out of the overhead bin. The flight was otherwise uneventful (thankfully) although the time change has confused my schedule a bit. We were served dinner at about 8 pm and then I slept for about two and half hours before the lights came back on and we were being served breakfast (at 11 pm EST). I felt the need to tell these people at Iberia that just because there is a time change does not mean that two hours of sleep is sufficient or that I need to eat breakfast at 11 pm. Regardless, here I am, in Madrid, doing well and strangely awake at 10 am (4 am EST).

The lack of English is as overwhelming as I supposed it would be although I have been able to mostly keep to myself this morning. Hopefully by the time I reach Granada I will gain a bit more confidence and comfort. But for now, I must check to see if a gate has been posted for my next flight. I will do my best to update you all once I arrive in Granada and begin my semester of adventures.

Sending all of my love back to The States! xoxo - Stephanie