"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!