Tonight im going to see Superbad in spanish! I dont know if i will understand the sacrcastic humor because it is an American film, but it should be fun! I dont know why they call it Supersalidos here because salidos does not mean bad. salidos comes from the verb salir which means to go. Ohwell! Monday nights movies are cheaper so thats why we are going tonight!
I was suppose to have a test tomorrow, but its been rescheduled to thursday! YAY! There is a speaker discussing some sort of Midieval Literature tomorrow, and my teacher thinks it would be great for our class since we are studying romance and love during the Media Edad (500-1000).
My weekend was great. Today is the first day I havent seen the sun yet. When i went to Leon it was gorgeous. Its half the size of Oviedo (100,000), and the cathedral there was amazing! We also went to see a famous building designed by Gaudi an architect from the late 1800´s to the early 1900´s. After spending the entire day exploring and shopping we came home tired! We still wanted to go out though so we hurried home at 1030 and met back up at midnight. I had a lot of energy for awhile, but then i plumetted at around 2:30 and got a taxi home with a couple girls. Usually i just walk home with Caitlin, but she was out of town with her boyfriend. Oviedo is really safe, but i wont walk home that late at night, im not that confident with the city, and i get scared too easily! Ill walk to and from the bus station to meet up with friends, but as Carmen our program director put it ¨girls you are worth a taxi!¨ and i agree!!!
I ended up sleeping in until 1pm, but my host mom didnt mind. She said sundays are for sleeping, so that is perfectly normal! I think im starting to get sick, which i figured would be inevitable because pretty much everyone in my program is either sick or has already been sick in the past month. I took airborn 3 times yesterday because it said i could take it every 3 hrs. And even if im already sick i think i can avoid getting sicker. Right now i just have one of those awful sounding coughs, and if i can avoid feeling achy and super tired that would be amazing!
This week is going to feel short for me because I leave at 830 pm for seville on Thursday! I cant wait!!! It will be my first time to Southern Spain and i have heard it is very different. Spain and the US are similar in that there are many cultural, climate, and physiological differences from one part of Spain to another. One thing that i bet not many of you know is that people from Austurias (Oviedo`s principitality) consider themselves the only ones that are actually from Spain beause the rest of Spain was conquered. They even will get offended if you talk about other people from different parts of spain and call them Spainiards. Spainards are very proud! They dont move often, so their home pueblo or city is very important to them!
My next few weeks are going to be busy besides my travels to Seville. I think i will have several tests coming up because Im pretty sure i get tested every month or so. Also I am going on an excursion with my program the following week after Seville, and then i hope to go to Barcelona the weekend after that! That will put me into mid november! CRAZY! my friend that im going to see in Seville this weekend is also coming to visit Oviedo, November 16-19th. Basically im all booked up for the next month!
Ok! well its time for class! love you and miss you all!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Laugh it up!
Well this week school seemed more like school. its still hard to get used to going to school for 5 or 6 hours a day. Its not the same as in the US. You dont just sit there and take notes, everything is very interactive. we read outloud all the time, even little worksheets with the directions on them we read out loud! its good practice. i had to read part of this poem in 20th century literature, i sounded so bad because a lot of the words are poetic and they arent sentences that flow together like reading a book or something else. ohwell, practice makes perfect!
i have a test on tuesday in my romance/love lit class. im not too worried. i need to review a little, but we have a study guide. its funny because in the US i would have started studying for a test like a week or so in advance, but here i am so different. ill probably study the night before! i think its a result of the culture differences and differences in school, because when i get homework its a little tiny bit everynight and we never have to turn it in, its just for practice. we always go over it in class too. As a result im more relaxed and i kind of just take things as they come. thats how spain is, people dont stick to schedule (which usually rule my life). everyone is 10 to 15 minutes late and people are very flexible day to day or hour to hour!
However, i swear, my host mom belongs in the US. she is crazy! in a good/amusing way of course. i accidentally left the light on the bathroom twice for like 4 seconds when i was going from my room to the bathroom and then back to look in the mirror and she thought it was the end of the world. i can understand what she says, but im not sure how serious her emotions are. she is always really loving to me, but when i left the light on the second time she told me it was a disaster and that im so insensible. i laughed about it with caitlin, because i can tell that she enjoys picking on me. she didnt even know if it was me or caitlin that left the light on, she just assumed it was me. thats ok though because i know she isnt actually super mad, she is just funny/anal. She also asked me if i got hot at night, which i do! i swear i already told her that. Yet today she asked me and i said yes. She then informed me that my blanket sheds lint all over. So she said i could take it off if i was getting hot. I think she just wanted me to take it off because of the lint, but who knows. Shes a riot!
Oh today she also talked to me and caitlin about how expensive electricity is, she went far enough to explain the cost of each kilobite of electricity or something like that. Then i got confused and i thought that she told me next time i leave the light on i have to pay or something, because she used the verb Apagar which is to turn off, meaning next time its left on shes going to make me turn it off. i thought she used the verb pagar which means to pay, it got cleared up though! After she informed caitlin and me about how expensive everything is here and how there are so many taxes (impuestos) even for cleaning the streets, i threw back at her that healthcare is free unlike the United States. I thought that would shut her down, but then she said the people that have money have to pay for the people without any money, so you still end up paying. But thats the same in the US, people that have money pay to keep cities working, hospitals open, welfare available etc. I dont want anyone to worry and think that Maria is hating on me, she is just a unique character. I cant explain her, if you met her you would understand after a while. Caitlin and i laugh about it all the time. I adore her, she just is loco (crazy)! Seriously every single day she tells us how she doesnt like to talk to anyone in her apartment building, even though she has lived here 4 yrs. Caitlin told her she made friends with a little boy that lives in our apartment building and that threw her into a whirlwind of comments about her neighbors and how one is noisy and another is this and that. I wonder what they think about her, she says she just does small chit chat with them in the elevator and thats it! Too funny!
Anyways, today caitlin and i went out with some girls in our program for tapas (special appetizers here) and vino (wine). its a popular outing for many. Before we left Maria told me like four different times about all the cleaning she had to do in our house! When we left she was filling up the vacum cleaner which takes water. She told me the other day that she bought it in a smaller town because it was less expensive, but it works better then the ones in the stores here. As we were walking out i asked her why the vacumm took water to use it and she said it gets all the bacteria and germs and dust! Seriously she is obssessed with cleaning!
Tapas and vino was so much fun. First we met at the bus station and bought tickets to seville. im going with four other girls, not caitlin, because she traveled to seville with her boyfriend before our program began. The bus ride is going to be 12 hours!!! but we are doing it overnight so it shouldnt be that bad. Ive already taken the bus 7hrs so i think i can make it. Plus we got booked at one of the top 10 hostels in the world, with a pool on the roof and its suppose to be upper 70's/low 80's in seville. Its in southern spain so the weather is alot different! we plan to go see this amazing cathedral, alcazar (i dont think i spelled that right but its some sort of castle or something, i need to read up on it), and i guess there is an amazing garden/terrace area with peacocks right across from the cathedral! My friend from high school is studying in seville so we are going to meet up with him when he gets back from a Merida on saturday evening/part of the day sunday. I cant wait!
We also bought bus tickets to go to Leon tomorrow. Its 1.5 hrs away and im not sure what we are going to do there but i guess its a site to see! My host mom said there is a lot to explore and it will be a good day trip!
Recently, since ive gotten my appetite back, Caitlin and i have become addicted to the candy shops here. They are everywhere!!!! And each one we find looks better then the last! We told Maria about it and she said they are for the children....i dont care though!
The other day Caitlin and I rented a movie from the AHA office (our program here in spain). It was a french film dubbed in spanish about 6 college age students that are all from different countries, studying in spain. There is a program called Arasmos (spelling?) and its very popular. Its going on exchange when you live in Europe. Students that are in college and live in Europe go on exchange to other countries in Europe through this program. There are a lot of Arasmos students at my university, and the movie i watched was about them too. In the apartment there were students from Spain, Germany, England, France, Italy, and i think a couple other places. If any of you have heard of real world, the reality tv show on MTV, it was kind of like that, only a movie version. The main character was a guy from France that was leaving his girlfriend behind and going on exchange for a year to Barcelona, Spain. He eneds up living in this diverse house of students from several countries! The movie is called La Casa De Locos (The house of crazies).
Ok well im going to get some shut eye, the bus to Leon leaves at 1030 tomorrow!
take care everyone. i havent gotten super homesick yet. I told my mom the other day i just miss smelling like home, i dont prefer smelling like Maria. HAHA. its just the little things. Because its a new place and Maria cleans so damn much I still kind of feel like im staying in a hotel. Its ok though! i love it here and i couldnt ask for a better place to study abroad! Missing the holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving is going to stink too, but its all good. I just think about home when i think of those dates coming up, but my group is thinking bout trying to get a cabin and make thanksgiving dinner together! I really really really hope we do that! I love my group!
signing off!
i have a test on tuesday in my romance/love lit class. im not too worried. i need to review a little, but we have a study guide. its funny because in the US i would have started studying for a test like a week or so in advance, but here i am so different. ill probably study the night before! i think its a result of the culture differences and differences in school, because when i get homework its a little tiny bit everynight and we never have to turn it in, its just for practice. we always go over it in class too. As a result im more relaxed and i kind of just take things as they come. thats how spain is, people dont stick to schedule (which usually rule my life). everyone is 10 to 15 minutes late and people are very flexible day to day or hour to hour!
However, i swear, my host mom belongs in the US. she is crazy! in a good/amusing way of course. i accidentally left the light on the bathroom twice for like 4 seconds when i was going from my room to the bathroom and then back to look in the mirror and she thought it was the end of the world. i can understand what she says, but im not sure how serious her emotions are. she is always really loving to me, but when i left the light on the second time she told me it was a disaster and that im so insensible. i laughed about it with caitlin, because i can tell that she enjoys picking on me. she didnt even know if it was me or caitlin that left the light on, she just assumed it was me. thats ok though because i know she isnt actually super mad, she is just funny/anal. She also asked me if i got hot at night, which i do! i swear i already told her that. Yet today she asked me and i said yes. She then informed me that my blanket sheds lint all over. So she said i could take it off if i was getting hot. I think she just wanted me to take it off because of the lint, but who knows. Shes a riot!
Oh today she also talked to me and caitlin about how expensive electricity is, she went far enough to explain the cost of each kilobite of electricity or something like that. Then i got confused and i thought that she told me next time i leave the light on i have to pay or something, because she used the verb Apagar which is to turn off, meaning next time its left on shes going to make me turn it off. i thought she used the verb pagar which means to pay, it got cleared up though! After she informed caitlin and me about how expensive everything is here and how there are so many taxes (impuestos) even for cleaning the streets, i threw back at her that healthcare is free unlike the United States. I thought that would shut her down, but then she said the people that have money have to pay for the people without any money, so you still end up paying. But thats the same in the US, people that have money pay to keep cities working, hospitals open, welfare available etc. I dont want anyone to worry and think that Maria is hating on me, she is just a unique character. I cant explain her, if you met her you would understand after a while. Caitlin and i laugh about it all the time. I adore her, she just is loco (crazy)! Seriously every single day she tells us how she doesnt like to talk to anyone in her apartment building, even though she has lived here 4 yrs. Caitlin told her she made friends with a little boy that lives in our apartment building and that threw her into a whirlwind of comments about her neighbors and how one is noisy and another is this and that. I wonder what they think about her, she says she just does small chit chat with them in the elevator and thats it! Too funny!
Anyways, today caitlin and i went out with some girls in our program for tapas (special appetizers here) and vino (wine). its a popular outing for many. Before we left Maria told me like four different times about all the cleaning she had to do in our house! When we left she was filling up the vacum cleaner which takes water. She told me the other day that she bought it in a smaller town because it was less expensive, but it works better then the ones in the stores here. As we were walking out i asked her why the vacumm took water to use it and she said it gets all the bacteria and germs and dust! Seriously she is obssessed with cleaning!
Tapas and vino was so much fun. First we met at the bus station and bought tickets to seville. im going with four other girls, not caitlin, because she traveled to seville with her boyfriend before our program began. The bus ride is going to be 12 hours!!! but we are doing it overnight so it shouldnt be that bad. Ive already taken the bus 7hrs so i think i can make it. Plus we got booked at one of the top 10 hostels in the world, with a pool on the roof and its suppose to be upper 70's/low 80's in seville. Its in southern spain so the weather is alot different! we plan to go see this amazing cathedral, alcazar (i dont think i spelled that right but its some sort of castle or something, i need to read up on it), and i guess there is an amazing garden/terrace area with peacocks right across from the cathedral! My friend from high school is studying in seville so we are going to meet up with him when he gets back from a Merida on saturday evening/part of the day sunday. I cant wait!
We also bought bus tickets to go to Leon tomorrow. Its 1.5 hrs away and im not sure what we are going to do there but i guess its a site to see! My host mom said there is a lot to explore and it will be a good day trip!
Recently, since ive gotten my appetite back, Caitlin and i have become addicted to the candy shops here. They are everywhere!!!! And each one we find looks better then the last! We told Maria about it and she said they are for the children....i dont care though!
The other day Caitlin and I rented a movie from the AHA office (our program here in spain). It was a french film dubbed in spanish about 6 college age students that are all from different countries, studying in spain. There is a program called Arasmos (spelling?) and its very popular. Its going on exchange when you live in Europe. Students that are in college and live in Europe go on exchange to other countries in Europe through this program. There are a lot of Arasmos students at my university, and the movie i watched was about them too. In the apartment there were students from Spain, Germany, England, France, Italy, and i think a couple other places. If any of you have heard of real world, the reality tv show on MTV, it was kind of like that, only a movie version. The main character was a guy from France that was leaving his girlfriend behind and going on exchange for a year to Barcelona, Spain. He eneds up living in this diverse house of students from several countries! The movie is called La Casa De Locos (The house of crazies).
Ok well im going to get some shut eye, the bus to Leon leaves at 1030 tomorrow!
take care everyone. i havent gotten super homesick yet. I told my mom the other day i just miss smelling like home, i dont prefer smelling like Maria. HAHA. its just the little things. Because its a new place and Maria cleans so damn much I still kind of feel like im staying in a hotel. Its ok though! i love it here and i couldnt ask for a better place to study abroad! Missing the holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving is going to stink too, but its all good. I just think about home when i think of those dates coming up, but my group is thinking bout trying to get a cabin and make thanksgiving dinner together! I really really really hope we do that! I love my group!
signing off!
Monday, October 15, 2007
PHOTOS
I have all my photos in albums on facebook. Im going to paste the sites here and hopefully grammee, papa, aunt lisa, fryes, grandpa, and whoever else can see them. let me know if its working!
Night life photos:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123182&l=334b1&id=11510751
Oviedo and Llanes:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2120013&l=3af93&id=11510751
Gijon:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123180&l=44e11&id=11510751
San Sebastian:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122558&l=0e4a7&id=11510751
Night life photos:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123182&l=334b1&id=11510751
Oviedo and Llanes:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2120013&l=3af93&id=11510751
Gijon:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123180&l=44e11&id=11510751
San Sebastian:
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122558&l=0e4a7&id=11510751
A new week begins!
A new school week begins today and I definately can say i enjoyed my weekend. On Saturday i went to Gijon, which is on the beach. It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky, with some wind! Actually the entire weekend it was sunny! I dont know when the rain is coming, but everyone tells me it rains here a lot, so im enjoying the sun while it lasts. Gijon is approx 20mins away on the bus and a round trip ticket costs only 3.70 euros! CHEAP! A lot of people from my program went to San Sebastian this past weekend, but i had gone the weekend before. It seemed like whoever didnt go to San Sebastian went to Gijon because i saw two different groups of people from my program while i was there. I went with Caitlin and Ben, but we ran into five girls that i was hoping we could meet up with. We spent time on the beach, and ate our lunches, then explored and walked around a couple hours. Then we went to this market that Caitlin and i love. Its called Alimerka. I think we just like the sound of the name and the fact that u can get some cheap food and wine! They are everywhere here, including one right across the street from my apartment and another 1 block away! For a snack we bought a loaf of bread, salami, cheese, wine, juice, and nuts all for under 10 euro. As you can see there are definately ways to get around the fact that the euro to the dollar is a rip off here! You just have to learn how to work the system! After relaxing on the beach for another hour we hiked to the other side of the coast and looked down to the ocean and marina, with an amazing view! The sea is so clean here, its a crystal blue color! I even walked in the water a little, because even though it was barely 70 degrees F and windy, the water is way warmer then in Oregon!
We were contemplating whether we were going to stay into the evening or return home for dinner and then go out in Oviedo. But then we heard the younger population actually goes to Oviedo to party and go out because in Gijon the bars and clubs close early (at 2). Now 2 am may sound incredibly LATE to all of you but i ensure that is not the case here. i know i have talked about that a little, but time is so different here! I am not sure if i have explained my daily schedule but i dont start class until 12 or 2. Usually i eat lunch around 3pm and dinner is at 9 or 10pm. Thats normal here! The first time i went out at night here, Caitlin and i left the house at 1030, big mistake! Bars arent even happening until 12 or 1. Everything happens in a sequence of events. Bars are busy from like 12 or 1 until 3 or so and then the discotecas (clubs) get busy between 3-5am. I am starting to get used to being on that schedule, but it is still hard, because i never stay out past 1 or 2am when im back in the states, and thats on rare occasions. There is also a siesta time that Caitlin and i always fail to plan in our schedule. All the stores, especially on saturdays, close between 2-5pm. So we will be out and then want to get coffee or something, but everything closes up! Carmen, one of the directors of my program said that some spanish people are trying to change that because it disrupts the day and not many people are privledged enough to actually take a nap during that time. Its also hard for younger children who go to school in the morning, come home for 2 hours, and then go back to school until 5pm and then they have after school activities until 8 or 9pm!
Anyways, we ended up returning to Oviedo around 8pm and i had dinner at home. Its free, so i rather eat at home when i can! We rested up until midnight and met up with my friend from North Carolina and her boyfriend from London, along with a couple other girls. We have been going to the same bar and club the last few times, so we decided to try and branch out. We ended up going to 4 or 5 other places, but in the end we were back at the Funky Room (a club). The night was fun and i ended up getting home around 4am.
On Sunday Caitlin and I went to the open market where there are vendors of clothes, pottery, etc. We bought a few gifts and headed home to relax and do a little homework for the rest of the day!
Thats all for now. I was trying to plan a trip to Seville this coming weekend because my friend from highschool is studying there. However, I looked for hostels and they are all booked up! We might meet up somewhere else in spain for the weekend and im going to bring a few girls from my program, but im not sure yet because we are going to try to talk this evening. I had suggested Toledo, which is another city in spain, but he said he heard that you dont really want to be there more then a day. Im not sure what will happen, maybe ill visit the following weekend!
hasta luego!
We were contemplating whether we were going to stay into the evening or return home for dinner and then go out in Oviedo. But then we heard the younger population actually goes to Oviedo to party and go out because in Gijon the bars and clubs close early (at 2). Now 2 am may sound incredibly LATE to all of you but i ensure that is not the case here. i know i have talked about that a little, but time is so different here! I am not sure if i have explained my daily schedule but i dont start class until 12 or 2. Usually i eat lunch around 3pm and dinner is at 9 or 10pm. Thats normal here! The first time i went out at night here, Caitlin and i left the house at 1030, big mistake! Bars arent even happening until 12 or 1. Everything happens in a sequence of events. Bars are busy from like 12 or 1 until 3 or so and then the discotecas (clubs) get busy between 3-5am. I am starting to get used to being on that schedule, but it is still hard, because i never stay out past 1 or 2am when im back in the states, and thats on rare occasions. There is also a siesta time that Caitlin and i always fail to plan in our schedule. All the stores, especially on saturdays, close between 2-5pm. So we will be out and then want to get coffee or something, but everything closes up! Carmen, one of the directors of my program said that some spanish people are trying to change that because it disrupts the day and not many people are privledged enough to actually take a nap during that time. Its also hard for younger children who go to school in the morning, come home for 2 hours, and then go back to school until 5pm and then they have after school activities until 8 or 9pm!
Anyways, we ended up returning to Oviedo around 8pm and i had dinner at home. Its free, so i rather eat at home when i can! We rested up until midnight and met up with my friend from North Carolina and her boyfriend from London, along with a couple other girls. We have been going to the same bar and club the last few times, so we decided to try and branch out. We ended up going to 4 or 5 other places, but in the end we were back at the Funky Room (a club). The night was fun and i ended up getting home around 4am.
On Sunday Caitlin and I went to the open market where there are vendors of clothes, pottery, etc. We bought a few gifts and headed home to relax and do a little homework for the rest of the day!
Thats all for now. I was trying to plan a trip to Seville this coming weekend because my friend from highschool is studying there. However, I looked for hostels and they are all booked up! We might meet up somewhere else in spain for the weekend and im going to bring a few girls from my program, but im not sure yet because we are going to try to talk this evening. I had suggested Toledo, which is another city in spain, but he said he heard that you dont really want to be there more then a day. Im not sure what will happen, maybe ill visit the following weekend!
hasta luego!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
El Fin de Semana (The weekend!)
Well i officially finished my first FULL week of classes here! I dont have class on Friday, but this week no one does because its a holiday. I am not sure what the holiday is celebrating but on my calendar its called El Dia de Hispanidad. My host mom referred to tomorrow as a fiest (party) but i dont think she meant it literally. Pretty much everything will be closed tomorrow, so i probably will go out tonight and relax tomorrow. Caitlin and I might walk to Parque Invierno (which means winter). Its a little further away then the main park in Oviedo which is called Parque San Fransisco. As a side note, I am not sure if this is just in spain or Europe too, but fountains are everywhere here, especially in parks. They light up at night, and the bigger the city, the bigger the fountains, or so i have experienced. And the playgrounds are just thrown into the middle of the city. Like in the US playgrounds are at schools, or in parks with lots of trees around. Not here, they are in the middle of the city.
I still really like my host mom. I feel like a guest still, which i think will change, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that she cleans 24 7. Her job outside of the house is cooking and cleaning for an older couple that cant get around themselves, but when she is not working, she is cleaning or cooking at our apartment! I feel bad, but i think thats just how she is. I will ask her how her day is and she will say that it was full of work work work and that her back hurts. I think to myself you dont need to scrub our bathroom everyday. I seriously swear she cleans everything, everyday. I wake up sometimes to go to the bathroom earlier in the morning around 8 or so and she will be scrubbing away or cleaning something. Shes a riot! Its just funny to me because she told Caitlin and i we couldnt shower past 9 or 10pm and we couldnt brush our teeth or wash our face past 10 or 11pm because it would wake our neighbors...yet she cleans like a maniac at the butt crack of dawn or bakes sweet bread at midnight. Either thats just how my host mom is or thats part of the new culture, but i dont mind, i just think its funny.
Another funny thing about my host mom is teaching her english words. She has written some she learned from other students on this little whiteboard she has on her fridge. For example she wrote sand which is arena in spanish (she learned that from someone else) but the other day she brought Caitlin and me our clothes including our underwear and she said that we had such small underwear. We said ya they are thongs (sorry to those of you who read this and think im over sharing, haha). Anyways, she said thong...but it was in the funniest pronunciation. Just like we cant say words correctly because our mouths arent trained to shape those sounds, she struggles too. Then we told her you can call them underwear. and she tried to say underwear, only it came out as unerweer. too funny. then she proceeded to writing underwear on her little whiteboard with the spanish word below it. as a side note, panties, are tights in spanish (like nylons)
Lets see, so far i really like my grammar and vocab class. I love my vocab teacher. He is a stout man and he has a 4 month old baby! his name is victor and he is a crack up. My phonetics class is boring, but maybe it will get better. And so far my romance/love lit class is alright but my other lit class has seriously just been a chronological outline of spains history up til present day. maybe its suppose to help us with the future readings about 20th century spain, but it has been super boring and i cant read my teachers hand writing. Here they dont do powerpoints or use over heads, they write on the chalk board or whiteboard and its random scribblings, not very well organized (depending on the teacher).
A side note concerning my phonetics teacher...apparently he kissed a girl on the lips that was in my program. Just to give you a description of this guy, he is super tall and reminds me of a ugly version of Ross on friends. I wasnt out that night, but i have heard first hand from the girl in my group what happened. I guess she had been drinking and he had been drinking way too much and he came to the bar that a lot of americans go to (and alot of people in our program go to before we go to a club). Specifically in Spain and maybe in Europe too, im not sure, it is common to kiss friends and family on both cheeks as a greeting. I guess my teacher thought he was a friend because he saw this girl in my group and kissed her on both cheeks and wanted to buy her drinks. i guess she made the mistake of letting him buy her drinks, but i dont know if no one else was paying attention or what, but if i saw that happening i would have stepped in. anyways, i guess he kept doing the kiss on the cheek back and forth and then he kissed her on the lips and later had a rose for her! CRAZY! NOT ALLOWED IN THE US! that crosses the line. I guess she was really drunk. Either way, im glad i wasnt there and im glad it wasnt me! A side note to the side note...mom dont worry about this, my teacher seems more harmless then a fly, so it surprised me, i think he just was acting out of character, but either way, its an interesting story!
Its suppose to be sunny this weekend so if its not too windy im going to try to go to the beach. I live near the ocean, but its a city away. Even if its not nice enough to go down to the ocean, ill probably check the city out (Gigon is the name).
thats all for now! adios!
I still really like my host mom. I feel like a guest still, which i think will change, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that she cleans 24 7. Her job outside of the house is cooking and cleaning for an older couple that cant get around themselves, but when she is not working, she is cleaning or cooking at our apartment! I feel bad, but i think thats just how she is. I will ask her how her day is and she will say that it was full of work work work and that her back hurts. I think to myself you dont need to scrub our bathroom everyday. I seriously swear she cleans everything, everyday. I wake up sometimes to go to the bathroom earlier in the morning around 8 or so and she will be scrubbing away or cleaning something. Shes a riot! Its just funny to me because she told Caitlin and i we couldnt shower past 9 or 10pm and we couldnt brush our teeth or wash our face past 10 or 11pm because it would wake our neighbors...yet she cleans like a maniac at the butt crack of dawn or bakes sweet bread at midnight. Either thats just how my host mom is or thats part of the new culture, but i dont mind, i just think its funny.
Another funny thing about my host mom is teaching her english words. She has written some she learned from other students on this little whiteboard she has on her fridge. For example she wrote sand which is arena in spanish (she learned that from someone else) but the other day she brought Caitlin and me our clothes including our underwear and she said that we had such small underwear. We said ya they are thongs (sorry to those of you who read this and think im over sharing, haha). Anyways, she said thong...but it was in the funniest pronunciation. Just like we cant say words correctly because our mouths arent trained to shape those sounds, she struggles too. Then we told her you can call them underwear. and she tried to say underwear, only it came out as unerweer. too funny. then she proceeded to writing underwear on her little whiteboard with the spanish word below it. as a side note, panties, are tights in spanish (like nylons)
Lets see, so far i really like my grammar and vocab class. I love my vocab teacher. He is a stout man and he has a 4 month old baby! his name is victor and he is a crack up. My phonetics class is boring, but maybe it will get better. And so far my romance/love lit class is alright but my other lit class has seriously just been a chronological outline of spains history up til present day. maybe its suppose to help us with the future readings about 20th century spain, but it has been super boring and i cant read my teachers hand writing. Here they dont do powerpoints or use over heads, they write on the chalk board or whiteboard and its random scribblings, not very well organized (depending on the teacher).
A side note concerning my phonetics teacher...apparently he kissed a girl on the lips that was in my program. Just to give you a description of this guy, he is super tall and reminds me of a ugly version of Ross on friends. I wasnt out that night, but i have heard first hand from the girl in my group what happened. I guess she had been drinking and he had been drinking way too much and he came to the bar that a lot of americans go to (and alot of people in our program go to before we go to a club). Specifically in Spain and maybe in Europe too, im not sure, it is common to kiss friends and family on both cheeks as a greeting. I guess my teacher thought he was a friend because he saw this girl in my group and kissed her on both cheeks and wanted to buy her drinks. i guess she made the mistake of letting him buy her drinks, but i dont know if no one else was paying attention or what, but if i saw that happening i would have stepped in. anyways, i guess he kept doing the kiss on the cheek back and forth and then he kissed her on the lips and later had a rose for her! CRAZY! NOT ALLOWED IN THE US! that crosses the line. I guess she was really drunk. Either way, im glad i wasnt there and im glad it wasnt me! A side note to the side note...mom dont worry about this, my teacher seems more harmless then a fly, so it surprised me, i think he just was acting out of character, but either way, its an interesting story!
Its suppose to be sunny this weekend so if its not too windy im going to try to go to the beach. I live near the ocean, but its a city away. Even if its not nice enough to go down to the ocean, ill probably check the city out (Gigon is the name).
thats all for now! adios!
Monday, October 8, 2007
San Sebastian: rain, clouds, and sun!
This past weekend was full of many new sites and experiences. The morning started out with Caitlin and I calling Ben at 830am (when our bus left at 845) and asking him why the hell he wasnt at our apartment to walk to the bus station. We woke him up with the phone call..hung up and practically ran to the bus station. The funny thing is the night before Ben had wanted to meet us earlier then we suggested to meet up so we were early for our bus...yet he was the one that over slept. Caitlin and i got to the bus station and got our tickets. Somehow, someway Ben made it in time, got his ticket, and got on the bus! By car it takes about 4 hours to get to San Sebastian but we were taking the bus (a slow bus at that because its cheaper and has more stops) so it took 6.5 hrs.
When we finally arrived in San Sebastian it was dumping rain and we were dropped off at the bus station, but it had no informtion desk. It was not the same as the bus station that we left from in Oviedo. After ten minutes we finally got a cab and showed him the address to our hostel. He couldnt drop us off right in front of it so he took us close enough and we managed to find our way to the hostel. This was my first time staying in a hostel but Caitlin and Ben told me they are not usually like the one we stayed in. It literally was someones apartment that they decided to use two small rooms and make a hostel out of it! Caitlin and Ben said that hostels they had been to had big common areas, or hammocks outside, or even a pool on the roof...but this one was in an old couples house. Although it was an interesting experience, it wasnt too bad. The first night there were four beds in our room so there was another guy staying with us from New Zealand. He was friendly and talked to us for awhile. He told his employer that if he didnt get 4 months off this year he was going to quit (interesting huh?) He designs surf shops for Billabong (a surfing brand) which sounds like a pretty sweet job because he said he gets to travel all over. Right now this was part of his 4 months off and he had been all over including Aspen, Colorado. I asked him about our accents because naturally we think that people from Australia and New Zealand have cool accents, and he said we definatley have accents, but he doesnt know if people from where he is from are enthrawled by them.
Anyways, the first evening it was pouring rain and we werent much in the mood for exploring, soaking wet so we went to an irish pub and had coffee with baileys. We ended up walking around a little and retreating to our hostel. The bathrooms were microscopic and it was one of those times where i wished i had flipflops for the shower and my own towel, but i bucked up and survived.
The next day it wasnt rainy, just cloudy. Bén´s sister is traveling around the world with a friend for three months so they met up with us and we went to the aquarium. It was probably 1/10 the size of a normal aquarium and it was almost 10 dollars american, which was annoying because we didnt know it was that small, but the acquatic life was fun to see and it was still a good experience. After the aquarium we went down to the beach and walked around in the sand. It was a cloudy day but San Sebastian is definately a surf town and probably spectacular for laying out during the summers. We explored more of the city and took pictures...
After we returned to our hostel in the middle of the day I found that my bed was now a bunk bed that had expanded and a girl was sleeping beneath. Later when she woke up we all chatted with her and she is from Newyork and Puerto Rico, traveling all over. She told us many crazy stories and she definately has guts to be traveling all alone for so long. I know for sure i couldnt do it. The couple that owns the hostel brought us pumkin soup for a snack...it tasted nothing like pumkin, more like cheese soup, but i ate some anyways.
Our last day, Sunday, was amazing! Blue clear skies and it got warmer as the day went on. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 5pm but we tried to pack in a hike up to this tall statue of christ before we left. It wasnt too far and we thought that it would be nice to get a great view of san sebastian and the sea (we didnt really care about the statue of christ. no offense, but seriously i have seen enough crucified christs and i have only been here two weeks!) Surprisingly there was a museum, cemetary, cafe, and the big statue up the mountain side. It was a nice hike on gravel ground or steps all the way up. I have some amazing photos of the view and it was definatley the perfect day to go up there. I was so happy that we were able to experience one night day in San Sebastian before we left. After we hiked back down we went back to the beach and put our feet in the water. It wasnt cold at all and i wished we had more time because we brought our swim suits and everyone was out enjoying the sun!
At around 4:30pm we headed for the bus station and caught our bus. Not even an hour after we were on the bus we stopped an area on the side of the road after going through a toll spot. Another bus was pulled over and there were Civil Guard men all around with huge guns and uniforms. A man from the civil guard got on the bus and came to the back where i was sitting. He picked out a man that was literally sitting directly in front of my seat! He started looking through all of his stuff and asking him a bunch of questions. It was something i cant even describe because i have never experienced that before! They took the man off the bus and we were stopped for almost an hour. The civil guard came back on the bus several times and one time he came to the back and started to ask me a question. That was a moment where i knew it was smart to act like i knew very little spanish and pretend to act and look as american as possible. i told him i knew only a little spanish so he said ok. We asked the girl sitting near us if stuff like this happened often on the buses and she said NO, never. We determined they must have been looking for someone and this man may have fit the profile. After almost an hour they let him back on the bus and we were on our way. SO CRAZY! everything was fine the rest of the trip and the man got off at the next stop, but it was a surreal experience.
I feel weird ending on that note, but i have to go to class! ill add more soon. take care!
When we finally arrived in San Sebastian it was dumping rain and we were dropped off at the bus station, but it had no informtion desk. It was not the same as the bus station that we left from in Oviedo. After ten minutes we finally got a cab and showed him the address to our hostel. He couldnt drop us off right in front of it so he took us close enough and we managed to find our way to the hostel. This was my first time staying in a hostel but Caitlin and Ben told me they are not usually like the one we stayed in. It literally was someones apartment that they decided to use two small rooms and make a hostel out of it! Caitlin and Ben said that hostels they had been to had big common areas, or hammocks outside, or even a pool on the roof...but this one was in an old couples house. Although it was an interesting experience, it wasnt too bad. The first night there were four beds in our room so there was another guy staying with us from New Zealand. He was friendly and talked to us for awhile. He told his employer that if he didnt get 4 months off this year he was going to quit (interesting huh?) He designs surf shops for Billabong (a surfing brand) which sounds like a pretty sweet job because he said he gets to travel all over. Right now this was part of his 4 months off and he had been all over including Aspen, Colorado. I asked him about our accents because naturally we think that people from Australia and New Zealand have cool accents, and he said we definatley have accents, but he doesnt know if people from where he is from are enthrawled by them.
Anyways, the first evening it was pouring rain and we werent much in the mood for exploring, soaking wet so we went to an irish pub and had coffee with baileys. We ended up walking around a little and retreating to our hostel. The bathrooms were microscopic and it was one of those times where i wished i had flipflops for the shower and my own towel, but i bucked up and survived.
The next day it wasnt rainy, just cloudy. Bén´s sister is traveling around the world with a friend for three months so they met up with us and we went to the aquarium. It was probably 1/10 the size of a normal aquarium and it was almost 10 dollars american, which was annoying because we didnt know it was that small, but the acquatic life was fun to see and it was still a good experience. After the aquarium we went down to the beach and walked around in the sand. It was a cloudy day but San Sebastian is definately a surf town and probably spectacular for laying out during the summers. We explored more of the city and took pictures...
After we returned to our hostel in the middle of the day I found that my bed was now a bunk bed that had expanded and a girl was sleeping beneath. Later when she woke up we all chatted with her and she is from Newyork and Puerto Rico, traveling all over. She told us many crazy stories and she definately has guts to be traveling all alone for so long. I know for sure i couldnt do it. The couple that owns the hostel brought us pumkin soup for a snack...it tasted nothing like pumkin, more like cheese soup, but i ate some anyways.
Our last day, Sunday, was amazing! Blue clear skies and it got warmer as the day went on. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 5pm but we tried to pack in a hike up to this tall statue of christ before we left. It wasnt too far and we thought that it would be nice to get a great view of san sebastian and the sea (we didnt really care about the statue of christ. no offense, but seriously i have seen enough crucified christs and i have only been here two weeks!) Surprisingly there was a museum, cemetary, cafe, and the big statue up the mountain side. It was a nice hike on gravel ground or steps all the way up. I have some amazing photos of the view and it was definatley the perfect day to go up there. I was so happy that we were able to experience one night day in San Sebastian before we left. After we hiked back down we went back to the beach and put our feet in the water. It wasnt cold at all and i wished we had more time because we brought our swim suits and everyone was out enjoying the sun!
At around 4:30pm we headed for the bus station and caught our bus. Not even an hour after we were on the bus we stopped an area on the side of the road after going through a toll spot. Another bus was pulled over and there were Civil Guard men all around with huge guns and uniforms. A man from the civil guard got on the bus and came to the back where i was sitting. He picked out a man that was literally sitting directly in front of my seat! He started looking through all of his stuff and asking him a bunch of questions. It was something i cant even describe because i have never experienced that before! They took the man off the bus and we were stopped for almost an hour. The civil guard came back on the bus several times and one time he came to the back and started to ask me a question. That was a moment where i knew it was smart to act like i knew very little spanish and pretend to act and look as american as possible. i told him i knew only a little spanish so he said ok. We asked the girl sitting near us if stuff like this happened often on the buses and she said NO, never. We determined they must have been looking for someone and this man may have fit the profile. After almost an hour they let him back on the bus and we were on our way. SO CRAZY! everything was fine the rest of the trip and the man got off at the next stop, but it was a surreal experience.
I feel weird ending on that note, but i have to go to class! ill add more soon. take care!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
School Starts
Hey all!
Today was my first day of school! It went very well. The day before we had placement exams and i tested into intermediate III. There are two levels above and i planned to be in advanced I. The placement exam is by no means something that is black and white or written in stone. You can change around easily and unless you are trying to jump a couple levels its not a big deal at all. I ended up going to all the advanced 1 classes today and they were just fine. Im taking Medieval Espana Literature (which is focusing on the 1200-1500s), Literature (poems and writing from the 20th century in spain), Phonetic of Spanish, Grammar, and Vocab.
So im taking five 4 credit classes which sounds like a lot, but its not when u are immersed in the culture and i guess thats what everyone does. Also im taking this class that is required by my program and its taught in english. Its call Cutural Perspectives, where we compare Spain's and US's traditions, styles, and beliefs. I dont have class on fridays which is nice! On Mondays and Wednesdays I have class from 2-6 and then tuesday and thursday i have class from 12-6 with a small break. It sounds like a lot of class, but we do a lot more reading and hands on stuff in class. For example, in phonetics today my teacher read a paragraph outloud and we were suppose to write each sentence down based on the words we heard and how they sounded. In english thats pretty easy because we are good at listening to the words and we know what sounds words make, but in spanish its hard! Especially when you are getting used to the specific accent that spain has where "c"s sound like "f"s and other letters have different sounds as well.
Tonight Caitlin and I looked into going to San Sebastian for the weekend. Its a coastal town, about 5 hours from here on a bus. Caitlin did some reading and it has an amazing aquarium with a huge tank that spands up and across the whole ceiling. We looked at hostels and bus prices and it looks like its a good deal. We are planning to leave Friday early in the morning and get back Sunday late in the evening. The hostel we were looking at is very close to the beach and the pictures looked gorgeous, lets hope the weather is nice! It was rainy here today, but quite humid. I would say its probably 65-70 degrees here everyday and sometimes its sunny and sometimes rainy. very similar to oregon! my room is so small though that its always warm, almost too warm, but its okay, when it gets cold it will be nice and toasty!
Another thing about my classes is that its not just students from my programs, it all foreign exchange students. They are mostly from the US but there are some from other European countries too. I met this girl from North Carolina that is in a lot of my classes. She looked my age but shes almost 25 and shes here because she is done with college but wants to better her spanish to possibly work in a hospital or somewhere as an interpreter or translator. Her boyfriend is from England (near whales) and she met him in Costa Rica. Crazy huh?! He is here studying too, and they have an apartment together. He is pretty much fluent in spanish but he cant read or write it at all. He is fluent from his experiences in living and working in Costa Rica and the gulf of Mexico. Oh and Tracy (the girl i met) she studied in Australia too. The two of them combined are world travelers! But anyways, she was very nice and she has a unique Carolinian accent.
Thats all for now! Tomorrow there is a concert i think im going to. not sure what type of music yet, but its free to students!
Today was my first day of school! It went very well. The day before we had placement exams and i tested into intermediate III. There are two levels above and i planned to be in advanced I. The placement exam is by no means something that is black and white or written in stone. You can change around easily and unless you are trying to jump a couple levels its not a big deal at all. I ended up going to all the advanced 1 classes today and they were just fine. Im taking Medieval Espana Literature (which is focusing on the 1200-1500s), Literature (poems and writing from the 20th century in spain), Phonetic of Spanish, Grammar, and Vocab.
So im taking five 4 credit classes which sounds like a lot, but its not when u are immersed in the culture and i guess thats what everyone does. Also im taking this class that is required by my program and its taught in english. Its call Cutural Perspectives, where we compare Spain's and US's traditions, styles, and beliefs. I dont have class on fridays which is nice! On Mondays and Wednesdays I have class from 2-6 and then tuesday and thursday i have class from 12-6 with a small break. It sounds like a lot of class, but we do a lot more reading and hands on stuff in class. For example, in phonetics today my teacher read a paragraph outloud and we were suppose to write each sentence down based on the words we heard and how they sounded. In english thats pretty easy because we are good at listening to the words and we know what sounds words make, but in spanish its hard! Especially when you are getting used to the specific accent that spain has where "c"s sound like "f"s and other letters have different sounds as well.
Tonight Caitlin and I looked into going to San Sebastian for the weekend. Its a coastal town, about 5 hours from here on a bus. Caitlin did some reading and it has an amazing aquarium with a huge tank that spands up and across the whole ceiling. We looked at hostels and bus prices and it looks like its a good deal. We are planning to leave Friday early in the morning and get back Sunday late in the evening. The hostel we were looking at is very close to the beach and the pictures looked gorgeous, lets hope the weather is nice! It was rainy here today, but quite humid. I would say its probably 65-70 degrees here everyday and sometimes its sunny and sometimes rainy. very similar to oregon! my room is so small though that its always warm, almost too warm, but its okay, when it gets cold it will be nice and toasty!
Another thing about my classes is that its not just students from my programs, it all foreign exchange students. They are mostly from the US but there are some from other European countries too. I met this girl from North Carolina that is in a lot of my classes. She looked my age but shes almost 25 and shes here because she is done with college but wants to better her spanish to possibly work in a hospital or somewhere as an interpreter or translator. Her boyfriend is from England (near whales) and she met him in Costa Rica. Crazy huh?! He is here studying too, and they have an apartment together. He is pretty much fluent in spanish but he cant read or write it at all. He is fluent from his experiences in living and working in Costa Rica and the gulf of Mexico. Oh and Tracy (the girl i met) she studied in Australia too. The two of them combined are world travelers! But anyways, she was very nice and she has a unique Carolinian accent.
Thats all for now! Tomorrow there is a concert i think im going to. not sure what type of music yet, but its free to students!
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