Highs and Lows, Ups and Downs

At the moment I am at a slight down, haha. It´s Christmas Eve and Matt is supposed to be here in Granada with me and instead he is stuck in Madrid. The flight he was booked for between Granada and Madrid was yesterday and he was not even in Europe yet, so now he is stuck in Madrid until tomorrow. Frustrating, but at least he can get a flight tomorrow and the airline is paying for his hotel. I had a brief moment of freaking out but I got over it and now I am anxious all over again, so from a very low to a medium.

Besides this there has been a lot going on for me. I finished school a little over a week ago and my last week I got a nice slap in the face. My last day of class was Thursday and on Tuesday my school presented me with a bill for 520€ to sleep at my señora´s place for TWO nights in December and to leave my things there. This did not settle well with me seeing that they wanted me to pay more than $700 for essentially two nights of sleep and food. They told me that since my things will be there it is like I am there and the room is not usable, oh please. If she wanted to use the room with my things there, it would not have been a big deal to me. I thought that Paqui would also find this silly, haha, wrong. I told her about it and I did not get the reaction I had predicted. Since only days before she was telling me how I am like her daughter, and that she was worried about what Matt and I would be doing for Christmas Eve so she wanted to have us over, blah, blah, I thought she would say well let´s you and I make some sort of deal. Well that did not happen. I immediately called my friend, Sergio, to see if I could bring my things to his place for the month and he kindly said yes. So I told me the school, lo siento, but that money is not going to you and Paqui and I had to pack ALL of my shit of and bring it to Sergio´s. Luckily I have not bought to many clothes so I was able to fit just about everything. I left some books at Paqui´s that she said she would store in the basement of the apartment. Anyway I guess I was disappointed to see the affect that money had on Paqui. I understand that she needs the money and in a way I understand that having my things there while I am not could be a nuisance and if I had my own apartment I would have to pay the rent. We have never had a problem but the last few days were not the same. I guess for me, I was the most upset when she said something along the lines that the school says that if I have the money to travel, I should have the money to pay to leave me things. I took this as she is a little mad about not getting the money and I was irritated because it´s not her place to discuss my bank account. A low point. Anyway I hope when I return things will be smoothed over.

Protest in front of the church in Milan

So now on to some happier news. Last Saturday I flew into Milan to start my Italy excursion. I had a full day there so I went to the duomo which was very cool and then I just wandered around. I got to see two manifestaciones. One was political and I think the basis is that Northern Italy wants to separate from Southern Italy, a little extreme if you ask me. But apparently the people from Milan and Rome do not get a long. The second one was a bunch of kids celebrating a football victory. Both were really entertaining.

Not the best picture, but I was alone so I could not ask for another from a stranger

From Milan, I took the train to Pisa. I wandered around there for a few hours, saw the tower and then caught the bus to Calcinia to find my relatives. I was nervous as hell the whole bus ride. I told the bus driver three times where I wanted to get off so he got the point. But I still had some crazy thoughts, like checking out places off the side of the road I could sleep if necessary. I made it to Calcinia, which is not very big, and went into a store to ask someone directions. He told me in Italian, but I got the point and headed in the correct direction. From there I realized that Ottavio´s (my relative) house number was not marked on the address my sister gave me so I went to a random house and asked. The woman that answered the door looked terrified of me, like I had fangs or something. But some other chick came down and attempted to point me to the correct house. I did not understand, so I went to another random house and rang the bell. The girl at this house was not very helpful, we talked through the speaker and I kept asking her if she knew Ottavio and she kept saying no thank you. Then she asked my age and where I was from, I was desperate so I answered hoping she would help me. We played this little game for a while because I decided to move on. I went back to another meat store and asked a very nice old woman to help me. She got the phone book out, called Ottavio´s wife (Loredana) and told her that she had an American visitor. About five minutes later another guy was in the store and he was taking me to their house. Of couse he was asking me all of these questions in Italian that I had really no answers to. It turns out he was Loredana´s brother. I got to the house and Loredana looked at me like I was crazy and could not believe that I was alone. I was a little nervous, but Ottavio came home about 5 minutes later and was excited to know that Cara Mia´s sister was at his home. So this was a very big high, goal achieved!

Downtown Calcinaia

The Rowing Team is named after my great grandfather Pete and this is the boat house

I spent three nights at Ottavio´s house in Calcinia and although communication was not 100% I still loved ever minute of it. They were so great to let me stay with them, and of course feed me some great Italian food. After my first night I wandered around the town then drove around with their son, Luca while he kind of worked. He runs a construction company that was started by Ottavio´s father and has been passed down. He knows a little bit of English so we communicated pretty good. We drove around to various places for his work and had a drink in every town we went to so that was fun. Although I don´t know any Italian, my Spanish was amazing helpful. I don´t know how I would have survived without it. I am not going to lie, I am kind of interested in learning Italian now and I have to take a class for my Spanish major anyway so we´ll see what happens. My second full day Ottavio took me to some of the Tuscan Hill Towns (Volterra and San Gimigano). I love the Tuscan Hills, they were amazing, tranquil and beautiful. It was nice to spend time with Ottavio. Although we don´t have the same language I feel like we developed a nice relationship, nice enough for him to invite me back with my Babo (Dad) and Mama. He showed me a lot of old pictures that were awesome and my great grandfather Pete´s journal which started in 1912. There is so much more to say but I have already wrote to much, bottom like an great high.

Ottavio & I in Volterra

From Calcinia I went back to Pisa and took the Train to Rome. Although I have been to Rome before I did not go in St. Peter´s cathedral and I really wanted to so that was kind of my purpose. I went and it was amazing, I have seen a lot of churches and this one is really something. Besides that I just wondered around Rome and took a bunch of pictures. I like Rome much better than my first time. Although it is still loud, dirty, and crowded, I guess I found a little peace there I did not before.

Morocco

My trip to Morocco was last weekend. It was really interesting, definitely a different world. Of course we had trouble getting there. The boats from southern Spain to Morocco are notorious for being cancelled or having "problems" and we of course encountered one of those problems. We missed the first boat then the next one got canceled. I booked the trip through a travel agent and I was very happy I did because she totally saved us. She was able to get us onto a bus to another port city near by and we were able to catch the boat from there. It was a long day with many annoyances but it's all apart of traveling. Upon getting off of our bus and going into the hotel we were met by a creeper so we had a proper welcome into the city. Our first day we took a tour of Tangier and of course one of the high lights was riding a camel. It was really funny, we just laughed like little girls the whole time. I have a video I will put up later, but I don't have my card reader at the moment.

Walking around Tangier is like going through an obstacle course of annoying men. There are men everywhere and we stuck out like sore thumbs so we were solicited at any and every moment. There are women, but most of them have there heads covered and wear big robes so the men are not so instead in that. We go called a bunch of different names and even had some very generous offers. Some highlighted comments: To many sweeties, Spice Girls, Sexy Ladies, There is a party on top of my bed (in Spanish), Do you like my jiggley wigglely?. One of my favorite things was getting chased by the guys trying to sell these annoying drums that no one seemed to want but they were determined to sell. Pretty much everyone in that city will do anything to make a buck and there are a lot of sketchy people, any favor is for money. Our tour guide even had deals with certain stores she took us too. She receives a piece of everything that we buy. There are also people wandering around at all times willing to help you at any moment, but of course if they take you to a store they expect a cut of what you buy from the owner. It's all very interesting.

The food in Morocco was great! It was probably some of the best food I have had since I have been here. First there was this amazing woman that made these crepe like things at our hotel and they were so good. The cous cous was great, not dry and gross. And I think I ate my favorite thing thus far called pastila (pictured above) It was a pastry like puff filled with chicken, almonds, curry, veggies, greatness, and powdered sugar on top. So unique and delicious!

We did take a day trip from Tangier to Chechaouene. It's about two hours into the country from Tangier. It was a lot more laid back there, still some harassment but not nearly as bad as Tangier. The city is really pretty, it is half white for the sun, and the bottom of the buildings are painted blue to keep out bad luck. (See picture above). I have to say overall I really enjoyed the trip to Morocco, it was different than anything I have done yet although I know my most unique trip is just around the corner.

Priceless Pablo

I think this is my favorite incident with Pablo thus far. Yesterday he was in my room annoying me and asking redundant questions about my computer. I have some pictures of Matt and I on my desk and on the desktop of my computer and he was noting the pictures and then asked me if Matt was embarrassed because his eyes are always closed. I almost died and could not stop laughing. I was very pleased above all that I was able to understand his priceless comment because it would have been such a waste if I did not understand what he said. I cannot wait until Matt and Pablo meet and I hope I understand whatever ridiculous things Pablo has to say to him, that is after he is done staring at him for a really long time. Anyway I explained why Matt's eyes are always closed but I am not sure if he understood even though they had an Asian live with them this past summer. I think Pablo is my favorite thing about Spain, haha.

I don't have a MULLET!!!

I got a my first haircut in Spain yesterday and I was fearful of the mullet. Unfortunately the mullet is very popular in Spain, usually with the "punk" kids boys and girls alike, but I have seen fashion mullets on trendy women so I was scared. I am happy to say that I do not have a mullet and my haircut and color was 32 euros. The color is perfect and the haircut is almost like what I had. They love layers in Spain (which kind of goes hand-in-hand with the mullet) so I have some shorter layers than expected but I can live with it. Once I saw her cut the first short layer there was no turning back. I did get a little nervous because I thought what if she goes shorter? Do I stop her? Is it too late? Do I have a mullet?

I am going with my friend Kate to the same hair salon because she wants to die her hair. Adios rubia!

A Real Thanksgiving!!

It's somewhat in the past, but Thanksgiving last week in Granada exceeded any expectations I had of what it could be like here. I expected the food to be nothing like at home. I was thinking dried out turkey, bad mashed potatoes, no cranberries, no sweet potatoes but I was completely wrong. The food was just as good as any Thanksgiving I have ever had and all of the necessities were there including homemade cranberry sauce that was amazing and real turkey! I give a lot of credit to Miguel (my advisor) for finding a great restaurant to host our excuse to eat in excess. The hot dog salad turned out decent. It was not the best but it was edible. Probably the most unique thing about this Thanksgiving was staying out until 6 am after eating enough to feed the world. We went out with our teachers and it was a blast. Below it a picture of me with my literature teacher, Fran, and let's just say a Fran does not like to give bad grades. He is everyone's favorite teacher and most of the girls in my school have a crush on him or are in love with him. To bad for the ladies at CEGRI that he is married to a Japanese woman and has the cutest baby I have ever seen.

School is coming to an end on December 13. I only have two days of class next week, we don't have school on Thursday for a holiday and I am taking Wednesday off to go to Morocco. Some of my friends went last weekend, so I kind of know what to expect. It is going to be really interesting and I am sure I will have some stories to tell after.

I finally have all of my travels set for my break in December and January! First I am going to Italy to try to find my family. I am flying into Milan, I'll spend a day or two there and then head to the homeland and see what I can find. Then I go down to Rome, spend a day or two there and head back to Granada. Matt will be here on Christmas Eve and we are going to eat dinner with my family in Granada! HaHa! It is going to be really interesting because when everyone is talking a million miles a minute I have no idea what is going on so Matt is going to be totally baffled, but Paqui will throw down some good food so he can entertain himself with eating while I attempt to be "the translator". Matt and I are going to spend a few days in Granada and then head to Barcelona, Paris and back to Madrid. I was a little stressed this past week trying to find a hotel in Paris. We are going to be there for the new year and I was finding hotels for 100 plus euros a night so I was kind of freaking out. Patience paid off because I finally found something more than affordable and in a good location so our trip is now completely set. Matt will return home from Madrid and then I am going to EGYPT!!! I still can't believe it, but I really am going. Since I am going alone I decided to do an organized trip, so I will be on a trip with a bunch of Spaniards in Egypt. It's going to be amazing and I can't wait to do it. I have wanted to do this for a long time and I am here and the moment seemed right so it's on. I am know I am going to have a lot to say after.

I rode a moto last night!! I now have two rides under my belt. They are really popular here so I knew it would happen sooner or later and now I have two friends that own motos so it will probably happen more often.

I don't think I have mentioned this, but the prostitute pick-up/drop-off point is near my house. It's about 5 plus minutes away running. I just thought of this because I am about to go running and sometimes in the afternoons I am lucky enough to see these fine ladies. I have seen them hard at work at approx. 1:30 pm. on a few occasions. I think someone might have mistaken me for a prostitute as well. I was walking past the point of solicitation (this is also on my way to the church help kids with English) and some guy honked his horn and no one else was in sight and then he pulled into the point of solicitation. Perhaps I am flattering my self with this, but it was sketchy. Well I am off to run, hopefully I get lucky with a sighting of fishnet tights, boots and the shortest skirt man has made.

Adios

Hot Dog Salad

Hot Dog Salad?!

It's a little weird to be so far away from home on Thanksgiving. Although I have celebrated outside of Chicago, I have never been away from the family so it's a little sad. My school is hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for us today so I am really looking forward to tonight's events. We won't be eating dinner until 10:30 pm tonight and I really have no idea what to expect. We made a dessert last night and I don't know how it is going to turn out. We made cookies and cream salad, but we changed the name to hot dog salad because that is what it looks like. Details to come after the fiesta.

Same as always with Pablo. Last week I was leaving and he was in the bathroom and ran out with his pants at his ankles to say goodbye to me, that was really nice of him, so today I am saying I am thankful that his shirt was long enough and nothing popped out. I went out with mi hermana española, Cristi, last weekend. We did some club'n at her favorite discoteca, Mae West. It's a huge disco that brings in an interesting crowd ranging in age from 16 to 60. Good people watching, but not my favorite place because it is always really crowded and loud. But I decided to go and spend some time with the sister and her cousin. The way they acted kind of reminded me of freshman year at Vito's with lots of moving around all over the place, and of course dancing.


I went to my first football game last weekend. I am not going to lie, it was not that exciting, but I think the reason is because Granada is not good and it kind of reminded me like a high school game. I'll have to make my way to a real football game before I leave.


I am in Granada the next two weekends then I am off to Marruecos (Morocco) for a long weekend with some girlfriends. I am really excited because we got a nice deal and although we will be staying in Tanger we can take a take some day trips to check out some other cities. My first step in Africa is near!

School is not far from finished which is exciting because I have a lot of traveling ahead and Matt will be here on December 24th! Also exciting new, one of my friends (second from the right above) got offered a job to stay in Granada with the current family she is living with and be their nanny. She is seriously considering the job which is exciting for me since I have to attempt to make new friends again come January. It's kind of funny that her family got paid to let her stay at their home and now they are going to pay her to watch their child and live with them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

One last trip to the Beach

Yes the weather has cooled down in Spain, but I could not resist one last trip to the beach until spring. A friend and I went to Marbella which is about two and a half ours from Granada for the day and night. Let's just say we were the only ones on the beach as you can see above. The first day was sunny and really windy, but we were determined and laid out in our bathing suits anyway, which in the end resulted in me wrapping myself in my towel and sleeping. It was not really cold, but more uncomfortable to be more or less naked outside. The weather at night was really nice, like no coat necessary nice and I wore flip flops which I have not done in Granada for over a month. The second day on the beach was warmer.

I think I had some of the best paella yet in Marbella. It was cheap and amazing, I was a little drunk before I ate it, but it did not affect my taste buds. Although it did affect the fact that I ate much more than necessary. As you can see below I am really disgusted with the amount of food I just late. I later regretted this when some Spanish men invited us out with them and paid for our drinks, well I only had one because I was so full that if I made a wrong move I would puke because I had no room in my body for anything more.

I also went to the Arab Baths last weekend too, which were amazing. In the simplest terms you sit in a bath and relax. This particular bath had 6 hot baths and 1 cold bath and they suggest you go back and forth between the hot and cold. I also got a message and the served the most amazing tea called murano. A very relaxing experience and I will recommend it to anyone that visits.

Two weeks ago had sushi for the first time in over two months. I actually realized that for the past two months the only food I have really eaten has been Spanish food and I forgot about how much I love soy sauce. There are two sushi tapas bars that I have tried. Now the sushi is nothing to get excited about, think about the sushi at the IMU if you went to Iowa, and it is a few steps above that. The bottom line is that although it was not great it filled the void of something Asian in my life, hahahaha.

I don't really have much planned for this weekend, I might go to a football game in Granada. Their football team is on a lower level than the ever popular Real Madrid but it will probably still be fun.

Pablo Takes the Relationship to the Next Level

by peeing in front of me. Yes, in a mere two months we have reached that level of intimacy. Last weekend I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and I left the door open because I live with a million people and someone always needs something from the bathroom. Pablo walks in, says hi, and stands in front of the toilet and then I hear the stream hit the water. At that moment I was done brushing me teeth so I ran out of the bathroom and into my room where I started laughing because I did not know what else to do. He followed this gesture up by barging into my room while I was changing. This is nothing new, it has happened before, so I am almost not surprised by it anymore. Today we had another romantic moment as we ate some chestnuts together. I helped him peel his and he told me which ones were bad. (Concerning chestnuts, I realized although I have heard the song a million times during Christmas, I had never tried them and I must say they are fantastic.) It probably seems like I don't like Pablo considering his actions, but I actually really like him, he is entertaining and always willing to talk.

Paqui, Pablo, and I

I had a four day weekend last week, starting with the day after Halloween, for the holiday, Todos los Santos. It's a day to honor the dead. Anyway, with no work the day after Halloween one would think that it's a big holiday here, well it is not. It's actually a new holiday for Spain, there is no trick-or-treating, but there were some people dressed up in the basics like witches and devils. Everyone goes out because because there is not work but there are no hardcore costumes like in the US. I did not dress up because I knew this, but I was lucky enough to obtain a mustache from a friend so I wore that for a while. I was out late and slept until 2pm and I think Paqui thought I was dead or something was wrong with me. At least that is what I thought I understood. HaHa.

I took a day trip last week to Ronda on Friday. It's a city that is in gorge. It was really pretty and a nice small city to wonder around in and explore. It is a typical southern Spanish city with a combination of Muslim and Catholic influences. I also went to a mass on Sunday, yes a mass. But don't worry I did not move to Spain and get all religious I just wanted to see the inside of the cathedral in the city center. I felt that since I have been here for two months it is something I should do. I still have to go back to see another part of it, but I'll have to pay for that portion and it's closed on Sunday. I didn't understand anything because I was zoned out and looking around not only at the church but at the fact that everyone in the church was 70 and older but me and my friends.

I need a haircut but I fear the mullet. It's so popular here and it scares me.

In Ronda in front of the New Bridge

The Final Countdown: Scandinavia or Australia?

It's been a while since an update so here it is. Now that I have the Internet at my house I can get on the ball with my pictures and the blog.

Two weeks ago I went on my Scandinavian Adventure with Kate and Rooney. We started in Oslo, Norway then went to Stockholm, Sweden and ended the trip in Copenhagen, Denmark where we kind of lost Rooney and met up with my other friend from School, Katie. Yes, the weather was cold ranging from 40 to 50 degrees, but it was a nice fall experience.

I think the first thing to lay out is that if you plan on visiting Scandinavia you should have a lot of money, and I don't so that was interesting. I survived but it was an expensive trip and I did not really go out to dinner. Oh yes and the American dollar is worth about the same as toilet paper so that did not help much either. All three countries use a difference currency (kroners) so we had to change money in every city.

Oslo, to date, is the most expensive city I have ever been to and the food is nothing to wet your pants about. Even the hostel was the most expensive I have stayed in while traveling in Europe, but it also had the best hostel bed I have ever experienced so that kind of made up for the price. Overall the city is laid back. We went out one night to watch some football and drink a 63 kroner beer which equals about $12. Awesome! We did actually go out to dinner one night and it was expensive, I had some trout and it was good, but again nothing super exciting. Paqui makes better fish in la casa. Two important things started in Oslo for me, one, Introduction to Australia and two, The Final Countdown (yes the song, and if you watch Arrested Development, Jobe's theme song). We basically spent sometime with an Aussie in Oslo and learned some of the crazy Aussie ways as far as lingo and more important drinking game rules. Everybody does booze and cards different and it is always interesting to see the tricks people have up their sleeve. The Final Countdown stems from a quaint train ride up the mountain to the Olympic Ski Jump that turned into a music fest with students from the university. Basically 25 plus kids got on the train, some dressed up in formal-wear while others went a different direction with long underwear. They had a full band with them, tuba and trumpet included, and before we knew what was going on, the band was playing The Final Countdown, which will be stuck in my mind forever. I later found out that this event is a tradition and they go to to a restaurant where the goal is to be so annoying that they kick you out. I must say I have a lot of respect for that, I really would have loved to followed them in and watch the scene go down.

A nice addition to my time is Oslo is that Kate fell in the water, for real. We were sitting on some rocks by the shore and she decided to play a solo game of double dare and walk down on slimy rocks to put her and in the water and check out the temperature. Well she really got to feel the temperature when she was thigh deep in the water. I was so shocked that I just stared in amazement at what happened and did not help her or more important take a picture. She had a nice 20 plus minute walk home in her wet pants and shoes. HaHa!

Although I like Oslo, I don't think it is someplace I would visit again because the expense is ridiculous.

The Final Countdown is reborn

Kate & I in Oslo

Brodie (from where?), Rooney, Kate, and I in Oslo

Our next stop was Stockholm, where yes it was expensive but much cheaper than Oslo. Stockholm is my favorite city in Scandinavia. We had great weather and of course Australians to hang out with. We did a lot of walking and wondering around. Stockholm is much bigger than Oslo but it is easy to see most of city in a few days. We took a two hour boat ride through the canals, and that is where we ran into an old friend, The Final Countdown. The boat provided headphones so that we knew what we were looking at and in the middle of explanations they played music and the first song they played was a slow version of The Final Countdown, which repeated 5 or 6 times throughout the ride. Score!

We went on a slight binge in Stockholm after how expensive Oslo was. The process of buying beer from the "convenient store" or System Bolaget is interesting. All of the alcohol is behind a case and you browse around, find what you need, and give the clerk the number that corresponds to your alcohol of choice, and go from there. They also check ID's which I never had so I could never actually purchase the goods. Spain does not believe in ID checking so I never carry my state ID. Anyway we found beer with 7.5% alcohol and went to town on it. Considering they were the big cans, 4 was a great way to start the night out. Here is where we kind of lost Rooney and now I am not sure if we are friends. The story starts with our last night in Stockholm. We consumed some alcohol at the hostel and engaged in a life threatening game of chase the aces (I'm too lazy to explain but it involves a lot of shots, in this case vodka, which I scammed out of by taking Jameson out of a bottle and not really drinking a shots worth.) Anyway, Rooney landed up with a few to many double-straight-up vodka shots which resulted in a high level of intoxication before we even left to go out. We somehow stay out until 5 am including a stop for a kebab where Rooney was literally doing circles with is upper body as he attempted to speak to me. This was all a great idea since we had to get up at 6 am in order to catch our 9 am flight. Morning rolls around and I go to wake Rooney up in his 11 person dorm room. He barely responds to my punches, slaps, pulling of the covers and whisper yelling. I leave to finish getting ready and come back to find that Rooney has ignored me and gone back to sleep. I wake him up again with the same antics and this time sit him up in his bed and tell him that we are going to miss our flight. He told me I need to get out of there because he could not get ready with me in the room and he threw out some other unpleasant things so I told him was I was going upstairs and leaving in 5 minutes. So we waited and then left. OK so I know that I should have tried again, but at this point I was frustrated with his lack attention to the situation, I was slightly hungover, and I did not want to miss our flight. Kate and I got to the airport and barely made our flight. We checked in and got on the plane 10 minutes later. Rooney did arrive in Copenhagen much later, I'm not sure how, but I assume he had to pay to switch his flight. Needless to say he was very angry with us for leaving him and to be honest I don't blame him but on the same note if we had waited and continued to try to wake him up I am 100% sure we would have missed our flight and then we all would have had to pay for Rooney's hangover. I really am sorry about the situation and have learned from the experience. If I find myself in this situation again I am going to throw water on the person, I think that it is a good last resort. The end result of the situation was that we did not hangout together in Copenhagen and like I said I am not sure the status of our friendship.

On last thing I would like to note about Stockholm is the sausage I ate wrapped in a tortilla with mashed potatoes and crumbled fried onions. Interesting take on the ever so versatile sausage.

Kate & I in Stockholm

Stockholm

Rooney, Kate & I in Stockholm

Rooney put on a nice show for the shwarma crowd.

Our final stop was in Copenhagen and although it started a little rattled with a day of zombie travel it turned out to be a lot of fun. We obviously made friends with Australians and I think I am borderline fluent in their slang, haha. I now know that if one says "I'm minging" it means that "I'm drunk" but if one says "She's a minger" it signifies that "She is ugly". So I guess that means I want to be minging but not a minger. We went "clubb'n" with them one night which turned out to be quite interesting and to long of a story to tell considering this post is practically a novel.

I really like Copenhagen, it is similar to Stockholm but has it's own charm. We went and saw the statue of the Little Mermaid which is a popular monument by the shore. We also hit up the Museum Erotica. I saw many renditions of the penis and the vagina and of course learned a new thing or too. An interesting and educational visit. My favorite experience of Copenhagen was Cristiana. Cristiana is a small part of Copenhagen that does not have any laws, or something along those lines. The area is all dirt roads, there are a lot of garbage cans with fires, oh yeah and people selling pot out in the open, how could I forget. I am not sure of the legality of the situation but there were people that had little stands set up to do business, while others would hang out by the garbage cans and wait to be solicited. I'll just say we chilled out for while and enjoyed some crepes. This does not sound to exciting but we experienced a nice finale. As we were walking out this man yelled something in Danish and started running through the central part of the neighborhood, then all of these people were running all over the place and I of course stood there like an ass because I wanted to see what was going on while Kate and Katie had already made a move to completely exit the area. It was like everyone was chilled out and in one second there was pandemonium everywhere. I don't know what happened but we assumed with might have been something with the police.

We really wanted to hear The Final Countdown in Copenhagen, and it was a huge let down when it was no where to be found. But have no fear our trip did not end dry. I was lucky enough to hear it as someone's cell phone ringer on our bus ride home from Madrid to Granada. I think that counts for something.

In Copenhagen I have found the best pizza in Europe so far. Not someplace I would expect to have good pizza, but it was so good that I went there twice.

Copenhagen

Everyone rides bikes in Scandinavia and after some drinks in Copenhagen I wanted to as well.

Hmm, I wonder if those two are from Australia?

Kate, Katie, and I in Copenhagen.

Some random updates...

Pablo. Sometimes I don't even know what to say. A few weeks ago I believe he gave me a Spree that he had already put in his mouth, I asked him and he said no and starting laughing. So I took that as yes. He also enjoys showing me his chewed food so I now do the same for him. He is obsessed with hamburguesas, which by the way are very different here; they are not beef, usually ground chicken or turkey. I like them, but the first time I saw one I was like why is my hamburger pink and I asked Paqui what kind of meat it was and she told me carne, which basically tells me nothing. I later found out that it was chicken. Every day Palbo wants a hamburguesa and usually has a fit about it. He is also loves to talk about my Tabasco sauce too. One day when he pisses me off I should put it in on his hamburguesa, haha, jk. Lately I have been hearing some porn-like moaning noises coming out from him. I have no idea what he is doing but they are loud, quite abundant, and completely random.

I have been taking salsa lessons for about a month. It's a lot of fun, but don't get nervous and think I have skill, I am horrible.

This past Friday I went to Córdoba which is about two and a half hours north of Granada to see la Mezquita Catedral de Córdoba (the mosque of Córdoba). It was one of those crazy old structures with lots of detailing that makes you wonder how it is possible that something is 1,000 years old and still standing when we knock down buildings that are 20 years old because they were built so poorly. Like many old churches in Europe, it has gone through many changes and updates the past 1,000 years, but still has some of the original walls and interior structures from the 10th century.

My Spanish is improving a lot, but it is far from perfect. There are still many moments of confusion. I practice all of the time and sometimes I feel really good about it while others times I feel it is nearly impossible to achieve the perfection that I want.

I have an intercambio, which means I am pared up with someone that wants to learn English and we practice together. His name is Javi and he is awesome. I think he speaks English very well, better than I do Spanish, haha. We have only met a few times, but we get a long well which is good because I will need some friends when everyone leaves in December.

This past weekend I went clubbing with a 17 year-old. No joke. There are some kids from California in our school, and one is in high school and I went out with him and his brother the other night to a club. He is actually really mature, maybe more than me, haha.

This Friday I am going on vacation because we have a week off of school!!! My friend Kate and I are leaving for Oslo, Norway on Friday, then we are going to Stockholm, Sweden and our final stop is in Copenhagen, Denmark. I am very excited because these are all new cities for me and I really wanted to make my way up to Scandinavia while in Europe. No doubt it will be cold, but I hope that the fall weather will bring pretty colors.

When Teaching English, Wear a Bra

Two weeks ago I started to volunteer at a church teaching children English. It is something I wanted to do before coming here for practice. I am also using the experience to write a paper for my Spanish culture class. From one day of volunteering I have enough to write a 3 or 4 page paper, it was quite an experience. The first day I went to the church we (Kate and I) did not really do much but meet some people, last Monday was the first real day of teaching. The children range in age from 6 to 14 and they are all quite aggressive. The older ones immediately started with vulgar questions. First they were obsessed with wrestling and saying smack down. Then one told us he has a shirt that says “Fud me I am famous” and he wanted to know the significance of fud. Obviously a shirt lost in translation. Anyway after talking about the shirt they started yelling fucky and would not stop for ten minutes. Then another fine young man joined our group and started asking about various rappers and as well as throwing down the west-side symbol. He also told me that his mother is a prostitute. He then got up on the table and took his pants off and started twirling them around on his hand. I about lost it and could not stop laughing because I did not know what to do, it was a lost cause. Laughing was a bad decision because after putting his pants back on, he took them off again. After this little game, the older kids starting chanting mother fucker and would not stop. When the real teacher walked in to see how we were doing they all called him a mother fucker and he did not really react. I don't know if he was unaware of the significance of mother fucker or if he just ignored it. He told them to listen and pay attention and put one kid in a minor head lock and left the room. The situation was not resolved and mother fucker continued to be the word of the day. I then had another boy come up to me and ask me the significance of playboy, hmm. I actually explained to him what it was because in Spain being naked and wearing clothes is equal and I knew he had seen plenty of nude women in magazines and public access television. Finally the older boys left and we started to focus on some of the younger children. One would think this would be a controlled situation, not really. I was wearing a tank top with a built in bra and a girl of seven years old pulled my shirt out and asked why I was not wearing a bra. She then grabbed my boobs, a few times. After my boobs became a bore, she asked me how to say puta (which has various meanings in Spanish depending on the use, a popular meaning is whore) and mierda (shit) in English. I responded with poop. At this point we were almost done with our duties and I went to get my purse and upon my return the girl took one final boob pinch when I walked by. Among the many lessons learned, the most important is to wear a real bra. I don't think this will be the last story about my volunteer experience.

Flamenco y La Fiesta

The first week of October I went to my first Flamenco show. Flamenco is the popular dance in Analucia (Southern Spain). It is really popular in Granada and Seville and many of people involved in Flamenco are gitanos (gypsies). It's not a dance that you throw down at a club, it's more of crazy Spanish tap dance that you go and watch. There is one man who plays the guitar, another sings (they call it singing but is sometimes sounds like a painful cry for help), and at this particular show there were three women and two men dancers. Two of the women were kind of scary, kind of like Britney at the MTV awards but they were better dancers. The dance becomes really intense sometimes and so do the facial expressions. It was fun to see to because I had been hearing and learning about it for the past month so I finally got to see what it's all about.

My favorite Spanish culture experience so far has been the parade in Selebraña. Now I know that parade sounds lame and not fun, which is generally the opinion I hold, but this parade ended with a FIESTA! My friends and I decided to go to Selebraña which is a beach town about 50 minutes away from Granada. We knew there was some form of a fiesta and paella but we had no idea what it was going to be like. We found the beach and starting walking down the boardwalk when the parade began so we decided to watch. The second I saw a woman drinking a beer in her Flamenco dress and walking in the parade I knew that this could be nothing but good. Within seconds of the beer sighting a group of men (Los Fiesteros) invited me and my friends to walk in the parade and not long after that I too was a woman walking in a parade drinking a beer. The float we are walking with was stacked with beer and food, and of course a leg of ham. I am very proud to say that I was part of a Spanish parade; of course I know that we stuck out like sore-thumbs but it was worth it. After the procession ended all of the floats lined up along the beach and the fiesta began. The scene reminded me of a tailgate on the beach with legs of ham and bread instead of hamburgers and hotdogs. We made friends with one particular Spaniard, Antonio. He was very kind and more-or-less took care of us the whole time. Every time I turned around there was some new item of food being served or a beer being handed over to me. There was so much food that a larger space was needed to accommodate the group, so eventually Los Fiesteros moved the party to what I would like to call a VFW-type building not far from the shore. At this location there were some new food items, and 8-year old girls in Flamenco dresses bartending. When one asked me what I wanted I almost died, what a dream-come-true. While all of this was going on a bar on the beach was cooking a giant pan of paella, which of course we bought some later. We finally had to go and catch our bus around 7pm, so sadly we missed out on hitting up the disco on the beach. HaHa. It was a fantastic experience and really did give me a piece of Spanish culture. The whole event reminded me of something you would see on the travel channel and think, hey I would like to do that knowing that you probably never would, but I did. Maybe I can be the next Rick Steves. Yeah right, but I know kind of how he feels.

La Corrida de Toro

The past two weeks have been an onslaught of Spanish culture starting with a bull fight, “una corrida del toro,” two weekends ago. I already knew the specifics before attending because I learned about it in my Spanish culture class. To be honest, before living here I did not know exactly how the whole thing went down. I knew that a bull was killed and I thought that was it, wrong. Why kill one when there are people to entertain? So if you don't know, here is how it goes. There are three toreros (bull-fighters) whom each kill 2 toros (bulls), yes that makes a total of 6 toros killed in one event. They let the bull out into the arena and the torero and his “gang” mess with it using the capes. Then the “picadores” come out. A man on a horse takes a long poll with a knife/sword on the end and stabs the bull in the back. After he feels he has sufficiently cut the bull, or the bull gets pissed enough and tries to ram the hose, the picadore leaves the arena. Moving on to the second part, the “banderillas.” Now that the bull has been sliced in the back it's time to stab him some more and this task is usually done by the torero's “gang.” Three men come out and each put in two bandereras in the toro's back. There bandereras are meant to stay in the back of the bull for the remainder of the fight moving into the third and final part of the corrida. In the final stage the torero comes out with his knife and red cape and taunts the bull some more until he finally decides that the bull is tired and he stabs it in the back, aiming to go through the heart and kill the bull. Sometimes the final stab is not so smooth and has to be repeated until the torero gets it right. The only torero who got it on the first time (both times) was El Fandi, who is one of the famous bull fighters in Spain. At this point you probably think it's over, well it's not. The crowd cheers and waves their pañuelos (scarves) in order display whether the torero deserves the ears of the bull. One ear is good, two is great, and if the tail is cut off then the fight was the best. Fortunately I did not see any tails cut off, but I did see the son (5 yrs old) of one of the toreros walk around the arena with an ear. This whose process is repeated 6 times. Needless to say it is redundant and I think I have seen my one and only corrida.

Rooney = Pegote

Last week Rooney was in Granada. We had some good times, probably the most notable night with Rooney was this past Friday. Rooney, Kate, and I went out for some tapas and we found a random seafood place, probably one of my favorite places since I have been here. They served lightly fried fish for one tapas and small clams for the other, both delicious. We made friends with the guys working, took some shots, and went out to a disco with one of the bartenders. When we arrived at the disco no one was there, which I was not surprised because it was early according to Spain standards. The bartender told us that the guy working was his brother so I thought, great cheap drinks. A round of shots were given, along with a beer, and some more beers later. When it was around 4 am, maybe later and no one was there I thought it was a little sketchy. When we were ready to go, we got the bill, thinking it would be cheap and it was 56 euro. We somehow got the bill reduced to 41 euro, which was still a rip off because we did not even drink that much. Needless to say we were irritated with he first bartender we met because we thought we had the ¨hook-up.¨ Then the first bartender told us there was a night bus we could take and he wanted to show us. At this point Rooney was heated about the bill and attempting to speak Spanish. Although Kate or I should have stepped in and explained our irritation, I did not have the energy to get into a Spanish argument. So Rooney took over and starting yelling "Buscar" which means "to look for" and was not really relevant to the situation. Anyway the guy said some things very quickly in Spanish and eventually stormed off. I´m not sure if I´ll be returning to this tapas bar anytime soon.

I am sure I will be running into Rooney again in the near future, possibly next week.

Oktoberfest = Beer, Lederhosen & Food

Oktoberfest might be one of the most amazing festivals ever created. There are many elements that make Oktoberfest a huge success, starting with the very popular beverage, BEER. Munich has the best beer in the world, and the abundance of it is out of control. Another important element of Oktoberfest is lederhosen. Lederhosen are the suede pants that the men wear, ranging in different colors of brown, to black and some green. Some lederhosen have a lot of detail sewn in, very nice. There are also different styles: pants, shorts, and capris. I prefer the capris. The true lederhosen outfit will also contain suspenders. I love lederhosen and I think all men should have a pair. Some women wear lederhosen as well, but most of the ladies wear dresses with aprons and their breast pushed up. If I return (and I hope I do) I am going to buy a dress. The final important element of Oktoberfest is food. The food was actually excellent. I ate some Bavarian chicken, which is like roasted chicken, but better. The flavor is amazing. I also ate the standard sausage and sour kraut (twice in one day). And then we tried some soup, and a random meet that had a pumpkin seed sauce, both of which were fantastic.

Details of the weekend:

Katie and I arrived Friday night and met Carm at the hostel. The official start of Oktoberfest was Saturday, so Friday night we went out to the Haufbrahaus. It was crazy busy and there was a huge line to get in, so we bought some beer and drank in the street for a while. We made some friends with los italianos peligrosos (the dangerous Italians). And then found a table with some older Spanish men from Alicante who where all about singing Spanish songs. It was a great start to the weekend.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed toward Oktoberfest. I was expecting a crappy field with some tents, not so much. The fest is on a fairground that has some serious buildings built for beer drinking. The beer halls were massive. Basically each of the major beer companies has their own beer hall (to bad there were no Miller or Bud hall, JKJK). So we did not know where to go so we followed the lederhosen and stood in line only to find out an hour later that the tent was for reservations only. So we left to find another place and at this time almost everything was full. I had a minor shot of panic go through my mind but I knew that it would all work out. Where there a lot of beer, things always must work out. We found a table a random tent and sat with a mother and her two kids. It was actually a great score because we knew they would not be hanging around to consume mass quantities of beer. They ate and left and then we had a German grandma sit with us, and later are soon to be German friends.

We were lucky enough to have some nice German people sit with us. It was exactly what I had wanted from Oktoberfest. They taught some German culture, including their love for snuff, which comes in white and brown form. Snuff basically smells like Afrin, but it is in a powder form, and you sniff it up your nose. It does not really do anything besides clear your nose for a while. If you do the brown snuff you will have some surprises in your nose the next day. HaHa. We stayed in the first for about 4 hours then moved onto the Augustiner tent with our new friends. They had the hook-up and we were able to get a table almost immediately. From this point on drinking and fun continued. Oh yes, and the singing. They love to yell the tune from that White Stripes song from a few years back. Another popular song is, “Hey baby, oh, ah, I want to know if you’ll be my girl?” That was repeated quite often, but like I was told, everyone understands it so that is why they sing it.

What can I say, Oktoberfest was a blast and I really hope that I can do it again in the future! I highly recommend it to all.

Augustiner Tent

The first liter

The waiters carry more than 10 liters at once

Snort´n Some Snuff

A German Grandma and Me

The Oktoberfest Attire

The inside of the Augustiner tent

Carm finds some Lederhosen

German Friends

Some drunk fun

Nerja and Las Alpujarras

I have been doing some travelling on the weekends since I have been here Granada. A few weeks ago I went to the beach in Nerja. It was really beautiful. The beach is not sand, it is small pebbles, but I actually liked it. It was really relaxing and the water is really blue and clear, not Hawaii clear, but clear enough for me. We also went to some caves that were interesting. I have never been in a cave before so I thought it was really cool.

The school organized a trip to Las Alpujarras, which are small towns in the Sierra Nevadas. We hiked in-bewteen some of the pueblos and hiked to the peak of one of the mountains. It was awesome and I hope to do something like again. The first and last pictures are from Nerja and the middle pictures are from Las Alpujarras.

La Familia

This is a picture of the view from my bedroom window. When it is less cloudy, you can see more mountains to the right. I really enjoy la vista when I need a moment to stare into space and figure out what is going on.

The family life has been very different, but good. I don´t have a picture of the family yet, but as soon as I do, it will be posted. It is true, I have 5 brothers and sisters: Maribel, 24; Christina, 20; Jesús, 16; Antonio, 13; and Pablo, 11. My señora´s name is Francisca, but I call her Paqui. I get a long with everyone really well, but then again I usually have no idea what is going on. My comprehension has improved, but when everyone is talking at once really fast, forget about it. Paqui is really great and always is asking me if I am happy with everything. She has different kinds of fruit all of the time and it’s great. Thus far I like all of the food that she has cooked. Sometimes I am not sure exactly what kind of meat I am eating, but it is always good. Ham is obviously popular. I always say, “Jamón es el rey de España.” (Ham is the king of Spain). Paqui basically will buy any food that I like, which is comforting. I told Paqui that I like hot sauce and she bought me some Tabasco which is great on tortilla española (a Spanish omelette with potatoes and onions) I have been travelling a lot on the weekends so I have not been out with mis hermanas yet, but I am finally going to be in Granada this weekend so I plan on going out with Christina. It will be an interesting because sometimes I am not good at understanding, but it will be a good learning experience.

My youngest brother, Pablo, is quite interesting. The first few days that I was here there was a lot of staring. Like for example, I was resting in my bed and he just came into my room and stared at me for a while. The staring has been taken down a notch, but it still happens. My bedroom door (I do have my own room) does not lock and he likes to bust in unannounced sometimes, he has almost seen me naked. Although I know he has seen boobs because they are all over Spain. All of the gossip magazines have pictures of boobs, sometimes on the cover, and there is porn on the public access television. And by the way, it is not soft-core. I have yet to encounter it, but I have heard from many that it is the real deal.

En todo, I am really enjoying my living situation. The one downfall is I live about 50 minutes from school and the heart of Granada. At first I had a problem with this, but I am over it. Depending on the day, I sometimes walk 7 or more miles. Now, I think it is worth it because I really like la familia. Although, there have been some late night angry walks home.

First Few Weeks in Granada

¡Hola amigos!

The past few weeks have been full of interesting experiences, new people, and some surprises. I´ll start from the beginning:

I took a group flight to Granada so there were about 30 plus other students on my flight. I got to scope out the crowd and see what kind of people I would be spending the next four months with. The plane ride was fine until I started to feel like total ass. I felt sick at the end and basically wanted to die. We went from Chicago to Madrid, and then from Madrid to Granada. We had to wait in the Madrid airport for a few hours where I continued to feel worse and nauseous. This feeling was only heightened when I was lucky enough to sit next to a mother and her 2 year old daughter on the plane. Previous to boarding the plane I was admiring how cute this little blond Spanish girl was. I even was dumb enough to say, ¨Awww, she would be cute to babysit.¨ My feelings soon changed when the child vomited in her hand and her mother´s before sitting next to me on the plane. And yes, she sat on her mother´s lap smelling like puke and kicking me every five minutes to remind me she was there. So needless to say at this point I was ready to throw in the towel. After some rest in the hostel I felt a lot better. I still felt nauseous the first few days, but eventually I picked up an appetite.

The first week in Granada I had orientation with my school, Cegrí. The unique thing about this school is that it is much smaller than some of the other language programs offered in Granada and other parts of Spain. I think there are a total of 55 students here and each class has 5 to 12 students per class. With the orientation we took some tours of the city. Although it was slightly confusing at first, I am now starting to feel comfortable with the need-to-knows of Granada. There is still so many places to explore and get lost here so I am excited to continue to learn the city.

I actually have friends!! And yes I am the oldest person here. Most of the students are 20 or 21 years old. I definitely have some friends that are 20 years old, but I must say they display a great amount of maturity. I know that if I was 20 and in Spain, I would be an idiot. A friend that I spend a lot of time with, Kate, is actually the sister of one of Gabe Altenhofen´s friends. We came to this realization this past weekend while relaxing on the beach.

The eating schedule here is quite different as some of you know, and yes siesta does exist but it is not necessarily nap time. Don´t get me wrong, if you want to take a nap it is certainly welcome. Lunch is usually between 2:00 - 4:00 pm. and dinner is between 9:00 - 11:00 pm. Lunch is the most important meal and dinner is usually something light. If you go out for dinner tapas is available, but there are full dinners you can order as well. One of the unique things about Granada is that if you go to a tapas bar and order a drink, you get free tapas with your drink. Not all cities in Spain give you free tapas with your drinks. Some popular tapas items are small sandwiches, olives, fries, clams, chips, calamari, ham, cheese, and there is so much more. It depends are the tapas bar, but some places allow you to pick the tapas you want while others bring out whatever they are serving that night.