I've already been here 2 weeks?

So once again, sorry about no updates, but there will probably be less from now on, as we aren't quite doing as much interesting stuff, mostly classes.  On Monday we take our placement test for the CLM (centro de lenguas modernas, my branch of the Universidad de Granada) so we've been studying like crazy.  But here's how my week has been:

Tuesday: We had class in the morning, nothing interesting there, just quite a bit of Spanish grammar.  After lunch, we went to Cafe Futbol to study.  We've been there quite a few times, and the waiter definitely recognizes us.  He's really funny though and jokes around a lot.  We're also pretty sure he's tight with Profe, because he yelled at us for speaking English and told us that we need to practice our spanish more! However, we ended up getting  a lot of good studying done, and shared our resources (My Bible sheets from Spanish 3 are going to save quite a few people!).  Afterwards nothing too interesting, just returned to my house and went to bed early, because I was exhausted. 

Wednesday: We had class in the morning and it was cool because at the end we watched parts of the Lion King, to show how many uses of the subjunctive there are in our everyday lives, because we have to do this project which includes searching for uses of the subjunctive throughout the semester.  After class, we were supposed to go to La Alhambra, to see it for real this time, but I guess they didn't call Profe back (they're really bad about that here-tomorrow means in three weeks).  Instead, we went to the movies, because one of the things the program pays for is a trip to the movie theater.  Alyssa, Danielle and I went to see Sherlock Holmes.  Great movie! I would recommend it to anyone.  It was a lot easier to understand than we all thought it would be, which was an excellent surprise.  I can't wait to see it in english though, because I feel as if there were a lot of jokes that just were not funny when translated into spanish. But overall, all of us liked the movie.  However, after the movie we ended up going on an unexpected little adventure.  We always take the bus to go places that are far away, which the movie theater is, so we hop on the number 4 bus, which is the one we take there and supposed we should probably take back.  We knew that it had to go to the other side of town first, but what we did not know, was that it did not go all the way around to La Chana.  So we're on the bus, not really paying attention to where we're going, just knowing that we'll recognize La Chana when we get there, when all of the sudden, the bus driver is telling us to get off the bus.  We didn't quite know what he was saying, and at first didn't even realize that he was talking to us.  But after several times hearing "es el ultimo para!" we finally realized that we had to get off.  So we're in the middle of some random street, and have absolutely know idea where we are.  It looked like the area surrounding Dave's house, so we assumed we weren't that far away from La Chana.  However, we began walking to the main street, and looking at our map and soon realized that we in fact were on the opposite side of the city from La Chana, on the other side of the river.  Luckily, we found a nice woman who pointed us in the direction of the bus stop (we found one, but apparently the bus doesn't stop there) and got on a bus back.  It ended up not going where we thought it was going to go, but we recognized a gas station and got off there.  However, we did not know in which direction we were traveling, so once again we had to ask for help.  We asked this woman who eventually told us that she has lived in the Chana for 40 years! All of us thought she was pretty young, but it turns out that she was 75 I think! All I could understand was 70 something.  However, she thought it was pretty funny that we couldn't tell she was that old, and started to tell us about her kids who go to school in Jaén.  People are very nice here in general.  So that was my Wednesday.  

Thursday: We had class this morning, in which we accomplished absolutely nothing having to do with Spanish grammar, but we practiced talking, which is part of our exam.  I was glad for that, because that is the thing I am the most nervous about.  Also, we have 2 girls who were here last semester and could tell us what the exam will be like, which I believe is going to be a bit of an advantage for us.  

...This post had more, but I couldn't post it for some reason, but I'm off to bed now..Hasta luego!

El fin de semana

So I'm sorry I haven't updated much in the last few days, but really, not all that much interesting has been happening each day, so I decided to wait until I had a few good things to put in here and to make it longer instead of several short posts.  Also, I finally, finally have internet in my room, so I can video chat with people, meaning I have spent a lot of time doing that (I just spent almost an hour talking to Emily).  

Friday: Friday night we went to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba...I did not understand any of it! Well, some, but if it had not been explained to us, I would not have been able to get the general concept, just pick up a few words here and there.  However, that seemed to be the norm in the group, and there were a lot of questions being asked around, as well as awkward giggles after the rest of the theater laughed at some jokes we didn't get.  Even Profe said that he didn't understand everything, so I guess he didn't really expect us to.  Oh well, in general, my comprehension of spanish is getting a little bit better, as is my speaking, but it would be nice to understand people completely when they talk to me.  After the play, we went to this little Mexican restaurant that some of the girls knew about and got some food, since we had to miss dinner for the play (since dinner is anywhere from 8:30-11 here). We had a good time, since it was a group that hadn't really hung out together all that much, so it was nice to get to know some of the girls, especially the two that were here last semester, as they of course, know everything! Then we headed home early and all went to bed because we were so exhausted (12:30am is very early here; kids our age are generally at the discotecas until 6:30-7 am-it's insane!)

Saturday was a day to relax. We all slept late, then the girls met up for some shopping in the afternoon.  I didn't buy anything, but some of the group had a successful trip and got some needed things.  It was fun to actually shop, as we haven't really done much.  We also found an area that had quite a few shops we'd never seen before.  However, we had forgotten that most stores don't open back up after siesta until 5-6ish, so we didn't get to go into all of the stores that we saw.  Luckily, a lot of the bigger ones just stay open.  After shopping we headed home for dinner, then back out later that night for tapas (kind of an accident) and the discoteca.  We discovered the tapas because we went to meet a few of the group's host parents, who all happened to be out at the bar together that night, and we were walking by, so they wanted us to meet them.  It turns out that they had tapas there, so we decided to stay and get some tapas.  Apparently Granada is one of the few places in Spain that upholds the tradition of giving free tapas with a drink, so we all ordered some wine, and the tapas were free! And quite delicious too.  We had tortilla españa (egg omelet with potatoes) and Sam got this cous-cous and vegetable dish because he's vegetarian (there was bacon wrapped around the tortilla, which I just took off) and that was delicious as well, since he let us all taste (sorry to all the nurses out there!).  After we finished, we said goodbye to their host parents and headed to the discoteca.  Well, as I said before, they stay out late on weekends here-we got there quite early! (aka 12:30am) There weren't a lot of people when we got there, so we just had some fun dancing, which was cool.  However, after awhile it got busy and we left at a time considered early (3:30ish am) and went home.  Of course, we all slept late on Sunday! 

After sleeping in, I woke up, and took it slow, just reading and watching tv with my host family.  Nobody really does anything on Sundays here, because everything is closed.  However, us crazy Americans don't like to stay in our houses all day, so we (the girls-you'll see this theme soon!) decide to go to Cafe Futbol for some talking time and a snack.  It was nice to spend time with everyone, once again there were some people I don't talk to a lot there, so I'm slowly getting to know everyone in the group.  After that, I just went home to talk to my family online, for the first time video chatting.  It was great to finally talk to them! Sort of anyway, it didn't really work, but at least I got to for a bit.  

Then today we had class, and then after lunch the girls went out for coffee (here's the theme of the girls going for food-no boys allowed!) But after one pastry shop, we decided we wanted another pastry, and ended up stopping to get another, in our version of a pub crawl, but with pastry shops! Best. Idea. Ever! After that Alyssa and I just went shopping for a bit, and I got a hair straightener and a sweatshirt (to keep me warm in my house!) I was glad to have both of those tonight! I'm kind of huddled around my heater right now.  But now I am off to bed, because after skyping and video chatting for almost 4 hours, I am exhausted! Hasta luego!

More pictures

#1. La Alhambra at night from La mirador de San Nicolas in the Albaicín. If you're ever in Granada, you must visit this place during the day & night-the view is AMAZING! I'll be putting up pictures of the view during the day at some point in the near future, but you can see the entire city from up here, and even out to where all of the windmills and farms are. 

#2. The elementary school right outside my window. I get to wake up to children screaming at recess every morning! 

#3. The graffiti in the Albaicín- we were warned never to walk down this alley alone at night-common sense I'd say! It was sketchy enough during the day with the whole group-some of the graffiti is really creepy, but in general, it's done really well, even though you can't tell that from this picture.  

And now, I'm having trouble making my blog work, so I guess that's it for pictures today! Sorry!

Soccer star? Yes

Sorry that I didn't update my blog yesterday, I know some of you quite enjoy my posts (Dad..), but I was very busy yesterday so I didn't get a chance.  In the morning, class, which yesterday, I have to say, was killer.  We did all stuff I have known forever (preterite v. imperfect) and he went on for the entire three hours without stopping for more than our 5 minute break.  Also, we got moved from our usual room, so we were all shoved into this tiny, tiny little room with really uncomfortable chairs.  Luckily, class today was much better! 

After class, we all headed home for lunch, and then at five to the fields to play soccer.  We were playing and per usual, I was scared of the ball and the spanish boys (they kick SO hard!) and just kind of minding my own business.  Then suddenly, I became a soccer star and scored three goals in a row! Against a spanish goalie! Very proud of that fact! Now Profe says I can play with the professionals next week! (I told him that I probably won't be that good of a player next week, since I never was a good soccer player). However, the rest of the game was very fun and we got to play for the entire hour this time.  Unfortunately, at the end one of Kevin's host brother's, Luis, fell and twisted his knee, so we had to stop about 2 minutes early.  It was pretty bad too, but he's okay I guess.  

Then after soccer last night, about half of the group went out for tapas.  Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out to be so good.  We went with Kevin's host brothers (I guess there are 5, we know 3 of them because they do stuff with us often) because they would know where the good tapas are (my neighborhood-Barrio Chana), but because there were about 15 of us, we couldn't go to any of the nice places and ended up at this place where we had to sit outside (remember, it's warm here, none of that snow stuff) and the tapas (we didn't get to choose) were like ham sandwiches or something.  After that place we decided to try another tapas bar, where we could sit inside and choose.  Unfortunately, all the choices had meat in them this time too, so I didn't end up eating.  After that Danielle, Alyssa and I headed home for the night.  I haven't done anything today except go to class (which was shorter-I wish we had a few hours in the morning and a few at night, that would make it so much easier to sit through)  but tonight we are headed to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba, which I'm excited about! Hasta luego

Left to right: La Sierra Navada; the view of some important hill from el Albaicín; the view of the windmills from La Mirador de San Nicolas; Mi perro, Luna; Graffiti

That's it for now, but I promise more at some point soon-it just takes forever to get even a few up! 

La Albaicín

Today was also a long day! The days seem to go on forever here because we do so much in one day, by the night, it seems as if my morning was days ago, not hours.  But it was a pretty fun day either way.  Por la manaña (in the morning) we had class.  Once again, kind of boring.  Apparently I should have had such great grammar instruction in high school.  Oh well, the review is good, since I want to do well on my placement test and Professor Chaston is a fun teacher-I want to take one of his classes back at UNH too.  However, I found out that I got into all of the classes that I wanted! I'm quite looking forward to flamenco! (Our dog is snoring like crazy right now!) During class today, we got to meet our other professor, Maricarmen, who will be teaching our literature class starting in a few weeks.  She's a very interesting women, and also seems to be a good teacher.  She gave us an introduction to the play that we're going to see on Friday-La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Frederico Garcia Lorca.  Lorca is one of the well known playwrights here in Spain, for anyone who doesn't know.  I don't really know any of his works, but I was glad to get an introduction, since I think that I will understand the play much better with a synopsis.  

After class, I went home for lunch and finally, FINALLY, something I really liked! We had chicken baked with salt and black pepper.  Delicious.  I ate three pieces, which may have been a mistake, as my señora has started handing me food now.  Hopefully she won't start force feeding me a ton.  However, I was happy because I didn't like the yogurt I had for breakfast today-some weird brand that was kind of chunky.  I had to eat it in class though, which my señora wasn't quite happy about (my alarm didn't go off, and she woke me up when I needed to leave for class, which I don't understand because she told me she'd been waiting for me to wake up, but oh well, at least she did eventually!) , and she kept reminding me to not forget to bring my spoon home.  It was good though, because I got to class on time (earlier than most!) and got to eat a bit later, which meant I wasn't quite as hungry come lunch time. 

This afternoon, Maricarmen took us on a tour of the oldest neighborhood in Granda called the Albaicín.  It was very interesting to learn all of the history and to see the stuff we'd been reading about. Also, we'd seen some of it, but not known the history behind it.  It was quite the walk though-I'm going to have the world's most sculpted legs after being here! After the tour ended, Profe took us all to this pasteleria and bought each one of us a pastry! I'm really glad I'm here with him, as he is one of the nicest people I've met, along with his wife.  I got one of those pastries filled with chocolate-they're my favorite, and this was by far the best one I've found in this city so far! (Pan y Chocolate for anyone who visits Granada-great pasteleria).  

I am very exhausted now.  Walking around the city is tiring, but I know I will at least be VERY healthy when I get home.  Danielle and I decided we're going to start running at least every Sunday afternoon (I believe we have the same schedule during the week, so maybe then too) and we've been playing soccer with everyone too.  I think I posted about that, but if not, oh well, I'll mention it again I'm sure.  We're playing tomorrow afternoon too, and hopefully there will be more people there.  Profe said that we should be a bit more organized and that those of us who don't know how to play will get to practice a bit more, which will be nice! Well, I'm off to bed-hasta manaña!

Fútbol

Today was a very long day for me! I didn't sleep much, because I was trying to stay up in order to talk to some people online, as I haven't been able to at all since I got here.  Then I had to wake up early in order to shower before class.  Showering here is quite a difficult thing for me.  First of all, I've only taken three showers since I got here (not enough for me!), but the other day my señora went on and on about how her daughter uses too much water and leaves lights on and doesn't understand how much it costs.  I kind of took that as a hint to use less water.  However, when i shower, I have to hold the faucet, which causes quite a bit of difficulty in actually showering.  No me gusta.  Also, although I have hot water, the bathroom is cold because if you don't open the window, it's like walking inside of a cloud afterwards and everything gets really wet. Also, no me gusta.  So showering is kind of a pain.  Afterwards, we had class for three hours.  I'm beginning to realize that three hours of spanish grammar each days is going to be a lot for me, but I cannot wait to start my other classes.  I'm just a bit bored, because, today at least, we reviewed things that I've been learning since 8th grade, if not 7th (ser o estar para alguien que sabe algo de español).  Después, we wandered around the city because we have this scavenger hunt to do.  There's a list (and it is quite the list!) of places in which we have to take pictures of ourselves.  It's quite interesting, as we have to discover where all of the places on the list are.  Also, we have to take pictures with people at their apartments.  However, the walk home was a little longer than we had planned and I was late for lunch (oops).  It's always hard to tell though, because them seem to eat lunch earlier every day, even though I get home later every day.  Today, I would have been okay if I wasn't home for lunch.  Okay, that's a lie, because there was ice cream cake for dessert! I made sure that they know I like ice cream, no worries.  But the meal was gazapacho I think, which is this cold tomato soup sort of thing.  I don't know for sure, because it was hot, so it couldn't have quite been gazapacho, but I wasn't a fan. So after lunch I went in search of something delicious to satisfy my appetite for something I actually wanted (I'm not starving or anything, I just haven't quite had anything I loved-like white pasta-in my house, only when I eat elsewhere) and ended up going to this lovely little pasteleria where the lady was extremely understanding that I didn't understand anything she was asking me. Then I headed out in search of Andrew and Danielle so we could head over to pick up Dave (one of the guys who lives the absolute farthest away from anything, but getting a picture at his house is one of our requirements for the scavenger hunt).  It was quite the long walk, and along the way we picked up this nice, but kind of spacey seeming spanish lady.  She was scared of a dog, and walking towards us, so she joined us to get away from it, and ended up just walking with us for about 5 minutes (and never went back in the direction she was originally going).  But it was interesting to talk to her.  After checking picture at Dave's off the scavenger hunt checklist, we went to the soccer fields where we will be playing soccer twice a week. It was extremely fun, even though I am entirely scared of going anywhere near the spanish boys who play with us- they're just way too good! So is Profe though! And a few of the other boys. And they were all quite understanding that I can't handle actually kicking the ball (I'm pretty sure I was the worst player there), but it's okay, because I played field hockey for six years, not soccer. It was fun and a good workout, but by the time I got home at 7 it seemed as if I had been awake for days, not just 12 hours.  I ended up falling asleep while doing some reading, but I woke up for dinner (pizza!).  Now I just have to finish some homework and then I can go to sleep again! Hasta manaña!

French fries for dinner?!

Well, today I started clases! Well, one of the five I will be taking when I'm here.  It wasn't really class either, more a of orientation, but at the end we had a bit of a grammar lesson as well.  We did get to choose our classes though, and if all goes well, I will be taking Civilization and Culture of Spain, History of Spanish Music, and Flamenco and Traditional Musics, along with my grammar class and literature class.  I may end up changing the civilization one, IF Profe can convince COLSA (College of...Sciences... at UNH) that one of the classes offered here should be considered a science gen ed.  I hope so.  It would help me quite a bit, as in I could finish both my majors, but he said that he has asked before with many classes, and generally, the answer is not so pleasant.  Because of that, I didn't sign up for it because I do NOT want to take it if it won't actually count (it's like, health and the environment in Spain-might sound interesting to some of you, but not me). However, I am definitely looking forward to the two music classes! Everything I take here counts towards the seven 600 level classes I have to take to get a spanish major, so it doesn't really matter.  Also, there will be a lot of people in the classes with me, so that's good.  

After class today, I went back home for lunch (pasta, finally!!) and did some homework, nothing too interesting.  After lunch (which is about a 2 hour span for all of us to eat, since no one eats at the same time it seems), a big group, about six of us, met up to wander around the city some more.  We headed over to the Arabic part of the city, where there are a lot of small shops with scarfs, jewelry and stuff like that.  Then we decided that since some of us still haven't tried tapas that we would go in search of somewhere that we could get free tapas with some sangria.  This was much more difficult than you would think! We ended up going somewhere that we thought we got free tapas with a drink, but it turns out, we didn't get tapas and we didn't get sangria, so it was all around a failure.  

Then we met up with some of the boys who had also been getting tapas (they succeeded) to walk home and to visit one of the girls who had been sick for the past 2 days and was finally feeling better.  We met her family, which was interesting. They have such a different dynamic than in my apartment, as we often just all sit around the tv watching it at night (I go on my computer) and my señora doesn't really talk much during the night time, just watches tv.  I guess this is the same for a lot of people, but it was different to see a family with kids.  They invited us to stay for dinner, but we had told our señoras that we'd be home so we left. However, dinner at my house was french fries.  Very different.  Generally, it's soup or something with eggs (she's found out that I like eggs, and has started feeding them to me constantly, as it's the only thing I've really liked so far).  But yeah, it wasn't what I was expecting her to put on the table when she came out.  

Also, I've discovered that I lack any sense of direction.  I thought I was good at getting places, but as it turns out, when you quadruple the size of the city I live in, not so much.  It's a good thing I have people to help me out when I get lost, or who I can follow home. I'm working on it though.  I also found a bread shop on my way to the bus stop that looks delicious! I'll be stopping there a lot. Well, time to watch some spanish television. Hasta luego!

Some interesting experiences

Well, today I had quite an interesting experience with food.  Today Danielle, Alyssa and I (you will hear about them a lot- they live in the same neighborhood as I do-se llama La Chana- and therefore, we tend to go everywhere together) decided to walk around the city a bit more to get to know where things are a bit more, since I have been getting lost like it's my job.  Since we have to be at school early tomorrow morning, we decided to make sure we absolutely knew how to get there.  On our way, we decided to stop at this cafe where we met on our first day to get some sugar (they don't often feed us sugary things at our homes, and as we all know, I love sugar & chocolate).  This is where our interesting experience occurred.  We went in, sat down and ordered.  Danielle and I both ordered types of ice cream that we didn't quite know what they were, but seemed good.  However, when they arrived, we quickly found out that, at least at this restaurant, they put alcohol in the bottom of your ice cream.  Yuck. I don't like my ice cream marred by whatever it was in there.  Also, I ordered something with toasted cream, which I found out is basically just hardened whipped cream.  I can't describe this taste at all, but it was very different from what I was expecting. Very interesting, but at least I wasn't fed rabbit for lunch, which happened to one of my friends.  Other than that, we just walked around, exploring the streets near our school until it was time to head back.  Class are starting tomorrow (we think, it may just be more orientation) and alas, I already have homework to do!

Hasta luego! -Kristen

Pictures

Pictures will come later-I can't figure it out..Lo siento

Orientation Days

So these last few days have been excellent! Last night the entire UNH group met up for churros y chocolate, which of course was delicious! I liked the churros a lot more than I did last time I had them.  Afterwards, we headed over to el centro de lenguas modernas (I think that's its name) where we'll be taking our classes.  We had a bit of an orientation to the program, mostly about the culture shock.  Afterwards, we walked for a bit, so that they could show us where we'd be meeting today and then we took a hike to see La Alhambra at night.  It was gorgeous and we could also see the entire city (you'll see in the pictures).  After that we all tried to head home for dinner.  However, we got a bit lost, and ended up walking a bit longer than we thought it would take (there are four of us that live on my side of the city-it's about a 45-50 minute walk from el centro-generally, we'll take the bus).  Luckily, we all found our way home, it just took quite a lot longer than we expected.  

Today we all met up and went up to the Alhambra, but we didn't see much of it, because we can't get into the parts we have to pay for until Monday, when we can get the student discounts.  However, it's very interesting, but quite a hike uphill.  I'm not looking forward to walking up there another time, but oh well, it's worth it.  We didn't spend much time up there today since you have to pay for most stuff, so we had the majority of the afternoon free to do whatever.  A couple of the girls went shopping.  I haven't bought anything yet but I definitely will. Rebajas are the greatest thing invented! Everything is about 50% off it's normal price until the end of March! Now we're just hanging out until later tonight.  Everything closes on Sunday so I think tomorrow we're just going to be wandering around trying to get to know the city a bit better. 

Granada-My Arrival/First day

Hello everyone! I have arrived safely in Granada, after about 19 hours of travel.  Our flight out of Boston went well, nothing wrong, except that the person next to me with the window seat kept her shade down until we landed, so I didn't get to see London as we arrived.  Other than that, no problems.  In London, all of us experienced our first bit of culture shock, as we were driving down the road and a car came towards on the right.  All of a sudden there was a collective "ohhh yeahhh" from the bus! It's a strange feeling, but they drive on the right here in Granada, thank goodness.  After this, our group separated (we started with 5 of us) and only Sam and I went on to Granada together, but it was still nice to have at least one person with me the entire time.  However, London was experiencing "large amounts of snow" (we'd call it a dusting in New England), so our flight out of London ended up being delayed about 2 hours, after we were all on the plane.  Luckily, I was exhausted and slept the entire time, as I did not sleep so well on the flight over.  However, this meant that we missed our connection from Madrid to Granada and were stuck in the airport in Madrid for about 2 hours.  Finally, around 6pm we arrived in Granada, exhausted, but here.  It took quite some time to find our baggage and we had a few moments when we were worried that it hadn't arrived with us, but luckily, everything did, although my suitcase was a bit dirty.  

My host family is very nice.  I have a senora and her daughter, Anita.  Her daughter is 24, so she's close enough to my age.  And they have a dog, Luna, who is very cute, and nice and small too! The apartment is nice, but some of the rooms, the kitchen especially, are very small.  The hardest part so far as been understanding my senora because she doesn't speak any english.  I'm also learning quite how useless many of the words we often use in spanish class are, and it would be very nice to know my foods better! However, I'm getting by and learning a lot of new vocabulary in the process.  So far, I haven't done much, only watched tv with my family ( a lot of news, but they like House!) and slept quite a bit. I slept the majority of today, as I was so exhausted from the flights and I did not sleep well last night, as it's strange to go to bed when you feel like it's 3 in the afternoon.  But I'm slowly adjusting, and tomorrow will be meeting up with the entire UNH group around 5pm.  

Hasta luego! Kristen