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.
viernes, 28 de septiembre de 2007
jueves, 27 de septiembre de 2007
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.
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.
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.
martes, 11 de septiembre de 2007
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.
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.
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