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
Monday, October 15, 2007
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!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Im here!!
Sorry to everyone that it has taken me so long to write. I am here and enjoying espana! My flights went well, and I am proud of myself for doing it all alone. I have some interesting and funny stories about my travel to Oviedo, but that shall be saved for another time. The other day I typed this huge long posting about all my experiences in the last week and then it failed to upload, so i was very angry and now i probably wont have the energy to repeat everything over again verbatim. Im going to copy and paste for now on so i dont lose what i write!
Anyways, i arrived in Oviedo and immediately took a taxi to my home stay. The taxi driver acted like he knew where he was going. However, once we were in the city he had to get out of the car three different times and ask people where the street i lived on was. Once i arrived to my apartment my host mom rushed down stairs the second i called her on the intercom. Caitlin (another U of O student) was especially excited to see me because she had been at our new home since 830 am. Immediately we sat down to la cena (dinner) and i tried to talk as much as possible, but after 30+ hours of traveling its a challenge. Afterwards, i showered, unpacked, tried to sleep. I dont know if it was the new place, experience, or all the traveling but it was hard to sleep. My room is quite small, but clean and the furniture is pretty modern. Actually the whole apartment is, especially the kitchen. ALL WHITE. cabinets, dishwasher, table, floor, microwave, fridge, etc.
The next morning i had an orientation for part of the day and then a break at a cafe and more til 330. Afterwards Caitlin and i walked around for awhile with her boyfriend and then went home. We went out that evening at around 1030 but didnt make it to the bar we were looking for until midnight and i was in heels so my feet for very angry! The bar we went to a lot of americans on exchange go to. After spending a few hours there we went to a club at 3am or so and hung out there until 4. its funny to see the spaniards sing to american music especially r and b or rap because they never know the words!
The next morning was rough because i had to be up by 930 for more orientation stuff at the university (its only 3 blocks away which is lucky because some students have to walk further or take a bus for 15 minutes!)
A little about my host mom. She is very nice. in the beginning she i didnt understand a lot of what she said and i would ask simple questions and hope she wouldnt ask me too many, but i can completely follow her conversations. Its crazy because i have only been here a week and i feel more engaged and even if i dont understand some words i can filter through and have serious conversations. For example, she told Caitlin and i all about her life and how she had all these brothers but her parents hated her and didnt let her go to college. She told us she had to clean the kitchen and cook in there all the time but her brothers could do whatever they wanted. It was an intense conversation. She said she doesnt talk to her parents and i think she said she moved out when she was 22 or maybe it was younger. Also i thought she only have 3 kids but she told us that she had another daughter that died from miningitis at the age of 1. She said she got really sick when her daughter was sick because she didnt eat and she was really sad. That probably gives you a good idea of how open she is and how much she talks to Caitlin and I because both of those conversations were lengthy and serious to say the least!
On a lighter note Maria loves to call me Kiki. I told her my name was Kyla and she repeated Kila, and then i said you can call me Ky and it turned into Kiki. So ohwell. Its growing on me. Caitlin and Ben (her bf) call me it and now a lot of people in the program are too, so i dont mind having a different name here, its kind of funny. Our host mom calls Caitlin, Cayln, i guess she has trouble with the T in her name.
In spain obviously a lot of things are different. Here are a few of my observations. A LOT of the bathrooms have lights that turn off after a certain time, so frequently im in the bathroom and the lights just go off. Usually there is a light to the whole bathroom and stall, but sometimes both go off! NOT FUN. also a lot of toilets dont have toilet seats or are out of paper, i guess they are not good about restocking!!! In my house my host mom has a lot of unique conceptions about things such as she wouldnt let caitlin drink cold water because she had a cold.
Two out of the three first nights I was given fish for dinner. I love sushi and some fish but the second time we had fish it was salted way too much and deeply breaded. I had to force myself to eat half of it, covering it in other foods. After that, I told her fish gives me stomach problems sometimes because we are suppose to be honest and tell our families if there is something we dont like. Caitlin feels the same way about fish so i told her caitlin gets sick too. She said that was fine and once in a while she food buy blue tuna because its super fresh and better but its very expensive. Thats another thing, my host mom is so nice but she will ask Caitlin and i if we like certain foods and we will say yes and she responds ALWAYS with that food is expensive. As you can see they are big on conservation (electricity, food, etc!)
This past weekend my group went on an excursion to Eastern Austrias. Austrias is (if i remember correctly) 1 of 17 principailities in spain. Oviedo (where i live) along with Gijon, and 1 other city that i dont remember its name off the top of my head are the three cities that are in Austrias along with smaller places and green green land! For those of you are not familiar with the part of spain i am in, its the NW corner. And very different from Madrid and Sevilla (other cities in Spain) which are drid and arid. I will write more about that later, possibly, but we went to a musem all about cidra (which is a hard apple cider/beer that is local to this area). Also we saw some catholic castles and water falls and a fountain with seven spouts (i guess the rumor or tradition says that if you drink from all seven spouts you will be married in a year. obviously i didnt drink from it!) We went to salbaton mar ( sea) and looked at these amazingly painted bolders that keep the waves from coming up to high. The huge rocks are frequently placed near the shore of many seas, but these were special because an artist came and painted them in a puzzle like design.
Another observation I have made is that everyone is so dang skinny and its true they are a lot more fashionable. Everyone reading this knows i love to shop so i think im getting more into there style. Still wearing jeans every day, but i got a few new (unexpensive items) in the last week. Dont worry mom im controlling myself! Oh and back to the dang skinny people! No one is fat and everyone wears those skinny jeans that are in style back in the US, im sure a of you know what im talking about! Those would not look good on me cuz im too short, but they look good on people here and well people in the US too.
On sunday I went to a big open market with my host mom and Caitlin. Its kinda like a big bizarre + being in mexico. I will explain why. First of all you can bargain, like mexico and second of all there is food and clothing galore. It is popular (im not sure if its just my area or all of spain) for Africans to live here because the living conditions are better. Often they sell things on the streets and its 99% Africans selling at the open market. There is a lot of fake designer purses, wallets, clothes, shoes, etc.
Tomorrow is my placement test for school here. Today we had our first cultural perspectives class. Its just a 1 credit class everyone has to take that is taught in english and teaches about differences in spain´s culture/ Europe and the US.
Ok thats all for now. Comment if you like! I am not on my computer so i cant put up pics yet, but im in the computer lab which has fast internet and wifi so ill bring my computer to campus pronto!
A SMALL NOTE TO ADD: I am sorry for the run on sentences and mis spellings. I was just trying to get a post up quickly. ill go through and edit it soon so it is easier to follow.
Anyways, i arrived in Oviedo and immediately took a taxi to my home stay. The taxi driver acted like he knew where he was going. However, once we were in the city he had to get out of the car three different times and ask people where the street i lived on was. Once i arrived to my apartment my host mom rushed down stairs the second i called her on the intercom. Caitlin (another U of O student) was especially excited to see me because she had been at our new home since 830 am. Immediately we sat down to la cena (dinner) and i tried to talk as much as possible, but after 30+ hours of traveling its a challenge. Afterwards, i showered, unpacked, tried to sleep. I dont know if it was the new place, experience, or all the traveling but it was hard to sleep. My room is quite small, but clean and the furniture is pretty modern. Actually the whole apartment is, especially the kitchen. ALL WHITE. cabinets, dishwasher, table, floor, microwave, fridge, etc.
The next morning i had an orientation for part of the day and then a break at a cafe and more til 330. Afterwards Caitlin and i walked around for awhile with her boyfriend and then went home. We went out that evening at around 1030 but didnt make it to the bar we were looking for until midnight and i was in heels so my feet for very angry! The bar we went to a lot of americans on exchange go to. After spending a few hours there we went to a club at 3am or so and hung out there until 4. its funny to see the spaniards sing to american music especially r and b or rap because they never know the words!
The next morning was rough because i had to be up by 930 for more orientation stuff at the university (its only 3 blocks away which is lucky because some students have to walk further or take a bus for 15 minutes!)
A little about my host mom. She is very nice. in the beginning she i didnt understand a lot of what she said and i would ask simple questions and hope she wouldnt ask me too many, but i can completely follow her conversations. Its crazy because i have only been here a week and i feel more engaged and even if i dont understand some words i can filter through and have serious conversations. For example, she told Caitlin and i all about her life and how she had all these brothers but her parents hated her and didnt let her go to college. She told us she had to clean the kitchen and cook in there all the time but her brothers could do whatever they wanted. It was an intense conversation. She said she doesnt talk to her parents and i think she said she moved out when she was 22 or maybe it was younger. Also i thought she only have 3 kids but she told us that she had another daughter that died from miningitis at the age of 1. She said she got really sick when her daughter was sick because she didnt eat and she was really sad. That probably gives you a good idea of how open she is and how much she talks to Caitlin and I because both of those conversations were lengthy and serious to say the least!
On a lighter note Maria loves to call me Kiki. I told her my name was Kyla and she repeated Kila, and then i said you can call me Ky and it turned into Kiki. So ohwell. Its growing on me. Caitlin and Ben (her bf) call me it and now a lot of people in the program are too, so i dont mind having a different name here, its kind of funny. Our host mom calls Caitlin, Cayln, i guess she has trouble with the T in her name.
In spain obviously a lot of things are different. Here are a few of my observations. A LOT of the bathrooms have lights that turn off after a certain time, so frequently im in the bathroom and the lights just go off. Usually there is a light to the whole bathroom and stall, but sometimes both go off! NOT FUN. also a lot of toilets dont have toilet seats or are out of paper, i guess they are not good about restocking!!! In my house my host mom has a lot of unique conceptions about things such as she wouldnt let caitlin drink cold water because she had a cold.
Two out of the three first nights I was given fish for dinner. I love sushi and some fish but the second time we had fish it was salted way too much and deeply breaded. I had to force myself to eat half of it, covering it in other foods. After that, I told her fish gives me stomach problems sometimes because we are suppose to be honest and tell our families if there is something we dont like. Caitlin feels the same way about fish so i told her caitlin gets sick too. She said that was fine and once in a while she food buy blue tuna because its super fresh and better but its very expensive. Thats another thing, my host mom is so nice but she will ask Caitlin and i if we like certain foods and we will say yes and she responds ALWAYS with that food is expensive. As you can see they are big on conservation (electricity, food, etc!)
This past weekend my group went on an excursion to Eastern Austrias. Austrias is (if i remember correctly) 1 of 17 principailities in spain. Oviedo (where i live) along with Gijon, and 1 other city that i dont remember its name off the top of my head are the three cities that are in Austrias along with smaller places and green green land! For those of you are not familiar with the part of spain i am in, its the NW corner. And very different from Madrid and Sevilla (other cities in Spain) which are drid and arid. I will write more about that later, possibly, but we went to a musem all about cidra (which is a hard apple cider/beer that is local to this area). Also we saw some catholic castles and water falls and a fountain with seven spouts (i guess the rumor or tradition says that if you drink from all seven spouts you will be married in a year. obviously i didnt drink from it!) We went to salbaton mar ( sea) and looked at these amazingly painted bolders that keep the waves from coming up to high. The huge rocks are frequently placed near the shore of many seas, but these were special because an artist came and painted them in a puzzle like design.
Another observation I have made is that everyone is so dang skinny and its true they are a lot more fashionable. Everyone reading this knows i love to shop so i think im getting more into there style. Still wearing jeans every day, but i got a few new (unexpensive items) in the last week. Dont worry mom im controlling myself! Oh and back to the dang skinny people! No one is fat and everyone wears those skinny jeans that are in style back in the US, im sure a of you know what im talking about! Those would not look good on me cuz im too short, but they look good on people here and well people in the US too.
On sunday I went to a big open market with my host mom and Caitlin. Its kinda like a big bizarre + being in mexico. I will explain why. First of all you can bargain, like mexico and second of all there is food and clothing galore. It is popular (im not sure if its just my area or all of spain) for Africans to live here because the living conditions are better. Often they sell things on the streets and its 99% Africans selling at the open market. There is a lot of fake designer purses, wallets, clothes, shoes, etc.
Tomorrow is my placement test for school here. Today we had our first cultural perspectives class. Its just a 1 credit class everyone has to take that is taught in english and teaches about differences in spain´s culture/ Europe and the US.
Ok thats all for now. Comment if you like! I am not on my computer so i cant put up pics yet, but im in the computer lab which has fast internet and wifi so ill bring my computer to campus pronto!
A SMALL NOTE TO ADD: I am sorry for the run on sentences and mis spellings. I was just trying to get a post up quickly. ill go through and edit it soon so it is easier to follow.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Almost packed!!
So its now less then a week until I leave and I have packed my bags (with the exceptions of a few things). I am eager to begin my travels, which is going to take almost 30 hours, including layovers. The time change is 9hours ahead of US pacific standard time, for those who did not know.
Hmmm..Lets see...there is not much else to say except that I AM READY! I just want to get there and begin my adventure! This weekend will be full of spending time with my family, going to eugene to see a few friends and then saying my goodbyes! My fight leaves at 8:45am so my parents and myself will be leaving Corvallis quite early in the morning. I have a feeling I am going to experience horrible jetleg because of the time change and traveling for more then a day. Lets hope i adjust quickly!
Ok well this might be my last post before I am in Spain or on my way!
Hmmm..Lets see...there is not much else to say except that I AM READY! I just want to get there and begin my adventure! This weekend will be full of spending time with my family, going to eugene to see a few friends and then saying my goodbyes! My fight leaves at 8:45am so my parents and myself will be leaving Corvallis quite early in the morning. I have a feeling I am going to experience horrible jetleg because of the time change and traveling for more then a day. Lets hope i adjust quickly!
Ok well this might be my last post before I am in Spain or on my way!
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